Details of the coordination chemistry of europium complexes with methanediphosphonic acid (MDPA), vinylidene-1,1-diphosphonic acid (VDPA), and 1-hydroxyethane-1,1-diphosphonic acid (HEDPA) in acidic aqueous solutions have been investigated by titration calorimetry and laser-induced fluorescence. For the 1:1 complexes, thermodynamic parameters and complex hydration are consistent with those previously reported for europium complexes with the carboxylate structural analog malonate. In the 1:2 complexes, markedly different thermodynamic parameters and cation dehydration are observed. The second diphosphonate ligand adds to the 1:1 complex displacing four additional water molecules from the primary coordination sphere (as compared with two for the addition of a second malonate). This reaction is also characterized by a nearly zero entropy change. The results are rationalized using molecular mechanics to suggest an unusual geometry in which the diphosphonate ligands and bound water molecules are appreciably segregated in the europium coordination sphere. Intramolecular hydrogen bonding and second hydration sphere ordering are suggested to explain the low complexation entropies.


Background: Recurrent adeno-tonsillitis can lead to problems of secretory otitis media/OSA/sinusitis and thus adenotonsillectomy is one of the most frequent done surgery in children. The present study aimed to evaluate the impact of adenoidectomy or adenotonsillectomy on the quality of life of children using obstructive sleep apnoea- 18 score. Methods: A prospective study was conducted in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery at Ananta Institute of Medical Science, Rajsamand between January 2017 to December 2019. A total of 60 patients of age group 4 to 15 years were included in study who were undergoing adenoidectomy or adenotonsillectomy. All patients were evaluated by using 'obstructive sleep apnea - 18' (OSA-18) preoperatively and 6 months post- operative period for impact on quality of life on children after surgery. Results: 60 children with a mean age of 8.6 years were evaluated. The most frequent indication for surgery was recurrent adeno-tonsillitis and obstructive sleep apnoea for adenoid hypertrophy. The total mean score of initial OSA-18 was 85.34, following surgery at 6 months, the total mean score was reduced to 31.23 (p value <0.001). Similarly, there was reduction in mean score of individual domains after surgery which was statically significant (p<0.001). Conclusions: Our study concludes that on evaluation of children with adenoid hypertrophy using OSA-18 pre-operative and 6 months post-operative period, showed adenoidectomy or adenotonsillectomy has positive impact on paediatric quality of life.


Bisphenol A (BPA) is a kind of environmental endocrine disrupting substance, which has been used as an organic chemical as unsaturated polyester resin. The degradation of BPA includes biological methods, physical adsorption and chemical oxidation, all which have their own disadvantages. Owing to its strong oxidization capability and stable treatment performance, Fenton process can degrade organic substances at a high reactive rate and stably effective. In this paper, Fenton oxidation method was optimized to remove BPA in water, during which the intermediate products were analysed to examine its degradation path. The optimal conditions of degradation of BPA by Fenton method were a ratio of C (H2O2)/C (Fe2+ ) of 10, a pH of 3.5, and the degradation rate increased with the increasing of reaction temperature. It was found that Fenton could break the chemical bond at the junction of BPA and isopropyl group to produce p-diphenol, phenol, isopropyl phenol and other intermediate products.


