Kidney allotransplantation is being increasingly used as a method of replacement therapy in patients with end-stage kidney disease. Achievements in transplantology and immunosuppressive therapy lead to growth of the number of immunocompromised patients. Risk of infectious complications is still one of the major problems of immunocompromised patients. Tuberculosis has a special place among infections in patients after kidney transplantation.


To seek a succedaneum of xenon,which is the propellant of electric thruster and become more and more expensive,and to discuss the applicability that argon as the propellant of electron cyclotron resonance ion thruste,the hybrid PIC methods is used to simulate the transport process of argon plasma in the optical,and then the argon beam focus effect,argon plasma the space distribution and flow characteristics are analyzed.Results show that the argon beam has a good focus effect in the optial,and CEX ion has few influence for is only 100 PPM of the total ion number.Argon ion can be accelerated to 75km/s when jet from the optical,and at the back of accelerate grid,the backflow speed is 38km/s.These two speed is both in accord with the electrodynamics theory.


Tyrosine kinase inhibitors, such as imatinib mesylate (Gleevec, Novartis, formerly known as STI571) are the first line treatment of Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML) and of a rare form of gastroenteric stromal cancer. It has been recently reported that in the latter case, tumor cells are refractory to imatinib antiproliferative effect in vitro and the response to the drug in vivo is due to immunocompetent cells, able to produce cytokines with antineoplastic activity. In this study, 20 CML patients, prior and during treatment with imatinib mesylate, underwent bone marrow (BM) aspirates every 6 months, including: morphologic and phenotypic analysis, cytogenetic and biomolecular evaluation, compared to peripheral blood. Plasma from BM and peripheral blood was also recovered for cytokyne-chemokine dosage. We report that in 12 out of 20 CML patients a significant increase in the percentage of BM lymphoplasmocytoid cells was observed upon treatment with imatinib mesylate, with >10% (range 10–16%) of CD20+CD126+cells. Among this population, two third of cells coexpressed IgM and one third was IgD+, while a smaller fraction of IgM+CD126+CD20– (3–4%) or IgD+CD126+CD20- (2–3%) cells was also found. The lasting 8 patients had


The paper discusses the implications of the low-carbon transition for workers and the relevant lessons-learnt in previous industrial restructuring experiences. The evidence suggests that, while climate policies are likely to have a modest impact on aggregate employment, workers in certain regions and industries can be more severely affected. The transition may also have gender-differentiated impacts: men represent the largest share of the workforce of most negatively affected industries (e.g. coal-mining) while the growth of the renewable power generation sector, which exhibits a relatively more gender-balanced workforce, suggests that female employment may increase in the traditionally male-dominated energy sector. Lessons from the case-studies underline that a suite of polices is necessary to manage the structural adjustment process, including structural reforms and skills policies. Importantly, the low-carbon transition differentiates itself from previous restructuring experiences because of its policy-driven nature and the possibility to finance structural adjustment measures through carbon-pricing revenues.


This study sought to determine consumer insight teenage consumers in seating area 7-Eleven convenience stores. While the research object is the 10 consumer teenagers hanging out at the 7-Eleven convenience stores. This study used a descriptive research design with qualitative approach, which is characterized by activities of collecting data and interpreting descriptive data about the situation experienced in order to explain the meaning corresponding to the phenomenon under study, through observation and interview approaches that focus on adolescent consumers who hang out at convenience stores 7-Eleven. Based on the findings obtained by the authors, this study found four categories of consumers teenagers who hang out at the 7-Eleven convenience stores, namely: Sevelgadget, Sevelita, Sevelholic and Sevelmix, where these categories represent of teenager who love to hang out in seating area 7-Eleven convenience stores. This research provides advice to consumers teenager who likes to hang out at the 7 -Eleven convenience stores to spend their time more wisely, also suggestions for the seating area providers, to better maintain and improve facilities and infrastructure seating area so consumers, especially consumers adolescents feel comfortable to spend time there. Keywords : Consumer Insight, Seating Area, Convenience Store 7-Eleven


In wireless networks,terminals are usually energy-constrained.To extend the lifetime of the wireless terminals,the limited energy must be utilized in an efficient manner.Under the assumption of constant power transmission,by modeling the transmission problem as a Markov decision process,an energy-efficient transmission policy(EETP)is proposed for the terminals.Simulation results shows that compared with threshold transmission policy(TTP),the proposed policy can reduce the energy consumption and significantly extend the terminal's lifetime significantly.


AbstractThe following sections are included:The AnalysesThe Analytical ModelsThe ResultsVoice and Exit Actions of Headquarters' StakeholdersLinks to Headquarters' Actions on Subsidiary's PresenceDominant Coalition's StabilityLinks to Headquarters' Actions on Subsidiary's PresenceLinks to Voice and Exit Actions of Headquarters' StakeholdersMultinational's Competitive StrategiesLinks to Headquarters' Actions on Subsidiary's PresenceLinks to Dominant Coalition's BenefitsSubsidiary's Symbolic ActionsLinks to Headquarters' Actions on Subsidiary's PresenceSubsidiary's Profits and Importance in Global OperationsLinks to Headquarters' Actions on Subsidiary's PresenceSubsidiary's Noncompetitive Strategies with Host StateLinks to Headquarters' Actions on Subsidiary's PresenceLinks to Subsidiary's Symbolic ActionsSuppression of Voice and Exit Actions by Host StateLinks to Headquarters' Actions on Subsidiary's PresenceLinks to Subsidiary's Symbolic ActionsLinks to Subsidiary's Noncompetitive StrategiesSubsidiary's Inducements to Host StateLinks to Subsidiary's Symbolic ActionsSummaryGeneralizability of the Results


The adsorption of polyethoxylated monyl-phenol on macroreticular styrene divinylbenzene copolymers from aqueous solutions was investigated. Styrene divinylbenzene resins show a high adsorption affinity for non-ionic surfactants and prove to be very suitable as adsorbents for these. Addition of both electrolytes and methanol decreases the amount of surfactant adsorbed. The adsorption on a carboxylic acid resin increases with decreasing pH value


The requirement for environmentally friendly construction materials for sustainable development is nowadays an important issue and the geopolymer technology provides a good solution to replace, as binder, the ordinary cement materials for green building. Fly ash, an industrial by-product currently disposed of as waste, can be used as feedstock for geopolymers with an excellent greenness. In order to preserve the eco-friendly nature of the fly ash based geopolymer and enhance the mechanical properties that represent a weak point of the cementitious materials, limiting their application fields, a new fly ash based geopolymer composite was introduced. For this purpose, inorganic, organic and natural short fibers, i.e. E-glass, aramid and hemp respectively, were considered as reinforcement. The mechanical response of these composites under quasi-static and dynamic load conditions was investigated and compared to plain geopolymers, drawing the attention to the hemp reinforced ones, because of their low coast and eco-friendly nature.


In the paper,the basic thinking and design procedures for designing passes of cold bending forming are mainly introduced.Moreover,the method of synthetical bending is introduced by taking the 0.8 mm×12 mm cored electrodes as an example.The practices prove that the angularity and bend radius of all passages with this design are reasonable.


In wireless sensor networks (WSN), location information acquisition is critical to guarantee their performance. This paper presents a hybrid positioning method in WSN with high precision. Reference nodes transmit linear frequency modulation continuous wave (FMCW), general nodes estimate the range difference to reference nodes based on the received signals' frequency difference. The location information can be obtained by combining the Fang's analytical algorithm and Taylor iteration method. The simulation results prove that the new method enjoys high precision and moderate computational complexity.


To the Editor .—

We read with interest the recent Pediatrics article entitled" Training Young Pediatricians as Leaders for the 21st Century" by Leslie et al.1 The article highlights the importance of addressing the training of young pediatricians as leaders. As recent graduates of our pediatric residency training program and a chief residency year, we are especially cognizant of this need. As stated in their article, in the current milieu of the health care field, all physicians (pediatrics trained or otherwise) have multiple opportunities to function as leaders. We are particularly committed to the training of pediatric residents and pediatric chief residents as leaders.

We reiterate the authors' statement …


ABSTRACT The management of maritime claims is becoming an important issue in the study of interstate conflict. Since World War II, most contested maritime claims have been associated with low-level conflict (mainly shows of force, or what we call maritime provocations) and have not resulted in fatalities. However, what is puzzling is that many competing claims are also associated with states that are alliance partners. To explain this puzzle, we trace the management of maritime claims to states' participation in different types of security institutions. We argue that joint membership in highly institutionalized security organizations, namely defensive alliances, provides aggrieved challenger states with the opportunity to undermine the position of defending states by using low-level maritime provocations. The alliance has an incentive to provide an institutional security umbrella to maintain its organization's strength and continuity. High levels of commitment to defensive alliances provide a challenger state with the opportunity to behave provocatively without risking an escalation of the conflict or severely damaging its reputation within the alliance. We test our theory using data on all maritime claims and their associated militarization attempts in the Western Hemisphere and Europe from 1900 to 2001 from the Issue Correlates of War (ICOW) project.


Although there is no cure to date, Alzheimer's disease detection in early stages has a significant impact on the patient's life in terms of cost, the progress, and helping to plan in advance for an appropriate healthcare in the life ahead as well as providing clinical etiologies for further research. This paper discusses implementing a feature fusion method utilizing sparse and denoising autoencoders to reveal the stage of Alzheimer's disease. Four cohorts consisted of individuals with Alzheimer's disease, late mild cognitive impairment, early mild cognitive impairment, and normal control groups are classified using multinomial logistic regression fueled by the fusion of high-level and low-level features. The high-level features are extracted from the stacked autoencoders. The results show that feature fusion enhance the performance of typical autoencoders. However, the performance of feature fusion using denoising autoencoders is superior to that of the sparse training of autoencoders in terms of overall accuracy, precision, and recall.


In this paper,the history of Mars exploration is reviewed in brief.The people's understanding of the formation, evolution, geological and climatic characteristics of the Mars is presented. Some puzzles about Mars evolution are discussed in detail.The research direction which should be paid attention to in the future Mars exploration is analyzed.Finally, the possible research on Mars exploration which can be carried out in China in the future is discussed and the parameters of some required payloads are analyzed.


