Abstract:  All‐trans retinoic acid (ATRA) combined with granulocyte macrophage colony‐stimulating factor (GM‐CSF) synergistically increases superoxide‐generating activity in human myeloblastic leukemia ML‐1 cells. ATRA is known to increase the expression of some NADPH components; however, little is known about the effect of GM‐CSF on the expression of these components. We examined the expression of NADPH oxidase components in ML‐1 cells treated with ATRA, GM‐CSF, or a combination of ATRA and GM‐CSF. Expression of p47phox and gp91phox proteins increased markedly after treatment with both reagents. p47phox expression was increased by ATRA alone, and the expression was increased synergistically by the combination of ATRA with GM‐CSF. gp91phox was increased by ATRA or GM‐CSF alone. The expression of p47phox and gp91phox mRNA underwent similar changes to those seen in protein level. These results indicate that GM‐CSF induces expression of gp91phox and enhances ATRA‐induced p47phox expression. We speculate that the remarkable induction of gp91phox and p47phox protein is associated with an increase in superoxide‐generating activity due to the synergistic effect of ATRA plus GM‐CSF.


This paper reviews the design of crystal orientation and morphology by laser patterning in glasses. In laser-induced crystallization, a spatially limited region is heated locally which brings about a steep temperature gradient. The latter is moved along the laser scanning direction and results in laser patterning of crystals of high orientations. It is confirmed on the ground of second harmonic generation measurements and birefringence imaging observations in case of pattering of nonlinear optical b-BaB 2 O 4 crystals (b-BBO) in 8Sm 2 O 3 .42BaO.50B 2 O 3 glass that bending and spiral b-BBO crystal lines of c-axis orientation are patterned by just changing the laser scanning direction. b-BBO lines of lengths of 20 mm are also patterned in the bulk of the glass when the laser focal position is moved gradually from the surface to the bulk. It is demonstrated that b-BBO cross-section of lines is of a rectangular shape with rounded corners. The maximum depth achieved in b-BBO patterning increases with laser power increase.


Persistent glucagonemia after total pancreatectomy in man has been reported by Mutter, Brennan, Tan and Aoki (1974); Palmer, Werner, Benson and Ensinck (1976) and Botha, Vinik, Child, Paul and Chackson (1977) who used the C-terminal specific antiserum 30K. In contrast Gerich, Schneider, Dippe, Langlois, Noacco, Karam and Farsham (1974) and Barnes and Bloom (1976) could detect no plasma glucagon in totally pancreatectomized patients when using respectively 30K and the RCS5 antiserum also employed in our study. The confusion in measurements of plasma immunoreactive glucagon, IRG and the existence of non-pancreatic glucagon-like material has been carefully reviewed by Maier and Pfeiffer (1978). The present study provides additional information to what is the true normal basal level of IRG and to the concept extrapancreatic glucagon-like material in man.


Power grids are increasing the volume of renewable energy generation from unpredictable sources such as solar and wind. As a consequence, the problem of increasing peak-to-valley load difference and the difficulty of renewable energy consumption is becoming more and more obvious. Energy storage power stations are an effective means to solve such problems. With the development of energy storage technology and the decline of energy storage costs, the economic benefits of energy storage power station construction in the distribution network have become increasingly significant. On the basis of the economic benefits of traditional energy storage systems, this paper establishes a life-cycle cost model for energy storage power plants, and considers the benefits of energy storage power plants on the side of new energy power plants. Finally, through the example analysis, it is concluded that the energy storage power station on the distribution network side has economic benefits without government subsidies.


South Asia, a land of contrasting landscapes, seasons and climates, is highly vulnerable to climate variability over intra-seasonal to decadal time scales. In winter, precipitation over the western ...


Aim. The aim of article is present the changing of idea of lifelong learning. The article focuses on the idea of lifelong learning. The first part shows the essence of lifelong learning. An attempt has been made to organise concepts like: lifelong learning, lifelong training, continuing education and permanent education, as well as education and adult education, to consequently educe the idea of lifelong learning from the concept of continuing education.
Methods. It's used  the literature analysis because of the  theoretical character of a paper.
Results. In the paper  was presented how idea of lifelong learning was changing in the time. Furthermore, the article shows the social context of the use of lifelong learning in relation to the theory of human capital and social capital theory as well. The next part of the article concentrates on identifying the most important initiatives of the European Union, the objective of which was the implementation of the idea in Europe. The article presents the aims of the EU programmes that are focused on the implementation of that idea in European education.
Conclusions. The development of the idea lifelong learning is referring with a social and cultural changes. This idea is a very important part of EU strategy which main gol is to build the Information Society.


REAL EXCHANGE rate is defined as the foreign currency price of a unit of domestic currency (that is, the nominal exchange rate) multiplied by the ratio of the domestic to the foreign price level. The real exchange rate has been at the center of economic policy discussions in the 1980s for at least two reasons. First, this relative price has been more variable in the floating-rate period than in the preceding era of fixed (nominal) exchange rates.' Second, this price is related to international trade patterns because the competitive position of an individual exporting (import-competing) firm in a country is affected adversely by an appreciating (depreciating) real exchange rate.'


Abstract A stylistic analysis of the incised patterns executed on the shoulders of the pottery of five Central and Northern Plains village groups yields two broad pattern types. The configurations of these types and their variants in time and space conform to what is now known of the development of the five historic socio-linguistic groups considered: Pawnee, Arikara, Cheyenne, Crow, and Mandan-Hidatsa. The spread of a distinctive triangular pattern, the "Alternating Triangle," from its inception along the eastern boundary of the Central Plains, provides a test of the hypothesis that incised Plains pottery shoulder patterns derive in large part from stimuli from Mississippian groups to the east. Subsequent history of the incised patterns is that of a strong collective tradition over-riding earlier patterns in the Northern Plains. This incised tradition is related to historic data on skin and robe painting and to the concept of a general art style of the area, as well as to fundamental problems in the field of art.


Aim: The main aim of this work is to document the operability of insular gliomas and to evaluate the achieved radicality of resection exactly. Patients and methods: The prospectively studied patient group included eight patients harboring an insular glioma, who were operated on in the period of 18 months. The radicality of the resection was evaluated with the use of two methods. For quick evaluation, a simple ellipsoid approximation was used. A volumetric evaluation using semiautomatic segmentation was used as a precise, yet more elaborate method. Results: There was no permanent neurological morbidity in our study group. We could achieve an average 84% (56– 100%) tumor mass reduction. In the group of seven large and surgically complex WHO grade II and III gliomas, we achieved an average 82% tumor mass reduction (56– 94%). The semiautomatic segmentation volumetry showed minimal deviation of the measurements and it played a crucial role especially in residual tumor volume evaluation. Conclusions: There is no standard method for the treatment for low-grade insular glioma. As a general recommendation, we prefer an active and maximally radical approach, mainly due to the risk of undiagnosed anaplastic astrocytoma. The intraoperative motor evoked potentials monitoring and a meticulous microsurgical preparation of the middle cerebral artery branching, as well as the preoperative knowledge of the position of the lenticulostriate perforators are of utmost importance for the safety of the surgery. R. Bartoš1,4, M. Sameš1, A. Zolal1, T. Radovnický1, A. Hejčl1, P. Vachata1,4, F. Cihlář2, D. Bejšovec3, P. Petrovický4 Krajská zdravotní, a.s., Masarykova nemocnice v Ústí nad Labem, o.z.: 1 Neurochirurgická klinika UJEP 2 Radiodiagnostické oddělení 3 Oddělení anestezie a intenzivní medicíny 4 Anatomický ústav 1. LF UK v Praze  MUDr. Robert Bartoš Neurochirurgická klinika Masarykova nemocnice a UJEP v Ústí nad Labem Sociální péče 12A 401 13 Ústí nad Labem-Bukov e-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com Přijato k recenzi: 8. 6. 2009 Přijato do tisku: 17. 9. 2009


In the first part of this paper a theory for isothermal homogeneous two-phase, liquid-gas flow in horizontal pipes is established by introducing the concept of Mach number and by considering the medium to be a pseudo gas. The theory takes account of wall friction, compressibility and flow choking. A set of working formulas is obtained. In the second part, results of experiments on homogeneous bubbly flows of water-air mixtures in a 1-in. Pipe are reported. Criteria for the occurrence of bubbly flow are established and the occurrence of flow choking confirmed. It is shown that the mathematical model is adequate insofar as it explains, phenomenologically, real flow conditions.


According to an investigation of the invasive alien species in their species,quantity,distribution and harms in Chengdu area,some species such as Opogona sacchari(Bojer),Pomacea canaliculata Spix,Alternanthera philoxeroides(Mart.) Griseb,Eichhornia crassipes(Mart.) Solms and Rana catesbeiana shaw were found.Some points were discussed including the cause of spreading,harms,prevention methods,possible alien species in near future in the Chengdu area and problems existing to control the invasive alien species.


Axenic rearing of Aedes atroPal|us was performed from previously sterilized eggs to pupae in sterile 2500-ml culture flasks containing 500 ml of sterile culture medium. The larval density in ttre ixenic rearing waters was approximately 500 larvae/liter. A series ofexperiments was conducted using respectively 6-, 9-, I 2and I 9-day old axenic larval rearing water. All these tested waters were significantly preierred by theAa. atropalpus females. Sterile, distilled water was also significantly attractive after only 48-hr immersion of axenic fourth-instar larvae. An axenic larval rearing water with higher larval density (900 larvae/liter) was however repulsive. The last experiment presents evidence for blocking ofthe attractant effect at high larval densities.