1) is a Hylidae species generally found in bromeliads (Bokerman, 1966; Giareta, 1996). The species occurs along the Brazilian coast with records in Paraiba, Bahia, Espirito Santo, Alagoas, and Minas Gerais (Frost, 2010). Myers (1946) mentioned the occurence of P. luteolus in the municipality of Rio de Janeiro, however Lutz (1954), rearranging the species list of amphibians of Rio de Janeiro (former Distrito Federal), stated that the species does not occur within the political limits of the municipality of Rio de Janeiro. More recently, Izecksohn and Carvalho-e-Silva (2001) reported that species of the genus Phyllodytes have been introduced in the municipality by bromeliad collectors, in the neighborhoods of Vargem Grande and Guaratiba, nevertheless, in the same work, the authors mentioned that there would be no evidences of established populations of P. luteolus. This work was carried out at the square of Pontal beach, at Recreio neighborhood (23°1'55.38"S, 43°28'15.51"W). The study site of ca. 60 m2 was covered with several planted bromeliads. At June 5th, 2007, around 8:00 pm, the author ROLS was able to observe about eight to ten adult calling males of P. luteolus from the local bromeliads at Pontal beach (Figure 2). On February 16th, 2008 at 04:00 pm, we were able to observe around 14 specimens, both adults and tadpoles. In a third occasion on September 19th, 2009 around 03:00 pm, 30 to 40 specimens comprising both adults and tadpoles were observed. Ten adult specimens of P. luteolus were collected as voucher specimens (five on February 16th, 2008 (MNRJ 5122-26) and five more on September 19th, 2009 (MNRJ 60213-17), all housed at the amphibian collection of the Museu Nacional of the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (MNRJ). Collection permits were issued by the Instituto Brasileiro do Meio Ambiente e Recursos Naturais Renovaveis (IBAMA; permit �� 14590-1) and IEF�RJ (IEF�RJ N° 013�2008). Probably the species were brought to the region within imported and planted bromeliads. There are other cases of amphibians introduced via plants such as Eleutherodactylus spp. (Kraus et al., 1999) and Phyllodytes spp. (Izecksohn and Carvalho-e-Silva, 2001). For instance, in the late 1980s, the Coqui Frog, Eleutherodactylus coqui Thomas, 1966, endemic to Puerto Rico (Beard et al., 2009), was accidentally introduced to Hawai'i via horticultural trade (Kraus et al., 1999) and has subsequently established vital, quickly expanding populations (Kraus et al., 1999; Kraus and Campbell, 2002; Kraus, 2003). Now, E. coqui is considered an invasive pest because it has affected negatively the local homeowners and commerce (Kraus and Campbell, 2002; Kaiser and Burnett, 2006; Beard et al., 2009). In Rio de Janeiro state, other cases of introduced species have been reported in the last years. Salles et al. (2009) reported Lithobates catesbeianus well established and Herpetology Notes, volume 3: 257-258 (2010) (published online on 27 August 2010)


The purpose of this research is to provide for some useful data for computer-related courses of the landscape science, assuming that computers are being and should be used more and more in landscape architecture and therefore, that landscape science students need to respond positively to such a tren...


Abstract : The Moving Target Detector (MTD) II, a sophisticated radar processor, was evaluated to determine its capability to provide improved radar detection in an air traffic control (ATC) environment. The MTD II was installed on one channel of an airport surveillance radar (ASR-7) at Burlington, Vermont. The major objective of testing was to compare the performance of the MTD II with that of the ASR-7 Moving Target Indicator (MTI). This report concentrates on the comparative probability of detection, false alarm rate, MTI improvement factor, subclutter visibility, dynamic range, velocity response, and the simultaneous flight test results of the two systems. Comparison of the MTD II to the MTD I system is made when necessary to show major improvements or deficiencies in the MTD II design. The results of the tests have shown that the MTD II provides surveillance capabilities superior to those of the ASR-7/MTI. (Author)


World cruise market is very dynamic and it is characterised by constant changes in offer and demand. Dubrovnik, as one of the leading port in the Mediterranean is faced with the problem of large concentrations of ships and passengers in a short period of time. Paper provides answers to the questions: how to manage cruise tourism in Dubrovnik? What are the guidelines for the further development of cruising in Dubrovnik? Modern ports management system must be organized and managed in a manner that will ensure the recognition requirements of stakeholders and their fulfilment. All this requires a more complex integrated management system, in which the requirements of quality management will be the basis, and requirements of environmental management needed an upgrade.


'T. Josept, Scanlon, "Canada's Media with the Drapes Off, ZPI Report (Zurich, Switzerland: International Press Institute), January 1971, pp. 9-10. Press ownership concentration is also the subject of other articles in this and earlier issues of ZPZ Report; the issue of February 1967 has a condensation of the British Monopolies Cornmission's report on the sale of the London Times to the Thomson group. The FIE3 Bulletin (Paris, France: International Federation of Newspaper Editors and F'ublishers) for October 1967 carries publishers' reports on concentration trends in 13 countries. country. One of the Committee's major conclusions is that any further concentration of ownership in the Canadian mass media would be "undesirable and contrary to the public interest-unless shown to be otherwise" (italics ours). The Committee recommends a "Press Ownership Review Board" to approve or disapprove any future transactions that might tend toward concentration or monopoly. In some respects, its proposed legislation would go beyond rules already being applied to newspaper mergers in Great Britain.' In the United States, the trend until recently has seemed to be toward local


1 Introduction Specificity, accuracy, precision, sensitivity and speed are the key performancecharacteristics to justify the cost of an analytical technique chosen. Recently, massspectrometry has attracted widespread attention for analysis of complex mixtures andfor structure elucidation. The su...