The ability to detect talker changes when listening to conversational speech is fundamental to perception and understanding of multi-talker speech. In this paper, we propose an experimental paradigm to provide insights on the impact of language familiarity on talker change detection. Two multi-talker speech stimulus sets, one in a language familiar to the listeners (English) and the other unfamiliar (Chinese), are created. A listening test is performed in which listeners indicate the number of talkers in the presented stimuli. Analysis of human performance shows statistically significant results for: (a) lower miss (and a higher false alarm) rate in familiar versus unfamiliar language, and (b) longer response time in familiar versus unfamiliar language. These results signify a link between perception of talker attributes and language proficiency. Subsequently, a machine system is designed to perform the same task. The system makes use of the current state-of-the-art diarization approach with x-vector embeddings. A performance comparison on the same stimulus set indicates that the machine system falls short of human performance by a huge margin, for both languages.


Summary

Chapman's function is derived for an atmosphere with linear temperature decrease or increase (inversion) for larger zenith distances of the rays, as well as for grazing incidence. For the temperature gradient approaching to zero the proper limits are derived and the results brought to the form of the original Chapman function, derived for an isothermal atmosphere.


SUBJECT AREAS: project finance, capital investment This note provides an introduction to the field of project finance and a statistical overview of project-financed investments over the last five years. Examples of project-financed investments include the $4 billion Chad-Cameroon pipeline, $6 billion Iridium global satellite telecommunications system, Euro 900 million A2 Toll Road in Poland, and the $1.4 billion Mozal aluminum smelter in Mozambique. Globally, firms financed $234 billion of capital expenditures using project finance in 2004, up from $172 billion in 2003. Despite a few setbacks (e.g., in 1998 due to the Asian crisis and in 2002 due to crises in the U.S. power and telecommunications industries), the use of project finance has grown at a compound rate of almost 20% over the past 10 years. The note begins by defining project finance and contrasting it with other well-known financing mechanisms such as asset-back securities and secured debt. The next section describes the evolution of project finance from its origins in the natural resources industry in the 1970s to the U.S. power industry in the 1980s and to a much wider range of industrial applications and geographic settings in the 1990s and 2000s. The third section provides a statistical overview of the project-financed investment over the last five years (2000-2004). It covers a variety of institutional details at the industry, project, and participant level. For example, it presents data on the average size of projects ($400 million) and their capitalization (69% debt-to-total capital) as well as league tables for project loans, project bonds, and advisory work. The final section discusses current and likely future trends. This note can be used by itself to explain project finance or in conjunction with specific cases on project finance.


A honeycombed zone in a concrete structure is among the forms of defects that can be found in concrete structures. In this study, the effects on the shear capacity of a concrete beam are investigated when a honeycombed zone is present in the high shear region. The honeycombed concrete was simulated using an uncompacted no-fines concrete mix. Tests were carried out on rectangular beams with a honeycombed zone introduced at various locations within the high shear region of the beam. The honeycombed zone was square with the size of about a third of the effective depth of the beam. Two strengths of normal concrete were investigated. The study found that, in a beam with a honeycombed zone, a diagonal crack could form early and the shear capacity of a beam could be reduced. The severity of these effects varies with the location of the honeycombed zone. Modifications were proposed to an existing plastic analysis method to take into account the strength of the honeycombed concrete. Condition factors derived from the test data were also proposed to be applied to the plastic analysis in assessing beams with a honeycombed zone. A honeycombed zone simulating a construction joint in a beam was also investigated analytically and compared with the data from 4 tests.


The problem of conciliation and abbreviated procedure in resolving by these proceedings situations of girls who are victims of sexual offences in a trial of adolescents in conflict with criminal law, resulting in a violation of the State to fundamental rights to dignity, integrity and freedom. The research involves evidence of the inappropriateness of applying these legal institutions as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women – CEDAW-Inter-American Convention to Prevent, Punish and Eradicate Violence against Women-BELEM DO PARA- The Convention on the Rights of the Child and the provisions of Article 185 of Decree No. 27-2003.


The number of computational trust models has been increasing quickly in recent years yet their applications for automating trust evaluation are still limited. The main obstacle is the difficulties in selecting a suitable trust model and adapting it for particular trust modeling requirements, which varies greatly due to the subjectivity of human trust. The Personalized Trust Framework (PTF) presented in this paper aims to address this problem by providing a mechanism for human users to capture their trust evaluation process in order for it to be replicated by computers. In more details, a user can specify how he selects a trust model based on information about the subject whose trustworthiness he needs to evaluate and how that trust model is configured. This trust evaluation process is then automated by the PTF making use of the trust models flexibly plugged into the PTF by the user. By so doing, the PTF enable users reuse and personalize existing trust models to suit their requirements without having to reprogram those models.


The maturity of the corneocyte envelope (CE) provides information about the barrier functionality of the stratum corneum (SC). Corneocytes are enclosed by the CE, a protein‐lipid matrix, contributing to mechanical resistance and hydrophobicity of the SC.


The objective of this paper is to study thermal conductivity and magnetic field intensity effects on heat and mass transfer flow over a vertical channel both numerically and analytically. The non-linear partial differential equations governing the flow are non-dimensionalised, simplified and solved using Crank Nicolson type of implicit finite difference method. To check the accuracy of the numerical solution, steady state solutions for velocity, temperature and concentration fields are obtained by using perturbation method. Graphical results for velocity, temperature, concentration, skin friction, Nusselt number and Sherwood number have been obtained, to show the effects of different parameters entering in the problem. Results from these study shows that velocity, temperature and concentration increases with the increase in the dimensionless time until they reach steady state value. Also, it was observed that the analytical and numerical solutions agree very well at large values of time.


The important of study on continuous development strategy for medium and small-sized foundry enterprises was put forward in this paper. According to the characteristic of the medium and small-sized foundry enterprises in China, it was pointed out that the enterprises should establish strategies of reducing cost and enhancing competition ability, and persist in the principle of "Quality is the first, Cost is the first". The low-cost sustainable development strategy must not be undertaken at the cost of decreasing quality, heavy pollution and destroying the ecological environment. Running in low cost can get more advantageous chances for enterprises to occupy the market, therefore realize continuous development.


ANTHROPOLOGY AND SOCIOLOGY Wyatt MacGaffey. Chiefs, Priests, and Praise-Singers: History, Politics, and Land Ownership in Northern Ghana. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2013. xii + 227 pp. Photographs. Maps. Appendix. Notes. Glossary. Bibliography. Index. $37.50. Cloth and Ebook.Chiefs, Priests, and Praise-Singers offers a look inside the decades-long disputes between chiefs and fetish priests (tindanas) in Northern Ghana concerning the claims to, and limits of, traditional authority in the modern nation-state. These arguments are frequently centered on rights to the sale and allocation of land. Both chiefs and tindanas base their claims to power on historical precedent, but as Wyatt MacGaffey shows, the historical narratives are multiple, contingent, frequently contradictory, and generally taken as gospel truth by those in a position to benefit from one or another account. As many Dagbamba publicly call for the preservation of their culture amidst rapidly advancing development and modernization, people have been looking increasingly to their oral history to point a way forward. But which history?The book is a sustained critique of both the written and oral archives regarding the reification of Dagbamba tradition, and shows the effects of the manipulation of historical narratives for both "traditional" and popular culture in Ghana. MacGaffey conducted his research a few months at a time, every year from 1996 to 2010. Any drawbacks of not having one or more extended research periods in "the field" have been more than made up for by a sustained relationship with the people and places of the Northern Region. The result is a meticulously researched, forcefully argued, and expertly crafted ethnography touching on matters of "tradition," the Dagbamba chieftaincy crisis, the place of chieftaincy in modern Ghana, and ultimately the control of land and resources in the Fourth Republic.MacGaffey offers new insights into the supposed distinctions between chief and fetish priest, and between conqueror and conquered. He argues that the ruling Dagbamba chiefs, as well as neighboring Mamprussi, Nanumba, and Mossi, emerged organically from the population of the Volta Basin, rather than arriving as conquerors from the East, as their oral historians tell them. This last distinction is a crucial one, with political and economic ramifications in the local as well as national arenas, and has been at the root of more than one civil war.Among the main contributions of Chiefs, Priests, and PraiseSingers are the correctives offered regarding Dagbamba history, practice, and authority. Much of what has been written, especially regarding chieftaincy and "tradition," dates from the early colonial period and is shot through with inaccuracies and misunderstandings. …


As a continuation and development of Marxism-Lennism,Mao Zedong Thought and Deng Xiaoping Theory,the important thought of "Three Representatives" reflects new requi rements for the work of the Party and state arising from the changes in China an d other parts of the world today.It is put forward on the basis of a scientific judgment of the Party's historical position.It is a powerful theoretical weapon for strengthening and improving the Party building and promoting self-improvemen t an d development of socialism in China.It is the crystallization of the Party's col lective wisdom and a guiding ideology the Party must follow for a long time to c ome.


The study of indicators of oxidative stress, which develops as a result of imbalances between oxidative and antioxidant systems, helps to identify the pathogenesis of many pathological processes, assess the risk of their occurrence and predict the characteristics. Elimination of oxidative stress helps to increase the effectiveness of prophylactic and therapeutic and rehabilitation measures.The above materials convince us of the need for extensive use of antioxidants in the complex therapy of ongoing acute and chronic diseases, in combination with other pathogenetic methods of treatment. The choice between them should be determined by the nature of the pathological process and the degree of its activity.


ABSTRACT Ferruccio Busoni could be called an advocate of absolute music because of his frequent description of music as 'absolute' and his discussion of music as consisting of pure tones and rhythms found in the vibrating universe. However, he developed idiosyncratic theories about the term, its usage and its ideal manifestation in Tonkunst that remain largely unexamined in scholarly literature. True, Carl Dahlhaus noted Busoni's use of the concept to refer to music unconstrained by traditional forms, but this is merely one aspect of Busoni's views, which also, paradoxically, allowed for and included the visual and explicit connections to culture. The hybridity of Busoni's notion, which this article explores through an examination of writings and representative compositions, is especially relevant for current musicological discourse about absolute music. Sitting uneasily with Dahlhaus's more consistent view of absolute music as music apart from text or programme as well as with new musicological approaches that seek to refute the notion of music's autonomy, Busoni's view of absolute music offers a fascinating middle ground between compositions as discrete artistic artefacts on the one hand and as representations of their immediate culture on the other.


