Polycrystalline cerium hydroxysulfate powders have been prepared by soft solution processing using various basic solvents. The crystals prepared have varying morphologies, spherical and flaky, depending on the solvent used. The crystals obtained from distilled water–pyridine and aqueous ammonia solvent mixtures are spherical, whereas those obtained from mixtures of distilled water and ethylenediamine or hydrazine hydrate are flaky. All the crystalline cerium hydroxysulfate samples display luminescence properties. It was found that the flaky crystals generally show a much stronger luminescence than their spherical counterparts.


Due to drug resistant problems, there is an urgent need to discover and develop new anti bacterial and anti tuberculosis lead compounds. Quantitative structure activity relationship (QSAR) methodology have been used to develop models that correlate biological activity of chemicals derived from natural products and their molecular structure. The approach started by generation of a series of descriptors from three-dimensional representations of the compounds in the data set. In this study, the first data set consisted of 56 compounds isolated from natural products with their minimum inhibition concentration (MIC, µg/mL) against Escherichia coli. The second data set consisted of 122 plant terpenoids with moderate to high activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Genetic algorithmpartial least square (GAPLS) and multiple linear regression analysis (MLRA) techniques have been used in the model development. The validated QSAR models were applied in mining chemicals in a large database. The same set of descriptors that appeared in the QSAR models were used in chemical similarity search (based on Euclidean distance) comparing active compounds of the training set and those in the database. The selected compounds were short-listed by applying the applicability domain criterion to reduce the number of candidates to be tested. Finally, the biological activity of these compounds was determined experimentally using disk diffusion method to confirm their predicted MIC values


After using period of time,it is necessary to do some maintenance and pressure tests for the well control devices in order to ensure their safety.In the past,artificial pressure test is a main method in this domain,which is poor safety,low accuracy,and which can not draw a persuasive conclusion.So by using this method credibility is not high.In view of this situation,this paper designs a set of well control device pressure test monitor and control system.During the design,USB7325A is a main hardware device and MCGS configuration software is development platform.This system can realize acquisition and display of pressures,auto control of pumps and automaticlly save the data and print the reports.This system has already been running in oil field and achieving good results in practical operation.It avoids the shortcoming of artificial pressure test and improves the accuracy and credibility of the result.And it also can ensure work safety and improve the automatic level in the oil field.


Ferritic/martensitic oxide dispersion strengthened steel with a nominal composition of Fe–9Cr–2W–0.2Ti–0.12C–0.35Y2O3 was produced by mechanical alloying in a high energy horizontal Simoloyer attritor. Powder samples were collected at intervals of 0.5, 1, 2, 3, 5, 7 and 10 h and analysed by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy and differential thermal analysis. The alloying elements (Cr and W) got dissolved in the matrix in 7 h milled powder. Crystallite size decreased rapidly with milling time up to 5 h milling and reached a stable size of ∼12 nm after 7 h, whereas strain and lattice parameter were found to increase with milling time. The particle size increased up to 2 h milling and then decreased with milling time. A fine and uniform particle size of ∼25 nm was obtained after 7 h milling. The alloying process and distribution of alloying elements/Y2O3 is studied in the present work.


Reduced short-term mortality following thrombolytic treatment of acute myocardial infarction has been reported by earlier studies. This study was per formed to compare data from our institution with such results. From January, 1984, through January, 1986, a total of 628 consecutive pa tients were admitted with acute myocardial infarction. Ninety-one patients (Group A) underwent intracoronary streptokinase (IC-SK) infusion to the in farct-related vessel with a total dose of 440,000 units. The average timing for this intervention from the onset of chest pain was 4.1 ±2.7 hours. Successful recanalization was achieved in 71 of 91 patients (78%). Patients seventy-five years of age or older were not offered IC-SK infusion. In this group, most candidates suitable for coronary angioplasty or bypass surgery had the proce dure within the same hospital admission. The remaining 537 patients (Group B) underwent conventional medical therapy during their hospitalization. In-hospital mortality for Group A was reported in 4 of 91 patients (4.4%) versus 100 of 537 patients (18.6%) from Group B. These results seem to con form with earlier data that indicate a reduced short-term in-hospital mortality from acute myocardial infarction following IC-SK treatment. Besides recanali zation, this beneficial effect in Group A could also be attributed to earlier inter ventions by revascularization procedures in the majority of patients after recognition of the extent of their coronary artery disease.


General and specific combining ability effects of six bivoltine breeds of silkworm (Bombyx mori L.) were evaluated for six quantitative characters through diallel method wherein parents, and reciprocals are involved. The breeds were found to be the best general combiners for most of the traits studied. The high estimates of specific combining ability (sca) variance () compared to general combining ability (gca) variance () indicated the predominant role of non-additive gene action in the control of all the characters. Positive sca effects for majority of the traits were expressed by the combinations out of 15 crosses. Among the 15 reciprocal crosses studied, the combination showed positive reciprocal effects for all the six traits. With both the parents being good general combiners the hybrid showing high sca effects is recommended for commercial use.


Phospholipids are an essential component of biological membranes, as their lyotropic liquid-crystalline nature enA them to self-assemble into two-dimensional bilayer sheets under physiological conditions. [1] Micro- and nanoscopic heterogeneities, such as lipid rafts [2, 3] and focal adhesions, [4, 5] are vital to the biological function of lipid bilayer membranes. Lithographically patterned phospholipid membranes can be used as cell-surface models [6] and have been used in several applications, including biochemical sensors, [7] drug screening and delivery, [8, 9] the analysis of cell–cell interactions, [3, 10] and to address fundamental biological questions in membrane trafficking. [11] However, in order to create model systems that are capable of mimicking the structural complexity of biological membranes, a method is necessary that allows both high-resolution patterning and parallel deA of different phospholipid materials over large areas. Here, we demonstrate that a new, noncovalent modality of dip-pen nanolithography (DPN) is a suitable approach for the rapid fabrication and integration of large-scale phospholipid nanostructure libraries on a variety of substrates. This method provides a lateral resolution down to 100 nm and an areal throughput of 5 cm 2 min 1 . Previously, micropatterned lipid bilayers on solid supports have been prepared using several approaches. A microarrayer that deposits nanoliter droplets of phospholipid solutions can be used to create arrays of supported lipid bi


In this paper a simulation tool for lightweight pedal-driven vehicles is presented. The already existing steady-state tool "Kreuzotter" is presented. From there, the steps to a dynamic simulation tool are presented.


Spatial information processing is one of the important research contents in information technology. It is the major direction to combine geo-information technique and mobile communication technique in the spatial information processing. In this paper, we have thoroughly analyzed supporting techniques of mobile smart terminal spatial information processing system based on the spatial information's characters such as real-time, mass, distributing, complexity, variety, and so on, established a frame of smart terminal spatial information processing system, which is included by data layer, middle layer and presentation layer. Also we have investigated an organization scheme for mobile map document in intelligent terminal and carried out the system's systematic function design. Using Visual Studio 2005 as developing environment and ArcGIS Server 9.3 as spatial information service platform, managing space data based on ArcSDE and SQL Server 2005 and supporting by ArcGIS Mobile secondary development module, we have developed smart terminal spatial information prototype system supported with multi-consumer control. The system can implement spatial information collecting, storing, editing, visualizing, and bi-directional simultaneous with server, and so on.


The AVS-QSVC quality scalable video coding algorithms are proposed in the AVS source coding standards.The algorithms solve the drift problem effectively so that the classification encoding based on spectral and ordinary non-scalable coding has almost the same computational complexity,but the coding efficiency is increased slightly.What′s more,it′s easy to realize more than eight grades scalable coding,providing greater flexibility,and enable them to adapt to different network exchange environments.


Unlike any time in their post-colonial history the majority of African countries are now ruled by elected leaders. But this does not mean that the majority of Africans benefit from the externalities that accompany acceptable levels of accountability. While the African Union (AU) has adopted important anti-corruption measures the political will which it has to enhance transparency at the national level is weak. While efforts are now underway through various partnerships to forge greater cooperation in governance between the European Union and the AU, greater value will be secured if such cooperative efforts are better targeted. This paper contends that while focusing on their separate and specific efforts to curb graft in Africa, the AU-EU joint partnership could be better optimised to eliminate corruption (especially capital flight that has and continues to afflict some African countries.


OBJECTIVE
The effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccinations wanes due to immune evasion of the B.1.1.529 (Omicron) variant and diminished antibody titers over time. We aim to evaluate the benefit of a fourth vaccination dose in patients with autoimmune rheumatic diseases (ARD).

METHODS
A retrospective analysis included ARD patients 18 years or older in the Clalit health management organization in Israel, insured 52% of the entire population, from January 16, 2022, to March 31, 2022, when the predominant SARS-CoV-2 variant was Omicron. We compared patients without previous COVID-19 infection who received three doses of the BNT162b2 vaccine (control) to those who received the fourth dose. The primary outcome was COVID-19 infection, which was analyzed using multivariate Cox regression in the entire cohort and within ARD subgroups. Secondary outcomes were COVID-19-related hospitalizations and death.

RESULTS
We included 43,748 ARD patients, of whom 27,766 and 15,982 were in the control and fourth vaccination groups, respectively. COVID-19 infection occurred in 6,942 (25.0%) of the control group and 1,754 (11.0%) of the fourth dose group (p < 0.001). Patients vaccinated with the fourth dose had a lower risk for COVID-19 infection in the entire cohort (HR 0.54, 95% CI 0.52-0.58) and throughout every subgroup regardless of the baseline characteristic or medical treatment except for rituximab. A similar association was observed in COVID-19-related hospitalization (HR 0.36, 95% C.I 0.22-0.61) and COVID-19-related death (HR 0.41, 95% C.I 0.24-0.71).

