Seismic interferometry by crosscorrelation has found wide application over the last decade. With which, the Green's function is retrieved between two receiver positions. Because the bulk of the ambient seismic field consists of surface wave energy, most applications in seismology utilize the surface wave part of the Green's function. The correct reconstruction of interferometric (surface wave) responses, however, relies on a number of assumptions to be fulfilled. Violation of these assumptions reduces the accuracy of the retrieved responses. Seismic interferometry by multidimensional deconvolution (MDD) has been shown to improve the retrieved response on synthetic data. A point-spread function (PSF) computed from the same ambient noise is deconvolved from the response acquired by crosscorrelation and the result is a better focused response. In this thesis, it is demonstrated with numerical modeling that seismic interferometry by MDD yields better results than seismic interferometry by crosscorrelation. Moreover, a different formulation of the underlying theory is considered. The new formulation obviates the need to separate in-and outgoing wavefields, which is a drawback of the original formulation. The MDD method resulting from the new formulation is also numerically tested and subsequently applied to the data recorded by a passive deployment of broadband sensors (Transportable USArray) along the east of the continental USA. Limited response improvement is achieved mainly due to two reasons: receivers aparature (large nominal receiver spacing/limited width and height of receivers array) and illumination gaps.


INTRODUCTION: CHINA'S STRATEGIC INTERESTS IN THE MIDDLE EASTEnergy SecurityChina's interest in the Middle East is first and foremost energy-driven.1 In 1993, when it became a net oil importer for the first time, Beijing embarked on a "go out" (zhouchuqu) policy to procure energy assets abroad to feed its growing economy. The legitimacy of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) rests on continued economic growth and delivering a rising standard of living for the Chinese population. As a corollary, China is also concerned about security of energy supply lines and Sea Lines of Communication (SLOCS). Because the United States is considered its main opponent in the international system, China is wary of U.S. naval dominance and the risk of choking China's energy supply through the Malacca Straits should hostilities break out over Taiwan. This is referred to as the "Malacca Dilemma," where 80 percent of China's oil imports traverse this chokepoint that is vulnerable to piracy and U.S. blockade. Indeed, given increasing tension in the three flash points of the South China Sea, the Korean Peninsula and the Taiwan Straits, this concern is even more pressing for the Chinese leadership.Market AccessThe Middle East is also a strategic logistics and trade hub for China's exports and market access in Europe and Africa. China understands the importance of having strong economic foundations for military power and sees that continued market access for their exports to fuel China's economy would build up their war chest to further underwrite military modernization.2 The EU is currently China's largest trading partner ahead of the United States.3 Moreover, China also has vast interests on the African continent-both via infrastructure projects and long-term energy supply contracts. More than 1 million Chinese are in Africa (up from about 100,000 in the early 2000s), with trade at $120 billion in 2011.4 In 2009, China overtook the United States to become Africa's number one trading partner.5 As such, the Middle East is a strategic region that connects Europe, Africa, and Asia markets.Thus, given the Middle East's location as a trade hub linking the three continents, a vital region for market access, and site of vast energy reserves to fuel China's continued economic growth, the CCP deems the Middle East as a high priority on its foreign policy agenda. As the United States "pivots" towards Asia, China will naturally seek strategic depth in areas that were once dominated by the United States and its Western allies. This is even more so in the aftermath of the Arab Spring.Strategic Foothold Post Arab SpringThe Arab Spring caught China by surprise, and Beijing has not fared well in its aftermath. Director General of Chinese Foreign Ministry's African Affairs Department Lu Shaye expressed China's fear that Western military intervention in crucial energy markets could eventually restrict Beijing's access to oil and gas.6 In a 2011 interview regarding Libya, he expressed concerns that European-led [NATO] intervention in Libya was a thinly veiled gambit to restore waning western influence in Africa.7 China had to evacuate over 36,000 Chinese nationals from Libya and lost over $20 billion in investments when the Qadhafiregime was ousted.As such, there is an uptick of writing in the Chinese press arguing for change in the traditional non-interference stance in China's foreign policy.8 China is now more proactive in its Middle East diplomacy and wants to ensure its previous contracts are protected in the post-Arab Spring regimes as well as obtain a foothold for Chinese firms while Western firms evacuate from these regions or are reticent to invest due to uncertainty. China, with its state-owned companies backed by its $3.3 trillion war chest, is adept at filling in the vacuum in these "minefields" in order to sustain economic growth, since Western businesses have virtually monopolized relatively "safe" regions elsewhere. …


The proliferation of social media has the potential for changing the structure and organization of the web. In the past, scientists have looked at the web as a large connected component to understand how the topology of hyperlinks correlates with the quality of information contained in the page and they proposed techniques to rank information contained in web pages. We argue that information from web pages and network data on social relationships can be combined to create a personalized and socially connected web. In this paper, we look at the web as a composition of two networks, one consisting of information in web pages and the other of personal data shared on social media web sites. Together, they allow us to analyze how social media tunnels the flow of information from person to person and how to use the structure of the social network to rank, deliver, and organize information specifically for each individual user. We validate our social ranking concepts through a ranking experiment conducted on web pages that users shared on Google Buzz and Twitter.


Langmuir–Blodgett (LB) films of 5-(4-dibutylaminobenzylidene)-2-octadecyl-5,6,7,8-tetrahydroisoquinolinium octadecylsulfate, co-deposited in a 1 ∶ 1 ratio with octadecanoic acid and sandwiched between gold electrodes, have shown asymmetric current–voltage characteristics with an optimum rectification ratio of 70 at ±1 V; the use of noble metal electrodes provides unambiguous evidence of molecular rectification.


Introduction: Berg Balance Scale is a commonly used outcome measure in patients with stroke. But certain items in the scale when performed on affected or unaffected side may score differently. Procedure: It was an observational study on 50 patients with stroke. Berg Balance scale was administered on these patients. 6 items in the scale were performed first with affected side BBS-A and then with unaffected side BBS-NA. Rest was performed with routine procedure. Results: Item wise and cumulative means were calculated and ICC was computed for each. Cumulative score was statistically significantly different between BBS A and BBS NA (ICC=0.23). Item wise also there were significant differences between the scores. Conclusion: Results of the study indicates that there is a difference in the scores obtained when some items are performed with affected or non-affected extremity.


Patterns of behavioral development in closely related North American Canis have been studied extensively. Developmental trends have been used to assess species-typical social organization and taxonomic relationships in wolves (C. lupus) , coyotes (C. latrans) and domestic dogs (C. familiaris) . Despite its species designation, the taxonomic status of the closely related red wolf (C. rufus) is fiercely debated and a hybrid origin (C. lupus x C. latrans) bas been proposed. The objective of the current study therefore was to analyze growth and behavioral development patterns in the red wolf and perform general comparisons to trends previously documented in wolves and coyotes. Two captive born red wolf (Canis rufus) litters (litter 1: n=5 pups, 2 adults; litter 2: n=4 pups, 2 adults) were observed from 28-50 days of age. Data were collected on the form, frequency and duration of select pup-pup and pup-adult social interactions as well as pup-object play. Growth patterns and trends of physical development were also examined in litter 1. Growth patterns were consistent with that reported for other closely related canid species: age at eyeopening, age of independent urinary and defecation control, and the consumption of solid food were similar to that documented for wolves and coyotes. Red wolf pup weights were intermediate to that described for wolves and coyotes. Teeth erupted on average later and in a different order than that previously described in coyotes. Observed behavioral trends were intermediate to that of coyotes and wolves and shared characteristics of each. The form of pup behavior patterns did not differ qualitatively from that previously documented for either gray wolves or coyotes. However, pups simultaneously exbibited"species-specific" behavior patterns previously attributed to both wolves (leap leap, prolonged jaw wrestling) and coyotes (inguinal response, defensive gape). Early red wolf social interactions were predominantly agonistic and primarily in the form of threats rather than overt aggression. There was no evidence of a dominance hierarchy in either litter. In both litters, the frequency of play increased concurrently with a decrease in frequency of agonistic interactions. Individual differences were not noted in the frequency of play or aggression in either litter; however, the two litters differed significantly in the frequency of play and aggression. Object play followed the differential development of play and aggression. Early object play wac; noniv social (pup-object) and peaked during the transitional period during which the frequency of aggression was decreasing and social play increasing. Social object play (pup-pup-object) was observed later in development as reciprocal social play also increased. Adult-pup interactions varied by litter. In general, pups spent more time in proximity to the female than the male throughout the study period in both litters; however proximity to each adult changed over time. Initially, pups spent more time in proximity to the female. As pups aged, the amount of time spent in proximity to the female decreased while proximity to the male and both the male and female increased. In litter 1, adult-pup agonistic interactions were observed almost to the exclusion of other interactions. Conversely, investigative and afflliative interactions predominated in litter 2. In both litters, male-pup interactions were frequent. In sum, the patterns of physical and behavioral development in the red wolves observed in this study share similarities with both gray wolves and coyotes. Therefore, the data presented do not exclude a hybrid origin hypothesis. Suggestions for further research include the development of play and agonistic action patterns from days 21-28 as well as post 50 days of age, further investigation of subtle indicators of dominance and increased numbers of subjects.