Paolo Cinanni's (1968 and 1974) socio-historical studies of mass migration from Calabria between 1860 and 1970 have been augmented and enhanced by Pasquino Crupi's work (1979, 1993-1997, 2002a, 2002b) on the articulation of themes related to this phenomenon in modern and contemporary Calabrian literature. As Joseph Pivato's (2004) paper shows for Canada, Calabrians in the diaspora too have also given literary articulation to the migration experience and its consequences.


A novel approach using bandstop filtering and preclipping is presented that can greatly reduce the BER degradation due to clipping noise in AM/QAM hybrid lightwave systems. It is shown that the recurrence of the signal tips by the lowpass filter of previous preclipping systems can be largely suppressed, resulting in much lower actual clipping noise.


We define a methodology to automatically synthesize efficient distributed implementation starting from highlevel global choreography. A global choreography describes the communication logic between the interfaces of a set of predefined processes. The operations provided by the choreography (e.g., multiparty, choice, loop, branching) are master-triggered and conflict-free by construction (no conflict parallel interleaving), which permits the generation of fully distributed implementations (i.e., no need for controllers). We apply our methodology by automatically synthesizing micro-services architectures.


Total nonstructural carbohydrate (TNC percent dry weight) of various tissues was monitored overwinter in four aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.) clones in central Colorado. Midwinter TNC was highest in root phloem, followed by bark, small roots, root xylem and stem sapwood respectively. Photosynthates were not immediately translocated to roots with the onset of dormancy, but persisted in bark, possibly due to photosynthetic activity, throughout the fall before being transferred to root phloem tissue in mid to late winter. Small roots and woody tissue do not appear to play a significant role in carbohydrate storage. These TNC allocation patterns may help explain seasonal aspen herbivory, particularly the stripping of bark by deer, elk and moose in winter.


We present a new application of covariance nuclear magnetic resonance processing based on 1H13C‐HMBC experiments which provides an effective way for establishing indirect 1H1H and 13C13C nuclear spin connectivity at natural isotope abundance. The method, which identifies correlated spin networks in terms of covariance between one‐dimensional traces from a single decoupled HMBC experiment, derives 13C13C as well as 1H1H spin connectivity maps from the two‐dimensional frequency domain heteronuclear long‐range correlation data matrix. The potential and limitations of this novel covariance NMR application are demonstrated on two compounds: eugenyl‐β‐D‐glucopyranoside and an emodin‐derivative. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Abstract : A BIB design with b blocks is said to have the support size b* when exactly b* of the b blocks are distinct. BIB designs with b* b have interesting applications in design of experiments and finite population sampling. A method called trade off is introduced for the construction of BIB designs. This method is applied and some techniques in combinatorial topology to study BIB designs with arbitrary v and k = 3 in general and with v = 7 and k = 3 in particular. The existence or nonexistence of BIB designs with any given b and b* is determined except the case when b* = 16 for the family of BIB designs with v = 7 and k = 3.


The oscillator strengths of two ultraviolet molecular lines expected to be seen in diffuse interstellar clouds have been measured. For the 1290.257 2 line of HC1, f =0.l6±0.06. For the 111 *1 .225 & line of H 2 0, f =(5-0±2.0)xl0 3 . These results have been used in conjunction with observational data to compare measured and predicted column densities of these molecules in the £ Ophiuchi cloud.


The sequenceof the N-termninal ten aminoacidsoftheunblockedlightchainsderivedfrom thelowmolecular weightimmunoglobulin ofa dipnoid fish, theAfrican lungfish (Protopterus aethiopicus), has beendetermined.A degreeofsequenceheterogeneity as extensive asthatdisplayed by pooledmammalian light chainswasencountered. ThemajorN-terminal sequence oftheaminoacidsoflight chainsfromlungfish immuno- globinscanbe made homologouswiththatofvarious Elasmobranchean, Chondrostean, Avian,andMammalian species ifaninternal deletion oftwobasetriplets inthe genecodingforlightchainsfromlungfish immunoglob- ulinsisassumed.The existence ofa deletionand/or insertion mechanismmayhaveprofound biological signifi- cance,sinceitwouldbe idealfortheintroduction of variability intoimmunoglobulin chainswithoutsacrific- ingcertain integral features oftheantibodymolecule. Muchofourcurrent understanding ofantibody structure has beenderived directly orindirectly fromdataobtained by aminoacid-sequencing ofimmunoglobulin heavyandlight chains (1, 2).Although these studies havemarkedly influenced ourdirection andprogress toward theunderstanding ofthe genetic mechanisms governing immunoglobulin biosynthesis, theexact nature ofthis mechanism isstill obscure. Oneofthe approaches least usedhasbeentheaminoacidsequencing of isolated immunoglobulin chains fromphylogenetically critical species. Thephylogenetic approach, although primarily con- cerned withtheevolution ofspecific structural forms, permits aviewofgenetic mechanisms thatmayhavebecome more complex inmoredistal phases ofevolution. Toapproach the basic problem ofevolution andspeciation oftheimmuno- globulin molecule, we havechosenforstudythelow molecular weight immunoglobulin oftheAfrican lungfish, Protopterus aethiopicus4 (3,4).Thisspecies isofspecial in- terest foritrepresents amodern memberofanindependent evolutionary line; themostprimitive deviation available for


Using the first-principles calculations based on spin density functional theory (DFT), we investigate the structure, elastic properties, and electronic structure of Pnnm-CrB4. It is found that Pnnm-CrB4 is thermodynamically and mechanically stable. The calculated elastic properties such as the bulk modulus, shear modulus, Young's modulus, and Poisson's ratio indicate that CrB4 is an incompressible material. Vicker's hardness of Pnnm-CrB4 is estimated to be 26.3 GPa, which is in good agreement with the experimental values. The analysis of the investigated electronic properties shows that Pnnm-CrB>4 has the metallic character and there exist strong B–B and Cr–B bonds in the compound, which are further confirmed by Bader's quantum theory of atoms in molecules (QTAIM). Thermodynamic properties are also investigated.


Results: Survey Results: Blog Conclusion BACKGROUND: As a controversial topic in American society, abortion occupies a precarious place in medical school curricula. Although medical students believe abortion is a valid and acceptable topic, fewer than 20% of U.S. medical schools offer formal abortion education in either the pre-clinical or clinical years. Only 40% provide abortion lectures during clerkships. According to the Association of Professors of Gynecology and Obstetrics, student learning objectives, abortion education should be included at a minimum in the third year core clerkship. In the absence of published curricula, health professional schools must develop their own methods to teach the medical aspects of the subject, while respecting all points of view. PURPOSE: This research presents a reproducible structure for addressing both medical and ethical considerations in educating pre-clinical students about abortion.


The invention relates to a sterilizing composition. Effective components of the sterilizing composition include penconazole (A) and a methoxyl acrylates bacteriostat (B) which is kresoxim-methyl, azoxystrobin, pyraclostrobin, metominostrobin, trifloxystrobin, picoxystrobin, picoxystrobin, fluoxastrobin, enestroburin, kresoxim-phenmethyl or SYP, wherein the mass ratio of A and B is 50:1-1:50. The mixing of A and B has obvious synergistic function and is used for preventing and killing diseases of fruit trees, cotton, wheat, rice, colza, vegetables, flowers and other plants, particularly for preventing and killing fungoid diseases.


Analyses of the arms race that preceded World War I typically focus on quantity, and with good reason. The numbers of weapons and personnel which each alliance could mobilize were enormous indeed, and numbers always matter. As Clausewitz noted, numerical superiority is the "most common element" in tactical and strategic victory, while pointing out it is not always decisive. Although it is common practice to represent the arms race in terms of quantitative comparisons, doing so overshadows the race's qualitative dimensions, which are just as important to an accurate understanding of the nature of military competition during this period. The quarter-century before the war saw more qualitative advances, defined as technological innovations, than any previous era. The industrial revolution, for all its emphasis on mass production and efficient distribution, also created numerous opportunities for innovation, many of which were actively sought by military establishments. In fact, the pursuit of technological and tactical innovations had become integral to the dynamics of military competition by the turn of the century. Qualitative advances are, in other words, as much hallmarks of the prewar arms race as are its unprecedented numbers of weapons and personnel. As a result, this chapter gives equal attention to the quantitative and qualitative aspects of the prewar arms race. An arms race is defined here as a competition between two or more parties for military supremacy, which is sought by amassing a greater quantity or quality of weapons, or both. There is an ongoing debate as to whether such competitions tend to become ends in themselves, and the extent to which they then lead to war. An examination of the events of the arms race that preceded World War I suggests the race neither became an end in itself, nor led directly to war. Admittedly, the major competitors at times seemed to embrace the basic impulse to outpace their rivals militarily, thereby giving apparent credence to the idea that arms races tend to become ends in themselves. However, this basic impulse still generally served each of the major powers' larger political goals, which were as vague as they were inherently competitive.


In our country,the pollution released by automobiles has become an important factor of a city's air pollution.Therefore,Electric Vehicles(EV for short) has become the main stream of the development of cars in the 21st century due to its outstanding performance in environmental protection and resource saving.This paper first analyzes the marketing model of electric vehicles,and then introduces the Lotka-Volterra model for modeling and simulates the development and market demand of EV in the next decades with MATLAB.Finally,to take Beijing as an example,it predicts the development trend of electric vehicles in the next 20 years.


The realization of all-optical switching schemes is mostly hindered by the lack of suitable materials with a refractive index change that is large and fast enough. The characterization of the linear and nonlinear optical properties of potential materials is therefore of prime importance. Various characterization methods have been proposed and are employed, yielding different parameters of the nonlinear optical response at the involved laser frequencies. However, in most techniques the resulting nonlinearities are measured only at one point in the spectral dispersion. To generate the whole nonlinear spectra, the laser source has to be tuned over the desired wavelength range and consecutive measurements have to be taken. We propose and demonstrate here a novel technique to measure the nonlinear optical response for a broad wavelength region in a pump-probe scheme that requires no laser tuning. In order to detect the two-photon absorption at several wavelengths simultaneously, we use a white-light-continuum as the probe beam. As the pump beam is held constant, the Kramers-Kroenig transformation can be used to calculate the dispersion of the nonlinear refractive index from the two-photon spectra. By delaying the probe beam relative to the pump beam, the temporal behavior of the nonlinearity can be obtained.


