Introduction: The oxygen uptake kinetics of cyclists with  O2max values associated with Elite standards has not been investigated. A hypothesis was tested stating that trained cyclists have faster oxygen uptake responses as aerobic fitness increases.  Methods: Participants (n = 16, combined group) completed a series of square wave 6-min exercises at moderate (80% LT), heavy (50%∆ between the power at LT and  O2max), and severe (power at  O2max) intensities. The  O2 response after the onset of exercise was described by a double exponential model. Participants were further assigned to a high fitness (HF, n = 8) group ( O2max 65 ± 4.7 ml min-1 kg-1) and a moderate fitness (MF, n = 8) group ( O2max 55.1 ± 4.8 ml min-1 kg-1).  Results: Results showed a significant slowing of phase II response time (t) above the LT (P < 0.05), and a reduction in gain (G) during severe intensity exercise (P < 0.05). During heavy intensity exercise, t was moderately correlated with  O2max (r = -0.64, P < 0.1), and significant differences (P < 0.05) occurred between HF and MF groups. A significant difference also occurred in G between HF and MF groups (F = 5.6, P < 0.05) despite no change in the slow component.  Conclusion: It was concluded that during heavy intensity exercise, the speed of oxygen uptake kinetics continued to improve with increasing aerobic fitness. The mechanism responsible was hypothesised to be related to the percentage of type I muscle fibres.


Jewish wisdom literature stands within the broad global tradition of ancient wisdom literature, as embodied particularly in Mesopotamia and Egypt.

Keywords:

ancient Near East history;
Judaism;
religious history


This study investigated the presence and levels of organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) (hexachlorobenzene (HCB), α‑, β‑ ‑‑ ‑, δ‑, and γ‑hexachlorohexane (HCH), dieldrin, dichloro-diphenyltrichloroethane (p,p'-DDT), dichloro-diphenyl-dichloroethylene (p,p'-DDE), dichloro-diphenyldichloroethane (p,p'-DDD) and trans-nonachlor) in Solanum lycopersicum and Capsicum annuum samples commercially sold in Nigeria. OCPs were detected in all the samples analysed using HewlettPackard (HP 6890) gas chromatograph equipped with electron capture detector (GC-ECD). In S. lycopersicum, the total residue concentrations of ΣHCH (0.140 mg/kg), ΣHCB (0.144 mg/kg), ΣDDT (0.572 mg/kg), Σdieldrin (0.073 mg/kg), and Σtrans-nonachlor (0.117 mg/kg) were found. In C. annuum, the total residue levels of HCH, HCB, DDT, dieldrin and trans-nonachlor measured were 7.220, 0.096, 0.275, 0.037 and 0.117 mg/kg respectively. The α‑ ‑‑ ‑HCH isomer was not detected in S. lycopersicum and p,p'-DDD found only in C. annuum samples. The OCPs levels were generally below the FAOs maximum residue limits except for HCH and trans-nonachlor. A pair-wise linear correlations among concentrations of OCPs in S. lycopersicum samples indicated statistically significant (P = 0.05) relations between δ‑ ‑‑ ‑HCH and dieldrin (r = -0.997, P = 0.047), dieldrin and HCB (r = 0.99, P = 0.043), p,p'-DDD and p,p'-DDT (r = 1.00, P = 0.006).


isolated a novel substance namedcarazostatin from the culture of streptomycete. Carazostatin has shown a strong inhibitory activity against lipid peroxidation induced by free radicals in rat brain homogenate. The carazostatin producing organism, identified as a Streptomyceschromofuscus, was cultivated on a rotary shaker at 30°C for 6 days in 500-ml Erlenmeyer flasks containing 100ml of a medium consisting of glycerol 3.0%, fish meal 2.0% and calcium carbonate 0.2%. The active material was isolated according to the scheme shown in Fig. 1. Further purification was achieved by semi-preparative HPLC (ODS) with MeOH1% triethylamine in aqueous phosphoric acid at pH2.0 (80:20) by UY detection at 254nm, if necessary. In HPLC analysis, carazostatin was eluted as a main peak (more than 60% of total peak area), and several small peaks also existed. We estimated them as closely related compoundsto carazostatin because they had the same UVspectrum as carazostatin. Carazostatin is a pale yellowish powder: Molecular formula C20H25NO; field desorption (FD)MS m/z 295 (M+); mp 149~152°C (dec); UV


Abstract Objectives This study aimed to describe the pathogen spectrum of bacteria and viruses of RTIs in hospitalized children during the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic in Shenzhen. Methods From October 2020 to October 2021, the results of pathogenic tests causing RTIs were retrospectively analyzed in hospitalized children in Shenzhen Luohu Hospital Group. Results 829 sputum samples for bacterial isolation and 1,037 nasopharyngeal swabs for virus detection in total. The positive detection rate (PDR) of bacteria was 42.1%. Staphylococcus aureus (18.8%) was the predominant bacteria detected in positive cases, with Moraxella catarrhalis (10.9%), Streptococcus pneumoniae (9.5%) following. The PDR of the virus was 65.6%. The viruses ranking first to third were Human Rhinovirus (HRV), Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and Human Parainfluenza (HPIV), with rates of 28.0, 18.1, and 13.5%, respectively. Children under 3 years were the most susceptible population to RTIs. The pathogens of S. aureus, M. catarrhalis, S. pneumoniae, HRV, and HPIV were more prevalent in autumn. Meanwhile, RSV had a high rate of infection in summer and autumn. S. aureus and HRV had higher co-infection rates. Conclusions Our findings demonstrate the pathogen spectrum of 1,046 hospitalized children with RTIs in Shenzhen, China, during the COVID-19 outbreak.


Pancreatic beta cells exhibit a remarkable ability to tune their secretory functions in response to altered tissue insulin demands. Glucose, nutrients (amino acids and lipids), neurohormonal signals and lipid mediators (i.e. free fatty acids, diacylglycerol, phosphatidic acid) all efficaciously modulate insulin secretion. Recently, the presence of a functional endocannabinoid (eCB) system (that is, the enzymatic machinery to biosynthesize and degrade 2-arachidonoylglycerol (2-AG) and anandamide (AEA), as well as cannabinoid receptors) was identified in the endocrine pancreas. eCB signaling has been implicated in modulating insulin release from beta cells of the endocrine pancreas. However, the molecular cascade coupling cannabinoid receptor (CB R) activation to insulin release remains unknown. By combining molecular pharmacology and genetic tools, we recently showed that eCBs (AEA and 2-AG) activate CB1R to induce insulin hypersecretion. In doing so, CB1Rs recruit Akt/PKB and extracellular signal-regulated kinases 1/2 (ERK1/2) to phosphorylate focal adhesion kinase (FAK). FAK activation induces the formation of focal adhesion plaques, multimolecular platforms for secondphase insulin release. Inhibition of eCB synthesis or FAK activity precluded insulin release. Cytoskeletal remodeling induced by agonist-activation of CB1R was independent of extracellular calcium pool. Furthermore, eCBs-induced insulin secretion might also be associated with changes in lipid metabolism and activation of mitochondrial CB1Rs. We concluded that FAK downstream from CB1Rs mediates eCBs-induced insulin release by allowing cytoskeletal reorganization that is required for the exocytosis of secretory vesicles. The mechanism we identified suggests that acute CB1R activation may be critical for the adaptation of pancreatic beta cells to insulin resistance. Thus these findings show a mechanistic link between increased circulating and tissue eCB levels and hyperinsulinemia in type 2 diabetes. L11.2


Based the importance to the construction and integration of C4ISR,expatiate the concept,function and characteristic of Requirements Engineering of C4ISR,and discusses the basic content,implement process,major methods and the rule of evaluation.In addition,the major problems which desiderate to be resolved currently or in the future are also given.


Dysmenorrhea is a painful syndrome that accompanies the menstrual cycles. Objectives: The main objective of this research was to determine the effects of yoga exercises on pain and quality of life in female undergraduate students suffering from primary dysmenorrhea. Methods: After taking approval from Ethical review committee of Rawal Institute of Health Sciences, an observation type of cross-section survey was conducted in 470 young undergraduate female students of age between 17-26, suffering from primary dysmenorrhea. By non-probability sampling participants were divided into two groups. Group-1 was of those females who had active lifestyle and doing yoga exercises and group-2 were of those who had sedentary lifestyle and didn't do any kind of exercise. To measure the outcome variables, EQ-5D-5L questionnaire was used to measure QoL & NPRS to measure pain. Data were taken at baseline and after 12th week. Wilcoxon rank test was used for within group analysis and Mann Whitney U test was used to compare mean between groups. Data was analyzed in SPSS software version 21 along with Microsoft Excel 2019. Results: 21.16+2.66 &22.27+2.53 was the Mean+SD of age of group-1 & group-2 respectively. Between groups analysis revealed that p-value for NPRS was <0.05 but was >0.05 in quality of life. Conclusion: Yoga exercises are safer and easiest way to manage pain of primary dysmenorrhea in undergraduate females without any drug use.


Part One: Systematic Study of Drylands 1. Nature of the Drylands Environment 2. Human Use of Drylands 3. Intensive Use of the Dryland Environment 4. Extensive Use of the Dryland Environment Part Two: Regional Resource Management: Case Studies 5. The Sahara and Central Australia: Pastoralism Under Different Management Systems 6. River Basin Development: The Nile and the Colorado 7. Oases: Isfahan and Salt Lake City 8. The Great Plains of the USA: Changing Patterns of Exploitation 9. Rapid Economic Development in the Gulf: The Impact of Oil Revenues 10. Israel: Integrated Water Development 11. Soviet Central Asia: Water Transfer and Irrigation Development 12. The Los Angeles Conurbation: Problems of Environmental Management and Resource Provision Part Three: Prospect 13. The Future of Drylands.


The paper presents the results of experiments in a circle drilling. Namely, the results of data processing load on the cutter (blade) moving in a certain radius, with step-checkboarded and sequential circuits of arrangement on the crown of ring bore. The paper presents the stresses of this incisor, with the two constellations, their relationship to each other. As a result, the conclusions brought under any scheme of arrangement of cutting elements are obtained by the least energy-intensive process.


