The ideal magnetohydrodynamic instability of a symmetric q=1 magnetic island is studied by using an initial value method for a pressureless cylindrical tokamak plasma. It is shown that the island is unstable to a half‐coalescence motion which destroys the up–down symmetry of the magnetic configuration. The mode characteristics are qualitatively similar to those predicted by Bussac et al. [Phys. Lett. 105A, 51 (1984)].


Abstract Despite highly effective treatments for breast cancer (BC), recurrence remains a significant risk among node-positive patients. Breast cancer stem or stem-like progenitor cells (BCSCs herein) are non-proliferative, evade first-line therapies in resistant breast tumors, and account for high mortality among patients with advanced disease. Our objective is to define the signaling pathways that drive cell fate transitions associated with endocrine resistance and the survival and expansion of BCSCs, with the goal of blocking these pathways to impact breast cancer survival. Filling this knowledge gap will pave the way for interventions that increase endocrine therapy duration and specifically target BCSC populations within heterogeneous luminal tumors. We recently defined the steroid receptor (SR) co-regulator, PELP1, as a mediator of BCSC expansion. Utilizing mass spectrometry, we identified steroid receptor coactivator-3, SRC-3, as a novel and preferential interactor with cytoplasmic PELP1. Notably, cytoplasmic PELP1 elevated SRC-3 activation, as measured by SRC-3 phosphorylation at Thr24 and Ser857. SRC-3 knockdown blocked cytoplasmic PELP1-induced BCSC expansion measured using tumorsphere assays, suggesting an essential role for PELP1/SRC-3 complexes in BCSC outgrowth. To better understand PELP1-regulated pathways we performed RNA-seq on MCF7 models grown in tumorsphere conditions to enrich for BCSC populations. We found that cells expressing cytoplasmic PELP1 have a dramatically different global gene profile relative to cells expressing wt-PELP1 (i.e. nuclear). Stem cell biology, metabolic, and hypoxic gene signatures were differentially upregulated, including members of the bi-functional kinase/phosphatase family (PFKFBs). Seahorse metabolic phenotype tests demonstrate that cytoplasmic PELP1 expression influences cellular metabolism by increasing both glycolysis and mitochondrial respiration. Recent studies have implicated pSer857 SRC-3 as a key substrate of PFKFB4 in lung and breast cancer metastases. Furthermore, we found that cytoplasmic PELP1 interacts with PFKFB3 and PFKFB4, and inhibition of PFKFB3 kinase activity blocks PELP1-induced tumorsphere formation. Together, our data suggests that PELP1, SRC-3, and PFKFBs form cytoplasmic signaling complexes that reprogram cellular metabolism to promote BCSC expansion. Our work will lead to the development of targeted therapies against BCSCs that can be used in combination with current treatments to overcome endocrine therapy resistance.


The inventiveness standard in the patent law is termed the ultimate condition for patentability, so the inventiveness standard plays an important significance for R&D activities. A change of the inventiveness standard causes a static effect and a dynamic effect for the profits of firms. The static effect is profits associated with a change of the probability that inventions qualify for patent protection. The dynamic effect is a weighted average of the profits associated with the next patentable discoveries and the economic life of patents. These effects cause the changes of gains of firms, thus affecting their R&D activities. The net effect on the inventiveness standard change depends on the relative strength of the static effect and the dynamic effect. When the two effects are exactly equal, there is a critical inventiveness standard, and R&D activities and the rate of innovation are maximized.


Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. To copy otherwise, to republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission. A preliminary version of this paper was presented in a writers' workshop at the 24th Conference on Pattern Languages of Programs (PLoP). PLoP'17, OCTOBER 22-25, Vancouver, Canada. Copyright 2017 is held by the author(s). HILLSIDE 978-1-941652-06-0 Towards an Educational Design Pattern Language for Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs)


Background: Foodborne diseases are caused by eating contaminated food. Yersinia species are among the bacteria involved in food contamination, such as meat, poultry, vegetables, and milk. This study aims to investigate the prevalence and characteristics of Yersinia enterocolitica and Yersinia pseudotuberculosis from raw milk in Tehran. Methods: In this study, 360 samples of raw milk were collected from farms around Tehran and examined according to the FDA method. Then, 25 ml of milk samples were added to 225 ml of Peptone Sorbitol Bile Broth and kept for 10 days at 4 °C for enrichment. After 10 days, 0.5 ml of the sample was added to 0.5 ml of 0.72% KOH solution and 0.54% NaCl. After 30 sec, it was cultured in the selected Cefsulodin-Irgasan-Novobiocin agar (CINagar) medium to remove the normal flora. The plates were stored for 48 h at 28 °C. The suspected Bull's eye colonies were purified and phenotyping tests were carried out on the selected colony. The 20 E API kits were used for confirming identification. Results: From 360 raw milk samples, 4 Yersinia isolates (1.1%) including one Y. pseudotuberculosis (0.27%) and three Y. enterocolitica (0.83%) were isolated. In addition to Yersinia, other bacteria such as Klebsiella, Serratia, Citrobacter, and Providencia were isolated from milk samples. Conclusion: The findings showed that clean tap water and healthy cattle in livestock can be effective in preventing Yersinia contamination. Lack of personal and environmental hygiene could cause food contamination by Yersinia and other intestinal bacteria leading to gastrointestinal infections.


Abstract Gigerenzer (1991) has recently argued that there is a fundamental distinction between judgments of relative frequency and judgments of single-case probabilities. One of Gigerenzer′s major findings is that many representativeness effects, such as the neglect of base rates and the conjunction error, disappear when questions are reworded in terms of relative frequencies. In this paper, we claim that Gigerenzer′s distinction between frequency and single-case judgments maps onto Tversky and Kahnemans (1974) distinction between representativeness and availability. Specifically, we suggest that representativeness effects occur primarily in single-case judgments, while availability effects occur primarily in judgments of relative frequency. In Experiment 1, 170 undergraduate subjects were given four "representativeness" problems and three "availability" problems. Half of the subjects made judgments of relative frequencies, while half provided single-case probabilities. The results generally support our predictions. Representativeness effects tend to be stronger in the single-case condition, while availability effects tend to be stronger in the frequency condition. In Experiment 2 ( N = 165), we used slight modifications of the original availability problems. Again, the availability effects were more prevalent in the frequency condition than in the single-case condition. The normative and descriptive implications of these findings are discussed.


Volume 2, Issue 5 September – October 2013 Page 109 Abstract: Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) have emerged as one of the most important research areas, with huge impact on technology enhancement. Large numbers of limited resource sensor nodes operate autonomously to collaborate and manage the wireless networks, through which critical raw data are collected and transmitted to the end users/decision makers. WSNs have been used in critical application scenarios, such as remote patient health monitoring system, home automation, sales tracking, enemy target monitoring and tracking and fire detection system, where the dependability of WSNs becomes very important. Such applications prefer to have complete and accurate data. But WSNs can be susceptible to anomalies due to cheap unreliable hardware and software, and unfavorable operating environment that can affect the network communication. These anomalies must be detected as they can cause failures in the network and hence affect quality of collected data. In this paper, we study the anomalies in WSN, desirable properties of anomaly detection techniques and analyze the various anomaly detection techniques for wireless sensor networks.


This paper introduces the general design of civil aviation weather message integrated application system.This System can realize the stable interchange of such kind of information between different transaction systems,effectively increasing the capacity of civil aviation security.What's more,this system can be used for alerting,monitoring,compiling statistics,auto-sending request,gathering significant messages,archiving history materials and importing database materials,so in the aviation meteorological services play a significant role.


AbstractSubstantial research in a diversity of fields suggests that being successful in a skilled profession requires ways of thinking that are unique to the context of that profession and present in practitioners of that field. The purpose of this study is to characterize embedded knowledge of sight distance and stopping sight distance in instructors and engineers and similarly examine course materials. Individual interviews were conducted with 29 transportation engineers and 19 transportation instructors. Course notes from a selection of instructors and three commonly used textbooks were also analyzed. Although instructors and practitioners expressed similar content knowledge, there were significant differences in the context in which it was embedded. Engineering practitioners used and referred to software, manuals, and specific experiences, while instructors primarily spoke in a more abstract context or referred to textbooks. Also, engineers discussed methods of mitigating for the inability to meet min...


There have been many great American historians of the Cold War – John Lewis Gaddis being perhaps the most read – but none comes close in my view to Melvyn Leffler. I should declare an interest. I h...


The inactivated vaccine in oily adjuvant against ND and EDS 76 was made with high-pressure homogeneous machine.The stabilty of inactivated vaccine was very well. The inactivated vaccine was used to inoculate commercial egg-laying chicken by muscle injecting 0.5mL per hen, and had good immune effect. The HI antibody valence of ND and EDS 76 still kept at 8.21 log2 and 7.01 log2 respectively at 50 weeks after inoculation.


See related article, pages 905–913

How a seemingly simple signal (ie, hypoxia) becomes transduced into biochemical and molecular responses that mediate maladaptive tissue damage is the defining enigma in various events that lead to oxygen deprivation, such as myocardial infarction, stroke, and venous thromboembolism. It is well established that acute hypoxia leads to numerous cellular events, such as formation of reactive oxygen species and induction of hypoxia-inducible factor-1.1 Furthermore, the immediate early gene, early growth response (Egr)-1, appears as an integral component of the biological response to hypoxia,2 because its upregulation induces the expression of fundamental inflammatory and prothrombotic stress genes.3 Nevertheless, the exact role of the above molecules and the link between hypoxia and Egr-1 upregulation/inflammation remains elusive. It is certainly desirable to better characterize the molecular basis of hypoxic cellular injury to develop pathway-specific therapeutic strategies to limit hypoxia-induced tissue damage in various organs such as the heart, brain, and vasculature.