Barbara, age 71, a hospice patient, was injured in a fall and was transferred to in-patient service. She agreed to participate in a project to evaluate the use of paintings to help those at the end of life narrate their journey toward death. When I arrived for our visit, Barbara was sitting up in bed. The TV was turned to a daytime news program, but she was not watching. Instead, she was staring beyond the screen. Without turning her head, she greeted me at the doorway with her eyes. As I introduced myself, she looked at the folder I was carrying and asked if it contained the paintings we had previously discussed. I opened the folder and handed Barbara five images of paintings. She was instructed to select an image that interested her, to look closely at the image (with assistance if necessary), reflect and respond to a series of verbal questions (followed by prompts if necessary). The objective was to use art images to facilitate communication about her experience of dying to better understand the role of spirituality in coping (Figure 1). Looking closely at the images, Barbara selected The Concert. Barbara's face revealed a short-lived, half smile. The tension in her face eased and the furrows in her brow relaxed as she responded to my question asking what she saw. "I see a beautiful little girl who's holding on to her doggie. Her warmth towards her dog. I just wanna say she's very attached to her dog. And wants to be with him." The image stimulated a memory, "We had dogs when we were little. And we went to church and our doggies sat in the front yard and waited for us to come home." Smiling, Barbara continued, "We had a collie very similar in color. And this dog resembles our dog." Aware of the contrast between Barbara's initial mood and the pleasure she seemed to experience when looking at The Concert, I asked Barbara if anything in this image raised thoughts about her illness. "I uh, no, I can't put that into words, no. Certain things I don't talk about." Hoping that I might persuade her to say more, despite her response, I asked, "Are you


ABSTRACT This article examines continuing appropriation of products and materials through the term 'local adequacy' and provides an alternative perspective on grassroots strategies of exercising control over technology by (re)connecting with the place of its making and using. To observe and document these strategies, we examine areas with challenging natural and infrastructural conditions, where local inhabitants collectively undertake creative action for building a comfortable living environment. Three cases in remote areas of Russia show that local adequacy is formed though identities reflected in both practical and symbolic value of products, competences that allow products to be used, maintained, and upgraded; and materials through which makers are included in a broader economic and technological context.


OBJECTIVE: To compare the impact of group outpatient visits to traditional "physician‐patient dyad" care among older chronically ill HMO members on health services utilization and cost, self‐reported health status, and patient and physician satisfaction.


This paper presents a novel approach to using con(cid:12)dence scores for word graph rescoring. For each word in the sys-tem's vocabulary, we computed the probability that the ob-servation is correct given its acoustic score. Afterwards, we used these probabilities for rescoring word graphs outputted by the recognizer. We will present some implementation details as well as accuracy improvements obtained using this method.


This study was performed to assess the perception and needs of the traditional Korean Medical Equipment (KME) in clinic. We conducted survey research among 15,550 traditional Korean medical doctors (KMD) responded to e-mail during 2 weeks. 899 participants the survey, consisting of questions regarding 'number of devices of the KME' and 'solution and improvement plan of the KME'. The participants were asked to choose their ranking of problems of the KME and also put a check mark in the column that the reasons for this choice. As results, final scores in priority ranking medical devices were derived in 7 categories. Physical therapy equipment and acupuncture treatment devices were included in high ranks. 42.8 % of the participants responded that the diagnostic medical devices seemed important in clinics and 67.4 % of the participants indicated that the therapeutic medical devices seemed to important in clinics. The identified problems of KME were 'low reproducibility and reliability of a diagnosis result (24.8%)' and 'uncertain validity of a diagnostic medical devices (20.5%)'. The improvement plan of the problems were 'to establish the law for using the medical devices (26.6%)' and 'evaluation of validity of the KME (26.2%)'. A survey of KMD revealed the condition of KME's number of devices and the solution plan for the problem of several KMEs. Understanding the needs of KMD could probably contribute to the research and development of KMEs in the future.


The dried products of spinach,pot herb mustard and carrot were obtained by hot air drying,vacuum drying and freeze-drying respectively,and the effects of the three drying methods on their qualities,such as rehydration properties,color and nutrition indexes,were studied. The results showed that the qualities of freeze-drying products are the best with puffed texture,the highest rehydration ratio and the better color. But the hot air drying products have poor quality properties,such as the lowest VC,caroteniods and chlorophylls contents and the biggest density. The quality of carrot product is better than that of spinach or pot herb mustard.


Each spring, quarter-drains (small ditches perpendicular to sugarcane rows) are reconditioned
to transfer runoff from furrows to main ditches. Bare soil surface in quarter-drains and
furrows are exposed to intense storms. Rainfall energy from these storms causes detachment of soil
particles and sediment transport from furrows through quarter drains to main ditches. Sediment
diminishes capacity of these structures, thus requiring cleanup and increasing maintenance cost. To
improve quarter drain function, an experiment was conducted to study effects of sugarcane residue
and Polyacrylamide (PAM) on a reduction of soil sediment from quarter-drains under natural weather
conditions in spring 2003. Based on four storm events, PAM was ineffective in reducing soil sediment
when compared with residue left. PAM effectiveness was inhibited by abnormally dry weather
conditions in spring, 2003 and was related to the polymer's chemical, photo, and mechanical
degradation. However, sugarcane residue left on the field significantly reduced soil sediment by 40%
in quarter-drains compared to residue removed by burning.


Mutations in mitochondrial DNA cause a variety of clinical phenotypes ranging from a mild hearing impairment (HI) to severe encephalomyopathy. The MT‐TS1 gene is a hotspot for mutations causing HI. The m.7510T>C mutation in MT‐TS1 has been previously associated with non‐syndromic HI in four families from different ethnic backgrounds.


Spin ices can now be fabricated in a variety of geometries which control their collective behavior and exotic properties. Therefore, their proper framework is graph theory. We relate spin ice notions such as ice rule, ice manifold, Coulomb phases, charges and monopoles, to graph-theoretical notions, such as balance, in/out-degrees, and Eulerianicity. We then propose a field-theoretical treatment in which topological charges and monopoles are the degrees of freedom while the binary spins are subsumed into entropic interaction among charges. We show that for a spin ice on a graph in a Gaussian approximation, the kernel of the entropic interaction is the inverse of the graph Laplacian, and we compute screening functions from the graph spectra as Green operators for the screened Poisson problem on a graph. We then apply the treatment on star graphs, tournaments, cycles, and regular spin ice in different dimensions.


Thank you very much for downloading texas traditions contemporary artists of the lone star state. As you may know, people have search hundreds times for their favorite readings like this texas traditions contemporary artists of the lone star state, but end up in malicious downloads. Rather than enjoying a good book with a cup of coffee in the afternoon, instead they juggled with some harmful bugs inside their computer.


In this paper we prove a homological stability theorem for the diffeomorphism groups of high dimensional manifolds with boundary, with respect to forming the boundary connected sum with the product $D^{p+1}\times S^{q}$ for $|q - p| < \min\{p, q\} - 2$. In a recent joint paper with Boris Botvinnik (see arXiv:1509.03359 ), we identify the homology of $colim_{g\to \infty}BDiff((D^{n+1}\times S^{n})^{\natural g}, \; D^{2n})$ with that of the infinite loopspace $Q_{0}BO(2n+1)\langle n\rangle_{+}$, in the case that $n \geq 4$. Combining this "stable homology" calculation with this paper's homological stability theorem enables one to compute the (co)homology groups of $BDiff((D^{n+1}\times S^{n})^{\natural g}, D^{2n})$ in degrees $k \leq \tfrac{1}{2}(g - 4)$. This leads to the determination of the characteristic classes in degrees $k \leq \tfrac{1}{2}(g - 4)$ for all smooth fibre-bundles with fibre diffeomorphic to $(D^{n+1}\times S^{n})^{\natural g}$.


Creativity bundled with entrepreneurial spirit and resulting innovations can be regarded as major prerequisites for the generation of sustainable competitive advantage as well as drivers of firms' R&D activities. Nevertheless, on a global scale, these three prerequisites are often hampered by inflexible organisational structures in global firms. The subsequent article will analyse the organisational structure of selected R&D intense firms of the pharmaceutical industry using social network analysis. The paper will present an in-depth analysis of the firms involved and examine to what extent they provide the proposed structures to foster creativity, innovation and entrepreneurial spirit. In order to analyse reciprocity, role differentiation and network architecture (all to be considered as elements of creative and innovative organisations), this paper focuses on the three pharmaceutical firms Roche, Novartis and GlaxoSmithKline. Results show that not all characteristics of a network organisation are present at the firms analysed.


Safety automation systems now can be completely integrated with the standard plant automation system - yielding a single platform to perform defined safety functions, meet safety standards, and efficiently operate the plant. In this scenario, both facets of the automation system are designed to accommodate all machine lifecycle tasks, including design, start-up, operation and maintenance. Moreover, this holistic approach can lead to opportunities for designing out hazards where possible, based on detailed risk assessments in the early stages of any project. It also can help speed maintenance processes.


Cloud cover has become a major problem in the use of optical satellite imageries, particularly in Indonesian region located along equator or tropical region with high cloud cover almost all year round. In this study, a new method for cloud and cloud shadow detection using Landsat imagery for specific Indonesian region was developed to provide a more efficient and effective way to detect clouds and cloud shadows. Landsat Top of Atmosphere (TOA) reflectance and Brightness Temperature (BT) were used as inputs into the model. The first step was to detect cloud based on cloud physical properties using albedo and thermal bands, the second step was to detect cloud shadows using the Near Infrared (NIR), and Short Wave Infrared (SWIR) bands, and finally, the geometric relationships were used to match the cloud and cloud shadow layer, before proceeding to the production of the final cloud and cloud shadow mask. The results were then compared with other method such as tree base cloud separation. It showed that method we proposed could provide better result than tree base method, the accuracy result of this method was 98.75%.


