The number of students at Czech universities had been growing continuously until 2010. In 2010, almost 400,000 students studied there. Since then, this number has declined every year. Pressure on present-day universities has been accruing due to the competitive environment. The only way to strengthen competitiveness is to improve constantly the quality and image. The objective of this paper is to verify what factors are important for students regarding their satisfaction and what factors could be key for supporting the competitiveness of the Czech universities. To assess student satisfaction, the authors conducted a questionnaire survey where students were asked to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the faculty. The survey was carried out within the Faculty of Business and Economics of Mendel University in Brno (FBE MENDELU) and a selected private university in Brno in 2019. Relative frequencies were used in data processing and statistical hypotheses were tested. In addition to the basic classification according to one feature, a combination classification was also processed, and the independence was tested for different combinations of questions. Of the total number (1,020) of identified strengths at FBE MENDELU, 57.7% of students stated, "quality teachers", 32.4% "faculty image" and 31.8% "modern environment" as strengths. Regarding the identified weaknesses, the most frequently mentioned were "study difficulty (42.4%)," weaker image of the university with the public "(31.5%) and not enough practical training (23.2%). At the private college, 47.8% of respondents cited "quality teachers", "interesting lectures and teaching methods" (40.8%) and "study materials for subjects" (29.4%) as the school's strengths.
Received: 16 April 2021Accepted: 23 October 2021


Penn Action Dataset provides the training and testing splits. We further split the training data into 90 percent training data and 10 percent validation data for each action class. We use the validation set to tune the hyperparameters. We used a weight decay of 0.00001 with the Adam optimizer. We also observed that batch-normalizing the activations of the added linear layers improves performance both qualitatively and quantitatively.


Dimethyl sulfide (DMS), sulfur dioxide, non-sea-salt sulfate, and various aerosol properties were measured during three field programs (two airborne and one ground-based) near Barrow and Deadhorse (Prudhoe Bay), Alaska. The two airborne sampling programs took place in spring and early summer, and the ground-based measurements spanned an entire summer. DMS concentrations in the Arctic atmosphere ranged from a few parts per trillion by volume (pptv) in spring and fall to higher values in summer (generally a few tens of pptv with occasional peaks of 100 to 300 pptv). In addition, DMS concentrations were measured during the spring near Resolute in seawater below the ice and in ice-algae and kelp cultures. The seawater samples taken from below the ice in spring had DMS concentrations comparable to those in other oceanic regions. Taken together, these measurements show that the Arctic Ocean is potentially a substantial source of DMS, which likely becomes important as sea ice melts in the early summer. Local atmospheric concentrations increased throughout the summer, peaking in August. In regions where accumulation mode aerosols have been scavenged (e.g., by low-level stratus clouds, which are common during the Arctic summer), evidence of rapid new particle production was observed. The seasonal cycle of atmospheric DMS closely resembles that of fine particles observed at Barrow, Alaska, and Alert, Northwest Territories, Canada. This finding indicates that DMS is likely an important precursor to the types of particles that dominate the background arctic aerosol in summertime. These results, together with those from several recently published studies of arctic aerosol, are combined to yield a consistent picture of the role of locally emitted DMS in the production of atmospheric aerosols in the Arctic in summer.


The paper presents fragments of original archival documentation, which are used to identify the historical outline of the colonnade building and the peristyle pavilion located on Partisan Hill in an old part of Wroclaw. Traces of these buildings date back to the Middle Ages. The state of preservation of these objects was presented on the basis of conducted assessments, drilling cores, and non-destructive and semi-non-destructive tests. Much attention was devoted to the brick walls, brick and reinforced concrete ceilings in flat roofs, as well as to the elements of architectural detail. The presented results include tests of the moisture content and salinity of walls, tests of the compressive strength of concrete and distribution of reinforcement in ceilings. They constitute the first stage of activities that aim to restore the buildings to their former glory.


Background: SCI Action Canada partnered with researchers to adapt an evidence-based leisure-time physical activity (LPTA) counselling service (Get-in-Motion (GIM). A satellite GIM service called Passez à l'action was established within a French-speaking context for persons with physical disabilities. An understanding of the determinants that infl uenced the implementation and functioning of the GIM service within the Adaptavie context are required to maximize the potential of other community-based LTPA services being successfully introduced in similar organizations. Purpose: The case study objectives are to: 1) describe the characteristics and implementation contexts of two leisure-time physical activity counselling services for Canadians with a physical disability and the adoption process that took place when the protocol was translated to a new context, and 2) elucidate, from the point of view of the service providers, the organizational determinants that could have facilitated and/or hindered the implementation and functioning of these services. Methods: Guided by the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research, focus groups were held with the directors and staff of each service. Mixed-content and thematic analyses were then used to determine overarching themes. Results: Findings suggest that the presence of service innovators fosters ownership of the service and facilitates ongoing staff training and support. A thoughtful implementation plan should be included as a component of translation between contexts. Conclusions: Lessons learned and recommendations for future translation of similar evidence-based services to additional contexts are discussed. Research Article Translating an Evidence-Based Physical Activity Service From Context To Context: A Single Organizational Case Study Marie-Eve Lamontagne1,2, Kelly P Arbour-Nicitopoulos3,4, Jennifer R Tomasone4,5, Isabelle Cummings1,2, Amy E Latimer-Cheung4,5 and François Routhier1,2* 1Department of Rehabilitation, Université Laval, 1050 Avenue de la Médecine, Quebec City, QC, Canada G1V 0A6 2Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Rehabilitation and Social Integration Integrated health and social services centres Capitale-NationaleSite Rehabilitation institute in physical disability of Québec (IRDPQ), Canada 3Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education, University of Toronto, 55 Harbord Street, WSB 2008, Toronto, ON, Canada M5S 2W6 4SCI Action Canada, 1280 Main Street W., Hamilton, ON, Canada L8S 4L8 5School of Kinesiology and Health Studies, SKHS Building 28 Division Street, Queen's University, Kingston, ON, Canada K7L 3N6 *Address for Correspondence: François Routhier, Department of Rehabilitation, Université Laval, 1050 Avenue de la Médecine, Quebec City, QC, Canada G1V 0A6, Tél : 418-529-9141 ext. 6256); Email: firstname.lastname@example.com Submitted: 13 December 2016 Approved: 27 March 2017 Published: 28 March 2017 Copyright: 2017 Lamontagne ME, et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.


This chapter examines the electrification experience in the United States from 1880 to 1960, noting electricity's effects on manufacturing and agricultural productivity, changes in the demand for worker skills, and changes in household structure. The chapter also discusses how the rise of a new industry led to new regulations and addressed discrepancies in service between urban and rural areas and presents evidence on the current state of research into the effects of these institutional changes on electricity pricing and economic growth. This historical literature can inform the current debate on the impact of large infrastructure projects in developing countries, and of electrification in particular. With over half of the world's population still yet to acquire consistent access to electricity, these issues remain pertinent to the current policy sphere.


Because of the excellent properties and wide applications on nanomaterials, recent years, researchers start to focus on the use of nanomaterials in wastewater treatment. This paper introduces the application of nano-sized ZnO in wastewater treatment. Advantages of nanomaterials and the possible antimicrobial mechanisms of nano-sized ZnO are presented in this paper. This paper concluded previous work on different wastewater treatment. By analyzing the disadvantages of using nanomaterials in wastewater treatment process, suggestions are recommended. Also, the future trend of using nanomaterials in wastewater treatment plant is also discussed in this paper.


Red-skin potato is one of the important commercial crops which have promotional value in the current market.The shoots from tubers of red-skin potato were used as sterile materials to study the induction and proliferation of test-tube plantlet and micro-tuber of red-skin potato.The results showed that cultured in MS basal medium with 0.5 mg/L 6-BA,0.17% activated carbon and 20 g/L sucrose for 30 days,the proliferation coefficient of test-tube plantlet was 8.6,and in MS basal medium with 0.5 mg/L 6-BA,0.17% activated carbon and 100 g/L sucrose for 30 days,the induction rate of micro-tuber reached 62.5%.The average diameter of micro-tuber was 4.2 mm.


Dramatic decreases in the birth rate between 1947 and 1955 in Japan is due to legalized abortion and wide-spread practice of contraception but is also to some socio-economic changes. In 1947, the birth rate in Japan reached its highest, 34.3/1000 but dramatically decreased by 50% over the next 8 years. The birth rate, which went down to 17.2/1000 in 1955, increased again gradually till 1974 but has been decreasing. Total fertility rate is 1.8 as of now. Eugenic Law was passed in 1948 in Japan. 30% had the experience of contraception in 1950; 52% in 1955; 63% in 1959; 72% in 1965. 15% experienced abortion in 1952; 27%, in 1955; 41% in 1961. A post war baby boom occurred amid shortage of food, shelter and employment, and the experience of poverty prompted people to limit the size of family. Post-war Japan no longer was obsessed with producing an heir. Neither was there a need to produce many children because of improved infant mortality rates. Due to the fast paced industrialization of Japan between 1950 and 1960 a potentially high fertility population migrated from rural to urban areas, where big families were not advantageous. Although the socio economic life of Japanese people greatly improved after 1960, the birth rate has not increased very much. Money is now used more for material comforts in daily life, leisure, and education of small number of children. There is also a trend among some part of population not to have children because of environmental deterioration.


Performing X-ray stress measurement by a new method called the cosα method is spreading in Japan. The cosα method is characterized in that the entire diffraction ring is used and analysed. As a result, the measurement speed is fast, and the device can be downsized. On the other hand, the conventional sin2ψ method requires precise measurement of diffracted X-rays at several X-ray incident angles, which increases the measurement time and the size of the device. In addition, since only a small part of the diffraction ring generated during the X-ray irradiation is used, some of the information on the diffraction ring cannot be used so it is a wasteful method. In 2012, cosα method equipment was released in Japan. Since then, cosα method X-ray stress measurements have been performed at more than 300 facilities. In response to this situation, the Japan Society for Nondestructive Inspection (JSNDI) together with public and private institutions established a study group on the cosα method in 2014, and examined the cosα method and its appropriate use. In this paper, we report the results of this study group.


