: This article presents Finnish educational changes in the context of The Nordic Model of Social Democracy improved since 1963 versus English model of Neoliberal Democracy based on conservatism since 1979 with its roots in the late eighteenth century in Europe. The reform of education in Finland was supported by a new curriculum and different methods of teaching. In 1963 students started to have an access to the highest-quality education and it was not related to students' place of living, richness or annual income. On the other side in England, privatization and centralization were the main pillars of the reform with neoliberalism, neoconservatism and its market competition in education. The central government was responsible for the provision of educational services, educational policy, and planning the direction of the educational system. Teachers faced an ultimatum: "either submit to re-education or lose your job" (Jones, p. 43). The 1988 reform strengthened the ideological control of education and accelerated differentiation between schools.


Certainly one would think that after ten years of operation, it is time to measure the effects of the contract compliance program. The tragedy, however, is that during that ten-year period insufficient resources were allocated to study the processes necessary to make the program work and to assist the Office of Federal Contract Compliance (OFCC) in refining or developing processes that would ensure effectiveness. At no time, to my knowledge, have resources been allocated to assist the OFCC in exploring concepts vitally necessary for the program's success or in solving administrative problems. One might speculate that with the limited resources put into establishing effective administration and solving program problems, any revealed effectiveness would be accidental. It is as if the program is being evaluated without regard to the process. In addition to the fact that the allocation of research resources by the federal government has been negligible, the limited yield one might expect from a symposium of this sort seems to me to be in jeopardy. Written with only the technical economist in mind, the major papers on the effects of the program fall roughly into two categories. (1) documentation of the relative ineptness of the OFCC as an administrative or enforcement arm to implement the executive order, and


We present a proposal for a system of sustainable construction that allows maintaining the life under the natural world. The proposed system uses wood from "profit", that means, waste from outside the standard commercial. These wastes are usually burned in the open fire perennial causing release of large quantities of CO2, the main greenhouse gas effect. In this system the recovery is pasted to form the parts of the building (walls, ceilings, tiles, etc.) allowing a pre-molded construction site in the works clean and boost the economy in the world for this technology is the strong commitment it has environmental preservation coupled with technological development.


Increased security has slowed the flow of goods and people and increased frustration of businesses and travelers. These disruptions are serious because they threaten to undermine economic opportunities in border regions, erode social ties and weaken competitiveness in the highly integrated North American economy. Those most affected by border changes are the border user groups generally situated in border communities. These groups have the greatest experience with the border and are most aware of the variability of border policies and management practices. These groups, referred to as stakeholders in this study, are in a unique position because of their proximity to border functions and operations. Thus, it is reasonable to assume that their opinions and ideas should merit careful consideration as continuing and new efforts to improve border policy move forward. Few studies have systematically focused on the attitudes and perspectives of border stakeholders. The purpose of this study is to examine border stakeholders' perspectives on the state of border management and how it might be improved in the future. Border management refers to the carrying out of border functions, which for the most part relate to policing and securitizing territorial space. Although the researchers' focus is primarily the land and sea boundary which bisects the Cascade Corridor region in the Pacific northwest of North America, border management functions also occur away from the border at sites such as airports, highway checkpoints and inland marine ports. Border management functions are carried out primarily, but not exclusively, by officials representing the US and Canadian governments. Such functions are the product of a complex mix of policies, practices, institutions and ideologies. This analysis of stakeholders' perspectives on border management is based on interviews with key stakeholders, equally divided between Canadians and Americans. The interviews addressed stakeholders' views on the functions of the border, border performance and border management, including what should be done in the future.


In 1973, the Supreme Court in Askew v. American Waterways Operators, Inc.' held that the State of Florida was not barred from enforcing its Oil Spill Prevention and Pollution Control Act' despite the fact that the Florida Act was more strict than the applicable federal antipollution laws. In reversing the Florida District Court's decision,' the Supreme Court held that the Federal Water Quality Improvement Act' (WQIA) did not pre-empt state regulation, that federal maritime jurisdiction did not prevent the states from exercising their inherent police power to protect themselves from the threat of oil spills off their shores, and that no conflict existed between the Florida Act and the WQIA.


Electric components equipped with naval shipboards must endure mechanical shock caused by various mechanical impulsive sources. Thus the components must be designed carefully and reliability test is an essential procedure before use. In this study, a new design technology applicable to a large and heavy shock generation system which can generate various specific real mechanical shocks in specified time domain was introduced. Commonly, the shock transmitted through the wall of naval shipboard consists of dual shocks. The primary shock is of a very high amplitude and very short period half-sine form. The following shock is of an exponentially decaying harmonic form of relatively longer period. Based on the different dynamic characteristics of two shocks, we proposed a sequential design procedure to determine spring and damping coefficients of the generation system. Some numerical simulation results showed the feasibility of the proposed method.


In this paper, I present a general profile of individuals with psychopathy, autism, and acquired sociopathy as well as look specifically at the abilities of these individuals with respect to the moral domain. These individuals are individually and collectively interesting because of their significant affective and social impairments. I argue that none of these individuals should be considered full moral agents based on a proposed account of moral agency consisting of the following two necessary conditions: (1) the capacity for moral judgment and (2) the capacity for moral motivation. Since each of these groups of individuals fails to satisfy the criteria in a different way, these arguments help to distinguish three primary ways in which emotion contributes to moral motivation. I conclude with a suggested general implication of this discussion for related debates in moral theory.


This research aims to analyse then influence cash dividend announcemet to abnormal return, cumulative abnormal return, dan trading volume activity before and after cash dividend announcement. Period of research which used from 2013 – 2015. The research type is even study method. Research population used all company which listed in Indonesia Stock Exchange. Technique of choosing sample is used purposive sample and get 67 company from 234 even study cash dividend announcement. The data used in this research obtained from website KSEI, website BEI, Online Trading System of Mirae Asset Sekuritas. The determination of return is using market adjusted model. Analyze technique used parametic test which using to examine hyposthesis in this research is statictic descriptive, normality test, one sample t-test and paired sample t-test. The result of the research are : (1) Cash dividend anncouncement not affect to abnormal return, it means there is no significant difference in average abnormal return between before and after the announcement of cash dividend. (2) Dividend announcement is affect to cumulative abnormal return, it means there is a difference in average cumulative abnormal return that is significant between before and after the announcement of cash dividend. (3) Dividend announcement is not affect to trading volume activity, it means there is no significant difference in average abnormal return between before and after the announcement of cash dividend.


Polycrystalline ceramics SrNdxBi4-xZryTi4-yO15 (x = 0.00, 0.025, 0.05, 0.075, 0.1, y = 0.00, 0.025) were prepared by using the conventional solid-state reaction method. Orthorhombic structure with single phase was identified by X-ray diffractogram (XRD). Impedance, AC and DC conductivity studies were investigated in the frequency range, 1 Hz–1 MHz and temperature range from room temperature (RT) to 600°C. From impedance data, various parameters grain (bulk) resistance (Rg) and capacitance (Cg), grain boundary resistance (Rgb) and capacitance (Cgb) were determined. Grain and grain boundary relaxation times (τg, τgb), activation energies for relaxation and conduction were evaluated as a function of temperature.


The Farkas lemma is introduced by using convex separation theorem,three alternative theorems are given by using Farkas lemma.The proofs of KT theorma in optimization,KT condition in feasible algorithm,Tucker lemma in generalied optimization and Minmax theorem in games are given.


Background In recent decades, virtual care has emerged as a promising option to support primary care delivery. However, despite the potential, adoption rates remained low. With the outbreak of COVID-19, it has suddenly been pushed to the forefront of care delivery. As we progress into the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a need and opportunity to review the impact remote care had in primary care settings and reassess its potential future role. Objective This study aims to explore the perspectives of general practitioners (GPs) and family doctors on the (1) use of virtual care during the COVID-19 pandemic, (2) perceived impact on quality and safety of care, and (3) essential factors for high-quality and sustainable use of virtual care in the future. Methods This study used an online cross-sectional questionnaire completed by GPs distributed across 20 countries. The survey was hosted in Qualtrics and distributed using email, social media, and the researchers' personal contact networks. GPs were eligible for the survey if they were working mainly in primary care during the period of the COVID-19 pandemic. Descriptive statistical analysis will be performed for quantitative variables, and relationships between the use of virtual care and perceptions on impact on quality and safety of care and participants' characteristics may be explored. Qualitative data (free-text responses) will be analyzed using framework analysis. Results Data collection took place from June 2020 to September 2020. As of this manuscript's submission, a total of 1605 GP respondents participated in the questionnaire. Further data analysis is currently ongoing. Conclusions The study will provide a comprehensive overview of the availability of virtual care technologies, perceived impact on quality and safety of care, and essential factors for high-quality future use. In addition, a description of the underlying factors that influence this adoption and perceptions, in both individual GP and family doctor characteristics and the context in which they work, will be provided. While the COVID-19 pandemic may prove the first great stress test of the capabilities, capacity, and robustness of digital systems currently in use, remote care will likely remain an increasingly common approach in the future. There is an imperative to identify the main lessons from this unexpected transformation and use them to inform policy decisions and health service design. International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID) DERR1-10.2196/30099


This study try to compare properies of the wheat grains from Romania and Hungary. The study was conducted in the frame of project HURO 1001/323/2.2.2 Grains Safety during 2012 – 2013 in Zalau mill. The parameters taken in study were Hectolitric mass, 1000 kernels mass, Wet gluten percentage, Protein content, Humidity, Specific mass and Zeleny index.


The paper analyzes SDP from the point of view of application, discusses in detail about the service discovery among the bluetooh facilities with SDP,and gives some new application schemes. ;;


As a type of public discourse closely related to litigation practices, Chinese legal news reports incorporate the important progress in China's judicial reform. Meanwhile, due to the competitive pressure and driven by profit, Chinese legal news reports are characteristic of an evident trend of marketization. This article examines how and to what extent sensationalism invades Chinese legal news reports. The research methodology combines the theoretical paradigms of critical discourse analysis and genre analysis, with particular attention paid to the notions of genre and interdiscursivity. The data include 70 legal news reports in Legal Daily. Analytical results show that Chinese legal news reports, although being a highly institutional genre, include a number of sensational strategies which promote the restructuring of legal news reports in China.