This paper presents a wide-range tunable/switchable low-loss SAW filter with a fractional tuning band of over 90%. A 3-D carrying construction with a bank of channel SAW filters is used. In this construction the channel SAW filters in the separate packages are located in an imaginary cylinder in the radial planes passing through a symmetry axis of this "cylinder". Bandpass tuning (switching) is performed by switching the channel SAW filter by means of RF switches. This filter contained 24 channels. Each channel contained a three-transducer low-loss SAW filter using unidirectional IDTs on U-shaped multistrip couplers (MSCs) on 64/spl deg/ YX LiNbO/sub 3/ with a 1-dB fractional bandwidth of 3.8%. An optimization of the tunable SAW filter was carried out using a computer simulation on the basis of the equivalent circuit model. The tunable SAW filter covered a frequency range from 68.4 to 182 MHz with an amplitude ripple of 1 dB, insertion loss about 3 dB, stopband attenuation about 40 dB. The filter required no matching elements and had sizes of 55/spl times/15 mm.


Pomegranate fruits were artificially infested with immature stages (eggs and larval instars) of peach fruit fly Bactrocera zonata and stored at 1.7oC for 14 days. Results showed that the effectiveness of cold treatment against B.zonata was demonstrated by 100% mortality in all immature stages. Also the results indicated that wonderful pomegranate fruits could be stored for 8 weeks (two weeks at 1.7oC plus six weeks at 10°C and RH 85-90%) as storage or shipping temperature. Fruits transferred directly from quarantine treatment to room temperature 25±2°C and RH 45-50% had shelf life of two weeks without chilling injury symptoms plus two weeks at 1.7oC. Concerning the data dealing with packing methods, carton box (5kilo) lined with perforated lifespan was the best in comparison with other methods.


Excessive centralization of population and industry as well as the increasing development of natural resources result in environmental pollution,destruction of ecological environment as well as worsening of living environment which in return restrain economic development of the rural areas of the West China.Such measures as establishing updated development ideas,protecting ideological environment in township planning,building green residential districts as well as developing ecological agriculture and industries have to be taken so as to improve living environment of the rural areas and promote economic development of the West Regions of China.


【Objective】 To explore the value of video-electroencephalogram(long-term video-VEEG)in diagnosis of epilepsy in childhood.【Method】 98 children diagnosed or suspected to be epilepsy were monitored with video-EEG instrument for 12~18 hours under the state of awaking and sleeping.【Results】 The positive rate of epileptiform discharges in patients with epilepsy was 91.8%(90/98),44 seizures(44.9%,44/98) were recorded.52 of them were diagnosed as generalized seizures(53.1%,52/98),43 of them were partial seizures(43.9%,43/98) and 3 of them were non-classified(3.0%,3/98) seizures according to clinical symptomatology before long-term video-EEG monitoring.However,32 of them were diagnosed as generalized seizures(32.7%,32/98),31 of them were partial seizures(61.2%,60/98) and 4 of them were non-classified(2.0%,2/98) seizures according to ictal or interictal VEEG monitoring.58 of their epileptic seizure types were consistent and 40 were inconsistent after VEEG monitoring.【Conclusion】 Clinical episodes with epileptiform discharge of long-term video-EEG monitoring have significant diagnostic value in classifying seizure types of children with epileptic seizure.


[Objective] To detect the chemical skin sensitization with BrdU ELISA.[Methods]The chemicals,namely DNCB,TCE,TAC,antibiosis colloid were laid on the dorsum of the bilateral mice ears(25μl/ear) for three consecutive days;then the mice received an intraperitoneal injection of BrdU(0.3 ml/mouse) on the fourth day;on the fifth day,the lymph nodes of the mice were removed and weighted,then made into cell suspension,the lymph cell proliferation was measured with BrdU ELISA method;meanwhile the skin sensitization of DNCB,TCE,TAC and antibiosis colloid were tested using the guinea pig Buehler test.[Results]Significant difference was found in the BrdU marker index between the DNCB and TCE groups of different concentration and the AOO solution control group(P0.01);significant difference was also found in the lymph nodes weight between the DNCB groups of different concentrations and the AOO solution control group(P0.01),but not between the TCE groups of different concentrations and the AOO solution control group(P0.05);no significant difference was found in the BrdU marker index of the antibiosis colloid group and the 1% and 5% TAC groups,but significant difference was found in the 10% TAC group(P0.05).[Conclusion] BrdU ELISA has the ability to detect the chemical skin sensitization,but the sensitivity is no better than the guinea pig Buehler test and the Standard Loca1 Lymph Node Assay.


In this paper, we present a novel distributed framework for real-time management and co-simulation of demand response (DR) in smart grids. Our solution provides a (near-) real-time co-simulation platform to validate new DR-policies exploiting Internet-of-Things approach performing software-in-the-loop. Hence, the behavior of real-world power systems can be emulated in a very realistic way and different DR-policies can be easily deployed and/or replaced in a plug-and-play fashion, without affecting the rest of the framework. In addition, our solution integrates real Internet-connected smart devices deployed at customer premises and along the smart grid to retrieve energy information and send actuation commands. Thus, the framework is also ready to manage DR in a real-world smart grid. This is demonstrated on a realistic smart grid with a test case DR-policy.


The electrolytic separation coefficient α has been determined for the chlorine isotope separation in the electrolysis of sodium chloride solutions at a platinum anode. Flotation of purified NaCl crystals in ethylene dibromide was employed as the analytical procedure in determining the isotopic composition of samples. Densities of the ethylene dibromide as a function of temperature were separately determined. The electrolytic separation factor for Cl isotopes was found to be 1.0060±0.0005 for the temperature range 25° to 40°C. No significant dependence on either temperature or current density was observed. The coefficient on platinum (1.0060±0.0005) agrees with the value on Acheson graphite (1.0068±0.0014) which may be computed from the data of Yacouban.


In this three part volume Finn Kapel presents us with 1) a brief biography of Fabricius, 2) a translation of his treatise on the seals of Greenland and, finally, 3) a refl ection on the contribution of Fabricius as a seal naturalist/scientist. I concur with Dr Kapel's belief that the key paper is the second one. This work on Greenland's pinnipeds has until now been available only in Danish and German and certainly deserves to be more widely read and acknowledged. However, the first and last chapters are also an interesting read and give a nice basis for evaluating the biological and ethnographic material presented in the volume's middle section, although now and again they are redundant. The book contains an interesting and eclectic collection of black and white illustrations including portraits, historical photographs, and technical and biological drawings.


Calorimetry, conductivity, IR and Raman studies of the two ionic-protonic conductors Rb2SeO4·Te(OH)6 (RbSeTe) and Rb1.12(NH4)0.88SO4·Te(OH)6 (RNST) have been recorded and analyzed. These compounds crystallize in the monoclinic system, the space groups being, respectively, P21/c and P21/a for (RbSeTe) and (RNST) with four formula units in their unit cells. The main feature of these atomic arrangements is the coexistence of two independent and different types of anions in the unit cell, connected by hydrogen bonds, which insure the cohesion of the crystalline edifice. Differential scanning calorimetry traces show three peaks for both the materials, corresponding to three phase transitions, at 430, 470 and 493 K for RbSeTe and at 418, 458 and 483 K for RNST. A sudden surge in the temperature dependence of conductivity confirms the presence of the third transition, which is characterized by a high conductivity. The Raman spectra of these two materials were investigated in the range 295–600 K and IR spectra achieved at room temperature between 10 and 4000 cm−1, confirm the presence of the phase transitions and show that anionic groups coexist independently in the same crystal.


In both organic and polymer synthesis, photochemistry of Charge Transfer Complexes (CTCs) is considered as a powerful approach to expand visible-light-driven radical chemistry reaction. We report herein on the development of a class of useful CTCs using pyridinium salts as efficient electron acceptors (combined with N, N, 3, 5-tetramethylaniline, TMA) to achieve a multi-wavelength (375-560 nm) metal-free LED photopolymerization process under mild conditions (open to air, without monomer purification and inhibitor removal). The UV-vis absorption spectra and molecular modeling simultaneously verified its potential blue-green absorbing wavelength range. Also, their good thermal initiation behavior at relatively low temperature makes it easier to achieve thick samples and/or polymerization in the shadow region in practice. More importantly, with excellent photoinitiating capability, the formulation was successfully applied to direct laser write (DLW) and high-resolution 3D printing, yielding series of objects with well-defined structures, such as letters, ring, solid square and chess piece. These new pyridinium salt acceptors further extend the applicability to visible photopolymerizable resins and additive-containing formulations for efficient surface and deep curing. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.


The Hartbeesfontein basin is one basin within the Late Archaean rift system of South Africa. This rift system has been recently compared to the Basin and Range province in western North America and may therefore be an ensialic extensional back-arc basin. Structurally, the Hartbeesfontein basin is a half-graben structure bounded to the south-east by a major, normal, listric fault and to the north-east and south-west by strike-slip (transfer?) fault zones. It is infilled by over 2000 m of diamictites, shales, lavas and chemical sediments. Initial basin formation appears to be accompanied by phreatomagmatic volcanic activity caused by the interaction between basic tholeiitic magmas rising along fractures and groundwater. Volcaniclastic debris from these eruptions was incorporated into laharic debris flows and deposited on basin marginal alluvial fans. At the same time a deep, permanent lake formed within the basin in which silts and muds accumulated. Major fissure eruptions of basic, tholeiitic lavas followed, their eruptive centres being apparently located along the strike-slip (transfer?) fault /ones. Initially, these fissure eruptions had high rates of magma discharge accompanied by intense fire fountaining that resulted in the rapid accumulation of aa type flows. Later lava discharge rates decreased and more quiescent pahoehoe type flows were erupted. Localized centres of acid volcanism within the basic lava pile were located along the south-western strike-slip fault zone. These acid volcanic rocks are interpreted as co-ignimbrite lag breccias and pyroclastic flow deposits and tuffs produced by the repeated formation and collapse of Plinian eruption columns. Towards the top of the basic lava pile, two breaks in volcanism permitted the formation of dolomitic playa lakes. Sedimentation in these lakes was terminated by further basic lava flows. At the top of the basin fill sequence is a thick, bedded chert interpreted as a magadiitic, alkaline playa lake fed by silica-rich hot springs located along the south-eastern edge of the basin. Quartzites and conglomerates deposited by braided rivers unconformably overlie the basin-fill sequence and probably represent a through flowing river system signifying termination of the Hartbeesfontein basin as a separate basin. The Hartbeesfontein basin and its fill demonstrate that a close relationship exists between fissure volcanism, sedimentation and basin evolution and that the strike-slip, transfer faults acted as the loci of volcanic activity.