We propose a unified motion planner that reproduces variations in swimming styles based on the differences in the fish skeletal structures or the variations in the swimming styles based on changes in environmental conditions. The key idea in our method, based on biology, is the following. We considered the common decision-making mechanism in fish that allows them to instantly decide "where and how to swim." The unified motion planner comprises two stages. In the first stage, where to swim to is decided. Using a probability distribution generated by integrating the perceptual information, the short-term target position and target speed are decided. In the second stage, how to swim is decided. A style of swimming that matches the information for transitioning from the current speed to the target speed is selected. Using the proposed method, we demonstrate 12 types of CG models with completely different sizes and skeletal structures, such as manta ray, tuna, and boxfish, as well as a scene where a school of a few thousand fish swim realistically. Our method is easy to integrate into existing graphics pipelines. In addition, in our method, the movement characteristics can easily be changed by adjusting the parameters. The method also has a feature where the expression of an entire school of fish, such as tornado or circling, can be designated top-down.


The title ligand [L1]– forms 2:1 complexes [MIII(L1)2]+(M = Sm, U) in which the metal ions are in an icosahedral N12 coordination environment from the two interleaved hexadentate ligands.


Karun River is located in the South- Western part of Iran (or the North- western area of the Persian Gulf). Irrigation water should be transmitted from Mared channel into the East bank of the Karun River through siphon design at the River bed. This paper will try to show the economical comparison through the HDD, Fabricated pipes, and TBM, PE pipes with artificial intelligence designing (AID). Total cost of AID will be computed less than 1/4 of other mentioned methods. AID is needed to invent more connection with moving and rotation behavior. Also, buoyancy forces will be obstructed to fix in the bed through micro piles nails at the siphon bed which could be guaranteed the flow current and floating behavior safety. Complimentary design can be modified to approve AID for military purposes through the more research and tentative tests in the laboratories.


Fusion centers have access to terra bytes of information from both businesses and federal, state and local governments. The information ranges from computer generated databases to collections of notes with transcript of interviews performed by law enforcement personnel. Searching notes and transcripts is difficult and time consuming because humans do not use a comment set of phrases. Phrases vary due to past experiences, origin of birth and generational differences. Search engines try to compensate for these differences by performing context searches. Context searches replace specific words in the search request with other predetermined words. One can reduce false positives with an intelligent search based on grammar and English sentence structure. Intelligent sentence searching converts the each document into a set of simple sentences using only words in the predefined dictionary. These simple sentences capture the essence of the document. The conversion methodology uses synonyms, idiomatic expressions, grammar, patterns of speech and word location to create a searchable index. Because of the limited dictionary and elimination of most ambiguities, searches can be free of false positives. This paper describes the sentence context methodology, examples, and test results for a representative law enforcement report.


A variety of alcohols can be dehydrodimerized to give 1,2-diols on a multigram scale at 1 atm pressure and reflux temperature on photolysis (254 nm) in the presence of a trace of Hg vapor. Initial C-H bond breaking is followed by recombination of the resulting a-C-centered radicals, which normally leads to C-C bond formation a to oxygen. The reaction rate and selectivity can be increased by operating at lower temperatures under H 2 , in which case H atoms replace Hg * as the principal abstracting reagent and H atom abstraction from the α-CH bond leads directly to the α-C-centered radical


Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) – Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC) – are chronic inflammatory disorders of the intestine. Patients with IBD are at risk of hospitalization for disease exacerbation or IBD‐associated complications. In the pediatric population, however, there are limited data on IBD hospitalizations. We therefore investigated the descriptive epidemiology of hospitalizations relevant to pediatric IBD.


Manufacturing companies want to implement the make-to-order (MTO) strategy to be more flexible and responsive to the volatility of demand and product variability. However, the make-to-stock (MTS) approach is an appealing concept due to its desirable performance properties: high capacity utilization, high availability and short lead times. This paper aims to define a methodology that combines the advantages of MTO and MTS. The evaluation of the production strategies is based on an industrial case of a global manufacturer of agricultural machinery and is accomplished with the help of System Dynamics. © 2012 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of Professor D. Mourtzis and Professor G. Chryssolouris.


Category: Diabetes Introduction/Purpose: Complex foot and ankle deformities secondary to charcot neuroarthropathy continue to represent a significant challenge and management quandary. This is due to the combination of medical co-morbidities, peripheral neuropathy, immune compromise, and micro/macro vascular issues in addition to the surgical challenge of wide area of injury, progressive deformity and bone resorption. The technique of 'superconstructs' have been proposed as a method of combating these challenges with deformity correction achieved through fusion out with the zone of injury and fixation in unaffected 'normal' bone. We present here the outcomes of this technique at one year using internal fixation alone, external fixation alone and the novel technique of combined internal and external fixation using combined internal and external fixation internal/ external fixation only at one year. Methods: Retrospective two-surgeon case series with all cases jointly operated upon. Cases identified from a locally held charcot patient registry. Patients undergoing charcot foot and ankle reconstruction from 2017 to 2020 included. No exclusion criteria outlined. Patient demographics and comorbidities were collected, pre-op radiological markers (meary's angle) measured and repeated at 6-12 /52 and 1 year. Patient outcomes were recorded of ulcer recurrence, limb salvage, pain score, stable heel, able to ambulate, need for revision surgery, fusion and surgical complications. Proms are awaited for all patients. Results: 19 cases from 18 patients undergoing reconstruction identified. 18 cases were included for analysis. Fourteen patients were broadsky 1, one broadsky 2, one broadsky 3 and two broadsky 4. 3 patients had internal fixation, 5 external fixation and 10 combined internal and external fixation. Limb salvage was 94% with one amputation. Mortality rate was nil. All patients reported improved pain scores, a stable heel and were ambulating. No recurrence of ulceration reported and no prolonged antibiotic use. Mearys angle improved in all groups: Internal fixation pre-op -9.6o, post op 2.6o and 1 year -1o, external fixation pre-op -20o, post op -6o and 1 year -12o, IF + EF pre-op -24.6o, post op 1.2o and 1 year -2.3o. Fusion rate was 100% with average time to fusion 154 days and a range of 360 - 52. Complications of 2 tibial fractures and metalwork removal with delayed wound healing were noted. Conclusion: The outcome of all three methods is positive with 94% limb salvage, 100% fusion / ambulation/ improved pain and ulcer free at 1 year. Mearys angle is improved at one year however there is a loss of correction noted with external fixation alone. These results are encouraging and support the use of combined internal and external fixation in these complex cases. The added benefit of this technique of maintaining ambulation, avoiding the complications of nonweightbearing all whilst maintaining the structure of the reconstructed foot are promising. The complications reported were in the first 3 patient and represent a learning curve.


Abstract The effect of latent inhibition on learning about cues related to increased predation risk was studied in a native crayfish, Orconectes virilis, and in an invasive species, Orconectes rusticus. Individuals of both species either were exposed or not exposed to the conditioned stimulus (potential "predator" odor = goldfish odor) prior to simultaneous exposure to conditioned (potential predator odor) and unconditioned (crushed conspecific = alarm odor) stimuli. Crayfish were then tested one day and one week later for inhibition of feeding responses following introduction of goldfish odor. Both species were clearly inhibited in their formation of an association between the goldfish odor and a predator risk stimulus after a training period during which they were exposed only to the goldfish odor. Thus, the effect of latent inhibition was demonstrated in both species. The implications for the learning of cues associated with predation risk are discussed.


The present invention relates to a method to control objects on a touch screen-based device. The method includes: a step of selecting an arbitrary object among one or more objects displayed on a touch screen based on a first touch gesture; and a step of controlling the selected object based on a second touch gesture on a region except for the selected object on the touch screen.


Dispersed photovoltaic generation integrated in the low voltage distribution grids leads their operation towards an active approach. In that context, new methodologies are needed in order to identify and to accurately quantify the impact of this massive renewable penetration on the grid operation. For this purpose, the authors of this study have developed in a previous analysis a probabilistic load flow tool directly based on the use of smart meters data. The goal of this tool was to quantify probabilities of overvoltage in radial low voltage grids with increased photovoltaic penetrations. However, the drawback of this approach was the too long (15 minutes) sampling time step of smart meters that did not allow the consideration of fast fluctuations of photovoltaic generation. In the present paper, an original adaptation of the existing tool is therefore presented, which enables the consideration of short temporary photovoltaic power fluctuations. Thanks to this new development, it is shown that a more accurate estimation of overvoltage situations, due to photovoltaic generation, is permitted.


Aims: Hypercholesterolemia is the major cause of cardiovascular disease which is the leading cause of one-third of all deaths worldwide. There is growing interest in the preventing and lowering hypercholesterolemia by practicing dietary control or using probiotic has emerged recently . The present study was to investigate several cholesterol-lowering mechanisms of Enterococcus strains isolated from breast milk. Material and methods: Ten strains of Enterococcus feacalis  and six strains of Enterococcus feacium  isolated from human milk were evaluated for cholesterol-lowering activity through the ability to assimilate cholesterol from growth media, bile salt hydrolase activity and cholesterol binding property. Results: All Enterococuc  strains were able to reduce cholesterol in the 0.3 % oxgall bile containing medium in the range of 40.85%-61.11% using O -phthalaldehyde method.  Ent.  faecium  EMA410.4 exhibited the highest assimilation. The bile salt hydrolase (BSH) activity was only confined among 9 strains of Ent. faecalis and 5 strains of Ent. faecium  by showing precipitation zone on MRS agar supplemented with 0.5% (w/v) sodium salt of taurodeoxycholic acid (TDCA). The cholesterol binding ability of the resting cells (live cells) and dead cells (heat-killed cells) was exhibited within all Enterococcus  strains range of 8.35-19.49 mg/g dry weight and 3.49-13.65 mg/g dry cell weight. Conclusion: Enterococcus was able to reduce the concentration of cholesterol in vitro  through several mechanisms and can be used in the future as a good candidate for lowering cholesterol level in vivo .