CONCLUSION
Fourth BNT162b2 vaccination of ARD patients was associated with favourable outcomes compared to three doses among patients with no history of COVID-19 infection.


Congenital hepatic abnormality is quite rare while congenital thoracic reticulo-endothelial masses have been rarely reported. Further, an association between accessory reticulo-endothelial (RES) masses and congenital hepatic abnormality is extremely rare. We report a case with both these unusual features.


AIM: To investigate the effect of compoun d poria prescription (CPP), a Chinese medicine, on weight, blood glucose, blood fa t and microcirculation in nutrition obesity rats and attempt to look for a new a pproach for obesity prevention and cure. METHODS: 30 Wistar rats were divided into normal food raised gro up (group A), high energy food raised group (group B), and high energy food comb ined with CPP raised group (group C). The changes of weight, blood glucose, bloo d lipid and microcirculation were detected, respectively. RESULTS: After CPP treatment in experimental obesity rats, the a v erage weight reduced from (313.00±17.29) g to (217.50±17.50) g (P0.0 1). The average arterial blood pressure reduced from (173.88±2.97) mmHg to (1 01.73±3.35) mmHg (P0.01) and the average right atrium pressure reduced from (13.58±3.59) mmHg to (11.32±0.68) mmHg (P0.05). The diameter of capillary of intestines tip pipeline reduced from (7.93±0.90) μm to (3.93 ±0.90) μm (P0.05). Blood speed increased from (270.92±49.73) μm/s t o (410.13±76.54) μm/s (P0.01) and the hemodynamics changed from line p article speed state to line speed state; the level of very low density lipoprote in (VLDL) increased from (3.18±0.01) mmol/L to (4.55±0.01) mmol/L, which close to that in control rats, the total cholesterol (T-chol) reduced from (7.8 7±0.01) mmol/L to (5.56±0.01) mmol/L (P0.05), and the blood glucose r educed from (12.87±0.04) mmol/L to (8.97±0.07) mmol/L (P0.05). CONCLUSION: CPP reduces the weight and improve the microc irculation of obesity rats.


Abstract Mindfulness meditation is developing momentum as a mental health promoting activity in clinical and non-clinical settings. Our Early Intervention in Psychosis (EIP) service wished to determine its acceptability and utility among a mixed group of participants. All clinical team members, their patients and their carers were offered an 8-week Mindfulness group. Participants rated acceptability before and after. They prospectively identified, then monitored, distress associated with areas of their lives they hoped might improve. Nineteen participants provided a mean attendance of 11.25 per group. The group was overwhelmingly positively perceived and distress associated with participants' items significantly improved. Findings support further implementation. The goal of inclusion was achieved with some reservation about staff preparation.


The same result could be obtained'by directly uniting the two magnet shafts. The motors and necessary belting and pulleys would cost about fifty dollars. The conversion of the alternating current for use in connection with the large magnets is much more expensive and cumbersome in consequence of the necessitv of'furnishing about 12 amperes of current, requiring a motor and generator of several horse power.


Science and Technology Parks (STPs) are an important part of entrepreneurial infrastructure which fosters growth and development of technology-based firms, even though some STPs mainly focus on the real-estate aspects and cannot be considered a tool for economic growth. Our work will present the context in which Croatian STPs exist. We discuss the framework of models and strategies for STPs, developed in IASP (International Association of Science Parks) . These ideas can be adapted to the different contexts because they comprise some fundamental building blocks which distinguish STPs from real estate based projects. The success-improving factors observed for STPs are the focal point of our research and make up the basis for constructing the research questions. The research comprises of an internet based survey aimed at STP tenants, asking their opinion on the influence of operating in a STP surrounding on their firm's performance. One of the main values a firm gets by locating in an STP is easier access to a number of useful resources, such as physical and financial means, and exposure to knowledge spill-over, combined with decreased cost of tenancy. Institutional support from government can also improve survival odds of technology-based firms. The final STP success factor is creation of connections with universities and research institutes for effective technology transfer. Data gathered through our questionnaire was combined with secondary data from BIOS' recent study of Croatian STPs, as well as compared to data gathered from Polish Science parks . We contacted tenants of 5 Croatian STPs that are perceived as the most successful. Our target group consisted of 69 firms which were contacted by telephone and sent a link to the online survey which enabled the respondents' anonymity and made them more willing to answer the questions. In the process, 20 answered questionnaires were collected, which makes a statistically relevant 29% of our chosen population. This enabled us to make relevant conclusions on the subject researched. The questionnaire sent comprised of a mixture of 22 open-ended and close-ended questions that were designed to shows characteristics of on-site firms and their view on the operating within an STP. We propose following suggestions for improvement of existing and creation and development of the new STPs. Considering the building blocks needed in development of STPs, Croatian STPs should work on increasing their management support to tenants. Educational and consultancy services were perceived as insufficient, and tenants use them very rarely. Existing Croatian STPs should further strengthen their connection with universities, whereas these connections should become more functional instead of just being nominal. Among value-added services more emphasis should be put on improvement of connections with local authorities and civil associations, access to research laboratories and technology, more involvement with IPR consulting, and improving tenants' opportunities to access venture capital. Creation of new jobs is evidently limited with scarce spatial resources, which delays increase in number of tenants, and their physical and economic growth. Based on these recommendations we propose that government should support these suggestions and help STPs implement best practices in their work. However, the financing should be found to implement those measures so that business incubators could serve as embryos for developing network of successful Croatian STPs. Further research for monitoring of these processes is recommendable on regular basis.


Subjective global assessment is used as a simple way to assess malnutrition without the use of complete body composition analysis. Increased metabolism, characterised by increased resting metabolic rate, is often found in patients with cancer. The aim of this research is to identify the correlation between subjective global assessment, resting metabolic rate and fat free mass in patients with Non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Correlation between resting metabolic rate and fat free mass are measured by bioelectrical impedance analysis and subjective global assessment and then assessed and analysed. A sample of 27 non-Hodgkin lymphoma patients was used, consisting of approximately 60% men and 40% women. Of the subjects, 7.4% were found to be well nourished, 63% were malnourished and 29.6% were severely malnourished. The mean resting metabolic rate and fat free mass were 1346.3 ± 145.7 kcal and 44.5 ± 6.8 kg respectively. Only 3% of the patients were found to have above-normal resting metabolic rates. No correlation was found between subjective global assessment and resting metabolic rate (p = 0.275) or fat free mass (p = 0.850). There was no correlation between subjective global assessment and resting metabolic rate or fat free mass as measured by bioelectrical impedance analysis in non-Hodgkin lymphoma patients.


According to the flowing states in the exhaust system for residential kitchen,confluent local resistances in the system with up-open check valve are obtained by numerical simulation and experiment validation, which offer a theoretical basis for the system design.


The utility model relates to a double frequency antenna structure with the multi-feed-in function, in particular to a planar multi-feed-in double frequency antenna structure with dual-antenna, which mainly comprises a ground surface, a first antenna and a second antenna, wherein a first tortuous part is formed through staggering a plurality of slots on the surface of the first antenna, and one end of the first tortuous part is connected with a first triangle-like body, and the other end is connected with a first linkage section, thereby the first tortuous part can be connected with a first adjusting section, a first feed-in point and the ground surface through the first linkage section, and the second antenna which is corresponding to the structure of the first antenna is arranged aside the first antenna in a mirroring mode. Therefore, a dual-mode state can be formed through the resonance of the first antenna and the second antenna, and the aims of multiple-input and multiple-output can be realized through the first feed-in point and the second feed-in point of the second antenna.


The invention discloses a conveyer table with a height regulating function. Mainly, a plurality of first screws are connected with a first upper conveying unit; a plurality of second screws are connected with a second upper conveying unit; a first driving wheel rod is connected with the first screws through a first linkage unit; a second driving wheel rod is connected with the screws through a second linkage unit; the first driving wheel rod and the second driving wheel rod are respectively connected with a first gear and a second gear; the first gear is connected with the second gear through a connection unit; and when rotating, the first gear drives the second gear, the first screws and the second screws to rotate so as to regulate the heights of the first upper conveying unit and the second upper conveying unit.


Abstract—Many source separation methods use a two-stage procedure of first equalising the second order statistics of the data by a whitening process and then seeking a separation matrix for this whitened data. The second part of this procedure is in fact a question of finding the rotation matrix that maximises (or minimises, as appropriate) a higher order statistics performance criterion. We illustrate the shape of the performance surface for some typical examples and draw conclusions about the possible efficacy of adaptive search procedures on these surfaces.


Some applications of the enzymes to the pulp bleaching industry were introduced, especially the development of the application of xylanase.


This paper describes and advocates a focused approach to using inspections of software artifacts as an active learning technique in software engineering education. A central thesis is that one must "learn to read before they write" that is, you should read and study an existing software artifact, before you develop one. There is discussion of how software artifacts and supporting instructional materials from a Digital Home case study project can be used to support and guide software inspection exercises. These inspection exercises are designed to introduce students to realistic software engineering artifacts and involve them in rigorous examination of their contents. Instances of the use of software inspections to teach software engineering are described and analyzed: the experiences of students and instructors, what worked and what did not, and how this influenced the cases study project. The authors also outline a set of topics and courses in which software inspections might be used as a teaching tool throughout a computing curriculum.