Formation of advanced glycation end products (AGEs) are implicated in the pathogenesis of diabetic micro- and macrovascular complications, resulting in diabetic heart disease, accelerated atherosclerosis, end-stage renal failure, a variety of neuropathies, and acquired blindness.4 For several years, it has been known that high blood glucose concentrations promote AGE formation …


Manganese ions doped Pani films were prepared by using a cyclic voltammetry technique on mild steel substrate. Corrosion resistances performances of them in 0.5 M H2SO4 solution were obtained by using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), polarization curve, and SEM method. The results showed that manganese ions doped Pani particles became smaller and tighter, the resistance reduced, and the corrosion potential rose than Pani in H2SO4 solution.


The Australian government distributes about 4 percent of GDP to the state governments in the form of general revenue assistance. The distribution formula, which favors the less populous states, is a source of resentment in Victoria and New South Wales. The authors use two general equilibrium models to analyze the regional employment, output, and efficiency effects of proposed changes in the formula. Copyright 1993 by The Economic Society of Australia.


The 1990s underground punk scene fostered a culture and politics of resistance against and an alternative to the triumphalism of US empire. Evaluating the successes and failures of the 1990s punk renaissance offers lessons for future alternative cultures seeking to use music to foster political change. Involvement in antiracist movements and protests against globalized capitalism, such as the 1999 "Battle in Seattle," battles over inclusion within the punk scene, the dangers of becoming insular, and struggles over concrete political commitment versus sloganeering or "lifestylism" all highlight the challenges of creating and sustaining a music of rebellion.


This text intends to show the importance of the process of hybridization in the production of many contemporary visual representations. We include in the text brief descriptions of some of the most frequently used strategies of hybridization which we observe occurring in several media due chiefly to the mixing of illustrations (drawings and photographs) with letters and typographic messages


procedures per 100,000 enrollees decreased by −0.38 cases/year (R2 = 0.86, P < .001). By 2018, there were 20.5 more radiosurgery procedures performed per 100,000 Medicare enrollees than open procedures, compared to a narrower gap of 9.8 cases in 2009. Meanwhile, payment per procedure fluctuated irregularly from 2009–2018 (radiosurgery: R2 = 0.09, P = .385 open: R2 = 0.36, P = .067), averaging $550.50 [$525.85 $575.16] per radiosurgery and a higher $1,598.65 [$1567.00 $1627.30] per craniotomy (t18 = 62.7, P < .001). CONCLUSION: From 2009–2018, the growth in stereotactic radiosurgery procedures outpaced the baseline expansion of Medicare enrollees, while the relative number of comparable craniotomies declined. We found that Medicare reimbursed 2.9 times as much for an open surgical procedure than a radiosurgical procedure during this period.


Correspondence is one activity that can not be separated from an organization, because the mail is one of the important communication media in the organization and communication with other organizations.High-intensity correspondence activities need to have a good management, so that the information conveyed can be delivered properly and safely. This management can also make letters well documented.System development in this research using Extreme Programming method. This method was chosen because the development is still done on a small scale. In addition, this method has a simple process, fast and precise because prioritizing the communication aspects between clients with developers. The built-in information system has features for receiving incoming mail, sending outgoing mail, sending and receiving mail dispositions, and sending and receiving memos. With this system can be effecient mail management and make it easy to manage the data letter itself. Keywords : Agile Process, Letter, Extreme Programming, PHP, Information System


Private gardens make up large parts of urban green space. In contrast to public green spaces, planning and management is usually uncoordinated and independent of municipal planning and management strategies. Therefore, the potential for private gardens to provide ecosystem services and habitat and to function as corridors for wildlife is not fully utilized. In order to improve public knowledge on gardens, as well as provide individual gardeners with information on what they can contribute to enhance ecosystem services provision, we developed a GIS-based web application for the city of Braunschweig (Germany): the 'GartenApp' (garden app). Users of the app have to outline their garden on a web map and provide information on biodiversity related features and management practices. Finally, they are asked about observations of well recognizable species in their gardens. As an output, the gardeners are provided with an estimate of the ecosystem services their garden provides, with an evaluation of the biodiversity friendliness, customized advice on improving ecosystem services provision, and results from connectivity models that show gardeners the role of their garden in the green network of the city. In this paper, we describe the app architecture and show the first results from its application. We finish with a discussion on the potential of GIS-based web applications for urban sustainability, planning and conservation.


A personal essay about visiting and living in the California desert, the architecture and art created there, and what does and doesn't "belong" there. There are considerations of homesteader cabins, motels, "villains' houses" and the author's own ambivalent urges to own a piece of the desert, with references to Ed Ruscha, Rayner Banham and Noah Purifoy.


Purpose: This study aimed to verify the redox profile of different gestational phases of pregnant women, in addition to the antioxidant potential of the Cymbopogon citratus leaves infusion. Methods: The infusion characterization was performed by measuring total phenolics, flavonoids and condensed tannins levels. The oxidative damage markers to lipids and proteins in plasma and erythrocytes were evaluated by measuring the TBARS and carbonylated proteins (CP) levels and antioxidant activity by GSH levels. The antioxidant effects of the infusion (20 g/L) were evaluated by measuring the same markers after the pregnant women erythrocytes incubation with the same infusion. The phytochemicals with the highest concentration founded in infusion were flavonoids, followed by tannins and phenolics. Results: It was observed an increase in TBARS levels in the 2 gestational phase in plasma, concomitant with a decrease in GSH levels in the 2 and 3 phases, and CP in the 1 and 4 gestational phases in relation to control. It was observed a decrease in all markers levels in erythrocytes in the 1 and 2 phases. Analyzing the antioxidant potential of the infusion on erythrocytes, it was observed a decrease in TBARS concomitant with an increase in GSH levels, being little effective in reversing protein damage. Conclusion: Thus, it is suggested that the infusion could be used as adjuvant to vitamin supplements recommended during pregnancy.


There was a similar density of honeydew threads on the flanks of the StArnaud Range and in southern Big Bush, and we suggest that the abundance of honey-dew threads need not be a consideration in deciding which of the two areas is selected as a "mainland island". The abundance of honeydew threads/ha was highly variable, particularly along the St Arnaud Range, and this area tended to have more honeydew threads than Big Bush. The abundance of honeydew threads was not measured in the canopy. We may have underestimated the abundance of honeydew threads by a greater degree in Big Bush than StArnaud because the trees tended to be larger there.


Finding list of northern dramas in this anthology by editions -- Table of dynasties -- Conventions -- Guan Hanqing -- Moving heaven and shaking earth: the injustice to Dou E -- Rescriptor-in-waiting Bao thrice investigates the butterfly dream -- Beauty pining in her boudoir: the pavilion for praying to the moon / Bai Pu -- Autumn nights of the lustrous Emperor of Tang: rain on the Wutong tree / Ma Zhiyuan -- Breaking a troubling dream: a lone goose in autumn over the palaces of Han / Zheng Guangzu -- Dazed behind the green ring lattice, Qiann's soul leaves her body / Li Xingdao -- Rescriptor-in-waiting Bao's clever trick: the record of the chalk circle / Anonymous -- Zhongli of the Han leads Lan Caihe to enlightenment / Zhu Youdun -- Leopard monk returns to the laity of his own accord -- Black Whirlwind Li spurns riches out of righteousness -- Writing club of Hangzhou -- Little Butcher Sun -- Appendix 1: Note on the translation and study of early Chinese drama in Europe and the United States -- Appendix 2: Suggested readings -- Appendix 3: Partial list of modern English translations of early drama.


Facing increasingly polluted drinking water sources,traditional treatment methods are difficult to effectively remove micro-pollutants and pathogens in polluted water sources.In comparison,nano-materials with unique structure and powerful functions can provide a potential to update traditional treatment process.Irradiated by UV,TiO2 can effectively overcome reverse osmosis(RO) membrane fouling.Carbon nano-tubes can enhance the permeability of RO membrane and effectively remove bacteria and viruses.Antimicrobial nano-particles can be also used in disinfection/sterilization.With the characteristics of super-paramagnetism,nano-materials can absorb heavy metals like As.Catalytically active nano-particles can remove poisonous pollutants in ground water.In addition,nano-sensor can immediately detect aquatic pathogens,even chemicals and heavy metals.However,the potential effects of nano-materials on the environment and the health have to be evaluated.


To understand the vegetable soil fertility situation in Yanhu district of Yuncheng city,stacking diagram was adopted to sample soil and the soil nutrients in main vegetable-growing areas,and a comprehensively evaluation for the main soil nutrients was conducted.The results showed that in Yanhu district there were many suitable areas for large scale vegetable planting promotion,like Beixiang town,Haizhou town,Hongzhiyi town,Longju town,Taocun town and Anyiban;and the areas that were not so suitable for vegetable production were Sanluli town,Dongguo town and Shangwang town.The evaluation index for vegetable-growing land in every district coincided with the local agricultural production,so they were of guiding significance to the local vegetable production.


As the widely use of chemical pesticides in agriculture and forestry production,the pesticide resistance of insects was the trend of getting stronger.So,researches about resistance mechanism of pesticide have been one of the important issues now.And the use of molecular biology technology made the researches develop variously.The paper generally overviewed the researches and progresses about pesticide resistance of insects in recent years to provide references for the researches.


Existence of local, in a generic case, and global, in the case of even potential and positive nonlinear force constant, solutions of a lattice of the Fermi-Pasta-Ulam type, with higher nonlinearity is proven. It is shown that the lattice and its continuum limit display drastically di erent behaviour.


