Modelling the transfer of toxic or radioactive substances in the biosphere, with the aim of assessing the impact of a specified contamination to human health, generally builds on compartment representations. Modelling the accumulation within, and transport between, these compartments relies upon mechanistic and empirical approaches, thus requiring an extensive ability for the implementation of mathematical equations and a handling of very large databases. Starting in the early 90's, Andra developed, in co-operation with DSI, a programme, which responded to the above-mentioned needs. Technical information, validation and qualification issues and application examples of the current version 7.2 will be presented. Aquabios uses three independent templates for the definition of (1) mathematical equations (models), (2) element-specific and (3) site-specific parameters. All templates are available for any extension manipulation and parameterization, while maintaining the integrity of the core programme. For each project, a model can be chosen from a list of available models (i.e. multi-element models for radionuclides or toxic chemical substances to calculate dose rates in Sv y -1 or mg kg -1 day -1 , respectively, or element specific models such as those developed for Tritium, 14 C or 36 Cl). Attached to each model is a choice for element-specific and site-specific parameter databases. Within the template for model definition, dynamic compartments (soils or sediments that are likely to accumulate contaminants with time) and descendant calculations (daughters and granddaughters of radionuclides) can be defined by implementation of analytical solutions of the differential equations. Calculations (both deterministic and stochastic) are carried out step-wise allowing all parameters to be changed as a function of time. Intermediate results are managed by flexible intrinsic functions. The code is multi-localized, allowing the programme to run in different languages (currently French and English). A multitude of import and export functions allows direct exchange with external databases and reporting tools. users with total access to all templates to be distinguished from users with restricted privileges.


Color displays used in binocular virtual reality are generally LCD arrays, with the maximum resolution determined by how small the individual color pixel elements can be made and driven electronically. A high resolution color display using a monochrome CRT and a liquid crystal shutter operated in a field-sequential color mode is described. The Tektronix 1-in frame sequential color monitor system significantly improves the resolution of color displays for virtual reality head-mounted displays to at least 640/spl times/480. The requirements of a field sequential full color monitor are discussed, as is the video drive for this device.<<ETX>>


Erythropoietin (EPO) is the master regulator of erythropoiesis and also plays a role in cytoprotection, cell proliferation and heart contractility. In human skeletal muscle, EPO mRNA expression increases in response to acute exercise, however, whether glycolytic or oxidative muscle fibers differentially produce EPO is unknown. Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine EPO mRNA expression in oxidative and glycolytic muscles following acute exercise in mice. Further, we also examined whether training status had an effect on EPO expression. Experiment 1 involved young healthy men (age, 21.4 ± 2.8 years; VO2peak, 47.1 ± 11.8 mL min−1 kg−1) from a previously published study (Edgett et al. 2016) who performed a single bout of exercise at ~55% of peak aerobic work rate for 1 hour. Muscle biopsies were obtained from the vastus lateralis at rest and 3 hours post‐exercise. Experiment 2 involved 8 week‐old male C57/B6 mice that were either exercise‐trained by treadmill running (1 hour/day, 4 days/week) or remained sedentary (untrained) for 5 weeks. Following the intervention, all mice performed an exhaustive exercise bout that began at a speed of 12 m/min with a 20‐degree grade; speed was subsequently increased by 1 m/min at 2, 5, 10, 20, 30 and 40 min, or until mice reached exhaustion. Soleus (oxidative muscle) and extensor digitorum longus (EDL, glycolytic muscle) were harvested at 1, 2 and 4 hours post‐exercise. All samples were analyzed by real‐time qPCR for changes in EPO mRNA expression. In agreement with a previous report, EPO mRNA expression increased 14 ± 5% in human skeletal muscle 3 hours post‐exercise. In experiment 2, EPO expression increased 4.1 ± 2.8 and 7.4 ± 1.7 fold at 1 hour post‐exercise in the soleus muscle of untrained and trained mice, respectively, before returning towards baseline. In EDL, post‐exercise EPO expression increased 4.1 ± 1.0 fold by 2 hours and plateaued thereafter in only untrained mice; this response was blunted in trained mice. Here we show that EPO expression increased post‐exercise in both glycolytic and oxidative murine skeletal muscles; training had a fiber‐type‐specific differential effect in these muscles. Future studies should determine the physiological significance of skeletal muscle‐derived EPO.


This paper presents the fabrication and performance analysis of Zinc Oxide (ZnO) and Ag doped ZnO (SZO) based Metal-Semiconductor-Metal (MSM) ultraviolet (UV) photodetectors. The films were constructed on p-type silicon (Si) (100) substrates by sol-gel technique. Silver (Ag) electrodes were used as a Schottky contact for the fabricated devices. The structural, optical, and electrical properties for the fabricated films were studied and analyzed to show the effects of Ag dopants. With the applied voltage in the range of (-5 to 5 V) under dark condition, the values of the Schottky contact parameters were extracted and compared. Under UV illumination (254 nm) with different optical power levels, the performance parameters were extracted. The SEM image showed a non-uniform distribution of the Ag dopants, these dopants were formed clusters and this clusters acts as traps for the incident light. The saturation current was decreased for the device based on Ag doped ZnO film which enhanced the performance of the device.


This Thesis deals with the characterization of the mechanical behaviour of epoxy, one of the most common thermoset matrices for composite materials. The VisCoR model, developed at LTU, is used to describe its properties, considering in particular the effect of testing temperature and cure state parameters. The final aim is helping in the development of industrial tools to predict residual stresses and shape distortions.


Objective To discuss the curative effect of local close cure lumbar fracture injury and cartilage endplate inflammation mainly. Methods 8 cases from our hospital with lumbar fracture injury and cartilage endplate arthritic from January 2013 to December 2013 were selected, were given the partial closure based treatment. The curative effect was observed. Results Of 8 cases of patients, 3 cases were cured, 5 cases markedly effective, the total effective rate was 100(8/8%). Conclusion The treatment for lumbar fracture injury and cartilage endplate inflammation was significantly effect, was worthy of clinical application.


This publication has emanated from research supported in part by a research
grant from Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) under grant agreement number
SFI/12/RC/2289_P2, co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund,
and the Enterprise Ireland (EI) Innovation Partnership Programme under grant
number IP20180729, NURS – Neural Machine Translation for Under-Resourced
Scenarios.


Based on the fatigue test results of 3 prestressed concrete beams using the HRB500 steel bars as nonprestressed reinforcement,the stress of nonprestressed reinforcement and prestressed strand and the strain of concrete are discussed;the rigidity and cracking of the prestressed beams under cyclic loading are analyzed,and the flexural behavior of the prestressed concrete beams after 2.5 million times cyclic loading are also discussed and analyzed.The results show that the fatigue behavior of the prestressed concrete beams using the 500MPa steel bars as nonprestressed reinforcement under cyclic loading is satisfied.It is also found that the flexural bearing capacity of the beams after 2.5 million times cyclic loading is still higher,and both the 500MPa nonprestressed reinforcements and the prestressed strands can reach their yielding strength at the ultimate state.This may be regarded as a reference for future revision of the Chinese Design Code to use the 500MPa steel bars in prestressed concrete beams.


Integration of electricity and heat distribution networks offers extra flexibility to system operation and improves energy efficiency. The energy hub (EH) plays an important role in energy production, conversion and storage in such coupled infrastructures. This paper provides a new outlook and thorough mathematical tool for studying the integrated energy system from a deregulated market perspective. A mathematic program with equilibrium constraints (MPEC) model is proposed to study the strategic behaviors of a profit-driven EH in the electricity and heating markets under the background of energy system integration. In the upper level, the EH submits bids of prices and quantities to a distribution power market and a heating market. In the lower level, these two markets are cleared and energy contracts between the EH and two energy markets are determined. Network constraints of physical systems are explicitly represented by an optimal power flow problem and an optimal thermal flow problem. The proposed MPEC formulation is approximated by a mixed-integer linear program via performing integer disjunctions on the complementarity and slackness conditions and binary expansion technique on the bilinear product terms. Case studies demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed model and method.


All papers published in this volume of IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science have been peer reviewed through processes administered by the Editors. Reviews were conducted by expert referees to the professional and scientific standards expected of a proceedings journal published by IOP Publishing. • Type of peer review: A group of reviewers with good reputation of international publication were assigned to review the manuscripts of ICOSAE 2020 using Konfrenzi Automated Conference System. Prior to the review process, all the reviewers were briefed by Prof. Ade Gafar Abdullah on a virtual meeting regarding the reviewing process. As many as 10 reviewers were then eligible in which each was sent 7 – 10 papers through the submission system. They were given two weeks to finish their review process and given a certain amount of incentive once they finish their task. After the deadline, the reviewed manuscripts were sent to the participants (authors) using the system through their personal account. The authors were given two weeks to revise their manuscripts and send them back to the committee using their account. Papers whose revision was in accordance with the reviewers' comments went into final editing process (paper template layout checking, proofreading, etc.) and those which need further revision went into the second round of review process. All the manuscripts and other required data were submitted to IOP after they passed final editing. • Conference submission management system: Konfrenzi Automated Conference System • Number of submissions received: 99 • Number of submissions sent for review: 98 • Number of submissions accepted: 81 • Acceptance Rate (Number of Submissions Accepted / Number of Submissions Received X 100): 81/99 x 100 = 81.8% • Average number of reviews per paper: 3 • Total number of reviewers involved: 10 • Any additional info on review process: • Name and affiliation of the contact Ade Gafar Abdullah PT Rumah Publikasi Indonesia Jl. Chrysant No.37 Pondok Hijau Indah, Bandung Barat, Indonesia, 40559 Phone:+6281394554252 firstname.lastname@example.com


The aim of this UK roadmap is to ???join up??? knowledge and understanding across the entire CCSchain. It has been developed following a workshop that brought together a diverse group ofstakeholders and experts active in the UK CCS debate, from academic, industry, NGO and policy communities. It adopts a whole system (rather than solely technology based) approach and is intended to serve an integration and communication function, placing CCS within the context of relevant externalities, legislation and technical requirements. It provides an overview of the current system and indicates one view of possible trajectories towards the realisation of CCS as a significant component in the portfolio of climate change mitigation options for the UK.