We construct closed, fiberwise convex sets K, invariant under parallel translation, which are preserved by the ode. Each such set corresponds to an a priori estimate for the curvature Rm and each successive estimate gives more control on Rm . We have the following estimates for Rm and corresponding sets K ⊂ E which are invariant under parallel translation and such that for each x ∈ M, Kx is closed, convex and preserved by the ode (1). Recall E = ∧2Mn ⊗S ∧2Mn and Rm is a section of E.


We prove the hyperbolicity of global minimizers for random Lagrangian systems in dimension 1. The proof considerably simplifies a related result in Weinan E et al (2000 Ann. Math. 151 877–960). The conditions for hyperbolicity are almost optimal: they are essentially the same as the conditions for uniqueness of a global minimizer in Iturriaga and Khanin (2003 Commun. Math. Phys. 232 377–428).


Measurements of clot rigidity and fiber thickness indicate that fragment D is a potent inhibitor of fibrin assembly. At physiological ionic strength, D concentrations in excess of 2 moles D/mole fibrinogen lead to a large decrease in clot rigidity and fiber thickness. Above 14 moles D/mole fibrinogen, gelation is inhibited. The molecular weight and radius of gyration of the fibers, determined by light scattering, confirm that short oligomers result, composed of 3 fibrin monomer molecules at 120 moles D/mole fibrinogen and 9 monomers at 14.4 moles D/mole fibrinogen. If D is added to a solution of long protofibrils, no inhibition is observed. Apparently the polymerization of monomers to protofibrils is blocked by D, but not lateral association. Inhibition of protofibril growth was studied in 0.5 M NaCl, pH 7.4, where lateral association is limited by the ionic strength. Stopped-flow light scattering data show a small decrease in the initial rate of polymerization and a slightly prolonged t½ ; the final intensity is less than that for a solution of long protofibrils. This result suggests that fragment D binds to the growing protofibrils with a small effect on the initial polymerization rate, but exerts its inhibitory effect by limiting the later stages of protofibril growth. Measurements of the length of the inhibited protofibrils, calculated from diffusion coefficients obtained by dynamic light scattering, confirm that polymers containing as few as 15 monomers have been obtained. Negative stain electron microscopy also shows a clear limitation of polymer growth under these conditions. Fragment D interferes with fibrin formation by directly blocking the first assembly step: bimolecular polymerization of activated fibrin monomer molecules to form protofibrils. Fragment D apparently occupies a site normally occupied by a fibrin monomer molecule, thus forming a dead-end complex which cannot undergo further assembly.


The thermal behaviour of ellenbergerite, a nesosilicate recently found in a high-pressure assemblage of the Dora-Maira massif, Western Alps, was studied between 20 and 754°C employing a microfurnace connected with a single-crystal diffractometer. The ellenbergerite chemical formula is [mg,(Ti,Zr),□] 2 Mg 6 (Al,mg) 6 (Si,P) 8 O 28 (OH) 10 . Its hexagonal structure, space group P6 3 , consists of single chains of face-sharing octahedra partially occupied by Mg and Ti or Zr and double chains consisting of couples of face-sharing octahedra occupied by Mg and Al linked by edges along the c axis. Isolated SiO 4 tetrahedra interconnect the octahedral chains. The lattice parameters measured at different temperatures increase according to the following equations: a/a o = 1 + 5.50 10 −6 T + 3.46 10 −9 T 2 c/c o = 1 + 7.94 10 −6 T + 4.65 10 −9 T 2 V/V o = 1 + 1.86 10 −5 T + 1.20 10 −8 T 2 where T is in °C. The average coefficients of thermal expansion between 20 and 800°C are α a = 8.2 10 −6 °C −1 , α c = 11.5 10 −6 °C −1 and α V = 27.7 10 −6 °C −1 . The structure was refined at room conditions (R = 2.9% for 730 independent reflections) and with data collected from crystals in the heating device at 20, 410 and 668°C (R = 3.3, 3.2 and 3.5% respectively, for 355, 384 and 363 independent reflections). The mean thermal expansion coefficient of the octahedron of the single chain is 3.09 10 −5 °C −1 , whereas those of Mg and Al octahedra of the double chain are 2.99 10 −5 and 3.40 10 −5 °C −1 , respectively. The temperature increase the off-centre shift of Mg and Al in the double chain, reducing the electrostatic repulsion, and does not produce centring of Ti in the single octrahedral chain. No significant tetrahedral tilting is observed on heating. The irreversible weakening of the intensity of diffraction effects observed above 754°C, symptom of crystal damage, can be probably ascribed to loss of hydrogens


"[Cook's] place is somewhat like that of Columbus for the New World; he actively opened the Northwest to the world and bid the nations enter."


graphs are denoted by capital roman letters and plane graphs by capital greek letters. If the graph G is isomorphic to the plane graph F, then F is a representation of G. If the edges of F are polygonal arcs (respectively straight line segments), then F is a polygonal arc representation (respectively straight line representation). A closed Jordan curve partitions the Euclidean plane into a bounded region called the interior and an unbounded region called the exterior of the curve. A finite, plane graph F partitions the plane into a finite number of regions one of which is Received 4 November, 1976. Research supported in part by the Danish Natural Science Research Council. [J. LONDON MATH. SOC. (2), 16 (1977), 411-423] 412 CARSTEN THOMASSEN unbounded. If the boundary of every region is a 3-cycle, then F is a triangulation. Two finite, plane graphs F l s F2 are equivalent if there is a 1-1 incidence-preserving map taking the set of regions of I \ onto the set of regions of F2, the set of vertices of I \ onto the set of vertices of F2 , and the set of edges of I \ onto the set of edges of F2. If, furthermore, the unbounded region of I \ corresponds to the unbounded region of F 2 , then I \ and F2 are strongly equivalent. Equivalence between plane graphs is generalised in the obvious way to equivalence between infinite plane graphs with finite edge sets and vertex sets with no accumulation points. For any point p in the plane and any positive real number e, we denote by D(p, e), C(p, e) and D(j>, e) the set of points of (Euclidean) distance less than e, equal to e, and less than or equal to e, respectively. If p and q are points, then [p, q] denotes the straight line segment between p and q. The point set of a plane graph F is denoted by F*. If F is a plane graph and p is a point not in F*, then p is admissible with respect to F if and only if for every vertex q of F adjacent to the region containing p we have: [q, p] n F* = {q}. A plane graph F is star-shaped if every region contains an admissible point. We need the following standard results about finite planar graphs: (1). If G is a graph containing a vertex v such that G — v is a cycle, then any two representations of G are equivalent. (2). The boundary of any region of a 2-connected finite, plane graph is a cycle of


Airport Collaborative Decision-Making (ACDM) is a concept that aims to improve the overall efficiency of operations at an airport through better communication and information sharing by airport partners. This paper describes the operational benefits of linking airport operations to the European air traffic management system by implementing ACDM. In the European ACDM project, particular focus is placed on the aircraft turnaround and pre-departure sequencing process. More accurate airport operations information is used to improve en route and sector planning of the European network through implementation of a full set of departure planning information messages sent to Eurocontrol's Central Flow Management Unit. Benefits of ACDM implementation include a reduction in taxi times, improved slot adherence, more flexibility for both the airport operator and the airlines, lower fuel costs, and reduced environmental impact due to less fuel burn.


The influence of the residual stress on the welding cold cracking is investigated.Tests are conducted on the specimens made of gray cast iron,in which two factors about the welding cold cracking are considered,i.e.the restraint stress and the microstructure.The test method of Y-Slit type cracking is adopted.By impacting the whole welding seam,test results show that the ultrasonic impulse treatment can greatly improve the residual stress state. After the treatment,the residual stresses σ1 become-53 MPa and-57 MPa respectively,and σ2 become-37 MPa and-80 MPa on two welding seam specimens.On the other hand,the ultrasonic treatment can accelerate the forming of the nodular graphite cast iron and eliminate the white cast iron.The welding seam is made of nodular graphite cast iron after ultrasonic impulse treatment.The reasonable ultrasonic treatment after welding can avoid the welding cold cracking through the improvement of the residual stress state as well as the quenched structure.The effect of reducing the welding residual stress by the ultrasonic impulse treatment is as same as the heat treatment.


Carrier generation based on nonlinear absorption in semiconductors is an important tool for the investigation of single-event effects (SEE) in microelectronic devices. Recent advances and the present status of two-photon-absorption induced SEE interrogations are described.


AbstractA series of TiO2 doped with rare earth elements La and Nd were synthesized via sol–gel technique. The as-prepared catalysts were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), nitrogen adsorption-desorption analysis and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Analytical results demonstrate that doping of La and Nd could inhibit the agglomeration of TiO2 particles, increase the surface area and decrease the crystallite size of TiO2 with mesoporous structures. By using the materials, visible-light ( nm) photocatalysis activities for the reduction of hexavalent chromium Cr(VI) and degradation of methyl orange MO in composite system were investigated. The results show that the catalysts order by the photocatalytic efficiency in Cr(VI)-MO composite system is 1% La/TiO2 > 1% Nd/TiO2 > TiO2. Methyl orange and Cr(VI) were totally eliminated by 1% La/TiO2 in 30 min under the conditions: visible-light ( nm), a 50 ml mixture of 40 mg/l MO and 20 mg/l Cr(VI), catalyst of 0.08 g dose and pH 1.0. Kinetic studies ...