The drift of stream insects and other invertebrates refers to their down stream transport in stream currents. While stream invertebrates are adapted by various means for maintaining their position in running waters, it is to be expected that the occasional individual will lose its altachmeIt or orien tation to its substrate and drift downstream. However, it IS only"within the last 20 years that observations have been made of large number§-of aquatic insects in the drift. The quantities have been large enough to bring into question the stream's productive capacity to withstand such a high rate of attrition and the possible necessity for an upstream return of some kind. Furthermore, it has interested many ecologists that the drift usually occurs in some type of diel periodicity. and that probably d�adian rhythms are involved. It should be emphasized at the beginning that a "drif�--fauna," as distinct from the bottom fauna, does not exist and is, in fact, an inappropriate term. Drifting is merely a temporary event in the life of many members of the bottom fauna or other substrate-oriented populations. Among the earliest studies on invertebrate drift were those of Needham in 1928 (84), who was primarily concerned with the drift of terrestrial in sects that fell onto the stream surface, as a fish food source. But, in captur ing these organisms with a net stretched across a small stream, he also col lected drifting aquatic forms. Several other investigations on drift were completed in the next two decades, leading to the conclusion that a continu ous drift of invertebrates must be considered a natural feature of streams (18, 19, 50, 59). Subsequent investigations, both in the United States and Europe, revealed the presence of large quantities of invertebrates in the drift (5, 42). But the contribution having perhaps the greatest impact in stimulating interest and research into the subject was published in 1954 by Miiller on the drift in north Swedish streams (74). In this work, Miiller also reported large quantities, even in a very small stream, and made obser vations on the qualitative relationships among drift, the bottom fauna, and


Cloud computing is an emerging technology which enables the cloud users to access the computing resources without having to pay huge capital expenses to scale up the IT infrastructure and reduces the management cost, in both hardware and software. A cloud introduces a resource rich computing model with features such as flexibility, pay per use, elasticity, scalability, and others. In this context, auto scaling and elasticity are methods used to assure the efficient use of resources. There are many factors related to the auto scaling mechanism that might affect the performance of the cloud services. Unfortunately, existing approaches to improve the performance of the cloud services are inadequate. In this paper, we proposed a mechanism called "automatic healing of services in a cloud computing environment" in which server downs are avoided and in turn, preserving the data loss. To prevent data loss during server crashes, we implemented a method of two folds. One is monitoring the process running on Port/PID, checking the CPU, Disk and memory within the instance and taking respective actions. Second one is automating the process mentioned in the first step. While monitoring, we got to know which service reaches CPU utilization 90%. Then automatic resume of such service takes place, avoiding server downs. One more contribution of our paper is users can define their own rules based on which actions will be triggered according to the requirement. We implemented our method in AWS cloud where CloudWatch is the monitoring tool. Likewise the proposed method can be implemented in any of the clouds. Compared with the previous efforts, our method is efficient and yields better results.


An accurate prediction of heat transfer is crucial in many engineering applications and a typical representative is heat transfer of impinging jets. The present study addresses numerical simulations using three Scale-Resolving-Simulation methods, namely the Detached Eddy Simulation, Large Eddy Simulation and the Partially Averaged Navier-Stokes. The study focus on the influence of a local grid refinement on predicted heat transfer. The closest match with experimental data was achieved with DES and PANS (fk = 0.5) models for all computational grids. The grid refinement led to an improvement of predicted results for LES and PANS with a high physical resolution (fk = 0.25).


The renewable energy (e.g., solar photovoltaic)‐based grid‐connected microgrid (MG) with composite energy storage system (CESS) is feasible to ensure sustainable and quality power to the commercial and domestic load demands. Effective control systems provide the dynamic performance of such deployed MGs. This paper investigates the application of the finite control‐set model predictive controller (FCS‐MPC) for solar photovoltaic‐based grid‐connected MGs with composite energy storage. FCS‐MPC considers the discrete nature of interfacing (DC–AC and DC–DC) converters into the control algorithm to predict the optimal control command for reference current tracking. Compared to classical control approaches, FCS‐MPC provides a fast‐dynamic response, discards the modulation stage, and effectively handles the effects of dynamic source and load variations and nonlinear loads. The control system encapsulates a proportional–integral (PI) controller, low‐pass filter (LPF), power management algorithm (PMA) unit, and followed by the FCS‐MPC approach. The CESS unit consists of a battery and supercapacitor storage system. The efficacy of the FCS‐MPC approach is verified through the MATLAB/Simulink results. Solar photovoltaic variation due to irradiance, utility grid availability, electricity pricing, and dynamic load variations are considered in the implementation. Furthermore, real‐time simulation of the proposed method is validated using OPAL‐RT OP4510 real‐time simulator.


The article considers the civil education in a teaching and educational process as a management system. The basis of the model is an interaction of all kinds of activities (curricular, extracurricular and extra training) in a teaching and educational process of a secondary vocational institution.


Hartmut Klauck received a Diplom (Master's degree) in computer science from the University of Paderborn in 1995, and a PhD in computer Science from Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität in 2000 (Advisor: Georg Schnitger). He was then a postdoctoral fellow at CWI (Amsterdam), spent the year 2002-2003 at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, and another year as postdoc at the University of Calgary. From 2004-2008, he led a "Junior Research Group" at the University of Frankfurt before joining Singapore's Centre for Quantum Technologies this year. His research interests include complexity theory, in particular communication complexity, and quantum computation.


Objective To investigate the similarities and differences of incomplete Kawasaki disease and typical Kawasaki disease,in order to provide basis for early diagnosis and treatment.Methods The clinical and laboratory data of 60 children with Kawasaki disease were retrospectively analyzed.Results The incidence rate of symptoms in clinical diagnostic criteria was lower in incomplete Kawasaki disease than that in typical Kawasaki disease(x2 =16.46,10.10,11.71,34.43,all P < 0.01).No statistical differences of leukocytes,platelet,erythrocyte sedim-entation rate and C-reactive protein were found in the incomplete Kawasaki disease and typical Kawasaki disease(x2 =0.04,0.12,0.04,0.26,all P > 0.05).The incidence rate of coronary artery lesions had significant difference between incomplete Kawasaki disease and typical Kawasaki disease (x2 =31.43,P < 0.01).Conclusion The early diagnosis of Kawasaki disease could be confirmed by representative clinical characteristics,laboratory examination and ultrasound cardiogram.

Key words:
Kawasaki disease ;  Clinical manifestation ;  Laboratory examination


Image segmentation is the most important key in tracking processing of infrared imaging precise guidance. For the segmentation of forward-looking infrared (FLIR) images, a new method was proposed, which uses Wiener filter to suppress background and enhance target, then uses the C-V model to perform segmentation. The C-V model was improved on segmentation ability and precision. A new energy constructing method was proposed that using multi-characteristic information to divide homogeneity region in image. Experimental result shows that the presented method can more effectively and integrally extract the target than the method of traditional C-V model under low contrast condition, and reduce the influence of background greatly.


Objective To investigate whether plasma D-dimer could be used as a predictor for preeclampsia.Methods The medical records of 85 healthy,47 mild preeclampsia and 27 severe preeclampsia pregnant women were retrospectively reviewed.The predictive value of plasma D-dimer levels at 10~15 week during pregnancy was evaluated by receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curve analysis approach.Results Increased plasma D-dimer was observed in preeclampsia pregnancy women,and severe preeclampsia patients have higher D-dimer than mild ones.The area under curve(AUC)of D-dimer for preeclampsia was 0.71(95%CI:0.63-0.79).The predictive sensitivity and specificity were 0.58(95%CI:0.46-0.69)and 0.81(95%CI:0.71-0.89),respectively,at the optimal threshold of 396.5 μg/L.The corresponding predictive odds ration was 5.98.Conclusion Plasma D-dimer at 10~15 week during pregnancy is a useful marker for preeclampsia prediction.


Objective: To summarize and evaluate the clinical curative effect of small incision mini locking fixation combined with traditional Chinese medicine in the treatment of intra- articular calcaneal fractures. Methods: 23 patients with intra- articular calcaneal fracture in our hospital from June 2011 to October 2012 were selected and all pre- operative cases were evaluated the calcaneal radiography and three- dimensional CT scan was used to determine the fracture types and articular surface involvement. After the injury to 2- 5 days( mean 3 ± 1. 2 days),small incision and plate fixation were used,staging to give oral medicine after operation. Postoperative follow- up and the United States of America Ankle Surgery Association( AOFAS) score standard of comprehensive evaluation of patients were used. Results: All cases were followed up for 6- 12 months( mean 10 2. 6 months). The incision healing was I / A,no infection and necrosis of skin and internal fixation failure cases. The last followed- up after operation of calcaneal Bhler angle,Gissane angle and calcaneal width was significantly better than that before operation and the difference was statistically significant( P 0. 05). Clinical efficacy was excellent in 17 feet,good in 5 feet,effective in 1 foot,difference in 0 feet and the excellent rate was 95%. Conclusion: Open reduction and locking plate fixation with percutaneous screws via a limited tarsal sinus incision combined with traditional Chinese medicine is a safe and reliable treatment for intra- articular calcaneal fracture,because it has the advantages of direct reduction of the articular surface,solid fixation,and limited soft tissue complication.


In this paper we develop a new limiter for linear reconstruction on non-coordinate-aligned meshes in two space dimensions, with focus on Cartesian embedded boundary grids. Our limiter is inherently two dimensional and linearity preserving. It separately limits the $x$ and $y$ components of the gradient, as opposed to a scalar limiter which limits all components simultaneously with one scalar. The limiter is based on solving a tiny linear program (LP) on each cell, using a very efficient version of the simplex method. A variety of computational results on triangular and embedded boundary meshes are presented. They demonstrate that the LP limiter successfully removes oscillations and significantly increases solution accuracy compared to a scalar limiter.


Using nuclear magnetic resonance, Wyrwicz et al. studied the washin and elimination of halothane and isoflurane in the brains of rabbits (1,2). They found that the rate of cerebral elimination of halothane was slower than the rate previously determined (3) , and was also slower than the rate that would be predicted from data on solubility and cerebral blood flow (4). One explanation for the finding of Wyrwicz et al. is that the solubility (solventigas partition coefficient) of halothane and isoflurane in blood is higher than that reported (5-7). Most studies of solubility have applied partial pressures at approximately 1 MAC. Such studies may underestimate solubility if saturable binding sites are present at the lower partial pressures that exist during the elimination of anesthetics. The presence of binding sites in blood and muscle has been demonstrated for xenon (8) and cyclopropane (9,lO). If there are binding sites in blood for halothane and isoflurane, anesthetic solubility might be relatively greater at the lower partial pressures obtained during elimination. We have tested this possibility in the present report.