Numerous research efforts were targeted to advanced technologies, improvements of existing technologies, water, energy and chemical reduction in washing process, keeping an equal quality level or improving it, maintaining current detergency and stain removal performance, maintaining current hygienic requirements, and maintaining the original fabric properties of the processed articles. The aim of this research is to test washing performance of Soapnut shells using ultrasonic cleaning as a key enabling technology (KET), as compared to the conventional process performed in a machine of the horizontal rotating drum type. Soap nut shells from Sapindus mukorossi as a source of Saponins, were selected as providers of "green chemistry" in washing. The efficiency of Saponins performed in ultrasonic cleaning and drum rotating machine was compared with water through evaluation of heavy stains removal. The results confirmed a selective efficiency of soap nut shells in tested conditions.


word count: 228 14 Text word count: 2,488 15 16 *Address all Correspondences to: 17 18 David Huang, MD, PhD 19 Motif BioSciences, 125 Park Avenue, 25 Floor, New York, NY 10017 20 Telephone: 936-577-5770, Email: email@example.com 21 Manuscript Click here to download Manuscript Huang-Iclaprim-AlginateBeads-28Nov17.docx Click here to view linked References


Composites or the composite materials have profound applications in various aspects of engineering, ranging from aerospace to civil, automobile to marine engineering. The present study deals with the study of twisted plates or turbo-machinery blades made of composite materials which form the fundamental element of many structural components.Rotating structures having the shape of pre-twisted blades commonly occur in several types of practical engineering areas such as turbines, airplane propellers, helicopter rotors and aircraft rotary wings. Turbo machinery is widely used in industries as turbo engines, turbo generators, turbofans etc. These plates are subjected to in-plane load on account of fluid or aerodynamic pressures. The structures implementing turbo machinery blades are subjected to high dynamic loadings. It is therefore, quite significant for design, safety and life of the machinery to determine their dynamic character accurately as they are working at high speeds. The present study deals with the vibration analysis of the laminated composite twisted plates subjected to free vibrations. The analysis commences with the review of the previous works done in order to gather a rough idea regarding the said matter.The analysis further proceeds with the study of the effects of the various parameters such as increase in the number of layers, aspect ratio, side to thickness ratios, angle of twist etc using ANSYS.The effect of number of layers, changing angle of twist, width to thickness ratio, aspect ratio, etc on the vibration are presented.


The article is dedicated to the consideration of the role and significance of the quaternary logic in automated control systems. The methodology of reduction and application of the principle of ergodicity in measurement metrology in automated process control systems is presented. The optimization role of the tools used in solving of hybrid technological and telemetry problems is emphasized.


The paper deals with properties of the totally distributed genetic algorithm RGA, initially designed for the PIG cellular system. We have adopted the algorithm to a mesh of processors. Simulations were performed using Transim tool in order to investigate performance of this new RGA algorithm independently of a given application. This way, characteristics such as efficiency, speedup, communication delays, the influence of chromosome length and fitness calculations are easily evaluated beforehand.


The fatigue face-crack growth behavior in explosive bonded double-layer metal composite plate (LY12/20g) was investigated. The results indicate that the elastic-plastic mismatch of components has significant influence on the near-tip "driving force" of fatigue crack growth. Specifically, the crack-tip is shielded from the remote loads when crack approaches the interface from the weaker material with lower yielding strength and elastic module .And the "effective driving force" at the crack tip is greater than the remote loads when crack approaches the interface from the stronger material with higher yielding strength and elastic module. The shielding and amplification on the near-tip "driving force" from the elastic-plastic mismatch between components are more and more obvious with the crack-tip approaching the interface. However, the effective ranges of elastic mismatch and plastic mismatch are not the same. The elastic mismatch acts from the fatigue crack starting growth to crack-tip contacting interface, and the strength mismatch only acts after the crack-tip plastic zone contacting the interface.


These principles are more explicitly stated in the Education Act of 1950 in which the aims of education are defined as "the development of moral character and the rearing of democratic citizens with a sense of responsibility for the welfare of society as a whole." Article 4 of the same Act states further that Pantia Sila (the five elements of the national philosophy, namely Belief in God Almighty, Humanitarianism, Nationalism, Democracy and Social Justice) shall be the basis of education, and that education shall also be the expression of national culture. These underlying principles are also expressed in the recent Higher Education Act, passed on November 14, 1961. The foremost aim of higher education, so the Act stipulates, is the education of moral man. Historically speaking, some aspects of the educational system were already established by the Dutch in the final stages of their colonial rule, but the big projects were started only after the proclamation of independence in 1945 and the system could come into full swing only when fighting ceased in 1949 and reconstruction could be begun in earnest. How big the educational problem was can be seen from the following figures: In 1935 only twenty-four boys and nine girls among one thousand Indonesians were having some sort of elementary education in the island of Java, which at the time had some fifty million inhabitants. The highest figure for the same year was that of the Tapanuli area, where the Rhenish Mission had worked since 1861, with thirty-three boys and thirteen girls among one thousand Indonesians receiving elementary education from among a population of two million.2 The type of elementary education that was available to most school-going Indonesians up to 1942 was the three-year village school. In 1927 only 601 Indonesians had academic secondary education, and there were only sixteen Indonesian students in the seven-yearold College of Technology, seventy students in the four-year old Law School and seven students in the newly-established Medical School.3 Ninety-two per cent of the population was illiterate at the time of the Dutch surrender to the Japanese in 1942, and there were only 400-odd Indonesians with university training.4 Thus it was not surprising that when independence was proclaimed, education was foremost in people's minds, and everybody was teaching everybody in the campaign against illiteracy. It was also a period of extensive correspondence courses, sent out for the benefit of those young people who left their schools to join the armed forces.


Application of principal component regression (PCR) was proposed for the development of a prediction equation of forage composition by near infra-red spectroscopy. PCR involves two steps: (a) the creation of new synthetic variables by principal component analysis (PCA) of spectral data, and (b) multiple linear regression with these new variables. Results obtained by this procedure have been compared with those generated by the conventional application of multiple linear regression (MLR) on spectral data. The comparison used the determination of protein content and in vitro dry matter digestibility (IVDMD) in 345 samples of lucerne forages. For protein determination, results of both procedures were quite similar (correlation coefficients: 0.978 and 0.980; standard errors of calibration: 0.86 and 0.84% DM; standard errors of prediction: 0.81 and 0.80% DM respectively for MLR and PCR prediction equations). The same was observed for IVDMD determination (correlation coefficients: 0.942 and 0.951; standard errors of calibration: 1.89 and 1.71% DM; standard errors of prediction: 2.22 and 2.22% DM, respectively). A large number of PCA variables were necessary for an accurate prediction of both constituents. The influence of the number of regression terms introduced in the PCR equation has been studied. The criterion for stopping the introduction of new terms in PCR did not seem as critical as in MLR.


Devices and methods for reducing a variation in voltage perturbation between common voltage layers (VCOMs) of a display in response to voltage interference are provided. In one example, a resistive element may be coupled to one of several VCOMs to increase the resistance value of the VCOM. The resistive element may cause a variation in voltage perturbations between the several VCOMs to become generally more uniform, thereby reducing or eliminating certain image artifacts.


AS A people Americans are pre-eminently doers, and American educational theory and practice have been following suit. Witness the frequent and well-known phrasings: people must think and learn as they act and do; think in acting and learn by doing. Distrust just thinking about; do action research. Do not rely upon any general finding until it has been tested in particular practice or has successfully met the challenge of the facts. Especially, beware of thinking and learning solely in the abstract when trying to produce effective and otherwise satisfactory moral character in the future citizen.


We report on a 19-year-old man who presented with recurrent ulcerated nodules on the lower extremities, neck, and torso. Physical examination revealed a scarred plaque on his sternum, a large ulcerated nodule with violaceous borders on his left thigh, nodular and cystic lesions in both axillae, as well as multiple acne scars and pustules on his face and neck (Figures 1a-d).


In this paper a new capacitor-over-bit line (COB) cell for 1G DRAM is proposed. The cell area of 0.375 /spl mu/m/sup 2/ was obtained with diagonal bit line (DBL) configuration. An edge operation MOS (EOS) transfer gate has been developed which provides SOI-like small S-factor and V/sub TH/-V/sub SUB/ dependence. A storage capacitance of 28.5 fF was achieved with a Ta/sub 2/O/sub 5/ dielectric film on a hemispherical grain Si (HSG) cylinder structure.<<ETX>>


Today, the most popular and most effective form of advertising is advertising on social networks. Income from advertising makes social networks the most profitable business in the information sphere. For enterprises, advertising in social networks is a relatively new opportunity to offer consumers their goods, work and services, so an accountant may have some difficulties to identify the costs of such advertising as an accounting object. The purpose of the article is to substantiate the procedure for documentary confirmation and the disclosure of the methodical foundations of accounting and taxation for advertising costs on social networks. The advantages of advertising on social networks were disclosed. Such advertising allows you to solve several problems at once. It was revealed that within one business day an enterprise can pay the cost of advertising services in social networks in a currency in an equivalent of not more than UAH 150,000 from a corporate payment card. This restriction is due to the fact that the service provider is a non-resident, and payment can only be carried out with a corporate payment card, having previously purchased foreign currency. The study of the problematic aspects of documentary support of operations for payment of advertising services by an accountable person using a corporate payment card was carried out from the perspective of a system analysis and taking into account the peculiarities of the national tax system. It was proved that in order to avoid disputes with fiscal authorities it is advisable for an accountant to generate additional documents containing all the required details of the identification of a business transaction. Such documents may include: an order from the head to conduct an advertising campaign in a particular social network; other documents on the conduct of the advertising campaign by the enterprise (printed photo reports, screenshots of the ads posted on the social network site that allow identifying the goods / services advertised by the enterprise and, accordingly, the information provided about them as advertising, the report of the responsible employee on the conducted advertising events); documents on the implementation of expenses and the provision of advertising services to the enterprise (advance report of the responsible employee on the payment of advertising services using a corporate payment card, bank statement, report of transactions made based on the social network receipts with all the necessary details for the initial document). The article discloses the methodical principles of accounting of expenditure on advertising in social networks and the calculation and payment of tax payments for such services.