The likelihood ratio method (LRM) is an efficient indirect method for estimating the sensitivity of given expectations with respect to parameters by Monte-Carlo simulation. The restriction on application of LRM to real-world problems is that it requires explicit knowledge of the probability density function (pdf) to calculate the score function. In this study, a fixed-sample-path method is proposed, which derives the score function required for LRM not via the pdf but directly from a constructive algorithm that computes the sample path from parameters and random numbers. The boundary residual, which represents the correction associated with the change of the distribution range of the random variables in LRM, is also derived. Some examples including the estimation of risk measures (Greeks) of option and financial flow-of-funds networks showed the effectiveness of the fixed-sample-path method.


: Sugar industries have an important place in Indian Economic Development .However the waste water generates from these industries bear a high degree of pollution load. Waste water from sugar industry, if discharged without treatment, possess pollution problem in both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. The rapid growth of the population, the technological and industrial boom has brought enormous problems and degradation of the environment. Effective collection and treatment of urban wastewater is a critical problem in a developing country like India This project work includes Analysis and Investigation of sugar industry waste water by conducting the test such as pH, Temperature, Electrical Conductivity, Turbidity, Dissolve Oxygen (DO), Total Suspended Solid (TSS), Total Dissolve Solid (TDS), Bio Chemical Oxygen Demand (BOD), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), sulphates . By conducting the following test, we correlate the values of waste water sample. The results of the study showed that the effluents in general exceed the limits specified in CPCB with reference to parameters a such as BOD, COD , total suspended solids. The effluent level found through the analysis can be reduced if suggested recommended measures are worked upon. The present wastewater treatment and management aspects of the city. An attempt has been made to identify the relevant management strategies to improve the wastewater management in the city. The suggestions could be made for utilising the treated wastewater for growing greens, vegetables and for agriculture.


Proven risk youth are a vulnerable population of at-risk youth. Unless significant intervention occurs, the proven risk youth are proven to re-offend or be re-incarcerated. Discipleship is an intense and intentional form of intervention in which a life-coach and a proven risk youth engage in relational learning. This research aims to understand how proven risk and life-coach dyads make sense of their discipleship by utilizing the qualitative methodology of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis to emphasize the voice and lived-experiences of the participants. As relational learning is in view, the Zone of Proximal Development is used to examine the way in which learning occurs between a more knowledgeable life-coach and a less knowledgeable proven risk youth.


In the frame of the educational polities, the architecture renews your manners and methods of education, emphasizing a formation based more on competition that in knowledge. Our discipline possesses an important tradition in, your pedagogy based on the didactics of the project. The today challenge is your update, considering the incorporation, systematic and validated, of the tools Analogous Digital (AD), orientated - more than to the representation, to the action proyectual. Based on works of J. Bermudez, and others presented by these researchers in other Sigradi's versions, tries to demonstrate that the interactive analogous use of analog-digital tools in the education of the project stimulates the increase of information and the actions of communication that favor the quality of the learnings and the management of the information. Your impact will be studied, both in the Pedagogic Practices of the teachers and in the Processes of the students in the Action Proyectual (AP). [Full paper in Spanish]


BPIFA1 is a member the bactericidal/permeability-increasing (BPI) protein family and is structurally similar to other BPIF family members with demonstrated innate immune roles. It is produced mainly in the mammalian respiratory tract and has been implicated in airway host defense against respiratory pathogens. However, the function of this protein is yet unresolved in many species and by elucidating this will aid to clarify its physiological role within the lungs. The objective of this study was to assess BPIFA1 expression and function in the respiratory tract in response to Influenza A virus. Using BPIFA1 knockout mice, we have shown increased virus load and inflammation in the lungs of these mice infected with the X31 strain (H3N2) as compared with wild-type controls. Interestingly, there were large peri-vascular aggregations of B cells in the lungs of BPIFA1-/- mice suggesting a role of BPIFA1 in modulating antibody responses. Lung tissues from mice infected with different strains of varying pathogenicities of Influenza A virus were analysed by immunohistochemical methods at specific time points during the infection period. Imaging software was then used to quantify the level of protein expression within the respiratory epithelium. It was found that the level of BPIFA1 decreased in response to highly pathogenic H5N1 and H7N9 infections but not to low pathogenicity H5N1 or H1N1 viruses. This alteration in expression was associated with an inflammatory response within the respiratory tissue surrounding the epithelium. Our data indicate that BPIFA1 influences inflammation and possibly signals to immune cells during Influenza A virus infection.


High beams are part of a reinforced concrete structure which is generally found in the beam for the (girder), Beam penghubuang, retaining walls and shear walls. In fact different from the normal beam beams have criteria and requirements are if the ratio between the shear span and height (a / s) beam does not exceed 1.0. shear span in question is part of a long beam that receives the shear stress in the same direction due to working loads. In this study specimen size and quality of concrete 13x45x150cm 340 MPa. Tests carried out with two loading points (Two Point Load), with the increase of loading every 100 kg and the ratio a / d is used, namely 1.2, 1.0, 0.8. after testing is done to analyze the behavior of high beams, especially the ability to resist the load, deflection, stiffness and ductility that occurs .. Results showed that the smaller the ratio a / d crack and ultimate ability to hold even greater. The
amount of increase in weight-bearing capability at the time of the initial crack vertical beam with a cross bar (BT-SV0) = 66.31% and the beam with a transverse tilt (BT-SM0) = 90%, whereas at the time of reaching the ultimate BT-SV0 = 40.28% and BT-SM0 = 33.94%. Deflection that occurs at high beam SV0 BT-crack initiation at higher 168.87% of the block BT-SM0, whereas in the event of ultimate BT-SV0 larger blocks 33.99% of the BT-SM0. Beam with oblique cross bar has a stiffness greater than the vertical beam with a cross bar which is 28.67% to 18.03% and the shear stiffness to flexural stiffness. The behavior of ductility that occurs indicates that the ductility of the beam-SM0 BT has a greater value yatu 87.91% of the block BT-SV0.


The learning of Laparoscopic Surgery is not fully standardized, nor is easily accessible. Laparoscopic Surgery learning programs are still incomplete and do not encompass simultaneous cognitive and psychomotor skills. Furthermore, adequate dexterities are not developed prior to entering the Operating Room, and the minimum skills needed to be developed in Laparoscopic Surgery have not yet been standardized [2-6,8-10,12].


A die cast-form physical moulding is first designed by using Pro/Engineer, Unigraphic-II, Powershape or other three-dimensional moulding software in computer; a paper prototype of die cast form is then made up by transmitting the stereo optical moulding document to LOM machine tool, and after the prepared paper prototype is treated, it is taken as the mother template of silastic die; and after combining die and frame, silastic main material and hardening agent are injected into the die frame, vacuum bubble is eliminated for hardening and the mother template is with drawn to obtain the silastic die. The die producing process is fast, low in cost and suitable for manufacturing die for single-piece and small batch production.


ABSTRACT: Because student performance of psychomotor tasks is used to determine student grades and ability to perform as a professional, it is the instructor's ethical and educational duty to ensure that the measurement tool is reliable. A reliable tool will help to identify students who have not mastered the material so that they may be provided with additional training and practice before graduation. A 17‐item score sheet for assessing a sterile‐technique hand‐washing procedure was developed to explore the reliability of scoring this psychomotor task. After the tool was found to be a valid measure of the task, three nursing instructors were trained to use the instrument. Sixty‐eight female physical therapy students were videotaped performing the task; then the instructors evaluated their performances using the score sheet. Results indicated only moderate intrarater (r=.69) and fair interrater (r=.55) reliabilities on videotaped scoring of eight subjects before raters were given instruction on using the score sheet. After rater instruction and feedback on the use of the instrument, the statistics improved to good interrater (r=.90) and good intrarater (r=.94) reliabilities. It is recommended that educators develop checklist instruments to assess clinical skills, provided that reliability is determined and raters are trained.


Our laboratory previously identified an abnormally elevated CD161a+ immune cell population in splenocytes of the pre-hypertensive Spontaneously Hypertensive Rat (SHR) that was abnormally expanded following cholinergic activation with nicotine . In the present study, we tested the hypothesis that the expanded CD161a+ cell population represents an activated monocyte/macrophage population and are present in the bone marrow (BM). We isolated cells from the spleen and BM of pre-hypertensive (4-5 week old) SHR (n=3) and age-matched normotensive Wistar Kyoto (WKY, n=3) rats. Isolated cells were stained with a fluorochrome conjugated anti-rat CD161a monoclonal antibody and analyzed by flow cytometry. CD161a+ cells were more prevalent in splenocytes and BM of the pre-hypertensive SHR, compared to WKY (8.7 ± 1.4% vs 1.2 ± 0.6% and 12.6 ± 1.8% vs 1.7 ± 0.8%, respectively, p 0.05). Nicotine had no effect on the CD161a+/CD68- cell population in either splenocytes or BM cells of the SHR or WKY. Thus, an activated monocyte/macrophage population (CD161a+/CD68+) is expanded by cholinergic activation in both the BM and spleen of SHR, but only in the BM and not spleen of the WKY. Since, the pro-inflammatory nicotinic response present in the BM of the WKY is abrogated in the peripheral spleen, we conclude that the retention of this response in the SHR may contribute to the development of hypertension.