This research sought to study the act of naming in the context of the Old Testament using speech act theory. To analyze naming as presented in the Old Testament, I first studied the Hebrew words qārāʾ and šēm, creating from my findings the following extended definition: (naming is) the act of giving a name within particular specified circumstances by one with authority over the name-receiver, whose authority is respected by others such that the name spoken is hence used to identify and represent the receiver. This, along with an understanding of Alston (2000) and the example of Arcadi (2013), shaped a schema of illocutionary rules and conditions that I then tested in nine case studies of naming throughout the Old Testament. Key components include particular circumstances, necessary conditions and authority, and the occurrence within a community. Ultimately, I conclude naming as presented in the Old Testament is in fact a speech act that is subject to particular rules and carries great importance.


We are writing to address the retraction of five papers on structural studies of ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters—three in Science (G. Chang et al. , "Retraction," Letters, 22 Dec. 2006, p. [1875][1]), one in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ([1][2]), and one in the


Silicon carbide (SiC) resistive hydrogen gas sensors have been fabricated and tested. NiCr planar ohmic contacts were deposited on both a 4μm 3C–SiC epitaxial film grown on n-type Si(001) and directly on Si to form the resistive sensor structures. Detection at concentrations as low as 0.33% and as high as 100% (H2 in Ar) was observed with the 3C–SiC sensor while the Si sensor saturated at 40%. The 3C–SiC sensors show a remarkable range of sensitivity without any saturation effects typically seen in other solid-state hydrogen gas sensors. Under a constant 2V bias, these sensors demonstrated an increase in current up to 17mA upon exposure to pure H2. Preliminary experiments aimed at determining the gas sensing mechanism of these devices have been conducted and are also reported.


(57) [summary] was identified an antagonist of glucagon-like peptide 2. It describes the effect on the growth of gastrointestinal tissue. Its formulation as a medicament, and describes the therapeutic and related uses in the treatment of body disease. Also describes a method for identification of an antagonist of the glucagon-like peptide 2.


Since overproduction of estrogens could conceivably play a role in the pathologic physiology of Cushing's syndrome, an attempt was made to isolate, identify, and quantitate the urinary estrogens excreted by a 58-year-old postmenopausal woman with metastatic adrenocortical carcinoma and Cushing's syndrome. By means of countercurrent distribution and paper chromatography, estrone and estriol were identified and isolated in a fluorometrically homogeneous form. During the control period the patient excreted 5.7 micrograms of estrone and 34.2 micrograms of estriol daily as measured by photofluorometry. Upon the administration of ACTH, the excretion of estrone increased 12-fold and that of estriol 5-fold. The isolated estrogens were assayed for biologic activity and the positive results were in reasonable agreement quantitatively with the fluorometric measurements. The acetate derivatives of the isolated estrogens were prepared, and their behavior upon paper chromatography was found to be identical with that of...


Whether the early reduction in nuclear TDP-43 that occurs prior to degenerative pathology in motor neurones causes significant cellular abnormality is the focus of a new study in this issue. As patients with C9ORF72 repeat expansions are known to have additional RNA abnormalities and unique protein translation, Highley and colleagues microdissected lower motor neurons from sporadic motor neuron disease and those with C9ORF72 gene abnormalities and compared the mRNA content with controls. Widespread aberrations of mRNA and altered expression of mRNA splicing machinery occurred in all cases with motor neuron disease, specifically affecting genes involved in RNA metabolism. The same changes were observed in cell models by depleting TDP-43, suggesting that the subsequent dysregulation of mRNA splicing and metabolism directly contributes to the disease pathogenesis.


EXTENDED ABSTRACT The countries of the Wider Caribbean with their vibrant coral reefs are major tourist destinations bringing billions of dollars to the Caribbean annually. The importance of reef resources is invaluable to local economies and cultures. Invasive Alien Species (IAS) are considered one of the major threats to native species and habitats in the Caribbean. Recognizing the urgency of the lionfish invasion and the need to develop clear recommendations for local control, a special workshop was organized by an international team including the International Coral Reef Initiative, REEF, NOAA, and SPAW-RAC in August 2010 in Cancun, Mexico. With 47 participants representing over 25 organizations from 20 countries and territories of the Wider Caribbean, this workshop identified many of the best strategies for addressing the lionfish invasion. The results of this workshop have been published — Invasive Lionfish: A Guide to Control and Management — Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute Special Publication Series Number 1 (English) and Number 2 (Spanish). The Guide includes:  Chapter One — The Lionfish Invasion: Past, Present, and Future — J. Morris  Chapter Two — Lionfish Research: Current Findings and Remaining Questions — J. Morris and S. Green  Chapter Three — Education and Outreach: Building Support and Expertise — J.L. Akins  Chapter Four — Control Strategies: Tools and Techniques for Local Control — J.L. Akins  Chapter Five — Monitoring: An Essential Action — S. Green  Chapter Six — Legal and Regulatory Considerations for Lionfish Management — D. St. A. Buddo  Chapter Seven — Resources, Partnerships, and Sustainable Funding — R. Gomez Lozano


Quantitative autoradiograms were made, in ViVO,in Eu ropean hamsters with the use of [14C]nitrosohepta methyleneimine (260 MCi/animal; time between administra tion of nitrosamine and killing of animals, 6 hr). In this species, the lung is the principal target, and radioactivity wasfound in the Claracells of the bronchialepitheliumand in the nitrosoheptamethyleneimine-induced tumors which derive from these cells. Tumors are not induced in the liver, which can metabolize this compound, and labeling is found principally in the cytoplasm, whereas in the target cells there is a high degree of labeling in both the cytoplasm and the nuclei.


Abdominal cocoon as a presenting feature of systemic lupus erythematous. A rare presentation To the Editor I read with interest the article " Abdominal cocoon as a presenting feature of systemic lupus erythematous " by Bansal et al. 1 Abdominal cocoon is not an uncommon condition. This clinical entity needs to be kept in mind, whenever we have a patient who has chronic sub-acute intestinal obstruction needing surgical managements. The authors have not mentioned clearly regarding the first operation, whether complete excision of the fibrous encapsulation was carried out or not. Complete excision of the cocoon usually gives complete post-operative relief. In my case, I had 3 patients in 3 different countries. Saudi Arabia. The first 2 patients were young ladies, and the third patient was an Egyptian male. All the patients presented with sub-acute intestinal obstruction, and not responding to conservative line of management. The first 2 patients were operated by me and the third patient was operated by Dr. Omar Al Tayab, and was assisted by me. All the patients had exploratory laparotomy and extirpation of the fibrous capsule. Biopsy revealed only non-specific chronic inflammatory features. All the patients responded well to the surgery, and were discharged in good condition. A. Abdominal cocoon as a presenting feature of systemic lupus erythematosus. A rare presentation. Four copies of all figures or photographs should be included with the submitted manuscript. Figures submitted electronically should be in JPEG or TIFF format with a 300 dpi minimum resolution and in grayscale or CMYK (not RGB). Printed submissions should be on high-contrast glossy paper, and must be unmounted and untrimmed, with a preferred size between 4 x 5 inches and 5 x 7 inches (10 x 13 cm and 13 x 18 cm). The figure number, name of first author and an arrow indicating " top " should be typed on a gummed label and affixed to the back of each illustration. If arrows are used these should appear in a different color to the background color. Titles and detailed explanations belong in the legends, which should be submitted on a separate sheet, and not on the illustrations themselves. Written informed consent for publication must accompany any photograph in which the subject can be identified. Written copyright permission, from the publishers, must accompany any illustration that has been previously published. Photographs will be accepted at the discretion of the Editorial Board.


This article examines whether the recent growth in part-time employment has had any ramifications for decisions about participation in higher education. Using data drawn from four waves of the Australian Longitudinal Survey, binary logit models of both the decision (by Year 12 students) to participate in higher education and the decision to remain in higher education beyond the first year of study are estimated. The results indicate that part-time employment while studying at university (or similar level institutions) has not been a factor critical to continuing studies. Employment while at secondary school, however, is found to reduce the likelihood of continuing education for girls but not for boys. It is argued that this result may reflect either a greater preference for current income or lower rates of return to education for girls.


I hope you share my view that meeting the six industry associations in a single general membership meeting such as this one is not only efficient but it is also hopefully more effective in developing: 1) a holistic view of events and developments – both here and abroad – and 2) a clearer common understanding of BSP policies. In the end, meetings like this should help us more expeditiously attain our shared goal of sustaining the strength and responsiveness of our financial market.


Japanese rogue represented writer Osamu Dazai creates a large number of full of"dark" tone works in his life,these works are full of drugs,alcoholism,drug addiction and other negative factors."The Setting Sun" which is works such as title,description of the aristocrat 's demise,but also there is no lack of positive color,also have"bright" tone.The paper discusses the works of heroine Kazuko against the old morality.