The present invention discloses an electric power cable rail urban environment-friendly material and its preparation method, which is a raw material composition: chloroprene rubber, high impact polystyrene, modified polyoxymethylene, semi-reinforcing carbon black, bentonite, bisphenol A, antioxidant TPPD, vinyltriethoxysilane, 2,6-di - t - butyl-4- (dimethylaminomethyl) phenol, ethylene bis stearamide, phthalic dibutyl, triglycerides, ammonium polyphosphate; the present invention has high heat resistance, excellent electrical insulation properties, good aging resistance, non-toxic and odorless, while having excellent high flame retardancy; tensile strength, elongation at break, tensile strength retention rate after aging and extend retention rate of fracture has been greatly improved, while no material cause pollution and harm to the air, the soil, the person, is a green product.


This study aims to analyze The Influence Of Cultural Factors, Social Factors, Personal Factors, And Psychological Factors Decision Against Credit Card Purchase In Supermarket. XXX Surabaya. Credit card is one form of payment instrument in the sale and purchase transactions of goods / services in addition in the form of money and checks. Credit card financing is preceded by an agreement, with the credit card holder obtaining a loan from a credit card issuer (bank / finance company). In accordance with the characteristics of the population, then in this study the number of samples used is 100 people in each research object. This research uses quantitative approach by using primary data obtained through the spreading of questionnaires to the research respondents. While the data analysis in this study was conducted by the method of Non Probability Sampling with the help of computer program SPSS. From the results of hypothesis testing research known that Culture Factor, Social Factors, Personal Factors and Psychological Factors simultaneously and partially significant effect on purchasing decision using credit card in Supermarket. XXX Surabaya.
keyword : Cultural factors, Social factors, Personal factors, Psychological factors and purchasing decisions


We introduce piecewise interpolating polynomials as an approximation for the driving terms in the numerical solution of the singu- larly perturbed dieren tial equation. In this way we obtain the dierence scheme which is second order accurate in uniform norm. We verify the convergence rate of presented scheme by numerical experiments.


Synopsis: Extra-low-carbon and extra-low-nitrogen steel has been cold rolled to 75% in reduction, and subsequently nitrogen contents of the steel have been adjusted to •...2 ppm and 160 ppm by atmospheric reaction to the steel at 350•Ž. These two steels have been annealed at various temperatures at a constant heating rate, and their recrystallization behaviors have been investigated by X-ray diffraction analysis and electron microscopic observations. In the low nitrogen steel, recrystallization starts at low temperature, initially withont any change in texture , and at the later stage of recrystallization {111} components increase. While in the high nitrogen steel , recrystallization starts at higher temperature accompanied by slight decrease in {111} components and rapid increase in {110} components. According to the electron transmission studies of the steels in the early stage of recrystallization, rotation angles between recrystallized grain and adjacent recovered matrix are relatively small for the low nitrogen steel and large for the high nitrogen steel. These observations imply that in situ recrystallization which takes place with small-angle boundary migration or annihilation is preferred in the former steel and the growth of recrystallized grain by large-angle boundary migration from heavily curved regions in deformed matrix is predominant in the latter steel. These differences in recrystallization behavior by nitrogen content are believed to be caused by the strong interaction between dislocations and nitrogen atoms.


If the food was not purchased from a food business in Oldham, you need to contact the Local Authority where the food business is located.


Evaluating telecom clients' credit risk rate is classifying their credit risk level.An approach based on active learning was proposed for solving the insufficient labeled data problem in building a credit risk rate classifier.The new QBC(query-by-committee,QBC)method of active learning was presented to improve the classifier's accuracy.By applying the actual telecom clients data in the experiment,the results show that the model built by the new algorithm with less labeled training data can reach the same accuracy as passive learning.This can reduce annotation cost for credit evaluation experts.


Any language is a sound language. In the process of its formation, the oral language comes first, then appears the written one. A language exists in the society as a communicative tool and the main form of communication is oral communication. That is, listening and speaking, A survey shows that we communicate this way: listening 40%, speaking 30%, reading 20%, writing 10%. We can really see the importance of listening and speaking.


Natural radiative lifetimes of 64 odd-parity moderately excited levels of neutral samarium in the energy range from 21 243.3 to 34 723.16 cm−1 have been measured by the time-resolved laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) technique in an atomic beam produced by laser ablation. Lifetime values in the range from 11.8 to 550.1 ns are obtained. A comparison with a few previously reported values is performed and good agreement between them has been achieved. The measured results in this paper are useful for determination of the oscillator strengths of transitions in Sm I.


A large deviation principle (LDP) with an explicit rate function is proved for the estimation of drift parameter of the Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process. We establish an LDP for two estimating functions, one of them being the score function. The first one is derived by applying the Gärtner–Ellis theorem. But this theorem is not suitable for the LDP on the score function and we circumvent this key point by using a parameter-dependent change of measure. We then state large deviation principles for the maximum likelihood estimator and another consistent drift estimator.


The activation of competing intracellular pathways has been proposed to explain the reduced training adaptations after concurrent strength and endurance exercises (CE). The present study investigated the acute effects of CE, strength exercises (SE), and endurance exercises (EE) on phosphorylated/total ratios of selected AMPK and Akt/mTOR/p70 S6K1 pathway proteins in rats. Six animals per exercise group were killed immediately (0 h) and 2 h after each exercise mode. In addition, 6 animals in a non-exercised condition (NE) were killed on the same day and under the same conditions. The levels of AMPK, phospho-Thr 172 AMPK (p-AMPK), Akt, phospho-Ser 473 Akt (p-Akt), p70 S6K1 , phospho-Thr 389 -p70 S6K1 (p-p70 S6K1 ), mTOR, phospho-Ser 2448 mTOR (p-mTOR), and phospho-Thr 1462 -TSC2 (p-TSC2) expression were evaluated by immunoblotting in total plantaris muscle extracts. The only significant difference detected was an increase (i.e., 87%) in Akt phosphorylated/total ratio in the CE group 2 h after exercise compared to the NE group (P = 0.002). There were no changes in AMPK, TSC2, mTOR, or p70 S6K1 ratios when the exercise modes were compared to the NE condition (P > 0.05). In conclusion, our data suggest that low-intensity and low-volume CE might not blunt the training-induced adaptations, since it did not activate competing intracellular pathways in an acute bout of strength and endurance exercises in rat skeletal muscle.


Abstract Exploring how the history of the Fifteen-year War was dealt with in pre-1982 mainland China is an essential step towards understanding the currently explosive Sino-Japanese History Problem; furthermore, this might shed light on various issues in the post-war history of China and Sino-Japanese relations. However, available research on the pre-1982 period is scarce and problematic. Earlier political scientists argue that the history of the war was ruthlessly manipulated by the Chinese Communist Party regime, while some recent studies believe that the war was conveniently 'forgotten' as Sino-Japanese friendship was vital for the government of the People's Republic of China. This article aims at providing an accurate and thorough picture of how the history of the Fifteen-year War was positioned in the diplomatic practice of the Chinese Communist Party regime in relation to Japan during the period.


This article describes the various roles undertaken by the French horn in an orchestra and analyses the use of the French horn in orchestral music work in and before the twentieth century, and concluded the important function of the French horn, this article has a referential meaning to the reader who is interested in the French horn . Keywords-French horn, orchestra , melody, tone


on the models that include additional covariates. The results suggest that the effects of democratization are similar, in their magnitude, to those of authoritarian reversal (their signs are opposite as expected). However, the former is more precisely estimated than the latter. These results are qualitatively different from those based on our approach. We find that the economic effects of democracy are largely driven by the negative effects of authoritarian reversal rather than the positive effects of democratization. In contrast, the original analysis shows that the positive effects of democratization plays a more significant role.


We study bosonic systems in the regime in which the two-body system has a shallow bound state or, equivalently, a large value of the two-body scattering length. Using the effective field theory framework as a guidance, we construct a series of potential terms which have a decreasing importance in the description of the binding energy of the systems. The leading order potential terms consist in a two-body term, usually attractive, plus a three-body term, usually repulsive; this last term is required to prevent the collapse of systems with more than two particles. At this order, the parametrization of the two-body potential is done to obtain a correct description of the scattering length, which governs the dynamics in this regime, whereas the three-body term fixes a three-body datum. We investigate the role of the cut-off in the leading order description and we extend the exploration beyond the leading order by including the next-to-leading order terms in both, the two- and three-body potentials. We use the requirement of the stability of the N -body system, whose energy is variationally estimated, to introduce the three-body forces. The potential parametrization, as a function of the cut-off, is fixed to describe the energy of 4 He clusters up to seven particles within the expected accuracy. Finally, we also explore the possibility to describe at the same time the atom-dimer scattering length.


Anterior cingulate cortex is closely associated with performance monitoring, including error detection and conflict resolution. This paper reviewed the ACC activation studies, the theories of ACC involved in conflict control, and the dissociation of ACC in function and anatomy. This helps to understand the role of ACC in cognitive control and attentional modulation.


Due to the presumption of innocence in the controversial public process managed to maintain the balance of the parties the public prosecuting authority and the private person accused of a crime, which are incomparable in their powers and abilities. It is a major element of the adversarial process and the guarantee key of Criminal Procedure of the principle of equality of arms. The article discusses the concept of the presumption in law with a view to subsequent establishment of relations of the adversarial principle and the presumption of innocence.


Lethal treachery is distinguished by the necessity of deceptively peaceful social interaction between attacker and victim immediately prior to an assault. Aggressors may make deliberate plans to attack opponents during peacemaking ceremonies or fall opportunistically upon noncombatants during seemingly friendly encounters. As with other forms of ambush, the tactic increases the vulnerability of victims while reducing that of the attackers. Ethnographic data from a cross-cultural survey show that lethal treachery has been an occasional, though very successful, tactic in armed conflicts but has been a generally overlooked aspect of warfare and feuding. Its consistency with Wrangham's problematical imbalance-of-power hypothesis is only apparent and is assessed with regard to conventional animal conflict models.