The time-reversal operator (TRO) for a cylindrical rod with circular cross section illuminated by an array of line antennas is investigated in order to locate the target and determine its electromagnetic property. In the two-dimensional settings, the number of eigenvalues of the time-reversal operator is determined by the polarization of the incident wave, as well as the composing material of the rod. This statement is proved mathematically and its physical meaning is explained in terms of the induced line current and two-dimensional dipolar current. Numerical simulations show that the eigenvector of the TRO allows one to focus the time-reversed wave on the target.


Since cover, copy, compare (CCC) has not been widely implemented for students with autism, one purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of modified (CCC) on spelling third grade core words for an elementary school student with autism (ASD). This study adds to the literature by having the participant trace the first time she wrote a word using CCC, the form on which the student wrote her words was modified so she could not view her previous performance. The present case report provides a replication of employing CCC with a student with autism. This intervention required the student to trace the spelling word, copy it, cover it, write it from memory, then compare the copied word to the original correct model. The effectiveness of CCC was assessed using a non-concurrent multiple-baseline across word sets. The results indicated that the intervention was successful for teaching spelling words to a single student with autism in a self-contained special education classroom setting. The use of a modified CCC with students with autism was discussed.


Functional form specification is an important issue in econometrics. While non-parametric techniques can partially solve this problem by relaxing the assumptions on any explicit functional form, it is at the cost of easy interpretation and also facing the curse of dimensionality. The semi-parametric techniques are introduced as a way of circumventing these shortcomings. However, the non-parametric part of the model is particularly sensitive to model assumptions in the parametric part. In the recent literature on life-satisfaction these methods have been used without taking sufficient care. It will be shown how this can easily, though not necessarily, lead to erroneous conclusions.


The pyrolysis of thiophene in a hydrogen sulfide atmosphere in a system of the flow-recirculation type leads to almost quantitative formation of a mixture of isomeric dithienyls enriched with the 2,3′ and 3,3′ isomers.


Abstract Approaches in comparative policy analysis have so far focused on the understanding of actors, institutions and their positions in the policy-making process. More recent work attempts to enrich comparative policy analysis by taking the social context and culture into account, in order to do justice to the relevance of policy context for policy content. However, the object or content of policy making has so far largely remained a black box. In this article we aim to open up this black box by studying the provision of pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) in the Netherlands, Germany and Britain in terms of co-evolution. Co-evolution refers to the intricate development of a policy together with its content, in this case genetic technologies such as PGD. We demonstrate how co-evolution has led to specific technological arrangements in these three countries: a specific technical version of PGD to deal with restrictive legislation in Germany, to a well-funded PGD with insecure indications in the Netherlands and to a PGD with secure indications but uncertain funding in Britain. We argue that this approach can contribute to policy learning, about the role of policy content as well as the role of policy processes in shaping public policies.


STOP AAPI HATE reports, which are activist technical communication documents, engage with the field of cultural rhetorics by sharing AAPI stories and by advocating for resistance against dominant anti-AAPI narratives in coronavirus-related media. This article uses a cultural rhetorics methodology to critically examine how the STOP AAPI HATE initiative gathers and presents data in these reports, evaluating how the current document design limits access for AAPI users. By reimagining the presentation of STOP AAPI HATE report data, this article demonstrate how a cultural rhetorics approach can bolster both the accessibility and reach of technical communication documents for vulnerable user communities.


The paper proposes a model of e-interactive mathematics learning in the GeoGebra Activity/Classroom cloud platform. Methodological development is related to solving educational problems and arriving at an idea for solving the tasks, through research with dynamic constructions. The model aims to master the elements of the research approach.


In order to reuse 3D models and design knowledge efficiently, a number of 3D model retrieval algorithms based on content features of models have been proposed in recent years. Although, the features-based methods have achieved some progress, there are two limitations stilly. The first, single content feature cant be suit for all kinds of 3D models; different features have different strengths and weakness. The second, semantic gap, the semantic of model is independent from low-level characteristics. For those two issues, we present a 3D engineering model retrieval algorithm based on relevance feedback and features combination in this paper. The proposed method takes advantage of multiple features by allying them with weights. In the retrieval process, our method utilizes the Particle Swarm Optimization to update the weights dynamically based on users relevance feedback information in order to narrowing the gap between high-level semantic knowledge and low-level content features. The Experiments, based on publicly available 3D model database Engineering Shape Benchmark (ESB) developed by Purdue University, suggested that the proposed approach has better retrieval ability than traditional ones.


Indonesia has a high vulnerability towards earthquakes. The low adaptive capacity could make the earthquake become disaster that should be concerned. That is why risk management should be applied to reduce the impacts, such as estimating the economic loss caused by hazard. The study area of this research is West Java. The main reason of West Java being vulnerable toward earthquake is the existence of active faults. These active faults are Lembang Fault, Cimandiri Fault, Baribis Fault, and also Megathrust subduction zone. This research tries to estimates the value of earthquakes economic loss from some sources in West Java. The economic loss is calculated by using HAZUS method. The components that should be known are hazard (earthquakes), exposure (building), and the vulnerability. Spatial modeling is aimed to build the exposure data and make user get the information easier by showing the distribution map, not only in tabular data. As the result, West Java could have economic loss up to 1,925,122,301,868,1...


The invention relates to a method for preparing a silk screen printing composite plate, which comprises the following steps: firstly, setting the tensile force of a polyester silk screen, and adhering the polyester silk screen to a provisional frame directly; secondly, adhering a protective adhesive tape to the polyester silk screen, adhering a metal gauze screen to the polyester silk screen with an adhesive, tearing out the protective adhesive tape, and separating the unnecessary internal polyester silk screen to prepare the compound plate; thirdly, pressing a printing frame uniformly, pushing the printing frame upwards from the lower part of the provisional frame, adhering the printing frame to the polyester silk screen part of the provisional frame, and separating the provisional frame to obtain the product. Compared with the prior art, the method has the characteristics of not being limited by the type and the state of the internal stainless steel silk screen, manufacturing the final product with certain tensile force, preventing yield reduction caused by the breaking in the process steps and the like.


Objective To investigate the influence of dezocine on behavior and the levels of tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α) and prostaglandin E2(PGE2) in rats with neuropathic pathologic pain.Methods Thirty adult male rats were randomly divided into sham-operation group,model group and dezocine group.The rats in model group and dezocine group were made the model of chronic sciatic nerve oppressive injury;the sciatic nerve of rats in sham-operation group were exposed only,and the sciatic nerve were not ligatured.The rats in dezocine group were treated with dezocine 5 mg·kg-1 by intraperitoneal injection every day from the beginning to seven days after operation;but the rats in sham-operation group and model group were treated with isochoric normal saline.The changes of mechanical withdrawal threshold(MWT) of rats in the three groups were detected at the time of 1 day before operation and 1 day,3,5,7,14 days after operation;14 days after operation,the levels of TNF-α and PGE2 in spinal cord of rats were detected.Results There was no significant difference in MWT among the three groups before treatment(P0.05).In sham-operation group,the MWTs at 1 day,3,5,7,14 days after operation had no significant difference compared with those at pre-operation(P0.05);but the MWTs in model group and dezocine group at 1 day,3,5,7,14 days after operation were significantly lower than those at preoperation(P0.05).The MWTs in model group and dezocine group were significantly lower than those in sham-operation group(P0.05),and the MWTs in dezocine group were significantly higher than those in model group at 1 day,3,5,7,14 days after operation(P0.05).The levels of TNF-α and PGE2 in spinal cord of rats in model group and dezocine group were significantly higher than those in sham-operation group(P0.05);but the levels of TNF-α and PGE2 in spinal cord of rats in dezocine group were significantly higher than those in model group(P0.05).Conclusion Dezocine can inhibit the neuropathic pathologic pain induced by sciatic nerve chronic oppressive injury,and the mechanism of it may relate to the decrease of TNF-α and PGE2 levels in rat spine cord which caused by dezocine.


Objective To study the coagulation and fibrinolytic markers in the first trimester of pregnant women with polycystic ovary syndrome(PCOS) and normal pregnant women.Methods One hundred pregnant women who visited the Outpatient Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology,Navy General Hospital of Chinese PLA,from April 2011 to May 2012,were divided into PCOS pregnant group(n=50) and normal pregnant group(n=50).Their coagulation and fibrinolytic markers were detected.Results The activity of coagulation factor Ⅷ(FⅧ) and coagulation factor X(F X) and the levels of von Willebrand factor(vWF),plasminogen activator inhibitor 1(PAI-1)and tissue plasminogen activator t-PA were significantly higher in PCOS pregnant group than in normal pregnant group(P0.05).However,no significant difference was observed in D-dimer level between the two groups.Conclusion The levels of FⅧ,vWF and F X can accurately predict the hypercoagulable state in the first trimester of pregnant women with PCOS.


Clinical trials to improve neurological function after spinal cord injury (SCI) have been increasing throughout the world. A great deal of enthusiasm from some corners of medical researchers, injured individuals, the media, and the lay public for new techniques aimed at "cure" have led some to the expectation that a cure is imminent (1–3). To date, however, none of the recent trials has shown dramatic changes in neurological or functional recovery.