A new percutaneous biopsy method using a Surecut needle was developed to obtain specimens of all layers of the bladder wall. The biopsies, observed and guided ultrasonically and/or cystoscopically, were performed on 16 patients with bladder cancer. Tissue cores were obtained in 14 cases, and in 10 cases the pathological stages could be evaluated from the specimens. Preoperative histological stagings were compared with those of postoperative ones in 7 cases. The preoperative histological stagings were almost satisfactory. It is concluded that percutaneous needle biopsy of all layers of the bladder wall is a valuable method to obtain specimens for preoperative histological staging of bladder cancer. The merits and demerits of this method are discussed in comparison with those of CT scan and ultrasonography for preoperative staging of bladder cancer, and the indications for the application of this method are described.


The surface deformation induced by a Gaussian laser beam on azobenzene polymer film reveals strong polarization dependence and establishes that an optical field component in the direction of the intensity gradient is essential for the deformation process. The experimental results allow us to infer the phase relationship between the surface relief gratings and the writing interference pattern.


~~ A Thatever differences they might have regarding the form and meaning of Mughals tombs, modern commentators agree on three basic points.' Royal tombs were situated within square garden enclosures; they were monumental in size; and they were a distinctively Mughal form of dynastic representation (Figure 1). Surprisingly little detailed attention has been given to the relationships between tombs and gardens, the nature and measure of monumentality, or to the logic of dynastic representation at Mughal funerary complexes. This paper addresses these


Traffic congestion has adverse consequences on the safety, economy and environment. The loss of productivity due to delays stemming from traffic jams, and increased fuel consumption leads to adverse economic consequences. For example, traffic congestion alone costs the USA 2.8 billion gallons of wasted fuel and a productivity loss of 4.2 billion hours per year [1]. Different studies [2], [3] have also shown an increase in greenhouse emissions due to vehicle idling during traffic jams. Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) [4] are envisioned to address the numerous challenges faced by the transportation sector. A variety of applications will be supported by ITS including safety critical applications, such as Preventing Red Light Running and Safe Lane Changing; applications for improving driving experience, such as Dynamic Traffic Rerouting and Vehicle Health Monitoring, and applications for law enforcement and disaster management, such as Tracking Stolen Vehicles and Orderly Evacuation. Supporting the range of applications in ITS requires autonomous coordination among vehicles, sensing of trafficrelated events, and dissemination of real-time alerts reliably to drivers. Supporting these capabilities is a hard problem; it requires a thorough understanding of the complexities of the ITS physics. The dominant physical artifacts of ITS are the wireless medium, mobility of vehicles, and sensing by vehicles and road-side units (RSUs). An ITS comprises at least three types of communication networks: (1) a wireless network formed among the vehicles for vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication, (2) a wireless network that involves the vehicles communicating with the road-side infrastructure (V2I), and (3) a predominantly wireline network that connects the multiple infrastructure elements. Additional networks, such as the cellular network and public Wi-Fi, can also be leveraged. Real-timeliness and reliability of information dissemination via V2V and V2I communication is hard due to


For developing the reasonably managements in the new plantation in degraded karst areas,the seasonal variation of soil available nutrients and enzyme activity were studied in the Eucommia ulmoides,Alnus cremastogyne,and Prunus salicina plantations.The results indicated that there were the significantly seasonal dynamics of soil available nutrients and enzyme activity in three kinds of plantations.According to the decrease of soil available nutrients mainly resulted from tree absorption,it could be infered that nitrogen fertilizers should be applied from Spet to Jan in the E.ulmoides and A.cremastogyne plantations,and from Nov to Jan in the P.salicina plantations.Phosphorus fertilizers should be applied from Jul to Nov or from Jan to May in the E.ulmoides and P.Salicina plantations,and from Mar to May or from Jul to Sept in the A.cremastogyne plantations.As to potassium fertilizers,it should be applied from Sept to Nov in the E.ulmoides and A.cremastogyne plantations,and from Nov to Mar in the P.salicina plantations.The urease activities in three plantation soils studied were higher in spring and summer than that in winter,the polyphenol oxidase activities in three plantation soils were higher in spring and autumn than that in winter,and the catalase activities were higher in autumn and winter than that in spring and summer.The seasonal variations of alkaline phosphatase activities in three kinds of plantations were different.


This chapter offers teachers advice on how to begin using more assessment in their teaching. A sequence of Plan, Prepare, Teach, Reflect can help teachers gradually expand their assessment repertoire. Instructional technology is discussed generally, with selected recommendations for specific platforms. Starting small and gradually adding new methods and topics is more likely to result in sustained improvement than attempts to change everything all at once.


ABSTRACT Platelet-derived growth factor receptor β (PDGFRβ) is a receptor tyrosine kinase which upon activation by PDGF-BB stimulates cell proliferation, migration and angiogenesis. Ligand binding induces intracellular signaling cascades but also internalization of the receptor, eventually resulting in its lysosomal degradation. However, endocytic trafficking of receptors often modulates their downstream signaling. We previously reported that internalization of PDGFRβ occurs via dynamin-dependent and -independent pathways but their further molecular determinants remained unknown. Here we show that, in human fibroblasts expressing endogenous PDGFRβ and stimulated with 50 ng/ml PDGF-BB, ligand–receptor uptake proceeds via the parallel routes of clathrin-mediated endocytosis (CME) and clathrin-independent endocytosis (CIE). CME involves the canonical AP2 complex as a clathrin adaptor, while CIE requires RhoA–ROCK, Cdc42 and galectin-3, the latter indicating lectin-mediated internalization via clathrin-independent carriers (CLICs). Although different uptake routes appear to be partly interdependent, they cannot fully substitute for each other. Strikingly, inhibition of any internalization mechanism impaired activation of STAT3 but not of other downstream effectors of PDGFRβ. Our data indicate that multiple routes of internalization of PDGFRβ contribute to a transcriptional and mitogenic response of cells to PDGF. Highlighted Article: PDGFRβ is internalized via clathrin-dependent and -independent routes, the latter involving RhoA–ROCK, Cdc42 and galectin-3. Inhibition of any route impairs activation of STAT3 but not other PDGFRβ effectors.


Several researchers have recently focused on core loss reduction of the motor based on core with nanocrystalline magnetic materials (NMM) [1], [2], which offer low iron losses [3]. Previous studies have shown permanent magnet synchronous motors (PMSM) by use of "only stator core" made of NMM have low core losses [1], [2]. Here, in order to realize low loss motor system, it is necessarily to understand core loss properties of "both stator and rotor cores" with NMM. However, there has been no report on the motor by use of "both NMM stator and rotor cores". In this study, the core losses of PMSM with the NMM stator and rotor cores under pulse-width-modulation (PWM) inverter excitation are evaluated based on both experiments and numerical simulations. The comparison with PMSM made of conventional non-oriented (NO) steels is also performed. In addition, we discuss the core loss repartition by using numerical simulations.


Rainwater samples were collected from three different locations an industrial site of Si Racha, Thailand, a remote site of Ogasawara and an urban site of Tokyo, Japan during July and October, 2008 in order to determine chemical compositions of ionic species including organic acids. Isocratic Ion Chromatography (IC) was applied for analysis of cation (ammonium, sodium, potassium, calcium and magnesium ions) using 20 mM methanesulfonic acids as eluent. Inorganic anions (chloride, nitrate and sulfate ions) and selected monocarboxylic acids including formic, acetic, propanoic, and lactic acids and dicarboxylic acids including succinic, malonic and oxalic acids were analyzed by gradient elution IC with water and potassium hydroxide solutions. The methods provided good resolution and detection limit (0.2 – 4.8 μM) for all anionic species. The volume-weighted averages of pH were 4.66, 5.14 and 4.42, and those of EC were 1.29, 0.96 and 3.31 for Si Racha, Ogasawara and Tokyo, respectively. Sodium ion predominated in Si Racha and Ogasawara rainwater due to marine contribution. Anthropogenic sources are most significant sources for ammonium ion in Tokyo rainwater. For industrial (Si Racha) and urban (Tokyo) sites, ammonium ion mainly contributed neutralization of acidic species but magnesium ion partly contributed neutralization in remote (Ogasawara) site. Sulfate and nitrate ions contributed as Total Free Acidity (TFA) in all rainwater samples collected at three different sites. For the industrial site (Si Racha), the contribution of monocarboxylic acids to TFA exceeded 18.68% while there were much smaller contributions in Ogasawara and Tokyo rainwater (2.3 and 1.79%, respectively).of TFA. Dicarboxylic acids contributed in trace levels in almost all sampling area. It could be summarized that chloride alkaline and chloride alkaline earth salts originated from marine source in coastal areas. At the rural and industrial sites, sulfate and nitrate ions which were originated from anthropogenic activities caused acidification of rainwater. Thymol could be added as preservative to protect biological degradation of organic acids in rainwater prior analysis. Rainwater samples which added with thymol were able to be analyzed within 21 days after a rainy event. Keyword: Monocarboxylic acid, Dicarboxylic acid, Ion chromatography, Rainwater, Biocide.


DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5915/17-1-12721 The basic objective of this paper is to outline radiation doses to various critical organs of an average adult person during .x-ray procedures and clinical studies in Nuclear Medicine. A comparative study is conducted to confirm clinical exposure using thermoluminescent dosimeters. Absorbed doses to critical organs are also computed. Radiation doses vary for different types of examinations and techniques. Repeats of .x-ray and unnecessary clinical examinations can cause harmful effects. Biological effect~ of radiation for pregnant women and her fetus in early pregnancy have been discussed. To minimize radiation exposure and improve quality of image various factors have been reviewed. Routine calibration of x-ray units and implementation of effective quality assurance program can reduce the radiation exposure and achieve the optimal clinical objective. Presented at the 17th Annual Convention of the Islamic Medical Association, St. Louis, Missouri, August 10-12, 1984


Abstract One of the most applicable geometries for a thermal energy storage unit is an annulus filled by phase change material (PCM). In time-sensitive applications, the charging and discharging rates of PCM are critical. In the early stage of the period, the phase change rate is high, and it becomes so low by progressing the time, especially in the pure conduction zone at the later stage. Staggering the tube increases the charging or discharging rates and decreases another. The enhancement of both the charging and discharging rates is desirable. To achieve this in the present study, to improve the heat transfer and phase change rates, the application of the magnetic field of an electric current-carrying wire at the top or the bottom of the annulus in order to induce a convection heat transfer in the nanoparticles-enhanced PCM (NePCM) is presented. The solution is validated with experimental and numerical data. The predicted result indicates that employing the wire at the top of the annulus can reduce the solidification time by 25%. The application of the magnetic field is more efficient in the charging process where the wire is employed under the annulus, which intensifies the melting rate up to 40%. Accordingly, considering the appropriate locations of the wire, a conceptual design of thermal energy storage unit under the magnetic field efficient in both charging and discharging processes is developed.