Hendri Budi Yanto, E0005177, 2010. THE IMPLICATION OF CONSTITUTION COURT'S TASK AND AUTHORITY IN RESOLVING THE DISPUTE ON LOCAL GENERAL ELECTION RESULT (A CASE STUDY ON CONSTITUTION COURT'S DECISION NUMBER 57/PHPU.D-VI/2008 ABOUT THE LOCAL GENERAL ELECTION OF SOUTH BENGKULU REGENCY). Law Faculty of Surakarta Sebelas Maret University. This research aims to study and to answer the problem about how the implementation of dispute resolution of local generation result is in Constitution Court and how the implication of task and authority of Constitution Court in resolving the dispute on local general election result. This study belongs to a normative research type that is descriptive in nature. The type of data used was secondary data including primary, secondary


PCB-contaminated concrete is a significant environmental management issue for many industrial facilities. The U.S. EPA has authorized exposure control in operating facilities via encapsulation or use of physical barriers when complete PCB removal is not technically achievable and/or is not cost-effective. Achievement of effective encapsulation with epoxy coatings is challenging for PCB-contaminated concrete as oil and/or other chemicals are often present. This work involved experimental investigation of encapsulation via cleaning and epoxy-coating of PCB-contaminated concrete. Experimental studies were performed with three cleaning techniques for removal of PCBs, and three epoxy-coating systems for encapsulating PCBs. Resurfacing of oils and PCBs from concrete after cleaning, or "bleedback", was also studied. These tests were conducted using PCB/oil-contaminated concrete core samples from industrial plants. Results indicated that no cleaning system alone is effective as a long-term solution for PCB-contaminated concrete, and that bleedback occurred within days after cleaning due to capillary rise, affected by changes in wetting characteristics of the concrete pore surfaces and by elevated temperature induced by heating, which affects the density of the oil. The presence of free oil on the concrete surface resulted in failure of the coating systems, which occurred faster if heating was applied. Where appropriate surface preparation was performed, the integrity of the coatings remained intact throughout the experimental period (eight months). In such cases, the coating system acted effectively as a barrier against diffusion of PCBs. This study demonstrated that, except in high-temperature areas, an epoxy coating can be an appropriate encapsulation system if proper surface preparation is applied. Metal sheet barriers can be used for high-temperature applications.


Swedish äs a second language is learned by all immigrants in a formal setting. Against this background, pronunciation problems of 70 adult learners were investigated. They represented 25 first languages covering a wide ränge of structural Variation. In addition to simply collecting errors and presenting them in a catalogue for easy reference, we have also tried to discover common and frequent errors and errors which are dependent on each other and which are hierarchically grouped into complexes. Knowledge of these errors will help in teaching Swedish pronunciation more efficiently. It is suggested that the teaching of pronunciation to adult immigrants be given a new goal where the aspect of intelligibility of foreign accent will determine the pedagogical work. An experimental method of detecting the most important features for understanding foreign accent is described. Corrections of errors, corresponding to features of Swedish phonology, are introduced into deviant utterances by means of speech synthesis and effects of these improvements on Swedish listeners are studied. Preliminary results corroborate our hypotheses implying the great significance of prosody, especially accent, for understanding speech. From a pedagogical point of view the need of integrating pronunciation, including prosody, with the teaching of other parts of the grammar is pointed out.


Objective
To investigate the application effect of case-based teaching versus traditional teaching in the optional course of maternal and child nutrition for medical undergraduates.

Methods
The students who completed the course through the traditional teaching method in 2016 were enrolled as control group, and those who completed the course through the case-based teaching method in 2017 were enrolled as experimental group. In the process of teaching, the teachers in the experimental group needed to write cases, prepare lessons collectively, give guidance and inspiration, and summarize after class. During the learning process, the students in the experimental group needed to collect information before class and perform role play, group discussion, and intergroup communication about the case during class. After the course ended, a questionnaire for nutrition during pregnancy preparation, pregnancy, and lactation, breastfeeding, and complementary feeding was developed for assessment. With sex and grade as related factors, SPSS 18.0 was used for the chi-square test of two sample rates according to knowledge points, and the correct rate of each item was analyzed.

Results
A total of 107 valid questionnaires were collected from the control group, and 109 valid questionnaires were collected from the experimental group. For the questions on the knowledge of maternal and child nutrition, the experimental group had slightly higher correct rates than the control group (all P>0.05). For the questions on the comprehension and practical application of the knowledge of maternal and child nutrition, the experimental group had significantly higher correct rates than the control group (all P<0.05). Further stratified analysis based on sex and grade showed that the experimental group had higher correct rates than the control group.

Conclusion
Compared with traditional teaching, case-based teaching may not have advantages in enhancing students' memorizing ability, but it can make it easier for students to understand the theoretical knowledge of maternal and child nutrition and master the practical application of such knowledge.

Key words:
Case-based teaching; Medical student; Maternal and child nutrition


The ageing workforce has created a number of issues, one of which is the increased interest in, and importance of, the retirement of older workers. Governments are encouraging older workers to continue working later in life, and to delay their retirement, to offset the dependence on the support of (the fewer) younger workers. The findings from the quantitative analysis suggest that age has a significant moderating impact on the way employees perceive four traditional retirement factors (intrinsic, health, financial and organisational policies and practices). Similarly, the findings from the quantitative analysis suggest that employees' perceptions of autonomy in relation to when they retire are significantly affected by those four traditional retirement factors, with the factors of 'financial' and 'organisational policies and practices' being the two significant factors.


Oxphaman and particularly oxphalin, among other phenolic azomethines, have been proven as strong inhibitors of lipoxygenases (LOX) from reticulocytes, soybean, thrombocytes as well as of quasi-LOX (hemoglobin). Antiinflammatory effectivity was found in some carrageenin-induced inflammatory models of the rat as well as in the arachidonic acid- ans croton oil-induced ear oedema of the mouse. Adjuvant arthritis, experimental pain, skin permeability and allergy models were not, only weakly or irregularly influenced. in the guinea pig ileum a certain antihistaminic, anticholinergic and leukotriene antagonistic activity was found


This study developed cost functions, which were expressed as functions of pipe sizes and excavation depths, applicable to open cut and jacking techniques for construction of sewer systems. Data for several real sewer system construction projects in Taiwan were investigated to verify the accuracy of the cost functions. The cost functions developed in this study are more realistic, practical, accurate and easy to use than existing functions.


The U.S. Army is developing a new generation of surface-to-surface fires with very long ranges. Because of the range of these new Army weapons, there will be major implications for joint coordination and planning. To help address integration and control challenges, the Army proposed creating the Theater Fires Command. The authors assess how the command can operate as part of a joint force, as well as challenges in different theaters.


When Alessandro de' Medici, Duke of the Florentine Republic, he recognized the possibility of creating a Royal Estate destined for his own use and enjoyment for agriculture and hunting, and ordered purchase of this vast area on the right bank of the Arno River. The area was outside the city walls, isolated by a dense network of canals, streams and ponds, and characterized by thick, spontaneous, riparian woodlands. Thus, in 1531 the first nucleus of the " Tenuta dell'isola " (Island Estate) was born. Today, it is the largest public park in Florence, with a total of 122 Ha, including the various sports instalments, roads, avenues and squares which alternate with large woodland areas. In 1985 an inventory was taken of the entire arboreal and shrubby vegetation of the park from a pathological, forestry and botanical point of view, following an agreement between the Municipality of Florence and the University of Florence. Based on the material and information gathered from the study, it is possible to outline a rather broad picture of the vegetative situation which can then be used to predict evolutionary trends.


Abstract The influence of prestrain and static strain aging on the cleavage fracture stress σf in a C–Mn steel has been investigated. It is shown that σf increases with increasing amount of prestrain and that the effect of strain aging is to reduce slightly the value of σf. Smith's original theory for cleavage fracture in steel containing grain-boundary carbides is used to determine the effect of prestrain and strain aging on the effective surface energy γeff of crack propagation. It is shown that γeff is approximately prestrain independent and that strain aging makes γeff decrease slightly.


The population genetic diversity and differentiation of Aquilaria sinensis were analyzed by using ISSR. A total of 105 loci were generated by using 9 primers for 221 samples of 4 A. sinensis population. A toal of 104 loci were polymorphic and the percentage of polymorphic bands(PPB%) was 99.05%. Observed number of alleles(Na) and effective number of alleles(Ne) were 1.9905 and 1.5854 respectively. Effective number of alleles(H) and Shannon's information index(I) were 0.3390 and 0.5054 respectively. These results indicated that there was a high level of genetic diversity in A.sinensis at the species level. Total gene diversity(Ht) was 0.3236 among 4 populations of A. sinensis. Gene diversity within population(Hs) is 0.2500. The Nei's coefficient differentiations(Gst) was 0.2274. The estimate of gene flow(Nm) was1.6983. The results of UPGMA revealed that the samples of Dianbai population clustered with Dalingshan population firstly, then clustered with Qingxi population. The samples of Guangxi population didn't cluster with the other populations which showed that it had large genetic divergence form them. The results of UPGMA of individual samples revealed that between the first and second generations of Dianbai population, there was larger divergence in the large-leaved subgroup than that of small-leaved one. The small-leaved subgroup of Dalingshan population had close relation with the first generation subgroup of Dianbai one. The large-leaved subgroup of Dalingshan population had close relation with the Qingxi population. These results revealed that part of Dalingshan population might come from Qingxi population, and the rest of Dalingshan population might have the same origins with Dianbai population.