A new type of three-phase fluidized bed has been developed by use of a magnetic distributor plate (MDP).The bubble-supported solids operation characteristics of fluidization with the liquid velocity below the minimum fluidization velocity was investigated.The characteristics of bubbles,the distribu- tion of local holdups and liquid mixing in the MDP three-phase fluidized bed with magnetic alginate beads as the solid phase were measured by the conductive probe and the optical fiber probe.Because the distribution of magnetic field is not even,the three fluidized regions,magnetic aggregative state, chain fluidization and particulate fluidization,were investigated in the bed.The radial distribution of local holdups conform with the parabolical curve.The distribution of local gas holdups was well de- scribed by the formula. e_(9)=(1.878-0.00368H)e_(9)(1-Φ-)~2 Under the condition of lower gas and liquid velocity,the liquid mixing was well described by the relationship of the mixing coefficient and the modified mixing model. F(t)=1-exp,[(-t/(t(0.2852+0.0000419H~(?))Q_9~(?)] It was found that the magnetic field made particles penetrating into the bubbles and break them, and both bubble diameter and bubble velocity decreased with increase of magnetic strength.The rela- tionships of the probability of small bubbles(2mm)and lower velocity bubbles were obtained based on the experimental results.


A kind of complex geomembrane was laid in the upper layer of the roadbed to prevent water penetration,therefore the lower classed soil could be used as fill of embankment.Laboratory tests,in-situ measurements and measurement of vibration during passing of train were done.It was indicated that the technology was efficient for embankment stability and beneficial for reduction of construction cost.A direct measuring method of deformation of the membrane was put forward as well.


Recent denial of fish sentience is at variance with the fact that all living organisms need environmental awareness in order to survive in a continuously fluctuating environment. Moreover, fish sentience – like plant sentience – is also strongly supported by the sensitivity of fishes and plants to diverse anesthetics. Ken Yokawa is assistant professor at Center for Bioscience Research and Education, Ustunomiya University. He works on root tropism and behavior, and especially the light response of roots is his main interest. He conducted anesthesia studies using plants when he was a post-doc at the University of Bonn. researchmap.jp/ken2yo/ František Baluška, group leader at IZMB, University of Bonn, Germany, is interested in the integration of plant cell biology and plant physiology with plant sensory ecology and electrophysiology, generating the emerging field of plant neurobiology. He has founded and edits two new journals, Plant Signaling & Behavior and Communicative & Integrative Biology, as well as the Springer book series Signaling and Communication in Plants. ds9.botanik.unibonn.de/zellbio/AG-Baluska-Volkmann/ "... what is alive must sense and can be anesthetized, the rest is dead." Claude Bernard (1878) Anesthesia, like sentience and consciousness themselves, has long been a mysterious phenomenon in modern science (Rinaldi 2014, Koch 2018). The mechanisms that cause the loss of consciousness with diverse anesthetic compounds are still unknown. We have recently reported that plants can be anesthetized by blocking action potentials and effects on synaptic vesicle recycling (Yokawa et al. 2018). Treatment with diethyl-ether stopped the leaf-closing movements of both Mimosa pudica, a sensitive plant, and the Venus flytrap, the well-known carnivorous plant. After removal of diethyl-ether from their treatment chamber, the plants immediately began recovering their action potentials; their response to touch was restored in 15 min. Leaf responses to touch disappeared even when just the root part of the Mimosa pudica was submerged in lidocaine (local anesthesia). In addition, seed dormancy was prolonged under anesthesia, and seeds immediately regained germination when the anesthetics were removed. Diverse anesthetics effectively affect plant cells, immobilizing the movements of plant organs under anesthesia (Yokawa et al. 2018). We have proposed that possible targets of plant anesthesia are cellular membranes, which are fundamentally important for all living organisms. This mechanism was already suggested by Animal Sentience 2018.122: Yokawa & Baluška on Sneddon et al. on Sentience Denial 2 French physiologist Claude Bernard in 1878, when he presented convincing anesthetic experiments using Mimosa plants (Bernard 1878; Grémiaux et al. 2014). In our study, we documented the effects of anesthetics on membranes of cells in the root apex transition zone, resulting in an excessive accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and aberrant endocytic vesicle recycling at the root synapses (Yokawa et al. 2018). Similar high sensitivity to anesthetics has been reported for fishes (Neiffer and Stamper 2009, Sneddon 2012). Lopez-Luna demonstrated that administering analgesic drugs to fish alleviated their response to noxious chemicals (Lopez-Luna et al. 2017a) or noxious temperatures (Lopez-Luna et al. 2017b). When anesthetized, both plants and fishes lose their ability to respond to stimuli; their movements are lost too, and they are obviously devoid of environmental awareness. Removal of anesthetics results in rapid recovery. These data strongly support sentience in both plants and fishes (Trewavas and Baluška 2011, Calvo et al. 2017, Gagliano 2017, Sneddon et al. 2018). It is still difficult to say whether fishes and plants feel pain or have nociception. However, it is known that plants respond quickly and sensitively to wounding and initiate woundhealing processes immediately. Once the plant body is physically damaged, wound-mediated cellular signaling is rapidly initiated, transferring danger information throughout the entire plant body. This 'danger' signal is also communicated to other neighboring plants by secretions and airborne chemicals. This changes the status of plant cells as well as the tissues of adjacent plants, allowing them to cope with upcoming threats. Moreover, plants endogenously produce multiple anesthetics of their own (Tsuchiya 2015, 2017) under conditions of stress or wounding (Baluška et al. 2016); these too have membranes as their targets (Tsuchiya 2015). In order to survive, all organisms need some version of a sense of pain which is perceived via their organism-specific sentience.