Book Citations: Authors, Title, HemaSphere, 2023;7(S3):pages. The individual abstract DOIs can be found at https://journals.lww.com/hemasphere/pages/default.aspx. Disclaimer: Articles published in the journal HemaSphere exclusively reflect the opinions of the authors. The authors are responsible for all content in their abstracts including accuracy of the facts, statements, citing resources, etc. 3450 between the cfDNA and CTCs samples. The patient has not relapsed to date (Figure 1B). Summary/Conclusion: -A method for quantification of EMR by NGS has been optimised using liquid biopsy techniques in acute myeloid leukaemia. -This method is applicable using CTCs (leukocyte DNA) as well as cfDNA (circulating DNA in plasma). -A good correlation of the results of cfDNA and CTCs has been observed, with a predominance of cases with higher sensitivity in cfDNA. HemaSphere | 2023;7(S3) EHA2023 Hybrid Congress Copyright Information: (Online) ISSN: 2572-9241 © 2023 the Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. on behalf of the European Hematology Association. This is an open access Abstract Book distributed under the Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND) which allows third parties to download the articles and share them with others as long as they credit the author and the Abstract Book, but they cannot change the content in any way or use them commercially. Abstract Book Citations: Authors, Title, HemaSphere, 2023;7(S3):pages. The individual abstract DOIs can be found at https://journals.lww.com/hemasphere/pages/default.aspx.Book Citations: Authors, Title, HemaSphere, 2023;7(S3):pages. The individual abstract DOIs can be found at https://journals.lww.com/hemasphere/pages/default.aspx. Disclaimer: Articles published in the journal HemaSphere exclusively reflect the opinions of the authors. The authors are responsible for all content in their abstracts including accuracy of the facts, statements, citing resources, etc. 3451


Purpose: We analyzed cases of advanced gastric cancer (AGC) by using two nodal stagings, UICC and Japanese systems. We also analyzed cases of UICC N3M0 by different ways to see which nodal system or group had better prognostic power. Materials and Methods: From Feb. 1990 to May 2000, 197 UICC M0 patients of AGC who had undergone curative resection were analyzed by using the nodal stagings of the UICC and the Japanese systems. Also, 58 patients with UICC N3M0 gastric cancer were analyzed by using the Japanese n-staging, metastatic ratio and the metastatic number Results: The 5-year survival rates were 62.9%, 33.0% and 21.2% for UICC N1, N2 and N3, and 61.2% and 25.3% for Japanese n1 and n2, respectively in patients of N3M0 AGC, the 5-year survival rates were 62.5% for Japanese n1, and 33.0% and 22.9% for metastatic ratios of less than 0.5 and metastatic numbers below 26, respectively significantly better than the 5-year survival rates for higher ratios and numbers (P=0.018, 0.021). Conclusion: UICC N staging of gastric cancer has better prognostic power with differentiation between stages than Japanese n staging. In patients with UICC N3M0 gastric cancer, the metastatic ratio and the metastatic number, as well as the Japanese n staging, were valuable prognostic factors.


Understanding heart development at a molecular level is a prerequisite for uncovering the causes of congenital heart diseases. Such knowledge can also greatly benefit therapeutic approaches that try to enhance cardiac regeneration or that involve the differentiation of resident cardiac progenitor cells. Wnt proteins have been shown to play multiple roles during cardiac development. They are extracellular growth factors that activate different intracellular signaling branches. Here,we summarize our current understanding of how these factors affect different aspects of cardiogenesis,from early specification of cardiac progenitors to later developmental steps,such as remodeling processes.


Dr. Desai, Senior Vice President of Project Management was taking a sip of tea, while sitting in his cabin. And he was thinking about his journey in XYZ Generic Company from Jan, 2011 to Jul-2013. For wrapping of NCE-1 project XXX tablet submission within due date and for successfully establishing PM Dept. of India operation he had got a lot of appreciation. Even though in terms of timeline he managed to make the submission happened in right time, but he was thoughtful whether this product will be approved in time, whether it's going to match the expectation of Reviewer of OGD (FDA) and how he will architect his journey for several other products, which are in pipeline.


The problem of transport with possible solute binding and consumption is considered for membranes in series, as well as other multilaminar media, in which transport and reaction processes are linear and time invariant. By analogy with electrical networks, the properties of a membrane are summarized by an admittance (or alternatively, impedance) matrix that relates fluxes to concentrations on either side of the membrane


The aim of this study is to reveal the relationship between individual social responsibilities and personal values of primary school and music teacher candidates on the basis of gender, school grade and department variables. Survey model among quantitative methods was used in the research. The research sample consist of 162 (69.8%) primary school teacher candidates and 70 (30.2%) music teacher candidates receiving education in Adnan Menderes University Faculty of Education. 146 (62.9%) of the participants are female, and 86 (37.1%) were male teacher candidates. Also 104 (44.8%) freshman and 128 (55.2%) senior students were joined into the research. Questionnaire on Individual Social Responsibility and Questionnaire on Personal values were used as data collection tools. SPSS 21.00 statistics software was used for data analysis. Due to the normal distribution of data, t-test and one-way analysis of variance were conducted, then Pearson correlation coefficients were calculated and regression analysis was performed. According to the obtained findings, personal values total scores of the participating teacher candidates did not significantly differ based on their gender and department, whereas they significantly differed in a school-grade based evaluation. The individual social responsibility total scores of the teacher candidates did not show a statistically significant difference on the basis of gender. Individual social responsibility levels were found to differ significantly based on school grade and department variables. Statistically significant positive and low level (between .18 and .39) correlations were found between the teacher candidates' social responsibilities and academic average and personal values subscales.


Introduction: Genomic profiling of tumors is an important clinical tool for biomarker discovery and therapy selection. Tumor profiling often relies on formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissue which is challenging because of fragmentation, cross-linking, and nucleotide modifications that arise from the fixation process. AVENIO Tumor Tissue Analysis Kits (For Research Use Only. Not for use in diagnostic procedures) provide an end-to-end solution for FFPE tumor tissue genomic profiling using hybrid-capture next-generation sequencing (NGS). Three panel options (Targeted, Expanded, and Surveillance Kits) provide flexibility in gene coverage with accurate detection of four major types of cancer mutations: single nucleotide variants (SNVs), insertions/deletions (indels), fusions and copy number variations (CNVs). AVENIO Tumor Tissue Analysis Kits were verified and validated on the Illumina NextSeq 500/550 sequencers but there is a need to show comparable performance on alternative NGS platforms. Confirmation of equivalent performance on the HiSeq 4000 allows for sequencing of up to sixteen multiplexed library pools, and simultaneous sequencing of samples analyzed using the AVENIO Tumor Tissue Analysis Kits and the AVENIO ctDNA Analysis Kits. Methods: In this study, we compared the performance of the three panel options for the AVENIO Tumor Tissue Analysis Kits (For Research Use Only. Not for use in diagnostic procedures) across three Illumina NGS platforms: Illumina NextSeq 500, Illumina HiSeq 4000, and Illumina HiSeq 2500. Ninety libraries containing variants at targeted limit of detection (5% allele frequency for SNV, Fusions, and Indels, and 4-5 copies for CNV) were prepared, sequenced, and analyzed using an internal analysis pipeline equivalent to the commercially available AVENIO Oncology Analysis Software. The total number of reads per sample were normalized across sequencers, and sequencing metrics and variant calls were compared. Results: The libraries that were prepared using the AVENIO Tumor Tissue Analysis Kits (For Research Use Only. Not for use in diagnostic procedures) and sequenced on the Nextseq 500 demonstrate sensitivities of >99% for SNVs, >99% for Indels, >99% for CNVs, and >99% for Fusions and >99% specificity for all variant types. We found that overall sensitivity and specificity performance were comparable when the samples were subsampled at the same level across the three Illumina platforms. Key sequencing metrics such as sequencing depth, on-target rate, error rate, and uniformity were also similar across the platforms. This study demonstrates that the high assay performance of the AVENIO Tumor Tissue Analysis Kits is consistent across multiple Illumina sequencing platforms. Citation Format: Isabel Soto, Lewyn Li, Cindy Choi, Garima Kushwaha, Jingchuan Li, Bosun Min, Laura Qin, Seng Salee, Liang Feng, Gregory Turenchalk, Jing Li. AVENIO Tumor Tissue Analysis Kits performance across Illumina sequencing platforms [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2019; 2019 Mar 29-Apr 3; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2019;79(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 755.


Agarwood or eaglewood is a trading name of a solid resin from the two genera Aquilaria and Gyrinops which belongs to the Thymeleacea. The declining population of agarwood in natural forests placed the commodity regulated in Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). Indonesia as one of the habitats of those two genera and also the main exporting country of agarwood has an interest in ensuring the sustainability of agarwood. This study aims to provide an updated habitat of agarwood-producing trees and to estimate the potential density of the agarwood species. Research conducted in the forest of Natural Tourism Park of Beriat, West Papua, showed that Aquilaria filaria grows well in the forest. Five adult individuals were found in karst forest where 72% were dominated by small trees (DBH <20 cm). In terms of forest communities, Aquilaria's basal area reaches 1.9% of the total basal area and has a low importance value of 0.016 in the first dimension of Principal Component Analysis (PCA). The overall potential for agarwood-producing trees was estimated to be only around 2.50 and 2.89 for tree and seedling per hectare, respectively. The potential density is decreased when compared to the estimated density carried out 20 years ago which was estimated at around 4.33 trees per hectare. Efforts to protect agarwood, one of which is by determining trade quotas, need to be carried out optimally in order to minimize the decline in agarwood populations in their natural forests.