Fifty-six years after it didn't find a publisher and thirty-two years after its author's early death in 1985 at age 62, Linguistics and the Parts of the Mind (LPM) has found a publisher who has given us a nicely made hardcopy book, helpfully attended by Philip Staines's Editor's Preface and Douglas Walton's Foreword. Much of the large and approving readership of his highly influential Fallacies [1970] will be surprised to learn of Charles Hamblin's long and pioneering association with theories of information and computation from the early 1940s until his death, concerning which McBurney [2011] is instructive reading. LPM is an admirably learned book, nicely written in a well-paced informal style. It is an easy book to read but a difficult one to grasp. The reason, in large measure, is that LPM is a promissory-note sort of book and cannot, therefore, be the instrument of its own redemption. This makes LPM a tricky book to assess. Are we to judge it as a 1971 book or do 2017 standards apply? Speaking for myself, if I were reviewing the book in the early 1970s, most of what I say now I would have said then. Even so, we now have a record of some of the developments predicted by what the book promised. Hamblin's logic of dialogues has flourished and its theoretical aftermath has found welcome partners in argumentation theory and computer science. Considered as a contribution to the linguistics of language use, Hamblin has had a considerable impact on theoretical pragmatics. Considered as a contribution to the theory of the human mind, LPM has had less staying power. Considered as a vindication of Plato's tripartite theory of the human mind, I would suggest that it hasn't worked. The big payoff has been the steady advancement of dialogue games as instruments of theoretical enquiry, some of the best-known of which are called 'Hamblin games'. Hamblin is not the originator of dialogue games. The first person to treat them systematically was Aristotle in On Sophistical Refutations. In Fallacies, Hamblin himself, draws inspiration from the 13-century Obligation Game of William of Sherwood. Hamblin is a skilful refurbisher of once-productive ideas and methods that have fallen out of theoretical favour over time. In 1970, his grand mission was to re-establish the study of fallacies as an integral part of logical theory, and to upgrade the logic of its machinery so as to render its reinstatement secure. He has a like grand mission in this present book—to reinstate dialogue logic, to upgrade its method, so that, among other things, objectives such as his own might have a decent chance of being met. In 1970, Hamblin announced a major reform of logic. A year later, he announced a major reform of linguistics. Given their sheer magnitude, and bold reach, it is easy to see why the reforms called for in those two books couldn't have been brought to completion in either of them. Some of the questions to which LPM seeks answers are suggested by its name. From the main title we derive


Objective
To compare the efficacy of photodynamic therapy (PDT) alone or in combined with ranibizumab versus ranibizumab monotherapy (intravitreal injection, IVR) in patients with polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV).

Methods
80 eyes of 72 patients with PCV were enrolled into this retrospective and comparative study according to their therapeutic plan. 30 eyes of 28 patients, 28 eyes of 30 patients and 22 eyes of 21 patients were divided into PDT group, ranibizumab 0.5 mg group (IVR group) or the combination group, respectively. The patients with PCV were diagnosed according to clinical symptoms, optical coherence tomography (OCT) and fluorescent indocyanine green angiography (ICGA). The baseline best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) before treatment was more than 0.05, and there was no retinal fibrosis and scar for all patients. There was no statistical difference of age (F=0.187), gender (χ2=0.423), average BCVA (F=1.120) and central retinal thickness (CRT) (F=0.431) among three groups (P>0.05). They had not received any treatment before. Patients received verteporfin PDT in PDT group, 3 consecutive monthly IVRs starting day 1 in IVR group, and 3 IVRs after 3 days, 1 month, 2 months of PDT starting day 1 in combination group. Re-treatment was considered 3 months later if the follow up shown no changes in fundus photography, OCT and ICGA. The average follow-up time was 19 months. BCVA at baseline and follow-up visit at 1, 3, 6, 12 months was measured, and the proportion of patients with ICGA-assessed complete regression of polyps at month 6 was recorded as primary outcome. The CRT was measured at baseline and 6 months as secondary outcome.

Results
There were significant difference of BCVA at 1, 3, 6 and 12 months among three groups(F=5.480, 5.249, 3.222, 4.711; P 0.05). The proportion of patients with complete regression of polyps at 6 months was higher in PDT (76.7%) or combination group (68.2%) than IVR group (35.7%) (χ2=0.003, 0.025; P 0.05).

Conclusions
Three therapies could effectively decrease CRT. IVR or IVR combined with PDT are both more effective than PDT therapy to improve vision of PCV patients. PDT or PDT combined with IVR was superior to IVR pnly in achieving complete regression of polyps in 6 months in PCV patients.

Key words:
Choroid diseases/therapy; Angiogenesis inhibitors/therapeutic use; Antibodies, monoclonal/therapeutic use; Photochemotherapy; Comparative effectiveness research


Synthesis and application of cationic water-borne polyurethane fixing agent was introduced.Ef-fects of reaction temperature,time,molecular weight of polyether,mixing ratio [n(PPG-1 000)∶n(PEG-1 000)] of polyether polyol component and the amount of chain extender on the fixation effect of product were analyzed.The optimum synthesis conditions were obtained: n(—NCO)/n(—OH) =2.0,n(PPG-1 000) ∶n(PEG-1 000) =1 ∶1,7.5%(based on the weight of prepolymer) of MDEAr,eacted at 55 ℃ for 2 h.At the same time,the application conditions of fixing agent were optimized: reactive dyed cotton fabric→two-dip-two-pad(60 g/L of fixing agent,80% of mangle expression)→dried at 80 ℃ for 3 min→cured at 130 ℃ for 3 min.


C‐Alkyl amidine analogues of asymmetric Nω,Nω‐dimethyl‐L‐arginine are dual‐targeted inhibitors of both human DDAH‐1 and nitric oxide (NO) synthase, and provide a promising scaffold for the development of therapeutics to control NO overproduction in a variety of pathologies including septic shock and some cancers. Using a two‐part click‐chemistry‐mediated activity probe, a homologated series of C‐alkyl amidines were ranked for their ability to inhibit DDAH‐1 within cultured HEK 293T cells. N5‐(1‐Iminopentyl)‐L‐ornithine was determined to be the most potent compound in vitro (Kd=7 μM) as well as in cultured cells, and the binding conformation and covalent reversible mode of inhibition was investigated by comparison of interactions made with DDAH‐1 and a catalytically inactive C274S variant, as gauged by X‐ray crystallography and isothermal titration calorimetry. By interrupting the ability of the inhibitor to form a covalent bond, the contribution of this interaction could be estimated. These results suggest that further stabilization of the covalent adduct is a promising strategy for lead optimization in the design of effective reagents to block NO synthesis.


Increased penetration of wind power into distribution networks can be limited by intermittency of wind power and its effects on security of supply. This paper investigates this problem in the context of dispersed integration and proposes an inventive approach to quantify the security benefits with the level of diversity of wind in a distribution network. The approach is framed through Monte Carlo simulation by modelling key variants that include wind regime correlation, economical constraints of standing reserve units, and random outages. A case study is performed and results suggest that the dispersed integration can improve the security of supply up to a threshold. The threshold does not necessarily correlate with the level of diversity of wind power.


The process of chromosome duplication faces many obstacles. One way to circumvent blocks is to hop over them by placing a new clamp on a downstream primer. This resembles lagging strand synthesis, where the tight grip of polymerase to the clamp and DNA must be overcome upon completing each Okazaki fragment so it can transfer to new primed sites. This review focuses on recent single-molecule studies showing that E. coli Pol III can hop from one clamp to another without leaving the replication fork. This capability provides a means to circumvent obstacles like transcription or DNA lesions without fork collapse.


Faults diagnosis of Integrate Circuit(IC) is composed of faults detection and location.The traditional detection,which functioned to detect whether the circuit has faults or not,can not locate,rank or find out the root reason of the faults.So further analysis is needed to identify the types of faults and modify the functional design or electronic design.As the development of IC technology,faults diagnosis which focuses on faults location is becoming critical increasingly.Some traditional methods about diagnosis and faults diagnosis technology based on circuit information are introduced.


In regards to the conventional technology for performing operational inputs by referring a GUI and by means of a touch sensor, there exists a problem in which the relationship of correspondence between on-screen locations of selection items on a GUI and touchpad locations cannot be accurately grasped. Moreover, cases in which a touch panel equipped with an information display function instead of a touch sensor is used cause problems in that the cost thereof or power consumed thereby can be relatively high, etc. In order to solve the problems described as above, the present invention provides a remote control that selects an icon on a GUI as a target of operation using a touch sensor, and which is characterized by a configuration that allows a user to easily identify the relationship of correspondence by brightening of a touch sensor on a touchpad corresponding to icon arrangement on a GUI.


The power of combined quick EXAFS (QuEXAFS) and X-ray diffraction as a structural and kinetic tool in high-temperature solid-state chemistry is exemplified by the study of the conversion of Mg2+-exchanged zeolite B to cordierite, a process facilitated by trace amounts of zinc oxide. With a setup consisting of a position-sensitive detector and a rapidly scanning monochromator, time-resolved studies of short-range and long-range order within samples held in excess of 1000-degrees-C are routinely possible.


In this paper,the antiseptic system of the sauce produced by a Guangdong flavoring company was studied with the methods of isolation and identification of microbe in the sauce,challenge test to the antiseptic system and resistance to secondary contamination of the antiseptic system.Firstly,microbes in the sauces were isolated and identified.Experiment results indicated that none fungi was isolated from the sauce and 49 cfu/mL bacteria existed in the sauce.Physiological and biochemical characters and 16S rRNA sequence analysis of four strains bacteria isolated from the sauce were studied.The results suggested that one strain was Bacillus licheniformis,one strain was Bacillus subtilis and two strains were Bacillus megaterium.Secondly,experiment results of challenge test and resistance to secondary contamination of the antiseptic system showed that the quantities of microbe didn't increased.In conclude,the antiseptic system of the sauce possess strong antibacterial and antifungal efficiency,which was up to the food hygiene standard.


The only current Australia/New Zealand text designed for students studying in this secondary Key Learning Area. This title offers a contemporary approach to the subject by combining a strong focus on issues of practice with an accessible theoretical perspective.


As a new controversial issue,adolescent internet addiction has widely aroused people's interests.The article discussed some methods on preventing and intervening adolescent internet addiction both inner china and abroad,and predicted the following researches on how to prevent it.


This article explains the necessity and possibilities of an integrated approach to the upbringing of a harmoniously developed generation. The article also outlines the ways of integrating physical and moral education into the formation of a student's personality. Basic concepts: education, upbringing, harmonious generation, integration, personality, physical education, spiritual and moral education, outdoor games, moral ethics, and didactic principle.