We described here concepts and technical information concerning the installation Jardim das Cartas which brings together video, dance, poetry, voice, and soundscape to express a Presence Ecology. The visitors will be immersed in digital media rhizomes to stimulate their imagination with multimodal sensations.


Paddy soil, compost, kitchen waste and landfill waste were used to develop the microbial inoculum for the enhancement of biogas production from cattle dung. Fourteen digesters were set up and digestion was carried out in batch type manner for eight weeks. The samples were analyzed for dehydrogenase activity and cellulase activity. Biogas production was measured for a period of eight weeks. The maximum biogas production (32.1 litres) was observed at the end of 4th week on supplementation of cattle dung with kitchen waste @ 5%, compost @ 5%, landfill waste @ 5% and paddy soil @ 5% on dry weight basis in batch anaerobic digestion. The dehydrogenase activity (1772.0 μg TPF/g sample/24 h) and cellulase activity (178.7 μg glucose/g sample/24 h) was observed at 4th week in digester 14.


Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is not new to India; health care centres in India like Apollo, IndraPrastha have been imbedding the case for social good in their operation for decades long before CSR became a popular cause. Health Sector clearly stands out as a leader, when discussing the CSR issues. Part of thereason will be its close relation to its multiple stakeholders of society, government, andother private sectors. Another part of the reason may be that its way of making profits hasa bigger relationship to people's lives by affecting their health problems rather than otherbusiness entities. In spite of having such life size successful example, CSR in India isin a very emerging stage. It is still one of the least understood initiatives in the Indiandevelopment sector. The purpose of this paper was to identify and appreciate the CSR practices of various health care centres in India


The studied prospect consists of a weakly folded series of elastic sediments. We wanted to test the ability of the tomographic inversion (travel-time inversion) to detect the gas by its negative effect on the P-wave velocity. We picked 6 reflectors on 12 constant offset sections; this appeared as the mxt difficult part of our work. Then we inverted these picked times using a priori informations about the curvature of the interfaces and the lateral velocity gradient and we designed them to constrain the mDde1 to show smooth interfaces and low velocity variations in the fold' s limbs. The results show negative velocity anomalies located at the top of the fold which may be related 80 gas accumulation. The uncertainty calculations show that these anomalies are significant. However, the strongly not linear relation between gas saturation and velocity anomaly does not allow us to interpret the results in terms of gas content. To achieve this purpose, we think that tomographic inversion should be coupled with a stratigraphic inversion method.


In this book modern algorithmic techniques for summation, most of which have been introduced within the last decade, are developed and carefully implemented in the computer algebra system Maple. The algorithms of Gosper, Zeilberger and Petkovsek on hypergeometric summation and recurrence equations and their q-analogues are covered, and similar algorithms on differential equations are considered. An equivalent theory of hyperexponential integration due to Almkvist and Zeilberger completes the book.


Investigation of symbolic representations of environments plays an important role for solution of various problems of robot visual navigation. In this paper, we study methods of symbolic trajectory description for mobile robot navigation. For this purpose, we use the fresco approach. We consider the problem of salient frescoes selection. In particular, we consider various modifications of the Levenshtein distance method. Also, we use different circular strings methods.


In addition to the main function of burials, historic cemeteries have other functions. Historic cemeteries have a role in displaying historical developments, and as historic landmarks they may contribute to the territorial identity (local, regional) memory and identity (Swensen, Nordh and Brendalsmo, 2016; Kráľová, 2018; Finka and Jamečný, 2018). Cemeteries are places of tourism, whether for architectural monuments, sculptural art, or for any important personalities buried there. According to Finka and Jamečný (2018), cemetery tourism is associated with an active form of tourism focused on the issue of cultural heritage. No less important are cemeteries as green areas, with microclimatic and recreational functions, which are particularly important in heavily urbanized areas of historic cities (Halajová, 2018). Many historically and architecturally valuable cemeteries in Slovakia are in bad condition for several reasons. In the case of historic cemeteries, there is a problem with the maintenance of tombstones and the growth of natural seeding woody plants. On the contrary, there are many historic cemeteries that are still very intensively used for burying, therefore graves and trees are damaged by the construction of new graves. According to Vaščák (2018), the necropolic architecture in Slovakia does not receive sufficient professional attention, due to the lack of methodology in identifying and evaluating these elements and because they do not have the status of national cultural monuments and their ownership is often unclear. In addition to the lack of professional care, there is also no public attention given to historic cemeteries. According to Vaščák (2018), the main reason for the lack of public interest in cemetery architecture is the reduced sensitivity of perception and ignorance of the cultural-social values of necropolic and sepulchral architecture as part of cultural heritage. The starting point for the protection of historic cemeteries is their assessment in terms of cultural – historical value, biological-aesthetic value and possible use based on evaluation of suitable activities (Gécová and Putrová, 2018). The culturalhistorical value is based on the age of the complex, architectural or artistic value of small buildings or tombstones and graves of prominent personalities. The bio-aesthetic value of the cemetery is characterized by the species composition of vegetation and its landscape composition. REVITALIZATIon oF HISToRIC CEMETERIES – PoSSIBLE APPRoACHES In THE CASE STUDy oF CEMETERy In HLoHoVEC, SLoVAKIA


This study investigated the effects of presentation format (animation, still graphics, text) and the students' prior knowledge on learning a computer-based physics lesson. A total of 357 eighth-grade (novice learners) and ninth-grade students (experienced learners) were randomly assigned to different treatments on a class basis. A 3 x 2 ancova (Animation/Still graphics/Text x Novice/Experienced) (control-led by covariants, physics and mathematics scores) was used to determine the effect of these two variables. The significant interaction effect found between presentation format and prior knowledge in both descriptive and procedural learning (p   0.05).


Background: Medication errors (MEs) and adverse drug reactions (ADRs) are among the main causes of adverse events in hospitals, leading to disability and death in up to 6. 5% of hospital admissions. Application of appropriate measures for identifying medication errors and assessing potential adverse drug events are of clinical interest. Methods: This was an observational study performed in the infectious diseases ward of Imam Reza Hospital in Tabriz during the July 2013 to March 2014. Medical files and drug charts of 200 patients were reviewed, and errors in physician and nursing levels were determined. For detecting medication errors, treatment regimens of patients were evaluated, and then compared with the standard practice guidelines and drug references. Presence of any incompatibilities were considered as MEs. Results: During the study period, 126 MEs (0.63 errors per patient) were detected, occurring as incorrect time (38. 1%), incorrect dose (29. 37%), omission (11. 9%), administration error (9. 52%), incorrect dosage form (4. 76%), incorrect drug (2. 38%) and incorrect route (3. 97%). Physicians and nurses were responsible for 48 (38.1%) and 78 (61.9%) of medication errors, respectively. Conclusions: MEs occur in all steps of drug therapy, including prescription, dispensing, preparation, transcription and administration, causing a great concern for hospitalized patients. Strict controlling and training programs for medical students and nurses regarding rational use and prescription of drugs, and presence of clinical pharmacists in the medical wards are highly recommended for preventing these types of errors. A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T


Chronic graft versus host disease (cGvHD) is an important complication of allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT). It is now believed that B cells play a major role in the development of cGvHD as evidenced by the efficacy of B-cell directed therapies, and the disturbances in B cell subsets found in patients. This is characterised by a relative lack of naive B cells and increase in CD27+ (antigen experienced) mature B cells that can mediate host directed responses. Despite this the cellular mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis of cGvHD remain unclear.
 We investigated the phenotype and function of CD19+ B-cell subsets in a cohort of 46 patients undergoing reduced intensity-conditioned allo-HSCT with alemtuzumab. 76% of patients had myeloid disease and 24% lymphoid disease. All patients received PBMC grafts, fludarabine and melphalan conditioning and 10mg/day alemtuzumab from day -5 for 5 days. Overall survival at 3 years was 65% and relapse free survival was 62%. 16% patients experienced acute GvHD (grade 2+) and 29% developed chronic GvHD.
 B cell subsets were examined at 6 weeks post-transplant and CD27-IgD- 'double negative' (DN) B-cells were seen to dominate the B cell repertoire (mean 55% of B-cells). DN B-cells are an ill-defined memory B cell subset associated with immune senescence, auto-immune inflammatory conditions and cancer but their role in allo-HSCT has not been described.
 The frequency of DN B-cells decreased over time, as the naive B cell compartment regenerated, but still represented 31% of B cells at 1 year. However the mean number of DN B cells remained remarkably stable (0.033x109/L at 6 weeks v 0.037x109/L at 1 year). 14% of DN B-cells early post-transplant were transitional (CD24high CD38high) whilst 10% were plasma cells (CD24- CD38high). The remaining 76% had increased CD86 expression compared to memory B-cells (16% v 9.6%; *p=0.039) and lower levels of surface immunoglobulin. DN B-cells were less functional than other B cell subsets with decreased proportions of cells producing IL-2 (20%), IL-6 (17%), IFN-γ (6.2%), and IL-10 (6.2%) compared to naive or memory B cells. They also demonstrated reduced proliferation to in vitro stimulation (Ki-67 5.3%).
 Importantly, the proportion of DN B cells early post transplant was then studied in relation to transplant outcome and a lower frequency of cells was found to be correlated with subsequent development of cGvHD (38% v 62%; *p=0.04).
 These data show that senescent CD27-IgD- DN B-cells dominate the B cell repertoire in the early period after lymphocyte-depleted allo-HSCT. Furthermore, they are significantly reduced in patients who subsequently develop cGvHD. These data suggest that early B cell senescence can directly regulate the subsequent development of chronic graft versus host disease and indicate that the composition of the B cell repertoire at an early time-point post-transplant may be used to predict subsequent clinical outcome.