[Objective]To evaluate diagnostic value of color Doppler imaging(CDFI)technology in coronary artery fistula and explore its clinical significance.[Methods]Carried out Color Doppler imaging technology,through the expansion of the coronary arteries show multiple facets and careful observation to find the heart cavity of the fistula,and regularity of image features.[Results]Significant coronary artery was found,the fistula was at the circular echo-free zone,within the heart chambers or pulmonary artery fistula Color Doppler flow imaging showed abnormal blood flow beam signals.In 13 patients with coronary artery fistula,3 patients were the left coronary artery fistula(25%),10 cases were right coronary artery(76.9%).Most were the right coronary artery fistula,fewer were left coronary artery fistula.1 case was ventricular septal defect,1 case was aortic valve insufficiency.[Conclusion]Color Doppler imaging for coronary artery fistula has the image features and the regularity of certain diagnostic value.


In North Inlet, a tidally dominated salt‐marsh estuary near Georgetown, South Carolina, the summer chlorophyll maximum correlates with an annual peak in ambient NH4+ concentration. This relationship suggests that phytoplankton population growth during the summer bloom is limited by factors other than nutrient supply, because NH4+ is the major inorganic nitrogen source available to phytoplankton in North Inlet, and phosphorus should not be limiting (N:P is generally ~7). We tested the hypothesis that phytoplankton population growth during the bloom was controlled by grazing. Natural samples were incubated in treatments designed to differentiate between nutrient and grazing effects, and time‐course changes in total phytoplankton biomass and phototrophic community composition were followed. Marked seasonal differences were observed in the relative contribution of pica‐, nano‐, or microplankton to phytoplankton community biomass, as well as the mechanisms controlling phytoplankton population growth. During the summer bloom, phototrophic picoplankton (mostly Synechococcus spp.) and nanoplankton (mostly flagellates) were relatively abundant, and phytoplankton population growth was unaffected by NH4+ addition, but was greatly stimulated by dilution that reduced microzooplankton grazing pressure. During the winter, when diatoms dominated the phytoplankton, the response to dilution was relatively minor, while NH4+ addition significantly stimulated the growth of various phytoplankton groups and total chlorophyll. The results indicate a seasonal transition in microbial food‐web trophic structure and regulation in North Inlet estuary. During the summer, microzooplankton grazing is an important factor regulating phytoplankton population growth during the nanoflagellate‐ prevalent bloom, whereas in the winter, a diatom‐dominated community is limited by nutrient supply.


The palladium-catalyzed hydrogenolysis of 7-chloro-7-fluoro-1-phenyl-, 7-fluoro-1-phenyl-, and 7,7-difluoro-1-phenylbicyclo[4.1.0]heptane was investigated. The hydrogenolysis of the cyclopropane ring occurs at the C1–C6 bond selectively, accompanied by the elimination of the endo-halogen. The hydrogenolysis of endo-7-fluoro-1-phenylbicyclo[4.1.0]heptane proceeded rapidly to give phenylcycloheptane as a sole product, whereas exo-7-fluoro-1-phenylbicyclo[4.1.0]heptane reacted slowly to give trans-1-fluoro-2-phenylcycloheptane, accompanied by a small amount of the C1–C7 bond-cleaved product. The different reactivity between the endo and exo derivatives became more considerably by the introduction of a methyl group at the 2-position. Thus, with the compounds having 2-methyl group the endo-fluoro derivative was cleaved at the C1–C6 bond accompanied by the C1–C7 bond cleavage, whereas the exo-fluoro derivative was cleaved at the C1–C7 bond exclusively.


C18H12Br2S3, monoclinic, P121/c1 (no. 14), a = 11.948(2) Å, b = 7.985(1) Å, c = 19.863(3) Å, * = 105.998(2)°, V = 1821.6 Å, Z = 4, Rgt(F) = 0.037, wRref(F) = 0.100, T = 296 K. Source of material 2,3-Bis(5-bromo-3-methylthiophen-2-yl)benzo[b]thiophene was synthesized by bromination of 2,3-bis(3-methylthiophen-2yl)benzo[b]thiophene, which was obtained according to our early published method [1]. To a stirred solution of 2,3bis(3-methylthiophen-2-yl)benzo[b]thiophene (90 mg, 0.276 mmol) in acetic acid (20.mL) and chloroform (20 mL) at 0°C, N-bromosuccinimide (NBS) (117.6 mg, 0.662 mol) was slowly added. The reaction mixture was stirred for 3 h at 0 °C in the dark. After filtered, the filtrate was neutralized and extracted with ether. The ether extract was washed with water, saturated NaCl, dried over Mg2SO4, filtered and concentrated. Column chromatography on silica gel with petroleum ether afforded 123 mg of the target compound in 92 % yield. Colorless block-shaped single crystals suitable for X-ray diffraction was obtained by slow evaporation of its solution in hexane. NMR data are available in the CIF. Experimental details All H atoms attached to C were fixed geometrically and treated as riding with d(C—H) = 0.96 Å (methyl) or 0.93 Å (aromatic) with Uiso(H) = 1.5 Ueq(methyl) or Uiso(H) = 1.2 Ueq(aromatic).


Due to the current COVID-19 situation world wide, the tourism industry has been heavily im pacted worldwide. Chatbots help to minimise the spread of the virus, by limiting physical interac tion, whilst help to promote the industry and make available tourism information in an accessible fa miliar manner. This paper aims to analyse the vari ous aspects of the tourism industry and identify the gaps that need to be addressed in order to improve the customer experiences in Mauritius. The aim was deploy a tourism information chatbot that will provide the necessary information and recommen dations to tourists coming to Mauritius and attract potential tourists plan their next trip in a few steps, using off-the-shelf technologies. The main advan tage of the developed Chatbot is that is built on off the shelf technologies (Rasa, Telegram, etc), but with the ability to be further extended with APIs. Thus the chatbot developed exhibits a number of innovations for a Tourism chatbot, such as Google search, weather acquisition based on location and COVID-19 statistics.


The recent push to adopt building information modeling (BIM) for bridges and structures in the transportation industry has encountered major barriers owing to the lack of standardization. Unlike the building industry that has the National BIM Standard®–United States (NBIMS-US™) as a formal open platform standard and guide for the development of interoperable BIM software, the transportation industry does not currently have a similar open platform standard to enable the creation of interoperable BIM software to serve the needs of transportation stakeholders. The purpose of this paper is to present the findings of the research for one of the first use cases and development of data exchange requirements and model view definitions in adopting the open platform NBIMS-US applied to bridges and structures for the U.S. transportation industry. A subcommittee of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials and the National Steel Bridge Alliance Steel Bridge Collaboration was formed to conduct a pilot study into the creation of information delivery manuals (IDMs) for steel bridges. This study served as pilot for the development of future IDMs in the transportation industry. As a result, the current IDM for Steel Bridge Detailing and Fabrication serves as the starting point of TPF-5(372) BIM for Bridges and Structures development of the Design to Fabrication model view definition. Finally, this study provided the outcomes and recommendations needed to expedite the development of IDMs for other use cases in the bridge and transportation industry.


HgCl2 (40 µM) initially activates an anion-independent unidirectional Na+ influx in Ehrlich ascites tumor cells, which amounts to 61 ± 7 µmol·g dry wt-1 min-1 (± SEM, n = 5). The unidirectional Na+ influx in control cells in 13 ± 2 µmol·dry wt-1 • min-1 (± SEM, n = 5). The HgCl2-activated Na+ influx is slightly inhibited by amiloride (inhibitor of Na+/H+ exchange), but almost completely blocked by the anion-exchange inhibitor DIDS (4,4'-diisothiocyano-2,2'-stilbenedisulfonic acid). HgCl2 also causes DIDS-sensitive cytoplasmic acidification followed by DIDS-sensitive cytoplasmic alkalinization. After addition of HgCl2 the cells initially shrink, whereupon they swell again. Half-maximal effect of HgCl2 is obtained with about 0.5 and 1 µM HgCl2 on cell swelling and cell shrinkage, respectively. The volume responses are both reduced in the presence of DIDS. The unidirectional K+ and Cl– effluxes are greatly stimulated by HgCl2. The stimulation of K+ efflux results in a Cl--dependent net loss of K+. In Cl– medium the K+ loss is 84 ± 11 µmol·g dry wt–1 • min–1 ( ± SEM, n = 6). In NO–3 medium, it is reduced to 24 ± 6 µmol·g dry wt-1 • min-1 ( ± SEM, n = 4). The HgCl2 activated K+ efflux in Cl– medium is reduced to 21 ± 6 µmol·g dry wt–1 • min–1 ( ± SEM, n = 3) by DIDS. Finally, an instantaneous hyperpolarization of the cell membrane potential was observed after addition of HgCl2. It is concluded that HgCl2 in Ehrlich cells activates (i) a DIDS-sensitive, Na+-dependent anion exchange system; (ii) a DIDS-sensitive and anion-dependent K+ transport system, and (iii) K+ channels.


Departments of Engineering are preparing for the new accreditation standards under ABET 2000. The flexibility inherent in the way in which engineering departments address the needs of engineers can be both exciting and uncomfortable. Some departments may see the above flexibility as too vague and therefore suspect. The area of communication may be one of the problem areas because a typical response from engineering faculty may still be, "I am not an English teacher!" The lack of specific requirements may make faculty feel that they will be forced into teaching topics or skills that may not be comfortable for them. This paper focuses on an ongoing study of attitudes and concerns toward communication begun recently in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Michigan State University. Students and faculty are being asked to comment on areas of concern in communication, areas that have received little or no attention or areas that seem to be purposely avoided. The first stage of this study has been completed. A report on the survey's findings is introduced along with how those findings will be used to adapt the curriculum. Specific activities will be explained in connection with skill acquisition. A look at the elements that will be refined for continued polling will also be included. It is hoped that by addressing the general problems experienced by both writers and speakers in the engineering curriculum, a foundation will be formed upon which a system for improved communication skill in engineering can be


We aim mainly at presenting two generalizations of the well-known Gauss's second summation theorem and Bailey's formula for the series . An interesting transformation formula for is obtained by combining our two main results. Relevant connections of some special cases of our main results with those given here or elsewhere are also pointed out.