This paper exploits for the first time the temporal dynamic features of demographic system in economic growth model. Standard practice in economic growth models has been to treat population growth as either constant, exogenous, and/or stationary to ensure that long-run equilibrium characteristics of an economy is not affected by non-mean converging demographic shocks. Rather, the stand-in practice has been to allow (endogenous) technological change or human capital to play crucial role in determining long-term equilibrium. We argue in this paper against the stationary assumption of demographic system (broadly the population growth) and show empirically that population growth follows a long-memory process. Using a stochastic version of the Solow-Swan model, we demonstrate analytically as well as with simulation example the effect of long-memory demographic shocks on economic growth. The general conclusion is that stochastic demographic system has had discernible impact on economic growth in the past four decades and that the source of long-memory in


Many administrative decision-makers in higher education must deal with the results of the ongoing proliferation of instructional technology systems at their institutions. The result of this dynamic technological climate and the demands of "education consumers", and the job market, is that these administrative decision-makers fall into the uncertain trap of needing to approve the expenditure of tens, perhaps hundreds, of thousands of dollars on equipment and services they may know little or nothing about. These people need accurate and useful information in order to make sound decisions. In the case of online tutoring they need at least a basic understanding of the hardware, software, delivery systems, costs, personnel, and the myriad of other items required to develop and operate such a program.


A plane multilayered waveguide structure is considered. The layers are located between two half-spaces with constant permittivities. The permittivities inside the layers can be constants or nonlinear (depending on the electric field intensity). This structure can be treated as a 1D (nonlinear) photonic crystal [1]. We consider propagation of TM polarized electromagnetic waves in such a structure. Usually, in such problems, the main goal is to obtain a dispersion equation (DE) for propagation constants (eigenvalues). For many physically interesting nonlinear permittivities it is far beyond our abilities to obtain and analyze exact DEs. A numerical approach to calculate propagation constants (eigenvalues) for (nonlinear) layered waveguide structures is suggested.


A pilot study was performed to evaluate a novel bioreactor for treatment of groundwater at a former wood-preserving facility. Groundwater, impacted with wood-treating preservatives, is currently being recovered and treated using chemical/physical pretreatment followed by granular activated carbon (GAC) adsorption. The bioreactor was evaluated to reduce GAC usage. The study tested AlliedSignal`s Immobilized Cell Bioreactor (ICB) on a sidestream from the groundwater treatment system. The ICB technology is a fixed-film, fixed-bed bioreactor that utilizes a dual microbe support media system consisting of (1) a patented, carbon-coated, polyurethane foam packing; and (2) conventional, random, plastic packing. The ICB was tested at four discrete operating conditions representing hydraulic retention times of 16.6, 8.3, 4.2, and 2.1 h. Influent and effluent samples collected at each condition were analyzed for chemical oxygen demand (COD), phenolics, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes (BTEX). Results indicated that a maximum removal of 86.9% for COD, 96.3% for total phenols, 98.9% for total PAHs, and 97.2% for BTEX. Based on these data, a full-scale ICB as a pretreatment step would decrease GAC usage by a factor of 3.5.


This work first reports wide-band tunable photonic bandgap (PBG) devices based on nematic-refilling cholesteric liquid crystal polymer template samples. By changing the type of refilling nematic liquid crystal (NLC) and sample cell gap, the PBG features of the template sample can be crucially influenced. A physical model related with the NLC infiltration into the template nanopores based on capillary action is used to qualitatively explain the tunable PBG features of the refilling template samples. In addition, a nearly full white (480 nm − 720 nm) spatially tunable PBG device based on a NLC-refilling template wedge cell is demonstrated.


Introduction: Breast cancer and ventriculoperitoneal (VP) shunts are independently, relatively common entities. However, the development of cancer in the presence of a shunt catheter is a rare occurrence. Case Report: A 75-year-old female presented with multifocal invasive lobular carcinoma in association with a ventriculoperitoneal shunt. The patient did not include insertion of a VP shunt in her medical history during the initial consultation and this in conjunction with the absence of the shunt catheter on preoperative imaging resulted in the unexpected discovery of the VP shunt adjacent to the tumour intra-operatively. Meticulous dissection allowed for preservation of the VP shunt and the patient had an unremarkable recovery. Conclusion: Preoperatively, a thorough history is essential for the safe provision of patient care. Neurosurgeons must give due consideration to the possibility of future oncological breast surgery when planning insertion of a ventriculoperitoneal shunt. (This page in not part of the published article.) International Journal of Case Reports and Images, Vol. 6 No. 12, December 2015. ISSN – [0976-3198] Int J Case Rep Images 2015;6(12):763–766. www.ijcasereportsandimages.com Heaney et al. 763 CASE REPORT OPEN ACCESS Breast cancer in association with a ventriculoperitoneal shunt: An unexpected discovery Roisin M. Heaney, Patricia Cronin, Maurice Stokes


Objective: Considering the interest in L. nuda as a source of ingredients for the development of functional food and nutraceuticals has increased, the objective of this study was to evaluate its general toxicity and possible genotoxic effects in rats to assess its safety. Methods: This study evaluated the safety of L. nuda mycelium by using genotoxicity assays (reverse mutation, chromosomal aberration, and micronuclei tests) and a short-term toxicity test. Results: Our results have indicated that L. nuda mycelium did not significantly increase the number of revertant colonies and chromosomal aberration in both in vitro assays. Furthermore, it did not induce any increase in micronuclei formation in mouse bone marrow. Conclusion: In summary, no mutagenic effects and no evidence of systemic toxicity were found in this safety assessment, and the use of L. nuda mycelia is safe at a dose of 3 g/kg body weight in S-D rats. Using a safety factor of 100, the calculated acceptable daily intake in humans is 30 mg/kg body weight/d.


A derivation of the Sommerfeld solution to the problem of the diffraction of a plane, scalar wave by a half-plane is given. It is felt that the ansaltz that forms the core of the argument is probably more generally applicable. (auth)


The distribution function deformed by a monochromatic plasma wave with a finite amplitude in a rare collision plasma, first derived by Zakharov and Karpman (1962), is re-examined. A like-particle collision operator is used which satisfies the requirement of momentum conservation. A current threefold larger than that obtainable from the previous distribution is obtained while the energy loss of the wave is exactly the same in both calculations. A discussion on application of this theory to a current drive by a general plasma wave will be briefly given.


Part I Introduction 1 Old-growth forests: function, fate and value - An Overview Christian Wirth, Gerd Gleixner, Martin Heimann 2 Old-growth forest definitions: a pragmatic view Christian Wirth, Christian Messier, Yves Bergeron, Dorothea Frank, Anja Fankhanel 3 Old trees and the meaning of 'old' Fritz Hans Schweingruber, Christian Wirth Part II Aboveground processes 4 Ecophysiological characteristics of mature trees and stands - consequences for old-growth forest productivity Werner L. Kutsch, Christian Wirth, Jens Kattge, Stefanie Nollert, Matthias Herbst, Ludger Kappen 5 The imprint of succession on old-growth forest carbon balances - insights from a trait-based model of forest dynamics Christian Wirth and Jeremy Lichstein 6 Functional relationships between old-growth forest canopies, understorey light and vegetation dynamics Christian Messier, Juan Posada, Isabelle Aubin and Marilou Beaudet 7 Biosphere-atmosphere exchange of old-growth forests: processes and pattern Alexander Knohl, Detlef Schulze, Christian Wirth 8 Woody detritus mass and its contribution to carbon dynamics of old-growth forests: The temporal context Mark E. Harmon Part III Belowground processes 9 Aboveground and belowground consequences of long-term forest retrogression in the timeframe of millennia and beyond David A. Wardle 10 Rooting patterns of old-growth forests. Is aboveground structural and functionaldiversity mirrored belowground? Jurgen Bauhus 11 Soil Carbon Accumulation in Old-Growth Forests Gerd Gleixner, Cindy Tefs, Albrecht Jordan, Mathias Hammer, Andreas Telz, Uwe E. Schmidt and Stephan Glatzel, Christian Wirth 12 Is there a theoretical limit for soil carbon storage in old-growth forests? A model analysis with contrasting approaches Markus Reichstein, Goran Agren, Sebastien Fontaine Part IV Biomes 13 Old-growth forests in the Canadian boreal: The exception rather than rule? Yves Bergeron, Karen A. Harper 14 Biomass chronosequences of U.S. forests: implications for carbon storage and forest management Jeremy W. Lichstein, Christian Wirth, Henry S. Horn, Stephen W. Pacala 15 Temperate and boreal old growth forests: how does their growth dynamics and biodiversity differ from young stands and managed forests? Ernst-Detlef Schulze, Dominik Hessenmoller, Alexander Knohl, Sebastiaan Luyssaert, Annett Boerner, John Grace 16 Old-growth temperate rainforests of South America: Conservation, plant-animal interactions, and baseline biogeochemical processes J. J. Armesto, C. Smith-Ramirez, M. Carmona, J. L. Celis-Diez , I. Diaz, A. Gaxiola, A. G. Gutierrez, M. Nunez-Avila , C. Perez, and R. Rozzi 17 Tropical rain forests as old-growth forests John Grace, Patrick Meir Part V Human dimensions 18 Detecting intact forests from space: Hot spots of loss, deforestation and the UNFCCC Frederic Achard , Hugh Eva, Danilo Mollicone , Peter Popatov , Hans-Jurgen Stibig , Svetlana Turubanova, Alexey Yaroshenko 19 Impacts of land use on