THE PURPOSE of this communication is to present our observations on 3 cases of keratosis blennorrhagica treated with penicillin. To our knowledge, no record of this type of therapy for keratosis blennorrhagica has appeared so far in the literature. It is a rare condition, occurring approximately in the ratio of 1 in every 5,000 to 7,500 cases of gonorrhea. 1 To date, somewhat over 100 cases have been reported. Many excellent reviews 2 of this disease have been published, and we shall not go into a detailed description of the lesions. The clinical syndrome is characterized by the triad of urethritis, arthritis and dermatosis. 3 The onset is insidious and follows chronic and recurrent attacks of gonorrheal urethritis. Chills and fever are present. The dermatitis is usually preceded by or associated with arthritis involving one or several joints. The lesions of the skin consist of vesicles, pustules and crusting associated with keratosis. The nails


To record and analyze complication rates following postpartum intrauterine device (PPIUD) insertion in 48 hospitals in six countries: Sri Lanka, India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Tanzania, and Kenya.


[Extract] Brazil's Forest Code was enacted in 1965 and protects forests in certain locations, such as along rivers and on steep slopes and hilltops. It is the only legislation in the world that requires private rural landowners to retain reserves of natural vegetation. In the Atlantic Rainforest, the Forest Code states that 20% of a property has to remain in reserve whereas in the Amazon forest this amount is 80%. However, an amended Forest Code was overwhelmingly approved in the lower House of the Brazilian legislature, and it seems likely that a version will be passed by the Senate and could be signed into law by the president. If passed, the new legislation may not only provide amnesty to those who illegally cleared forests in the past, but also greatly intensify the risk of future deforestation. The new law includes changes in forest protection that will allow for harvesting of legal reserves on private lands as well as reducing the proportion of a property that must be preserved (Metzger et al. 2010).


Transposable Elements (TEs) or transposons are low‐complexity elements (e.g., LINEs, SINEs, SVAs, and HERVs) that make up to two‐thirds of the human genome. There is mounting evidence that TEs play an essential role in genomic architecture and regulation related to both normal function and disease states. Recently, the identification of active TEs in several different human brain regions suggests that TEs play a role in normal brain development and adult physiology and quite possibly in psychiatric disorders. TEs have been implicated in hemophilia, neurofibromatosis, and cancer. With the advent of next‐generation whole‐genome sequencing approaches, our understanding of the relationship between TEs and psychiatric disorders will greatly improve. We will review the biology of TEs and early evidence for TE involvement in psychiatric disorders. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


Hypothalamus is a major regulatory center in the brain responsible for various homeostasis processes. Distinct neurons and glial cells, including microglia support the cardiovascular functions in the hypothalamus. An important cardiovascular regulatory nucleus in the hypothalamus is the Paraventricular Nucleus (PVN). Previous studies from our laboratory showed evidence for cellular senescence in the PVN. Senescence is a state of irreversible growth arrest in proliferating cells, which has been implicated in several neurodegenerative diseases. Microglia, is the resident macrophage cells of the brain that can phagocytose and initiate local inflammatory responses. Upon chronic inflammatory signaling, microglia lose its phagocytic property and enters a state of activation and proliferation. We analyzed hypothalamus from young adult mice fed with either chow (6 kcal% fat) or High Fat Diet (HFD; 60 kcal% fat) for a period of 16 weeks. Cell sorting of activated microglia using a benchtop microfluidic cell sorter revealed an increase in activated microglia in the hypothalamus after chronic HFD feeding. Microglial activation has been associated with promotion of a senescence phenotype and induction of inflammation through senescence associated secretory phenotype (SASP). To investigate this, we analyzed senescence markers in the hypothalamus. Real-time PCR revealed elevated senescent markers p53, p21 and p16, along with a significant increase (P<0.05) in SASP factors such as IL1β, MCP1 and TNFα in the HFD group compared to controls. Immunofluorescence studies confirmed the presence of senescent Iba1+ microglial cells in the PVN of HFD mice compared to their chow counterparts. Taken together, these findings suggest that senescent microglia could play a central role in the hypothalamic inflammation in HFD-induced obesity and targeting microglia will help in developing novel preventive and treatment strategy for obesity associated cardiovascular diseases. National Heart, Blood and Lung Institute grant R15HL148844; American Heart Association Institutional Research Enhancement Award – 959725. This is the full abstract presented at the American Physiology Summit 2023 meeting and is only available in HTML format. There are no additional versions or additional content available for this abstract. Physiology was not involved in the peer review process.


Some lessons learned from the EU project "Broadband e-Services and Access to the Home" (2005–2007) are presented concerning the broadband development in rural areas. In particular, the paper discusses the common problems of broadband deployment in the rural environment, various aspects of stimulating demand for broadband, the limitations of public aid and, most importantly, the problems of technoeconomic analysis. Keywords— broadband initiatives, demand, rural area, technoeconomic analysis, WiMAX.


Religious reformism is sometimes linked with social radicalism. In Poland, perhaps the most striking example of this was Father Andrzej Huszno's Polish-Catholic National Church, which was active in the 1920's. The PKKN doctrine linked proletarian anti-capitalism and Polish national messianism of romantic provenance with an attempt to re-interpret Christianity in the theosophical spirit. This made Huszno's movement a tactical ally of the Pilsudkiites, who initially tried to maintain their social-radical and anticlerical traditions, and also make religious structures subordinate to the state (the Orthodox Church first in line). The Pilsudkiites' turn towards conservatism after the May Coup meant that the PKKN lost ground under its feet.


Apple, grape, and apple juice were analyzed for pesticides using a multireaction mode (MRM) method in samples taken from a Kosovo market. With this method it was possible to analyze about 100 pesticides in the ESI mode. In these samples some types of pesticides were found, but most of them did not exceed the maximum tolerance levels. In apple samples, six pesticides were detected but only three of them were in sufficient quantitites. Dimethoat was below the limit, while acephate and imazalil exceeded the limit. In grape and apple juice samples, all of pesticides which were found did not exceed the maximum tolerable limits.


Positive education, as a method for the positive development of students' personality, embodies the 24 character strengths that Peterson and Seligman developed in their studies and that are necessary for new professional profiles. This new social and work landscape inspired supranational institutions, such as the European Union, to develop theories for new educational systems. These Key Competencies seek the comprehensive training of students, on not only the cognitive but the socioemotional plane, as occurs with arts education. With this literature review, we intend to demonstrate the relationship between the Key Competencies as catalysts for the development of character strengths in students through art education programmes. The results conclude that it is possible to define a relationship between the Key Competencies and character strengths and to outline the nature of these relationships, noting that certain patterns of combinations of strengths are repeated in the Key Competencies. Additionally, our work leads us to propose the need to increase the volume of research in this field and to design future studies that allow an empirical evaluation of the nature of these connections and whether they are efficient and enduring.


Rapid growth of Internet and huge demand for higher data transfer rate created a challenge for network, processor and communication engineers. In this paper, we first discuss the deficiencies of the conventional routing switch architectures. Then, we present a novel switch strategy based on space and time division multiplexing and a system level architecture by which achieving several hundred of Terabits per second throughput for networking equipments becomes possible.


PurposeThe stereotypes of the dodgy businessman and businessman gangster are established typologies in both the criminology and family business literature, but nevertheless, there is still an evident dearth of substantive studies on the topic. Family business scholars have begun to acknowledge the limited nature of such explorations of criminality in family firm businesses. The purpose of this article is therefore to review, synthesise and solidify existing research on this under-researched area of family business management.Design/methodology/approachThis perspective article explores and synthesises the links between acquisitive crime, criminal predation and family business to address an identifiable research gap in the literature of criminology, entrepreneurship and family business. It examines the overlap between criminal activities and business practices, shedding light on how individuals in the family business community may become involved in criminal activities due to various factors, including coercion, addiction and financial gain.FindingsThis perspective highlights emerging research trends that have the potential to increase the knowledge about the "dark side" of family business.Research limitations/implicationsBeing a perspective paper this brief exploration of the literature can only cover a small cross section of the literature. A conceptual model emerges, which illustrates shared aspects of crimino-entrepreneurial identity between authentic entrepreneurs and criminals.Originality/valueThis perspective article scopes the extant literature covering the links between acquisitive crime, criminal predation and family business to help guide the direction of future research. The piece presents new perspectives on the intersection of acquisitive crime and family business, and its novelty lies in its synthesis of the disparate elements from the diverse literature to contribute to the said literature.


The intersubband absorption linewidth has much importance in the operation of quantum well infrared photodetectors (QWIPs) and quantum cascade lasers (QCLs). Here we calculate the intersubband absorption linewidth due to interface roughness scattering, deformation potential acoustic phonon scattering, and optical (intervalley) phonon scattering via the deformation potential, i.e. g phonon. We consider the n‐type Si/Si1−xGex structure. The linewidths are studied for various well widths and different in‐plane kinetic energy. (© 2004 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)


Mycetoma is a well known disease of India and other tropical countries, but has been only occasionally recognized in the United States, a review of the literature revealing only fifteen cases. To this number we are now able to add four more. The first case reported was that of Kemper and Jameson, 1 in 1876, which occurred in Indiana. There seems to be considerable question of the correctness of the diagnosis in this case on account of the rapidity of the spread of the infection and the large amount of pain. The next is a case from Iowa, reported by Hyde, Senn and Bishopp, 2 in 1896. In the same year, Pope and Lamb 3 reported a Texas case in a Mexican, followed two years later by Wright's 4 case in Boston. Arwine and Lamb 5 reported the case of a Mexican rancher in Texas in 1899. We then find


Personnel data from a small French construction firm's archives were followed up for 1946-1985 to examine family firm employment practices in historical perspective. The firm had limited scope to favor national origin, seniority, or kinship; kin of management were not paid more than nonkin. Event history analysis reveals macroeconomic context and individual qualification as the main variables explaining wage-level changes. The need to respond to market conditions and maintain good labor relations favored skill over seniority and kinship. Ultimately, however, family-style managerial practices failed to link wages to performance, compromising financial stability and contributing to the firm's demise.