Guizhou is one of the larger provinces in tea resources and for traditionally tea producing.To greatly develop the tea industry is very important for realizing ecological modernization,restructuring agricultural domain,and increasing farmer's income.In the paper superiorities and inferiorities of Guizhou's tea industry were analyzed.And necessary efficient measures were proposed for enlarging and strengthening Guizhou's tea industry,in consideration of enhancing guidance,efficiently organizing,fostering leading enterprises,strengthening tea bases,making well-known tea trademarks,and ST advancement etc.


The equation of motion for the two-fermion two-time correlation function in the pairing channel is considered at finite temperature. Within the Matsubara formalism, the Dyson-type Bethe-Salpeter equation (Dyson-BSE) with the frequency-dependent interaction kernel is obtained. Similarly to the case of zero temperature, it is decomposed into the static and dynamical components, where the former is given by the contraction of the bare interaction with the two-fermion density and the latter is represented by the double contraction of the four-fermion two-time correlation function, or propagator, with two interaction matrix elements. The dynamical kernel with the four-body propagator, being formally exact, requires approximations to avoid generating prohibitively complicated hierarchy of equations. We focus on the approximation where the dynamical interaction kernel is truncated on the level of two-body correlation functions, neglecting the irreducible three-body and higher-rank correlations. Such a truncation leads to the dynamical kernel with the coupling between correlated fermionic pairs, which can be interpreted as emergent bosonic quasibound states, or phonons, of normal and superfluid nature. The latter ones are, thus, the mediators of the dynamical superfluid pairing. In this framework, we obtained the closed system of equations for the fermionic particle-hole and particle-particle propagators. This allows us to study the temperature dependence of the pairing gap beyond the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer approximation, that is implemented for medium-heavy nuclear systems. The case of 68Ni is discussed in detail.


The method is used in asking SGSN for user's positioning information at the state of PMM IDLE, includes following steps: a) MSC/VLR sends a MS Information Request to SGSN (IMSL, Information Type); b) if the user is at idle state, then SGSN originates a paging process; c) MS originates a service request process after receiving the paging message and rebuilds Iu interface; d) after the service request is ended SGSN sends a MS Information Request (IMSI, Information ) to MSC/VLR.