The Proterozoic carbonatites and associated pyroxenites and syenites of Tamil Nadu are emplaced in the Precambrian gneissic rocks. The carbonatite complexes are located along a major NE trending lineament. In Sevathur, dolomitic carbonatite is predominant over sovite and ankeritic carbonatite whereas in Samalpatti, sovite and silico-sovite form the major bulk of carbonatite mass with small dykes of dolomitic and ankeritic carbonatites. In different types of carbonatites, in addition to calcite, dolomite and ankerite, phlogopite, amphibole, magnetite, and apatite are found in varying amounts between 2% and 10% with accessory amounts of pyrochlore, perovskite, monazite, NbiImenorutile, zircon, baddeIeyite, pyrite, ilmenite, galena and thorite. Both mica and amphibole show change in composition from Fe-rich in syenite and sovite to Mg-rich in the dolomitic carbonatite. The carbonatites are enriched in Ba, Sr, Nb, REE's, Th and U in comparison to the primitive mantle values. Pyroxenites are characterized by high abundances of Mg, Cr and Ni and, low abundances of Nb and Zr. The petrographic evidence, with globules silicate rocks surrounded by carbonatitic matrix is sufficiently clear to suggest a genetic link between syenite and carbonatite by liquid immiscibility.


Efflorescence appears as a mostly white and thin, foggy salt deposit on the surface of porous building materials. It often occurs on masonry façades, and depending on its intensity, changes the colour impression and appreciation of the façade as a whole. Up to now, the building industry has not found a pragmatic remedy to this phenomenon. Moreover, no reliable tools are available to predict efflorescence risks. Therefore, TNO and associations representing the Dutch masonry industry have initiated a project that aims at the development of test procedures for determination of this risk. The project is carried out in several stages following a genetic approach based on primary analysis of field data. This paper gives an introduction to the genetic types of efflorescence encountered during the field study, and a more detailed discussion of one of these types, with results of a preliminary efflorescence test.


Based the large- scale data of 3 sample cities of Guangdong province,the paper makes a quantitative and simulative analysis on risk diversification effect of serious diseases of China's Urban Employees' Health Insurance System(UEHIS).the results show that though UEHIS is playing an important role in reducing the incidence of catastrophic health expenditure,its functions are quiet limited.Under the threshold of 40%,for instance,the Catastrophic Payment Head- count of the less developed areas reaches 29.3%,even for the developed areas the index is as much as 8.5%.It same that,the elderly people and low- income group,who are relatively disadvantaged social groups and suffering most from the serious diseases,didn't benefit adequately from the system.The author suggests that the measures about adjustment mechanism of security level and the supplementary medical insurance system should be taken urgently,and coordination between Medical Aid and UEHIS should be enhanced as well.


Background: Short-acting β2 agonists delivered by metered-dose inhaler (MDIs) are the drugs usually used for the reversal of methacholine-induced bronchoconstriction. The β2agonists that are delivered by dry-powder inhaler (DPI) can be an efficacious option. Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness and speed of action of salbutamol delivered by DPI (Pulvinal; Butovent), in comparison to salbutamol delivered by MDI, in reversing methacholineinduced bronchoconstriction. Method: Sixty successive methacholine-induced bronchoconstriction patients who presented a decrease of at least 20% in forced expiratory volume (FEV1) were evaluated prospectively. Of these 60 patients, we randomized 30 (first group) to receive 200 μg of salbutamol by MDI and 30 (second group) to receive 200 μg of salbutamol by DPI (Pulvinal). Both drugs were administered with the objective of reversing bronchoconstriction during the final phase of a bronchoprovocation test. The FEV1 values obtained at one and five minutes after bronchodilator administration were evaluated. Results: The groups were comparable in gender distribution, age, weight, dose level provoking a 20% drop in FEV1 (first group: 1.3 mg; second group: 1.19 mg; p = 0.79) and post-methacholine FEV1 (first group: 2.03 l; second group: 1.99 l; p = 0.87), with no statistically significant differences between the two groups. In the first group (MDI), the mean increase in FEV1 was 16.2% (at one minute) and 22.2% (at five minutes), and in the second group (DPI) it was 17% (at one minute) and 23.6% (at five minutes). There was no statistically significant difference between the groups (p = 0.8). Conclusion: The β2-agonists delivered by DPI (Pulvinal) present the same bronchodilator efficacy and speed of action as do those delivered by the more traditional MDI method.


This article provides an overview of the 'Carpe Vitam: Leadership for Learning' project, accounting for its provenance and purposes, before focusing on the principles for practice that constitute an important part of the project's legacy. These principles framed the dialogic process that was a dominant feature of the project and are presented, explained and illustrated in the article. The account concludes with a brief discussion about the use of principles and illustrative vignettes as resources for further development.


Recently, much effort has been expended on etching platinum film, which is the candidate electrode material for the capacitor structure of future dynamic random access memory and ferroelectric random access memory. One of the most critical problems in the etching of platinum was generally considered to be the gradual character of the etch slope. Therefore, the addition of N2 gas into the Ar/Cl2 gas mixture, which had been proposed as the optimized platinum etching gas combination in our previous article, was performed. The selectivity of platinum to oxide as an etch mask increased with the addition of N2 gas, and a steeper etch slope, over 75°, could be obtained. These phenomena were interpreted as the result of a blocking layer, such as Si–N or Si–O–N, on the oxide mask. Compositional analysis was carried out by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and secondary ion mass spectrometry. Moreover, the higher etch rate of the Pt film and a steeper profile without residues (such as Pt–Cl and Pt–Pt) could be obtai...


Through this work we propose one of the solutions that allow us to recycle dam sediments as a potential raw material for the development of stabilized soil blocks. For the stabilization of the prepared samples, different percentages of cement and lime were chosen respectively (0, 6, 8, 10 and 15%), (0, 5, 8 and 10%). Different compaction pressures 2, 5 and 7MPa are used. The tests carried out showed very interesting results on the mechanical strength for specimens stabilized with cement up to 8.32MPa for 15% and 5.67MPa for 10% of lime at 7MPa compaction. The obtained water absorption coefficient is about 2.6 for 15% cement and 4.04% for 10% lime; however a thermal conductivity of specimens with cement and lime is about 1.06 and 0.731W/m.k, respectively.


A novel procedure for the evaluation of total reactive antioxidant potentials (TRAP) is described. The method is based on the measurement of the bleaching of pyranine by peroxyl radicals. The addition of the antioxidants produces a clear induction time whose magnitude is directly related to the antioxidant concentration. A comparison of the values obtained with those reported employing closely related methodologies shows that the results are significantly affected by the substrate employed to monitor the steady state free radical concentration. Possible sources of this dependence are discussed.


PMEG (9-(2-phosphonylmethoxyethyl)guanine) is an acyclic nucleotide analog being evaluated for its anti-proliferative activity. We examined the inhibitory effects of PMEG diphosphate (PMEGpp) toward DNA polymerases (pol) δ and ε and found it to be a competitive inhibitor of both these enzymes. The apparentK i values for PMEGpp were 3–4 times lower than theK m values for dGTP. The analog was shown to function as a substrate and to be incorporated into DNA by both enzymes. Examination of the ability of pol δ and pol ε to repair the incorporated PMEG revealed that pol ε could elongate PMEG-terminated primers in both matched and mismatched positions with an efficiency equal to 27 and 85% that observed for dGMP-terminated control template-primers. Because PMEG acts as an absolute DNA chain terminator, the elongation of PMEG-terminated primers is possible only by cooperation of the 3′-5′-exonuclease and DNA polymerase activities of the enzyme. In contrast to pol ε, pol δ exhibited negligible activity on these template-primers, indicating that pol ε, but not pol δ, can repair the incorporated analog.


The dynamic transport business and the ever-growing competition on the market for transport services increase the significance not just of staff management but of effective staff management as well. The staff is an inseparable part of both resources and enterprise structure however, it should be underlined that it is the most complex and most difficult one to manage, plan, organize and control. The main key factor for the success of a transport enterprise is its employees and workers. Given the ever-growing supply of transport services, customer criteria regarding their quality grow as well. European transport firms constantly strive to implement special approaches, principles and methods in the management of human resources with the purpose of improving the quality of the services they offer. However, one of the primary and an especially serious issue related to staff management in transport firms remains staff fluctuation. It is an essential part of financial relations and an indispensable component of the complex PR system. The present report studies the issues related to staff management and fluctuation within transport firms.


Since the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004, the United States has made progress in several areas related to detecting and forecasting tsunamis, including the expansion of a sensor network and improvements to hazard and evacuation maps. However, many U.S. coastal communities "still face challenges in responding to a tsunami that arrives in less than an hour after the triggering event," according to a U.S. National Research Council report released on 16 September.


In recent years, the use of unmanned aerial vehicles has been on the rise. However, there is an evident change in constituent components. As the number of countries utilizing these vehicles continues to increase, the manufacturing process has been revolutionized, allowing many nations and commercial companies to manufacture and sell UAVs to the highest bidder. The changes in manufacturing processes have given rise to an expansion of their possible use, including terror. These changes require a reevaluation in order to face the dangers and enjoy the advantages created by them.