The pilot study by Lima et al, (4) published in this issue, describes a surgical intervention that has received some media attention over the last few years. In this report, 7 subjects, all initially classified as ASIA A, aged 18 to 32 years and from 6 months to 6.5 years post-injury, underwent olfactory mucosa autograft transplantation into their spinal cord with the scar tissue reportedly removed. Followup was performed at 6, 12, and 18 months after surgery, with some improvements noted in upper and lower extremity motor scores and overall sensory scores, with two subjects converting from ASIA Impairment Scale (AIS) A to C status. Improvements were also reported for some subjects in bowel and bladder function and "subjective impression of neurological changes." Adverse events were reportedly minimal. The authors conclude that "olfactory mucosa autograft transplantation into the human injured spinal cord is feasible, relatively safe and potentially beneficial."

There are a number of limitations of this preliminary study that are important to keep in mind. The first issue relates to the performance of a large-scale human study (although only 7 patients' results are detailed in this study, 41 subjects have reportedly undergone this procedure) without a more definitive safety analysis being reported. Recommended guidelines for studies on human subjects with SCI have been published that outline certain criteria for the planning, initiation, and conduct of translational research in the nervous system (5). These include:

Preclinical studies in which animal data should be acquired prior to human studies that would be considered predictive of lasting clinical benefit. The greater the invasiveness of the procedure, the higher the standard of preclinical safety and efficacy should be.

Safety assessments should be documented and should optimally include outcome measures for pain, as well as assessing maintenance of function above the lesion.

There should be evidence of functional benefit demonstrated on accepted objective measures of functional outcome.

Functional improvement in the animal model should be of sufficient magnitude and duration to justify the potential risk of a clinical trial.

Whenever possible, experimental trials should use placebo control groups.

The introduction of the paper describes "a small animal trial using olfactory mucosal transplants in subacute spinal transection model revealed tissue continuity across the lesion site and no signs of overgrowth." However, this is "unpublished data." The authors continue that "further support for the potential of the olfactory mucosa in experimental animal studies of SCI will soon be reported." It is surprising that human studies would be undertaken without reported animal model findings to define the functional or neurological benefits of the intervention.

The time period of inclusion into the study was from 6 months post-injury and included subjects with a neurological injury classified as AIS A and B. For clinical trials performed on individuals with chronic SCI, especially when including AIS B subjects, it is more common to wait until individuals are at least 1 year post-injury. Without intervention, patients, most especially individuals with AIS B, can show recovery in bowel and bladder function, as well as improvement to ASIA C status from 6 months to the 1-year time period postinjury. All of the subjects reported were classified as AIS A. Two subjects (Patients 1 and 2), however, who underwent the procedure at 6 months post-injury, showed significantly more recovery; and gained 35 points (the most of any subject) and 15 points (third greatest improvement), respectively, on follow-up sensory examination. For motor testing, Patient 1 improved 7 points on follow-up lower extremity motor (LEM) testing, which was equal to the greatest degree of recovery of the subjects.

Greater detail regarding the surgical procedures would allow greater understanding by other researchers regarding the tissue implanted, for example, quantifying the amount of olfactory mucosa removed for implantation, the technique for removal of the tissue and description of the histology. Unfortunately, the examiners were not blinded and there was no mention of inter-rater reliability of the assessors. All patients reportedly had lower extremity (LE) motor recovery, including subjects who remained with complete tetraplegia (AIS A). Such large zones of partial preservation are uncommon, although possible. Quality of life (QOL) changes were described as another benefit to the subjects; however, "no measures were used to quantify this change."

Postoperative EMG findings were reported for 3 subjects who had indication of LE voluntary contraction; however, no identification of these individuals was made or whether these subjects were tested preoperatively in these same muscles to show evidence of electrodiagnostic change. Bowel and bladder changes were described for only a few patients. No comparisons were made between pre- and postoperative urodynamics, and the finding of a change from intermittent catheterization to "Valsalva voiding" is not necessarily an indication of neurologic recovery. To fully study the effect on the bladder, urodynamic testing performed in all subjects would have offered more objective data.

We are experiencing an exciting time in the field of SCI research, with so many studies currently underway and many anticipated trials in the near future [Cethrin (BA-210), HP-184, anti-nogo antibodies, minocycline, among others]. Research to discover therapies for SCI has made steady progress over the last several years (5), and continued progress is anticipated through novel approaches by individual centers, eventually leading to multi-center trials. While the limitations of this study have been elucidated, its publication has important implications. It is hoped that much can be learned from this trial and a randomized controlled trial can be discussed after analysis of the patients who have already undergone the treatment.


Myeloma accounts for thirteen percent of the haematological malignancies and two percent of all malignancies. According to Indian Cancer Registry Program's consolidated report of population based cancer data (1990-96) the average age of Multiple myeloma diagnosis is 55 years.
Conventionally, the investigations for diagnosis and remission status in MM is a cumbersome and painful procedure involving bone marrow studies, multiple blood investigations and skeletal survey with conventional radiography. In this study we tried to compare the whole body PET CT scan to correlate disease burden in both multiple myeloma and plasmacytoma as measured by PET/CT scan with standard staging and prognostic parameters and also to evaluate response to induction therapy using PET based SUV changes.
In our study we analysed the results of all myeloma patients who reported to our Institute from 1st Jan 2013 to 31st December 2014 and we had done PET scans for willing patients at the time of diagnosis and then at the end of planned induction therapy if they had achieved VGPR or better response.
We had total of 31 patients who underwent PET CT scan as part of the study, Of these three patients were upstaged to MM as they had multiple plasmacytomas and went on to receive treatment as MM. Of the treated cases of MM, 7 patients had VGPR or better response and they went ahead and got an end of treatment PET CT scan. The two patients who had stringent CR as per conventional criteria had no metabolic activity on the PET scan whereas the other two patients with CR response, one had absent metabolic activity while one had faint SUV of 1.2 and taken as CR.
Of three cases with Plasmacytoma who underwent end of treatment PET CT scan, one had metabolic CR on PET while other two had small unicentric activity with SUV of 1 and 1.3 and they were kept under follow up.
The overall survival and Event free survival at a median of 15 months in all the patients (n=112) was 76% and 43.1% respectively, following induction with novel agents.
Although the numbers were very small and the follow up was limited, PET CT scan appears to be a promising investigation in diagnosis and staging MM as well as in establishing the remission status. Further continuation of the study and bigger patient population is required for more detailed analysis.


Introduction Schizophrenia is a multifactorial and multifarious disorder with an unidentified etiology and pathogenesis, various clinical symptoms, unpredictable course and definite social significance. It's social significance manifests in the long inability to work, the decrement of qualification and the burdening of family and social services. Patients find following therapy difficult; they often stop it altogether, which leads to new exacerbations and maintaining a vicious cycle. Objectives To present an analysis of the results of the treatment of patients with LAIs – Trevicta and Xeplion in General Psychiatry Ward of UMBAL "Dr. Georgi Stranski" - Pleven for the period October 2016 – October 2022. Methods Our retrospective research includes 17 patients treated in General Psychiatry Ward of UMBAL "Dr. Georgi Stranski"- Pleven. A treatment with LAI's – Trevicta and Xeplion (Paliperidone palmitate) had been initiated in these patients. In consideration of the correct applications of the medication, they are always made by qualified personnel who received training for that purpose in the Ward. For assessment of the patients' condition are used: Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) and Personal Social Performance (PSP). Standard statistic methods are used for processing results. Results Our research includes 17 female patients as the Ward's profile is such, with the average age of 38.65 years at the initiation of the treatment with Xeplion. Some were later introduced to Trevicta. Of all who participated in the research, 12 patients continue their treatment with regular applications, 2 have changed their address and by unreliable data still continue their treatment and for the other 3 we have no information of their status of treatment. The average count of admissions in the Ward before the initiation of treatment with LAI's is 3.88 against 0.88 after the initiation. Regarding the PANSS scale – all score in the interval 75-100 points before initiation as opposed to the scores marked after the initiation of the medication that vary in the interval 34-48 points with definite distinctions in P and G items. Regarding the PSP scale – all participants score between 50 and 70 points before the initiation of the treatment as opposed to the scores of 89-95 points after the initiation. During the regular check-ups the patients report of subjective improvement, coupled with reports of objective and positive improvement by family. Conclusions Treatment with LAIs – Xeplion and Trevicta has an unquestionable positive and lasting effect in the treatment of schizophrenia. Proof of that is the definite improvement of the symptoms, the increased social engagement and interpersonal communication. Everything mentioned is a valid reason to direct the treatment of schizophrenia in the direction of preservation of the personality of the patients. Disclosure of Interest None Declared


Teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL) in Indonesia offers not only challenges but also reward. Some teachers perceive the challenges as the professional consequences for their determination to be English teachers. Such a perception leads them to the enjoyment and optimism toward their sustainable professional development or career escalation. Some others consider the challenges as such a heavy burden of life that they feel unmotivated to elevate their professional development. In this era of education standardization, teachers are faced with two dichotomous options: satisfying the standard optimally in order to deserve the professional rewards or benefits or just fulfilling it minimally and accordingly miss the career advancement and the professional reward. This paper shares the ideas of what English teachers need to do to survive professionally in their English teaching and gain the professional benefits offered.