 No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


OBJECTIVE
To compare clinical aspects and financial costs of open conventional and laparoscopic cholecystectomy.

DESIGN
Retrospective analysis of hospital records of patients who were operated on electively for symptomatic gallstone disease.

SETTING
University clinic, Germany.

SUBJECTS
153 consecutive patients who had open conventional (1991-92) and 222 who had laparoscopic cholecystectomy (1993-96). A total of 251 cholecystectomies were done during 1991-92 and 523 cholecystectomies during 1993-96.

INTERVENTION
Cholecystectomy.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Clinical aspects: operating time, complications, postoperative stay; financial aspects: total cost of hospital stay after cholecystectomy.

RESULTS
When open conventional was compared with laparoscopic cholecystectomy: operating time was 66 and 92 minutes; complications, 9 and 6 cases; postoperative stay, 8 and 3 days; and total cost of hospital stay, US $ 3434 and US $ 2808 respectively.

CONCLUSION
The cost of laparoscopic cholecystectomy was 18% less than for open conventional cholecystectomy, principally because of the shorter postoperative stay.


The performance of a transcritical CO_2 automotive air conditioning system was studied experimentally.The results show that lots of factors contribute to the practical performance of CO_2 system.These factors include the ambient temperature,the air flow rate through the gas cooler,the efficiency and speed of the compressor,and the operating high side pressure.The CO_2 outlet temperature of the gas cooler and the high side pressure level should be controlled in order to make the CO_2 system energy-efficient under variable operating conditions,which brings a high requirement to the controller.


This paper presents a systematic approach to fume control by process modification. The effects on the rate of fume formation of the various welding parameters: the type of welding system, voltage, current, wire feed rate, gas shield and the type of materials to be welded are described


Laser speckle methods like the ESPI-technique and the digital shearography measures fullfield without contact and non destructively the inhomogenities in materials with high sensitivity. The ESPI-technique measures the displacements whereas the digital shearography determines the strains on the object surface. The phase shifting technique followed by filtering and demodulating the fringe pattern yields a grey value distributed phase map which can be evaluated numerically in strain magnitudes.


Abstract The aim of this study was to examine three different instruments which have been used in research conducted in the physical domain to measure mastery, performance‐approach, and performance‐avoidance goals. The construct validity of the assessment tools, including a determination of their convergent and discriminant validity as well as a method effect, was tested via several confirmatory factor analyses. Four hundred and fifty athletes from different sport clubs were involved in the present study. Participants were asked to fill out three different multiple achievement goal instruments as well as two external criteria scales. The results based on CFA showed that all of the three instruments measured the same latent construct of multiple achievement goals. The convergent validity as well as the discriminant validity was supported. Evidence for a limited method effect in terms of the different measures was also provided


Children from Clifton Tots in Bristol put themselves in the picture at a local TV studio. Nursery manager Amelia Jebelli describes the big day.


We present an indoor free-space optical communication system to augment traditional short-range radio frequency wireless links. In this system, we integrated a high-frequency, high-current laser driver with an 850 nm wavelength, 500 mW vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) array to transmit high speed optical signals with a large spatial coverage. The large current-bandwidth capability of the laser driver is enabled by a distributed current driver design utilizing three enhanced-mode pseudomorphic high electron mobility transistors. At the optical receiver end, a high-sensitivity avalanche photodiode is used to achieve high speed optical signal detection without any light concentrating optical device and is tolerant to angular deviation up to 27°. The communication link described in this article forms an optical femtocell with an area of 100 cm2 at a distance of three meters from the transmitter. A bit error rate of less than 10−4 is achieved throughout the optical femtocell in a normal in-door environment. On-off-keying and four-level pulse amplitude modulation schemes are both implemented with 1.25 Gb/s and 2 Gb/s data rate respectively, using the hardware described in this article. Additionally, the overall performance of this free-space optical link is evaluated in terms of viewing angle, distance range, and bit error rate.


The ongoing preconceptual and conceptual reactor design of the Advanced Neutron Source (ANS) is explored. The ANS is being designed for materials sciences, isotope production, and fundamental physics research. A reactor design based on previously developed technology can meet the performance requirements set by the user community for a new ANS to serve all fields of neutron science. These requirements include the capability of producing a peak thermal neutron flux over five times higher than that in use at any currently operating steady-state facility. Achievement of these ultrahigh flux levels involves many interesting aspects of reactor design. The reactor characteristics of the current preconceptual reference design are presented. The attainment of this design was reached by following a design strategy that best met the safety and user requirements. The design has evolved over the last 5 yr from two concepts proposed in 1985. The trade-offs and selection of many reactor parameters are described to illustrate how and why the current design was achieved. Further reactor design is planned, leading to an ANS operating by 1999 for use by scientists of many disciplines.


The frame column and frame structure with column end of steel-concrete composite joint is a new-type architectural structure. To obtain the mechanical property of the new-type frame column and frame structure, comparative tests between 6 new-type columns and 3 ordinary columns and comparative tests between new-type frames and ordinary frames are carried out. This paper elabrately introduces the specimen design, experiment load, test program, test results and others. Thus, the transformation and failure characteristics of new-type long and short columns at different axial compression ratios and the transformation and failure characteristics of new-type grames at different prestresses are obtained. They are respectively compared with the ordinary long and short columns and frames. Results show that the seismic performance of the new-type column and frame structure is obviously superior to that of the ordinary ones. The tests can achieve the expected test objectives and are proved successful.


.......................................................................................................................................... x Chapter 1: Introduction .............................................................................................................. 1 Chapter 2: Properties and Techniques for Fabrication of eSCs ................................................. 6 Determination of Skin Collimator Attributes for Clinical Use ................................ 6 2.1 2.1.1 Skin Collimators Made from Lead ........................................................................... 6 2.1.2 Skin Collimators Made from Cerrobend................................................................... 9 2.1.3 Machined (Brass) Skin Collimators ........................................................................ 14 Chapter 3: Specific Aim 1—Dosimetric Influence of eSC Bevel Angle ................................. 22 Methods and Materials ........................................................................................... 22 3.1 3.1.1 Variation of the Angle of the Aperture Edge .......................................................... 22 3.1.2 Variation of Gantry Angle from Nominal Delivery Angle ..................................... 22 3.1.3 Effects of Beveled Collimator Edges—Experimental Setup .................................. 25 3.1.4 Effects of Beveled Collimator Edges—Film Dosimetry ........................................ 29 3.1.5 Comparison of Measured Dose Distributions ......................................................... 33 Results for Specific Aim 1 ..................................................................................... 34 3.2 3.2.1 Collimator Scattered Dose ...................................................................................... 34 3.2.2 Penumbral Width .................................................................................................... 35 3.2.3 90% Dose Area ....................................................................................................... 36 Chapter 4: Specific Aim 2—Dimensional Accuracy of the Machined eSC ............................ 49 Methods and Materials ........................................................................................... 49 4.1 4.1.1 Skin Collimation Evaluation Cycle ........................................................................ 49 4.1.2 Cylindrical Phantom Case....................................................................................... 50 4.1.3 Anthropomorphic Head Phantom Cases – Case 1 (Nasolabial Fold) and Case 2 (Whole Nose) ....................................................................................... 52 4.1.4 Comparison of Brass Machined Skin Collimation to Planned Skin Collimation— Dimensional Characteristics ................................................................................... 53 Results for Specific Aim 2 ..................................................................................... 54 4.2


The solubility of β-sitosterol and stigmasterol in cyclohexanone at different temperatures were determined. β-sitosterol and stigmasterol were separated and purified from soybean phytosterol using crystallization based on the difference of variation of the solubilities of stigmasterol and β-sitosterol with temperature changing. The experimental results show that the purity of β-sitosterol is about 90% after the fourth fractional crystallization in cyclohexanene. Some parameters(ratio of material to liquid, crystallization temperature, and ripening time) were optimized for cystallization of stigmasterol as the follows: ratio of material to liquid was1∶3.3, crystallization temperature was 25 ℃ and ripening time was 5 h. With above conditions, the purity of stigmasterol is about 96% after the fifth fractional crystallization in cyclohexanene.


Providing intention to encourage radiologist's appraisal for distinguishing proof or order of mammogram images, different methods were suggested by specialists since past two decades. By means of this technical paper, we propose segmentation on advanced mammogram imaging with k-means clustering and locale developing systems tending to support specialists or radiologists to figure out cancerous areas with computer-aided techniques. The suggested task is further classified within two stages: Applied/implemented preprocessing, at primary stage. With the pre-processing stage, we carried a median filter to expel undesirable salt and pepper clamor. Further, we apply fuzzy intensification operator (INT) to upgrade the distinction of intake images. During subsequent stage, improved fuzzy imaging conduces as input for k-mean clustering. Secondly, the locale developing technique is employed with previously generated clustered imagery to partition mammogram into homogeneous areas indicated through force from pixels. With the end goal of the experiment, we utilized the smaller than normal MAIS dataset. The experiment's end result shows that proposed strategy accomplishes higher precision. Keywords—INT operator; feature extraction; k-mean clustering; mammogram; median filter; segmentation


This research aimed to know if raw milk is a possible source of Helicobacter. pylori infection to human and assessing the inhibitory effect of fermented milk products on H. pylori growth. Sixty samples of cows' milk and raw marketable milk (30 samples each) were tested to detect H. pylori and were collected from farms and supermarkets in Assiut City, Egypt. The pathogen could be isolated from 13.33 and 6.66 % of cows' milk and marketable milk, respectively, by using the conventional culture method. Confirmation of the isolated strains using the PCR technique revealed that, 50% of the isolated strains were positive for the 16S rRNA gene. The strong antibiogram of Lactobacillus acidophilus was evident, where the count of the tested two strains of H. pylori (S1 and S2) was sharply decreased to 2.6 and 2.17 log cfu/ g yoghurt and 2.47 and 3.04 log cfu/ ml rayeb at the time of fermentation and could not be isolated at the first day. In case of Bifidobacterium bifidum , the count of S1 and S2 on the first day was 2.3 and 2.77 log cfu/ g yoghurt and 2.95 and 2.7 log cfu/ ml rayeb. Regarding the viability, H. pylori strains have remained viable for two days in yoghurt that was not supplemented with probiotics and could survive for seven days in control milk samples. There was no significant difference between the growth patterns of S1 and S2 in all treatments. Finally, fermented milk products containing probiotics were more effective in the survival of H. pylori than fermented milk products with no probiotics with a significant difference (P-value < 0.05).