The library's role in promoting and supporting the United Nations Agenda for Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) is beyond borders. It has the capacity to be a powerful driving force in leading exemplary programs that will transform society in many dimensions. This paper will share the value of libraries in integrating SDG's into their work and how it can positively advocate for change toward attaining an inclusive, open and tolerant society.,This survey research and program evaluation are designed to solicit opinions from participants of two library programs focusing on gender equality at Nazarbayev University. Data collection was prepared, gathered and analyzed using Qualtrics.,Participants believed that gender-related programs of the library are positive ways on how to stimulate a gender-balanced society. The programs increased awareness on gender equality among the academic community and promoted the welfare and rights of marginalized sectors. Finally, these programs addressed various stigmas, thus empowering vulnerable groups to stand up to discrimination.,Libraries are safe spaces that advocate social inclusivity.,It proves that a library can hold programs in support of SDGs, particularly on gender equality.,This paper shares academic library initiatives in Central Asia, particularly in Kazakhstan, in support of SDGs.


Starting from the connotations,contents and tasks of the knowledge management,this paper probes into the ideas of implementing the knowledge management in the library from different angles and different aspects..


Predicting future perturbations to global air quality and climate requires, as a prerequisite, prognostic models for the composition of the Earth's atmosphere. Such assessment models are needed to evaluate the impact on our environment of different social choices that affect emissions of the photochemically and radiatively important trace gases. Our presentation here of a prototype assessment model is intended to encourage public scientific discussions of the necessary components of the model and their interactions, with the recognition that models similar to this will likely be used by the Environmental Protection Agency and other regulatory agencies in order to assess the effect of changes in atmospheric composition on climate over the next century.


The country is buried in the sugar recovery, picked up in the limit 211 of the Economic and Social Politics of the Communist Party of Cuba to "increase in a gradual way the production of sugar and derived of the cane, assuring a correct organization and planning of the harvest and the industrial repair…" , for it the process of repairs contributes notably to the optimization of the harvest. From the economic point of view the repairs represent until 45% of the total cost of the production of sugar, therefore any decrease of this indicator, it influences decisively in the efficiency of the process of production. The objective of the present work is to determine the good plan of the repairs in the UEB sugar industry "Argeo Martinez", by means of the Reticular Programming. The results obtained in the application present a decrease of the total costs of the repairs of 14% for the use of the free looseness.


Marmosets are unique among callitrichids in habitually gouging trees with their anterior teeth to stimulate exudate flow. Previous analyses suggest that the masticatory apparatus of adult marmosets displays features facilitating relatively large jaw gapes, but decreased load‐resistance ability relative to closely‐related non‐gouging tamarins. We analyzed masticatory apparatus features of neonatal marmosets and tamarins to determine if the morphological differences observed between adults are present at birth. If marmoset infants show similar morphological divergence as adults, then the early appearance of these features suggest they are potential adaptations for tree gouging at wide gapes.


This study examines the degree to which coal as well as other mining is related to income inequality nationally and for Appalachia. Income inequality is major public policy concern and often attributed to shifts in employment sectors. But studies of income inequality rarely analyze mining. Research on the natural resource curse suggests that mining sectors may generate income gaps among affected populations. However, some empirical work suggests that any natural resource curse for coal mining may have applied more to the past. We evaluate the mining‐inequality relationship by analyzing two periods, 1990‐2000 and 2000‐2010 for the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) counties (N=420) and for all U.S. counties (N=3,072). Coal employment is related to greater income inequality during the 1990‐2000 decade for both ARC counties and the U.S. However, no statistically significant relationship is found in the post‐2000 period. By contrast, oil/gas employment—rather than coal employment‐‐are more likely to contribute to the nation's contemporary inequality gap. INTRODUCTION The transformation of the U.S. energy sector is altering socioeconomic conditions across the nation. This transformation is producing winners and losers between regions as well as residents within affected communities. There remains a critical need for research that seeks to identify the impacts of energy development nationally and particularly for communities in Appalachia historically influenced by coal and where new shifts in the energy industry may be altering regional well‐being. As national demand for energy shifts away from coal, coal jobs have been eliminated at the same time, natural gas jobs are being created. While at least until recently, there has been a (gross) expansion of jobs related to the shale oil and gas boom, many of these jobs come at the expense of falling coal industry employment. This shift may produce net positive or negative local economic effects depending on factors such as the industry's labor intensity, the size of the respective supply chain, and the relative


This research analyzed the socioeconomic impact of the projects carried out by the local government of the Pichincha Canton from 2009 to 2013; inductive- deductive method was used and observation of the programs, works and executed services. The information is related to the parishes after applying field research techniques. The information was essential to fulfill efficiently the proposed phases for this study. Using the statistical technique of Delphi, the socioeconomic indicators were defined with the sustainable development of the parishes. The sampling by Quota and convenience in the survey determined the level of acceptance of the projects; these data were tabulated in SPSS software version 11.5 and plotted in bars in Microsoft Excel. An interview with the parish government members was carried out in order to know the causes of the generated failures due to the implementation of projects in its development plan. With the information exposed above, a matrix with the priority needs of the inhabitants was done according to the socio-economic development, roads, construction of recreational areas, quality of public services, production workshops, and the attention to vulnerable sectors. Finally, the results were shared with members of the government, and a favorable response from them was achieved. Thus socio-economic development to the present sample generated a level of dissatisfaction among citizens about the impact of programs and projects.


From the turn of the twentieth century well into the 1920s, Southern Appalachia experienced its second "discovery" when capitalists began tapping its vast natural resources. The general conditions awaiting these industrial pioneers included heavily timbered wilderness, towering mountains, and unbridged creeks and rivers; a sparse native population of scattered white, Anglo-Saxon, Protestants with strong ties to the soil, not initially enthusiastic about becoming an industrial labor supply; and an absence of public transportation and suitable roads except for the railroads being financed by the capitalists themselves. Obstacles of this magnitude did not diminish the enthusiasm of these investors, many from the North, because the tremendous mineral wealth waiting to be exploited dispelled doubts. Their acquisition of thousands of acres proceeded uneventfully as unsophisticated natives disposed of potentially valuable land for low prices. Their power went unchallenged because of weak local political systems. As capitalists attempted to impose the modern industrial system on a primitive base, they were forced to assume principal responsibility for employee housing. Small towns did exist in Southern Appalachia, but minerals seemed to have a way of being discovered in the most remote areas. Even if work sites were fairly close to a village, the absence of public transportation, before the popular advent of the automobile, made it imperative the laborers be within walking distance of their jobs. Furthermore, there was no surplus housing to cope with the influx and concentration of laborers, both foreign and domestic. The predominant pattern was singlefamily dwellings constructed to meet immediate rather than long-range needs. Although several generations of a particular family might reside under one roof in relative domestic tranquility, no strong predisposition existed for taking in boarders, especially not outsiders. Unlike the first frontier process in Southern Appalachia, which was decidedly rural, the second then was urban, advancing "civilization" via towns and housing projects. Some of the development in Southern Appalachia coincided with the Progressive Era and its emphasis on housing reform and modern town planning. Enlightened coal operators and industrialists, those who had strong financial backing, were familiar with the innovative thinking of that generation of experts and gave it practical application. Others engaged in fly-by-night operations and temporary projects were less concerned with the improvement of living conditions and moral uplift. The Progressive housing reformers generally rejected public housing as socialistic and model tenements as paternalisitc and therefore favored restrictive legislation as a method of social control. * The social, economic, and political realities of Southern Appalachia, however, were not conducive to public housing or restrictive legislation. Conse-


INTRODUCTION: Selective visualization of the liver circulation without the need of a contrast agent would have great potential for the evaluation of patients with renal dysfunction and liver diseases. The evaluation of the hepatic circulation is very challenging because of its arterial and venous blood supply: the arterial source is the hepatic artery and the venous source is the portal vein, while the main output system is the main hepatic vein. The selective visualization of those vessels may have a great impact on the clinical evaluation of most chronic liver diseases and in hepatic transplant patients [1]. In this work we sought to study the utility of a recently developed new Arterial Spin Labeling technique for the visualization of the liver circulation. METHODS: Our group has recently developed a new ASL technique that does not require a subtraction step and is based on a triple inversion recovery pre-pulse (TIR-ASL) [2]. Briefly this technique uses a Triple Inversion Recovery pre-pules and exploits the ability of the two nonselective Inversion-Recovery prepulses to null background signal while maintaining the signal of labeled blood using a regional inversion pulse (Figure 1). With the optimal selection of the inversion times TI1 and TI2, it is possible to obtain arterial angiograms of the labeled vessels. In order to use this technique for the evaluation of the venous system we developed a variation of this technique and we optimized the parameters TI1 and TI2 in order to fit the sequence into 2 heartbeats (Fig 2). The scan planning to obtain the TIR-ASL angiogram of the three main liver vessels is shown in Fig. 3: Volume A labels blood in the heart in order to obtain the hepatic artery angiogram; volume B labels the abdominal main venous system below the liver in order to obtain the portal vein venogram; volume C labels the inferior half of the liver in order to obtain the main hepatic vein venogram. The TIR-ASL pre-pulse was implemented on a 1.5T Achieva Gyroscan MR scanner (Philips Healthcare, Best, NL) and was tested in 5 healthy subjects. TIR-ASL can be combined with any imaging readout. In this work we combined it with an ECG triggered 3D segmented k-space gradient echo readout. RESULTS: We identified a set of inversion delays (TI1 and TI2) that provided an optimum solution to null the static tissue for the 2 heartbeats acquisition. The parameters used were: heart frequency: 60 bpm, RR: 1000 ms, TI1/TI2 = 798/244 ms; and heart frequency: 70 bpm, RR: 860 ms, TI1/TI2 = 738/232 ms. The whole abdominal aorta and its main branches, including the common and proper hepatic artery, were successfully visualized in all subjects. The portal vein including its main branches was clearly visualized in all subjects due to complete suppression of the liver signal. The hepatic vein was also clearly visualized in all the subjects (Fig. 4). CONCLUSIONS: We successfully demonstrate a new ASL approach for a selective visualization of the main liver circulation. This technique has the advantages of not requiring contrast agent injection or a subtraction step like most classic ASL techniques. Studies in patients with liver disease are now warranted to investigate its clinical usefulness. REFERENCES: [1] Shimada K JMRI 2009 [2] Andia ME MRM 2011.


Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) is a highly toxic gas harmful to the environment even at low concentrations. To overcome limitations of standard solid NO2 sensors based on inorganic materials, a fully printed sensor with solid polymer electrolytes (SPE) was developed in Regional Innovation Centre for Electrical engineering in Czech Republic. The amperometric sensor is based on a semi-planar three-electrode topology (reference, working and counter electrode) and solid polymer electrolyte. This paper focuses on adsorption-desorption phenomenon by studying current fluctuations and current mean value of amperometric NO2 gas sensor during its exposition to concentration cycle. Limits of NO2 concentration are from 0 to 6 ppm. Background noise and thermal noise are only apparent for zero concentration, while, noise 1/f becomes main component of current fluctuations for higher NO2 concentrations.


The invention provides a method for performing locally printing plate aluminum on a package film. The method comprises the following steps: a) performing graphic printing on a corona surface of a base material, wherein the base material is a transparent or semi-transparent thin film; b) drying the corona surface of the base material, performing full printing to plate the aluminum, washing the corona surface of the base material in water, and drying the corona surface of the base material after the corona surface of the base material is washed; c) compositing at least one layer of transparent material on the printed surface of the dried base material to obtain an aluminum-plated washed product. The printed patterns on the product manufactured by the method are full and bright; the problem that the aluminum cannot be completely cleaned is solved, and the rejection rate is low; no alkaline substance and no alkaline oxidized substance are stuck to a package bag; therefore, the package bag is environment-friendly, and waste aluminum is easy to recycle.


Aim:Oxidative stress is believed to play an important role in the development of hypertension associates with diabetes mellitus in animal models.To test this hypothesis in humans,we determined to evaluate the markers of polymorphonuclear leukocyte oxygen free radical( OFR)production,lipid peroxidation and defenses against oxidative stress in NIDDM patients with and without hypertension.\ Methods and Results:A convenient and senstive method for estimation of neutrophil OFR production was assayed by polymorphonuclear leukocyte chemiluminescence(PMN CL).We have measured the parameters of PMN CL, the plasma malondialdehyde(MDA) concentration, the plasma activities of superoxide dismutase(SOD) and glulathione peroxidase(GSHPx) in 136 NIDDM patients( 70 without hypertension and 66 with hypertension) and 30 age matched healthy subjects. Patients with hypertension showed significantly increased PMN CL parameters as peak value(974.8±357.7 mV),integration(149368±74761 mV·s) , and phagocytic index(0.298±0.131 mV·mm -3 ) compared to diabetics without hypertension(572.3±106.8 mV,79038±24137 mV and 0.213±0.079 mV·mm -3 ) and healthy controls(275.9±65.2 mV,36631±9442 mV·s,and 0.078±0.045 mV·mm -3 ).( P 0. 01,respectively). The plasma MDA concentration(4.87±0.13 nmol·ml -1 ) increased in patients with hypertension compared with that in diabetics without hypertension(4.18±0.21 nmol·ml -1 ) and healthy controls(3.42±0.29 nmol·ml -1 ),( P 0.01,respectively).The PMN CL peak value correlated best with plasma MDA concentration ( r =0.7486, P 0.01, n =66) and negatively correlated with the plasma activity of SOD ( r =-0.6471, P 0.05, n =66).\ Conclusion:These data confirm that the oxidative stress was significant in NIDDM patients and was enchaned in diabetic patients with hypertension.


The author analyze the deficiency of the entrepreneur human capital material incentive mechanism based on enterprise objective performance and the effect on the entrepreneur human capital. Then they analyze the necessity of combined incentive mode between material incentive and spirit incentive according to the demand theory in psychology.


Background: Adoptive immunotherapy by using interleukin 2 (IL-2) and lympho-kine-activated killer cells (LAK cells) is known to induce life threatening side effects on normal tissue, also on hemopoiesis. Material and methods: With regard to using the LAK cell concept for the elimination of residual tumor cells we investigated its influence on normal hemopoietic progenitors and stem cells from normal bone marrow in the CFU-GM-assay and in long-term bone marrow cultures. It could be shown that IL-2 and LAK-cells do not affect clonogenic cells dramatically when the cells are immobilized in agar and cell-to-cell contacts are avoided. When bone marrow cells were preincubated with IL-2 they were stimulated at low concentrations (100 U/ml) and low incubation times (10 h). High concentrations (300 U/ml) applicated for 24 h caused a significant inhibition of colony formation. LAK cells led also to a significant inhibition of GM-CFC when the cells were preincubated with LAK cells for 18 hours in a liquid medium before plating in agar. Long-term bone marrow cultures (LTBMC) grown in presence of 200 U/ml IL-2 had a reduced output of GM-CFC and a reduced adherent layer. This effect was more pronounced in two-stage LTBMCs where the adherent layer detached in 3 of 5 experiments. In two stage LTBMC initiated with T-cell depleted bone marrow the GM-CFC production was also reduced but the adherent layer was morphologically unimpaired. Supernatants of LTBMC contained increased levels of tumor necrosis factor (TNF) but did not inhibit GM-CFCs in the agar assay. Our results indicate that IL-2- and LAK-cell-mediated inhibition of hemopoiesis is rather due to cellular mechanisms requiring intimate cell contacts than to released humoral factors.


Groundwater table depth and peat moisture content are of crucial importance for many peatland processes, like for example their greenhouse gas budget. Thus, there is a strong need for remote sensing techniques that allow to spatially monitor these critical moisture conditions to quantify the hydrological responses to climate change and other anthropogenic disturbances. Previous studies have demonstrated the usefulness but also limitations of microwave observations for peatland moisture monitoring at the large scale. Here, we explore the potential of techniques based on optical and thermal imagery for smaller scale applications.


1. Exploring the potental of cloud computng technologies for enhancing Europeana, working on the development of a cloud infrastructure and the creaton of sofware services aimed to beneft both content providers and users. 2. Facilitatng the role of small and medium sized insttutons by supportng them in making their content available to Europeana and using the cloud to provide services and tools that help to reduce technical, semantc and skills barriers.


The economies of Africa's largest metropolitan regions reflect a contested intersection of orientations, practices, demands, values, and articulations to the larger world. While rural to urban migration may have substantially decreased, the circulation of populations within metropolitan regions, across primary and secondary cities, and along increasingly elaborated transnational circuits of movement and exchange raise important questions about conventional notions of population movement. As planning mechanisms tend to assume certain stability in the relationship of population to place, what kinds of understanding of movements may be necessary to engage the variegated ways that cities are articulated through these movements?


The increasingly strict emission regulations in combustion engines are raising high requirements for the engine valve train system. In this paper, a novel multifunctional wear apparatus is designed to study the performance of engine valve train components. The apparatus employs a mechanical loading system, which consists of a special eccentric wheel and disc springs that apply the combustion loads, and the contact configurations and loading conditions of valve train components are simulated. It has three test functions for different components through specifically designed fixtures. The first function aims to evaluate the interaction between the valve seating face and the seat insert at high temperatures and loads. The second function is used to study the friction and wear properties of the valve stem and the valve guide. The third function is designed to evaluate the performance of the valve seals. At last, a verification test was carried out by the proposed experimental method. A pair of new exhaust valve and seat insert is tested for the performance evaluation of the first function. The wear mechanisms acting on the pairs interface are shown to be a combination of oxidative wear, adhesive wear, as well as fatigue flaking.


Polyaniline (PANI) electrode was synthesized on a conducting indium tin oxide glass by in situ oxidative polymerization to construct a low production cost counter electrode of dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC). The scanning electron microscopy image showed that PANI electrode was a porous state with the particles diameter in 20–30 nm. The cyclic voltammogram measurement revealed that PANI electrode had smaller charge transfer resistance and higher electrocatalytic activity for I/I− redox reaction. The Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface area of PANI was high to 53.114 m2/g, and the high surface area of PANI electrode benefited for the absorption of electrolyte. Finally, we compared the photoelectric properties of DSSC using the PANI counter electrode and platinized counter electrode. The results indicated the efficiency of DSSC with PANI electrode reached 2.64%, which was higher than that with platinized electrode (1.75%). Therefore, the PANI counter electrode with excellent catalytic performance is a potential substitute for platinized electrode to save cost of DSSC. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 2011. © 2010 Society of Plastics Engineers


To understand the evolution behaviors of the inclusions in Ti‐bearing Al‐killed steel, steel samples taken from a 20CrMnTi casting billet are heated at 1200 °C for different times, and the changes in composition, size, and numbers of the inclusions are investigated. Some modeling experiments are also designed to reveal the interaction between solid steel and inclusions using premelted slags. It is found that oxysulfide, sulfide, and nitride inclusions are detected in the casting billet before heating. During heating, small changes are observed in the types of inclusions, while the size of these inclusions increases with time. The Mn and S in steel transfer to the sulfide phase of these inclusions and further generate a (Ca, Mn)S solution. The Ti in steel replaces some of the Al element in the oxide part of the inclusions, resulting in the increase of TiOx content and the drop of Al2O3 content in the inclusions. When the TiOx content is sufficient, a thin layer of TiN is predicated at the edges of the oxide part. The reaction between the TiOx in inclusions and the N in steel plays a role in this evolution.