In l997, a total of 4,771 AFP cases were reported by the AFP surveillance sys- tem in China, of which 260 were clinically compatible polio cues and 4, 551 were non - polio AFP cases according to the virologic classification standard. Neither the indigenous nor the imported wild type poliovirus was found, that was almost three successive years for not having indigenous wild type poliovirus been detected since the October of 1994 in our country. The 4, 771 AFP cases distributed in 1949 counties (Prefecture, City, Banner, the same below)that acoounted for 68.6% of the total counties of the whole country. The age of the AFP caes was dominantly under 5 years old accounting for 67.9% of the total AFP cases No obvious sea- sonalpeakofdiseaseoasetwasfound.OfalltheAFPcases,thezero-dosevaccinationwas 6.6%, the l-2 doses was9.6% and the≥3 doses was 8l.9%. The adequate two stool specimen collecting rate of AFP cases within 0 - 14 days after onset of paralysis was 82%. The vi- ruses isolated were 36 polio I strains , 97 polio Ⅱstrains , 4 1 polio Ⅲstrains , 48 mixed - poliovirus strains , 25 polio - enterovirus mixed strains and 775 non - polio enterovirus strains , the isolation rate of enterovirus was 1 6. 3%. Every indexes carriedout by AFP surveillance systems in the provinces reached or almost reached the requirements laid down by the WHO. However, there were 300 counties (about 10% of the total counties of the whole country)that had not reported the AFP cases under 1 5 years old for 3 accumulated years the number of these unreported cases was more than one hundred thousand. Also, there still existed vaccination gaps among the AFP cases, though 3 NIDs and additional 2 SNIDs had been car- ried out. According to these situations, from now on, we should make effort to diminish the blind area of AFP surveillance and the vaccination gap, to pay more attention to the immunization of floating population and to raise the surveillance level in recognizing the im- ported wild - type poliovirus .


Gold leaching from waste mobile phones using thiosulfate solution with addition of some sodium chloride,was studied in this paper.Through the experiment,the results showed that under a condition of 1.0 mol·L-1 of thiosulfate,0.8 mol·L-1 of aminonia,0.8 mol·L-1 of sodium chloride,temperature of 30℃,leaching time of 2 h,pH value of 9-10,2% SO2-3 and air flow rate of 1.2 L·min-1,the gold leaching rate was the highest,91.79%.Compared with adding Cu2+,it had advantages of simple subsequent treatment,less pollution,and environmental protection.


An original method of the surgical treatment of patients with post-operative adhesion formation was developed. Based on experimental studies on 15 cats the usage of methods of peritonisation of portione of intestine by transplantat of self visceral peritoneum was worked out. Six patients aged 25 to 55 years underwent surgery according to this method. Objective methods of examination carried out б month to 2 years after surgery demonstrate lack the recurrence of peritoneal adhesions.


Exact and fast automatic analyses of electrocardiogram (ECG) signal is critical for the computer based diagnosis of cardiac diseases, which has attracted many researches' attentions in recent years. In the present study, a novel QRS complex detection approach based on differential threshold method was proposed, which was designed as three analysis steps of an improved differential processor, a detector of the R wave, and a detector of the Q and S waves. The QRS complex detection performance of the proposed algorithm was further evaluated with clinical ECG records in patients coming from the widely recognized Massachusetts Institute of Technology Database (MIT-BIH DB). As a result, 67,167 beats were correctly determined with the proposed approach from a total of 67,197 QRS beats (30 ECG records in variant rhythms, 30 minutes for each), while the numbers of false positives and false negatives were 251 and 208, respectively. The summarized sensitivity and positive predictivity of the proposed method were obtained as 99.69% and 99.63%, respectively. Meanwhile, the computing time of the proposed algorithm for a ECG record of 30 min is only 1.40 seconds, which shows a distinct advantage on computation requirement compared with previous works. In conclusion, the proposed straightforward algorithm for QRS complex detection would potentially be implemented easily for portable monitoring applications with both a better performance and a lower computation requirement.


Depression is a common adverse effect of interferon-α (IFN-α) treatment of chronic hepatitis C virus infection. This randomized trial in patients without risk factors for psychiatric disease found ...


Chlorination of the N-oxides of furo[2,3-b]- 1a, -[2,3-c]- 1b and -[3,2-c]pyridine 1c with phosphorus oxychloride afforded compounds substituted normally at the α- or λ-position to the ring nitrogen, 2a, 2′a, 2b, 2c, 2′c and 2′c, and in addition, in the case of 1b, compounds substituted on the furan ring, 2′b and 2″b. The structures of these compounds were confirmed from their ir, nmr and mass spectra. The major chlorinated products 2a, 2b and 2c were converted to methoxy- 5a, 5b and 5c, N-pyrrolidyl- 7a, 7b and 7c, and phenylthiofuropyridines 8a, 8b, and 8c.


The relief of knowledge productive force under knowledge economy condition not only symbolizes the productive force development and obviously breaks the pure physical productive force,but also symbolizes that the mental productive force has obtained the recent development.Along with the development of the contemporary mental productive force taking as representative of the knowledge productive force,all fields have exerted new influence upon the historical materialism from productive force itself to the productive relation,superstructure,the human's development and the social development.The mental productive force,taken as representative of the knowledge productive force,represents development direction of the advanced productive force,the time development requests us to devote ourselves to cultivating and developing the modern mental productive force,especially the knowledge productive force.


An optimized flared laser structure has been designed and realized, in order to improve the maximum linear power, the thermal dissipation, and the power density at the output facet. Experimental and simulation results are discussed in detail.


Spray drying is one of the best methods for drying heat sensitive materials such as food and pharmaceutical products. Products obtained by spray drying have considerably better properties and quality (narrow particle size distribution, mean particle size, appearance, texture, density, solubility, ..) in comparison with other methods of obtaining powders. Glycine crystallization during spray drying has been investigated on a laboratory scale. In order to obtain different polymorphs the experiments have been performed with addition of sodium chloride, ethanol and oxalic acid. The obtained powders were characterized by means of different methods (XRD, FTIR, DSC, particle and pore size distributions) and compared with a powder prepared without additives at the same process conditions. Proper selection of additive and its concentration can lead to a specific glycine polymorph. Crystallization mostly resulted with a mixture of alpha- and beta-glycine with a small amount of gama-glycine. Crystalline powders have a higher quantity of gama-glycine at higher concentrations of oxalic acid and lower concentration of sodium chloride. gama-glycine was not found in powders obtained from solutions containing ethanol. At room conditions, beta-glycine spontaneously transforms into a thermodynamically more stable alpha-glycine. Granulometric properties of the crystalline product were also influenced by the quantity of selected additive.


Radioactivity measurements have been made with electroscopes and Geiger-Mfiller discharge counters. In either case, absorption of a percentage of the radiation by the material in the various windows used lowers the sensitivity of the instrumleient. This is a seriouis disadvantage in measuring substances wvith low energy radiation, such as radioactive sulfur (0.107 MIev.). Recentlv developed Geiger-Miiller counters (1, 2) possess an extremely tlhin mica window, the use of which is made possible 1y filling the chamber with lhelium at atmospheric pressure (pressure ionizationi chamber). However, the electroscope is less expensive and a much simpler type of meastiring device for the biological worker wh-lo is not sufficiently well-versed in radio-engineering to keep a Geiger-'Mifller couinter in continuotus workinig order. Henriques and Halford (3) have increased the sensitivity of the ILauritsen electroscope 1 by introdtucing the specimen to be miieasured into the fiber chamber, tutilizing a sliding bar device,. with air lock, in the side of the clhamiiber. In addition, a drying agent (anhydrous magnesium perclhlorate) is introduced into the chamber. In this way, precipitates, collected oni filter paper (over an area of 1.54 sq. cm.) and placed in a brass cup in the sliding bar, are introduced in a fixed position \-ithin the chamber. In the case of sulfur, particularly, care must be taken to measure the radiation from a minimum of material in order to minimize the effects of self-absorption. WNre have further modified the electroscope by so placing the introduction slot that the filter paper occupies a position directly beneath the quartz fiber anid exactly 1 cm. below it. This increases the sensitivity of the electroscope about 20 per


According fire fighting to "1·2" Dehui international ground fire in Urumchi,combining with lessons of fire fighting in similar fire,how to evacuation and rescue in this kind of fire was discussed,and also problems should be attached importance to in dispatch of the fire fighting force,fire control,fire fighting.


Differential spatial modulation (DSM) is a newly-emerging differential scheme tailored to the spatial modulation technique, which selects only one among a group of antennas for transmission at any time instant. DSM, however, gives rise to prohibitive search complexity when the number of transmit antennas is large. In this letter, a low-complexity suboptimal detector is proposed for DSM. It is designed based on the maximum-likelihood criterion but takes more candidates for the antenna activation orders into account. The detection is performed in two steps: the first step is to confine the number of candidates for the modulated symbols to a small portion by exploiting the symmetry of the signal constellation; the second step is to select the most likely modulated symbols from the output of the first step according to the determined antenna activation order via a Viterbi-like algorithm. Analyses and simulations show that the proposed detector achieves near-optimal performance yet largely reduces the search complexity.


One consequence of dwelling on the perimeter of the continent of Europe is that we are sometimes unaffected by movements and currents of thought which cause some disturbance nearer to the centre. that during recent years something in the nature of a theological crisis was developing. Readers of the continental periodicals ' were of course aware that some rather startling views were being advanced, which were rarely allowed to go unchallenged. But even these did not sufficiently appreciate that something more was afoot than a discussion on the academic level. It was not only that rather advanced views were being advocated on particular questions. Much more serious was the manifestation of an attitude of scepticism and distrust concerning the whole position of theology and the methods and value of traditional apologetics. The science of theology, it was urged, as we know it and as it is taught in our schools, has outlived its usefulness. It makes no appeal to the minds of the men of to-day : it has neither meaning nor message for them: it is out of touch with modem ideas and modem problems : expressing itself as it does in terms and concepts taken over from a philosophy which has become out of date, it can no longer mean anything in the world of to-day : if it is no longer useful it is no longer true. The structure which speculative theology has raised on the data of revelation, giving to the truths of faith a form and an expression which are the product of human reason and speculation, has resulted only in obscuring the . original simplicity of the gospel teaching. There is nothing sacrosanct or immutable about the formulae in which theology has enshrined the teaching of revelation : they can never be more than approximations and they cannot lay claim to absolute truth : it is only right that they should change to meet the changing needs of each succeeding age. We cannot be content with a theological presentation which was worked out many centuries ago and which was valid and useful for an intellectual environment very different to ours. It is the function and the duty of Not many people in Ireland, I think, realized .