In this paper, we present a fundamental investigation to improve the <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$B_{1}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> efficiency and the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of a radio frequency (RF) surface coil for ultrahigh-field magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) by utilizing a high-impedance surface (HIS) as the RF shield. An analytical investigation indicates that a circular loop backed by a perfect magnetic conductor (PMC), which is the ideal case of an HIS, suggests an improved magnetic field compared with the case of a perfect electric conductor (PEC) and the case without any shield. This improvement is verified by a full-wave simulation, where the surface coil is modeled by an ideal impressed current model with azimuthal component (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$J_{\text {surf}, \alpha }= 1$ </tex-math></inline-formula> A/m). The electromagnetic field is effectively shielded out behind the PEC and PMC shields compared with the case without any shield. Furthermore, the surface coil with uniform current distribution and the PMC shield is realized by a series resonant loop structure and a 2-D HIS structure, respectively. Since the normal component of the magnetic field is supported at the surface of an HIS, whereas suppressed by a conventional PEC, the <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${\boldsymbol{B}}_{1}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> field in the vicinity of the HIS shield is enhanced compared with the case with a PEC shield. Hence, an improvement on SNR and <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${\boldsymbol{B}}_{1}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> efficiency is achieved by utilizing an HIS shield, especially in the regions adjacent to the surface coil. It has been found that the improvement of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$B_{1}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> efficiency is more prominent than the improvement of SNR due to different normalizations. The difference of peak SAR between considered shields, which is used for <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$B_{1}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> efficiency normalization, is considerably larger than the difference of the power loss within the phantom, which is used for the SNR normalization. The proposed approach is validated by full-wave finite-element method simulations and near-field measurements, which reveal good agreement with each other.


With are those you can select a hero from [Abstract] of the plurality of game content corresponding to a plurality of main character, further increase the fun of the game. A main character operated by the player, has become selectable from the first, second character, the recording medium 3 The 0, a first game content to hero first character, a second game content to hero second character, only when clearing both the first and second game contents a third game content of which can perform is recorded. First and second game contents are set so that the first and second characters act independently in the same game world, but are independent from each other, first in the first game content 2 It is set as characters appear, in that it is set as the first character appears in the second game content, has relevance.


Glauber's definition of quantum coherence is used for neutron fields under the assumption that the complete occupation number space is a direct product of Fermi subspaces. As a result, completely coherent microfields are obtained which define a density operator in full analogy to Glauber's $P$ representation of boson fields. For better physical significance, a transformation from the $P$ representation to a momentum representation is performed. It is proved that the second-order coherence function in this representation is equivalent to Wolf's second-order coherence function of a classical Dirac field. Finally, the results of the theory are used to calculate explicitly the second-order coherence function and the coherence time of an ideally collimated neutron beam.


A kinetic study of anaerobic digestion of olive mill wastewater in the mesophilic (from 30oC to 40°C) and thermophilic (from 50oC to 60oC) ranges of temperature has been carried out. Two reactors containing suspended biomass were used.
 The Chen-Hashimoto substrate utilization kinetic model has been applied, obtaining the values of the maximum specific growth rate of microorganisms, μ max ,. and the kinetic constant, K, for each case studied.
 The obtained results showed an increase of 55% and 34% for μ max and K, respectively, of the thermophilic anaerobic digestion process in relation to the mesophilic process.
 The substrate utilization maximum rate value was reached for the hydraulic retention times of 7,7 and 11,6 days, for the thermophilic and mesophilic processes, respectively.


IEEE Electrical Insulation Magazine Although not one of the most exciting books—even by engineering standards— this book does provide a much better presentation than most textbooks that cover thermal physics, especially as entropy and free-energy concepts are frequently just a chapter or two in a physics text. This book is entirely focused on the basic concepts of thermal physics, with the intent of making the reader understand the concepts of entropy and free energy and ultimately building up to the Landau-Ginzburg (LG) freeenergy functional. The author's relaxed and informal writing style makes for better understanding of the subject matter. He uses many analogies between what happens in the thermal world and what occurs in the human world to reinforce the concepts. However, the reader should still have a good background in physics and quantum mechanics to use this text effectively. The book begins by introducing thermal physics in laymen's terms, and pertinent background information (energy eigenvalues, mathematical identities, Fourier transformations, and vectors and functions) is reviewed. Next, the concepts of entropy and free energy are described in detail for single isolated systems and systems in contact with thermal reservoirs. Other topics include energy versus free energy, phase transitions, and the LG free-energy functional. The LG model, widely used in condensed matter physics and materials science, is used to model the energy level of things such as ferromagnets and mixing and demixing of binary systems. This text could be useful as a crash course in thermodynamics for graduate students or for working professionals who never really learned this material while in school.


Changes in crystal structure and thermistor constant in Mn-Co-Ni oxide, a thermistor material, in cooling process below 1000°C after firing at 1400°C have been studied. The starting oxide was made of nitrates of Mn, Co and Ni with molar ratio of 3.0:1.9:1.1 by firing at 1400°C and by cooling to room temperature in the furnace. The samples used in this study were prepared by annealing the above oxide at various temperatures between 250° and 1000°C for 24 hours. Each sample was quenched rapidly in the water. X-ray diffraction study of these samples heat-treated below 900°C identified three kinds of crystal structures, such as tetragonal spinel, cubic spinel and rock salt. Among these crystal structures, no change in diffraction patterns was observed with both cubic spinel and rock salt structures. However, the axial ratio, c/a, of the tetragonal spinel, varied with increasing heat-treatment temperature, and a sharp decrease in c/a values was observed at around 600°C as shown in Fig. 4. On the other hand, the thermistor constant B values changed with increasing heat-treatment temperatures, and a remarkable depression of B values was observed between 550° and 650°C as shown in Fig. 6. This result is closely associated with the change in c/a values in the tetragonal spinal structure observed in the same temperature range.


Teaching High-Performance Computing (HPC) to undergraduate programs represents a significant challenge in most universities in developing countries like Mexico. Deficien-cies in the required infrastructure and equipment, inadequate curricula in computer engineering programs (and resistance to change them), students' lack of interest, motivation, or knowledge of this area are the main difficulties to overcome. The COVID-19 pandemic represents an additional challenge to these difficulties in teaching HPC in these programs. Despite the detriments, some strategies have been developed to incorporate the HPC concepts to Mexican students without necessarily modifying the traditional curricula. This paper presents a case study over four public universities in Mexico based on our experience as instructors. We also propose a course that introduces the HPC principles considering the heterogeneous background of the students in such universities. The results are about the number of students enrolling in related classes and participating in extra-curricular projects.


Lignocellulose-rich empty fruit bunches (EFBs) have high potential as feedstock for second-generation biofuel and biochemical production without compromising food security. Nevertheless, the major challenge of valorizing lignocellulose-rich EFB is its high pretreatment cost. In this study, the preliminary techno-economic feasibility of expanding an existing pellet production plant into an integrated bio-refinery plant to produce xylitol and bioethanol was investigated as a strategy to diversify the high production cost and leverage the high selling price of biofuel and biochemicals. The EFB feedstock was split into a pellet production stream and a xylitol and bioethanol production stream. Different economic performance metrics were used to compare the profitability at different splitting ratios of xylitol and bioethanol to pellet production. The analysis showed that an EFB splitting ratio below 40% for pellet production was economically feasible. A sensitivity analysis showed that xylitol price had the most significant impact on the economic performance metrics. Another case study on the coproduction of pellet and xylitol versus that of pellet and bioethanol concluded that cellulosic bioethanol production is yet to be market-ready, requiring a minimum selling price above the current market price to be feasible at 16% of the minimum acceptable return rate.


We have fabricated enhancement mode InP metal‐insulator‐semiconductor field‐effect transistors having extrinsic transconductances of 64 mS/mm for a gate length of 2 μm. The epitaxial layers for the structure have been grown by chemical beam epitaxy. The field‐effect transistors exhibit effective mobilities of 1235 cm2/ V s and an average drift velocity of 1.12×107 cm/s. These results are in good agreement with state of the art InP metal‐insulator‐semiconductor field‐effect transistor technology.


Tracking occluded objects at different depths has become as extremely important component of study for any video sequence having wide applications in object tracking, scene recognition, coding, editing the videos and mosaicking. The paper studies the ability of annotation to track the occluded object based on pyramids with variation in depth further establishing a threshold at which the ability of the system to track the occluded object fails. Image annotation is applied on 3 similar video sequences varying in depth. In the experiment, one bike occludes the other at a depth of 60cm, 80cm and 100cm respectively. Another experiment is performed on tracking humans with similar depth to authenticate the results. The paper also computes the frame by frame error incurred by the system, supported by detailed simulations. This system can be effectively used to analyze the error in motion tracking and further correcting the error leading to flawless tracking. This can be of great interest to computer scientists while designing surveillance systems etc.


Next-generation communication systems will face new challenges related to efficiently managing the available resources, such as the radio spectrum. DL is one of the optimization approaches to address and solve these challenges. However, there is a gap between research and industry. Most AI models that solve communication problems cannot be implemented in current communication devices due to their high computational capacity requirements. New approaches seek to reduce the size of DL models through quantization techniques, changing the traditional method of operations from a 32 (or 64) floating-point representation to a fixed point (usually small) one. However, there is no analytical method to determine the level of quantification that can be used to obtain the best trade-off between the reduction of computational costs and an acceptable accuracy in a specific problem. In this work, we propose an analysis methodology to determine the degree of quantization in a DNN model to solve the problem of AMR in a radio system. We use the Brevitas framework to build and analyze different quantized variants of the DL architecture VGG10 adapted to the AMR problem. The evaluation of the computational cost is performed with the FINN framework of Xilinx Research Labs to obtain the computational inference cost. The proposed design methodology allows us to obtain the combination of quantization bits per layer that provides an optimal trade-off between the model performance (i.e., accuracy) and the model complexity (i.e., size) according to a set of weights associated with each optimization objective. For example, using the proposed methodology, we found a model architecture that reduced 75.8% of the model size compared to the non-quantized baseline model, with a performance degradation of only 0.06%.