Progesterone and 20α-hydroxypregn-4-en-3-one (20α-OH-P) secretory rates of rat ovaries were measured during pregnancy and pseudopregnancy. In the pregnant rats, 20α-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (20α-OH-SDH) activity of the ovaries, wet weights of corpora lutea and their concentrations of cholesterol, progesterone and 20α-OH-P were also determined. Progesterone secretion increased but fluctuated during pregnancy: a small rise on Day 4 was followed by a fall on Day 7, and a marked rise on Days 13 to 15 was followed by a great fall on Days 20 to 23 (the day sperm was found in vaginal smears was designated as Day 1). 20α-OH-P secretion decreased throughout pregnancy, although a small rise appeared around Day 15. The second peak of progesterone secretion and the small peak of 20α-OH-P occurred in coincidence with the growth of corpora lutea which had remained fairly constant by Day 10. After the cessation of corpora lutea growth on Day 16, both progestin secretions turned to decrease. Cholesterol concentration in corpora lutea, which remained relatively low during the first half of pregnancy but gradually increased with a gentle slope by Day 17, suddenly doubled the value on Day 18 when progesterone secretion kept decreasing. Progesterone secretion continued to decrease until the day of parturition (Days 22 to 23). 20α-OH-P began to increase on Day 22 in accordance with the increase of 20α-OH-SDH activity in corpora lutea, which had never appeared before Day 20. After parturition, progesterone secretion began to increase on the third day, conversely with a rapid drop in 20α-OH-P secretion in lactating rats. Corpora lutea progesterone, which showed the highest value on Days 5 to 8 of pregnancy followed by a gradual decrease to the lowest on Day 23, did not appear to play a special part in the regulation of progesterone secretion. In pseudopregnancy, progesterone secretion increased beginning 3 to the maximum on Day 7 and declined thereafter to Day 14, while 20α-OH-P secretion decreased during the same period of time, but the secretory rate was generally higher than that in pregnancy, so that a higher ratio of progesterone to total progestin (progesterone plus 20α-OH-P) was obtained in pregnancy than in pseudopregnancy.


The concept of autonomy is of crucial importance for understanding life and cognition. Whereas cellular and organismic autonomy is based in the self-production of the material infrastructure sustaining the existence of living beings as such, we are interested in how biological autonomy can be expanded into forms of autonomous agency, where autonomy as a form of organization is extended into the behaviour of an agent in interaction with its environment (and not its material self-production). In this thesis, we focus on the development of operational models of sensorimotor agency, exploring the construction of a domain of interactions creating a dynamical interface between agent and environment. We present two main contributions to the study of autonomous agency: First, we contribute to the development of a modelling route for testing, comparing and validating hypotheses about neurocognitive autonomy. Through the design and analysis of specific neurodynamical models embedded in robotic agents, we explore how an agent is constituted in a sensorimotor space as an autonomous entity able to adaptively sustain its own organization. Using two simulation models and different dynamical analysis and measurement of complex patterns in their behaviour, we are able to tackle some theoretical obstacles preventing the understanding of sensorimotor autonomy, and to generate new predictions about the nature of autonomous agency in the neurocognitive domain. Second, we explore the extension of sensorimotor forms of autonomy into the social realm. We analyse two cases from an experimental perspective: the constitution of a collective subject in a sensorimotor social interactive task, and the emergence of an autonomous social identity in a large-scale technologically-mediated social system. Through the analysis of coordination mechanisms and emergent complex patterns, we are able to gather experimental evidence indicating that in some cases social autonomy might emerge based on mechanisms of coordinated sensorimotor activity and interaction, constituting forms of collective autonomous agency.


The growth and atomic/electronic structure of molecular beam epitaxy-grown ErAs nanoparticles and nanorods embedded within a GaAs matrix are examined for the first time via cross-sectional scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy. Cross sections enable the interrogation of the internal structure and are well suited for studying embedded nanostructures. The early stages of embedded ErAs nanostructure growth are examined via these techniques and compared with previous cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy work. Tunneling spectroscopy I(V) for both ErAs nanoparticles and nanorods was also performed, demonstrating that both nanostructures are semimetallic. (C) 2011 American Vacuum Society. [DOI: 10.1116/1.3547713]


Achieving a state of happiness and good health is undoubtedly important for people's mental health. It is a challenging feat in any country, but more so in developing countries. However, scant research exists on the happiness and self-rated health of people in developing countries. To examine the impact of social capital on women's happiness and self-rated health in rural Cambodia, this study applies ordinal logit regression on the interview data of 283 women living in Siem Reap. The following factors positively impacted the happiness of the women: high household income, lending of money to others, high level of trust toward family, social participation, and having high self-rated health. The following factors were associated with higher self-rated health, similarly as with happiness: high level of trust toward family, lending of money to others, social participation, and higher number of surviving children. However, self-rated health decreased when the women were of advanced age, had given birth to many children, or had received poverty identification. The novelty of this study is that it provides a valuable insight into the impact of social capital on the happiness and self-rated health of women in rural Cambodian villages.


Based on the stability calculation of compressed poles for high truss, a model for compressed bar with elastic support is introduced and its critical load is calculated as well. The result is more accurate than that of the former model and the safety is better, too. The result can be adopted in related design.


The cement industry has the potential to become a major consumer of recycled waste materials that are transformed and recycled in various forms as aggregates and pozzolanic materials. These recycled waste materials would otherwise have been dumped in landfill sites, leaving hazardous elements to break down and contaminate the environment. There are several approaches for the reuse of these waste products, especially in relation to clay minerals that can induce pozzolanic reactions of special interest in the cement industry. In the present paper, scientific aspects are discussed in relation to several inert coal-mining wastes and their recycling as alternative sources of future eco-efficient pozzolans, based on activated phyllosilicates. The presence of kaolinite in this waste indicates that thermal treatment at 600 °C for 2 h transformed these minerals into a highly reactive metakaolinite over the first seven days of the pozzolanic reaction. Moreover, high contents of metakaolinite, together with silica and alumina sheet structures, assisted the appearance of layered double hydroxides through metastable phases, forming stratlingite throughout the main phase of the pozzolanic reaction after 28 days (as recommended by the European Standard) as the reaction proceeded.


MCS-51 has been widely applied in industrial system control.This paper introduces an algorithm and implementation of how to control the water level in MCS-51 and illustrates the flow chart of main program.The effect is very good in practical application.


The role of foreign capital inflow, foreign direct investment (FDI) and foreign portfolio investment (FPI), on export behavior of both recipients and non-recipient competing firms in the same sector often guides economic development policy. By using panel data of Indian IT firms over 2000–2006, we show that FDI reduces the sunk costs of entering foreign markets and therefore positively effects both the decision to export and the export propensity of recipient firms. Foreign portfolio investment has no effect on the decision to export, but it does marginally increase the volume of exports. Further, these positive FDI and FPI recipient effects do not spill-over to non-recipients.


The authors present a thick-wall ellipsoidal model of the left ventricle (LV) that takes into account its fiber structure in parallel with the well-known physiological properties of the muscle fibers and was constructed to describe both the transmural and global features of ventricular contraction. The model describes systolic function utilizing the force-length and force-velocity relationship of the fibers. The local oxygen consumption is simulated assuming a linear relationship with the area of the stress-length loop and the triangle between the loop and the maximum active force formed locally for each fiber. The model yields the transmural distribution of oxygen demand as a function of the loading conditions, and accounts for twist of the LV over its long axis during ejection. Thus, the model of LV function provides a comprehensive analytic tool to study the complex interactions between parameters of the ventricular function.<<ETX>>


"Widely acclaimed for its originality and penetration, this award-winning study of American thought in the twentieth century examines the ways in which the spread of pragmatism and scientific naturalism affected developments in philosophy, social science, and law, and traces the effects of these developments on traditional assumptions of democratic theory."


The invention provides an anti-theft alarm or prevention-control device for vehicles, which has the functions of alarming to prevent theft, acting as an electric horn, sounding for turning or backing, reminding of low voltage, and the like. The species (such as various electric horn sounds, siren sounds, alarming sounds, bird tweets, insect sounds, animal sounds, wind/rain/thunder sounds, ocean wave sounds, speech sounds, voices, shouts, musical sounds, singing sounds, musical instrument sounds, gunshots, explosive sounds, cyclic or mixed sounds of a plurality of sounds, or other various audio sounds) and volume of anti-theft alarming sounds, electric-horn warning sounds, warning sounds for turning or backing, low-voltage reminding sounds or other functional sounds can be chosen through the settings or operation of keys, remote controller or other control circuits, so that individual needs of different fondness when vehicle owners use the anti-theft alarm can be met. Or (and) a relay contact of the anti-theft alarm or the prevention-control device is enabled to be on or off in case of no load or micro-load so as to effectively avoid or reduce the arc discharge of the contact and prolong the life span of the anti-theft alarm or the prevention-control device.