In utilizing pressure-split methodology for the two-dimensional analysis of curved wall jets and the subsonic regions of underexpanded free jets, Dash et al (1984) employed the cross flow procedure of Bradshaw et al (1979, 1984). In assessing this procedure, it was noted that the iterative steps required between the continuity and cross flow momentum equation solutions could be eliminated by combining these equations into a unified equation for the cross flow velocity, yielding a significant reduction in computer time and eliminating possible convergence problems which occur in iterative approaches. Attention is presently given to the application of this noniterative procedure to a two-dimensional curved wall jet problem.


Photodetectors are key optoelectronic building blocks performing the essential optical-to-electrical signal conversion, and unlike solar cells, operate at a specific wavelength and at high signal or sensory speeds. Towards achieving high detector performance, device physics, however, places a fundamental limit of the achievable detector sensitivity, such as responsivity and gain, when simultaneously aimed to increasing the detector's temporal response (speed) known as the gain-bandwidth product (GBP). While detector's GBP has been increasing in recent years, the average GBP is still relatively modest (∼106-109 Hz-A/W). Here we discuss photoconductor-based detector performance limits and opportunities based on arguments from scaling length theory relating photocarrier channel length, mobility, electrical resistance with optical waveguide mode constrains. We show that short-channel detectors are synergistic with slot-waveguide approaches, and when combined, offer a high-degree of detector design synergy especially for the class of nanometer-thin materials. Indeed, we find that two-dimensional material-based detectors are neither limited by their low mobility nor by associated carrier velocity saturation limitations and can, in principle, allow for 100 GHz fast response rates, which is unlike traditional detector designs that are based on wide channel lengths. However, the contact resistance is still a challenge for such thin photo absorbing materials – a research topic that is still not addressed yet. An interim solution is to utilize heterojunction approaches for functionality separation. Nonetheless, atomistic and nanometer-thin materials used in such next-generation scaling length theory based detectors also demand high material quality and monolithic integration strategies into photonic circuits including foundry-near processes. As it stands, this letter aims to guide the community if achieving the next generation photodetectors aiming for a performance target of GBP ∼ 1012 Hz-A/W.


. In Professor Tomislav V. Kovandzic's "Comment on the Recent Work of Kwon, Scott, Safranski, and Bae: No, Your Evidence Doesn't Prove What You Think it Does!," he makes several blanket and ill-informed statements about our article appearing in the January 1997 issue of The American Journal of Economics and Sociology (pp. 41–50). We conclude that his comments have failed to generate any new revelations about our research and we stand by the published results.


Morphological classifications of 231 galaxies in and near the Virgo and Ursa Major clusters are reported which show that luminosity classification techniques (LCTs) can be used to determine the luminosities of spiral galaxies with an accuracy of about 0.7 mag on CCD frames. The observations in the direction of the Virgo Cluster confirm the assignment of some galaxies to the background field, strongly confirming that the large dispersion in the Tully-Fisher relation for Virgo galaxies is at least partly due to contamination of the Virgo core sample by background galaxies. LCTs yield a distance of 15.3 + 2.6 or - 2.2 Mpc for the spiral and irregular galaxies associated with the core of the Virgo Cluster proper. The Ursa Major and Virgo cluster distances are found to be the same. A class of galaxies with fuzzy, anemic outer structure and active star formation in their cores is found to be common in Virgo but rare in the Ursa Major Cluster. 31 refs.


In the Huaihe River Basin,the estimated rainfall values were consensused from the methods of Z-I relation,average calibration,optimum interpolation,Kalman filter and optimum interpolation and Kalman filter based on the analysis of error,under the supposal that those errors of five estimate values were different in different precipitation pattern.Results of the analysis of the rainfall cases in the early of July 2007 indicate that the method of consensus is useful and the ability of estimation is improved when the value of rainfall is small,but when the rainfall is heavy the result is unsatisfactory.


SUPPLIED A CELL OF METHANE RAMAN COMPOSITE catalyst component comprising palladium on a titanium substrate PROMOTING hydrogenating gaseous products formed by methane decomposition and Inhibits, THEREFORE, THE REACTION OF THESE GAS PRODUCTS WITH FORMATION SUBSEQUENT dEPOSITS TO ADHERE TO THE RAMAN cell windows. CELL RAMAN PRESENTS A BEAM greatly increased. In an alternative conformation MAY BE OBTAINED BY ADDING AN ADDITIONAL IMPROVEMENTS gas containing hydrogen methane.