Temporomandibular Disorders (TMD) represent a particular form of chronic pain that, while not outwardly debilitating, profoundly impacts interactions as fundamental to human existence as smiling, laughing, speaking, eating, and intimacy. Our analysis, informed by an expanded "works of illness" assessment, draws attention to work surrounding social and physical risk. We refer to these as the work of stoicism and the work of vigilance and identify double binds created in contexts that call for both. Conflicting authorial stances in informants' narratives are shown to be essential in maintaining a positive identity in the face of illness. While earlier ethnographic studies report TMD sufferers' experience of stigma and search for diagnosis and legitimacy, we present a group of individuals who have accepted diagnosis at face value and soldier through pain as a fundamental aspect of their identity.


The technology of fragments reassembly is widely employed in many scientific fields, such as judicial evidence recovery, restoration of historic documents, accessing to military intelligence and so on, which is based on computer vision and pattern recognition. In this paper, an efficient method for Chinese fragments reassembly is presented. The proposed reassembly method is based on the feature of line spacing and Chinese characters' feature that the same font has the same height. Considered the feature of English characters that English letters are connected components, this paper proposes a model for English fragments reassembly, which is based on template matching. Using the proposed methods on digitally scanned images of actual fragments of paper image prints has verified the robustness and reliability of two models.


A comprehensive numerical model is applied to the study of the effect of ambient pressure in laser ablation, more specifically on the copper target heating, melting and vaporization, and the resulting plume expansion in the helium gas, as well as on plasma formation in the plume. Under the laser pulse condition investigated [5ns full width at half maximum (FWHM) and 109W∕cm2 peak irradiance], the calculated results show that the characteristics of the surface temperature and the evaporation depth are very similar even when the ambient pressure varies greatly. The influence of the ambient pressure on the fraction of absorbed laser energy is also small. The maximum ablated material vapor density in the plume is influenced slightly by the different pressures. Before 40ns, the maximum plume temperature for various ambient pressures is in the order of a few 104K. However, the effect of ambient pressure on the plume length is quite large. A specific calculation for a Gaussian-shaped laser pulse with 6ns FWHM an...


The present invention relates to an organic light emitting display device capable of improving picture quality. The organic light emitting display device of the present invention comprises: a pixel unit having a sub-pixel; a scanning driving unit for driving scanning lines connected to the sub-pixel in line unit; a data driver for driving data lines arranged in a direction intersecting the scanning lines; and a data processing unit for generating a second data using a first data supplied from outside, wherein the data processing unit generates the second data by changing the tone of the first data supplied to the sub-pixel located at the end of the pixel unit. [Reference numerals] (AA,DD,EE) First pattern, second pattern; (BB,CC,FF) Third pattern, fourth pattern; (S200) First line?; (S204,S304) First pixel?; (S206,S312) Second pattern or fourth pattern?; (S208) R, B, G2 dimming; (S210,S310) Last pixel?; (S212,S306) First pattern or third pattern?; (S214) R, B dimming; (S300) Last line?; (S308) G1,G2, B dimming; (S314) G1, G2, dimming; (S400,S202,S302) Data pattern check; (S402,S421) First sub-pixel?; (S404,S412) First pattern?; (S406,S414,S422,S424) Odd-number line?; (S408) R dimming; (S410) B dimming; (S411,S425) Last sub-pixel?; (S416) G2 dimming; (S418) G1 dimming; (S420,S426) Third pattern?


This section provides the details of network training. Surfel Prediction Module. Denote one training data as T = (I, {d i ,ni, b gt i )}i=1), where d gt i , ni , b i collects the ground-truth depth,normal and boundary label for input image I . N is the total number of pixels that has annotations. Let di,ni,bi and fi collect the depth,normal,boundary and descriptor channels of the first module respectively. We define the training loss for the first module:


Introduction in this study, it is aimed to emphasize the causes and importance of macrocytosis in paediatric practice. Methods in the paediatric hematology and oncology clinic, 1752 patients evaluated in 2017, patients with macrocytosis were examined retrospectively with clinical and laboratory findings. Patients with macrocytosis were compared with the frequency of severe hematologic diseases such as acute leukemia and bone marrow failure in patients with normocytic and microcytic mean corpusculer volume. Results macrocytosis was detected in 72 out of 1752 patients (4.1%) in the study. Acute lymphoblastic leukemia in 11(15.2%), acute myeloid leukemia in 3(4.1%), Fanconi aplastic anemia in 7(9.7%), Diamond-Blackfan anemia in 2(2.7%), aplastic anemia in 1(1.3%), congenital diseritropoetic anemia in 1(1.3%), deficiency of vitamin B12 in 14(19.4%) were diagnosed. Down syndrome was presented in 33 cases (45.8%). The number of patients with acute leukemia diagnosis was 14(0.8%) in the group in which the mean corpusculer volume was either microcytic or normocytic. The incidence of acute leukemia and bone marrow failure was significantly higher in the group with macrocytosis compared between the two groups. Conclusion although vitamin B12 deficiency is considered firstly in patients who have undergone cytopenia and macrocytosis in our country, haematological malignancies, bone marrow failures, myelodysplasia and myeloproliferative diseases should be remembered especially in the individuals with Down syndrome at the same time.


A crop masking technique based on Ashburn's vegetative index (AVI) was used to evaluate native vegetation as an indicator of crop moisture condition. A mask of the range areas (native vegetation) was generated for each of thirteen Great Plains LANDSAT MSS sample segments. These masks were compared to the digitized ground truth and accuracies were computed. An analysis of the types of errors indicates a consistency in errors among the segments. The mask represents a simple quick-look technique for evaluating vegetative cover.


Iron ore mining activities such as top soil stripping, drilling and blasting extraction of ore, waste rock dumping, loading and unloading of ore, crushing and screening, material transport etc., emit both fugitive and nonfugitive dusts into the environment. A direct effect of the mining and its activities deteriorate the quality of ambient air, which requires mitigation measures. Blasting causes very high noise and vibration at a very short duration. Surface water pollution occurs due to erosion of soil by precipitation in the form of runoff. Noise pollution occurs due to drilling and blasting operations. The impact of mining on socio-economic environment is positive (infrastructure development and employment opportunity). There would be a significant impact on biological environment. A green belt with dust-tolerant trees needs to be developed around the Iron ore digging and material storage yard to an extent of 30% of mine-lease area. An environmental management plan is highly essential to mitigate the adverse environmental impact of iron ore mining.


COPYRIGHT © 2022 Vidal and Rodgers. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. Editorial: Wind turbine fault and damage diagnosis and prognosis


As a special team with vitality, knowledge, epochal and pioneering among women, they have the same potential as men. The stage of employment preparation mainly refers to that workers obtain employment opportunities through recruitment, but there are many gender-based discrimination in this process, mainly including explicit discrimination and implicit discrimination. Therefore, this paper makes a further study on the gender discrimination in contemporary women's employment and its countermeasures. By discussing the problems and causes of gender discrimination in contemporary women's employment, this paper puts forward the ideas of public interest litigation and credit system from the legal point of view, establishes an efficient and perfect guarantee mechanism for contemporary women's employment, and finally realizes the protection of contemporary women's equal employment rights. Providing them with professional career counseling, focusing on helping them discover and cultivate their self-potential and creativity when guiding women to make career choices, and solving the problem of female employment discrimination plays a decisive role in improving women's enthusiasm for participating in social construction and promoting population fertility.


Evaluation should consider what would have happened in the absence of assistance. To produce an assessment of this counter-factual scenario involves considering the twin concepts of deadweight and displacement. An evaluative framework is developed for measuring the impact of grant assistance to individual firms. Logit regression analysis is used to estimate predictive models for deadweight and displacement. The data were gathered during face-to-face interviews with the managing directors of firms that received grants from Shannon Development in the Shannon region of Ireland (self-assessment approach). The objective was to establish whether certain characteristics of grant-assisted firms can predict probable deadweight and displacement effects. In the case of deadweight, it was found that grant type, size of firm, whether investment appraisal carried out by firm included grant received and whether firm was a first-time or repeat grant recipient all impact on the level of deadweight. Regarding displacement, it was found that size of firm and type of ownership impact on displacement. While the evaluative framework has been 'tested' in an Irish regional context, the logic of the approach is clear and has a much wider international applicability regarding the evaluation of industrial policy interventions.


Adaptive algorithms for blindly identifying SIMO systems are appealing because of their computational efficiency and capability of continuously tracking a time-varying system. Adaptive multichannel LMS (MCLMS) algorithms (with and without the unit-norm constraint) are analyzed and the optimal step size is derived. A simple yet effective variable step-size unconstrained MCLMS algorithm is proposed and its performance is evaluated with simulations.


G. Csako, "Present and future of rapid and/or high-throughput meth ods for nucleic acid testing". Clinica Chimica Acta 363 (2006) 6-31. D. Wang et al., "Single nucleotide polymorphism discrimination assisted by improved base stacking hybridization using oligonucleotide microarrays'. BioTechniques 35: 300-308 (Aug. 2003). K. Kim et al., "Development and evaluation of a highly sensitive human papillomavirus genotyping DNA chip'. Gynecologic Oncol ogy 100 (2006) 38-43. M. Mehlmann et al., "Optimization of fragmentation conditions for microarray analysis of viral RNA'. Analytical Biochemistry 347 (2005) 316-323. R. Peytavi et al., "Correlation between microarray DNA hybridiza tion efficiency and the position of short capture probe on the target nucleic acid", BioTechniques vol.39, No. 1 (2005), p. 89-96. A. Sylvanen, "Toward genome-wide SNP genotyping". Nature Genetics Supplement vol. 37, Jun. 2005, p. S5-S10. A. Syvanen, "Accessing Genetic Variation: Genotyping Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms", Nature vol. 2, Dec. 2001, p. 930-942. P. Nielson et al., "Sequence-Selective Recognition of DNA by Strand Displacement with a Thymine-Substituted Polyamide'. Science 254, 1991, p. 1497-1500. H. Stender et al., "PNA for rapid microbiology", Journal of Micro biological Methods 48 (2002) 1-17. O. Brandt et al., "Peptide nucleic acids on microarrays and other biosensors'. Trends in Biotechnology vol. 22, No. 12, Dec. 2004, p. 617-622.