The effect of intravenously administrated glucagon on the internal carotid artery flow, brachial artery pressure and vascular resistance was studied in 13 patients operated on for arteriosclerotic disease. An implantable electromagnetic flow probe was left on the artery postoperatively and the studies were performed on the first or second postoperative day in the awake patient. There were no significant changes in the internal carotid artery flow after glucagon. The mean brachial artery pressure was almost unchanged with a slight but insignificant decrease after 5 minutes. No significant change of the vascular resistance was found. A slight but not significant increase of the PaCO2 with 3.4 mmHg was found after 25 minutes in 5 patients followed with repeated PaCO2 checks.According to the present study, administration of 1 mg glucagon intravenously does not influence the internal carotid artery flow and indirectly indicates that the cerebral blood flow is unchanged.


The paper addresses a formal definition of a confounder based on the qualitative definition that is commonly used in standard epidemiology text‐books. To derive the criterion for a factor to be a confounder given by Miettinen and Cook and to clarify inconsistency between various criteria for a confounder, we introduce the concepts of an irrelevant factor, an occasional confounder and a uniformly irrelevant factor. We discuss criteria for checking these and show that Miettinen and Cook's criterion can also be applied to occasional confounders. Moreover, we consider situations with multiple potential confounders, and we obtain two necessary conditions that are satisfied by each confounder set. None of the definitions and results presented in this paper require the ignorability and sufficient control confounding assumptions which are commonly employed in observational and epidemiological studies.


The present invention provides ophthalmic lenses for preventing the progression of myopia. Lens of the present invention to provide a substantially constant distance vision power region in the central optic zone, which zone is provided longitudinally region was surrounded by spherical aberration.


Quantitative visualization experiments and particle-resolved simulations of rigid cylindrical particles settling in a Newtonian liquid have been conducted. By varying the viscosity of the liquid – a glycerol-water mixture – as well as the density of the cylinders we were able to cover an Archimedes number range that spans almost 6 orders of magnitude in the experiments. The length over diameter aspect ratio of the cylinders ranged from 2.5 to 20. Cylinders were released vertically and rotated to a stable horizontal orientation in most of the lower viscosity solutions. The time required for reaching a horizontal orientation, as well as the Reynolds number at that stage scale with the Archimedes number and only weakly depend on the aspect ratio. Particle-resolved numerical simulations based on the lattice-Boltzmann method complement the experimental study and illustrate the relevance of the experimental data as a benchmark for numerical approaches to solid-liquid flow with non-spherical particles.


GENETIC TASTE VARIATION AND MIXTURE SUPPRESSION: EFFECTS OF 6-NPROPYLTHIOURACIL. Jenny H. Yiee, Valerie B. Duffy (Department of Applied Health Sciences, School of Allied Health, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT), and Linda M. Bartoshuk (Section of Otolaryngology, Department of Surgery, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT.) This study investigated mixture interactions and the nature of mixtures as related to the ability to detect PROP (6-//-propylthiouracil). Subjects (N=65) rated the tastes of 0.32 M NaCl, 1 M sucrose, 0.014 M citric acid, 0.00024 M quinine hydrochloride, all six possible mixtures of two, all four possible mixtures of three, and the single mixture of all stimuli. They also rated the taste qualities of foods/beverages (tonic water, lemonade, grapefruit juice, soy sauce, coffee sweetened with sucrose). Bitterness of PROP was rated at the end of the experiment. Subjects used the general Labeled Magnitude Scale (gLMS) with "strongest imaginable sensation of any kind" at the top, which allowed for valid across-group comparisons among nontasters, medium tasters and supertasters of PROP. Intensities of the unmixed stimuli correlated with PROP bitterness, as did the total intensities of the foods/beverages. As the number of components increased, the perceived intensity of the components tended to be suppressed; this suppression varied by PROP status. For some mixtures, supertasters perceived greater intensities than nontasters for unmixed components, but this difference tended to diminish as the number of components increased. For supertasters, adding tastes may ameliorate the bitterness of some foods/beverages. In analytic sensory mixtures, the identity of the components is maintained in the mixture (classic example, low and high notes retain their identity when sounded together). In synthetic sensory mixtures, the identity of the components is lost and new qualitative sensations appear (classic example, red and green lights produce yellow). The analytic nature of taste mixtures has been challenged on the grounds that not all subjects are able to name all components in a mixture. The present study shows that as a group, subjects are able to name all components with the exception of bitterness, which tended to disappear as the number of components


Aims To investigate associations between health literacy (HL) and diet and physical activity, and motivation and diet and physical activity in Danish people with type 2 diabetes. Methods We used a cross-sectional design including 194 individuals with type 2 diabetes participating in peer-led support groups provided by the Danish Diabetes Association between JanuaryDecember 2015. The participants completed a questionnaire at the first meeting including; The Summary of Diabetes Self-Care Activities (SDSCA) measure, The Treatment SelfRegulation Questionnaire (TSRQ) (Self-Determination Theory) measuring type of motivation, and two HL scales: The HLS-EU-Q16, and the Diabetes Health Literacy scale (Ishikawa, H). Data were analyzed using linear regression models adjusting for age, gender, educational level, diabetes duration, motivation and HL. Results The adjusted β (95%CI) showed that autonomous motivation and functional HL were associated with following recommended diet: autonomous motivation; 0.43(0.06; 0.80) and functional HL; 0.52(0.02; 1.00). Autonomous motivation was related to following physical activity recommendations; β (95%CI) 0.56(0.16; 0.96). Conclusions This study indicates that, for people with type 2 diabetes, functional HL and autonomous motivation may be important drivers for following diet recommendations, and autonomous motivation may be the most important factor for following recommendations regarding physical activity. These concepts may therefore be highly relevant to address in interventions to people with type 2 diabetes. Different interventions are suggested.


Three estimates were obtained in estimating the regression curve, namely estimation of parametric regression, nonparametric regression and semiparametric regression. The most popular nonparametric regression option is smoothing spline. The advantage of smoothing spline is that it can use variable data at certain sub intervals, so this model needs to find its own data estimation. Smoothing Spline allows characters to function smoothly. In everyday life, data patterns are often found to change at certain sub-intervals, one of which is poverty data in Papua Province. Papua Province is ranked first in the percentage of poor people in Indonesia. The best nonparametric Smoothing Spline regression model for the poverty model in Papua Province with a generalized cross validation (GCV) value of 92.77 and R=99.99%.


The utility model discloses a shock absorber convenient to disassemble and assemble. The shock absorber comprises an oil storage cylinder, a working cylinder, a connecting rod, an oil seal guider, a piston and a bottom valve, wherein the working cylinder is nested in the oil storage cylinder; the connecting rod penetrates through the working cylinder, and one end of the connecting rod extends out of the oil storage cylinder; the piston is arranged at the inner end of the connecting rod; the oil seal guider and the bottom valve are arranged in the oil storage cylinder and located at two ends of the working cylinder respectively, an end cover used for fixing the oil seal guider is arranged at one end, located on the oil seal guider, of the oil storage cylinder, internal threads are formed in an opening of the oil storage cylinder, external threads matched with the internal threads are formed in the end cover, a bulge loop propped against the oil seal guider is arranged on the inner end surface of the end cover, and counter bored holes are formed in the outer end surface of the end cover. According to the shock absorber, a conventional stamping interference fit connection manner is replaced with a thread fit connection manner adopted by the end cover and the oil storage cylinder, so that the shock absorber is very convenient to disassemble and assemble, the procedure is simple, and the cost is saved.


ne of the essential tasks of a religious system is to provide its adherents with a rich and elaborate sense of self in the world. In only the last decade scholars of religion have increasingly understood that religion creates not only a sense of self, but indeed of gender. Myth, symbol, and even who occupies roles of religious leadership communicate to participants what constitute male and female. As religions undergo change, slowly or radically, the transformation of the individual and gender are also implied. Those who seek to understand the relationship between self and religion, and gender and religion, must analyze the relationship between religious change and a symbolic formulation of the self. The impact of religion on a vision of self rests at at the center of a decadelong analysis of Judaism by feminist scholars. They have critiqued the tradition's patriarchal, even misogynist formulations. Women's biological status as a prominent feature of her legal identity, and her lack of equal access to prayer and study have been demonstrated and analyzed (cf. Koltun; Baum et. al.; Priesand; "The Jewish Woman," 1971, 1973). Yet scant attention has been paid by scholars to historical experiments in Judaism in which the role of women was transformed. In particular, the mid-nineteenth-century German Jewish reformers provide an example of a reformation program overtly concerned with women's rights. In an analysis of their program one has the opportunity to observe the impact of religious change on conceptions of gender. Nineteenth-century reformers of Judaism attempted to create a religion that was, on the one hand, responsive to a vision of civility and German citizenship constructed by the Enlightenment, and on the other, an authenticity that


A n attempt has been made to investigate the effect of radiation, chemical reaction, radiation absorption on unsteady double diffusive flow in a vertical channel. The governing equations are solved by a perturbation technique. The effect of chemical reaction, radiation and radiation absorption on all the flow characteristics has been analysed.


The principles of construction of various types of spectrometers used for x-ray fluorescence are considered, their advantages and disadvantages are analyzed. An approach to the implementation of the wavelength dispersive spectrometer is proposed, which allows to reduce the time of spectral analysis in the entire range of the x-ray fluorescence.