This project is to validate the preliminary result of rapid prototyping (RP)-based transtibial socket that was reinforced by wrapping a layer of unsaturated polyester resin. By employing contemporary technologies including a scanner, computer-aided engineering systems, a rapid prototyping machine, together with the expertise of a prosthetist, RP-based prosthetic sockets with a comfortable fit to volunteer amputees can be fabricated. However, the expensive cost and complex procedure of using current commercial scanners and CAD systems will be barriers experienced by clinical professionals. As the existing service bureau infrastructure and cheaper RP technology are easily accessed, fabrication and technology cost barriers will be reduced. The remaining problems include the availability of easily-used CAD systems for designing prosthetic sockets, simple scanner and stump duplicating tool. This study therefore focuses on the integration of simplified systems including a vacuum forming tool, compact scanner and an interface system for designing prosthetic sockets. Although the type of PTB (patella tendon bearing) transtibial socket is widely adopted in plaster-based manual process, TSB (total surface bearing) sockets are more acceptable by amputees. Since the concept of TSB socket should obtain the stump mold of an amputee under appropriate pressure by using a specific stump forming tool, editing complex surfaces can be avoided when using a TSB-based stump model to design a socket. The quality of socket fit is expected to improve by a simplified design process in which an interface system based on grid-editing algorithms is utilized. In addition, cheaper RP technology, such as 3-D printing or droplet binding process, can be alternative means to fabricate RP-based prosthetic sockets. By combining TSB stump mold, simplified design process and a cheaper RP machine, this study proposes a simplified integrating system to manufacture RP stump mold. Using this RP stump mold together with the traditional lamination method of infiltrating resin into cotton layers, the RP-based transtibial sockets will then be fabricated easily. The expected result will demonstrate the feasibility of employing cheaper emerging technologies to assist an unskilled prosthetist who will be able to produce good quality of prosthetic socket.Copyright © 2011 by ASME


Department of Mathematics, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong KongAbstractWe propose a new gauge theory of quantum electrodynamics (QED)and quantum chromodynamics (QCD) from which we derive knot invari-ants such as the Jones polynomial. Our approach is inspired by the workof Witten who derived knot invariants from quantum field theory basedon the Chern-Simon Lagrangian. From our approach we can derive newknot invariants which extend the Jones polynomial and give a completeclassification of knots.


Abstract. In the auroral zone of the Earth, the electron acceleration by Alfven waves is sometimes seen as a precursor of the non-propagating acceleration structures. In order to investigate how Alfven waves could generate non-propagating electric fields, a series of simulations of counter-propagating waves in a homogeneous medium is presented. The waves propagate along the ambient magnetic field direction. It is shown that non-propagating electric fields are generated at the locus of the Alfven waves crossing. These electric fields have a component orientated along the direction of the ambient magnetic field, and they generate a significant perturbation of the plasma density. The non-linear interaction of down and up-going Alfven waves might be a cause of plasma density fluctuations (with gradients along the magnetic field) on a scale comparable to those of the Alfven wavelengths. The present paper is mainly focused on the creation process of the non-propagating parallel electric field.


Polycurve codes is the name of a line-drawing model for describing object boundaries and contour lines. It belongs to chain-coding families such as chain codes and generalized chain codes. Polycurve codes make possible the direct extraction and labeling of predefined high-level line and arc segments from irregular object boundaries. Several algorithms for computing features of the objects from polycurve-encoded boundaries are presented. Some geometric calculation such as inverse and intersection points of two polycurves are also considered. The algorithms use look-up tables indexed by segment labels so that only elementary operations such as addition and subtraction may be required.<<ETX>>


Title of Document: ECOTOURISM AND ARCHITECTURE: THE INTERTWINING OF ECOLOGY, CULTURE AND ECONOMY Vittorio Stefano Sciolli-Claverie, Masters in Architecture, 2015 Directed By: Prof. Ronit Eisenbach, School of Architecture Planning and Preservation The town of Orbetello, located near the ancient port of Cosa in Tuscany, has, for many years, benefited from the seasonal influx of domestic tourism. However, uneven expansion in the town's industrial sector, as well as seasonal overuse of the land's natural resources, has negatively impacted the lagoon and its delicate ecosystem. Most recently, in the summer of 2015, over two hundred tons of fish were lost overnight due to increasing temperatures, lack of oxygen, and most likely, poor water-interchange between the lagoon and the Tyrrhenian1. The continuous loss of this precious ecological and economic asset is, of course, devastating for an economy so reliant on its harvest. 1 Lenzi, Mauro. "Laguna Di Orbetello, L'esperto: "Un Fenomeno Enorme E Repentino"" Cronaca. Il Tirreno, 7 Aug. 2015. Web. With these extremely delicate natural, economic, and historical conditions, the need for responsive design becomes increasingly important. The focus of this thesis will be on the urban and architectural design interventions that could aid the Orbetello region, through the reclaiming of local ecology, reuse of historic structures, and linking of urban zones in the downtown area. This document will serve as a study on how the models of pescatourism and ecotourism can be applied to the fishing industry, both as a regenerative tools, and as an economic devices. ECOTOURISM AND ARCHITECTURE: THE INTERTWINING OF ECOLOGY, CULTURE AND ECONOMY


The start-up of natural convection boundary layer flow on a semi-infinite heated plate is simulated using a time-accurate finite-volume Navier-Stokes solver. The flow exhibits an initially unsteady one-dimensional flow which transits to a steady two-dimensional flow with the passage of a signal travelling up the plate. The travelling signal is shown to consist of an initial rapidly travelling component localised in the region of the plate origin, followed by a slower travelling component. The velocity of the slower travelling component is shown to be well predicted by the maximum velocity travelling wave obtained from a stability analysis.


Large intra-national trade costs and poor transport infrastructure constitute potentially important obstacles for local development in rural Nigeria. In 2007, it is estimated that less than half of the rural population lived less than 2 km away from an all-weather road. About 30 million Nigerians currently live in near isolation and lack access to social services. Of the country's 160,000 km of state and rural roads, less than 10-15% of rural roads are considered to be in good condition. Underdeveloped road networks increase transport costs and limit connectivity, making it difficult for local farmers to gain access to local and regional markets, both to source key intermediate inputs, and to commercialize agricultural outputs. The resulting negative effects on agricultural productivity and household income make it difficult for poor farmers to have the incentives and the resources to modernize the production process, thereby perpetuating basic subsistence agriculture.


The tetrazolium test is a quick and accurate method for estimating seed viability and vigor. This research had the objective of standardizing the preparation methods for castor bean seeds (Ricinus communis L.) to evaluate the physiological potential by the tetrazolium test. The evaluated seed preparation methods were: longitudinal cut through the middle of the seed coat, endosperm and embryo; longitudinal and diagonal cut without reaching the embryo; seed coat removal; seed coat removal with longitudinal cut through the middle of the endosperm and embryo; and seed coat removal with longitudinal cut parallel to the cotyledons through the middle of the endosperm and embryo. Before carrying out the preparation methods, the seeds were preconditioned between moist paper towels for 18 hours at 30oC, and after preparation, the seeds were immersed in tetrazolium solution at 0.5% concentration and then placed in a dark chamber at 35oC for the staining development. The staining uniformity was evaluated after each preparation method by comparing the methods. It was concluded that the best seed preparation method was coat removal with a lengthwise longitudinal cut, through the middle of the endosperm and embryo.


This paper examines stakeholder salience from a mul ti-stakeholders perspective. Through analysing the data collected through interviews with five sta keholder groups in the Chilean mining industry, the article draws conclusions about how various groups perceive the salience of other stakeholders in relation to corporate social responsibility based o n the attributes of power, legitimacy and urgency. The findings indicate that the stakeholder groups; community, government and unions are perceived as definitive stakeholders. Every stakeholder group identified these groups as the most salient stakeholders. The paper also concludes that stakeho ld r perceptions vary in regard to NGOs and media. These two groups are generally perceived as being latent stakeholders, despite NGOs and the media seeing themselves as expectant stakeholders, increasing their level of salience.


Employee burnout remains a legitimate concern for organizations because of its links to costly outcomes, including increased absenteeism, turnover, and reduced employee productivity. An emerging stream of research has provided initial evidence that burnout can be highly contagious (i.e., transferable) between employees, suggesting that it may be a meaningful dyadic construct. These initial findings suggest that if organizations do not undertake efforts to curb burnout, it could spread among employees and result in detrimental consequences. However, the existing burnout contagion literature has been plagued by methodological problems and has focused primarily on main effects, revealing little about the causal processes underlying dyadic burnout. To date, several scholars have cited the importance of the role of the supervisor in providing employees with key resources enabling them to effectively cope with job demands, thereby reducing the risk of burnout. However, although literature continues to cite the importance of supervisory behavior as a factor contributing to subordinate burnout, a model detailing the role of the supervisor in the subordinate burnout process has yet to be articulated. Drawing on a sample of 103 supervisor-subordinate dyads, this paper articulates and tests a model of dyadic burnout with a specific focus on how supervisor burnout affects subordinate burnout, both directly and through their leader-member exchange relationship. Results and implications for theory and practice are discussed.


Steroidogenic factor-1(SF-1) is a monomeric nuclear receptor,which is expressed in many steroidogenic tissues such as hypothalamus,pituitary,adrenal and gonad.It plays an important role in the development of endocrine organs and the metabolic regulation in the endocrine system.Through research on SF-1 knockout mice and analysis of phenotype in SF-1 gene variation,it is demonstrated that SF-1 participates in the regulation of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonad axis.Recent research has revealed that the deficiency and variation of SF-1 gene may lead to a series of metabolic disorders and may cause metabolic syndrome including diabetes mellitus,obesity and hypertension.The research progress in the relationship between SF-1 and metabolic syndrome is reviewed in this paper.