The processes of transformation that contemporary societies are now going through have contributed to the reconfiguration of and stress in the different realities of work and of the professions. In Portugal, during the last few decades it has been proved to be true that the different constitutional governments tended to legislate for reforms concerning the structure of the central administration. In the educational field, these political measures were expressed in countless decrees and standards, which have had repercussions on the lives of schools and teachers. New regimes were proposed like professional reclassification and reconversion (2008) and, more recently, the loss of teaching posts by mutual consent and the requalification of the workers, who were surplus in public services and bodies (2013). An investigation will be carried out in which the principal objective is the understanding of what teachers think about the impact of these policies on their work and on the (re)construction of their professional identity, thus permitting a wider understanding of what it is to be a teacher today. The investigation is of a qualitative nature with recourse to biographical narratives and documental research. This article will focus on a revision of the literature concerning the theme, while emphasizing that the quality of work undertaken by these professionals has a strong relationship with the significance that they attribute to themselves. Thus, in the case of the teachers, the meaning assigned to their work has an impact on their own teaching work and their professional identity.


Abstract Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) is commercially grown in a wide range of climatic conditions. There is a need to understand nutrient uptake by tomato at various climatic conditions in order to devise the specific nutrient supply to this important crop. Tomato seedlings, at the first flower blooming stage, were transplanted into 6‐L pots of washed sand. Four root temperature regimes (day/night, °C) 12/12, 16/08, 17/17, and 30/20, and four temperatures of the shoots 20/20, 25/25, 25/15, and 30/20 were controlled separately for the shoots and roots. All four growth cabinets had the same day length of 13 h and light intensity of 400 μmole/m2/s measured on top of the canopy, The relative humidity was 85%. The nutrient solutions contained 10 mM N in three ratios of nitrate:ammonium (NO3:NH4)—10:0, 8:2, and 6:4 each in three replications in each growth cabinet. The water consumption, fresh and dry weight, water soluble nutrient in the plant, exudate composition at the end of the experiment and to...


existing Optical Character Readers (OCRs) are capable of reading linear form text and have limitations to read artistic and non-linear form text. The tilt in characters contributes a major share in affecting the efficiency of the recognition algorithms. This paper presents a technique to estimate and correct the vertical tilt in printed characters of English in order to make an OCR to read the text more efficiently. The input characters are assumed to be segmented from the document image and free from noise. Initially, the direction of tilt of the characters is detected using a heuristically constructed knowledgebase. Next, the inclination of the character to its base is estimated using line drawing algorithm. Finally, the estimated tilt is corrected through rotation in counter direction of the tilt. The method has been tested with sufficient samples and readability analysis is performed with an OCR. Experimental results show an average improvement in readability by OCR from 20% before tilt correction to 82% after the tilt correction. Keywordsinear text, Artistic text, Tilt in characters, Tilt correction, OCR.


Wireless sensor network (WSN) enables the continuous monitoring of environmental conditions. These systems are usually powered by batteries. Given that there might be tremendous distributed sensor nodes in a network, battery maintenance must become one of the major challenges for their massive deployment. Energy harvesting technology, by which energy is extracted from the ambient environment, is developed for powering the ubiquitous Internet of Things (IoT) devices using different types of local energy, such as solar, vibration, and wind. In this paper, based on the vibration energy harvesting technology, we introduce a battery-free pavement roughness estimation system (BF-PRES), which provides road roughness information by linking the driving vibration and wireless packet count. Instead of harvesting energy to power an off-the-shelf commercial accelerometer and implementing some algorithms for vibration estimation, BF-PRES simply sends out a BLE Beacon packet, when the accumulated energy arrives at a sufficient level. Given that larger vibration intensity gives higher harvested power, the packet count within a constant time interval should be positively related to the road roughness. Lab testing shows the feasibility of the proposed design. In addition, this study also provides a new design scheme and easy implementation of battery-free or energy-constrained IoT systems.


This paper introduces basic postulation of the calculation of nominal section's bearing capacity of bending member,analyzes the formula derivation for relative-boundary compressive region's height ξb,and discusses its meanings,which to offer help for designers to correctly understand design code.


The paper presents data on the cranberry fruit as a source of various biologically active components. In light of the current data it is described a wide range of therapeutic activity of cranberry .


It is revealed the invalidity of the idea that famous Schrodinger's cat thought experiment can be a quantum touchstone. The arguments are: (i) the probabilistic incorrectness in the (over)rating of the subject, (ii) the possibility of imagining non-quantum scenarios but completely similar to that experiment (iii) lack of ratified practical tests having genuine essence (i.e., non-counterfeit). So, the aforesaid experiment appears as a simplistic thought exercise without any notable significance for quantum physics.


This article demonstrates that natural gas must be counted among the sustainable energy sources. What is more, natural gas acts as a bridge to a supply system based on hydrogen. The significance of natural gas in the primary energy mix of industrialized countries will only increase as time goes on. Increasing competition in the energy markets under the heading of liberalization will lead on the one hand to the development and use of highly efficient energy converters like fuel cells, for example, and on the other hand political pressure with an eye to the European CO2 reduction targets will give clear impulses in this direction. This article also demonstrates the advantages and opportunities of using natural gas as a low carbon fossil fuel in order to achieve these targets. Above and beyond this, the role of natural gas in the energy intensive domestic, industrial and transportation sectors will be fully examined. In particular, the influence of fuel cell technology in these areas of application will be presented and the significance of natural gas as a fuel examined from technical and economical points of view.

Keywords:

sustainability;
natural gas;
resource;
demand;
natural gas vehicle;
solid oxide fuel cells;
molten carbonate fuel cells;
auxiliary power unit;
hydrates;
liberalization;
energy market;
power generation


Objective:To observe the probability of acute hypervolemic hemodilution(AHH) in coronary heart disease patients during non-cardiac surgery.Methods: 60 coronary heart disease patients undergoing elective non-cardiac surgery were divided into two groups randomly,one group as the treament group(n=33) using hydroxyethyl starch as the expansion fluid of AHH,another group(n=27) as the control group without hemodilution.Varieties of hemodynamics,blood gas analysis,the concentration of blood lactate(Lac) and troponin I(cTnI) were compared,and the cases of allogeneic blood transfusion and transfusion volume were compared in both groups.Results: The heart rates,MAP,CVP were increased slightly in patients in treatment group,but when compared with the patients in control group,there were no significant differences(P 0.05).The blood viscosity,concentration of lactic acid level and cTnl were decreased significantly in patients in treatment group.But it wasn,t shown any significant differences for PH values,arterial oxygen tension and arterial oxygen saturation at each time point for both groups.There were no adverse reactions in both groups,and the cases of allogeneic blood transfusion(n=9) and the volume of blood transfusion(450 ± 110)mL in treament group were less than those in control group [n=18,(670 ± 190)mL].Conclusion: AHH is safe for the patients with coronary heart disease undergoing non-cardiac surgery,and should be appllied in clinical practice.


Objective To observe the influence of serum containin g Jiangzhi Pinggan Decoction(Decoction for lowering lipid and calming the liver) on the expressio n of insulin receptor substrate-1(IRS-1) mRNA and peroxisome proliferator-ac tivated receptor γ(PPAR-γ) mRNA in 3T3-L1 adipocytes in rats and discuss its mecha nism.Methods Sixteen Wistar rat were selected.The 3T3-L1 preadipocytes were cultured in vitro and differentia ted to adipocytes.The cell model of insulin resistance(IR) was induced by tumor necrosi s factor-α(TNF-α).The control group was established by adding 20% o f blank serum to the culture medium.The model group was established by adding 20n g/ml of TNF-α on the basis of the control group.The rosiglitazone group and J iangzhi Pinggan group was added the corresponding bbc-containing serum respectiv ely besides the culture medium and 20ng/ml of TNF-α.The expression of IRS-1 mRN A and PPAR-γ mRNA was observed after culturing for 48 hours.R esults Comparing with the control group,the expression of IRS-1 mRNA and PPAR-γ mRNA was sign ificantly decreased in the model group(P0.05).The expression of IRS-1 mRN A and PPAR-γ mRNA in the rosiglitazone group was similar to that in the Jiangzhi Pin ggan Decoction group,but the differences were statistically significant between the model group and both medication groups(P0.05).Conclu sion Jiangzhi Pinggan Decoction could inhibit the IR of 3T3-L1 adipocytes,which maybe relevant to e nhancing the expression of IRS-1 mRNA and PPAR-γ mRNA,


Abstract : Two problems are considered. In the first problem, the properties of surface waves propagating in a slab of uniaxially anisotropic dielectric are studied. The slab is of finite thickness and the relative dielectric constants of the dielectric tensor are all positive. Two cases are studied simultaneously, one being the case where the optical axis is chosen parallel to the slab, and the other being the case where the optical axis is chosen perpendicular to the slab. Only E-mode surface waves are studied since these have the properties of extraordinary type waves. A transverse resonance procedure is utilized in the determination of the surface wave resonances. It is found that at any frequency the resonances are finite in number. In the second problem, the electromagnetic fields of a uniaxially anisotropic plasma slab in the presence of a magnetic line source are studied. The geometry is the same as for the first problem, except that the optical axis is chosen parallel to the slab and perpendicular to the direction of the line source.


This paper considers the sliding mode control(SMC) problem for T-S fuzzy system under the component-based event-triggering mechanism(ETM). Moreover, the uncertainties and gain fluctuations in a randomly occurring way are taken into account, and these phenomena are described via two independent Bernoulli processes. Under the component-based ETM, the measurable output component is judged and transmitted independently to reduce the transmission frequency. Then, by virtue of the SMC approach, a fuzzy resilient output feedback controller is designed, which only depends on the triggered output signals. Meanwhile, sufficient criteria are derived to ensure the reachability of the specified sliding surface and the mean-square asymptotical stability of the closed-loop fuzzy system. Finally, we provide the simulation results for verifying the proposed control strategy.


The experimental parameters that determine the thermal lens signal and the length of the optical system are considered in order to develop a simple and compact single-laser-dual-beam set-up for thermal lens spectrometry. The results, expressed in terms of signal amplitude and signal to noise ratio, show that they depend on the focal length of the focusing lens, the distance between the sample cell and the detector, the size of the aperture used to sample the thermal lens signal and the relative power of the pump and probe beams. The performance of the apparatus is optimised in the shortest configuration for which the length of the optical system is less than 0.9 m from the laser head. A minimum detectable absorbance of 8.4 × 10–6 is obtained in ethanol with only 4 mW of excitation power available at the sample cell.