The present literature review is devoted to the analysis of the features of the pathogenesis of atrial fibrillation in patients with arterial hypertension and to the optimal treatment tactics in this cohort of patients. In particular, pathological mechanisms (hemodynamic, structural, and electrophysiological) of the development of atrial fibrillation in arterial hypertension are reviewed. The article highlights the problems of primary and secondary prevention of atrial fibrillation using antihypertensive therapy as well as the aspects of the prevention of thromboembolic complications in patients with atrial fibrillation and arterial hypertension.


1. The water diuretic responses of dog kidneys autotransplanted to the neck have been studied. In the presence of a normal kidney the "neck" kidney for one or two weeks following operation shows a normal diuretic response following an oral water load. Between two and four weeks after transplantation the diuretic response falls to half or less than half of the normal kidney and then remains fairly constant over many months. On removal of the normal kidney the "neck" kidney regains a normal diuretic response to water.

2. From the time of transplantation the "neck" kidney excretes urine of low specific gravity.

3. The "neck" kidney retains a normal response to posterior pituitary antidiuretic hormone.

4. In the "neck" kidney the antidiuretic response to faradic stimulation is unaltered from the normal.


Introduction The process of European integration profoundly influences the societies that take part in it. Most attention is usually paid to the processes connected with the creation of supranational structures, especially in the economic sphere – fostering the European Common Market, the introduction of a single European currency, or building pan-European economic institutions (like the European Central Bank). The other consequences of European integration, like the influence of the EU on institutions in the Czech Republic, are usually less attractive both for the media and research, particularly when they relate to sub-national institutions. The aim of this research paper is to search for the interaction of regional, national and European influences in pre-accession Czech Republic. The basic research questions read as follows: To what extent can regions and the relations between the heterogeneous mass of regional groups and entities provide favourable conditions for a democratised public sphere? How has the role of regions in the Czech Republic changed during the accession period? What is the role of the EU institutions, particularly the Committee of the Regions (CoR), in this process? The design of the research was adjusted to the specific situation of the Czech Republic as a candidate country. Not only the Committee of the Regions, as the "institutional agent" of regionalism on the EU level, was studied, but attention was also paid to the general role of regionalism in the Czech Republic, regional policy, and the role of the CoR and other actors in the process of the decentralisation and the reform of territorial government in the Czech Republic. In-depth interviews with representatives of actors involved in the process were used as the main methodological tool for gathering information. Quite a broad set of potential respondents for the in-depth interviews was put together. It included politicians, representatives of the Joint Consultative Committee (JCC), and experts and high state


This case study illustrates how family members can assist in the care of teenagers with diabetes but that there are also serious risks actualized by such involvement. In particular, it highlights ethical complications that arise when the role of a family member is changed from 'parent' to 'care provider'. The 'counseling, self-care, adherence' (CSA) approach offers a look at the role that family can play to improve these types of care.


Abstract Introduction: Asymptomatic adrenal masses are often discovered incidentally while testing for unrelated conditions. A very uncommon finding is thickening and increased nodularity of both adrenal glands, which can lead to the patient being diagnosed with subclinical Cushing's syndrome, Conn's syndrome, or both. Case presentation: A 45-year-old African-American man presented to the hospital with a one-month history of increased abdominal girth, bilateral lower extremity edema and shortness of breath, with progressive epigastric abdominal pain which prompted admission. His medical history was relevant for obesity, coronary artery disease and heart failure with reduced ejection fraction. On examination he had a blood pressure of 152/99 mmHg, was diaphoretic, and complained of constant epigastric pain. Multiple purple and pale striae were visible along his abdomen, and he had pitting edema in both lower extremities. His initial laboratory studies showed a potassium of 2.6 mEq/L. A CT scan of the abdomen was relevant for bilaterally enlarged and tortuous adrenal glands, which the patient had no previous knowledge of. Diuresis greatly improved his edema and shortness of breath. Additional laboratory tests showed persistent hypokalemia, normal plasma renin activity and aldosterone, elevated fasting cortisol, normal metanephrines in 24-hour urine collection, and low ACTH level. A suppression test done by administering dexamethasone 0.5 mg every 6 hours for 2 days, was able to suppress the elevated cortisol levels. He was started on spironolactone, and underwent MRI of the abdomen, which confirmed bilateral multinodular adrenal hyperplasia with no imaging characteristics of pheochromocytoma. The patient was discharged home once his clinical status improved. Laboratory studies done at follow-up appointments showed persistently elevated cortisol, normal aldosterone to renin ratio, normal levels of plasma metanephrines and suppressed levels of ACTH. He was also referred to surgery for eventual bilateral adrenalectomy. Discussion: Primary bilateral macronodular adrenal hyperplasia (BMAH) is a very rare cause of endogenous Cushing's syndrome, representing less than 2% of cases. It is characterized by enlarged adrenal glands containing pigmented nodules that secrete excess cortisol and/or aldosterone (1). BMAH is often an incidental finding in patients with subclinical hyper-cortisolism. A low level of plasma ACTH along with bilaterally enlarged adrenal glands on imaging suggest the diagnosis, and this is confirmed with a dexamethasone suppression test. Accurate detection is important for guiding management, which includes pharmacological therapy and bilateral adrenalectomy. Reference: 1. De Venanzi A, Alencar GA, Bourdeau I, Fragoso MCBV, Lacroix A. Primary bilateral macronodular adrenal hyperplasia. Curr Opin Endocrinol Diabetes Obes. 2014 Jun;21(3):177-84.


Flower breeders are continually refining their methods for producing high-quality flowers. Phalaenopsis species are considered the most important commercially grown orchids. Advances in genetic engineering technology have provided researchers with new tools that can be used along with traditional breeding methods to enhance floral traits and quality. However, the application of molecular techniques for the breeding of new Phalaenopsis species has been relatively rare. In this study, we constructed recombinant plasmids carrying flower color-related genes, Phalaenopsis Chalcone synthase (PhCHS5) and/or Flavonoid 3′,5′-hydroxylase (PhF3′5′H). These genes were transformed into both Petunia and Phalaenopsis plants using a gene gun or an Agrobacterium tumefaciens-based method. Compared with WT, 35S::PhCHS5 and 35S::PhF3′5′H both had deeper color and higher anthocyanin content in Petunia plants. Additionally, a phenotypic comparison with wild-type controls indicated the PhCHS5 or PhF3′5′H-transgenic Phalaenopsis produced more branches, petals, and labial petals. Moreover, PhCHS5 or PhF3′5′H-transgenic Phalaenopsis both showed deepened lip color, compared with the control. However, the intensity of the coloration of the Phalaenopsis lips decreased when protocorms were co-transformed with both PhCHS5 and PhF3′5′H. The results of this study confirm that PhCHS5 and PhF3′5′H affect flower color in Phalaenopsis and may be relevant for the breeding of new orchid varieties with desirable flowering traits.


An earlier simultaneous iteration method for computing derivatives of eigenvalues and the corresponding eigenvectors of nonsymmetric matrices depending smoothly on some real parameters is extended to the case of repeated eigenvalues


Hydroxyurea was administered to 20 patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia. The white blood cell counts decreased to normal in all the patients, anemia improved, splenomegaly decreased or disappeared, thrombocytosis was corrected, and bone marrow improvement occurred in all the patients. Megaloblastosis was noted consistently. Hydroxyurea was effective in treating chronic meylogenous leukemia refractory to busulfan. Hydroxyurea did not prevent the development of the acute phase of chronic myelogenous leukemia, hemolysis, or myelofibrosis. The chief systemic reaction was reversible myelo‐suppression and an unusual dermatologic alteration. Hydroxyurea is as effective as busulfan and may be utilized as a primary therapy of chronic myelogenous leukemia.


Objective To explore the efficacy of the suspension of sucralfate and anisodamine by early nasal feeding in order to prevent stress ulcer after severe brain injury.Methods We retrospectively analyzed the incidence of stress ulcer bleeding and pulmonary infection among the 903 cases of patients with severe brain injury,including 303 cases in group A,220 cases in group B and another 380 cases in the control group.In the control group,non measures were carried out to prevent stress ulcer within 72 hours after injury.Patients in group A were given ranitidine,cimetidine and omeprazole,while those in group B were given the suspension of sucralfate and anisodamine by early nasal feeding.Results There were no blood transfusion cases and deaths in group B.There was neither incidence of gastrointestinal reflux after given drugs by nasal feeding nor any atropine-like effect like abdominal distention and emotional disturbance.The incidence of stress ulcer and pulmonary infection in this group were 1.6% and 1.3% respectively,which were significantly lower than those data in group A and the control group(P 0.05).Conclusion While the treatment of primary brain injury,the suspension of sucralfate and anisodamine by early nasal feeding has important clinical value for preventing stress ulcer after severe brain injury.Meanwhile,it can help to reduce the incidence of pulmonary infection.