The diagnosis was confirmed with colour duplex scanning to demonstrate the aneurysm and the classical jet appearance seen a t the site of arterial injury (Fig. la) . The compression technique was performed with an ATL Ultramark 9 duplex scanner (Advanced Technologies Laboratory, Stevenage, UK) with a 5-MHz probe. All patients were sedated. The site of the jet was located and compressed with the scanner head. Compression was performed for 10 min, up to a maximum of three compressions during one treatment. Fig. Ih shows the result of successful treatment. After successful compression patients were rescanned by an independent observer within 7 days to confirm successful thrombosis.


This work suggests an interpretation to the quantitatively higher formation of NOx in a compression ignition (CI) engine when fueled with pure biodiesel (B100). A comparative study about the use of rapeseed oil methyl ester (RME) and diesel fuel mixtures on injection timing, in-chamber pressure, heat release rate, and NOx emissions were carried out using a diesel engine equipped with a pump-line-nozzle injection system. Such engines are still widely adopted mainly in agriculture, as the fleet of agricultural machinery is particularly old (often over 20 years) and the use of biofuels can reduce the environmental footprint of the sector. This work aims to supply some general explanations and figures useful to interpret the phenomena occurring within the fuel line and in the combustion process when using biodiesel, as well as in engines with different construction characteristics and fueling systems. Given the contradictory results available in the literature, the so-called "biodiesel NOx effect" cannot be explained solely by the different physical properties of biodiesel (in particular, a higher bulk modulus). Experimental results show that, with the same pump settings, the start of injection with the RME is slightly advanced while the injection pressure values remain almost the same. With the RME, the pressure in the injection line increases faster due to its greater bulk modulus but the pressure rise starts from a lower residual pressure. The start of combustion takes place earlier, the heat release during the premixed phase is steeper, and a higher peak is reached. The NOx emissions with the RME are at least 9% higher when compared to mineral diesel fuel. The greater amount of the RME injected per cycle compensates for its minor lower heating value, and the brake torque at full load is similar to the two analyzed fuels. Finally, a variation of the pump line timing is evaluated in order to assess the effect of the delay and the advance of the injection on the performance of the engine and on the emissions. A viable and simple solution in the variation of the injection strategy is suggested to counterbalance the biodiesel NOx effect.


THE care of children with impaired hearing requires the co-operation of a considerable number of people and organizations. A well organized system for the early detection of deafness in the pre-school child is needed and also an organized system for detection of hearing loss in school children is essential. Satisfactory provision must exist for diagnosis and training the child of all ages with impaired hearing, including provision for re-examination and adequate follow-up of all children with impaired hearing who are in normal or special schools. Investigations, research and development of preventive measures should constitute part of this work. It is of great advantage to have a well integrated audiology service for the community, that is a comprehensive service organized on a regional basis. The central establishment for such a service should be a well equipped and fully staffed audiology centre. In fact, without such a centre it is difficult, or impossible, to provide the necessary integrated audiology service. This has been recognized by many authorities and there is a growing need for such centres organized on a regional basis. A schoolchild population of about 100,000 to 120,000 justifies a fully staffed and properly equipped audiology clinic. A new building at Heston, Middlesex, has been completed recently for one of the County's audiology clinics, and it is considered that this is a modern, up-to-date centre. In view of many requests for detailed information concerning the building of a unit of this size, it seemed desirable to communicate our experience with its planning, construction and installation of some of the equipment.


A new product is like a newborn child. You can't just develop it and let it be in the air, it must be protected. As the product ages, either it acquires a customer base or it dies. It becomes successful only when there is a great correlation among all the variables responsible to fall or grow up that product. This paper focuses on providing efficient tools to make the Kubernetes and its environment secure so that a deployed product is very much protected. Security of Kubernetes has become a trend [1]. We believe the paper can have a great impact on decision-making during the deployment of SaaS products.


The paper considers the significance of dress to identity and power among women living on the island of Zanzibar. Drawing on her own preliminary fieldwork in Zanzibar (June 2004) and on the work of Laura Fair (2001), the author discusses the ways in which dress (in general), and the wearing of kanga fabrics in particular, offers women a means of communication in an image conscious and historically stratified society. It is argued that kangas are still an integral part of ritual and social activities in Zanzibar and that they shed light on the complex history of the Swahili coast. Placing the ethnography in a broader and contemporary context, the author states that kangas contribute to the intangible heritage of Zanzibar in their encapsulation of the island's oral history, art, social commentary and concepts of beauty. The author concludes by outlining some of the challenges that heritage regimes face in the Indian Ocean region and potential strategies for preserving or managing its mixed cultural resources.


The article summarizes theoretical approaches to understanding of value orientations. The model of evaluation of the socio-cultural impact of modernization on the values of society is proposed. A technology of assessment is developed, including a questionnaire and a methodology of the survey to identify the attitudes. The assessment is given of the current relation of public consciousness to the processes of modernization and the moral principles are offered that could form the basis of a new system of values of the society being modernized.


Energy conservation is a central thrust of President Carter's energy policies and it is clear that regardless of the outcome of the debates now in progress, conservation will be a national goal for the rest of the 20th century. Three approaches can be followed to determine the extent to which energy might be conserved in the United States: (1) the econometric approach, analyzing the historic relationship between changes in energy prices and energy uses; (2) a strictly technical approach, based on analysis of the efficiency with which energy is prevailingly used and judgments of how much the efficiency in each of these uses can be increased with current and readily available new technology; and (3) a comparative approach, in which U.S. conservation potential is inferred from data on uses of energy in foreign countries with environments similar to ours. Comparative data came from the United Kingdom, France, West Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Norway, Sweden, Italy, and Japan. Results show that conservation efforts should be focused on industrial processing and automotive transportation. (MCW)


【Objective】 Salt tolerance of seven Melilotus varieties was compared to provide basis for breeding salt tolerance of Melilotus suaveolens varieties.【Method】 In different NaCl salt stress solution concentrations(which were 0.05,0.1,0.15,0.2,0.25,0.3,0.35 mol/L),the seven salt tolerance of Melilotus varieties of the germination percentage was calculated,including the relative germination percentage,seed potentiality,germination index,the sprouts length,the relative sprouts length and the salt index.【Result】 Under the condition of salt stress,the germination percentage,germination index and sprouts growth of different Melilotus seeds had declined tendency with increasing salt content,different varieties had different salt stress reaction.The different Melilotus varieties under the condition of the low content (1ower than 0.10 mol/L) salt stress showed certain degree of adaptability,but with the increase of salt content,the inhibitory concentration level also increased.【Conclusion】 The salt tolerance of seven varieties of Melilotus strength follow such order as:white flowers MelilotusHeLinGeEr MelilotusChiFeng MelilotusNingXia MelilotusHuHeHaoTe MelilotusHeiLongjJiang MelilotusYiMengZhunGeEr Melilotus.


It is shown that the finite-order universal portfolios generated by independent discrete random variables are constant rebalanced portfolios. The case where the universal portfolios are generated by the moments of the joint Dirichlet distribution is studied. The performance of the low-order Dirichlet universal portfolios on some stock-price data set is analyzed. It is demonstrated that the performance is comparable and in some cases outperform the moving-order Cover-Ordentlich universal portfolios with faster implementation time and higher wealth achieved.


Part One: The Conceptual Framework and Historical Context. Part Two: Transport Planning Practice: 3 Case Studies. Part Three: Discussion and Conclusions.


Earn can be indicator that management have been get their goal and help the owner to estimate compenie's earning power in the future. Management who adjust the earn for own urge is called earning mnagement. This study aimed to analyze the effect of audit quality, company size, leverage and profitability on earning management.
This type of research is a quantitative study with secondary data. Population is banking compenies listed in Indonsian Stock Exchange (IDX) in 2012-2014. The sampling technique used was purposive sampling. Sample of this research are 78 compenies. Statistical data analysis method used is multiple linier regression.
The result of asumsi klasik test based on normality, multicolinearity, autokorelation and heteroskedastisity is agree of BLUE's criteria. The result of model logit regresion based on t-test, f-test and koefisien determination by Goodness of Fit test show that this model is accepted. The result of this research show that audit quality have a negative and significant effect on earning management, company size have a positive and significant effect on earning management. While leverage and profitability have no effect on earning management.

Keywords: earning management, audit quality, company size, leverage, profitability


The heat of dehydration of clays caused by the loss of combined water between 425 and 750° accounts for nearly 10% of the total heat input in estimating the thermal efficiency of kiins used for the production of structural clay products. Heat of dehydration is usually assessed from a determination of the ' residual ignition loss', using certain assumptions. This paper discusses the possibility of applying Differential Thermal Analysis to calculate directly the heats of dehydration of brick clays, potassium sulphate being used as a standard.


Although prostate-specific antigen (PSA) is a significant tumor marker for prostate cancer at present, the
low specificity (approximately 33%) and so on likely lead to an overdiagnosis and patient suffering from
highly invasive prostate biopsy. Complementary measures with cancer-characteristic biomarkers could
improve the specificity and accuracy of diagnosis before the biopsy. Previously, "sniffer mice" were shown
to be super-sensitive to differences in odors and to discriminate between odors of urine mixtures from
patients with bladder cancer before and after tumor resection as well as urine odors of mice with or without
experimental tumors. Here, we showed that the sniffer mice discriminate efficiently urinary odors of patients
with prostate cancer using an odor plume-guided Y-maze behavioural assay. Through discrimination
training in forced-odor choice, statistically significant increases in correct odor choice rates showed the
super-sensitivity of sniffer mice to the olfactory cue of ppq-level urinary biomarkers for prostate cancer in
106
-fold diluted urine samples, where donor-unique odors were below the threshold. Moreover, we validated
eight volatile urinary biomarkers nearly at their original relative concentrations as the prostate cancer cue
even when adding a similar biomarker profile to the post-radical prostatectomy urine samples by the same
behavioural score of the sniffer mice. These biomarkers and profiles could be useful for non-invasive tests
for prostate and bladder cancers.