From studies on dispersed ruthenium-copper catalysts, it is known that whereas copper additives reduce hydrogenolysis activity, dehydrogenation reactions are left largely unaffected. This influence is regarded as largely a surface phenomenon since no Ru-Cu alloys are formed and the solubility is small. Extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) measurements have confirmed that a ruthenium-copper cluster consists of a central core of ruthenium atoms with the copper atoms present at the surface. Surface studies have modelled the bimetallic catalyst by evaporation of Cu atoms on the Ru(0001) basal plane. Different models for the initial growth of Cu overlayers have been suggested, indicating a complicated wetting behavior as a function of adsorbent temperature. All models eventually converge for thick films with the formation of a Cu(111) overlayer oriented with respect to the Ru(0001) substrate. The chemical probes used in this study: O (from O/sub 2/), CH/sub 3/O (from CH/sub 3/OH) and CO, can be expected to probe different aspects of the Ru(0001)/Cu model of the bimetallic catalyst. Unlike the dissociative chemisorption of dioxygen and methanol, CO binds associatively and reversibly on most surfaces. Finally, the authors note that methoxy species, once formed, follow different dehydrogenation paths on transition metals and coinage metalsmore » leading to CO and formaldehyde, respectively.« less


Incidence of penetrating cardiac trauma is on the rise. With improved trauma care, an increasing number of these patients arrive at the hospital alive. An unusual case of penetrating cardiac trauma is presented that highlights the importance of thorough echocardiographic assessment of such patients.


This paper describes the design and implementation of a low power IF frequency synthesizer which can be used in 2-tone envelope detection radios [1]. The synthesizer is based on an All-Digital PLL (AD-PLL) architecture. By means of a system noise analysis, overall noise performance is optimized while maintaining low-power operation. A current controlled ring-oscillator is designed, optimized for low-power and low phase-noise. An integer and fractional phase quantiser (PQ) is designed, where the fractional PQ is co-integrated with the oscillator to save power. The DAC, which digitally controls the oscillator, is implemented by a `coarse' and `fine' DAC topology to reduce the resolution requirement. The `fine' DAC resolution is increased by a third-order Delta-Sigma Modulator (DSM) to alleviate matching problems while maintaining monotonicity and keeping the power consumption low. Current division of the `fine' DAC, using a highly-linear current-mirror, enables fine frequency tuning while keeping low bias currents. The chip, consisting of a current controlled oscillator, `coarse' and `fine' DAC and fractional part of the phase quantiser is implemented in a 90 nm CMOS technology. The AD-PLL operates from 10 to 20 MHz and the power consumption (excluding digital loop filter and DSM) is only 19 μW at 20 MHz operation.


For study the velocity characteristics of acceleration of the projectiles, a sketch of a three-stage reconnection electromagnetic launcher using flat-plate projectiles was introduced in this paper. A theoretical model of small-scale 3-stage reconnection launcher was set up and the velocity of the projectile as well as the efficiency properties was simulated. A three-stage reconnection launcher was founded and the measurement system was designed to obtain the velocity of the projectile. A control system on the basis of a microcontroller and a computer was designed for the launcher. Groups of ? -shaped photocouplers were aligned at the preset spacing in the direction of the flyway in order to sense the arrival of the projectile and output signals to the control system for velocity measurement. Measures are taken to inhibit electromagnetic interference and to isolate high voltage. Three types of flat-plate projectiles with different configuration were prepared for experiments. The simulated results and experimental data show that when the 4.32mF capacitor banks were charged to 5000 V, a final velocity of 59 m/s for the 100g-hollow-plate projectile was acquired. For the 160g-solid-plate projectile and the 80g-gridded-plate projectile cases, the final velocity was 46 m/s and 43 m/s respectively.


This paper focuses on the development of a phase shifting transformer model designed for a previously proposed method of analog power flow computation. Prior research in this field has modeled generators, loads and transmission lines. Accurate analog models of power system components are required in order to realize an analog computation engine for power systems. Analog computation is an area of continued interest and has certain advantages over traditional digital computation. Among the advantages are physically realizable solutions and significantly faster computation times. The transformer model proposed here provides a more accurate depiction of the network and captures the behavior of phase shifting transformers. The transformer is modeled in analog form. The model is constructed and verified via software simulation.


Objective:To investigate the brain neurotoxicity of synthetic drugs by cognitive function testing and PET imaging.Methods:From January to May in 2010,the clinical symptoms,cognitive function testing and PET in 18 people were analyzed to investigate the brain neurotoxicity of synthetic drugs.Results:In the clinical symptoms,72.2% subjects had the generalized anxiety symptoms.The main abused drug was methamphetamine.There were significant differences in cognitive functions in the quiz,vocabulary,monochromator,double color,the interference of the color words meaning,the color memories,which were compared with the control group(P0.05).It showed glucose metabolism decreased in the frontal lobe area in PET,which are mainly concentrated tissue,the rest in various brain regions(parietal lobe,temporal lobe,hippocampus,brain size,and other organizations),which have reduced glucose metabolism different ratios,indicating that there was damage to the brain.Conclusion:It was important that the clinical changes were found in the PET imaging as well as the cognitive damage in abusers who were addicted synthetic drugs.


The shaping of low-dimensional diamond materials into desired geometries, and the correlated required capability to modify and control the topography of diamond-based systems at the nanoscale, are really challenging and complex tasks, of relevant technological interest. Indeed, ordered arrays of diamond nanowires/nanocylinders are required for the fabrication of advanced photonic and electronic devices, such as stable and robust electron emitters (cold cathodes) able to work in different, and also hostile, environments. In the present paper we describe some recent methodologies settled in our laboratories for the tailoring of diamond 1-D nanostructures.


it has been difficult to construct a detailed chronology of marine terraces, due to the lack of the marker tephra layers and to the deformation of original landforms by strong past periglaciations. The lack of age constraint has prevented studies of precise geomorphic development and palaeoenvironmental reconstruction in this area. This study applies an elevated temperature post-IR IRSL (pIRIR; Buylaert et al., 2009) SAR protocol using polymineral fine grains to marine terraces along the Sea of Okhotsk coast area in northern Hokkaido (Fig 1). In Hamatonbetsu town, northern Hokkaido, the pIRIR ages from the higer marine terraces are ca.340 -370 ka, which yielded ages corresponding to MIS 9, respectively.


Based on aeromagnetic anomaly as the basic clue,we analyzed Weiningbeishan multi-metal deposits (points) and mineralized belt and the relationship between magnetic anomalies.Using electromagnetic sounding and gravity and magnetic inversion of the pairs of 2.5D Alliance Air Shuangshileizi,we comprehensively interpreted the magnetic anomalies and found that the density magnetic anomaly caused by sub-source Shuangshileizi is the same as that of acid rock bodies in this area.According to the regional geological setting conditions and Weiningbeishan surface mineralization and distribution characteristics of geochemical anomalies,we infer that these regional faults,magmatic rocks have a dependent relation to multi-metal mineralization of gold,copper gold,silver,and lead.At the same time,it is possible that some hidden intermediate-acid intrusive rocks may exist in this region,which is possible the center of multi-metal mineralization and is also the most important controlling factor for multi-metal mineralization.This provides a basis for prospecting multi-metal mineralization in Weiningbeishan area.


The disadvantages of surgical sutures, such as secondary tissue damage, surgical site infection, and liquid leaking, can be reduced by biological soft‐tissue adhesives. Although non‐bioresorbable bone substitute materials sufficiently adhere to soft tissues, enabling immobilization of implantable devices, their non‐bioresorbable property limits their clinical use. This study reports the excellent adhesion properties of octacalcium phosphate (OCP), a bioresorbable mineral analogue of immature bone. Blocks of OCP strongly adhere to mouse dermal tissues, enhancing their protein adsorption capacity as demonstrated in ex vivo shear adhesion tests. When soaked in antibacterial solution, the OCP blocks easily adsorb the antibacterial agents in their internal nano‐pores and on their surfaces, imbuing them with antibacterial ability. Therefore, the OCP blocks are a solid‐state material with strong adherence to biological soft tissues and, are especially promising for detachable body‐implantable and/or external devices.


Solicited oculorespiratory syndrome–like symptoms within the 3-day post vaccination period in infants (6–35 months), children (3–17 years), and adults (18–49 years) (total vaccinated cohort). (PDF 378 kb)


Silo model placed on rigid foundation or on elastic foundation are used for examining the static performance of the silo structure. Strain measurements are made for two loading conditions: empty and full of rice. Experimental results are compared with the results of FEM calculation. Good agreement is observed.


Review by Greg Henley, Presbyterian College. Harvey Cox, a prominent theologian at Harvard's Divinity School, developed an undergraduate course entitled, "Jesus and the Moral Life," and reveals how he conceived the course and what he learned in the process.


The deposited folders contain image and video material of free-living flatworm specimens that were documented in vivo. These data support the following publication: Janssen, T., D. B. Vizoso, G. Schulte, D. T. J. Littlewood, A. Waeschenbach, and L. Scharer. 2015. The first multi-gene phylogeny of the Macrostomorpha sheds light on the evolution of sexual and asexual reproduction in basal Platyhelminthes. Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 92:82-107. For more information about these specimens see also http://macrostomorpha.info.