Neuropathic pain (NP) is a serious problem caused by lesions or diseases in the peripheral or central nervous system. It has been widely known that various immune cells contribute to the development and maintenance of NP, and thus the importance of spinal microglia in pain formation. To more specifically evaluate the role of microglia on pain regulation and its sex-dependency, we used Gi or Gq-Designer Receptors Exclusively Activated by Designer Drugs (Gi/Gq-DREADD)system driven by microglia-specific cx3cr1 promoter in both male and female mice (indicated as CX3CR1-hM4Di or CX3CR1-hM3Dq mice, respectively). In CX3CR1-hM4Di or CX3CR1-hM3Dq mice, expression of hM4Di or hM3Dq was detected in Iba1-positive microglia, but not in astrocytes or neurons. Intraperitoneal (i.p.) or intrathecal (i.t.) administration of clozapine-N-oxide (CNO), a ligand for hM4Di and hM3Dq, attenuated mechanical allodynia, evaluated by von Frey test, in CX3CR1-hM4Di mouse models of NP. While, either i.p. or i.t. administration of CNO induced mechanical allodynia in CX3CR1-hM3Dq mice. More importantly, these effects on pain regulation in CX3CR1-hM4Di and CX3CR1-hM3Dq mice were only observed in male, but not in female mice. These findings support the notion that sex-dependent pain-regulatory effects of spinal microglia in mice.


SUMMARY Bilateral formal trade relations between Nigeria and the Republic of Benin have increased significantly in the last 10 years. There has also been an increase in the smuggling of contraband goods due to the porous borders. This briefing explores the nexus between bilateral trade and politico-administrative border relations between the two countries. It interrogates the character of the border relations and consequences for the political economy of trade. The briefing highlights that border politics drive formal and informal trade relations. It also highlights other drivers of illegal activities in the border areas, including the cultural affinity between inhabitants living within the contiguous borders, and compromised government officials.


Silicon-based optical modulators are expected to be important components in some optical networks. The optical modulation mechanism can be achieved either via the plasma dispersion effect, or by thermal means. Both are relatively slow processes when utilized in large (multi micron) waveguide structures, which researchers tend to concentrate on for ease of coupling. Using large waveguide structures limits the operating speed and hence excludes the applicability of these devices in areas where higher speeds are required. This limitation could be overcomed by using smaller waveguides (of the order of 1Rm). In this paper, we present the basic operating mechanism, design, and fabrication details of an optimum three terminal p-i-n diode based optical phase modulator based on Silicon-On-Insulator (501). The device was optimised via electrical and optical modeling and is predicted to operated at 1 .3GHz with a power reduction of900%, as compared to previously published designs.


The presence of soliton and multisoliton solutions have been postulated using various functional forms of Discrete nonlinear Schrödinger equation (DNLSE). These functional forms come from the inspiration that various terms represent different kind of nonlinearities in the system, and direct the behavior, characteristics, and propagation of rogue waves. Here cubic-quintic DNLSE (CQDNLSE) has been considered, and rogue waves are produced using various parameter combinations of the coefficients. The simulations consist of spatially discretizing the CQDNLS, put together with periodic boundary conditions, and Akhmediev -type initial conditions for rogue waves. Time propagation is obtained using RK4 method. The results show that the cubic and quintic terms enable the propagation of the rogue waves unidirectionally, but the presence of former leads to higher dissipation of energy along the waveguide. It is observed that rogue waves keep reappearing where the frequency of reappearance is significantly large when quintic terms dominate. Influence of sign dependence has been also observed and is reflected through the structure of the rogue wave, in the sense that the negative sign of the nonlinearities can help produce systems that are able to better control these waves, and as an example, find applications in waveguide design such as optical fibers.


Abstract: The healthcare sector is facing numerous challenges, including the spread of misinformation on the internet, a shortage of healthcare assistance, inadequate patient management, emergency care, and disease detection. The process of appointments can also be time-consuming and inconvenient for patients who may not be able to visit a hospital or doctor for all minor issues and doubts. The paper suggests using AI chatbots and portals to improve patient access and information, an Emergency Fatality Assistance and SOS system for immediate care, a Report & Medicine Tracking system for better patient outcomes, and AI technology in disease detection for early diagnosis and treatment. This proposed system aims to contribute to the existing literature on the integration of AI sustainability in healthcare services to address these challenges and improve patient outcomes.