The primary cause of corneal allograft failure is immune-mediated rejection.1 There are data indicating that corneal rejection is mediated, at least partly, by the apoptosis of keratocytes and endothelial cells in the early stages of the disease.2–4 There are currently very few data on the pathological mechanisms of graft rejection in patients and very few reports on the histopathology in human tissue.4

We had the unique opportunity to analyse the role of apoptosis in corneal tissue originating from two patients (patients 1 and 2) with persistent corneal graft rejection, as characterised by active keratitic precipitates at the time of repeated keratoplasty. Both patients underwent a first keratoplasty because of keratoconus and experienced an acute episode of immune-mediated graft rejection, which was initially treated with systemic and topical steroid therapy over …


A connector of a control valve for a power steering oil pump is provided to regulate a sudden change in discharging oil by preventing the introduced oil from being vibrated using a blocking wall. A connector(17) of a control valve for a power steering oil pump comprises a housing formed with an inlet path(12) and a return path(13), respectively, a spool(14) installed in a chamber(11) of the housing, a needle(16), and a blocking wall(17c) integrally formed at the front end of the connector while extending in a longitudinal direction of the connector. The spool controls a fluid introduced through the inlet path and discharges the fluid through the return path. The connector wall is positioned around an end of the spool where the needle is inserted to prevent an oil pressure in the inlet path from being directly applied to the spool.


Aggressive scaling of transistor feature sizes has enabled unprecedented levels of integration and corresponding performance improvements in VLSI systems. However, fabrication costs present barriers to continued growth in transistor density. Proximity Communication breaks these barriers by providing high-density, high-bandwidth, low-power, and scalable off-chip I/O, allowing designers to partition their designs into separate chips with significantly reduced performance penalties. This partitioning greatly improves chip and package yield, and enables modular assemblies of heterogeneous systems with customizable mixes of functional units tailored for specific end-user applications.


The purpose – Cultural and city tourism are intensively promoted by most Central and Southeast European countries. But frequently identity and historiography of the modern nation states is at odds with some periods of history and emphasizes others. This may result in a rather selective presentation of the cultural heritage also to tourists and in difficulties to define a tourism brand. Selective presentation refers also to the cultural heritage of minorities and Communism. Methodology, approach – The paper investigates into the attitudes of various Central and Southeast European countries in this respect. Methods applied are personal observations as well as surveys of websites of national and regional tourist boards. Findings – Political strive for national homogeneity is very often also extended to the field of tourism resulting in the neglect of certain tourist attractions or in not explicitly attributing them to their originators, especially as regards more recent periods of history. Most obvious cases in this respect are the disregard of the Hungarian cultural heritage in Romania, of the Ottoman cultural heritage in Serbia and of not attributing the German cultural heritage to their originators in Slovenia. On the other hand we witness a lot of openness in this respect. Best practices can be observed in Poland related to the Hanseatic/Prussian/German as well as Jewish and Kashubian cultural heritage, in Czechia related to the (supra-national) Austrian cultural heritage, in Slovakia related to the German and Rusyn cultural heritage and not the least in Croatia related to the Venetian and Austrian cultural heritage. This resulted already in significant success on the tourism market by prompting additional demand and attracting a quality segment. This research is original because it relates national and regional tourism branding to a wider historical-political background. An added value results also from the comparative view over rather divergent countries.


This text discusses about the concept, the basic type, the main technological characteristic, the component setup and the application of network firewall. So as to state the importance and necessity that the trade of electric power and design establishes the system of information safety of the network.


We derive Perelman's and Nash-type entropy formulas for the CR heat equation on closed pseudohermitian (2n + 1)-manifolds and show that it is monotone nonincreasing if its pseudohermitian Ricci curvature minus (n + 1)/2 times the pseudohermitian torsion is nonnegative. As results, we are able to obtain an integral version of the subgradient estimate for the CR heat equation and an upper bound estimate for the first positive eigenvalue of the sublaplacian by using the CR Bochner formulas and CR Harnack-type inequality. As a byproduct, we obtain a sharp lower bound estimate for the first positive eigenvalue of the sublaplacian on a closed pseudohermitian (2n + 1)-manifold.


Accurate photon attenuation correction (AC) is essential for quantitative PET image reconstruction. MR-based AC of combined PET/MR systems is challenging because MR images do not directly correspond to attenuation coefficients, as is the case for CT images. Deep learning (DL)-based methods of PET AC have shown promise as alternative solutions. In this work, we evaluate the accuracy of using a DL model for the purpose of MR-based AC on reconstructed head and neck PET images. We use a conditional generative adversarial network (cGAN) known as pix2pix to translate MR input images into pseudo-CT images. The pseudo-CT images are converted to attenuation maps (µ-maps) at 511keV through a bilinear conversion and used in reconstruction of PET images acquired on a Signa PET/MR system (GE Healthcare) to correct for photon attenuation. We compared the reconstructed PET images of one patient using our AC method (pix2pixAC) to existing GE Signa PET/MR atlas-based (AtlasAC) and ZTE-based segmentation (ZTEAC) methods of AC. The reconstructed AC PET images obtained using pix2pixAC are comparable to AtlasAC and ZTEAC with a mean absolute error (MAE) in standardized uptake value (SUV) of 0.24 (2.67%) and 0.19 (2.10%), respectively, for the entire head and neck region. We conclude that our method produces similar AC PET images to clinical methods.


The study evaluated the antimicrobial utilization pattern at the Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Uselu, Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria, with a view to appraising the level of compliance of the hospital to WHO guidelines for rational use of antimicrobial agents. This was a retrospective, single site antibiotic evaluation study of case files of 210 patients who were admitted at the male and female in-patient medical wards of the hospital from 1st April to June 30th 2017. Data collection forms were used to collect the following information; patient demographics, diagnosis, name of prescribed antibiotics, antimicrobial treatment regimen, forms of combination therapy, laboratory investigation and cost of antibiotic utilization. All the case files of patients who were prescribed antibiotics during the study period were assessed. A total of 210 prescription encounters were evaluated. Patients aged 31-50 years were the highest recipients of antimicrobials while patients aged 11-20 years and above 80 years were the least recipients of antimicrobials. Respiratory and gastrointestinal tract infections accounted for the indications that received the highest number of antibiotic prescriptions among the 11 indications for antibiotic utilization. Penicillins were the most prescribed antibiotic singly and in combination. The average number of medicines per prescription was 3.5 and percentage of antibiotic prescriptions was 24.2%. Generic prescribing was at 48.0%, while laboratory investigations was 3.3% and the percentage cost of encounter was 40.5%. The percentage of antibiotic prescriptions and percentage cost of encounter were rational in comparison with WHO values. But the higher than recommended values for average number of drugs per encounter, low values of generic prescribing and laboratory investigations means prescribing was irrational. Thus, there was some level of irrational prescribing of antibiotics in the study centre and this could further worsen the burden of microbial resistances to these antibiotics.


Disclosed herein is a chemical - provides compatibility for use in mechanical FIELD, polymers, in particular has been compacted or densified comprises a fluoropolymer and orientation carbon fibers it is a manufacturing process of the composite article.


Significance Although C-type inactivation in potassium channels is crucial in many biological signaling processes, its mechanism is debated. We address a hypothesis that K+ affinity reduction and ion loss due to allosterically coupled activation is a major factor in promoting inactivation. We show that in KcsA, activation by proton binding at the intracellular pH sensor can significantly reduce K+ affinity at the extracellular selectivity filter, which would be expected to contribute to current cessation (inactivation). This allosteric coupling is substantially reduced by mutating a residue that connects the inner transmembrane helix hinge (involved in activation) to the base of the selectivity filter, thus providing clear evidence for the allosteric coupling network and explaining why this mutant is inactivationless. The slow spontaneous inactivation of potassium channels exhibits classic signatures of transmembrane allostery. A variety of data support a model in which the loss of K+ ions from the selectivity filter is a major factor in promoting inactivation, which defeats transmission, and is allosterically coupled to protonation of key channel activation residues, more than 30 Å from the K+ ion binding site. We show that proton binding at the intracellular pH sensor perturbs the potassium affinity at the extracellular selectivity filter by more than three orders of magnitude for the full-length wild-type KcsA, a pH-gated bacterial channel, in membrane bilayers. Studies of F103 in the hinge of the inner helix suggest an important role for its bulky sidechain in the allosteric mechanism; we show that the energetic strength of coupling of the gates is strongly altered when this residue is mutated to alanine. These results provide quantitative site-specific measurements of allostery in a bilayer environment, and highlight the power of describing ion channel gating through the lens of allosteric coupling.


Hispanics make up a growing percentage of the craft workers entering the construction industry, and this has created several challenges for American construction companies. This study addresses the situation by investigating training needs for Hispanic construction craft workers and developing a training program for them within the industry. In order to evaluate current craft workers' conditions within the construction industry, Iowa State University researchers conducted a survey, with 98 Hispanic craft workers as respondents from 10 construction companies, to determine current working conditions. The results confirm that the language barrier is an obstacle for both the Hispanic workers and the English-speaking employees involved in construction projects. As a part of this research, two training courses were designed to help both American construction companies and their Hispanic labor force to overcome the barriers that keep them from succeeding safely and productively. A training course titled, "English as a Second Language Survival Course", was developed to facilitate basic communication between Hispanic workers and their American supervisors using construction-focused terminology. This course was delivered once as a trial run for a two-hour duration and twice for a full-length duration of eight hours. Important feedback was obtained from participants as part of the evaluations of the course. "How much of the course contents will be useful in your working environment" was asked; 40% of workers said "all of it" and 60% of workers said "most of it." Another question was "Was it worth taking the time to attend the course?" to which 94% answered "definitely" and 6% answered "yes." A second training course titled, "Stepping Up to Supervisor Course for Hispanic Construction Workers", was also developed to provide an effective tool to help companies promote those Hispanic craft workers whose willingness and skills meet the requirements to advance to a supervisory position in an American construction company. This course will be offered in the spring of 2004.