We report a fatal aspergillosis case in which STRAf typing and whole-genome sequencing substantiated in vivo emergence of an azole-resistant Aspergillus fumigatus with a 120-bp tandem repeat in the promoter region of cyp51A. This event, previously restricted to the environment, challenges current understanding of azole resistance development in A. fumigatus.


The purpose of this retrospective study was to analyze the site and rate of lymph nodes metastases originating from thoracic esophageal carcinoma and also to confirm the optimal extension of lymph node dissection in the treatment of thoracic esophageal carcinoma. A total of 70 patients were included in this study. The rate of lymph node metastases was 61% with no difference in the location of tumors. The rates of lymph node metastases in the tumor depth of muscularis mucosae (mm) and submucosa (sm) were 17% and 60%, respectively. Tumors with mm3 (massive invasion) depth had lymph node metastases of 29%, however, in cases of mm1-2 (slightly or moderate invasion), no lymph node metastases occurred. The deeper the tumor invaded, the higher and wider was the occurrence of lymph node metastases. The rates of lymph node metastases in the cervical, thoracic, and abdominal nodes were 14%, 37%, and 43%, respectively. Lymph node metastases jumped to the cervical region without upper mediastinal node metastases even if the tumor was located in the lower esophagus or the depth of tumor was mm3. In the thoracic nodes, the rates of metastases to the paraesophageal, the paratracheal (which includes the region of the right and left recurrent laryngeal nerve), and the bifurcation nodes were a maximum of 21%, 17%, and 10%, respectively. In the abdominal nodes, the rate of metastases to the right cardiac nodes was the highest. Among patients who underwent radical lymph node dissection, lymph node metastasis was seen in the paraaortic nodes but not surrounding the splenic artery or in the splenic hilar nodes. Patients who underwent three-field lymph node dissection had relatively better survival compared to those with two-field lymph node dissection. The cumulative survival rate was 52.8% after 5 years. Based on this study, the optimal extension of lymph node dissection is as follows : when a tumor has invaded to the mm3, standard three-field dissection should be performed, including the cervical and thoracic paratracheal, the deep cervical, and the supraclavicular nodes. When a tumor has invaded layer deeper than mp, a three-field dissection including the bifurcation, the pulmonal hilar, the paratracheal (including left thoracobronchial and Botallo nodes) and the intraabdominal paraaortic nodes sparing the pancreas and spleen, should be performed.


This is a letter from the Charles B. Moore Collection. In this letter, Wysong informs Moore that he has enclosed a dividend check for $150.00. He notes that the minimal amount of capital stock has passed into the permanent surplus fund and details that the dividend check is an amount that is higher than previous years and is much more than they should expect to earn in the future. Wysong mentions that with White's continued cooperation, reasonable returns will be a realization and with those returns as a foundation, a conservative bank will be built. The envelope is included with the letter.


Diamonds previously subjected to radiation damage have been annealed at temperatures up to 1750°C at ambient pressure, and at 2300°C using a stabilizing pressure of 5GPa. The results have been compared with those from similar measurements using natural brown diamonds. The investigation has led to an improved understanding of the commercial process for enhancing the color of brown diamonds by high-pressure, high-temperature (HPHT) annealing. The study has confirmed that the H4 center is less stable than the H3 center, and shown that the destruction of the H4 center in irradiated type-IaB diamonds coincides with the formation of a number of optical centers found to occur naturally in brown diamonds. In type-IaA diamonds the annealing out of the H1b absorption coincides with the production of H2 centers. Annealing measurements on brown diamonds indicate that the plastic deformation, associated with the brown color, occurred at a late stage in the diamonds' history. Optical centers, such as H3 and (NV)−, tha...


Abstract The anodic dissolution of the (111)-Sb surface in 1N NaOH was at a slightly higher rate compared to the (111)-In surface. On the other hand, the rate of hydrogen evolution was slightly higher on (111)-In than on (111)-Sb. Anodic dissolution was not affected by illumination prior to passivation. However, photopotentials as high as 0.1 V were observed after the InSb was anodized at passivating currents. The magnitude of the photopotentials decreased during the potential decay after anodization was completed. The spectral response of the photopotentials after attainment of steady state corrosion potentials was determined. The differential capacitance at the corrosion potential prior to anodization was 35 μF/cm2. Immediately after anodization, the capacitance was 0.6 μF/cm2 and then increased to about 2.2 μF/cm2 at the end of the potential decay. Both the photopotentials and small capacitance values were due to the film formed during anodization.


The aim of this paper is to prevent the disputes which may be incurred between the seller and the buyer in connection with terminal handling charge(THC). THC was originally a part of ocean freight. However, since in 1990, shipping companies has begun separately to collect THC from cargo owners and consequently regardless of trade terms, a shipper has to pay THC before he receives bill of lading at the place of shipment while a consignee has to pay THC before he receives the goods at the place of destination. Therefore, for example, when we export under the term FCA, the seller probably may pay the THC which should be paid by buyer after the goods has been delivered to the carrier at the named place of exporting country. In this sense, we say that Incoterms application can be distorted by THC. In order to prevent the disputes between the seller and the buyer, it is strongly recommended that the parties concerned have to clarify in the contract of sale how the THC should be distributed between themselves. Also to correct the distortion of Incoterms application, I suggest that THC is to be included in a base rate of ocean freight or to be treated as a part of ocean freight such as bunker surcharge or currency surcharge.


The potential of wood raw material in the Slovenian forest wood supply chain is often insufficiently exploited. The promotion of its more rational use, while having indirect effects on the wider economic environment, is necessary to: (1) ensure the effective functioning of the entire forest wood supply chain, providing products with high added value; and (2) fully exploit the potential of wood raw material in terms of quality. In the article we examined added value of beechwood products, identified key challenges in this evaluation, and the relationships with other economic indicators that affect business decisions. Beechwood products were classified according to the amount of value added, and thereby the potential of beechwood raw materials was demonstrated in terms of both the impact on society and economic development. We thus confirmed the importance of the development and operation of the entire forest wood supply chain, and the importance of government economic policy in its functioning. More specifically, the state of primary wood processing as an important part of forest wood supply chain in Slovenia was examined, and some reasons for its ineffectiveness were identified. The availability of raw materials based on quality and purpose of use, and the value added per cubic meter of beechwood, were assessed in order to prove the reasonableness of investments in the newest technologies for hardwood processing and veneer production.


The utility model discloses a quarter-wavelength based automobile antenna filter, which comprises an inner core conductor and a shielding layer, wherein the shielding layer is coated on the inner core conductor in a coupling mode, the length of the shielding layer is identical to that of the inner core conductor, the length of the inner core conductor is a quarter of the wavelength of FM signals, and the frequency of the FM signals is 96MHz. The beneficial effects of the quarter-wavelength based automobile antenna filter are mainly reflected in that the inner core conductor replaces an inductor in the prior art, and the price of the whole product is reduced. Meanwhile, the shielding layer is a quarter of the wavelength, a grounding surface of the filter is formed, ports at two ends of the filter are mismatched, thereby achieving the purpose of band-stop filtering, and ensuring that an antenna is not affected by a negative electrode of an automobile power supply. Meanwhile, the quarter-wavelength based automobile antenna filter also prevents signals of an FM antenna from leaking into the negative electrode of the power supply, and the receiving performance of the antenna is improved.


Humanoid robots are anthropomorphic mechanical structures that aim to mimic human capabilities and perform human-like tasks. Walking is one of the most important features of these machines since it allows them to move on irregular ground, climb stairs or step over obstacles. The control of the humanoid walking movement is, however, a challenging task due to the many degrees-of-freedom and highly unstable dynamics. Currently, the most used solution for gait generation is based on the stability criteria known as Zero-Moment Point. Nevertheless, this method requires the complex robot dynamics to be modelled, generates non-optimal patterns and is not adaptable to highly dynamic environments. For this reason new control techniques based on Central Pattern Generators (CPG) are being proposed. Using this method, no dynamic analysis is required, no trajectory is generated before hand and the robot is fully controlled by the limit cycle behavior of the neural oscillator. When implementing CPG systems architecture factors such as the oscillators mathematical model and the coupling typology have to be considered. So far no analysis was done to compare the performance of different non-linear oscillator models and there is no widely accepted architecture for this specific purpose. In this work a simulated humanoid model is created using the SimTwo and Webots simulation environments. Using these simulators a simple trajectory-based gait is implemented and optimized using a genetic algorithm. This method shows that the two robots are capable of performing a walking motion. Using the hip signals from the trajectory-based gait, an experimental comparison between the Van der Pol, Rayleigh, Duffing and Matsuoka oscillators performance is done. The best results were obtained by using the Matsuoka oscillator, which demonstrates that this is the most convenient model for this task. Connecting this oscillator model in a chain architecture, a genetic algorithm optimization is executed to determine the parameters for performing a walking motion. The final optimization was innefective and due to the convergence to a movement that did not correspond to a walking motion. To overcome this problem a supervised learning method, using the trajecory-based signals as reference, is used to entrain the Matsuoka oscillators. The obtained parameters are used to generate control signals that can effectively produce forward walking movement. The results obtained in this work demonstrate the feasibility of using CPG-based techniques to perform biped locomotion. Nonetheless, the generated walk still shows some shortcomings and further improvements need to be done. A number of shortcoming were also found in the SimTwo simulator, which demonstratates that some of its functionalities, such as colision detection and friction models, still need to be refined.