A preparatively simple access to partially fluorinated cyclic- and open-chain heterocompounds containing sulfur and nitrogen was developed by the reactions of easily available and perfectly stable perfluorinated α,β-unsaturated isothiocyanates and thiocyanates with N-nucleophiles.


Introduction: Therapeutic intervention aimed at inducing fetal hemoglobin (HbF) expression is an effective approach for ameliorating the clinical severity of sickle cell disease (SCD). Hydroxyurea (HU) is the only FDA-approved drug with proven efficacy for inducing HbF in SCD. Recently, DNA methyltransferase (DNMT) inhibitors were shown to reactivate γ-globin gene expression via DNA hypomethylation. However, alternate approaches involve development of small non-coding microRNAs (miR) to silence major repressors of γ-globin transcription. Previous studies from our group showed that miR-29b inhibits DNA methylation by binding the 3' untranslated region of DNMT3A/B (Starlard-Davenport A et al., J Carcinog 12:15; 2013). Subsequent, studies demonstrated that increased levels of miR-29b are associated with high HbF levels in patients with SCD. To gain insights into mechanisms, studies performed in KU812 cells demonstrated DNMT3A/B silencing with ү-globin gene activation. Moreover, miR29b increased HbF expression in erythroid progenitors generated from normal adult CD34 + stem cells (Starlard-Davenport A et al., Br J Haematol 186:91-100; 2019). Therefore, we tested the hypothesis that miR-29b activates γ-globin transcription via DNA hypomethylation in normal and sickle erythroid progenitors and Townes SCD mouse model.
 Methods: Normal CD34 + cells (n=3) and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (n=2) isolated from SCD patients, were cultured using a two-phase erythroid culturing system. Cells were electroporated with miR-29b mimic (50nM and 100nM) or negative Scrambled (Scr) control on day 8 and collected after 24 h. Erythroid differentiation was assessed using Giemsa staining, and flow cytometry was used to measure the % HbF positive cells (F-cells). Real-time PCR was used to quantify expression of miR-29b, γ-globin, and β-globin genes, and Western blot was performed to measure DNMT, HbF and HbS protein levels. In vivo studies were performed in Townes SCD mice (3 per group) treated for 28 days by continuous infusion with subcutaneous mini-osmotic pumps. The treatment groups included miR-29b (2mg/kg/day and 3mg/kg/day) and corresponding doses of Scr control mimics.
 Results: We observed erythroid differentiation of untreated normal and SCD erythroid progenitors at day 7, 12, and 14 of culture assessed by Giemsa stain. Treatment with miR-29b increased the ү/ү+β mRNA ratio by 2.5-fold (p<0.01) and F-cell levels increased from ~6.0% (Scr) to 15% with miR-29b (100nM); we observed lower DNMT3 mRNA and protein levels after 100nM miR-29b treatment. To confirm HbF induction by miR-29b in sickle progenitors we treated cells on day 8 with 50nM and 100nM miR-29b and observed >85% increase in %F-cells compared to Scr cells. Subsequent miR-29b treatment was conducted for 28 days in Townes SCD mice, which was well tolerated documented by good weight gain and no deaths. There were minimal effects on hematopoiesis with a decrease in total white blood count and an increase in neutrophils. Total hemoglobin, reticulocyte and platelet counts remained stable. By week 4, we observed a 0.5 fold and 2.3-fold (p<0.005) increase in %F-cells at the 2mg/kg and 3 mg/kg miR-29b doses respectively compared to corresponding Scr controls. By week 4, miR29b increased HbF levels 2.1-fold by Western blot, and sickle cell levels under hypoxic conditions decreased 32% (p<0.01).
 Conclusions: Our findings support the ability of miR-29b to induce HbF in normal and sickle erythroid progenitors without significant toxicity in vitro and in SCD mice in vivo. This research highlights a novel miRNA-based epigenetic approach to induce HbF supporting discovery of new drugs to expand treatment options for SCD.

 Pace: Imara Inc.: Consultancy.


Sufficiency ratings are discussed as an aid in measuring highway needs by reference to sound design standards. However, a number of other factors must be considered which also affect the priority rating. These are: (1) effect of highway classification, (2) geographic distribution, (3) continuity and consistency of route development, (4) rural- urban and urban-urban relationships, (5) benefit-cost ratio, (6) backload, future and emergency needs, and (7) time and personnel. These should have equal consideration with the sufficiency rating before annual priorities are set.


In this study, the wave energy potential in the coastal region of Romania was analyzed. For this purpose, a reanalysis data set downloaded from ECMWF (European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts) was used. The reanalysis data contains information for various models. In this analysis the significant height of combined wind waves and swell, the mean wave direction and the mean wave period were analyzed in order to determine the potential of extracting clean energy from waves. The aim of this research is to analyze some performances factors (capacity factor, rated capacity, operating capacity, annul electricity production) of some of the most used wave energy convertors.


Introduction: Impact phenomena are commonly associated with destruction, but it is through these violent events that environments and conditions necessary for life may have been created [1, 2]. Theoretical simulations investigating both the development of the reactants required for synthesis, along with the formation of prebiotic molecules in the primordial Earth, have shown that impacts from cometary ices could have yielded a wide variety of prebiotic organic material [3 14]. Furthermore, these processes have been shown to sometimes be independent of external factors, such as the presence of a catalyst, UV irradiation, or pre-existing conditions on a planet [15], further reinforcing the significance of impacts in shock synthesis of materials. In order to determine the validity of these theoretical simulations and further understand the processes experienced during impact, laboratory experiments were developed investigating amine, peptide and amino acid formation [16 27], as well as their survivability from subsequent impacts [28 30]. Here, the effects of a shock produced during a >7.5 kms -1 impact onto an ice target mixed with glycine were examined, to investigate whether the glycine would be modified and another amino acid synthesised as a result of this reaction. Materials & Methodology: The University of Kent's two-stage LGG [31] was used to horizontally accelerate the projectile prior to impact, and the samples were analysed using an HP-Agilent 6980 / 5973 GC-MS fitted with a ZB-5 MS column. Experimental Methodology: A 3.1 mm diameter solid nylon sabot projectile was fired onto an ice target mixture at 7.604 kms -1 . The target mixture consisted of 50 g >99.8 % glycine dissolved in 1 L HPLC-grade water and placed in a sterilized stainless-steel container. The target mixture was frozen to -120 °C, with the temperature increasing to approximately -50 °C during the evacuation process of the LGG target chamber (to 50 mbar), prior to firing. Analytical Methodology: Post-firing the target sample was covered and placed in a vented furnace at 75 °C to evaporate the water, leaving behind the crystals used for analysis. Crystals extracted from the samples were then placed in a vacuum oven at 75 °C overnight to dry completely prior to derivatization for GC-MS analysis using Sigma-Aldrich & Katherine K. Stenerson's methodology [32]. Once dried, 0.1 M HCl was added and the sample was placed in a vented oven at 150 °C until the HCl had evaporated. The sample was then placed in a vacuum oven at 85 °C overnight to dry completely once again. MTBSTFA (Figure 1) and acetonitrile were then added to the sample before covering and placing back in a vented oven at 100 °C for 4 hours. The sample was filtered through a 0.2 μm PTFE filter prior to GC-MS analysis.


Foreword 1. Rome and the Sea 2. Hannibal and Roman Blunders 3. The Power of Spectacle 4. Roman Memory and Time 5. Public Life, Private Virtue: The Roman Censorship 6. The Decay of Politics and the Growth of Philosophy 7. Endemic Monarchism and Emergent Caesarism Appendix 1 Who's Who Appendix 2: Timeline of Events


This dissertation studies The poem of a Storm from Wooden Slips of the Han Dynasties from Dunhuang,which was obtained by Stein from 1913 to 1915 during his third archaeological trip to Central Asia.Based on a careful study of reviews and comments,the paper covers the the form,the author,the title,the copier,the writing and copying time,the customs and geography of the counties involved.It concludes that this poem is in the style of Li Sao and consists of eight sentences,each with eight characters.The missing word Xi(兮)was omitted by the copier.The author should be a satrap from one of the following counties: the County of Longxi,the County of Tianshui and the County of An'ding.According to the usual practice,the poem should be titled as The Poem of the Satrap from Longxi,The Poem of the Satrap from Tianshui,or The Poem of the Satrap from Anding.The copier was Fengshuai as mentioned in T.X XII.d.It should be written in the East Han Dynasty,and copied during the 23rd year of Jianwu(when Emperor Guangwu of Han Dynasty was ruling) to the 10th year of Yongping(when Emperor Ming of Han Dynasty was ruling).This poem described a flood that people of the three counties suffered,which was brought by a storm.By studying the customs and the geography,we can also know the natural situation and the flooding background of these districts,and furthermore,how badly the local people had suffered.


Insulin resistance is a powerful risk factor for Type 2 diabetes and a constellation of chronic diseases, and is most commonly associated with obesity. We examined if factors other than obesity are more substantial predictors of insulin sensitivity under baseline, nonstimulated conditions.


Abstract Engineering Surveys Limited was founded in 1959 to provide specialist survey services for Consulting Engineers, Architects, Contractors, and others who were involved in short-range development and who required survey information in considerable detail on scales from 1/1000 to 1/100.In the course of time the continual need for checking convinced the company that the computer was an excellent partner to the existing manual processes; and software was developed to highlight inaccurate or incomplete data. Over a period of some 10 years the company has become totally convinced of the wisdom of committing the company to computers. The continuing development work of computer programming has opened a series of new avenues which were not apparent at the time the company started the computer application, and all of them have enabled ESL to focus its future development on the target of "fully automated cartography".


Up to date,more than 40 snake venom thrombin-like enzymes have been isolated and some of them expressed in different systems. This review briefly describes their biological character, structure and production and provides an overview of their mighty research advance. They have been found very important both in basic research such as a model for studies of structure-function relationships and application of hemostasis and thrombosis in clinic.