Of the many manifestations of climate change, changes in the hydrological cycle are the most all-encompassing impacts that the world's population faces and will increasingly face in the future. Anthropogenic climate change has increased the likelihood of extreme hydrological events such as floods and droughts (Douville et al., 2021). These events, together with melting glaciers and more intense precipitation, are climateinduced water-related disasters that annually affect millions of people (Greve et al., 2018). Marginalized communities, such as Indigenous Peoples, are especially vulnerable to the impacts of these events (Savo et al., 2016). Among these impacts are the deleterious effects of climate-induced disasters on water quantity and quality, which can increase the incidence of water-borne disease, particularly in places where access to water, health, and sanitation (WaSH) services is already poor (Levy et al., 2018). Diminished water quality can also have negative implications for Indigenous Peoples for whom freshwater and freshwater ecosystems have specific cultural significance (Berry et al., 2018). In addition to health and cultural impacts, climate change is a major driver of freshwater ecosystem loss and degradation (Ramsar Convention, 2018), which pose challenges to those Indigenous communities whose livelihoods depend on these resources (Pecl et al., 2017). These examples echo the assessments of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which has emphasized the high vulnerability of Indigenous Peoples to climate change. It states that disadvantaged and vulnerable populations (including some Indigenous Peoples and certain local communities) are at disproportionately higher risk of suffering adverse consequences in a warmer world of 1.5C or more (IPCC, 2018). Globally, according to the International Labour Organization (2019), there are over 470 million Indigenous Peoples, who belong to some 5000 different groups, in at least 90 countries. Indigenous People live in every region of the world, with about 70 per cent residing in Asia and the Pacific, followed by Africa (16.3 per cent), Latin America and the Caribbean (11.5 per cent), North America (1.6 per cent), and Europe and Central Asia (0.1 per cent) (ILO, 2019). In the context of the current and unfolding climate crisis, too much or too little water, and water in the wrong place at the wrong time, will continue to pose considerable and diverse societal challenges. Given that water insecurity is such an allencompassing manifestation of climate change, planning and implementing adaptation measures that have water at their centre are crucial for sustainable development. In fact, many sustainable development goals (SDGs) are not within reach unless water security is ensured (Pradhan, 2019). Already, adaptation measures are being designed and implemented across the water sector, such as in agriculture, WaSH, and energy production. Many of these measures, however, tend to be framed and implemented according to top-down, technological, Western approaches (Ford et al., 2020). For instance, the introduction of new drought-resistant crops that require dietary changes or improved irrigation technology without the full engagement of local and traditional communities can result in failed adaptation (Caretta & Cheptum, 2021). Additionally, as Nalau et al. (2021) highlight, adaptation heuristics can be detrimental to vulnerable people, particularly when they are not consulted or when erroneous evidence is employed as the basis for adaptation planning. The extent to which such adaptation measures might be enhanced by the inclusion of Indigenous Knowledge (IK), as well as Local Knowledge (LK) and Traditional Knowledge (TK), has also been assessed by the IPCC. The IPCC's Special Reports on Climate Change and Land (2019b), and the Ocean and Cryosphere (2019c), both stressed that the effectiveness of decision-making and governance is enhanced by the support and involvement of local stakeholders, particularly those most vulnerable to climate change such as Indigenous Peoples and local communities. Its Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5C identified IK and LK as among a wide range of adaptation options available to reduce the climate risks to natural and managed ecosystems and stated that responses informed by these knowledge systems can help to accelerate the widescale behaviour changes consistent with adapting to and limiting global warming to 1.5C (IPCC, 2018). These findings follow from the IPCC's definition of IK, itself derived from UNESCO's definition (n.d.). According to the IPCC,


In a country like Ecuador where the prospects of business ventures start-ups limited to ensure a region's economic development, it is necessary implenentar feasibility studies for new business.

This work was developed in the Canton Quevedo, Los Rios Province, whose location is 1 ° 3'18''south latitude and 79 ° 25'24''west longitude at a height of 73 meters. During the months of June to August 2010 and its purpose was to develop a business plan for the installation of a distributor of confectionery in the city of Quevedo, period 2009.

Studies obtained in the field work and surveys with a sample of 149 people, a population of approximately 28.022 families identified through the feasibility of conducting the analysis marketers, technical, economic and financial.

The projection of a supply and demand allowed us to identify attitudes and preferences of respondents and vendors and generally identify the great necessity in the medium to have a confectionery company, with an effective and efficient personal service, which offers the most wide range of confectionery, an aspiration that is in the interest of the people who showed quevedenos total acceptance of the proposal.

The total funding required for the installation of the Enterprise "Confectionery & something more" is $ 25331.00.

The internal rate of return (IRR) is 33% which is higher than market interest rate and the net present value (NPV) is $ 118,352.96.


In an earlier analysis of Ca–K spectroheliograms obtained at the Kodaikanal Observatory, the "Good" images were used to investigate variations in the chromosphere. However, the contrast of the images varied on a day-to-day basis. We have developed a new methodology to generate images to form a uniform time series. We adjusted each image's contrast until the FWHM of the normalized intensity distribution attained a value between 0.10 and 0.11. This "equal-contrast technique" is expected to compensate for the change of emulsion, development, and contrast of the images due to centering of the Ca–K line on the exit slit and sky transparency. In addition, this procedure will correct variations in density-to-intensity conversion for different images. We find that the correlation between sunspot and Ca–K line data improves to a large extent. For example, the correlation coefficient (CC) between monthly averaged sunspots and Ca–K plage areas for the equal-contrast data reaches 0.9 compared to 0.75 for the "Good" data with unequal contrast. The CC for equal-contrast images improves to ∼0.78 from ∼0.46 for the "Okay" data with unequal contrast. Even the CC between the plage area and the daily sunspot number is 0.85 for 100 years of data. This methodology also permits us, for the first time, to study the variations in enhanced, active, and quiet networks with time with high accuracy over about a century. Further, this procedure can be used to combine data from different observatories to make a long time series.


I n fall 2010, the CDC, under Director Dr. Tom Frieden's leadership, identified six domestic winnable battles based on the magnitude of the public health burden and the ability to accelerate progress by expanding evidence-based practice. Nutrition, physical activity, and obesity along with food safety was identified as one of those battles in addition to human immunodeficiency virus, healthcare-associated infections, teen pregnancy, tobacco, and motor vehicle injuries. Since that time, the CDC has established 5-year goals, performance measures, and strategic plans for each winnable battle. Each battle area has identified optimal strategies and a process to leverage resources and partnerships to accelerate a measurable impact on health. CDC's current battle plan for nutrition, physical activity, and obesity focuses on working with partners in (1) improving maternity care practices to support women who choose to breastfeed, (2) reducing artificial transfat in the food supply, (3) reducing sodium in the food supply, (4) reducing consumption of calories from added sugars, and (5) improving the food, beverage, and activity environments of child care centers, schools, workplaces, and communities. Many of these focus areas and targets are also consistent with the nation's Healthy People 2020 objectives. Winnable battles have a special set of operational processes at the CDC. Leadership in the Office of the Director meet quarterly on each battle area to review progress, solve roadblocks, and accelerate progress through the involvement of senior offices, such as policy, communications, and science. Responsible Divisions provide monthly updates on their plans and progress. Most important, the CDC works to support progress through health departments and the broader public health community. Some state and local health departments have also chosen Winnable Battles. For example, the Health and Human Services Agency for San Diego County, California, has also identified nutrition, obesity, and physical activity as a winnable battle and utilized local data to assess burden and priority action, and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment has identified 10 winnable battles, including nutrition, physical activity, and obesity. Colorado's specific strategies to fight this battle include the following: providing businesses with tools for creating incentives and welcoming environments for employees to be healthy and physically active; promoting best practices for schools to provide daily physical activity, adopt nutrition guidelines, and partner with farmers to serve fresh produce in meals; encouraging healthcare professionals to adopt Obesity Guidelines to provide healthy lifestyle advice to patients; and partnering with communities to design streets and neighborhoods to include bike paths and sidewalks and convenient linkages to parks, schools, grocery stores, and community gathering places. Many health departments across the nation include nutrition, physical activity, and obesity as priorities for their work, and the CDC supports these efforts through technical assistance and funding. Current support for state health department work on obesity prevention and control is housed within a new 5-year program that integrates work across diabetes, heart disease, obesity, and school health. The new program, called ''State Public Health Actions to Prevent and Control Diabetes, Heart Disease, Obesity and Associated Risk Factors and Promote School Health,'' has a first-year investment of $68 million and provides basiclevel funding to all states and enhanced funding to 32 states. This will be the first time that all 50 states and Washington, DC have a 5-year program that includes coordinated school health and nutrition, physical activity, and obesity strategies to support prevention. In addition, CDC support for community-level programs has included Communities Putting Prevention to Work (2010–2013), the Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH) National Networks, the REACH Obesity and Hypertension Demonstration Projects, and the Community


Researchers have long recognized similarities between sarcoidosis and tuberculosis, and some recent evidence points to a relation between the two (see


Cementitiously stabilized materials (cement-stabilized base–subbase, lime–fly ash stabilized subgrade, etc.) are widely used in roadway pavements by state agencies. Their use is a cost-efficient and environmentally friendly way to recycle industrial by-products. In the current Mechanistic–Empirical Pavement Design Guide developed under NCHRP Project 1-37A, cementitiously stabilized layers are assumed not to con-tribute to the total permanent deformation of the pavement. Such an assumption may lead to a design for an inadequate base thickness, especially when a thin asphalt concrete layer or pavements subject to heavy traffic loading are used. In this study, a unified permanent deformation model developed for various pavement materials was used to simulate the permanent deformation behavior of cementitiously stabilized materials in flexible pavements. The proposed model was implemented into the ABAQUS program through a UMAT subroutine. The finite element (FE) model was calibrated by analyzing the permanent deformation results from six accelerated pavement test sections. A shift factor of 1.13 was obtained to account for the condition differences between the laboratory permanent deformation test and the field. The FE model and the calibrated shift factor were then used to predict the rut depths of two selected low-volume roads. Good agreement was found between the predicted and measured data.