In order to face the rise in data consumption and network congestion, caching structures like Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) are being more and more used and integrated into the network infrastructure. Knowing that the capacities of caching resources are most often limited due to their large operational cost, it has become very important that these entities are managed efficiently. Especially, at the caching operations level, the question that arises is what content should be cached or evicted from the cache when it becomes full. Having these in mind, we introduce a lightweight Artificial Intelligence-based caching scheme called Reversed OPT (RevOPT). In our proposal, we use a Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) encoder-decoder model to learn future requests patterns from the past and exploit its outcome with a Counting Bloom Filter (CBF) structure to manage efficiently the caching decisions and to keep in the cache only contents expected to be reused in the near future. The conducted simulations show promising results of RevOPT in terms of the cache hit ratio compared to existing caching algorithms.


Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic inflammatory polyarthritis characterised by an inflammatory cell infiltration of the synovial membrane. I t has been suggested that in these patients an aggressive oxidant such as the OH' radical may be responsible for membrane damage and other harmful effects within the synovial membrane [l]. Iron, in a form able to catalyse OH' formation may be released from iron binding proteins such as transferrin, lactoferrin and ferritin at low pH values found in the microenviroment beneath adherent macrophages, and accumulates in the synovium and may also be present in synovial fluid. If levels of synovial iron-binding proteins could be increased, "free" iron, and hence tissue damage, might be reduced. Lactoferrin, due to its high affinity for iron even at moderately acid pH, is of particular interest in this respect. We have therefore investigated wether "free" iron in synovial fluid is related to the degree of inflammation,and whether it affects the iron status of cells i n the fluid by measuring the activity of iron-regulatory protein (IRP), which regulates transferrin receptor and ferritin post-transcriptionally by binding to their mRNA's under low iron conditions [2]. Synovial fluids were obtained by knee aspiration from 25 patients (20 women and 5 men, age range 19-89). Of these, 21 fulfilled the criteria for rheumatoid arthritis [3], 2 had juvenile chronic arthritis, 1 psoriasis and 1 osteoarthritis. Synovial fluid samples were centrifuged to sediment the cells. The supernatant was used to determine "free" iron by the bleomycin assay [4] and the cells to determine iron status by measuring total and active IRP by mobility shift assay in the presence or absence of 2-mercaptoethanol respectively [5]. Synovial fluids known to contain "free" iron were used to test the binding activity of lactoferrin by incubating them overnight at 4°C with lactoferrin (human or mouse) or transferrin, and then determining "free" iron by the bleomycin assay.


Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) transmission spectroscopy. was used to monitor the decomposition of H 2 O (D 2 O) and NH 3 (ND 3 ) on silicon surfaces. Experiments were performed in-situ in an ultra-high vacuum (UHV) chamber using high surface area poroussilicon samples. The FTIR spectra revealed that H 2 O dissociates upon adsorption at 300K to form SiH and SiNH 2 surface species. NH 3 also issociates upon adsorption at 300 K to form SiH and SiOH 2 species. Silicon samples with saturation exposures of H 2 O and NH 3 were progressively annealed from 300 K to 860 K. The FTIR spectra of an H 2 O-saturated silicon surface revealed that the SiOH species decomposed to form a silicon oxide species and additional surface hydrogen between 460 K and 580 K. Likewise, the SiNH 2 species decomposed between 540 K and 660 K to produce silicon nitride and additional surface hydrogen. In both cases, the Sill surface species decreased as H 2 desorption from the silicon surface was observed above 700 K.


Mossbauer spectra with 155Gd were taken of a Gd2Fe14B single-crystal absorber. These spectra, which ave a more pronounced structure than those of powder absorber, lead to considerably improved precision in the hyperfine interaction parameter values and in estimates for the second-order crystal field parameters. A comparison between spectra taken in zero field and in a field 8 T shows the magnetic hyperfine field at Gd nuclei to be positive at both lattice sites.


The article deals with the methodological problems of the research of the phenomenon of collective political consciousness. The author gives a review of the basic traditions and approaches exploring political consciousness and contradictions related to them. The paper considers the concepts "political consciousness" and "public opinion". The author also analyzes the advantages and disadvantages of realistic-sociological approach to the study of collective consciousness. The article examines N. Elias's approach and R. Brubaker's "category of group". The category "consciousness" is explored.


ABSTRACT Over the course of history, oak trees have played a significant role in the natural landscape and built environment. While providing essential resources that sustain wildlife and even humans, they have aptly developed a legacy reflective of their importance across cultures. They inspire place names, emerge in stories and art, and appear on flags and coins. Their wood products, prominent in the architecture of ships, buildings, hand tools, and more, serve as a testament to their durability. Associated with qualities of endurance and longevity, the oak tree presents as a popular symbol. It is recognised as the national tree in the U.S., where oaks grow prolifically in a variety of environments. With such a reputation and many qualities resembling those of other desirable shade trees, oaks have become some of the most preferred, recommended, and beneficial species in U.S. urban forests.


Recent advancements of three-dimensional still image display by holography are introduced. The features of holography for displaying the image and the technical subjects to be solved are described first. The topics include the deep-image holography, hologram printer, color holography, compact reconstruction of hologram, and the image formation using computer. The display of image information using holographic optical element is also presented.


The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of return on equity (ROE) and earnings per share (EPS) on stock prices on the LQ45 index listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange. The research method used in the preparation of this thesis is an associative method with a quantitative analysis approach, while the analysis used is multiple regression analysis techniques and classical assumption tests. Based on the research results of hypothesis testing using multiple regression analysis, it shows that simultaneously, return on equity (ROE) and earnings per share (EPS) have a significant effect on stock prices. Partially, return on equity (ROE) has a significant effect on stock prices as well as earnings per share (EPS) which has a significant effect on stock prices.


Imagine you are reading a book in a foreign language that you understand quite well, but you are not totally fluent in. At some point, you come across a word that you do not understand in a sentence. Imagine you can click on the word in your screen and its definition shows up (like in the ebook reader shown in Figure 1). A definition is a text snippet that explains the meaning of that word using other words that you are more likely to be familiar with. It allows you to access the meaning of the unknown word and fully grasp the meaning of the whole sentence. Suppose that the unknown word (e.g. cell) has multiple senses (e.g. "a small room in which a prisoner is locked up" or "the smallest structural and functional unit of an organism", among others). Instead of a single definition, you will get a list of definitions, and you will have to read through all of them to decide which one is more appropriate in this context. As a human, you will probably be able to interpret the known words in the context of the unknown word, and choose the definition that better matches this context.


Mitochondria are motile organelles that play key roles in numerous cellular pathways including calcium regulation, apoptosis, and ATP production. Mitochondrial apical translocation may be an essential response to the changing requirements under shear stress since shear stress directly affects the apex of polarized pulmonary endothelial cells. We hypothesize therefore that flow induces mitochondrial translocation to the apex of pulmonary endothelial cells. To study this idea, rat pulmonary microvascular endothelial cells (PMVEC) were subjected to shear stress at 14 dynes/cm2 over a period of three to six hours. MitoTracker Red 580 (MTR) was utilized to image and track mitochondrial movement. The area of the MTR signal at the apex, corresponding to localization of the mitochondria mass, was quantified in 3D‐reconstructed individual cells at different time points and plotted as a percent of total apical area. Our results show that the apical MTR signal increased significantly at 3 and 6 h of shear‐stress compared with 0 h of flow, indicating flow‐induced mitochondrial translocation to the apex. Treatment with 50 nM nocodozole abolished the mitochondrial translocation response with shear stress. We conclude that mitochondria translocate to the cellular apex under shears stress and that microtubule integrity is essential for this translocation.


When analyzing networks with failing components, certain performance parameters cannot be computed based just upon a binary division in "working" and "failed" network states. Parameters like perceived quality associated with delay times or costs per link usage are usually better expressed via several discrete categories (e.g. service levels ranging from "poor" or even "useless" to "excellent"). The classical reliability model assigns the network a binary state based on connectedness of a given set of distinguished nodes. A vast literature exists for computing and estimating the reliability defined as the expected value of the binary structure function associated with such states. Recent research has also considered diameter constraints yet keeping the binary character of the network state. This paper introduces a model for estimating non-binary discrete network parameters that depend on "distances" defined in terms of path lengths. The model considers an arbitrary number of states associated with such distances. It generalizes previously introduced Monte Carlo simulation methods for reliability estimation to consider other-than-binary distance-dependent states. The suggested method and efficiency improvements relative to crude Monte Carlo are illustrated with a numerical example.


Along with the development of the smart grid, Shenzhen has constructed a grid adopting the "three-phase energy gateway + metering master station". This paper comprehensively introduces the construction of the smart grid in Shenzhen. Based on the practical operation, both benefits and disadvantages of the current network are summarized. This work presents valuable experiences when constructing the smart grid and is useful for future smart grid development.


The utility model discloses a double-electric-folding micro-pressing type anti-resonance remote control helicopter pesticide sprinkling system. The double-electric-folding micro-pressing type anti-resonance remote control helicopter pesticide sprinkling system comprises a helicopter, an anti-resonance water tank, a folding type spray rod and a smashing type centrifugal spray head. The helicopter comprises a machine body and an undercarriage. The anti-resonance water tank is fixedly arranged under the machine body. A cross rod is fixed on the bottom side of the machine body. One end of the cross rod is fixed on the machine body, and the other end of the cross rod is provided with the folding type spray rod. One end of the folding type spray rod can be connected with the cross rod in a folding mode, and the other end of the folding type spray rod is fixedly provided with the smashing type centrifugal spray head. The spry head is connected with the water tank through a water pipe. A micro-pressing water pump and a partition plate are arranged in the water tank. The double-electric-folding micro-pressing type anti-resonance remote control helicopter pesticide sprinkling system has the advantages of being high in work efficiency, capable of preventing operators from being contacted with pesticides in the sprinkling process and good in reliability, solving the problems including large droplets and low control effect, and the like.