A mobile portable device will often make queries, to a remote database, that depend on its location: It may ask for the nearest coffee shop, restaurant, pharmacy, etc. For privacy reasons, the mobile unit may not wish to disclose its precise location to the remote database - while it is unavoidable that the cell phone company already knows the rough location of the customer ("somewhere in Lafayette "), it is quite another matter if the customer's precise location can be tracked over tune through his pattern of location-dependent queries to the remote database. This work describes an efficient protocol, between the client and database, through which a client can learn the answer to its location-dependent query without revealing to the remote database anything about his location, other than what the database can infer from the answer it gives to the query (which is unavoidable). We also analyze the performance of some other, simpler solutions, that do not require the database to run a protocol with the client, but that can reveal more information about the private location and also introduce inaccuracies in the answer - we quantify how much error these simpler schemes introduce in the answer.


BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Post-dural puncture headache is a common complication in neuraxial anesthesia and lumbar puncture diagnostic procedures. The pathogenesis of the headache is thought to be due to a leak of cerebrospinal fluid from the puncture site that exceeds the rate of cerebrospinal fluid production, causing a downward traction of the meninges and vasodilation of the meningeal vessels mediated by the autonomous nervous system. Nowadays, the conservative treatment involves hydration, and the use of caffeine, analgesics, hydrocortisone, gabapentin, and theophylline. However, an autologous epidural blood patch is considered the definitive treatment for post-dural puncture headache and has an efficacy of up to 75%. Since this procedure comes with intrinsic risks, an alternative is the sphenopalatine ganglion block. CASE REPORT: We describe a case report using a sphenopalatine ganglion block to treat post-dural puncture headache in a patient submitted to cerebrospinal fluid pressure monitoring with a subarachnoidal catheter inserted with a low-gauge needle. CONCLUSION: This is the first case report of a post-dural puncture headache caused by a subarachnoid monitoring catheter successfully treated with sphenopalatine ganglion block. This technique can be a non-invasive option in the management of post-dural puncture headache, which requires more study to evaluate its efficacy and safety.


The invention relates to a battery, and discloses a plugging assembly and a plugging battery provided with the same. The plugging assembly comprises a female headstock (2) and a male headstock (4); the female headstock (2) is fixedly provided with a connecting female head (5), and the male headstock (4) is fixedly provided with a connecting male head (6); the connecting male head (6) is inserted into the connecting female head (5); the side face of the female headstock (2) is provided with a groove (21); the male headstock (4) is also fixedly provided with a battery clamping plate (7); the battery clamping plate (7) has an L-shaped plate structure comprising a bottom plate (71) and a vertical plate (72); the bottom plate (71) is fixed on the male headstock (4); the vertical plate (72) is provided with a bulge (73) matched with the groove (21). Through design of a structure form of the battery plugging assembly, in the premise of guaranteeing low cost and simple structure, the easy plugging function of the battery is achieved; through the battery alternative use, the device use efficiency is improved, and the battery can be guaranteed to have good use performance.


Objective To genetic diagnose the pre-symptomatic cases of Chinese Wilson's disease(WD) and detect the potential carrier.Method Screening the high frequency spot Arg778 of exon 8 in a copper transporting P-type ATPase (ATP7B) in 35 WD patients and 50 healthy control in China by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fagment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP).Result Among 35 Chinese WD cases,4 were found homozygous for mutation in codon778 of ATP 7B and 11 were compound heterozygous,the frequency of this mutation was 11.4 % and 31.4% respectively.Conclusion The codon 778 of exon 8 in ATP7B is one of mutation hot spot in Chinese Wilson's disease. PCR-RFLP is a rapid , accurate gene diagnostic method.


Introduction Heterogeneous catalysts are employed in 80 % of ind ustrial catalytic processes with multimetallic formulations which enhance the perfor mances of catalysts [1]. Nowadays, an increased attention has been paid to preparation me thods using "Controlled Surface Reactions (CSR)" [2, 3]. These catalysts are rather active an d selective in various reactions, for example in hydrocarbon transformation [3, 4]; promisingly r esult in cleaner products and safer processes producing less wastes. The full character ization of such catalysts requires a combination of physico-chemical methods with cataly tic tests. Our aim was to investigate bimetallic Pt-Ir catalysts prepared by two differen t methods, namely classical successive impregnation and by organometallic grafting [2, 4] as well as to study the effect of a third metal (Ge or Sn) added in both cases by organometal lic grafting method.


Monthly seawater pH and alkalinity measurements were collected between January 1996 and December 2000 at 10830VN, 64840VW as part of the CARIACO (CArbon Retention In A Colored Ocean) oceanographic time series. One key objective of CARIACO is to study temporal variability in Total CO2 (TCO2) concentrations and CO2 fugacity ( fCO2) at this tropical coastal wind-driven upwelling site. Between 1996 and 2000, the difference between atmospheric and surface ocean CO2 concentrations ranged from about 64.3 to +62.3 Aatm. Physical and biochemical factors, specifically upwelling, temperature, primary production, and TCO2 concentrations interacted to control temporal variations in fCO2. Air–sea CO2 fluxes were typically depressed (0 to +10 mmol C m 2 day ) in the first few months of the year during upwelling. Fluxes were higher during June– November (+10 to 20 mmol C m 2 day ). Fluxes were generally independent of the slight changes in salinity normally seen at the station, but low positive flux values were seen in the second half of 1999 during a period of anomalously heavy rains and land-derived runoff. During the 5 years of monthly data examined, only two episodes of negative air–sea CO2 flux were observed. These occurred during short but intense upwelling events in March 1997 ( 10 mmol C m 2 day ) and March 1998 ( 50 mmol C m 2 day ). Therefore, the Cariaco Basin generally acted as a source of CO2 to the atmosphere in spite of primary productivity in excess of between 300 and 600 g C m 2 year . D 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.


Background Despite advances in therapy, inflammatory demyelinating diseases of the central nervous system, such as multiple sclerosis, remain important causes of morbidity among young adults. Translation of remyelinating paradigms from current murine models is encumbered by the small size and low white matter content of the brains, limiting the spatial resolution of diagnostic imaging. Large animal models might be more suited for this purpose but pose significant technological, ethical and logistical challenges. Method We induced reversible and targeted cerebral demyelinating lesions by controlled injection of lysophosphatidylcholine in the minipig brain. One strength of the approach is the serial induction, allowing parallel imaging of successive stages of de-/remyelination. Findings We demonstrate controlled, clinically unapparent, reversible and multimodally trackable brain white matter demyelination in a large animal model. Lesions were amenable to follow-up using the same clinical imaging modalities (3T magnetic resonance imaging, 11C-PIB positron emission tomography) and standard histopathology protocols as for human diagnostics, as well as electron microscopy to compare against biopsy data from two patients with cerebral demyelination. Interpretation By employing human diagnostic tools and validating the model against data from related human diseases, our platform overcomes one important translational barrier of current animal brain demyelination models while having the potential for developing diagnostic procedures and imaging biomarkers. Remyelination and axon preservation dynamics diverge from classical rodent models. Funding This work was supported by the DFG under Germany's Excellence Strategy within the framework of the Munich Cluster for Systems Neurology (EXC 2145 SyNergy, ID 390857198) and TRR 274/1 2020, 408885537 (projects B03 and Z01). Research in context Evidence before this study Inflammatory demyelinating diseases of the central nervous system (CNS), targeting primarily the white matter (WM) of the brain and spinal cord, such as multiple sclerosis (MS), still represent some of the most important non-traumatic causes of disability in young adults. Current animal models based on murine species, for example, experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis, have been demonstrated to reliably depict pathophysiological facets of human disease. However, they are nevertheless encumbered by the low WM content and the small size of murine brains, which still pose a translational barrier to diagnostic imaging tools used in a clinical context in human patients. Minipigs are increasingly being used to model human neurological diseases, as yet primarily in the context of neurodegenerative disorders. Added value of this study Here, we establish a platform for Minipig Stereotactic White-matter Injection using Navigation by Electromagnetism (MiniSWINE) and validate such a tool in a clinical multimodal imaging and microscopy setting against biopsy and imaging data from human demyelinating disorders across different disease stages, as well as against existing and potentially emerging human diagnostic imaging. Moreover, in order to overcome the neuroanatomical challenges of stereotactic injection in the pig brain, we designed a new electromagnetic-guided tracking system whose key advantage is the direct measurement of the injection cannula tip position in situ. Another strength of our study lies in its setup, characterized by the serial induction of successive stages of de- and remyelination, allowing for multimodal assessment via imaging and histopathology or electron microscopy of multiple stages in parallel. The remyelination dynamics inferred in this context diverge from the classical rodent studies, by exhibiting incomplete remyelination at the subacute stage, persistent astroglial and microglial activation as well as a minor degree of secondary axonal degeneration. Thus, they more closely resemble human inflammatory demyelinating brain plaques. Implications of all the available evidence We believe that MiniSWINE links evidence from well-established demyelination-induction methods from rodent models of CNS demyelinating disorders, as well as from human imaging and biopsy data, while at the same time providing a novel platform for the potential development of diagnostic procedures, discovery of imaging biomarkers and testing of remyelinating agents in diseases such as MS. Thus, it can have particular relevance to human health in the context of future translational animal model-based research in inflammatory demyelinating disorders of the CNS. Additionally, our electromagnetic-guided injection technique may enhance stereotactic substance delivery in human neurosurgery.


A new block spin renormalization group transformation for SU(N) gauge models is proposed near the non-trivial fixed point in perturbation theory and thereby the expectation values of various Wilson loops on the renormalized trajectory near the fixed point are explicitly obtained. An improved action is obtained as in a preceding paper and a criterion for the scaling behavior of physical quantities is also given.