This paper expounds the background of the generation of the outsourcing of university library's cataloguing work, analyzes on the influences of the outsourcing of the cataloguing work on the library's work, and advances some countermeasures for perfecting the outsourcing of the cataloguing work.


A new, simple, precise, accurate and selective high performance thin - layer chromatographic (HPTLC) method has been develope d and validated for the simultaneous determination of p amabrom and p aracetamol in a synthetic mixture . Chromatographic separation was carried out on Merck TLC aluminium sheets of silica gel 60F 254 using Chloroform: Acetonitrile (5.0: 5.0 % v/v) as mobile p hase followed by densitometric analysis at 277 nm. This system was found to give compact spots f or pamabrom (Rf value of 0.34 ± 0.004 ) and paracetamol (Rf value of 0.56 ± 0.004 ). The method was validated in terms of linearity, accuracy, precision, limit of detection, limit of quantification and specificity in accordance with International Conference on Harmonization (ICH) guidelines. The calibration curve was foun d to be linear between 10 0 to 350 and 130 0 to 4550 ng/spot for pamabrom and p aracetamol , respec tively with significantly high value of correlation coefficient (r 2 > 0.99). The limits of detection and qu antitation were found to be 7.65 and 23.17 ng/spot, respectively for pamabrom and 52.63 and 159.48 ng/s pot, respectively for paracetamol . The propose d method was found to be acc urate, precise, reproducible, specific and sensitive and can be applicable for the simultaneo us determination of pamabrom and paracetamol in Synthetic mixture.


Common genetic contributions to autism spectrum disorder (ASD) reside in risk-gene variants that individually have minimal effect-sizes. Since neurodevelopment-perturbing environmental factors also underlie idiopathic-ASD, it is crucial to identify altered regulators able to orchestrate multiple ASD-risk genes during neurodevelopment. Cytoplasmic polyadenylation element binding proteins 1-4 (CPEB1-4) regulate translation of specific mRNAs by modulating their poly(A)-tail and participate in embryonic development and synaptic plasticity. Here we find that CPEB4 binds transcripts of most high-confidence ASD genes. Idiopathic-ASD brains show CPEB4 transcript isoform imbalance due to decreased inclusion of a neuronal-specific microexon together with a new molecular signature of global poly(A)-tail shortening that remarkably impacts high-confidence ASD-risk genes with concomitant reduction of their protein levels. Equivalent CPEB4 transcript isoform imbalance in mice mimics the mRNA-polyadenylation and protein level changes of ASD genes and induces ASD-like neuroanatomical, electrophysiological and behavioral phenotypes. Altogether, these data unravel CPEB4 as a novel regulator of ASD-risk genes. (with non-normal distribution) was performed. To compare dependent measurements, we used a paired t-test (normal distribution) or Wilcoxon signed-rank tests (non-normal). For multiple comparisons, data with a normal distribution were analyzed by one way-ANOVA test followed by a Tukey's or a Games-Howell's post-hoc test. Statistical significance of non-parametric data for multiple comparisons was determined by Kruskal-Wallis One-way ANOVA test. Enrichment tests were carried out by using one-sided Fisher's exact test. A critical value for significance of P < 0.05 was used throughout the study. core CBMSO-Genomics & Massive Sequencing, CBMSO-Animal Facility, CBMSO-Confocal Microscopy, CBMSO-CNB Mouse Transgenesis, CNB-Proteomics, IRB-Functional Genomic and IRB-Bioinformatics/Biostatistics.


The patient was a man aged 38 yrs. While at work early in the day, his illness started suddenly with severe cough, which was initially non-productive and which lasted for several hours. He felt breathless but had no wheeze. He bad a small quantity of frank haemoptysis. By evening he had a hectic fever, that was initially associated with chills. He was treated by a general practitioner with parenteral penicillin. By the fourth day he had developed left-sided pleuritic chest pain. At this stage a chest roentgenogram was obtained. His fever settled gradually over three weeks, and his cough became scantily productive. He continued to have chest pain and breathlessness and was referred to us for evaluation. The patient then had moderately high grade fever, scantily productive cough, chest pain and breathlessness of three weeks' duration. He had no history of drug/ alcohol intake, unconciousness or epilepsy, head or faciomaxillary trawna or general anaesthesia. He had been treated two years previously for right middle and lower lobe pneumonia. He had his upper left premolar tooth extracted one year earlier. He was a smoker and a teetotaller. When fust seen by us, he had clinical signs of resolving pneumonia of left lower lobe and bronchiectasis of right middle and lower lobes. He also had gingivitis and periodontitis. Upper right second molar and upper left premolar teeth were missing. Laboratory findings were haemoglobin (Hb) 95 g-1·1 , leucocytes 12.5x109 cells·1· 1 , differential leucocyte count (DLC) N78 L18 E4 80 MO, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) (Westergren) 70 mm in first h. Plasma sugar fasting was 6.1 mmol-1·1 and 2 h post-prandial 6.7 mmol·l·1• Direct smear of sputum was negative for acid-fast bacilli. Review of the roentgenogram (postero-anterior view) obtained by his general practitioner revealed consolidation in left lower and mid zones; a small dense opacity was visible in the left hilar region. Fresh roentgenograms showed features of resolving pneumonia of the left lower lobe with no shift of midline structures (fig. 1). a


Providing a seamless handoff and quality of service (QoS) guarantees is one of the key issues in real-time services. Several IPv6 mobility management schemes have been proposed and can provide uninterrupted service. However, these schemes either have synchronization issues or introduce signaling overhead and high packet loss rate. This paper presents a scheme that reduces the handoff latency based on the location and movement pattern of a Mobile Node (MN). An MN can detect its movement actively and forecast the handoff, which alleviates the communication cost between the MN and its Access Router (AR). Furthermore, by setting the dynamic interval in an appropriate range, the MN's burden can also be alleviated. Finally, by performance evaluation using both theoretical analysis and computer simulations, we show that the proposed scheme can lower the handoff latency efficiently.


AIM: To study the effects of cholestan 3β,5α,6β triol (Triol) and 25 hydroxycholesterol (25OH) on proliferation, apoptosis of vascular smooth muscle cells(VSMC)and to explore the effects and significance of oxysterols in atherogenesis. METHODS: VSMC of aorta of New Zealand white rabbit were cultured and identified. VSMC incubated with or without Triol and 25OH or cholesterol, at different concentrations, was as experimental groups or control group. Cell proliferation was measured with WST 1. Cell apoptosis was evaluated by light and electron transmission microscopy and terminal deoxynuocleotidyl transferase (TdT) mediated dUPT nick end labeling (TUNEL). RESULTS: The metabolic activity of VSMC was not different between at low dose (1×10 -9 -1× 10 -7 mol·L -1 ) of Triol and 25OH experimental groups and control group (P 0.05 ),but it decreased significantly at higher dose (≥1× 10 -6 mol·L -1 ) of oxysterols groups (P 0.01 ). After being treated with higher dose(≥20× 10 -6 mol·L -1 ) of oxyterols, VSMC showed apoptosis of ultrastracture change including shrinkage, condensation of nuclear chromatin, fragmentation nuclei and formation of apoptotic body. TUNEL revealed that Triol induced apoptosis in VSMC was in a concentration dependent manner. CONCLUSIONS: Triol and 25OH, at low dose, have not growth effect on VSMC, but at higher dose can induce VSMC apoptosis. Oxysterol induced VSMC apoptosis may trigger plaque rupture and play an important role in atherogenesis.


In the last 15 years, mycologists studying human fungal pathogens have seen great improvements in the methods for manipulating the genomes of these organisms. One result of these improvements is that large-scale deletion sets for Candida albicans [1], C. glabrata [2], Cryptococcus neoformans [3], and Aspergillus fumigatus [4] are available to the communities. This has greatly improved the depth and breadth of single gene–based genetic profiling of these important human pathogens. To date, however, these methods and resources have not been applied to the logical next step: functional genetic interaction analysis using strains with multiple mutations. The power of this approach has been most dramatically demonstrated in the model organism Saccharomyces cerevisiae based on the systematic approaches pioneered by Andrews, Boone, and others [5]. Although genetic networks have been constructed for important phenotypes in pathogenic fungi based on single gene analysis, expression profiling, and chromatin immunoprecipitation, the functional significance of such interactions have rarely been tested with double mutants. The exception to this general statement is the systematic genetic interaction studies of C. albicans that have been described, recently. In this Pearl, we highlight biological [6], technical [7, 8, 9], and strategic developments [10] that have greatly improved the ability of researchers to generate systematic sets of C. albicans strains containing deletion mutations at multiple loci. We hope this discussion prompts the more routine use of this powerful genetic tool in the study of pathogenic fungi.


One important approach to the study of galaxy evolution is to identify those galaxies whose spectral and/or morphological characteristics suggest that they are in transition. For example, "E+A" galaxies∗ , which have strong Balmer absorption lines and no significant [OII] emission, are generally interpreted as post-starburst galaxies in which the star formation ceased within the last ∼ Gyr (Figure 1). This transition between a star forming and non-star forming state is a critical link in any galaxy evolution model in which a blue, star forming disk galaxy evolves into a S0 or elliptical. Another possible evolutionary track is that the star formation in an "E+A" resumes at some later time, if enough gas remains in the galaxy after its starburst ends. Given this ambiguity, it is important to investigate (1) the environment's role in "E+A" evolution, (2) the stellar and gas morphologies of "E+A"s, (3) the likely progenitors of "E+A"s, and (4) how common the "E+A" phase is in the evolution of galaxies. This proceeding summarizes recent results from several inter-related projects designed to address these questions. These projects focus on a sample of 21 nearby "E+A" galaxies (0.05 < z < 0.15; Zabludoff et al. 1996) drawn from the Las Campanas Redshift Survey (Shectman et al. 1996). These studies include VLA and HST observations, in addition to comparisons of these data with galaxy-galaxy interaction simulations and stellar population synthesis models. My collaborators are D. Zaritsky (UCO/Lick),


WDM is proving to be the preferred choice for expanding the capacity of optical communication systems. Using this technique bit rates exceeding 1 Tbits/s have been demonstrated. However, due to the combination of the gain spectrum and the predominantly homogeneous properties of erbium ions in silica glass the different wavelength channels will diverge. A new technique to overcome this problem is presented employing twin-core erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (TC-EDFAs) that induce inhomogeneous broadening in the gain medium at room temperature. A four-channel WDM link using cascaded TC-EDFAs is presented. It is demonstrated experimentally that the TC-EDFA can passively compensate for the wavelength dependence of the erbium gain spectrum thus allowing nondivergent and self-regulating propagation of individual channel powers.