Understanding early traces of symbolism and the origins of language is challenging given the difficult access to the psychological and cognitive operations which underlay them from the archaeological record. In order to address this issue, we propose a semiotic framework based on the notion of representational medium. This concept helps bridging the gap between ancient and modern semiotic activities by extending analyses of modern media. It also leads us to highlight a possible evolutionary trajectory to modern symbols.


The use of three-layer artificial neural network connections in parallel distributed model and the BP network algorithm theory,the establishment of the construction items of the risk of BP network prediction model,the project's overall risk assessment,project risk to be quantified reference indicator,risk estimates for construction projects,the network model analysis,bid for the project decision-making and risk management an effective risk analysis tools.


Portal vein thrombosis (PVT) is a common complication in end-stage liver disease and, nowadays, is no longer a contraindication in liver transplantation (LT). Aside from the technical aspects, PVT in LT was thought to be associated with higher mortality and postoperative complications. It is found in 2%-26% of patients undergoing LT. On the basis of the grade of the PVT, different surgical techniques are used to ensure adequate portal blood flow into the graft (Table 1). In PVT of grades 1 and 2, thrombectomy of the recipient portal vein (PV) is the technique of choice. In grade 3, a jump graft, using an iliac vein segment of the donor to a patent segment of the superior mesenteric vein (SMV), is normally needed. In a completely thrombosed SMV (grade 4), different techniques are described in the literature. A reconstruction of the PV with an anastomosis on the coronary vein or on a large unnamed collateral vein is possible. Other options are the arterialization of the PV or a renoportal anastomosis. If other options are not feasible, Paskonis et al. first described the cavoportal hemitransposition (CPHT) in 1998 with systemic inflow into the graft. The main problem after CPHT is the persistence of portal hypertension. Common postoperative complications are ascites, renal dysfunction, and variceal bleeding. In cases of treatment-resistant portal hypertension in combination with extensive PVT, a transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS) procedure is not feasible. If endoscopic sclerotherapy and surgical shunt formation are impossible, an interventional mesocaval shunt formation has been described. A stent graft is placed between the inferior vena cava (IVC) and the SMV. In the literature, 7 patients have been reported so far. We present the case of a patient who underwent orthotopic liver retransplantation with cavoportal hemitransposition after interventional mesocaval shunt creation for grade 2 thrombosis.


Paul encourages every believer to experience a bestowal of the Spirit's power that is theologically, and usually chronologically, distinct from the gift of the Spirit received at conversion. Paul typically describes this post-conversion infusion of spiritual power with the noun χάρισμα ("gift"). Paul speaks of this experience as "the gift of God" (2 Tim 1:6), "the gift in you" (1 Tim 4:14), and a "spiritual gift" (Rom 1:11), and the result of this empowering experience with simply the term gift (1 Cor 12). Thus Paul, like Luke, also highlights the need for each believer to experience a post-conversion infusion of spiritual power for ministry.


The invention relates to an ionic liquid gallium chloride/1-methyl-3-ethylimidazole chloride system electroplating solution (g.kg-1) which comprises the following components: 420-450 anhydrous gallium chloride (GaCl3), 500-530 1-methyl-3-ethylimidazole chloride (EMIC), 10-30 metal gallium (Ga), 10-20 dextrin and 10-20 sodium chloride (NaCl). Ionic liquid is a green solvent and has a wider electrochemical window, and metals and alloys which can be obtained only through electrodeposition of the ionic liquid in high temperature molten salts can be obtained under room temperature but do not have the strong corrosion of the high temperature molten salts. In addition, in the ionic liquid, most metals obtained in an aqueous solution can be obtained through electrodeposition without side effect, and therefore, the quality of the obtained metals is better. The ionic liquid becomes a new electroplating solution in an electrodeposition study because of the characteristics, good conductivity and low vapor pressure.


The utility model provides a device for performing audio signal uplinking through an audio interface. In the device, the first pin of the audio interface is connected with an audio uplink signal generating device through a first circuit, and the second pin of the audio interface is connected with the audio uplink signal generating device through a second circuit, wherein the first circuit and the second circuit are attenuator circuits of each other. According to the utility model, the device can be used to ensure that the first pin and the second pin of the audio interface both can be used to receive audio uplink signals sent by the audio uplink signal generating device, so the effect that the audio uplink signals can be transmitted when the line sequence of the first pin and the second pin of the audio interface is unknown can be realized.


Pancreatoblastoma is a rare primary pancreatic neoplasm occurring in children. This report describes two paediatric patients with pancreatoblastomas with characteristic sonographic and computed tomographic features. Characteristic clinical and imaging features, and the differential diagnosis are discussed.


This paper studies the strategic behavior of multinationals towards weak labor standards in developing countries (South). Without a marginal cost pricing policy, abundant labor in the South gives firms the power to set wages through their choice of output. A strategic reduction in output offsets or weakens direct gains from lower wages. In an open economy, it also increases output and profits of a competitor that operates in a perfect labor market. These effects lower profitability of locating in the South casting doubts on traditional beliefs that multinationals are always attracted to lower wages. Adopting standards enhances Southern welfare unambiguously.


Within the growing body of literature on corporate entrepreneurship, there is a need to understand the relationship between human resource management and corporate entrepreneurship. This paper outlines the linkage between human resource management practices with corporate entrepreneurship. In response, we propose a review of the literature that is based on a conceptual reading of corporate entrepreneurship, human resource management practices and the relationship between them.


Objective To investigate the effects of early gastrointestinal function nursing on the growth of very low birth weight infants(VLBWIs).Methods 48 cases of VLBWIs were randomly divided into two groups:gastrointestnal function nursing group(trial group,24 cases)and control group(24 cases).Abdominal massage,non-nutritional suking and regular nursing were applied to the trial group,and the control group only by regular nursing without gatrointestnal function nursing,The differences between the two groups in first feeding time,weight to be born time,weight to grow time,intravenous nutrition time and jaundice disappearing time were observed.Results The differences between the two groups were statistically significant(P0.05).(Conclusion Early) gastrointestinal function nursing may improve the early gastrointestinal function of VLBWIs,contributing to early feeding and weight growth.


Abstract A kinetic analysis of human motion, one of the greatest advances in the field of biomechanics, has been expanded by the computer-digitizer complex which allows analysis of total body motion through use of slow motion cinematography, special tracing equipment to convert the data, and the high-speed computer. Appropriate programming results in a segmental breakdown of information of the whole motion including the total body center of gravity, segment velocities and accelerations, horizontal, vertical and resultant forces, moments of force, and the timing between the body segments. This analysis provides a quantitative measure of the motion and allows for perfection and optimization of human performance. Applications of biomechanical analyses permit an objective, quantitative assessment of performance replacing the uncertainty of trial and error, eliminating the element of doubt, and providing a realistic opportunity for improved performance.


Piezoelectric patches are usually externally bonded to host structures as sensors and/or actuators. The performance and integrity of this type of smart structures are determined by the interface stresses within the adhesive layer. In this study, the dynamic behavior of a piezoelectric smart beam is analyzed using a novel three-parameter elastic foundation model. Closed-form solutions of the deformations, interfacial stresses, strain transfer, and sensing charge output are obtained. The new interfacial stress solutions overcome the inherent shortcomings in the existing two-parameter elastic foundation model by not only satisfying the zero shear stress boundary condition at the free edge, but also correctly predicting two different peeling stress distributions along the piezoelectric patch/adhesive interface and the host beam/adhesive interface. When the thick adhesive layer is used, the present three-parameter elastic foundation model exhibits high accuracy; while the existing two-parameter elastic foundation model significantly overestimates the response of the smart beam.


Near Field Communication (NFC) is a promising technology that provides many advantages for applications in the medical service domain. In this paper, we present a comprehensive study of the NFC technology and its security requirements for healthcare applications. We also introduce a new classification of NFC system attacks using a novel multi-dimensional representation. The proposed classification considers three main perspectives to categorize attacks on NFC systems for healthcare applications. These perspectives are: mode of operation, programmability level, and life cycle. Using the proposed classification, we explore the possible threats to NFC systems in healthcare applications and discuss possible vulnerabilities and challenges related to NFC security in the healthcare field.


A fuel cell is a primary voltaic cell that directly converts the chemical energy of a fuel into electricity. Not being a heat engine its efficiency is not subject to the Carnot limitation and in suitable circumstances very high efficiencies can be attained, although progress has been limited by a number of constraints.

In this article low temperature fuel cells operating with acid and alkaline electrolytes are described as well as high temperature cells with both fused carbonate and solid oxide electrolytes. In all cases catalysis of the reactions at both fuel and oxygen (air) electrodes is crucial to satisfactory performance.

Keywords:

fuel cells;
electrodes;
fuels reformers;
electrode structures;
hydrogen;
hydrocarbon;
methanol


BETWEEN 1860 AND 1900 psychology emerged as an independent discipline within the context of major European and American universities. During this period of roughly forty years, proponents of an autonomous psychology sought to establish distinct intellectual and institutional identities vis-a-vis the neighboring fields of philosophy and physiology. I In Britain attempts to create a characteristically psychological approach toward phenomena of mind were strongly influenced by a deep and persistent concern over the possible moral implications of the new discipline-in particular, the possible encouragement it might lend to materialist or fatalist theories of human conduct. Contemporary philosophies of scientific method and modes of explanation also shaped the development of the fledgling discipline. Because late Victorian accounts of science were predominantly reductionist and mechanistic, a "scientific" psychology was regarded by many as a threat to the traditional bases of morality. Advocates of a scientific psychology (the description is their own) were accordingly scrupulous in defining the relationships of their discipline to the extant natural sciences on the one hand and to moral philosophy on the other. Far from being a peripheral aspect of late-nineteenth-century British psychology, confined to the writings of extra-professional commentators, this perceived tension between the moral necessity of free will and a law-governed mental science played a central role in the selection of the topics, approaches, and explanations which dominated psychological discussion.The sovereign position which psychological treatises of the period assigned to theories of volition reflects this concern, as does the emphasis placed on the clinical applications of these theories to problems of moral responsibility such as alcoholism, the legal defense of insanity, and child rearing. In particular, the importance of the concept of attention within latenineteenth-century psychology stems from its critical function in theories of volition: to integrate experimental findings on reflex action and other forms of involuntary behavior with the traditional notion of an active, self-determined subject. At an epistemological level, the various schemes of parallelism, monism, and occasionalism set forth by British psychologists to resolve the Cartesian polarity between brute matter and conscious mind represent similar compromise efforts.