Bosch-Siemens Home Appliances designed a new drying system for dishwashers based on a first-timeapplied material, belonging to the family of zeolites. It's a ceramic substance whose property of interest is the high capacity and affinity for adsorbed moisture. This solution is told to drastically reduce the product environmental impact (BSH Corporate Comunications, 2010). Ceramic foams, a novel class of materials with interesting properties, are potential substitute products for zeolites because of their specific properties, such as high specific surface area for adsorption of gases and high thermal and chemical stability. During the last years, sustainability has become a key factor within the home appliances industry. This comes from the necessity to obey to the international normative (Eco-design, 2005), which reflects the increasing sensitivity of the society towards environmental issues, but also from strategic matters, namely the purpose to get a better image of the brand. One important field to focus on for being less harmful towards environment lays on the choice of materials used in the products. This work consists in a comparative evaluation between the newly designed drying system and a common one, taken as reference, in terms of environmental impact. The means of analysis is the Life Cycle Assessment. In addiction, tests of moisture adsorption on ceramic foams have been conducted. The study shows the environmental advantages of the zeolitic drying system over the common technology. Tests on ceramic foams, instead, show that these materials need further performance improvements to be considered as practical substitutes of zeolites in this application field.


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A 65-year-old woman presented with fatigue and exertional dyspnea. The peripheral blood showed: hemoglobin, 91 g/L; leukocytes, 4.8 × 109/L with 1% blast cells; and platelets, 35 × 109/L with megakaryocytic fragments (panel A, filled black arrow; original magnification ×100;


Objective To discuss the diagnosis and the treatment of appendiceal mass.Methods The medical records of 106 patients with acute appendiceal mass treated in our Hospital were analyzed retrospectively.Meanwhile,relevant literatures were reviewed.Results 74 patients were treated with intravenous antibiotics,and received interval appendicectomy following resolution of symptoms,puncture and drainage was used in 11 patients by ultrasound,21 patients underwent immediate appendicectomy,and all the patients recovered well.Conclusions The management of appendiceal mass is surrounded with controversy,individualized treatment is important.


Two species of the munidid genus Raymunida Macpherson & Machordom, 2000, are reported from Kume Island, RyukyuIslands, southwestern Japan. Raymunida striata n. sp. appears closest to R. confundens Macpherson & Machordom, 2001,and R. dextralis Macpherson & Machordom, 2001, but is distinguished by the second and third abdominal somites eachwith an uninterrupted stria between two distinct transverse ridges on the dorsal surface, the merus of the third maxillipedwith a prominent distal spine on the extensor margin, and the mero-carpal articulation of the fourth pereopod reachingonly to the lateral end of the anterior cervical groove of the carapace. The occurrence of R. vittata Macpherson, 2009, inKume Island greatly extends its distribution range to the north hemisphere. Morphological variations of R. vittata are also discussed on the basis of the present specimens. An updated key to the species of Raymunida is provided.


The surface tensions of xBi2O3-(1 x)GeO2 melts of different compositions with 0.15x≤0.86 have been measured precisely and systematically by using the ring method.The results obtained show that from their melting points up to 1 480 K,when x≤0.40 the surface tensions of the melts increase with the increasing temperature,while x≥0.40 the values of the surface tension decreased with the increasing temperature.In addition,the temperature coefficients of the surface tension(dγ/dT) and the volume expansion coefficient(β) are calculated from the fitting curves of the surface tension and the density,respectively.The positive and negative temperature coefficients of surface tension have been observed in bismuth germanate system.We discuss further the positive temperature coefficients and a conclusion is drawn that the positive temperature coefficients of the surface tension can not been explained well only by the Gibbs adsorption rule.


The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of advertising exposure of banner, billboard, flyer, and newspaper ad towards purchase intention on Bosch
products. At the same time, the study also examined the moderating effect of age between advertising exposure and purchase intention. Data from 200 respondents
were obtained and analysed by using SPSS version 21 and Smart PLS2 .0. From the result obtained, banner, billboard, flyer and newspaper ad have positive
relationship with purchase intention. The relationship between age and advertising exposure is also found positive. Other than that, the relationship of age with
purchase intention is also positively related. Furthermore, age does not moderate the relationship between advertising exposure and purchase intention. Therefore, as the marketing managers and business of Bosch products or similar products in the competing industry, they need to take into the consideration of the influence of advertising exposure on purchase intention. Lastly, the limitation of the study and future research recommendation also were reported in this study.


Developing new methods to detect biomass information on freshwater fish in farm conditions enables the creation of decision bases for precision feeding. In this study, an approach based on Keypoints R-CNN is presented to identify species and measure length automatically using an underwater stereo vision system. To enhance the model's robustness, stochastic enhancement is performed on image datasets. For further promotion of the features extraction capability of the backbone network, an attention module is integrated into the ResNeXt50 network. Concurrently, the feature pyramid network (FPN) is replaced by an improved path aggregation network (I-PANet) to achieve a greater fusion of effective feature maps. Compared to the original model, the mAP of the improved one in object and key point detection tasks increases by 4.55% and 2.38%, respectively, with a small increase in the number of model parameters. In addition, a new algorithm is introduced for matching the detection results of neural networks. On the foundation of the above contents, coordinates of head and tail points in stereo images as well as fish species can be obtained rapidly and accurately. A 3D reconstruction of the fish head and tail points is performed utilizing the calibration parameters and projection matrix of the stereo camera. The estimated length of the fish is acquired by calculating the Euclidean distance between two points. Finally, the precision of the proposed approach proved to be acceptable for five kinds of common freshwater fish. The accuracy of species identification exceeds 94%, and the relative errors of length measurement are less than 10%. In summary, this method can be utilized to help aquaculture farmers efficiently collect real-time information about fish length.


The invention discloses a device and a method for forming variable cross-section thin-wall conical carbon fiber perform and aims at solving the technical problem of a complex method for forming a variable cross-section thin-wall conical carbon fiber perform by using a current carbon fiber perform forming device. Due to the design of a winding die and design philosophies of paving along with the die, winding and shaping, locating a core die, sewing locally, weaving and reinforcing, the forming device is capable of low-cost continuous preparation of a carbon fiber reinforced composite conical variable cross-section thin-wall part perform body; the method is simple; according to the forming method, four processes of paving, winding, sewing and weaving the fiber are continuously performed on the same device, so that the forming difficulty of the variable cross-section thin-wall conical carbon fiber perform is prominently reduced; in the preparation process, process parameters with influence on reinforced body forming quality and the wall thickness of the perform can be controlled in real time. Compared with the background art, no special expensive equipment is needed in the method; the method is capable of forming freely according to the shape of the needed perform.


The invention relates to a method for manufacturing a fabric with low porosity, wherein the weaving of the fabric (1) of the fiber strands (2, 3) and the immediately subsequent spreading of the fabric (1) in-line take place in a device. In the used therefor spreading the to spreading fabric (1) between a bearing surface (6) of an anvil (5) and a contact surface (8) at least one sonotrode (7) with two-sided contact of the two aforesaid surfaces (6, 8) guided and means by the sonotrode (7) in the web (1, 1 ') introduced vibrations, the multifilament of the fabric (1, 1') transversely spread to the grain direction, thus increasing the size of the pores (4) of the fabric (1, 1 ') is reduced.


Background The practice of health seeking behavior has many potential effects on reduction of the occurrence of maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality. The aim of this study was to explore factors affecting health seeking behavior among pregnant women in rural areas. Design : A descriptive exploratory research design was used. Subjects and method : The study was carried out at 5 outpatient clinics of obstetric departments in Tanta University Hospital, El-Menshawy General Hospital, El-Mabara Hospital, Sager Maternal and Child Health centers and Rural health unit in Syperpay. A convenience sample of 250 pregnant women, who were living in rural areas were selected from the previously mentioned settings. Tools: Four tools were used for collection of data. Tool (I) Structured interview schedule It included Part a Socio-demographic data, part b reproductive history and part c health service characteristics assessment tool. Tool (II) Pregnant women's knowledge regarding antenatal care. Tool (III) Attitudes towards pregnancy scale. Tool (IV) Health seeking behavior assessment tool. Results : The majority of studied pregnant women had satisfactory HSB, nearly half of them had moderate level of knowledge regarding ANC also, less than half of them had positive attitudes toward pregnancy. Conclusion : In the current study a significant positive relationship was found between HSB among studied pregnant women and pregnant women's knowledge regarding ANC also, women's attitudes towards pregnancy with a statistically significant relationship. Recommendations : More researches to determine the factors affecting health seeking behavior should be done in different areas.


AbstractThe penetration of 18O tracer into single layered and duplex NiO scales formed on Ni has been examined by sputter depth profiling and imaging modes of secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS). Preoxidation annealing in hydrogen and superficial contamination during substrate surface preparation were found to promote inward scale growth. The principles for selecting SIMS techniques for studying oxide scales and the influence of substrate condition on mechanisms for gaseous oxygen transport in NiO are discussed.MST/950


The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a filter element on the receptor, the receptor having a window area and / or existing or potential masking region, prior to the thermal transfer method comprising a pigment colorant from a thermal transfer fabric the structure of one configuration of the donor material to the thermal transfer receptor weaving, wherein the texturing material is transferred to (a) at least one mask area or (b) a portion of the mask region and the window region. Alternatively, the texturing material is transferred to at least a portion of the masked area does not exceed the portion of the window area.


Initially, second-order necessary and sufficient optimality conditions in terms of Hadamard type derivatives for the unconstrained scalar optimization problem φ(x) → min, x ∈ R, are given. These conditions work with arbitrary functions φ, but they show inconsistency with the classical derivatives. This is a base to pose the question, whether the formulated optimality conditions remain true when the "inconsistent" Hadamard derivatives are replaced with the "consistent" Dini derivatives. It is shown that the answer is affirmative if φ is of class C (i.e. differentiable with locally Lipschitz derivative). Further, considering C functions, the discussion is raised to unconstrained vector optimization problems. Using the so called "oriented distance" from a point to a set, we generalize to an arbitrary ordering cone, some necessary and sufficient second-order optimality conditions given by Liu, Neittaanmäki, Kř́ı̌rek for a polyhedral cone. Furthermore, we show that the obtained conditions are sufficient not only for efficiency, but also for strict efficiency.