SUMMARY This paper draws upon the findings of a body of recent research in early childhood education to explore the possibilities that may be available to overcome structural inequalities associated with socio-economic class, gender and ethnicity in the early years. Research has shown that preschool education makes a real difference for all children and that provisions made by practitioners to cater for diversity are especially effective in overcoming disadvantage. The home education environment also makes a difference where parents or other carers in the home are aware of the contribution that they can make to children's early intellectual and social/behavioural development. Even families who are otherwise disadvantaged can support good learning outcomes where they have provided a high quality home learning environment (HLE). Research clearly highlights the need to support parents in improving some aspects of the HLE, in particular for boys. Much more generally it can be seen that there is now an urgent need to develop further inservice training for developing and monitoring provision for diversity and to encourage the development of strong parental partnerships focused on young children's learning.


Fundamental aspects of X-ray crystal truncation rod scattering from crystal surfaces are reviewed The use of imaging plate which has been developed by Fuji-film Co. as a two dimenssional digital recorder is shown to have several advantages for the measurement of the CTR scattering. The possible applications of this scattering to the characterization of the surface of semi-conductor crystals are presented


Entrepreneurship education is a complex topic that can be discussed from a variety of perspectives. One key question in the discussion concerns how one can adapt the general core principles of entrepreneurship education, many of which are closely linked to business education, to other academic areas that currently lack this type of education. This article discusses the challenges of developing a model of entrepreneurship education for the creative industries sector. Focusing specifically on film and media arts education, the authors examine the results of a qualitative and quantitative study of both industrial and educational (teachers and students) stakeholders' perceptions of the relevance and role of entrepreneurship education in this field. In light of the results of the study, the authors propose a strategy and methodology for entrepreneurship education for the creative industries.


Teodor Banica, Universite Paul Sabatier (Toulouse III) Random walks on discrete quantum groups Abstract: We consider random walks on various quantum algebraic objects quantum permutation groups, discrete quantum groups, subfactor graphs with a few explicit calculations of associated probability measures. Dietmar Bisch, Vanderbilt University We consider random walks on various quantum algebraic objects quantum permutation groups, discrete quantum groups, subfactor graphs with a few explicit calculations of associated probability measures. Dietmar Bisch, Vanderbilt University A Notion of Free Product for Planar Algebras Abstract: The Fuss-Catalan algebras, discovered by Jones and myself, are the fundamental symmetries associated to a subfactor whenever an intermediate subfactor is present. These algebras arise as certain ``free products'' of Temperley-Lieb algebras when viewed as planar algebras. In general, the dimension generating function of a free product planar algebra can be computed via Voiculescu's free multiplicative convolution. Florin Boca, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign The Fuss-Catalan algebras, discovered by Jones and myself, are the fundamental symmetries associated to a subfactor whenever an intermediate subfactor is present. These algebras arise as certain ``free products'' of Temperley-Lieb algebras when viewed as planar algebras. In general, the dimension generating function of a free product planar algebra can be computed via Voiculescu's free multiplicative convolution. Florin Boca, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Some Statistical Problems Related to the Equation ad-bc=1 Abstract: We will present some results concerning the spacing statistics of the Farey sequence and the limiting distribution of the linear flow on the punctured 2-torus (joint work with Zaharescu), and on the distribution of reduced quadratic irrational numbers. The last topic is related to the continued fractionalgorithm and to certain number-theoretic spin chain models in thermodynamics. In this framework we will introduce a certainC*-algebra that is related to irrational rotation algebras. Ken Dykema, Texas A&M University Multilinear function series and transforms in free probability theory Abstract: We consider the algebra of formal multilinear function series, analogous to formal power series over an algebra, and we show that the Ran S-transforms in free probability theory have unsymmetrized versions inthis setting. Alex Furman, University of Illinois at Chicago Measure Equivalence and rigidity of higher rank lattices Abstract: Measure Equivalence of groups can be viewed as either measurable analogue of quasi-isometries or as a convenient framework for the study of Orbit Equivalence of free, probability measure-preserving group actions. In this We will present some results concerning the spacing statistics of the Farey sequence and the limiting distribution of the linear flow on the punctured 2-torus (joint work with Zaharescu), and on the distribution of reduced quadratic irrational numbers. The last topic is related to the continued fractionalgorithm and to certain number-theoretic spin chain models in thermodynamics. In this framework we will introduce a certainC*-algebra that is related to irrational rotation algebras. Ken Dykema, Texas A&M University Multilinear function series and transforms in free probability theory Abstract: We consider the algebra of formal multilinear function series, analogous to formal power series over an algebra, and we show that the Ran S-transforms in free probability theory have unsymmetrized versions inthis setting. Alex Furman, University of Illinois at Chicago Measure Equivalence and rigidity of higher rank lattices Abstract: Measure Equivalence of groups can be viewed as either measurable analogue of quasi-isometries or as a convenient framework for the study of Orbit Equivalence of free, probability measure-preserving group actions. In this context we shall focus on rigidity phenomena of higher rank lattices. Shamindra Ghosh, University of New Hampshire Representations of a Planar Algebra Abstract: This talk will describe `representations of a planar algebra' in the sense of Vaughan Jones and classification of the irreducible ones according to their weights. To every representation of a planar algebra, one can associate a power series called `dimension'. We will show that the radius of convergence of the dimension of any irreducible representation of a finite depth planar algebra is at least as big as the inverse-square of the modulus of the planar algebra. Pinhas Grossman, UC Berkeley Intermediate Subfactors with No Extra Structure Abstract: This talk will present joint work with Vaughan Jones on classifying quadrilaterals of II_1 factors which have "no extra structure", in the sense that the standard invariants of the elementary inclusions are Temperley-Lieb algebras. It turns out that there are only two possibilities for the planar algebra of a noncommuting quadrilateral with no extra structure. Adrian Ioana, UCLA Amalgamated Free Products of w-rigid Factors and Calculation of their Symmetry Groups, part II Abstract: We present several unique decomposition results (\'a la Bass-Serre) for amalgamated free products of w-rigid factors. We apply this to prove rigidity results for isomorphisms between such factors and to explicitly calculate their symmetry groups, i.e. their fundamental groups and automorphism groups. This is joint work with Jesse Peterson and Sorin Popa. Kenley Jung, UCLA We present several unique decomposition results (\'a la Bass-Serre) for amalgamated free products of w-rigid factors. We apply this to prove rigidity results for isomorphisms between such factors and to explicitly calculate their symmetry groups, i.e. their fundamental groups and automorphism groups. This is joint work with Jesse Peterson and Sorin Popa. Kenley Jung, UCLA Some free entropy dimension inequalities for subfactors of finite index Abstract: Given an inclusion of $II_1$-factors $N \subset M$ and a finite generating set $F$ for $N$ we construct finite generating sets $X$ for $N$ and $Y$ for $M$ such that $\delta_0(X) geq \delta_0(Y)$ where $\delta_0$ denotes Voiculescu's microstates free entropy dimension. Applying this result to the basic construction yields a lower bound for $\delta_0(Y)$ in terms of $\delta_0(X)$ and $[M:N]$. We apply these results to obtain certain nonisomorphism theorems. Yasuyuki Kawahigashi, University of Tokyo Classification of extensions in algebraic quantum field theory and vertex operator algebras Abstract: We will explain how to study local and non-local extensions of local nets of factors on the circle. Relations of this problem to classification of diffeomorphism covariant nets with c < 1, boundary conformal field theory, the Goodmande la Harpe-Jones subfactors, and vertex operator algebras such as the moonshine VOA are presented. This is joint work with Roberto Longo. Wolfgang Lück, Universität Münster Middle algebraic K-theory of von Neumann algebras, group C^*-algebras and group rings Abstract: We compute the lower and middle algebraic K-groups of von Neumann algebras. Since K-groups commute with finite products, it suffices to treat the various types separately. The middle K-groups vanish if the type is different from I_f or II_1. The groups can be computed in this cases via center valued traces and certain determinants. We use this to study the corresponding K-groups for group C^*-algebras and group rings. In particular it is interesting to study the passage from the integral group ring to the complex group ring, to the reduced group C^*-algebra and finally to the group von Neumann algebra. Given an inclusion of $II_1$-factors $N \subset M$ and a finite generating set $F$ for $N$ we construct finite generating sets $X$ for $N$ and $Y$ for $M$ such that $\delta_0(X) geq \delta_0(Y)$ where $\delta_0$ denotes Voiculescu's microstates free entropy dimension. Applying this result to the basic construction yields a lower bound for $\delta_0(Y)$ in terms of $\delta_0(X)$ and $[M:N]$. We apply these results to obtain certain nonisomorphism theorems. Yasuyuki Kawahigashi, University of Tokyo Classification of extensions in algebraic quantum field theory and vertex operator algebras Abstract: We will explain how to study local and non-local extensions of local nets of factors on the circle. Relations of this problem to classification of diffeomorphism covariant nets with c < 1, boundary conformal field theory, the Goodmande la Harpe-Jones subfactors, and vertex operator algebras such as the moonshine VOA are presented. This is joint work with Roberto Longo. Wolfgang Lück, Universität Münster Middle algebraic K-theory of von Neumann algebras, group C^*-algebras and group rings Abstract: We compute the lower and middle algebraic K-groups of von Neumann algebras. Since K-groups commute with finite products, it suffices to treat the various types separately. The middle K-groups vanish if the type is different from I_f or II_1. The groups can be computed in this cases via center valued traces and certain determinants. We use this to study the corresponding K-groups for group C^*-algebras and group rings. In particular it is interesting to study the passage from the integral group ring to the complex group ring, to the reduced group C^*-algebra and finally to the group von Neumann algebra. Matilde Marcolli, Max-Planck Institute Bonn KMS states and complex multiplication Abstract: In this joint work with A.Connes and N.Ramachandran, we construct a quantum statistical mechanical system that generalizes the Bost-Connes system to imaginary quadratic fields K of arbitrary class number and fully incorporates the explict class field theory for such fields. This system admits the Dedekind zeta function as partition function and the Idele class group as group of symmetries. The extremal KMS states at zero temperature intertwine this symmetry with the Ga