The INO-ICAL is a proposed neutrino physics experiment, which will be made of 50 kTon of low carbon magnetized steel layers, tiled with 4 m × 2 m ×56 mm thick plates, alternating with layers of RPCs as a sensitive detector. The GEANT4 toolkit is used to simulate the matter particle interactions and digitization is based on the data collected in the prototype detector at Madurai. The momentum and direction of charged particle tracks are estimated using the Kalman filter technique and reconstruction of hadron shower using a clustering algorithm. In this paper, the measurement of the momentum of fully contained charge particles using the total path length of the trajectory will be discussed and compared with the Kalman filter technique. A clustering algorithm for the measurement of the energy of hadronic showers along with its direction will also be discussed. This hadron clustering algorithm is used first time in the ICAL detector simulation.


A first antenna located on the user location (14) 16, the signal is a signal at a first frequency in the case of moving only the first within the direction the reception range as measured from the centerline 28 of the first antenna 16 It receives. The first antenna has a first antenna centerline 28 aligned to receive direct broadcast satellite signals transmitted from the satellite in geostationary orbit geocentric. The second antenna 18 is located at the user location 14, the signal is a signal at a first frequency in the case of moving only the second within the direction the reception range as measured from the center line 30 of the second antenna 18 It receives. The second antenna 18 is your location and is aligned to receive a signal transmitted with the first frequency from a location spaced apart from the ground transmission. Terrestrial transmitter oriented transmits a signal at a first frequency within the range from the ground surface charge commerce transfer position. Position of the ground transmitter, is positioned against the user's location, the terrestrial transmitter 20 to transmit in the direction outside the direction of the reception range of the first antenna (16). Satellite 12 is for location of the user (14), the satellite to transmit in a direction out of the direction of the reception range of the second antenna 18, is positioned.


The properties of thermal plasmas, including high temperatures and heat fluxes, high reactive particle densities and strong radiative emission, lead to their wide application in industrial processes and products. In all of these applications, the interactions of the plasma and materials, including electrodes, particles and surfaces, are of critical importance.


Objective To investigate the influence factors of differential diagnosis with ultrasonography in benign and malignant thyroid nodules. Methods The clinical data of 210 cases of patients with thyroid nodules were retrospectively analyzed,and the influence factors of differential diagnosis with ultrasonography in benign and malignant thyroid nodules were analyzed by logistic regression analysis. Results The cases of benign nodules was 148( 70. 48%),while the cases of malignant nodules was 62( 29. 52%). Single factor screening and multi-factor analysis showed that microcalcification,blurred nodular margin,AP /TR( antero-posterior and transversal diameters) ≥1,solid and hypoechoic appearance were the independent determinants of malignancy under ultrasound examination of thyroid nodules( P 0. 05). Conclusion Ultrasonography in diagnosing thyroid nodules has good effect,it can can be effective for ultrasound to identify benign and malignant thyroid nodules,according to the AP /TR,nodules nature,edge shape,type of the echo and calcification type,etc,and it is worthy of clinical application.


This paper is about scraping web pages for tourism objects and resolving duplicates for a tourism recommender system Sightsplanner. Gathering information from different web portals, we end up having several versions of the same object in our database. It is very important that we can find out which objects are duplicates and merge those. Only unique objects are presented to the end user. The main focus of this paper is therefore on deduplication problem. We have implemented a duplication detection system and tuned the parameters manually to get up to 85% accuracy. In this paper we present a machine learning setup which we used to improve deduplication accuracy of tourism attractions by 13 percentage points to achieve 98% accuracy. All the steps in the process are presented along with problems we tackled.


Since the 1970s, the oil industry has known that high-pressure jet bits (10,000 to 15,000 psi; 69 to 103 MPa) drill 2 to 3 times faster than conventional bits. The primary problem in implementing high pressure jet bits in the field is leaks in the surface equipment and in the drill pipe. Attempts to use dual-wall drill pipe with a high-pressure inner pipe reduced this problem but reliability and high cost of the dual drill pipe was still a problem. This paper describes a high-pressure downhole centrifugal pump that is powered electrically or hydraulically. This pump, which operates at 7,000 rpm, creates high pressure at the bit and allows the use of conventional drill pipe since mud is pumped to the hole bottom at pressures of 2,000 to 3,000 psi (14 to 21 MPa). This eliminates the problem with high-pressure surface lines and high-pressure drill strings. A PC model was developed for use in designing the high-pressure centrifugal blades. Existing blades were adapted for use in the high-pressure pump. Critical factors affecting blade design such as entrance and exit angles, specific speed, and defuser design were analyzed and a conventional electric submersible pump (ESP) was operated at 7,000 rpm tomore » demonstrate the feasibility of this pump. Details of the prototype pump design and test results are presented.« less


Longan (Euphoria longana) seed is a traditional Chinese medicinal plant which has been claimed to have positive effect on deficit in learning and memory. In this study, the effects of crude ethanolic extracts of longan seed on learning and memory impairment induced by scopolamine were investigated in mice. With reference to saline-treated group, scopolamine-treated mice demonstrated impairment of learning and memory seen as an increment of the latency to find the platform in learning trial in Morris water maze as well as a reduction of latency and an increased numbers of error in step-down test. Performances of mice receiving longan seed extract at the dose of 300 mg/kg once daily were not different from those of the scopolaminetreated group. However, oral administrations of longan seed extract at the dose of 1,000 mg/kg significantly reduced the latency to find the platform in Morris water maze test but showed no improvement on the passive avoidance task. Additionally, injection of scopolamine depressed locomotor activity which were unaffected by the administration of longan seed extract. Furthermore, we had investigated the effect of longan seed extract on brain lipid peroxidation in scopolamine-treated mice and found that the administration of neither scopolamine nor longan seed extract exerted effect on malondialdehyde level of the brain. In conclusion, the present study has demonstrated the beneficial effects of longan seed extract for learning and memory deficit induced by scopolamine. Further investigation is needed to explore whether longan seed extract could be beneficial for memory impairment in Alzheimerus disease in which cholinergic deficit is one of the hallmarks.


This article critically examines two conventional ideas about cross-ownership: (1) it is almost impossible to takeover a cross-owned group of firms; (2) the controlling shareholder of a cross-owned group of firms extracts certain benefit from his/her control right. Through a simple analysis, we show that the amount of funds required to takeover a cross-owned group of firms is not necessarily bigger than the amount required to takeover a similar-sized stand-alone firm. Our analysis also indicates that the separation of control right and cash-flow right does not necessarily create extra benefit for the controller. Based on the analysis, we attempt to identify real barriers to the takeover of a cross-owned group of firms.


In this paper, we propose a progressive encoding method for geometric information of 3D object, which is represented with binary voxels. By the pyramidal decomposition, the proposed algorithm first creates multi-resolution models for the 3D object. Then, each resolution model is predicted from its lower resolution model, and the prediction errors are encoded with an arithmetic coding method. To yield high compression ratio, the lower resolution model is partitioned into the inside, boundary, and outside regions. This partitioning method significantly reduces the amount of data to be encoded, since the prediction errors are concentrated near the boundary region in general. Moreover, the local concavity of each boundary voxel is used as the context for the arithmetic coding to further increase the compression efficiency. It is demonstrated by intensive simulation results that the proposed algorithm provides better coding gain than the conventional mesh-based algorithm, especially for natural objects such as human body, terrain, and animal.


@font-face { font-family: "Calibri"; }@font-face { font-family: "BatMincho"; }@font-face { font-family: "Malgun Gothic"; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; line-height: 115%; font-size: 11pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; } Statement of Problem Interim restorations are required for extended periods as complex treatment is being established or to assess long-term prognosis of teeth. The reparability of interim restorations relies on adhesion of the repair material onto the parent restorative material. Purpose The purpose of this study was to investigate the shear bonding strength of bis-acryl composite resins compared to autopolymerizing polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) under different surface treatments and environmental conditions. Material and Methods Eighty cylindrical specimens fabricated from PMMA and bis-acryl received one of the following of environmental treatments: no surface treatment, surface roughening with SiC paper, grinding with bur or chemical treatment. One group was stored in water for 24 h (37 °C, distilled water) and the other group was stored in coffee for 24 h (37 °C).  Shear bond strength was determined by loading the specimens to failures with a 10 kN load cell and a 0.5 mm/min crosshead speed. The statistical significances were evaluated by Kruskal-Wallis one-way ANOVA . Every analysis was approved with 95% reliance. Results For PMMA stored in water, there was no statistical difference between different surface treatments. For PMMA stored in coffee, surface roughening treatment with SiC paper  had the highest average bonding strength and was significantly better than no surface treatment or surface treatment with bur. For bis-acryl stored in water, surface roughening with SiC paper had the highest average bonding strength and was significantly better than no surface treatment. Surface treatment with bur was also significantly better than no surface treatment. For bis-acryl stored in coffee, the highest average bonding strength was for surface treated specimens with SiC and this was significantly better than surface treatment with bonding agent. Whether specimens were stored in water or coffee, PMMA was significantly better than bis-acryl in all surface treatment groups.  Conclusions In all environmental conditions including no surface treatment, surface roughening with SiC paper, grinding with bur, or chemical treatment, and in all storage media, PMMA has better bonding strength compared to bis-acryl. For bis-acryl specimens, surface roughening with SiC paper improved bonding strength of the repair material to the parent material.


The article would refers some interesting experiences of the research team Larifo, BEST Department, Politecnic of Milan, Italy, in the field of cultural heritage digitalization about the creation of archives and tridimensional representations which are finalized to the knowledge, the documentation and the fruition of the artistic and architectural heritage. We will see how it's possible to create 3D models sculptures of medium size (i) with the application of laser scanning method and the integration of photographic/ photogrammetric survey to fit out virtual spaces wherewith show rebuilding hypothesis of places or past events, (ii) to document restoration, allow the reversibility of interventions during the time and (iii) to realize digital copies which are accessible through web navigation. On the following pages we will discuss about the acquisition modalities, the modeling and the visualizations used in three different projects that have significant buildings of Mantua and Sabbioneta, both of them heritage of humanity by 2008, as intervention sites. The purpose is to demonstrate the applicability of TLS systems and the importance of digital 3D models in the processes of knowledge, management and valorization.