This study aimed to establish the separation and purification technology of total saponins from Polygonatum cyrtonema Hua.One-factor-at-a-time and orthogonal experiments were used to investigate the optimal ultrasonic-assisted extraction process of saponins,and then n-butanol and macroporous resin XAD4 were used to purify the saponins.The orthogonal experiment showed that an ultrasonic-assisted extraction of the best conditions for saponins: ethanol concentration 75%,material/liquid ratio 1:20,extracting time 50min and repeat extraction 2 times.The factors affecting extraction ratio were material/liquid ratio ethanol concentration extraction times extracting time.The best way to purify saponins was first to purify with water saturation normal butanol and then to reoccupy the purification with macroporous resin XAD4,to achieve the purity of 95.33%.This method is also the important reference for the extraction and purification saponins of other Chinese herb medicine.


Hymenoscyphus caudatus (P. Karst.) Dennis is given as new record for the mycobiota of Turkey. The macro and micromorphological characters of the species are provided together with the localities of collection, voucher numbers and the photographs related to its macro and micromorphologies. .


The effects of planting density on the growth of Crocus sativus were studied.The results showed that the differences of the growth period and plant height of C.sativus under different planting densities were little.There were no obvious differences in the length of flower stems,flower diameter,leaf number and length under different planting densities.when the plant spacing was 12 cm×10 cm,the dry weights of stigma and stamen were the highest,and the dry weights of petals was higher.The suitable planting density of C.sativus was 12 cm×10 cm in production.


The three southern border provinces of Thailand are unique with their own language and cultural identity. Most students speak Thai as a second language. Such conditions, educators put their effort seeking appropriate methods of teaching Thai language to the context of those areas. This research aims to develop the administrative model of professional learning communities to improve teaching skills of elementary school teachers in the three southern border provinces. The study was guided by two main questions: (1) what are the components of the PLC administrative model?; and (2) how should the model be developed in improving Thai teachers' teaching ability? A mixed-methods approach was employed, which consists of document analyses to identify the elements of the PLC administrative model, and then to synthesize the preliminary model. After that the researcher examined the suitability and feasibility of the model by using in-depth interviews with 17 key informants; focus group with 20 experts; and questionnaires with 705 school administrators and Thai language teachers from elementary schools in those three southern border provinces. Research data were analyzed using frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, and content analysis. The preliminary results revealed that the PLC administrative model for the development of Thai language teachers' teaching skills in those areas should comprise four main stages: (1) planning for establishing the objectives of a collaborative team and guidelines for action; (2) implementing the action plan into classroom practices along with teachers' shared learning and experiences, (3) investigating the performances of teachers by using methods of supervision, monitoring, and evaluation, and 4) rectifying all practices to improve the model for the sustainable development of Thai language teachers in the three southern border provinces. The results suggest that each stage of the effective model should be interrelated to the PLC principle. For better conclusion, the model is further experimented within two participative schools. Keywords: Professional Learning Community, Thai Language, Teaching Capacity, Southern Border Province.


: Nitric oxide (NO) radicals are a common reactive intermediates and byproducts of incomplete combustion of fossil fuels, are present in the atmosphere and interstellar medium, and are an important contributor to urban smog. Using high-level theoretical calculations, I investigated the probability that NO would be electronically quenched from its excited state via collisions with H 2 and N 2 . For H 2 , we found that all interactions were repulsive with no quenching predicted. However, collisions with N 2 showed that for nitrogen-first orientations, NO underwent electronic quenching with the lowest barrier to interaction at 111 degrees


Non-operating room anaesthesia (NORA) describes anaesthesia provided outside a traditional operating room (OR). Due
to technological advancements, increasing requirement is there for providing anaesthesia beyond operating room, outside
of safe zones for anesthetist. It comes with lot of challenges like lack of team familiarity, limited preoperative evaluation, new locations,
inadequate monitoring devices and restricted access to patients. Anaesthesia at remote locations require extreme vigilance, more expertise,
knowledge about procedures.


Based on definition of chemical potential,and the first law and the second law of thermodynamics, the basic equations of chemo-mechanical coupling problem are investigated in the present paper.The constitu- tive equations are established by using Helmholtz free energy and then the governing equations are obtained by applying integration by parts to energy functional.It is indicated that the chemo-mechanical coupling system is closed.To build the finite element formulations of the coupling problem,an equivalent integration form of the governing equations is derived from the weighted residual method.This investigation can contribute to understanding the coupling mechanism of chemical and mechanical behavior.


This book covers the proceedings of the International Conference on materials and Mechanisms of Superconductivity High Temperature Superconductors II. Some of the topics discussed are the following: flux creep - general superconductivity; Theory of high-T{sub c} superconductors; Materials chemistry of high-T {sub c} superconductors and Magnetic spin resonance.


Grafting of poly(ethyl acrylate) and its copolymers was carried out on peroxide-treated sisal fibers. Effect of reaction conditions on graft parameters like rate of graft copolymerization and % grafting were studied. The kinetics of graft copolymerization of ethyl acrylate onto peroxide-treated sisal fibers was studied, and the rate expression for the graft copolymerization was found to be Rg = k[EA]1.74[FAS]0.51. Grafting of poly(EA) and copolymers onto peroxide-treated sisal fibers was confirmed by FT-IR spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and X-ray diffraction studies. Thermal stability and percentage crystallinity of sisal fibers were enhanced with peroxide treatment and graft copolymerization.


Background : Seronegative Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) is a disorder associated with considerable diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic uncertainty for many clinicians. Objectives : The aim of this study is to elucidate clinical features at diagnosis, manifestations and treatment of patients with RA with negative serologies, as compared to a control group of patients presenting with similar polyarthralgias but diagnosed with alternative (non-RA) musculoskeletal disorders. Methods : The study was a retrospective chart review of electronic medical records from January 2003 to December 2012. Patients were identified using ICD-9 code Rheumatoid Arthritis 714.0 and at least two rheumatology clinic visits during the specified time. Charts were reviewed individually by two investigators. The inclusion criteria were a diagnosis of RA confirmed by a rheumatologist and normal values for both rheumatoid factor (RF) and anti-cyclic citrullinated protein antibodies (ACPA, third generation assay). Charts were also reviewed for eventual final diagnosis, either seronegative RA or alternate diagnosis (control group). Data were collected on demographics (sex, race, smoking status), family history of RA, and laboratory values (presence of anemia, inflammatory markers) at the time of diagnosis. The presence of erosions and synovitis identified by imaging studies was assessed. In addition, the presence of extra-articular manifestations of RA including nodules, pleural or parenchymal lung disease, eye involvement and osteoporosis was recorded. The therapies (disease modifying anti-rheumatic drug (DMARD), biologic) used to treat the seronegative RA were also reviewed. The family & smoking history and laboratory values of the seronegative RA patients were compared to the control group and analysis was done using Fisher's exact test. Results : Charts from 107 patients were reviewed. Forty-four patients were eventually classified as having an alternate diagnosis and were considered the control group. Sixty-three patients were considered to have an established clinical diagnosis of seronegative RA. Among all patients at the time of diagnosis, 25% were smokers, 13% had a family history of RA, 54% were anemic, and 76% had abnormal ESR or CRP. The RA patients had statistically higher proportion with anemia compared to controls at presentation, and statistically lower proportion with ESR elevation compared to controls ( p =0.033 and p =0.013, respectively). Seven of the 59 (11%) patients who had hand/wrist films during their care had erosions on radiography, and 6 of 13 (46%) patients who had an MRI of an extremity had findings of synovitis. Extra-articular manifestations were infrequent in this group. Forty-eight of the 62 were initiated on a DMARD, most commonly hydroxychloroquine (16% patients) or methotrexate (29% patients) or a combination of methotrexate and hydroxychloroquine therapy (35%). Of the 63 patients, 17 (27%) patients required a biologic therapy during treatment course. Conclusions : This study supports the hypothesis that clinical history and physical examination can be important determinants in helping to diagnose seronegative RA and distinguish it from other polyarthopathies. In addition to characteristic symptoms, factors which might contribute to diagnosis of RA in a patient without seropositivity include presence of anemia, and results of imaging studies.


With the widespread adoption of Wireless technology, wi-fi Access Points are deployed more and more inside buildings as well as public areas. As part of the Technology Enhanced Campus (TEC) project, this paper presents two algorithms that are used to determine wi-fi location and zone recognition around the University campus. Using the signal strength and the MAC address of the nearby Access Points, the first algorithm is based on selecting the maximum strength MAC address and the second upon selecting the minimum dot product distance between the measured MAC address vector and a set of stored vectors. The Voronoi diagrams obtained from the metrics arising from both algorithms are studied. Using test cases, results of experiments carried out to find the closest fits of vector Voronoi diagrams to the physical infrastructures and buildings are discussed.


In the process of high-speed cutting Ni-base superalloy, some precarious factors such as environment media, cutter wear and so on have great influences on the processed surface roughness, and are not easy to control. According to the microscopic cutter wear and surface roughness generated in the experiments of using different media (such as: cold wind oil-mist, cold wind and normal temperature oil-mist) to cut the alloy, the influences of different media cutting conditions on cutter wear and the surface roughness of a workpiece in the high-speed cutting Ni-base superalloy are studied, and the rule to improve the quality of surface processing of Ni-base superalloy under the condition of the cold wind high-speed cutting is revealed.


To the specialist supplier, the subject of deck coverings is deserving of considerable respect and attention if the benefits of appearance, comfort, erosion protection and insulation are to continue to be realized over the long term. The problems often encounted are described, along with some techniques and new ideas for overcoming the problems.