In concordance with the application of environmental-friendly technologies to exploit the natural potential of plants it is necessary to have a deeply knowledge about relations between plant, their natural habitat and microorganisms from rhizosphere. In the last years researchers highlighted the importance of rhizosphere microorganisms in increase of plant fitness by different mechanism: providing a better nutrition of plant, producing plant growth regulators such phytohormone, ensuring protection of the roots of plant from pathogen attack. Our study followed to isolate bacterial strains from rhizosphere of canola (Bassica rape) and nettle (Urtica dioica) and testing their capacities in promoting the growth of wheat plants As a 6 total strains, 4 were isolated from canola and 2 from the nettle that have proven high frequency of appearances on media plates. The pure isolated strains, were tested for support of germination of wheat kernels, plant growth promoting and proven of traits to production of the indoleacetic acid (IAA). For screening of isolates for the production of IAA were used Salkowski regent. The results have revealed significant differences compared to the control in terms of wheat seed germination for strains R-IV, R-III, R-I, U-I. The bacterial strains U II and RI were highlighted in sustaining plant growth through the accumulation of dry matter and production of IAA.


A number of production mechanisms with an individual drive of the working organ require both synchronized and separate speed control of the operational electric motors. For such electromechanical systems, frequency-cascade electric drives based on asynchronous motors with a phase rotor (AMP) are promising. This call for the inverstigation of steady conditions of asynchronous motors in a more general case of control : in a cascade circuit with frequency control.


This article is an evaluation of a thin film evaporator which is used to distill the lube oil fraction from depleted additives and other residues in the crankcase oil re-refining process at Booth Oil. Operating as a vacuum distillation unit, the thin film evaporator produces a lube oil base stock equivalent in quality, after post-treatment, to virgin base stock. The thin film evaporator recovers about 70 to 90% of used oil as lube oil distillate, depending on the quantity of non-volatile residue in the feed.


The terms "ethnicity" and "ethnic identity" have assumed new relevance and are of greater interest to us again today in light ofthe recent collapse of the Soviet block of nations in Europe and the end of the Soviet Union itself. In this respect, the timing of Brent Peterson's study, which seeks to define and examine these terms in a certain cultural context, could not have been better or more welcome to those who must eventually face the somewhat similar task for other groups of people. Peterson uses the nineteenth-century German-American periodical Die Abendschule (published briefly in Buffalo, NY; thereafter in St. Louis) as a paradigm for the process of establishing a minority ethnic identity in an otherwise hostile cultural environment. Peterson's thesis is essentially that Die Abendschule (The Evening School, or Evening Companion as it was known to the Anglos) served to provide an outlet for the new cultural narrative (here meaning identity) that the German immigrants in America were forging and so taught them what it meant to be "German Americans." Later it also became the medium by which they could gradually assimilate into the mainstream of Anglo-American culture. Each chapter lends support to the author's premise by focusing on a specific aspect of either Die Abendschule's history or its content and function. Chapter 1 looks principally at the magazine's development during the 47 years between its founding in 1854 and the year 1900, when crucial changes in format and readership were beginning to take place. Here, frequently changing masthead illustrations connote changing perceptions by the editors of the readers' attitudes and sense of identification. Chapter 2 serves to define the concepts of ethnicity and ethnic identity as they relate to the readership. The central questions answered are: "Who read Die Abendschule and why?" Chapter 3 details the literary contents ofDieAbendschule to the end of the Civil War. Peterson suggests that the serialized novel, which made its first appearance in Die Abendschule during the period, functions for us today as one yardstick for measuring the degree of ethnic identity. Finally, Chapters 4 and 5 explore the changes in content and, appropriately, in the appeal of Die Abendschule in the years after the Civil War. By this time, religious as well as secular identities were in conflict with such labels as German, American, and even Lutheran being seriously questioned. In general, Peterson's account is thorough, insightful and well-reasoned. To this reviewer's taste, his style seems at times a bit dry and pedantic, suffering perhaps from the dissertation-turned-book syndrome which many of us have experienced «spage 12 contains more footnote than text). To his credit, however, Peterson also displays a fine sense of humor throughout, as in his account of the serialized novel Die Wittwe und ihre Kinder (The Widow and Her Children) in Chapter 4. He has translated German extracts into English, making this work accessible to a broad audience. Thus, 1 truly can recommend this book highly to any reader with an interest in the question of ethnic identities in a social or cultural context, and notjust to those investigating the German Americans.


The emotion category is concerned by Chinese literature criticism. There are two kinds of emotion theories in the Ming dynasty' s poetics. They not only enrich Ming dynasty' literature criticism but also the base of the e-motion theory of Qing dynasty.


In order to find a simple,fast and accurate method for detecting woods from the Simao pine(Pinus kesiya var.langbianensis) infected by Bursaphelenchus xylophilus,the conductivity and pH value of the woods from the healthy and the diseased Simao pine were compared by physical methods in this paper.The results showed that the conductivities of the diseased and dead woods were significantly lower than that of the healthy plant.The conductivities of woods from 19 healthy plants were all higher than 45 μS/cm,those from 20 dead plants were all lower than 35 μS/cm.It was easy to distinguish the dead plants from the healthy plants by the wood conductivity.The average pH values of the diseased and dead woods were higher than that of the healthy woods.The pH values of the healthy woods were significantly different from that of the dead woods.The range of the pH value from the diseased and dead woods were much lager than that from the healthy woods.Therefore,the healthy woods could not be distinguished from the diseased wood by detecting pH value.The conductivity of stems from the 1.5-year-old of Simao pine inoculated with B.xylophilus was gradually reduced as the development of disease symptom.The average conductivity of dead plant was reduced 71.8 %,comparing with the control.The pH value changed little as the development of disease symptom of inoculated plant,which was similar as the changes of pH value from infected and healthy wood in nature.


PFI (Private Finance Initiative) is expected to be worth about £25·5 billion within the next three years in the UK, according to the Her Majesty's Treasury's Green Book, with close to 550 signed projects. With all this money being poured into PFI, is the most being made of this opportunity to procure the most sustainable buildings?


Objectives: This study investigated the relationship between maternal autonomy support and social withdrawal, executive function, and behavioral inhibition in young children. Specifically, it examined how behavioral inhibition moderates the mediating effect of executive function on the relationship between maternal autonomy support and social withdrawal in young children.Methods: Participants were 273 3-to 4-year-old children and their mothers. The data obtained were analyzed using descriptive statistics, frequency analysis, Cronbach's α, and Pearson correlation analysis with SPSS 20.0. Meanwhile, the PROCESS Macro 3.5 software was used for analyzing the moderating effect, mediating effect, and moderated mediation effect.Results: Our findings indicated that, first, maternal autonomy support and executive function, social withdrawal, and behavioral inhibition in young children were significantly correlated. Second, executive function had a partial mediating effect on the relationship between maternal autonomy support and social withdrawal in young children. Third, the behavioral inhibition had a moderating effect on the relationship between maternal autonomy support and executive function. Last, the findings verified that the mediating effect of executive function on the relationship between maternal autonomy support and social withdrawal was moderated by behavioral inhibition.Conclusion: These results indicate that improving executive function and reducing social withdrawal through maternal autonomy support can promote positive development in young children, even when behavioral inhibition is high. Thus, they can be used to highlight the importance of parenting behaviors in shaping young children's temperament. Furthermore, the results could provide a framework for parental education programs and early intervention programs for reducing social withdrawal in children.


This paper presents a first-order performance analysis of the telescope - optical system for the Cryogenic Limb Array Etalon Spectrometer (CLAES), one of several experiments intended for flight on the Upper Atmospheric Research Satellite (UARS). The experiment is based around a solid Fabry-Perot spectrometer which provides spectral resolution of 0.25 cm-1 for atmospheric emission spectroscopy over the 3.5- to 12-μm infrared wavelength range. A solid hydrogen cryostat sized for a two-year in-orbit lifetime provides cooling for the detector array, spectrometer, and telescope optics. The experiment involves the passive measurement of earth-limb radiance over a 10- to 60-km tangent altitude range. The instrument is required to provide near diffraction-limited performance over this 50 km or 1-deg field-of-view, and over the full wavelength range. The optical system must also provide a high degree of off-axis rejection and stray-light control, primarily to suppress intense emission from the earth surface which resides at -0.2 deg off-axis for the 10-km lowest altitude of observation. The optical system consists of a Gregorian telescope and refractive re-imager arranged in the common "z" configuration with folded baffles and no obscuration. The 6-in. telescope primary mirror produces an intermediate focus where the astigmatic image spread is oriented along the horizontal limb direction. This allows for precise location of the field stop and very sharp cutoff of the field below -0.175 deg. The astigmatism and other geometric aberrations are corrected by the secondary mirror which produces an excellent image of the primary, allowing for location of a diffraction control or Lyot stop. The re-imaging lens corrects for field curvature associated with the telescope and produces a flat field at the detector focal plane. Image quality is at the diffraction limit from 3.5 to 10 μm, with a point spread less than 10 percent of the airy disc diameter for example at 5 μm. The airy disc itself is less than 10 percent of a detector vertical dimension at this wavelength. Some chromatic correction remains to be incorporated between 10 and 12μm, where the point spread exceeds the diffraction limit by about 20 percent. The off-axis scattering performance of the telescope is discussed in terms of the mirror scatter coefficient and point source rejection ratio. A mirror bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) of 1 x 10-4 at 1 deg with a 1/02 roll-off between 1 and 0.2 deg is realizable based on recent measurements. This results in an off-axis radiance term generally small in comparison with the system-limiting noise equivalent radiance (NER = 10-12 W/cm2/sr at 10 μm.) As the observational altitude increases the off-axis term becomes less and less significant.