In this article, according to the study of the encapsulated hydraulic system structure and work principle, it put forward the scheme and method of performance test and fault diagnosis for this hydraulic system. Single-chip processor test technology, sensor technology and dynamic test technology have also been introduced. By way of the analysis of work state and work parameter, it has realized the performance test and fault diagnosis.


Volume 10th Swiss Geoscience Meeting Bern, 16th – 17th November 2012 19. Geoscience and Geoinformation – From data acquisition to modelling and visualisation


This paper proposes superdirective adaptive mode-selective processing in oversampled 2D transmitting (Tx) and receiving (Rx) antenna arrays, enabled by MIMO radar technology, for skywave OTHR applications. The actual reactive power in Tx antenna arrays is controlled by considering two main principles: (1) avoiding extreme steering angles in conventionally beamformed (for a single waveform) sub-arrays and (2) using time-division MIMO waveform sets with no simultaneous transmissions of different (orthogonal) MIMO waveforms from TX array phase centers separated by less than half the radar wavelength. We consider the propagation modes as per [1] to demonstrate the utility of the proposed technique for Tx and Rx antenna arrays with apertures significantly smaller than those introduced in [1].


Powdered activated carbon (PAC) and granular activated carbon (GAC) were evaluated for a chlorite and chlorate control. From our batch experiments it showed that the reaction between chlorite and activated carbon yields chloride as end-product. The removal of chlorite depended on the initial concentrations of chlorite, the activated carbon dose, pH and the activated carbon used. Filtration of water containing chlorite and chlorate through beds of GAC was found to remove chlorite and chlorate. GAC effectively removed chlorite, but, depending on the contact time and pH. The removal of chlorite appears to be a result of chemical reduction. Removal of above 90% of chlorite was achieved at elution rate of below 60mL/min. No chlorinated species other than chloride were detected.


Fundamental changes occurring in the nature of work have led some authors to contest that established approaches to delivering career services may no longer be efficacious. This article challenges such notions and examines the idea of changing occupations and how these changes may influence the delivery of career services. While important changes have occurred, occupations remain a viable unit of analysis for the assessment and information resources used in delivering career services. The article concludes with clinical implications for career counselors and service providers.


MOST AMERICANS BELIEVE that the economic oppression of blacks in the Jim Crow South was the natural result of white racism. According to this view, southern whites were so economically dominant that -given their views on race-the regime of segregation and job discrimination that prevailed in the South was the inevitable result. Indeed, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 can be said to reflect this idea in its prohibition against discrimination by private citizens. But many scholars of the Jim Crow era, impressed by mounting evidence that state and local governments played a crucial role in shoring up the edifice of discrimination, now question this view. Understanding the exact role of government in the creation of the segregated South is crucial to designing policies for ending segregation. The standard interpretation argues that whites were able to impose segregation on the job market without any special help from the government. If this is correct, then civil rights laws that seek to control private behavior, like


This concise, thorough, textbook on the gastrointestinal tract includes chapters on the biliary tract, the pancreas, and the acute abdomen. The presentation of the disease entities deals with roentgen methods of examination, roentgen symptomatology, and gross pathology. The reproductions of both films and pathological specimens were numerous and excellent. The relief technique of the roentgen examination was especially emphasized, and good mucosal studies of all parts of the digestive tube were shown. The parts dealing with congenital variations and malformations and those dealing with the gastric and colonic neoplasms were most successfully dealt with. Gastrointestinal tuberculosis, which is today less and less encountered, gets a clear and wellwritten description. The reviewer found several viewpoints in the book very interesting, mainly due to the fact that they differed from views held by most American roentgenologists: Hodgkin's disease is still classified among the infectious granulomata, a view held in the United States


A numerical model for PEDOT:PSS/SiNW hybrid solar cell has been developed and the structure has been simulated and analyzed. The limiting factor leading to low open circuit voltage (Voc) in PEDOT:PSS/SiNW hybrid solar cell is investigated. By adding a p-type silicon layer into the device to create an electric field in the silicon layer, the recombination at interface is improved and the Voc increases. The efficiency is improved to over 15% and more optimized work can be done in the future.


With the increasing number of hops,it is difficult to guarantee QoS over multihop wireless mesh networks( WMN) because end-to-end delay increases quickly. To solve the above issues,a novel multi-channel time-division multiple-access( TDMA) media access control( MAC),that is McTMAC protocol that can help to efficiently reduce end-to-end delay over multihop networks. Performance evaluation results demonstrate that McTMAC outperforms existing WMN protocols,the maximum-delay can be reduced by as much as 60 % by using McTMAC protocol.


The Pm23 gene of wheat confers resistance to powdery mildew, which is one of the most serious diseases in many regions of the world. In this paper, bulked segregant analysis (BSA) was used to search for randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers linked to Pm23 gene. 320 decamer primers were screened, and were one RAPD marker (OPE05(subscript 1100)) linked in coupling phase to Pm23. Using the F2 mapping population from a cross of Pm23×Chancellor, Pm23 was shown to be closely linked to the marker OPE05(subscript 1100) at a genetic distance of 10.65±3.25 cM. This marker can be conveniently used for marker-assisted selection in wheat breeding programs for the identification or pyramiding of Pm23 with other resistance genes.


The paper discusses the subject system and teaching content of "Three Levels And Seven Subjects" in applied computer education, which is a part of the aim centred education system in the Quality Education Project Facing 21th centrury, methods and the procedures of its reformation and practice and the effects approached.


One of the important college aspects is service, where colleges are expected to be able to provide the best service for the public. Private Universities must improve various qualities and academic and non-academic components. This aspect can be reflected in 'how private universities provide their services to stakeholders?' Research was carried out on "The Influence of Service Quality on Institutional Image". The purpose of study is to investigate the service quality in tangible, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy on the private university image. The research use survey explanatory study method, research object of the New Student Admission Section (NSE) of Gunadarma University, Bandung Islamic University, and Cirebon Muhammadyah University. Statistic formula use Pearsons r and SPSS V.21. The theory used is that of service quality and the model of image. From this study there is influence of service quality in the aspects of tangible, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy tangible, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy that is significant enough on the institutional image, especially empathy factor in service enrollment have strong effect towards an institution's


In order to explore optimal methods of protein recovery from surimi wastewater and purify the wastewater,isoelectric precipition of proteins in surimi wastewater was studied.After properties such as pI values of proteins in surimi wastewater were determinated firstly,protein precipition was investigated varying pH,acid type and ionic strength.And then fractional isoelectric precipitation was tried to increase total recovery of protein.Results showed that pI values were near the points 4.3 and 5.9 respectively.Polybasic acid and higher ionic strength increasing were of advantage to precipition.And 74.36% recovery was obtained by fractional isoelectric precipitation,which was higher than traditional method with recovery above 60%.All the results supplied basic data to protein recovery technology,and broadened considerations for protein recovery and wastewater purification.


Waterpipe smoking, a tobacco consumption method traditionally associated with the Middle East and South Asia, has increased in prevalence in the last decade in Europe and the US, especially among young people (Amin et al., 2010; Al-Naggar; Saghir, 2011; Martinasek et al., 2011). The waterpipe apparatus consists of a head, body, bowl and hose. The head is loaded with a 10-20 gram of fruit-flavoured tobacco mixture and often covered with perforated aluminium foil. Burning coal is placed on top of this foil, heating the underlying tobacco. When users inhale on the hose, a tobacco and coal smoke mixture passes through water, cooling the smoke before inhalation (Knishkowy and Amitai, 2005). The flavoured and cooled tobacco smoke is one of many explanations for the rise in waterpipe tobacco smoking (Akl et al., 2013). However, studies have shown that waterpipe smokers may be exposed to high levels of toxicants, including nicotine (inducing dependence), tar


An influential theory of schizophrenia proposes that it can be explained by an inability to understand and reason about the mental states of others. In particular, an inability to correctly infer the mental states of others is believed to give rise to delusions and other psychotic symptoms. Our recent research has shown that patients adequately represent their own and others' mental states and use this competence to communicate successfully in naturalistic social interaction. In talk with delusional content, patients recognize that others do not agree with their delusional claims and are not persuaded by the justification they provide for these claims. Importantly, they recognize their own and others' discomfort at the disagreement this causes. However, they do not revise their claims. It is the tenacity with which delusional claims are held that is striking. This is all the more interesting given their ability to appreciate and respond appropriately to others' mental states and their evident discomfort in the face of others' disagreement. Questions for further research are whether this incorrigibility is specific to delusions, psychotic symptoms or the condition generally, and why patients are so tenacious in disregarding others' accounts of their problems.


The interfacial polymerization method was used to prepare nano-capsules with paraffin as the core and PMMA as the shell.The particle size of capsules was 100~400nm with the latent heat of ~29J/g and the encapsulation ratio of ~35%.Differential scanning calorimeter(DSC) was used to study the effect of heat treatment situation,such as at 40℃,60℃ and 100℃,on the phase transition characteristics of firstname.lastname@example.com analysis shows that with the heat treating time increasing,the phase change temperatures all increase.The increase of freezing temperature should be the aggregation of crystal seed in the surface of the capsules.The improving of melting temperature should be the increasing of capsule volume,which will decrease the pyroconductivity of capsules.These analysis results are helpful for the study of micro-structure change of capsules during phase change process.