This article is a summary of the paper published in JCPP - Latham, R. M., K.M., & Oliver, B. R. (2017). A harsh parenting team? Maternal reports of coparenting and coercive parenting interact in association with children's disruptive behaviour. Journal of 58,


Fine needle aspiration biopsy is an extremely useful procedure for the diagnosis of germ cell tumors. Most of the subtypes can be easily recognized and differentiated from other subtypes. For difficult cases clinical pathologic correlation may be extremely helpful in establishing a precise diagnosis. Mixed germ cell tumors may cause some difficulty if one of the components is predominant. Immunohistochemistry may also play an important role in arriving at a definitive diagnosis. Diagn. Cytopathol. 16:72–77, 1997. © 1997 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


We present a framework for agent identity with a focus on structured cases and numerical levels of evidence and their handling. Our framework focuses on id-situations, where a person is judged to be the agent in some scenario, particularly a crime scene. An id-situation has a constellation of associated situations (providing what we call an id-case) to produce the objects used in it. Our idea of a situation is modeled on Barwise and Perry's situation theory. We represent our situations using semantic web notation because, for one thing, the semantic web supports a structure of partial information. From a numeric standpoint, we create a justification-based mass function from each id-situation and then combine the multiple functions we get from having multiple id-situations using Dempster-Shafer theory. The id-situations give a measure of similarity between each suspect involved and the as yet unknown criminal, which we adapt to get a mass function, with a frame of discernment that can be approximated as the list of suspects. We then refine our frame of discernment using constraints based on objects shared between the id-situation and its corresponding supporting situations.


have an unfortunate habit of developing rationales for my projects only after completing them. True to form, after finishing Soft in the Middle: The Contemporary Softcore Feature in Its Context, I noticed I had not highlighted the value of the book's soft-core focus to the forever "emerging" field of pornography studies. What follows proposes to fix this defect by articulating the benefits of "soft-core studies" to porn studies as a whole. My approach presupposes, then, that porn studies has significant handicaps. Like film historian Eric Schaefer, I consider the field both "an accepted, and legitimate, area of scholarly inquiry" ("Dirty" 89) within film and media studies and a deeply problematic area whose challenges must be faced. It doubtless comes as little shock that a scholar who has recently completed a culturally oriented genre survey believes the biggest problem facing his field is a dearth of similar studies. What may be less intuitive is my prognosis that a new focus on soft-core, which in porn studies is understudied, undertheorized, and routinely belittled, might prove beneficial to the field by encouraging other scholars to undertake ambitious projects. Ultimately, soft-core studies has this potential because genres like the contemporary soft-core feature are inexplicit forms situated in cultural and industrial "middles." Next to hard-core, soft-core is unthreatening, which makes its texts mainstream and accessible in that they are fairly easy to purchase, to consume, and to teach. Further, because it is difficult to discuss soft-core without also analyzing its shifting relations to more and less explicit sectors, a focus on soft-core yields the kind of nuance most likely to demystify porn both in classrooms and in academic publications. Before evaluating this prognosis one must grasp what porn studies is and how it fits into an academic marketplace that encourages and restricts sexualized material; What Soft-core Can Do for Porn Studies david andrews


This talk will describe an imaging system for color appearance in mesopic vision. Haploscopic color matches were carried out to investigate the color appearance under various illuminance levels, ranging from scotopic, mesopic to photopic levels. Using these experimental data, we developed a color appearance model in any illuminance level. The model takes into account of rod intrusion both in the two color opponent channels and the luminance channel so that hue, saturation and lightness change with illuminance level. Finally, we propose an imaging system that provides color appearance of any natural scene under any illuminance level.


Background: Cervical cancer is a cancer of the cervix uteri. It may present with vaginal bleeding but symptoms may be absent until the cancer is in its advanced stage. Cervix is the commonest site for female genital cancer. Cancer cervix is the most common cancer in women in developing countries where screening facilities are inadequate. This study aimed to analyze the risk factors of carcinoma cervix.
Methods: This descriptive study was conducted in Chittagong Medical College Hospital, taking 100 randomly selected patients of carcinoma cervix for one year (July 2019 to June 2020). The patients were selected from the gynae ward of Chittagong Medical College Hospital.
Results: Among the study subjects, most of the respondents (32, 32.0%) belonged to 51-60 years old followed by (24, 24.0%) 41-50 years and >60 years of age. Maximum patients (84, 84.0%) were Muslim, followed by Hindu (14, 14.0). regarding occupation, a maximum (94, 94.0%) were housewives, and concerning marital status, most (88, 88.0%) of them were married. In this study, 36 (36.0%) patients had primary education followed by (30, 30.0%) secondary education. Most of the patients' spouses (32, 32.0%) were day laborers, followed by (24, 24.0%) service holders. In 78.0% of cases, the husband lived with the patients and 12.0% were apart but within the country and 10.0% live abroad. In 14.0% of cases, the husband had another sex partner. Among the study population, 18.0% of patients were habituated to chewing tobacco. Among the 100 patients multiparity (84.0%), early marriage (36.0%) early age of first intercourse (36.0%) and below average socioeconomic group (72.0%), and high-risk male partners (28.0%), and few multiple sex partner and STDs.
Conclusions: In developing countries like Bangladesh, the majority of cases of carcinoma cervix are diagnosed at an advanced stage. Most of the cases were from poor to middle socio-economic backgrounds. Multiparity, early marriage, early age of first intercourse, and high-risk male partner were the main risk factors for the development of carcinoma cervix.


This paper describes the applying of simulation modelling as a method for verifying the decision support system and forecasting railway traffic in the dispatching management of railway transport. This decision support system would be realised using artificial intelligence methods and on the training, stage requires an additional check of those decisions. For this purpose, a railway traffic model on a test railway section was implemented using a virtual model of the railway section's infrastructure. A virtual model of the railway section infrastructure is realised using the MPC-EL microprocessor-based centralization of arrows and traffic lights. The combination of a virtual railway section and a railway traffic model form a unified system. This system making a forecast train schedule based on initial data of solutions which are received from the decision support system. The verification of solutions obtained from the DSS would check this railway schedule practicability in real conditions. An additional feature of that system supporting the ability to work on workstations with the Elbrus processor, which in turn contributes substitution to the imported component base on the Russian Railways.


Since hyperglycaemia changes fluidity of erythrocyte cell membrane and impair cell deformability, our goal was to characterize light refractive properties of haemoglobin and red blood cells (RBC) in diabetes patients. Microscopic investigation was carried out on intact and in methanol fixed RBCs of diabetes patients with long-term hyperglycaemia (glycosylated haemoglobin > 7,5%). Interference microscopy was used for refractive index (RI) measurements at 18 different pH levels in range of 2 - 13. Results showed that the curves of RI in intact and fixed cells of diabetes patients and fixed cells for control group were of similar configuration, with one branch in alkaline portion, one branch in acidic portion, and two minima and a maximum in neutral portion of pH scale. The curves of RI of intact cells of the control group were with one minimum in the neutral portion of pH scale. The curves of the individuals from the control group overlapped each other (maximum for fixed cells is at pH equals 6,3; minimum for intact cells at pH equals 7,2). On the contrary, curves of RI in RBC of diabetes patients were not uniform in the neutral portion and alkaline portion (maximum for fixed and intact cells at pH equals 6,9). The curves of RI in RBC of diabetes patients in the neutral zone was shifted towards the alkaline end of the pH scale, and the curves of RI of RBC were lower compared to the control curves.


During the coating of large-aperture mirror especially that is applied to astronomical telescope, the configuration of coating system is very important to satisfying the expected performance indices of thin film coating. Generally,the configuration of coating system is to be designed specially according to the size of mirror, coating scheme and relevant technical parameters. With various experience at home and abroad absorped for large-aperture mirror coating and taking account of the characteristics of the LAMOST sub-mirror coating, the requirements of various performance indices of film coating when updating the Al film layers of the sub-mirror are analyzed. A preliminary plan of configuration of coating system is thus proposed, which is regarded as feasible.


Sensitization to the house-dust mite is one of the most important risk factors for asthma (1), and a dose-response relationship between exposure to house-dust-mite allergens and asthma as well as asthma severity has been shown by several authors (2-5). In contrast to widely distributed environmental allergens, such as allergens from pollen and from furred pets, residential exposure to domestic mite allergens should be possible to limit. Tlie likelihood of mite-allergen exposure varies according to geographic conditions. This has been shown by comparison of inland with coastal regions, highwith low-altitude areas, and a warm/humid with a cold, dry winter climate (Fig. 1) (3, 6-8).


HIGH-ENERGY PHYSICSEurope's premiere accelerator laboratory has elected a director general without training in particle physics but skilled in managing large projects. That's no accident: CERN's governing council made it clear last week that building the Large Hadron Collider on time and within budget is the lab's top priority, with everything else--including a streamlined research portfolio--taking a back seat.


An isolated 4-level DC-DC converter is proposed to achieve complete zero-voltage-switching (ZVS) adaptability of all active switches while remaining output voltage flexibility of the phase-shifted converters for the high-power universal fast charger applications. A dedicated four-level modulation scheme ensures that the peaks of magnetizing currents of the two H - bridges at primary side are independent of load current and voltage, and phase variations. The magnetizing to leakage inductance ratios of the leading and lagging transformers are improved to be 100 and 25 respectively and the additional series inductors are eliminated. As a result, the circulating current, duty cycle loss and stress on snubber circuit are reduced significantly. The sizing of the output inductor is also decreased because of the 4-level operation. A 30kW isolated DC-DC converter with 7.2kW/L power density (cooling inclusive), 98.5 % peak efficiency, flexible 165V-680V output voltage verifies the features and feasibility of the proposed H8 tonology and four-level modulation scheme.