The credo of the physical education teacher is the grow of generations of healthy students, socially integrated, used with the practice of physical exercise during their free time, capable to develop efficient activities within the school and outside it. The notion of role is strongly connected with the one of statute, because persons develop between them reciprocal and complementary relations.


This report discusses the occurrence of ground water in the Coastal Plain region of southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina, as indicated by the results of 45 vertical resistivity soundings (VES). These soundings were taken wi th the Schlumberger array wi th a maximum separation of 8,000 feet between the current electrodes. VES data was interpreted through an automatic computer interpretation program, and by the curve-matching method. The results reported here suggest that, in the area west of the town of Suffolk, the depth to the basement complex can be determined wi th reasonable confidence. Eastwards f rom Suffolk, an "electric basement" of high resistivity was detected at depths which usually exceeded 1,000 feet. The correlation between some VES interpretations and resistivity logs of wells in their vicinities reveals high degrees of similarities.


Abstract : The report covers an investigation to determine if the long-term tensile stress-rupture strength of alloys could be calculated from the results of static tensile strength tests at elevated temperatures. Twenty-one alloys were investigated. A second-order form of a mechanical-chemical equation of state was used to draw master rupture curves from both long-term rupture and tensile strength data. It was concluded that the long-term strength of an alloy could be computed from a knowledge of its tensile strength at elevated temperatures, chemical composition, and mode of failure. (Author)


We experimentally demonstrate simultaneous phase noise suppression and automatically locked tunable homodyne reception for 20-Gbaud QPSK signal. The phase noise deviation can be reduced by a factor of ~3. Open I/Q eyes are obtained after the noise mitigation.


To make the use of spectrum more efficient in Elastic Optical Networks (EONs), there is the possibility of using different levels of modulation for each request, which may increase the number of bits per symbol and thus requiring fewer frequency slots for each connection. With the addition of the choice of modulation level to the Routing and Spectrum Allocation problem, the Routing, Modulation, and Spectrum Allocation (RMSA) problem arises. In this work, we propose a fully distributed routing algorithm based on Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) with an improved crankback mechanism to tackle the RMSA problem. Simulations demonstrate that the proposed ACO-based algorithm outperforms the fixed-alternate approach. They also demonstrate that the proposed approach achieves similar levels of bandwidth blocking probability and restorability compared to an adaptive routing algorithm that relies on the OSPF-TE protocol, with much lower levels of control overhead.


This paper presents a general theory to determine the sensitivity of tolerances to the performance quality of mechanisms and a technique to identify a robust design, which is the least sensitive to the tolerances. The method is demonstrated in position synthesis of linkages. The sensitivity Jacobian is first introduced to relate the performance tolerances and the dimensional tolerances. The Rayleigh quotient of the sensitivity Jacobian, which is equivalent to Taguchi's signal to noise ratio, is then used to define the performance quality and a sensitivity index is introduced to measure the sensitivity of the performance quality to the dimensional tolerances for the whole system. The ideal tolerance distribution is obtained in closed form. It shows how the tolerance specification affects the performance quality and that the performance quality can be significantly improved by tightening a key tolerance while loosening the others. The theory is general and the technique can be adapted easily for other mechanical systems, including multiple-loop linkages.


INTRODUCTION Recently we published a work involving the efficient and selective diiodination of phenols using I2 and H2O2 30% in water. 1 Afterwards, we decided to subject aromatic and heteroaromatic compounds to the same reaction conditions, performing a balance between the amounts of the reagents and the yields obtained, aiming to the formation of interesting iodinated molecules in high yields. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION We treated phenol (1a) with 1.5 equiv. of I2 and 3 equiv. of H2O2 30% in water at 50 o C for 24 h and obtained 2,4,6-triiodophenol (2a) in a moderate yield of 65% (Table 1, entry 1). In the attempt of increasing this yield, we used 2 equiv. of I2 and 4 equiv. of H2O2 30% producing the triiodinated phenol 2a in a yield of 83% (entry 2). The aromatic compound 1b and the heteroaromatic compound 1c were subjected to the reaction with 2 equiv. of I2 and 4 equiv. of H2O2 30% resulting in the triiodinated products 2b and 2c, respectively, in good yields (entries 3 and 4). The balance between amounts of the reagents and yields obtained was extended for reactions of diiodination (entries 6 to 9) and for reactions of monoiodination (entries 10 to 15). In general, diiodinated and monoiodinated aromatic and heteroaromatic compounds were produced in considerable yields. CONCLUSION A balance between amounts of the reagents and the yields obtained was carried out for the reaction of iodination of aromatic organic compounds using I2 and H2O2 30% in water at 50 o C and interesting iodinated molecules were produced in good yields. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We thank CNPq and FUNDECT for support. REFERENCES


The chemical stability of fluororesin is attributed to the C-F bond composed. Thus, it is considered to pull out the fluorine atoms selectively from the area irradiated with an excimer laser light and to replace them with functional group depending on the purpose.In this study, B(CH3)3 for oleophilic or B(OH)3 for hydrophilic property was employed. As a result, the resin surface exposed by Patterned ArF laser light turned to be oleophilic or hydrophilic. The reformed two samples and stainless steel plate were bonded together with the epoxy bonding agent, and tensile strength tests were conducted. The strength was 130Kgf/cm2


Abstract Athlete development in parasport is a complex domain. Evidence on the developmental trajectories of para-athletes is necessary to examine the critical determinants of specific para-athlete development models. Underpinned by the existing athlete development models to gather insights into the different developmental phases, this study explored how athletic career pathways in parasport are developed by identifying and describing disability-specific characteristics that influence each developmental phase. Para-athlete development was explored through the lens of 32 stakeholders from the Brazilian parasport context who participated in semi-structured interviews. Results ratified the complexity and individuality of para-athlete development, highlighting that the differences according to impairment groups, an early or late start in the sport and the classification, have implications for the development of the phases of athletic pathways in parasport. The findings lend weight toward the need for models other than those traditionally used for able-bodied athletes; rather, para-athlete development models need a disability-specific approach.


In this paper, BNf/SiBON composites were prepared by adding short boron nitride fibers and in-situ inorganic solid state reaction. The relationships among hot-pressing sintering temperature, boron nitride fiber content, density and flexural strength of the composites were studied. The phase composition and microstructure of the composites were also analyzed and characterized. The results show that the bending strength of BNf/SiBON increases with the increase of sintering temperature when the fiber content is constant, and decreases with the increase of fiber content when the sintering temperature is constant. XRD diffraction patterns also showed that BN had higher crystallinity and larger grain size when the sintering temperature was 1700°C and the content of BN fiber was 40%. Therefore, the best content of boron nitride fibers is in the range of 20% to 40%, and the hot pressing sintering temperature is about 1700°C.


This paper discusses the role of stakeholder management for improving ethical decision-making processes within organisations. It presents the key concepts and approaches developed within stakeholder theory and analyses their implications from a management perspective. The concept of "stakeholder corporation" is introduced, and the need for effective engagement with stakeholders discussed under two different perspectives of stakeholder theory, namely the instrumental vs. the normative approach. In the conclusion, a ten-step model for stakeholder management is presented as a "management tool" that could be applied to improve decision-making processes within any organisation, by enabling managers to identify and respond to legitimate stakeholders' interests.


Unlike neonatal axons, mammalian adult axons do not regenerate after injury. Likewise, myelin, a major factor in preventing regeneration in the adult, inhibits regeneration from older but not younger neurons. Identification of the molecular events responsible for this developmental loss of regenerative capacity is believed key to devising strategies to encourage regeneration in adults after injury. Here, we report that the endogenous levels of the cyclic nucleotide, cAMP, are dramatically higher in young neurons in which axonal growth is promoted both by myelin in general and by a specific myelin component, myelin-associated glycoprotein (MAG), than in the same types of neurons that, when older, are inhibited by myelin–MAG. Inhibiting a downstream effector of cAMP [protein kinase A (PKA)] prevents myelin–MAG promotion from young neurons, and elevating cAMP blocks myelin–MAG inhibition of neurite outgrowth in older neurons. Importantly, developmental plasticity of spinal tract axons in neonatal rat pups in vivo is dramatically reduced by inhibition of PKA. Thus, the switch from promotion to inhibition by myelin–MAG, which marks the developmental loss of regenerative capacity, is mediated by a developmentally regulated decrease in endogenous neuronal cAMP levels.


We characterized a crystalline silicon based mini-module under varying ambient conditions, developed a PSPICE model for this panel, including temperature and irradiation dependence and applied this model to the simulation of the impact of a blocking diode under different shadowing conditions. Different blocking diodes were examined, like germanium and silicon homojunction diodes and silicon Schottky diodes and compared to "intelligent" diodes, consisting of operational amplifiers with MOSFET switches. The simulations indicate a strongly reduced power loss in a panel integrating the new "intelligent" blocking diodes even when compared to silicon Schottky diodes, as the best performing traditional blocking diodes.


The paper shows that the Russian literature greatly influences the Chinese writers in the 20th century and plays an important part in shaping the modern Chinese literature with its sense of morality and lyric style. It also reveals that Chinese literatur has overpassed Russian literature in the course of taking in the rich achievements of world literature and points out the distance between Chinese literatureand Russian literature.


An induction coupled argon plasma has been used to measure transition probabilities in metal atoms. This work is described and transition probability measurements on several lines of cadmium I are reported. These transitions with their measured transition probabilities are as follows: 51D2 to 51P1, (59+or-8)*106 s-1; 61D2 to 51P1, (5.5+or-1.2)*106 s-1; 71D to 51P1, (4.7+or-1.5)*106 s-1; 53D1 to 53P2, (4.3+or-0.5)*106 s-1.