Deriving necessary and sufficient conditions for a scalar potential to be bounded from below (BFB) is a difficult task beyond the simplest cases. Recently, a set of BFB conditions was proposed for the A 4-invariant three-Higgs-doublet model (3HDM). However, that set of conditions relied on numerical scan, and a complete analytic proof was lacking. Here, we fill this gap. We prove that the conjectured BFB conditions are indeed necessary and sufficient within the neutral Higgs subspace. We bypass technically challenging direct algebraic computations with a novel technique that relies on an auxiliary function, which is related to the Higgs potential but which is easier to analyze. This technique may finally be sufficient to tackle the more involved case of the original Weinberg's 3HDM model.


ECOLOGY, IMPACT ASSESSMENT, AND ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNING Walter E. Westman The first integrated text on applied ecology, ecological impact assess ment and environmental planning written by a biological ecologist with extensive experience in planning and geography. Ecology critically reviews current methods of assessment and provides the conceptual and methodological basis for advancing the field, approx. 624 pp. (1-89621-7) November 1984 $60.00 Cloth (1-80895-4) November 1984 $39.95 Paper


The high level classification of the Galatheoidea, popularly known as squat lobsters, has been relatively stable for almost a century. Multiple recent studies of their interrelationships, however, have revealed significant incongruities between the traditional classification and phylogeny. The Aeglidae, Chirostylidae and Kiwaidae were recently removed to other superfamilies. On the basis of previous phylogenetic analyses, we herein revise the higher classification of the remaining Galatheoidea to comprise four families: Galatheidae, Munididae fam. nov., Munidopsidae, and Porcellanidae. The galatheoid families are both morphologically and ecologically distinct. Members of the Munidopsidae are distinguished by the absence or reduction of the maxilliped 1 flagellum and usually occur in outer slope or abyssal habitats. Members of the Munididae fam. nov. are united by the trifid or trispinous anterior margin of the carapace and usually occur at outer shelf or slope depths. The Galatheidae includes primarily shallow water species, united by a broad, triangular rostrum, and is most closely related to the porcelain crabs, Porcellanidae. The families of the Galatheoidea are diagnosed and a diagnostic key provided. Extant and fossil genera are listed for each galatheoid squat lobster family.


The author describes his experiences chairing a panel to review ultrawideband (UWB), or impulse, radar. The panel's report pointed out the fallacies in the proposals of the extremists pushing the rapid development of such a radar, noted the very good work of the real contributors, and made several recommendations. Pressure from the extremists led to an investigation by the Inspector General of the US Department of Defense of the panel and its members. That investigation found no basis for the allegations and concluded that the panel's report was credible and the panel balanced.<<ETX>>


Objective To improve the correct rate of ultrasonography diagnosis in cystic teratoma of ovary. Methods Analyze the ultrasonographic data of 43 cases cystic teratoma of ovary that have been diagnosed by pathologist.Results The rate of ultrasonographic diagnosis accord with pathological diagnosis is 88.4%, misdiagosis rate is 11.6%.Conclusion Ultrasonographic diagnosis should become preferred method in diagnosis of cystic teratoma of ovary.


Design of an adaptive controller for complex dynamic systems is a big challenge faced by the researchers. In this paper, we introduce a novel concept of dynamic pole motion (DPM) for the design of an error-based adaptive controller (E-BAC). The purpose of this novel design approach is to make the system response reasonably fast with no overshoot, where the system may be timevarying and nonlinear with only partially known dynamics. The E-BAC is implanted in a system as a nonlinear controller with two dominant dynamic parameters, the dynamic position feedback and the dynamic velocity feedback. For illustrating the strength of this new approach, in this paper we give an example of a flexible robot with nonlinear dynamics. In the design of this feedback adaptive controller, parameters of the controller are designed as a function of the system error. The position feedback Kp(e, t) and the velocity feedback Kv(e, t) are continuously varying as a function of the system error e(t). In these feedback parameters, the position feedback Kp(e, t) controls the system bandwidth, thereby the rise time in step response, whereas the velocity feedback Kv(e, t) controls the damping ratio of the system thereby the overshoot in the step response. For large errors, Kp(e, t) is large which increases the bandwidth of the system thereby a smaller rise time. Whereas, for decreasing errors, Kp(e, t) is continuously decreased to a small value with decreasing bandwidth of the system. Similarly, but contrarily, Kv(e, t) is kept very small for large errors, and it is continuously increased to a large value for decreasing error. Hence, in the design of the proposed adaptive controller, the position feedback Kp(e, t) and the velocity feedback Kv(e, t) are formulated as functions of the system error, and this approach for formulating the adaptive controller yields a very fast response with no overshoot.


Drug delivery systems (DDS) with multiple functionalities such as environment-sensitive drug release mechanisms and visualization agents have motivated the biomedical community as well as materials ...


This chapter focuses on evidence-based practices of virtual exchange in higher education (HE). The chapter opens with a discussion of exchange programs in HEIs. A cursory look at the nature of academic exchange programs reveals the traditional models involving faculty and student mobility programs between universities have been and continue to be the modus operandi of many higher education institutions (HEI). The discussion revolves around the application of this traditional approach and the benefits that have accrued. Later sections of the chapter shift the discussion to emerging models and discusses virtual exchange as the new paradigm in global academic exchanges. Various models of virtual exchange programs are discussed with a view of documenting evidence-based global practices. The chapter concludes with change and policy recommendations and suggestions for further reading.


The practice of democracy is not the same as as its theory. People's sovereignty is often derailed by power-hungry political elites. Even though people in the Reform era are no longer expected to only play a limited role or merely as a giver or renew political legitimacy or as mere objects of political activity. It is worried because the practice of electoral democracy is felt further away from the spirit of democratic principles. There is still widespread behavior that justifies any means that is contrary to the values and principles of democracy, such as: politicization of SARA (suku, agama, ras, antargolongan) or politics of identity, criminalization of political opponents, dissemination of hoaxes, hate speeches, and intimidation, unneutral state apparatus, or election organizers, practices of money politics, sound auction and bribery, document forgery and manipulation of operating procedures. As a result, elected leaders often do not serve the people. All policies taken are often biased in the interests of the ruling elite or the interests of investors, and tend to be very minimal even without involving the people. In the future bad practices should not be continued and should be replaced by a shared commitment to establish substantial democracy by upholding law and justice. Stop the electoral democracy is only a lip-service of a five-year democratic party and must have a real contribution to the improvement of the nation. Electoral democracy must be an arena of healthy competition to get someone who is qualified and able to be a leader in an effort to realize common goals of just prosperity. If it fails to uphold a substantial democracy in everyday political life, then it does not only mean the castration of people's sovereignty or the failure of democracy alone, but the destruction of the Republic of Indonesia will be at stake.


We report the experimental results on the temperature-dependent phase-matching properties of BaGa2GeS6 for second-harmonic generation (SHG) and sum-frequency generation (SFG) of Nd:YAG laser-pumped KTiOPO4 (KTP) and HgGa2S4 (HGS) optical parametric oscillators (OPOs) and a CO2 laser in the 0.7674-10.5910 μm range. The experimental values for type-2 90° phase-matching SHG wavelengths in the short and long wavelength branches were measured to be λ1 = 2.0376 and 7.6740 μm, respectively. By using a BaGa2GeS6 crystal cut at θ = 48.1˚ and Φ = 0˚, we measured the type-1 and type-2 phase-matching angles for SHG and SFG of a Nd:YAG laser-pumped KTP OPO at λ = 3.1092 μm and HGS OPO at λ = 7.6740 μm as well as those for SHG and SFG of a waveguide CO2 laser. In addition, we derived the Sellmeier equations that provide a good reproduction of the experimental results for the phase-matching data. The temperature phase-matching bandwidths (FWHM) were also obtained in eight different phase-matching conditions by using the measured temperature variation of the pump wavelengths, the measured temperature dependence of the phase-matching angles (Δθext/ΔT) from 20℃ to 120℃ and the angular acceptance (Δθext‧l) calculated with our Sellmeier equations. Moreover, the temperature phase-matching bandwidth (FWHM) for type-2 90˚ phase-matching SHG was determined to be ΔT‧l = 12.2 ℃‧cm from the measured value of dλ1/dT = +0.3 nm/℃ and the calculated spectral bandwidth (Δλ1‧l). From these experimental results and the dn/dT measured at five wavelengths, we derived a thermo-optic dispersion formula valid in the 0.7674 − 10.5910 μm spectral range.


For investors seeking solutions to optimize their portfolio of assets to generate profits and minimize losses, choosing a sophisticated model to evaluate the risk of corporate financial distress will be crucial to support their asset management and investment decisions. Both the machine learning and the newly developed deep learning techniques have been employed to construct bankruptcy prediction models for decades. However, applying the deep learning models might increase the predictive accuracy in exchange for losing model interpretability, because the structure and parameters of the model are not easy to provide accountability for investors. In this study, a hybrid approach integrating the decision tree with the deep neural network was proposed to provide a compromise solution for investors. The decision tree was adopted as the primary model to provide explainable ability, while the deep neural network was chosen to improve predictive accuracy. The decision fusion of two models was designed with the compensatory and non-compensatory approaches. The hybrid model was implemented by concatenating the deep neural network to the selected branches of decision tree that perform poor predictive accuracy during model training. The empirical results showed that the predictive accuracy of the deep neural network and the decision tree were 80% and 87% respectively, and the overall accuracy was improved to 91% by the hybrid model.