The extraction and tracking of targets in an image shot by visual sensors have been studied extensively. The technology of image segmentation plays an important role in such tracking systems. This paper presents a new approach to color image segmentation based on fuzzy color extractor (FCE). Different from many existing methods, the proposed approach provides a new classification of pixels in a source color image which usually classifies an individual pixel into several subimages by fuzzy sets. This approach shows two unique features: the spatial proximity and color similarity, and it mainly consists of two algorithms: CreateSubImage and MergeSubImage. We apply the FCE to segment colors of the test images from the database at UC Berkeley in the RGB, HSV, and YUV, the three different color spaces. The comparative studies show that the FCE applied in the RGB space is superior to the HSV and YUV spaces. Finally, we compare the segmentation effect with Canny edge detection and Log edge detection algorithms. The results show that the FCE-based approach performs best in the color image segmentation.


This company sells 5.5 kg of Bright gas which will be distributed to the base every month, experiencing ups and downs. In addition, it also resulted in the inappropriate procurement of 5.5 kg Bright gas. Every month it is not adjusted to monthly sales estimates because it has not used a prediction system. Therefore, there is a sales prediction system of 5.5 kg of bright gas every month, the amount of bright gas is 5.5 kg which will be distributed to the base. The purpose of this research is to find out good accuracy in the Least Square method for the selling process of 5.5 kg bright gas at PT. Togo Jaya Gorontalo. Results achieved With the bright gas prediction system, predictions can be made for the next period and measurement results using MAPE of 0.20%.


Objective: In recent years, discussions regarding the possibility of vitamin D deficiency playing a role in statin myopathy development have started. The purpose of this study is to determine whether or not there is a significant difference with respect to vitamin D levels and objective muscle strength measures in males with or without statin-induced myalgia. Material and Methods: This study includes 17 male patients with statin-induced myalgia and 23 male patients without statin-induced myalgia; the latter being matched with the former. 25-OH vitamin D levels of all patients were recorded. Body fat rates of the patients were studied with bio-impedance analysis. Visual analog scale and McGill–Melzack pain questionnaire were applied to the patients with myalgia. Grip strength and isometric and isokinetic measurements on the biceps and quadriceps muscles of all patients were performed. Results: Mean vitamin D levels were above the sufficiency level in both of the groups, and there was no significant difference between them. When the measurements with the hand dynamometer and the isometric and isokinetic muscular strength analyses for both groups were compared, there was no statistically significant difference between them. Conclusion: In this study, it is demonstrated that vitamin D deficiency may not be a risk factor for the development of statin-induced myalgia; furthermore, there is no statistical difference between the objective muscle strength measures of male patients with or without statin-induced


Background The immune system in human develops when they are exposed to severe helminth infections. Chronic soil-transmitted helminth (STH) infection can modulate and suppress allergic reactions particularly by changing the responses from the immune effector. This study observed how STH infections are correlated with allergic reactions as determined by skin prick test (SPT). Methodology Fourty-five primary school children with recurrent STH infections (determined by at least two positive results in 4-monthly Kato Katz examination over a year period) who received periodic treatment from Mandailing Natal, were classified as case, and 45 primary school students with no history of STH infections from Medan were classified as control in this study. Positive SPT occurred among 27% and 89% of children in the case and control groups (OR 22, 95% CI 7.032-68.827), respectively. No history of helminthiasis, history of allergy, history of parent's allergies, and history of sibling's allergies were associated with increased risks of positive SPT. Conclusion Our findings supported the hygiene hypothesis, where decreased exposure to infectious disease pathogens and decreased diversity of microbial exposures in the environment increases the prevalence of allergies, and anthelminthic treatment show limited effect in reversing the protective effect of STH infections to allergies.


Femtosecond vibrational pump-probe spectroscopy on beta-helical polyisocyanopeptides reveals vibrational self-trapping in the well-defined hydrogen-bonded side groups that is absent when non-hydrogen bonded monomers are mixed in.


Clinical Benefits of Immunonutrition in Surgical Stress Kenji MIMATSU1, 2), Takatsugu OIDA1), Yoko SAINO2), Nobutada FUKINO1), Kazutoshi KIDA1), Atsushi KAWASAKI1), Hisao KANO1), Youichi KUBOI1) and Sadao AMANO2) 1) Department of Surgery, Social Insurance Yokohama Central Hospital 2) Nutrition Support Team, Social Insurance Yokohama Central Hospital 3) Department of Breast and Endocrine Surgery, Nihon University School of Medicine Nutritional management for surgery patients is recognized as an important preventive step against postoperative complications. Immunonutrition is a nutritional approach that can control the immune system by modifying the release of mediators from immune cells and attenuating tissue and organ damage through the administration of specific nutrients. Recently, it has been a challenge to not only supplement the shortage of required energy and major nutrients, i.e., carbohydrates, proteins and lipids, but also to control the immune system and inflammatory responses by using immunonutrition in critically ill patients and surgical patients. There are a number of immunonutrients, including arginine, glutamine, n-3 poly-unsaturated fatty acids, nucleotides, etc. These substrates have been revealed to up-regulate host immune responses and to control inflammatory responses, and can thus be applied to the clinical benefit and decrease the incidence of postoperative infectious complication and length of hospital stays. In particular, an immune-enhancing diet that includes n-3 poly-unsaturated fatty acids, arginine and nucleotides has been associated with significantly fewer infectious complications in elective gastrointestinal surgical patients. Although some reports have described the effects and application of an immune-enhancing diet in surgical patients, administration of each immunonutrient alone has few clinical benefits. We expect that new immune-enhancing or -modulating diets that can control the host immune response and inflammatory response in surgical stress, will be developed by a combination of adequate immunonutrients.


The purpose of this study was to describe the understanding of mathematical concepts of junior high school students on Relation and Functions based on Honey Mumford Theory. The research uses a descriptive qualitative approach and the type of research used is a case study. In this study, there were 24 respondents, then 8 students were selected, representing 2 students from each learning style. The data collection method in this study was a learning style questionnaire LSQ (Learning Style Questionnaire) according to Honey Mumford, written tests and interviews. This study uses reduction, data presentation, and drawing conclusions into data analysis techniques. The results showed that: 1) Students with an activist learning style when studying tended to like new things so they were less careful with indicators that restated a concept, and did not like activities that took a long time which caused errors in calculating number operations. 2) Reflector learning style students at the time of learning are quite careful and calculating so that they are able to classify objects according to certain properties, but tend to focus on sources of information so that they are not able to present concepts in various forms of mathematical representation and apply concepts to problem solving. 3) Students with theoretical learning styles when learning many considerations and everything depends on theory so they are able to classify objects according to certain properties, but have not been able to present concepts in various forms of mathematical representation. 4) Students with pragmatic learning styles will study the material in detail so that they can restate a concept, but pragmatic students are too centered on sources of information which causes students not to be able to apply concepts or algorithms in problem solving. The conclusion of this study states that each student's learning style will lead to a different understanding of mathematical concepts.


Professional engineers helped established a viable New Zealand farming industry by spearheading developments such as refrigerated shipping and a railways network throughout the country.


The invention belongs to the field of diamond grinding wheels, and in particular relates to a resin metal composite bonding agent and a composite bonding agent diamond grinding wheel prepared by adopting the resin metal composite bonding agent. The resin metal composite bonding agent consists of the following raw materials in percentage by weight: polyimide resin powder, copper powder, tin powder, zinc powder, phosphorus powder and lead powder; and the composite bonding agent diamond grinding wheel consists of the following raw materials: 65 to 85 volume percent of composite bonding agent, 15to 35 volume percent of diamond abrasive, and 0.5 to 1 volume percent of resin liquid. When the diamond grinding wheel prepared by adopting the resin metal composite bonding agent is used on a numerical control grinder, the diamond grinding wheel has the original characteristics of high grinding efficiency and good self-sharpening property of a resin bonding agent diamond grinding wheel and also has the advantages of high rigidity, high heat resistance and good profile retaining property of a metal bonding agent diamond grinding wheel, one-way cutting depth of heavy-load powerful grinding canreach 6 millimeters, and the comprehensive economic benefit can be improved by over 100 percent.


Abstract The aim of this paper is to assess if and how a concept of accounting quality differs from perspectives of various types of organisations affected by the accounting harmonisation process. Accounting harmonisation is commonly associated with worldwide adoption of IFRS by public interest companies. However, in the EU this process is much broader and also involves efforts to harmonise accounting standards for non-listed companies and public sector organisations. Analysis of the previous scientific research revealed that accounting quality was commonly assessed from IFRS users' perspective and approximated with the quality of financial statements. However, based on the interviews with experts of Lithuanian accounting market, the concept of accounting quality for small and medium companies and public sector institutions is ambiguous and still needs to be clarified. Definition of accounting quality only as the quality financial statements is too narrow as financial disclosure is not that important for such companies. For non-listed companies and public sector organisations, other aspects and factors, such as qualification of accountants, supervision of accounting and reporting, overall and managers' perspective on importance of accounting, have more importance while defining accounting quality.


Photooxidation of triphenylcarbenium ion in the presence of an electron donor affords bis(triphenylmethyl) peroxide via one electron transfer from the electron donor to the excited singlet state of triphenylcarbenium ion.


Each quarter, Health Affairs reports on new developments in one of four sectors of the health sphere: national health care spending in Fall, health personnel in Winter, health status and health care utilization in Spring, and health care innovation in Summer. In this issue, Gerard Anderson and Jane Erickson of The Johns Hopkins Center for Hospital Finance and Management report on national medical care spending. Anderson has furnished these reports for Health Affairs for the past three years. Fitting into the theme of health expenditures is the DataWatch by George Schieber and Jean-Pierre Poullier of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris, who update their 1986 report of trends in international health care spending.


The role of dietary pyridoxine (vitamin B6) on the growth and physiological responses of Labeo rohita fingerlings reared in a high temperature of 33°C was examined in a 60-day trial. Two hundred and seventy fingerlings (6.71±0.32 g) were randomly distributed into six treatments in triplicate. Five iso-caloric and iso-nitrogenous purified diets were prepared with graded levels of pyridoxine: 0, 10, 50, 100, and 200 mg. The control group was given a diet containing 10 mg pyridoxine and reared at ambient temperature (26°C). Pyridoxine supplementation at 100 or 200 mg/kg diet significantly augmented the specific growth rate but there were no significant (p>0.05) effects of pyridoxine supplementation on the feed conversion ratio. Superoxidedismutase, catalase, blood glucose, and serum cortisol were significantly lower and acetylcholinesterase (AchE) significantly (p<0.05) higher in the pyridoxine-fed groups. Results indicate that dietary pyridoxine supplementation at the rate of 100 mg/kg diet augments growth and helps lower stress in L. rohita fingerlings reared in a high water temperature.