We have previously proposed the 'mora method' to evaluate the degree of impairment in spasmodic dysphonia (SD) in Japanese-speaking patients. With this method, impairment is judged as the proportion of impaired morae in a 25-mora sentence in a longer passage read aloud. As the mora is the phonologically isochronic unit in Japanese, the proportion of impaired morae in speech can be used to represent the temporal proportion of impaired Japanese speech. This proportional measure of impairment reflects the perceived severity of the impairment, and is a more reliable measure than a 4-point perceptual rating scale completed either by patients or by voice professionals. In this paper, we propose a 'syllable method' to characterize the severity of impairment in English-speaking SD patients. Instead of morae, the severity of SD was represented by the proportion of impaired syllables. It should be possible to characterize SD impairments more reliably and precisely with this method than using a 4-point rating scale completed by voice professionals. Ultimately, the syllable method should become a simple and effective method for evaluating the severity of SD. Furthermore, such methods can be applied to other languages, using the appropriate phonological unit (either mora or syllable).


Youth is synonymous with future expectations. Should these be marred or negative, it could be an indication that all is not well in society, and that the values and conditions in society should critically be examined and attended to. The interest in the orientation and nature of the future expectations of adolescents is of particular relevance in South Africa due to the extent of social challenges which is currently experienced such as crime, corruption, poverty and HIV/AIDS. An empirical study was conducted to establish Afrikaans speaking youth's expectations regarding their future. Questionnaires were completed by grade 11 learners from five schools. The study was based on the assumption that social problems in South Africa would significantly impact on the future plans of adolescents, particularly on those who aspire to emigrate. The most important conclusion is that this hypothesis could not be verified. The respondents were predominantly positive regarding their future ideals.


Stage lighting design of First Fashion Theatre along the River in Wuhan was introduced,including stage structure design,lighting frame design and lighting system design.The problems in construction were also pointed out with solutions.


Optically transparent, highly oriented nanocrystalline AlN(002) films have been synthesized using a hybrid plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition and plasma-assisted radio frequency (rf) magnetron sputtering process in reactive Ar+N2 and Ar+N2+H2 gas mixtures at a low Si(111)/glass substrate temperature of 350 °C. The process conditions, such as the sputtering pressure, rf power, substrate temperature, and N2 concentration were optimized to achieve the desired structural, compositional, and optical characteristics. X-ray diffractometry reveals the formation of highly c-oriented AlN films at a sputtering pressure of 0.8 Pa. Field emission scanning electron microscopy suggests the uniform distribution of AlN grains over large surface areas and also the existence of highly oriented in the (002) direction columnar structures of a typical length ∼100−500 nm with an aspect ratio of ∼7−15. X-ray photoelectron and energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy suggest that films deposited at a rf power of 400 W feature a chemically pure and near stoichiometric AlN. The bonding states of the AlN films have been confirmed by Raman and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy showing strong E2 (high) and E1 transverse optical phonon modes. Hydrogenated AlN films feature an excellent optical transmittance of ∼80% in the visible region of the spectrum, promising for advanced optical applications.Optically transparent, highly oriented nanocrystalline AlN(002) films have been synthesized using a hybrid plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition and plasma-assisted radio frequency (rf) magnetron sputtering process in reactive Ar+N2 and Ar+N2+H2 gas mixtures at a low Si(111)/glass substrate temperature of 350 °C. The process conditions, such as the sputtering pressure, rf power, substrate temperature, and N2 concentration were optimized to achieve the desired structural, compositional, and optical characteristics. X-ray diffractometry reveals the formation of highly c-oriented AlN films at a sputtering pressure of 0.8 Pa. Field emission scanning electron microscopy suggests the uniform distribution of AlN grains over large surface areas and also the existence of highly oriented in the (002) direction columnar structures of a typical length ∼100−500 nm with an aspect ratio of ∼7−15. X-ray photoelectron and energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy suggest that films deposited at a rf power of 400 W feature ...


Abstract : The rising cost of fuel has led to increasing emphasis on fuel efficiency in the aviation industry. As fuel costs become a larger proportion of total costs, those entities with a dynamic capability to increase their fuel efficiency will obtain competitive advantage. Assessing cargo throughput and fuel efficiency requires the creation of all routes of potential value for a given set of requirements that need to be airlifted from source to destination airfield. The time required for route computation can be significantly reduced through the use of nodal reduction. Use of the proposed model can assist evaluation of enterprise wide efficiency and effectiveness.


: Over the past decade, the convergence of accessible HPC and high-fidelity simulation has amplified a bottleneck in analysis workflows: writing, managing and reading very large files. There has been much research performed on mechanisms to access information directly from the memory of the running solver code, known variously as 'in situ' or 'co-processing'. This paper describes a new co-processing approach for enhancing CFD workflows that provides services for visualization, data science, job monitoring, provenance capture and logging along with computational steering of the solver code. The software, called Kombyne™ accomplishes these functions with a very low code footprint, few to no external dependencies and direct support for 'in transit' operation where the workload and memory requirements are delegated to a separate process, working in tandem with the solver code. This paper documents three recent examples of Kombyne™ applied to industrial-scale CFD analyses. In the first case, high-fidelity frequency analysis of a cylinder in supersonic crossflow was needed to calibrate data science workflows with experiment. The unique requirement here is obtaining a block of sample points at every solver timestep, to ensure that no temporal aliasing artifacts were present in the data used for the FFT analysis. The second application is a biomedical workflow intended to demonstrate the feasibility of using quick-turnaround automated CFD to advise surgeons on the condition of a patient's aneurysms


It is more and more important in study of enterprise social capital in management study. The analysis of enterprise social capital can be static and dunamic. And then, In static analysis, the enterprise social capital is divided into organizational social capital, entrepreneur social capital and employee social capital. And it is argued that the social cost should be considered in analyzing the social capital. In the dynamic analysis the changing characteristics of the American enterprises have been concretely done.


The mechanisms underlying selective etching of a SiO2 layer over a Si or Si3N4 underlayer, a process of vital importance to modern integrated circuit fabrication technology, has been studied. Selective etching of SiO2-to-Si3N4 in various inductively coupled fluorocarbon plasmas (CHF3, C2F6/C3F6, and C3F6/H2) was performed, and the results compared to selective SiO2-to-Si etching. A fluorocarbon film is present on the surfaces of all investigated substrate materials during steady state etching conditions. A general trend is that the substrate etch rate is inversely proportional to the thickness of this fluorocarbon film. Oxide substrates are covered with a thin fluorocarbon film (<1.5 nm) during steady-state etching and at sufficiently high self-bias voltages, the oxide etch rates are found to be roughly independent of the feedgas chemistry. The fluorocarbon film thicknesses on silicon, on the other hand, are strongly dependent on the feedgas chemistry and range from ∼2 to ∼7 nm in the investigated process...


In this paper, we introduce some new classes of convex functions, which are called relaxed strongly ϕ-convex and relaxed strongly ϕ-invex functions. We study some properties of these new classes of nonconvex functions. Results obtained in this paper can be viewed as refinement and improvement of previously known results.


In this paper, we study a noise-robust feature extraction method of speech signal based on auditory modeling. The auditory model consists of a basilar membrane, a hair cell model and spectrum output stage. Basilar membrane model describes a response characteristic of membrane according to vibration in speech wave, and is represented as a band-pass filter bank. Hair cell model describes a neural transduction according to displacements of the basilar membrane. It responds adaptively to relative values of input and plays an important role for noise-robustness. Spectrum output stage constructs a mean rate spectrum using the average firing rate of each channel. And we extract feature vectors using a mean rate spectrum. Simulation results show that when auditory-based feature extraction is used, the speech recognition performance in noisy environments is improved compared to other feature extraction methods.


The United States Department of Energy proposes to re-establish a domestic capability for producing plutonium-238 (238Pu) to fuel radioisotope power systems primarily in support of future space missions. A conceptual design report is currently being prepared for a new 238Pu, and neptunium-237 (237Np) target fabrication and processing facility tentatively to be built at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) in the USA. The facility would be capable of producing at least 5 kg of 238Pu-oxide powder per year. Production of 238Pu requires fabrication of 237Np targets with subsequent irradiation in the existing Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) located at the INL. The targets are 237Np oxide dispersed in a compact of powdered aluminum and clad with aluminum metal. The 238Pu product is separated and purified from the residual 237Np, aluminum matrix, and fission products. The unconverted 237Np is also a valuable starting material and is separated, purified and recycled to the target fabrication process. The proposed baseline method for separating and purifying 238Pu and unconverted 237Np post irradiation is by anion exchange (IX). Separation of Pu from Np by IX was chosen as the baseline method because of the method's proven ability to produce a quality Pu product and because it is amenable to the relatively small scale, batch type production methods used (small batches of 200g 238Pu are processed at a time). Multiple IX cycles are required involving substantial volumes of nitric acid and other process solutions which must be cleaned and recycled or disposed of as waste. Acid recycle requires rather large evaporator systems, including one contained in a hot cell for remote operation. Finally, the organic based anion exchange resins are rapidly degraded due to the high α-dose and associated heat production from 238Pu decay, and must be regularly replaced (and disposed of as waste). In summary, IX is time consuming, cumbersome, and requires substantial tankage to accommodate the process. The primary purpose of the preliminary study discussed here is to develop an alternative process flowsheet using well-known solvent extraction (SX) techniques based on decades of experience with PUREX processing of nuclear materials. Ultimately, this initial study will be used to determine if an SX approach would offer any significant processing advantages relative to the currently proposed anion exchange process.