In this paper,a method using jni and Dll(Dynamic Linked Library) in C/C(++) or Delphi to operate,and using JACOB(JAVA-Com Bridge) to transfer ActiveX Com in Vb is introduced.


Nowadays,the drug-control situation gets worse and more complex.There are more and more youth taking drugs.As a special group,the youngsters are vulnerable to drugs because of their own characteristics.The education on drug-control,which has been an important part of the drug-against battle,is not only urgently in need,but also a long lasting and complex task.By referring to experience and trait of such education in Britain,this essay tries to explore a way for carrying out education on drug-prevention and control for youth in China.


Fabrication of metals through severe plastic deformation (SPD)[1] has been noticed to lead to superior properties, of which the origin of the superior properties has been identified to be closely related the shear deformation induced microstructural evolutions. Various techniques based on shear strain have been developed to enhance the properties of metals, such as high pressure torsion, equal channel angular extrusion, twist extrusion, friction stir processing, shear assisted processing and extrusion[2]. Over the past decade, numerous research efforts have been put on exploring the shear deformation induced microstructural evolution of metals through "before" and "after" ex-situ characterizations. For example, deformation of Cu during surface sliding, with high rate and at cryogenic temperature, is revealed to be dominated by dislocation slip, twining-mediated plasticity, stacking faults, and nanocrystalline layer formation[3-6]. However, there is a lack of understanding of the dynamic shear deformation process and their correlation with crystal defects and thereby microstructural evolution. Here, we report our direct in-situ TEM observations of bending-induced sub-grain boundary formation processes in Cu single crystal. The in-situ bending experiment set-up is shown in Figure 1a. The Cu single crystal specimen is prepared by focused ion beam (FIB) lift out. Prior to deformation, the sample is oriented along the [011] zone axis. At the early state of bending, dislocation


Damage in the bonding interface is a significant factor that leads to premature failure of dental bonded restorations. The imperfectly bonded dentin-adhesive interface is susceptible to hydrolytic degradation and bacterial and enzyme attack, severely jeopardizing restorations' longevity. Developing caries around previously made restorations, also called "recurrent or secondary caries," is a significant health problem. The replacement of restorations is the most prevailing treatment in dental clinics, leading to the so-called "tooth death spiral". In other words, every time a restoration is replaced, more tooth tissue is removed, increasing the size of the restorations until the tooth is eventually lost. This process leads to high financial costs and detriment to patients' quality of life. Since the complexity of the oral cavity makes prevention a challenging task, novel strategies in Dental Materials and Operative fields are required. This article briefly overviews the physiological dentin substrate, features of dentin bonding, challenges and clinical relevance. We discussed the anatomy of the dental bonding interface, aspects of the degradation at the resin-dentin interface, extrinsic and intrinsic factors affecting dental bonding longevity, perspectives on resin and collagen degradation and how these subjects are connected. In this narrative review, we also outlined the recent progress in overcoming dental bonding challenges through bioinspiration, nanotechnology and advanced techniques to reduce degradation and improve dental bonding longevity.


The Tavistock conference model of Group Relations Training, described in some depth by Rioch (1970) and O'Conner (1971), provides participants with a focus on the problems of leadership and authority as they develop and emerge in a variety of relatively unstructured group contexts within a time-limited laboratory setting. The major conference experience involves participation in 'here and now' groups with the use of staff in a consultative role, i.e. the staff function being to focus exclusively on the covert or unconscious processes in the group. So the usual consultant role involves no comments to individuals but a rigorous focus on the dynamics of the group as a whole; a role which has been described in more clinical settings by Bion (1968), Coffey (1966) and Ezriel (1950). 'One of the major aims of the conferences is to contribute to people's ability to form serious work groups committed to the performance of clearly defined tasks …. A second major aim … is the development of more responsible leadership and fellowship in group life' (Rioch, 1970, p. 347).


Static fracture in foam core composite sandwich beams under mixed-mode I/II/III crack loading conditions is studied theoretically by the Mixed Mode Flexure (MMF) beam configuration. The basic idea of this paper is that mixed-mode I/II/III crack loading conditions can be generated by loading the MMF sandwich beam by an inclined force (usually, the MMF beam, loaded by a vertical force, is used for investigating mixed-mode I/II fracture in continuously fiber reinforced polymer com- posites). Three-dimensional finite element simulations of the MMF sandwich beam are performed using the ANSYS program system. The methods of linear-elastic fracture mechanics are applied. The fracture behavior is studied in terms of the strain energy release rate. The virtual crack closure technique is applied to analyze the strain energy release rate mode components distribution along the crack front in the MMF beam at the force inclination varying from 0 ◦ (force parallel to the crack front) to 90 ◦ (vertical force). The analysis revealed that the MMF beam loaded by an inclined force can be used to study the mixed-mode


As the title suggests, Tanya Titchkosky's article, which opens this special issue, is all about ''The Ends of the Body.'' More specifically, the article critiques the ways in which disability, in particular, is always and everywhere made to figure ''the end.'' ''An array of cultural processes,'' Titchkosky insists, ''make 'disability' represent limit without possibility. Disability is made to serve as a signifier of an end without appreciable difference and without future'' (Titchkosky this issue, 82). Titchkosky brings forward the ''eugenicist orientation'' (87) of Peter Singer to exemplify these cultural processes, not only as that orientation is legible in Singer's well-known, highly-public questioning of the value of disabled lives (especially the lives of disabled infants, whom he suggests might be better off dead), but also in his 2008 New York Times obituary for Harriet McBryde Johnson, the disability activist and disability rights lawyer who repeatedly challenged his views, sometimes in an open debate. Titchkosky notes that Singer's obituary for Johnson focuses on an incident about which he ''thought nothing''—a moment when Johnson asked for assistance at a dinner because her elbow had slipped out from under her and she needed help bringing it back to the table. Titchkosky argues that to ''think nothing'' of the moment was, for Singer, to do little more than reaffirm the ''functionalist reduction'' (87) that animates his oeuvre in general: disability signifies, conclusively, the end of ''normal'' or appropriate functionality; given that conclusion, disabled lives (or at least the lives of disabled infants) should perhaps be brought to an end; and that, for Singer, is the end of the issue. Given his consent to the myriad of cultural forces that mark the end of disability and disability as end, Singer is free—or, rather, able—to think nothing of what Titchkosky calls ''differing conceptions of disability'' (87), conceptions that might value intersubjectivity or trans-corporeality. Of course, via Audre Lorde and an array of other critical and theoretical commitments, Titchkosky writes beyond the end of disability or the end of the body marked by Singer, and I will return to her generative insights momentarily. Here, however, at the beginning of the end of this special issue, I want to flag Titchkosky's central, twinned critique: disability is made to figure the end (limit The Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies, 34:208–211, 2012 Copyright # Taylor & Francis Group, LLC ISSN: 1071-4413 print=1556-3022 online DOI: 10.1080/10714413.2012.687301


Waldenstrom macroglobulinemia (WM) is a rare form of lymphoma characterized by an infiltration of lymphoplasmacytic cells in bone marrow and immunoglobulin M monoclonal gammopathy.[1][1] Despite the introduction of several therapeutic approaches, WM remains incurable.[2][2] Therefore, a better


In recent years, the sexual abuse of minors and vulnerable adults in the Catholic Church has received much attention. This is also true of the related changes to ecclesiastical legislation. Less attention, however, has been paid to other aspects of the reform. The revised penal law of the Code of Canon Law, in any case, demands closer study from the point of critical legal studies. It is striking that while the reform focused on improving the legal protection of minors, it also had rather detrimental effects on the legal standing of women in the church. Reading the revised law, it appears that the reform missed the chance to improve the legal situation of the mostly female adult victims of clerical sex offenses and abuses of power. It rather spotlighted "female" offenses such as abortion in contrast to typical "male" offenses such as homicide, and it moreover criminalized women who attempt ordination. Thus, the regulations of the reformed penal law not only generally leave the systemic causes of abuse untouched, but also establish norms which reinvent or even exacerbate abusive structures. The latter finally sustain clericalism and reinstitutionalize gender inequality, commonly identified as factors fostering abuse.


The emergency shelter seeks to provide, a sustainable and efficient response to situations in which a community is at risk. Thus, it's intent is to propose a model of emergency settlement that meets the needs that arise after a disaster. We implemented the prototype in an existing location to set parameters that contribute to the design criteria, among these, highlights the topography, climate, water sources and accessibility. It also established the prototype should be lightweight, easy to assemble, modular, and capable of adaptability.


Objective To study quantitatively and comparatively the pathologic characteristics of mice intestinal injuries induced by neutron andγrays irradiation. Methods 350 male BALB/C mice were used and irradiated with neutron andγ rays, sacrificed at 6 hours,12hours,1day,2 days,3 days,4 days,5 days,7 days,10 days,14 days,21 days and 28 days respectively after irradiation. The length and weight of whole gut were detected and the guts were fixed in 10% buffer formallin and cut paraffin section, Paneth抯 cell and HE staining, and observed by LM. The number density of crypt cell and the area density of Paneth抯 cell were detected by means of LEICA image analysis. Results The length became short and the weight decreased for the irradiated gut. Furthermore, decreased weight was earlier than shortened length. The intestinal mucosa could be seen injury and then recovery obviously in 2.5Gy neutron group, while over 4.0Gy radiation not recovery. The mucosa was not been denudation by 5.5Gy g -rays irradiation. The regeneration capabilities of crypt cell were between 4.0 and 5.5Gy in 12Gy g-rays. The numbers of crypt cells were decreased progressively within 1 day after 2.5Gy neutron irradiation, increased on day 3 and at peak on day 7, while the crypt cell was progressively decreased within 3 days after 5.5Gy neutron and 12Gyγrays irradiation. The time and the peak of crypt cells regeneration in 5.5 Gyγ-rays were earlier than that of 2.5Gy neutron. The Paneth抯 cell was increased on day 7 in 2.5Gy neutron group, relative increase day 2 in 5.5Gy neutron group, and also increased on day 5 in 5.5Gy γ-rays group. Conclusion The gut crypt cell occurred obvious injury postirradiation, furthermore, the injury of crypt cell was severe obviously in neutron group at the same dose; The Paneth抯 cell was less influence postirradiation, and had different changes after neutron and g-rays irradiation.