Background Bronchiectasis is an important cause of morbidity and mortality all over the world. Determining the frequency of actual occurrence is particularly misleading and difficult to determine, especially in patients with multiple respiratory disorders, because it can be a result of any primary pulmonary disease. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of readmission with acute exacerbation of bronchiectasis (AEB) on the admissions later on, need of long-term O2 and mechanical ventilation, and mortality. Patients and methods This is an observational cohort and prospective study. It was conducted on patients admitted with AEB who achieved modified O'Donnell criteria, and their high-resolution computed tomography showed bronchiectasis on admission at Aleppo University Hospital between September 2017 and January 2019. They were divided into three groups by age. Patients with bronchial asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and cystic fibrosis were excluded. Results The study included 90 patients (57 males and 33 females) with a mean age of 52.93±20.437 years. AEB showed a peak of incidence in the age group 41–65 years. Dyspnea is the most common symptom in exacerbations (88.23%) followed by hemoptysis (80.88%). Wheezing had the least frequency on admission (60.29%). Median survival age was 14±0.214 months. We collected information on 136 exacerbations in 90 patients. A total of 31 (34.44%) patients had at least one readmission and 19 (21%) patients died within 12 months of admission to the hospital. Age, smoking, and need of long-term O2 were statistically significant between the two groups of study (P=0.013, <0.0001, and 0.04, respectively). Sex, radiological changes, mortality, and mechanical ventilation have no significance. Conclusion AEB is a common reason for hospitalization, and it correlates with age, smoking, readmission, and need of long-term O2 treatment.


Nanocubes (NCs) were found to be produced by the irradiation of nanosecond UV pulses to an aqueous solution of silver nitrate. The photoproduct was turned to nanospheres (NSs) when irradiated with ...


With the growth of population and rapid economical development,water ecological environment worsens increasingly,and water problem has become an important limiting factor to social development and regional economics.Guangtong River is a very important reach on history of Lin Xia,and it has the great influence to the economics and life of those areas which it goes through.Recently,the pollution of Guangtong river is getting worse and worse each day,and the pollution not only has affected the local people's health and their daily life,but also the economic development has been restricted,and this situation is very unfavorable for the harmonious development of human and nature.


Stream ciphers are valuable in applications where efficiency and security are both needed. Linear feedback shift register sequences have been the mainstay of stream ciphers in the past. However, Alexander Klimov and Adi Shamir recently proposed a class of invertible T-functions as a possible source of cryptographic building blocks for stream ciphers. In particular , they present the mapping xf = x + (x2 V 5) (mod 2n) which is a permutation with a single cycle modulo 2n for any n. We discuss traditional stream cipher constructions and the desired properties of sequences produced by pseudorandom keystream generators. We then utilize these desired properties to analyze the aforementioned Klimov-Shamir keystream generator. Finally, we propose a possible construction for a keystream generator that combines a traditional stream cipher construction and the function proposed by Klimov and Shamir in order to produce a keystream that adheres to the desired properties we set forth.


Islamic banking in the last two decades has grown rapidly.  This rapid progress is inseparable from the government attempts to makeIslamic banking Islamic financial world as a trendsetter. However, tomake Indonesian Islamic banking as a trendsetter Islamic finance in Asia still faces obstacles, especially the availability of human resources from theuniversity. Role of the real banking Laboratory very urgent to provide a source for learning as well as socialization media education on academic community . This paper seeks to provide an overview based on the author's experience to establish a laboratory, starting from the pioneering phase to the technical implementation of the synergy with student learning model.


In future combat missions,Uninhabited Combat Air Vehicles(UCAVs) will be a allowed to carry out their tasks in autonomous mode,which will constantly require changes in the mission plans.In this paper,An autonomous mission planning system architecture for multi-UCAV cooperative combat is constructed,and the running mechanism of the systm is presented.We propose that the autonomous mission planner is the core of the system,which should be capability of mission decomposing,intelligently information processing and mission planning onboard.The primary design of the planner is introduced.Finally,the further research task and direction are discussed.


Lipopolysaccharides (LPS) are found in the outer membrane of gram-negative bacteria and can elicit direct cellular responses in addition to inflammatory immune responses in an infected organism. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of LPS on synaptic transmission at the neuromuscular junction (NMJ) of a model amphibian preparation. The cutaneous pectoris muscle of Lithobates pipiens was dissected and maintained in a physiological saline to acutely expose the preparation to LPS from Serratia marcescens. The evoked excitatory junction potentials (EJPs) completely diminished after 10 min (n = 6, p<0.05 paired t-test). These EJPs were able to be partially recovered after removal of LPS. The frequency and amplitude of the spontaneous miniature excitatory junction potentials (mEJPs) did not change with LPS exposure (n = 6, p>0.05 paired t-test). These findings suggest that LPS acts in frogs by inhibiting the activity of the voltage-gated Ca2+ channels in presynaptic motor neurons and not by blocking the acetylcholine receptors on the skeletal muscle fibers. These findings imply the acute action of LPS in mammals is presynaptic at the NMJs and can suppress synaptic transmission independent of initiating a systemic immune response.


OESTERREICHISCHE NATIONALBANK In 2015, the annual Conference on European Economic Integration (CEEI) of the Oesterreichische Nationalbank (OeNB) was organized as a joint event with the Conference on the Future of the European Economy (CFEE) of Narodowy Bank Polski (NBP). The joint conference took place in Warsaw on October 15 and 16, 2015, and focused on long-term European growth prospects and competitiveness. Around 260 participants from 30 different countries attended the CEEI/CFEE 2015 to listen to presentations by high-ranking representatives of central banks, international organizations and academia and join the ensuing discussions. The conference offered a wide range of interesting insights e.g. that demographic developments as well as uncertainty regarding migration prospects, future employment contracts and progress in European integration all constitute challenges to economic growth in Europe. Convergence as a central element of European integration has created external imbalances, which manifest themselves today also as weaknesses in the tradable sector. Countries must now identify new sources of sustainable productivity growth. FDI has been a driving force of productivity growth – especially in the Central, Eastern and Southeastern European (CESEE) economies – but needs to be directed more toward the research and development (R&D) sector. Innovation – which is not tantamount to the promotion of hightechnology sectors – is important in all segments of the economy, especially in the traditional economic sectors. Coherence between domestic economic policies and the promotion of outward economic orientation is important; successful internationalization strategies build on sound domestic linkages between firms. In their opening remarks both NBP President Marek Belka and OeNB Governor Ewald Nowotny praised the benefits of merging, into a unique joint event, their institutions' well-established event series, which both have a clear focus on future economic integration in Europe. Belka emphasized that in spite of the numerous challenges Europe is facing today, the EU is not at an adverse turning point. Over the last decades, integration has contributed to the quality of life Europeans enjoy today and has been a major driver of transition, development and convergence in CESEE. But, as Nowotny pointed out, the deepening of the European integration process has not kept pace with EU enlargement. Both speakers thus agreed on two major challenges for Europe: First, Europe needs a growth spurt to fight unemployment and public debt. Productivity is key for both growth and competitiveness, requiring the right mix of innovation, labor market and product market policies. Nowotny emphasized Compiled by Maria Silgoner, Susanne Steinacher and Julia Wörz1 Conference on European Economic Integration 2015: Boosting EU Competitiveness – The Role of the CESEE Countries


We propose a micron-size planar waveguide silicon electro-optic modulator based on a Fabry-Perot cavity. Both optical and carrier confinement into the cavity region lead to very low dc power consumption for modulation.


In this paper, we study the use of a specific particle system in motion simulation. The novelty of the particle system is that, with it, everything is formalized in a systematic and uniform manner using just six matrices. We illustrate use of the particle system by presenting a challenging environment where two different entities, Inchworm and Roller, are tested and their behavior is examined. As the main contribution, we demonstrate here that, despite its simplicity, the particle system supports plausible motion simulation for organic and mechanistic motion. In addition, as the entities are modeled in a systematic and uniform manner, they are reusable.


Acknowledgments As with any work of this size and scope, it only came to existence due to a seemingly random chain of events and the more or less direct influence of other people. At this point, I would like to take some time (or rather space) to express my gratitudes to those who are responsible for this work coming to fruition, probably as much as myself, if not more so. First and foremost, I want to thank my supervisor Thom Frühwirth. Through working for him, I came to know about the intricacies involved in academic research, of which only very few are related to actual scientific topics. As the years progressed, he supported me in learning the ropes, which proved to be just as important for a doctoral career as the scientific content itself. Last, but not least, he supported my urge to travel around the world and visit different places, especially when there were suitable conferences nearby. Deepest thanks also go to Marc Meister, who accompanied my journey in the early years and in countless hours of discussions revealed not only tremendous knowledge to me, but also his artistic talent – for his words continuously painted pictures of my future, ranging from the bleak to the bright. Looking back at these pictures from where I stand now, they served me well in avoiding those dark pitfalls. I also want to thank the whole institute of Software Engineering and Compiler Construction, which became my second home for all these years. In particular, its director Helmut Partsch, who despite his many duties always remained approachable and helpful. And I want to thank my co-workers for providing a fantastic atmosphere. Although they all perform research in other areas and we spared no excuse to light-heartedly ridicule each other's, we all became good friends and shared much more than just the burden of work. In my few years here, the institute also saw three secretaries – Claudia Hammer, Ulrike Seiter, and Eva Englert – to whom not only I am grateful, as their work gave all of us more time to persue our doctoral studies. Further thanks go to the many scientific colleagues I have met all around the world for the numerous fruitful discussions. I'd like to especially thank Jon Sneyers and Peter van Weert with whom it was a pleasure to organize our various meetings and Slim Abdennadher for the wonderful …