We study polarization and spin correlation effects in the MSSM and in extended supersymmetric models at an e^+e^- linear collider with polarized beams. The production of light neutralinos e^+ e^- --> \tilde\chi^0_1 \tilde\chi^0_2 and the subsequent decay \tilde\chi^0_2 --> \tilde\chi^0_1 e^+ e^- including full spin correlations is compared in three supersymmetric models: MSSM, NMSSM and an E_6-inspired model with an additional U(1)' gauge group. It is shown that polarization and spin effects can lead to a complete different behavior of these models. Finally, the dependence of the cross section and the decay angular distribution on the gaugino mass parameter M_1 for polarized beams is briefly outlined.


Recently, it has been established unequivocally that exercise is a primary factor in both the control and alteration of body composition.' This has been demonstrated in the normal population2 as well as in various athletic populat i o n ~ , ~ for males and females alike.4 Within the domain of athletics, the male distance runner is among the leannest of all athletes,5 with a distinct physique that is characterized as ectomesomorphic.6 This leanness is undoubtedly the result of both a genetic predisposition to leanness and to the tremendous volume of running that appears necessary in training for distance running, e.g., running in excess of 100 miles per week. Since females experience changes in body composition with endurance training programs similar to those found in males,? the question is raised as to how the male and female distance runners compare relative to body composition and physique. Is the female distance runner as lean as her male counterpart, or do the basic hormonal differences between the sexes dictate a greater amount of relative fat in the female as a result of higher estrogen levels? The latter would put the female at a distinct disadvantage in competition with males, as endurance performance has been closely linked to body composition; i.e., the greater the relative fat, the poorer the endurance performance.8* The purpose of the present study was to investigate the body composition and physique of the female distance runner to determine how she differs when compared to the male distance runner, female sprinters and middle distance runners, male and female athletes in various sports, and population norms for the average male and female of comparable age. In addition, the role of either or both reduced body weight and reduced body fat in menstrual irregularities was evaluated.


A miniature sized microstrip UWB (ultra wideband) BPF (bandpass filter) having highly attenuated upper stop band performance using a dual MMR (multimode resonator) and the DGS (defected ground structure) is proposed. Combining these two topologies, a prototype of the proposed UWB BPF is fabricated using FR-4 substrate of 1.6 mm thickness with dielectric constant of 4.4. This BPF is modelled and simulated using Ansoft high frequency structure simulator (HFSS) Software. The simulated and measured results show a wide FBW (fractional bandwidth) of 119% .The insertion loss is less than -1.0 dB throughout the pass band of 2.78 to 10.95 GHz. All the ripples of return loss are lower than −14 dB in the passband. The BPF has a high rejection of more than -30 dB in the upper stop band up to 16.8 GHz. The simulated and measured group delays variation in the passband are found to be less than 0.2 ns. The overall length of the resonator is 7 mm. resonator), (Defected


Recent results on CuInSe2 from the United States Department of Energy (DOE) Polycrystalline Thin-Film Device Program are presented. The program, managed by the Solar Energy Research Institute (SERI), encompasses mate-rials and device research in a variety of highly absorbing compound semiconductors with emphasis on CuInSe2, for which thin-film device efficiences of 11% (AM1) have been reported. This paper describes film deposition techniques including coevaporation from the elements, reactive sputtering, and spray pyrolysis. Electrical and optical characterization of the films is discussed, and experiments on control of carrier type and concentra-tion are outlined. Differences from corresponding results on single-crystal CuInSe2 are discussed in terms of defect-chemistry models. Experiments on heterojunction formation of CuInSe2 with CdS or (Cd,Zn)S are presented, and recent results in device characterization and modeling are discussed. Central problems in the achievement of higher efficiency devices are described. Low open-circuit voltages and the role of oxygen in post-deposition anneal are discussed. Scalability of techniques for the deposition of device-quality CuInSe2 is also discussed in light of the recent announcement of plans for commercialization of thin-film CdS/CuInSe2 devices.


We present the $hp$-version of the discontinuous Galerkin method for the numerical solution of delay differential equations with nonlinear vanishing delays and derive error bounds that are explicit in the time steps, the degrees of the approximating polynomials, and the regularity properties of the exact solutions. It is shown that the $hp$ discontinuous Galerkin method exhibits exponential rates of convergence for smooth solutions on uniform meshes, and for nonsmooth solutions on geometrically graded meshes. The theoretical results are illustrated by various numerical examples.


In Europe, food retailing has become more concentrated and private label goods have spread over the last 40 years. They are now a key element of retailers' shelf offer. Using a model in which consumers become informed about the good's quality only in period two, we examine what determines the presence or absence of private label experience goods in supermarkets, taking into account the retailer's reputation commitment involved. Our most novel result is that for products purchased infrequently, introducing a reputable private label is unsustainable. However, more retailer bargaining power increases the likelihood of a private label good being marketed.


Modern methods for detecting changes in the scale or covariance of multivariate distributions rely primarily on testing for the constancy of the covariance matrix. These depend on higher‐order moment conditions, and also do not work well when the dimension of the data is large or even moderate relative to the sample size. In this paper, we propose a nonparametric change point test for multivariate data using rankings obtained from data depth measures. As the data depth of an observation measures its centrality relative to the sample, changes in data depth may signify a change of scale of the underlying distribution, and the proposed test is particularly responsive to detecting such changes. We provide a full asymptotic theory for the proposed test statistic under the null hypothesis that the observations are stable, and natural conditions under which the test is consistent. The finite sample properties are investigated by means of a Monte Carlo simulation, and these along with the theoretical results confirm that the test is robust to heavy tails, skewness and high dimensionality. The proposed methods are demonstrated with an application to structural break detection in the rate of change of pollutants linked to acid rain measured in Turkey lake, a lake in central Ontario, Canada. Our test suggests a change in the rate of acid rain in the late 1980s/early 1990s, which coincides with clean air legislation in Canada and the US. The Canadian Journal of Statistics 48: 417–446; 2020 © 2020 Statistical Society of Canada


Formaldehyde, acrolein, and low molecular weight aldehydes are collected in 1% NaHSO3 solution in Greenberg-Smith or midget impingers from industrial effluents. Efficiency of collection is excellent when two impingers are used in series. Formaldehyde is measured in an aliquot of the collection medium by the chromo-tropic acid procedure, acrolein by a modified mercuric-chloride-hexylresorcinol procedure, and C2-C5 aldehydes by a gas chromatographic procedure. The method permits the analysis of all C1-C5 aldehydes on a single collection sample. Data on aldehyde concentrations from a variety of effluents are presented.


1. The strength of the pelvic arch depends on the integrity of the anterior interpubic ligament, whose strength has been demonstrated by dissections. Once that ligament is divided the sacro-iliac ligaments offer little resistance to opening out of the pelvis. 2. The structure of the pelvis and hips is compared to an arcade formed by a central and two lateral arches. The weight of the trunk is transmitted to the lower limbs through this arcade. 3. Fractures of the pelvis are classified according to the mechanism of production. The case for anatomical reposition and internal fixation is stated, and case histories are given to illustrate the disabilities due to persistent deformity. 4. Reduction can be achieved as late as two or three weeks after injury. However, if early operation for visceral injury is necessary, there is a strong case for combining this with open reduction and fixation. In some cases the patient9s general condition may preclude such procedures, but more usually the additional manipulations cause little additional operative shock and are fully justified by the subsequent increased comfort of the patient and the greater ease of nursing.


An extended finite element method (XFEM) for multiple crack growth in asphalt pavement is described. A discontinuous function and the two-dimensional asymptotic crack-tip displacement fields are added to the finite element approximation to account for the crack using the notion of partition of unity. This enables the domain to be modeled by finite element with no explicit meshing of the crack surfaces. Computational geometry issues associated with the representation of the crack and the enrichment of the finite element approximation are discussed. Finally, the propagation path of the cracks in asphalt pavement under different load conditions is presented.


UNIVERSITY Jim Gee's (1999) essay "Reading and the New Literacy Studies: Refraining the National Academy of Sciences Report on Reading" (appearing in the September 1999 issue of JLR), a set of reflections on the report titled Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children (National Research Council, 1998), contains a number of misstatements of fact about the report that demand correction. In this response, I address the most important of these before turning to a more substantial commentary on Gee's reflections. The nature of the report. On page 359 of his essay, Gee characterizes the report as one "written to and for the government" and states that it is thus "not liable to advocate for the return of ... social programs as the key answer to the 'literacy crisis.'" This characterization betrays a lack of understanding of the National Research Council, which sponsored the report, and how it operates, and impugns the motives of the members of the committee that wrote the report. The National Research Council is, indeed, the operating


Although chaperone‐assisted protein crystallization remains a comparatively rare undertaking, the number of crystal structures of polypeptides fused to maltose‐binding protein (MBP) that have been deposited in the Protein Data Bank (PDB) has grown dramatically during the past decade. Altogether, 102 fusion protein structures were detected by Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST) analysis. Collectively, these structures comprise a range of sizes, space groups, and resolutions that are typical of the PDB as a whole. While most of these MBP fusion proteins were equipped with short inter‐domain linkers to increase their rigidity, fusion proteins with long linkers have also been crystallized. In some cases, surface entropy reduction mutations in MBP appear to have facilitated the formation of crystals. A comparison of the structures of fused and unfused proteins, where both are available, reveals that MBP‐mediated structural distortions are very rare.


ICI have now withdrawn their product Atromid, a mixture of clofibrate and androsterone. As we said two years ago, trials have clearly shown that androsterone in the mixture has no effect on plasma lipids.1 More recent work has shown that androsterone also contributes nothing to the effects on plasma fibrinogen and platelet adhesiveness. Clofibrate alone will continue to be available in Britain under the awkward trade name 'Atromid-S'.