In spite of the siliceous composition of the quartz dyke that forms the Pico Sacro, typical pseudokarst landforms can be observed as incipient karren-type forms, cavettos, tafoni, flared walls and alveolar weathering, boulder caves and an impressive deep vertical shaft named A Cova do Pico. The pseudokarstic character of this landscape is defined by selective weathering along the joints and fracture planes of this quartz dyke.


An infrared and visible light video fusion method adaptive to a distance comprises the following steps of S1, initializing parameters of a visual calibration checkerboard by a video processing module; S2, receiving a distance parameter, a visible light image and an infrared thermal imaging image which are returned by a laser ranging module in real time through the video processing module, mapping the visual calibration checkerboard by means of the distance parameter, mapping an angular point of the visual calibration checkerboard onto two images to be fused, and calculating a homography matrix by taking the angular point as a reference point; and S3, removing a part, of which the temperature is lower than a threshold value, on the infrared thermal imaging image by the video processing module to obtain a first image, converting the visible light image into an image at a view angle of an infrared imaging camera by using the homography matrix to obtain a second image, and finally, superimposing the first image and the second image to serve as an image after fusion. The invention aims to provide the infrared and visible light video fusion method and fusion system adaptive to the distance, which is adaptive to the distance, and can be used for improving the accuracy of a fusion algorithm and improving a temperature warning effect of the image after fusion.


Magnetic resonant x-ray scattering experiments at the Mn K edge have revealed the occurrence of two different resonances in antiferromagnetic RbMnF 3. Below theK edge, at the 3 d threshold, the resonance profile is consistent with quadrupole electrical transitions from the 1 s core level to the 3d states; the observed resonance amplitude corresponds to the expected value for spin-orbit splitting in 3 d levels. The resonance at the 4p threshold extends over the whole 4 p band; it is explained on the basis of electric dipole transitions which involve both spin-orbit splitting and exchange splitting of the 4 p states.@S0163-1829 ~99!11937-4#


The cocoon spinning process takes 24 to 72 h depending on the seasons as the maturation process in a silkworm colony is not uniform. To hasten the larval maturation process and to shorten the mounting duration, administration of phytoecdysteroid was planned. 20-hydoxyecdysone (20E) equivalents was extracted through a soxhlet apparatus from the dry powder of high altitude herb, Silene gallica known as common catchfly, partially purified through liquid partitioning and thin layer chromatography and the active principle was quantified through HPLC using pure 20E as reference. The active principle was made to a concentration of 25 ppm in water and administered to silkworm at the onset of maturation process. In winter months, about 80 % of the treated silkworms were ripe by 24 hours whereas it took 48 h for 80 % maturation in control. In rainy season > 80 % of treated larvae took about 18 hours for ripening while that in control took 30 h. In summer though, the threshold of 80 % maturation reached by 18 h in treated and by 36 h in control larvae. Though phytoecdysteroid is a known and potential biopesticide, it is used in the present work as a beneficial compound. The physiological and economical implications of such a use are discussed.


Von Recklinghausen's Disease (VRD) is a neurocutaneous, systemic disease characterized by CNS tumors and disorders, cafe‐au‐lait spots, generalized cutaneous neurofibromata, skeletal deformities, and somatic and endocrine abnormalities. It is an autosomal dominant, hereditary disorder found in approximately 1:2500 to 3300 births. There are many manifestations of this disease in the head and neck region of interest to the otolaryngologist.


A spanning generalized caterpillar is a spanning tree in which all vertices of degree more than two are on a path. In this note, we find a relation between the existence of spanning generalized caterpillar and the independence and connectivity number in a graph. We also point out to an error in a "theorem" in the paper "Spanning spiders and light-splitting switches", by L. Gargano et al. in Discrete Math. (2004), and find out a relation between another mentioned theorem and the existence of spanning generalized caterpillar.


Background: Bariatric surgeries are a common practice in the society. The most common bariatric surgeries are laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy and Roux-en-Y gastric bypass. The study revealed a significant correlation between formations of kidney stones after bariatric surgeries.
Objective: To measure the prevalence of renal calculi formation among patients who underwent bariatric surgery in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 2020–2021 and consider it a serious complication in long run.
Methodology: The study used a quantitative correlation design with a random selection sample out of 302 participants (>18 years) who underwent bariatric surgery The chi-square test was performed to test the statistical significance between the categories. The continuous variables of pre and post-surgery BMI are mentioned as mean, standard deviation, 95% confidence interval, and the parametric t-test and paired t-test of pre-post-surgery BMI as it followed a normal distribution.
Results: Overall, 33/302 (10.9%) participants were found to have post-bariatric renal calculi after a 6-month period due to significant rapid weight loss [19 (57.6%)]. Additionally, 2/33 (6.1%) patients had leakage post-operatively, especially with gastric bypass [5 patients (19.2%)]. Overall, 20 (60.6%) patients having post-bariatric renal calculi were found to have family history of renal calculi with significant P value of 0.0126. A history of DM, HTN, Anti-HTN medication, gout, recurrent UTI, vitamin D intake, high oxalate intake, and dehydration were all found to significantly increase the risk of renal calculi. The awareness of post-operative life style modification was significant. Finally, a significant weight loss regarding BMI in gastric sleeve surgery from pre-surgery (44.8 ± 10.2) to post-surgery (31.6 ± 9.4) and in gastric bypass from 44.3 ± 5.3 to 30.8 ± 6.3 was observed.
Conclusion
The majority of 33 patients who had post-bariatric renal calculus showed a relation with rapid and significant weight loss 6 months post-surgery as seen with gallbladder stones. Besides, it was found that the renal calculi risk has a significant relation to post-operative leakage. In addition, there were significant risk factors to escalate the calculus formation. Although these patients had numerous symptoms, the most common were urgency, dysuria, hematuria, and passing small amount of urine in each voiding. The most significant risks for renal calculi included a history of kidney stones, diabetes, hypertension, and antihypertensive medication. The awareness of life modifications was excellent in these patients; however, the patients generally ignored such modifications. Lifestyle modification after weight reduction surgery is an important factor to prevent kidney stones.


We propose to enhance proximity-based probabilistic retrieval models with more contextual information. A term pair with higher contextual relevance of term proximity is assigned a higher weight. Several measures are proposed to estimate the contextual relevance of term proximity. We assume the top ranked documents from a basic weighting model are more relevant to the query, and calculate the contextual relevance of term proximity using the top ranked documents. We propose a context-sensitive proximity model, and the experimental results on standard TREC data sets show the effectiveness of our proposed model.


A group of 61 children suffering from spastic cerebral palsy were treated by phenol blocks of the peripheral nerves. A total of 136 such blocks were performed, mainly in the lower extremities. Reduction of spasticity was achieved in a very large proportion of cases immediately following the injection, but there was large variation in the extent and duration of the relief obtained.


The seven Neapolitan public banks that largely arose from, or were founded by charitable bodies, 2 acted essentially as credit institutions and, accordingly, it is possible to study their internal organisation upon the basis of their structures. These defined the main organs through which they undertook their principal activities over the eighteenth century. The Apodissaria 3 [Apodixis], dealt with the collection of ready cash and the issue of paper currency, operations that have led to these institutions being defined as 'banks'. The other main activity had its basis in granting loans at interest upon pledge, giving rise to the use of the term: Monte dei pegni [Pawn Agency]. These two main forms of business, undertaken through the appro-priate organs, involved complex, sometimes overlapping transactions. Nonetheless, they occurred in separate offices, each with its own supervisor and employees whose titles derived from the register in their particular charge. The typology commonly adopted to study commercial and industrial firms can


OBJECTIVE To investigate the characteristic of enterococcal hospital-acquired infection in lungs and drug sensitivity status of enterococci. METHODS Seventy four cases with enterococcal hospital-acquired infections in lungs and the resistance of enterococci were retrospectively analyzed. RESULTS From them the strains of Enterococcus faecalis (91. 9%) were more than E. faecium (8. 1%). Elders, especially those with chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases were more easily to be infected with enterococci in lung. The clinical symptoms were not typical and the mortality was high(33. 8%). Enterococci strains were resistant to multiple antibiotics, but sensitive to vancomycin and teicoplanin. the drug-resistance of enterococci to penicillins and quinolones was relatively lower. CONCLUSIONS It' s difficult to control enterococcal hospital-acquired infection in lungs. We' d better select penicillins and quinolones according the drug sensitivity status and restrict the use of vancomycin and other derivatives.


A significant literature has demonstrated that the imposition of economic sanctions inflicts socio-economic hardships on civilian populations of target states. However, whether the negative humanitarian consequences can continue over the long term remains unclear. We explore this question in the context of the permanent lifting of comprehensive US sanctions against Sudan in October 2017. Relying on 41 semi-structured, in-depth interviews, we present an explanation about why Sudanese public suffering is likely to endure not only while sanctions are in place, but also long after they are terminated. This research indicates that sanctions' negative externalities are higher than conventionally believed. It also underlines the necessity of the international community to provide conflict-affected states with pacification and reconstruction assistance, because merely the removal of sanctions is not an effective remedy for chronic vulnerability.


The brand promotion peculiarities are studied. It has been determined that the process of brand promotion includes: marketing a brand name and logo, making souvenirs, placing on various media, releasing videos, layouts for advertising, announcements on the Internet and much more. Used methods to promote brands are considered, such as: advertising, personal selling, packaging, 360° campaign, brand promotion on the Internet. The ways to promote a brand have been proven to be: website building, search engine optimization, social media, live streaming, storytelling, creating valuable content, blogging, email, LinkedIn Publishing Platform, prizes, infographics, car wraps, networking events, offline ads, promotions, loyalty programs, free trial product giveaways, strong branding. As a result of the study, it was found that brand promotion is the creation of consumer confidence in a product.