Soil fertility was studied over the last 5 years of an 11 -year period in which a native pasture (Heteropogon contortus dominant) oversown with Stylosanthes humilis (TS) was fertilized annually with either 125 or 250 kg ha-1 superphosphate. A severe deficiency of potassium was found to have developed since the improved pasture was sown, and correction of the deficiency increased legume yield 2- to 3-fold and increased beef production by 24%.Pastures fertilized annually with 250 kg ha-1 of superphosphate gave no dry matter response to additional dressings of phosphorus, but those fertilized with 125 kg ha-1 annually responded slightly even after ten applications, indicating that this rate of superphosphate was close to the optimum. Three annual applications of 31 kg K ha-1 increased exchangeable soil potassium significantly and results indicate that a slightly lower rate would satisfy pasture requirements when combined with 125 kg ha-1 superphosphate. The practical implications of potassium fertilizer use are discussed in relation to the large increase in beef production possible and the need for potassium to ensure long-term maintenance of legume production. The decision to correct the deficiency would depend on local conditions and current conditions of beef production prices. Results are considered in relation to diagnosis of phosphorus and potassium deficiencies in TS in the field. For TS sampled at early flowering in March, it is concluded that fertilizer responses may be expected if phosphorus in whole plant tops is below 0.14%, or if potassium is below 0.4%, while responses are unlikely when these values are 0.17 and 0.7%, respectively. Satisfactory diagnosis would also have resulted from adoption of soil standards of 20 ppm P (extracted by 0.01 N H2SO4) or 0.20 m.equiv K 100 g-1.


It is an instinct to human being to fi ght through for surviving and development. The key point of sustainable development is the problem of con? icts between human being and nature,is the endless human being's desire against the fi nity of resources and endurance of nature. The theory of "Three worlds" of Karl Popper could show us a different angle to think the problem in a different way,according to his theory we can try to analyze the possibility of the development and the changing of relationship between human being and nature in a view of philosophy in the future.


Metabolic reprogramming and aerobic glycolysis has been observed in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) involved tumor metastasis and tumorigenesis. Solute carrier family (SLC) members present as a major hub in glycolysis pathway by accelerated metabolic rate. However, solute carrier family 2 member 4's (SLC2A4) role in HNSCC has not been fully investigated. In this study, we identified the SLC2A4 had most significant value and ranking associated with HNSCC survival rate and metastasis status than other family members via in silico database analysis. Furthermore, immunohistochemistry analysis also showed consistency result that SLC2A4 is positive correlated with N status. In addition, our clinicopathologic analysis showed that an increased SLC2A4 expression in HNSCC patients was associated with a significant poor overall survival (OS, p=0.035) and recurrence‐free survival (RFS, P = 0.001). Two‐way complementary models including overexpression or knockdown of SLC2A4 were preformed and identified SLC2A4 overexpression promoted HNSCC migration and invasion in vitro and in vivo. SLC2A4‐overexpressed FaDu cell line was used to perform gene expression microarray to determine the underneath molecular mechanisms. Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA) software was utilized and identified tripartite motif‐containing 24 (TRIM24) transcription factor was a leading downstream regulator of SLC2A4. DDX58 was further confirmed to be the main downstream target of TRIM24 whose down‐regulation was found essential for the migratory phenotype induced by SLC2A4‐TRIM24 activation in our model. Finally, combined SLC2A4 with DDX58 could be used as a strong independent prognosis marker that is significantly correlated with poor survival rate in HNSCC patients. This novel signaling axis may be used for therapeutics development of HNSCC in the near future.


We have designed and evaluated a novel design of line array x-ray detector for use with digital radiography (DR) and computed tomography (CT) systems. The Radiographic Line Scan (RLS) detector is less than half the cost of discrete multi-channel line array detectors, yet provides the potential for resolution to less than 25 micrometers at energies of 420 kV. The RLS detector consists of a scintillator fiber-optically coupled to a thermo-electrically cooled line array CCD. Gadolinium oxysulfide screen material has been used as the scintillator, in thicknesses up to 250 micrometers . Scintillating glass, which is formed into a fiber optic bundle, has also been used in thicknesses up to 2 mm. The large 2.5 mm by 25 micrometers CCD cells provide high dynamic range while preserving high resolution; the 2.5 mm dimension is oriented in the x-ray absorption direction while the 25 micrometers dimension is oriented in the resolution direction. Servo controlled thermo-electric cooling of the CCD to a fixed temperature provides reduction of dark current and stabilization of the output. Greater dynamic range is achieved by reducing the dark current, while output stabilization reduces the need for frequent calibration of the detector. Measured performance characteristics are presented along with DR and CT images produced using the RLS detector.


The nonlinear behavior of the collisionless current‐driven drift instability in shearless and sheared magnetic fields is studied by means of particle simulation. Electrostatic models with guiding center electrons and full dynamic ions are used in both two‐and‐one‐half and three dimensions. The electron current (J∥), in the direction parallel to the magnetic field but perpendicular to the density gradient in the x direction, is maintained throughout the simulation. Instability thresholds, growth rates, real frequency spectra, and mode structures observed in the simulation are in good agreement with theory. Saturation of the unstable modes occurs by a flattening of the electron distribution function in x‐v∥ space. The measured potential saturation levels and final distribution functions are consistent with a quasilinear plateau theory for both shearless and sheared magnetic field configurations.


The excellent performance of Delaunary triangulation determines that it has important applications,such as computer graphics,establishment of DTM,discrete data processing.The paper introduced the basis of the theory and computing method for Delaunary triangulation,which presents an effective optimization method for the Base Station Networking.This method could also apply to optimization of a large number of net-shaped in a wide range,even at the national level.It was proved to have good optimization results for point position selection,deleting or increasing the Base stations,expansion and joint of the Network.


Figure 1. Conceptualization of the Neuman Systems Model current state which is particularly susceptible to situational circumstances such as getting adequate sleep and nutrition. It is thought of as a protective buffer preventing stressors from breaking through the normal line of defense. The normal line of defense is essentially the state of wellness or adaptational state over time considered "normal" for the individual. If a stressor penetrates the flexible line of defense into the normal line of defense, a reaction occurs. The lines of


General Aspects * Orientation and Point of View * Historical and Sociocultural Perspectives * Biological Basis of Eating Disorders * Hunger Awareness and Individuation * Family Frame and Transactions * Body Image and Self-Awareness Obesity * Diversity of Clinical Pictures * Obesity in Childhood * Obesity in Adolescence * Obesity and Schizophrenia * Thin Fat People Anorexia Nervosa * History of the Concept of Anorexia Nervosa * Psychogenic Malnutrition and Atypical Anorexia Nervosa * Primary Anorexia Nervosa * Anorexia Nervosa in the Male Treatment * The Practical and Psychological Aspects of Weight Change * Evolution of a Psychotherapeutic Approach * Outcome and Outlook


The paper gives an overview of institutions observed in value chain models in the course of action research by the University of the Philippines Center for Integrative and Development Studies (UP CIDS) Program on Escaping the Middle-Income Trap: Chains for Change (EMIT:C4C). It reviews key concepts and principles from new institutional economics (NIE) and other schools of institutionalism and illustrates these through observed examples from the models. Key concepts are drawn from the work of North (1990), Ostrom (1990, 1999), Greif (1993, 2005), and Coase (1937, 2005). Concepts found in the Sociology and Political Science (e.g., social homogeneity and polyvalent ties) are also introduced and pursued when relevant.


Master of Middle Earth: The Fiction of J. R. R. Tolkien. Paul H. Kocher. Reviewed by Nancy-Lou Patterson. The Lord of the Rings, the Hobbit Notes. William Ready. Reviewed by Jim Allen. Per Herr der Ringe. Written by Peter Steinbach, Directed by Bernd Lau, Narrated by Ernst Schröder. Reviewed by Winton Covey.


Learning and failing to learn in immediate memory C. Philip Beaman (firstname.lastname@example.com) Department of Psychology, University of Reading Earley Gate, Whiteknights, Reading RG6 6AL, UK Jan P. Roer (email@example.com) Department of Experimental Psychology, Heinrich-Heine-Universitat Dusseldorf, Germany is reduced or reversed if participants are asked to think of semantic links between words prior to presentation of the words (Campoy & Baddeley, 2008) and, similarly, the effect of irrelevant sound is eliminated when instructions are given to recall by category membership rather than in serial order (Perham, Banbury & Jones, 2007). The two effects are also related in the disputed claim that irrelevant speech eliminates the word-length effect (Neath, Surprenant & LeCompte, 1998; Tremblay, Macken & Jones, 2000). It is not clear, however, whether individuals can spontaneously, or as a result of learning, avoid the detrimental effects associated with short-term storage (such as those of word-length or irrelevant sound) by shifting away from a phonological loop-type structure onto some other form of memory. This question is of particular interest because failure to find such effects under particularly exacting memory loads has been taken as an indication that the encoding of those memory loads has been strategically- shifted away from phonological storage onto other forms of memory and hence the results of these experiments have been taken as not applicable to the phonological loop construct (Baddeley, 2000; Baddeley & Larsen, 2003, 2007; Campoy & Baddeley, 2008; Larsen & Baddeley, 2003). If there is no evidence for learned strategies that bypass irrelevant sound/word-length effects then the results of these experiments will need to be reinterpreted and their implications reconsidered. It is also not clear in what ways the basic pattern of performance might be affected by repeated practice and learning. A general improvement due to practice might be anticipated but it is not obvious what is learned and how this might manifest itself (e.g., will the improvement be centered on the earlier items and hence reflect some kind of improvement in rehearsal/ consolidation?) Nor, finally, is it clear how the word-length and irrelevant sound effects might interact with each other and with learning and practice. The account of irrelevant sound disruption provided by the feature model for example (Neath, 2000), involves two separate processes. Firstly, it suggests that the effect of changes-in-state should be considered as a dual- task cost incurred by dividing attention between relevant and irrelevant streams. As such, one would also expect a reduction in the size of the effect if, but only if, opportunity is given to learn to dual-task effectively. To date, appropriate studies have not been carried out to test the dual-task cost explanation. Passive listening to the speech in Abstract Two experiments examine the effect of regular feedback on the appearance of the word-length and the irrelevant sound effects in immediate memory. A reliable effect of learning was observed but both effects persisted across multiple learning trials, contrary to suggestions that they could be diminished either by feedback-inspired strategy change or by dual-task learning. Learning improved performance most noticeably at the end of the serial position curve but there was no sign that the irrelevant speech eliminated the word-length effect at any stage of learning, consistent with Tremblay et al. (2000) but inconsistent with Neath et al. (1998). Implications for immediate memory effects, and for models of intra- individual variation in immediate memory, are considered. Keywords: Immediate ("working") memory; irrelevant speech; word-length. Introduction The relationship between immediate recall and long-term learning is of long-standing interest in cognitive psychology (Thorn & Page, 2009). The structure of immediate memory (sometimes known as "working memory"), at least in the verbal domain, is defined by a number of well-documented effects which are presumed to uniquely identify the involvement of particular mechanisms such as the phonological loop (Baddeley, 1986) in any immediate or working memory task. Two such effects are the word-length effect and the irrelevant sound effect. The word-length effect (Baddeley, Thomson & Buchanan, 1975) refers to the finding that immediate recall of longer words is worse than immediate recall of similarly sized lists of shorter words. The dominant explanation of the effect is that immediate memory is restricted by the time it takes to rehearse by articulation a to-be-recalled list (Baddeley et al., 1975). The irrelevant sound effect (Beaman & Jones, 1997) refers to the finding that, in the presence of noise (usually speech), immediate memory performance is reduced. To produce this result, the speech or sound usually has to change-in-state or, in other words, abruptly alter in pitch or other characteristics. One account states that changes in state within the irrelevant sound perturb episodic rehearsal of the to-be-recalled material (Jones & Macken, 1993) whilst other widely-held theories suggest an involuntary division of attentional resources between to-be-recalled and irrelevant material. Both effects can be mediated by instruction in strategy. For example, the word-length effect