A liquid gallium electrode confined in a porous carbon matrix was prepared by vaporization and pyrolysis of Ga(III)-phthalocyanine chloride on a nanosized Ga 2 O 3 powder surface, which was followed by carbothermal reduction of Ga 2 O 3 by a carbon matrix. When the electrode was charge/discharge cycled, the liquid Ga component was restored to its original liquid state at the final stage of delithiation, such that any electrode failure modes, for instance, crack formation and electric disconnection that are caused by severe volume change associated with multistage, solid-state Li x Ga (0 < x ≤ 2) phase transitions, are self-healed by cohesion between liquid Ga droplets.


The hydrocarbon in Mesozoic and Palaeozoic stratum in Tongwang area of Dongying depression mainly came from the Es_4、Es_3 and Ek2 source rock of Cenozoic stratum in Niuzhuang sag.The hydrocarbon generated from Cenozoic source rock migrated to Mesozoic and Palaeozoic carbonates and fragmental reservoir rock driven by the abnormal pressure through fault,unconformable surface and sandstone conveyer system.According to the oil-source features,source rock-reservoir-cap rock assemblages and conveyance system characteristics,the model of pool-forming in Mesozoic and Palaeozoic in Tongwang area of Dongying depression is summed up as the newer source,older reservoir,and complex migration.The fault reservoir,unconformable surface reservoir and the lithologic reservoir are the main types of reservoir in Tongwang area.


In todays multicultural society that we live in, many of the pre-school children in Sweden comes from other countries. The purpose of my work is to obtain knowledge about bi- and multilinguality, c ...


Measurement of thermal expansion and contraction of a solid material during heating and cooling is done using dilatometer. To obtain best results dilatometers are operated under vacuum or inert atmosphere. The physical and chemical characteristics are inferred from the dilation of the material. It helps to study the properties of the sintered material and the phase transition of the solid material. Few authors also developed a customized dilatometer for their research applications. This paper deals with those different designs, the various material characteristics providing adequate data to make researchers identify the new area of research for the dissimilar materials. The thermo physical chemical property studies based on the dilatometer are reviewed in this paper.


Next Generation Networks implies the need for new types of network managers. One approach creates a scalable, distributed Traffic Manager (TM) that can be programmed on demand. The core component is an efficient Queue Manager (QM) which is typically proprietary and costly. In this paper, a new QM architecture is given which is scalable and can adapt to changing network conditions. The design and implementation using current FPGA technology is outlined; performance and area figures are included as well as details of the implementation on the recently announced, NetFPGA-10G development board.


This paper discusses the mechanical properties of materials fabricated from commercially available powders designed for use as a metal matrix of diamond-impregnated composites. The powders with the catalogue numbers CSA and CSA800 produced in China were tested under laboratory conditions. The specimens were fabricated in a graphite mould using hot pressing. The materials were analysed for density, porosity, hardness and static tensile strength. A scanning electron microscope (SEM) was employed to observe the microstructure and fracture surfaces of the specimens. The experimental data was used to determine how the chemical composition of the powders and the process parameters affected the microstructure and properties of the materials. The properties of the sintered materials produced from the Chinese powders were compared with the properties reported for specimens fabricated from cobalt powder (Co SMS). Even though the hot pressed CSA and CSA800 powders had inferior mechanical properties to their cobalt analogue, they seem well-suited for general-purpose diamond-impregnated tools with less demanding applications.


Riboflavin (vitamin B2) is the precursor of flavin mononucleotide (FMN) and flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD), which are essential cofactors for intracellular redox reactions and play important role in cellular physiology including iron acquisition, extracellular respiration, and interspecies interactions. Microorganisms synthesize flavin to fulfill their nutritional requirements. Flavins are important for assimilatory iron reduction in Campylobacter jejuni, Helicobacter pylori. Genes involved in riboflavin pathway are found to be essential in Helicobacter species and enzymes of this pathway can be potential drug target against cancer caused by Helicobacter sps. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that this gene, renamed ribBX misannotated as ribBA because putative GTP cyclohydrolase II domain lacks catalytic activity. The persistence of ribBX gene in divergent bacterial genomes shows that it has evolved a function which leads a selective advantage to the host. In Helicobacter pylori 26695, we characterized N-terminal domain of ribBX as DHBPS. Gel filtration and crystal structure reveals that N-terminal domain exists as monomer. We attempted structural characterization of bifunctional enzyme encoded by ribBX gene from other homologous organisms. A partial structure of low resolution (4.2Å) shows that over all fold of hribBX enzyme remains same with bifunctional DHBPS/ GCHII but lacks GCHII function. This natural C-terminal truncation leads to loss of function or different function of C-terminal domain.


This study was designed to examine the effects of two independent variables on Koreans' perceptions of counseling performance. The first independent variable, counseling style, consisted of having subjects rate the performance of either a directive or a nondirective counselor. The second independent variable was status configuration, which also consisted of two levels: congruent status (an older counselor interacting with a younger client) and incongruent status (a younger counselor interacting with an older client). Subjects were asked to rate the counselors' performance on two measures of counseling performance, which served as the dependent variables for the study. The resulting 2 x 2 completely randomized multivariate analysis revealed a significant effect only for counseling style. This finding is generally consistent with other related studies and suggests that some traditional approaches to counseling and psychotherapy may need to be modified when working with Korean clients. The nonsignificant finding for status configuration is not conclusive. The use of written rather than live stimulus situations and/or prior exposure to American culture may account, at least in part, for this result. Further research on the status configuration effect is therefore recommended.


Purpose: To reveal the role of high energy of slope relief in the formation and differentiation of modern mountain geosystems of the Southeastern slope of the Greater Caucasus by assessing the degree of horizontal dissection, slopes of slopes and landscape-morphometric tension of territories with various landscape complexes with subsequent mapping of the ecogeographic situation in order to ensure rational land use and environmental safety. Methodology and Approach: On the basis of field and office studies, data on the state of the soil and vegetation cover, the author analyzed the impact of morphometric indicators on the exodynamic conditions of landscape belts, identified individual landscape-morphological blocks according to the degree of morphometric tension, schematic maps reflecting the impact of horizontal dissection and slopes of slopes on the natural complexes of the territory. Results: The author, through a comparative analysis of quantitative morphometric indicators from different ranks of landscape complexes, showed that there is a close correlation between them, i.e. differentiation, fragmentation and small contour of mountain landscape geosystems, and each landscape unit is distinguished by its own morphometric indicators, which also determine their exogeodynamic stability. It was revealed that the highest intensity of 5 points is characteristic of the territory covering steep slopes within the heights, which are characterized by the development of subnival, alpine meadow and subalpine complexes. The results of field and office studies were reflected in the compiled cartographic materials, which made it possible to carry out a spatial analysis of the development of the exodynamic situation on the territory of the southeastern slope of the Greater Caucasus. Theoretical and Practical implications: Based on the generalization of the results of the research carried out, the territories most exposed to exogenous relief-forming processes can be identified, a more detailed study is carried out and the exodynamic situation is more objectively assessed. The results of the study will make it possible to carry out effective economic planning, to identify priority areas for the implementation of anti-erosion and phyto-reclamation measures in mountain areas.


Ceramic Catalytic Turbine (CCT) Technology is expected to become an important means to reduce vehicle emissions, especially during engine warm-up. In this paper, catalytic reaction was numerically simulated in 3D for a CCT on a gasoline engine during the warm-up period. The results showed that turbulence in the turbine promotes catalytic activity; CCT starts to significantly affect exhaust pollution since turbine inlet temperature of 550 K; the conversion efficiency of harmful gas in exhaust rises sharply when turbine inlet reaches 575–625 K; when the inlet temperature is about 720 K, the conversion efficiencies of C3H6, CO, and NO reach 23.7%, 21.1%, and 15.5%, respectively. Meanwhile the gas temperature is increased by about 30 K at turbine outlet. In addition, during the process of numerical modeling and calculation, it is found that minor change in boundary layer thickness has a negligible impact on the simulation. However, an extremely thin boundary layer will cause computational divergence. The intensity of catalytic reaction can influence the convergence of numerical calculation, while the moving average of the catalytic reaction with the turbine inlet temperature, in return, can reveal the catalytic light-off process.


A study was conducted to determine the reliability of lead free solder joints and wire bonds when ENEPIG is used as the surface finish. Different palladium and gold thicknesses were evaluated and their subsequent effects on the composition of the inter-metallic compound (IMC) and the wire bond strength were determined. Optimum thicknesess for lead free soldering and wire bonding were identified. A thickness range were both activities can be completed with high reliability was determined. The IMC was studied for both Sn-3.5Ag and for Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu (SAC305) solder alloys, in an attempt to explain the difference in solder joint reliability between the two lead free solders.


The new infinite chain compound Ta{sub 4}SiTe{sub 4} has been prepared by reaction of the elements at high temperature. The structure was refined in the orthorhombic space group Pbam with Z = 4 and lattice constants a = 10.536 (3), b = 18.275 (5), and c = 4.799 (1) {angstrom} to a final R = 6.1 %, R{sub W} = 8.2%. Ta{sub 4}SiTe{sub 4} is a new structure type and represents a new class of compounds, Ta{sub 4}ZTe{sub 4}, with Z = Cr, Fe, Co, Ni, Al, or Si. The structure consists of Si-centered chains of antiprismatically stacked Ta squares that are edge bridged by Te. 18 refs., 2 figs., 3 tabs.


Three-component condensation of an aliphatic aldehyde, 1,3-dicarbonyl compound and urea proceeds efficiently in absolute ethanol under refluxing temperature using zinc methanesulfonate as a catalyst to afford corresponding 3,4-dihydropyrimidinone. The catalyst can be reused for several times without distinct decrease in reaction yields. The procedure is very useful for the synthesis of dihydropyrimidinones with a wide range of aliphatic aldehydes.


Abstract: This article is a summary of a three-stage quality improvement project aimed to raise awareness and provide basic knowledge for the early identification and appropriate referral of suspic...