Objective:To evaluate the application effectiveness of methylprednisolone pulse therapy in 46 children with nephritic syndrome.Methods:A retrospective analysis was made of the clinical data of children with nephritic syndrome.Observe the curative effect of children and adverse reaction.Results: Shock therapy in the treatment of1 weeks of adverse reactions have elevated blood pressure in 2 cases,infection in 4 cases,4 cases of digestive tract reaction.Clinical efficacy of children with the results show:the complete remission in 28 cases,partial remission in 12 cases,6 cases are invalid.Conclusion: Careful observation nursing is closely related to methylprednisolone pulse therapy efficacy.


The self-cancellation scheme (SCS) has been previously proposed as an intercarrier interference (ICI) mitigation technique for OFDM systems. In this paper, we propose a more general approach called the general self-cancellation scheme (GSCS). In this technique, windowing is used to reduce the ICI resulting from the frequency shifts. After describing the system, we use a numerical method to calculate the bit error rate of the system in presence of a fixed frequency shift. We also study the performance of the system when ICI is generated as a result of channel fading. The results demonstrate that the proposed system performs better than the conventional and SCS systems, both in the presence of an oscillator frequency offset and when ICI is created as a result of channel fading.


The purpose of our study was to investigate etiologies of ischemic stroke in the neurology university clinic of CNHU-HKM, Cotonou. Method: It was a cross-sectional, prospective and analytical study carried out from 1st November 2014 to 31st August 2015 in the neurology university clinic of CNHU-HKM. We included all patients with stroke whose ischemic nature was confirmed through brain CT scan or magnetic resonance imaging. Data analysis was conducted with Census and Survey Processing System (CSPRO). We carried out bivariate then multivariate analysis in identifying associated factors. Threshold value is estimated at p


Interstage diversion trapped vortex combustor integration, involving gas turbine. A housing provided with front vanes, the guide vanes and caudal; housing front guide vanes, the guide vanes and the axis of the tail cone and in the same integrated structure; housing is provided with an annular cavity, the housing front wall of the housing portion uniform spacing of cooling air inlet holes disposed on the same circumference; each blade before the blade has front guide channel is formed between the cooling flow channel connotation holes, the front guide sleeve wall of the hollow body, is formed between the sleeve and the wall of the housing ducted outside, is formed in the trapped vortex within the cavity, and tissue blended to prepare a stable combustion of fuel and air within the cavity. Behind the combustion air impact acting low-pressure turbine, a heat cycle to increase power, the gas engine thrust is increased. Solve the high-pressure turbine outlet air velocity, high turbulence and pulsation difficult technical problem to stabilize the combustion and to protect the cooling device.


Argon laser peripheral iridoplasty (ALPI) significantly widens the anterior chamber angle circumferentially in eyes with occludable angles treated with laser peripheral iridotomy, researchers say.


Abstract In the projective plane, if H is a harmonic homology (linear transformation with H2 = I), and G a general inversion (quadratic transformation projectively equivalent to an inversion), then under a certain condition there is a pencil of cubics each of which is invariant under G, H separately. These are related to transformations discovered by Mandel, Todd and Lyness. As a near converse, we find that, given a Pascal configuration, there is a quadratic Cremona transformation under which each cubic passing through the vertices of the configuration is invariant. As a by-product, parametric expressions are found for elliptic functions of a fifth of a period.


Sedimentation equilibrium measurements were carried out on solution bovine serum albumin, aldolase, and ovalbumin in phosphte‐buffered saline, pH7.2, at 10°C. The data obtain for each protein were analyzed to yield the dependence of apparent weight‐average molecular weight upon protein concentration, over a concentration range of ca 1–200 g/L. Using the approximate theory of Chatelier and Minton ((1987) Biopolyymers 26, 507–524), models are formulated for the dependence of apparent weight‐average molecular weight upon cocentration in non‐ideal solutions containing proteins which may self‐associate accroding to a monomer/n‐mer or a monomwer/dimer/tetramer scheme. The concentration dependence data for serum albumin may be accounted for, assuming either no self‐asociation or weak monomer/dimer/association. The data for aldolase may be accounted for assuming either weak monomer/dimer or weak monomer/timer association. The data for ovalbumin may be accounted for assuming eiether weak monomer/trimer or weak monomer/dimer/tetramer association. The association do not approach saturation at the hightest concentrations studied, and the standard‐state free energy change accompanying self‐association amount to less than 4 kcal/mol off intermolecular contacts, suggesting that non‐specific clustering of protein molecules at high concentration rather than the formation of specific complexes is being observed.


This collection of 13 well-argued essays has developed from the research project Cinematic Cartographies of European History 1945–2000, funded by the Academy of Finland (2009–2013). The common deno...


Background: Millions of American children are participating in fitness testing in school-based physical education (PE) programs. However, practitioners and researchers in the field of PE have questioned the need for regular or mandatory youth fitness testing. This was partly because a significant improvement in youth fitness and physical activity (PA) levels has not been demonstrated since the implementation of such tests in the 1950s. Therefore, there is a need to understand fully the role of youth fitness testing in school-based PE programs. Purposes: Given that no data are available to enrich our understanding of the determinants of teacher use of youth fitness tests in PE programs in the USA, this study aimed to identify variables that influence teachers' use of fitness tests, guided by the theoretical model of Ronis, Yates, and Kirscht for determinants of a repeated behavior (i.e., use of fitness tests in this study). Participants: Full-time PE teachers (n = 325) from 10 states in the USA participated in the study. The average age of the participants was 40.17 years (SD = 10.7). The average elementary and secondary teaching experiences were 6.6 years (SD = 8.5), and 8.2 years (SD = 10.3), respectively. There were 177 (54.6%) females and 146 (45.1%) males. In total, 83% of the participants used various fitness tests. Data collection: The researchers generated an initial survey, guided by survey research theories due to the lack of a pre-validated instrument. The theoretical model of Ronis, Yates and Kirscht, which consisted of three major factors: unreasoned influences, resources or enabling variables, and reasoned influences, provided guidance for the selection of primary factors, the sub-factors in each factor, and items in each sub-factor. The survey was pilot tested through multiple phases to ensure acceptable score reliability and validity. Three approaches were employed to collect the data. First, some surveys were mailed to teachers that the investigators knew directly. Second, PE teacher educators in different states were asked to mail materials to teachers they knew. And third, a PE email list was used to solicit participants. In total, 821 surveys were distributed and 325 were usable. The actual return rate was difficult to determine because some teacher educators failed to record the number of surveys they sent out. Data analysis: The means and standard deviations for each of the three factors in the model of Ronis, Yates and Kirscht were calculated. Negatively worded items were reverse-coded to be consistent with the scoring of the positive items. The higher the score, the stronger the endorsement of the statement/item. Discriminant function (DF) analysis was performed multiple times using different combinations of data sets to explore the determinants thoroughly. Results: The results of the DF analysis suggested that reasoned influence (i.e., intentions of using fitness tests for students, perceived benefits, perceived self-efficacy, and overall attitudes) and resource enabling factors were found to predict if teachers implement fitness tests. No demographic variables were identified as determinants when analyzed with other variables. Conclusions: The results from this study confirmed that there were various determinants of teacher fitness test use and the model of Ronis, Yates and Kirscht could guide the investigation of the repeated behavior – teacher use of youth fitness tests. Among the three factors in the model, reasoned influences and resource enabling factors were the determinants, suggesting test promoters may need to take into consideration those factors when revising the nationally available fitness tests. The data also provided empirical evidence to support the need for youth fitness testing from the teacher perspective.


For a special class of spatially homogeneous simple reaction systems it is proved that the second time derivatives of the most essential thermodynamic potentials are indefinite.


Scalar and vector magnetic formulations have been applied to solve the current distribution in a 50 Hz direct resistance heating system of ferromagnetic tubes. The scalar formulation driven via an external circuit has been also applied to solve the Time-Harmonic EM part of the problem coupled with the thermal transient: the computed warm up curves have been compared with experimental data.