The increase in nonstandard work schedules among mothers with preschool children has called attention to its effects on children's development. Additionally, evidence suggests that there may be varying patterns of child care utilization among mothers who work nonstandard schedules compared to those working standard schedules. Yet, to date, very little research has specifically examined the extent to which early learning environments help explain any associations between nonstandard work and child outcomes. To address this gap, the current study seeks to examine the relationship between maternal nonstandard work schedules and a salient aspect of the broader domain of academic readiness - preschool-aged children's early academic skills, as well as the potential mediating role of early learning environments (as experienced by children in child care and at home). Using nationally representative data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study - Birth Cohort (ECLS-B), a series of structural equation models were utilized to investigate the study aims. Results showed that early care and education learning environments and home learning environments partially mediated the relationship between maternal nonstandard work schedules and children's early academic skills. That is, children of mothers working nonstandard hours scored lower on assessments of academic skills than children of mothers working standard hours, and this appears to be partially explained by their reduced access to child care and home environments that emphasize early learning. The results from this study indicate the importance of measuring contextual influences in order to fully understand how maternal nonstandard work schedules are linked to children's early academic skills.


The PDA is rapidly developing and broad application prospects in recent years, which has the characteristics of a small size, low power consumption, full-featured, query, and easy to carry, store large amount of information etc.. The paper is focused on studying how to implement the GPS receiver and PAD communication by Bluetooth wireless and puts forward a kind of wireless communication model for GPS connected with PDA, and something useful is obtained.


Effective screening for colorectal cancer can reduce mortality by early detection of tumours and colonic polyps. An altered pattern of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in exhaled breath has been proposed as a potential non‐invasive diagnostic tool for detection of cancer. The aim of this study was to evaluate the reliability of breath‐testing for colorectal cancer screening and early diagnosis using an advanced breath sampler.


Phospholipase A₂ (PLA₂) constitutes a superfamily of enzymes that is well-studied by the scientific community. PLA₂s are membrane-associated enzymes that catalyze the hydrolysis of the ester bond at the sn-2 position of membrane phospholipids liberating free fatty acids, predominantly arachidonic acid (AA). The PLA2 superfamily consists of 16 groups and numerous subgroups and they can be considered as six major types: the secreted (sPLA₂), the cytosolic (cPLA₂), the calcium-independent (iPLA₂), the platelet-activating factor acetylhydrolase (PAF-AH), lysosomal PLA₂ (LPLA₂), and the adipose-PLA (AdPLA). The human Group IVA cPLA₂ (GIVA cPLA₂) was cloned and sequenced from U937 cells in 1999. This enzyme contains 749 amino acids and has a molecular weight of 85.2 kDa. The crystal structure of the enzyme was resolved in 1999 and was found to contain an N-terminal C2 domain and a C- terminal catalytic domain. GIVA cPLA₂ is of important biological relevance and involved at the earliest stage of inflammation since through its specificity for AA at the sn-2 position, it is the main AA provider for the eicosanoid biosynthetic pathway. Understanding the function of the enzyme is vital to find new ways to modulate inflammatory diseases in contrast to inhibiting traditional downstream pathways. In this study, we have designed a liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS) high-throughput assay to test the specificity of GIVA cPLA₂ toward different substrates. We tested various natural phospholipid substrates and found a preference for GIVA cPLA₂ for 1-palmitoyl-2-arachidonoyl-sn-glycero-3- phosphocholine (PAPC). We also validated the assay for determining inhibitors constants and potency using commercially available inhibitors


CHR is a committed-choice language consisting of guarded rules that rewrite constraints into simpler ones until they are solved. CHR can de-ne both simpliication of and propagation over user-deened constraints. Simpliication replaces constraints by simpler constraints while preserving logical equivalence. Propagation adds new constraints which are logically redundant but may cause further simpliication. The constraints acted upon by CHR are represented in a constraint store, much like tuples in a conventional data base. The evaluation of the condition part of CHR consists of nding sets of tuples in the constraint store which match the heads of a rule, resembling the relational algebra join operation. In the binding environments of these tuple sets, the applicability of the rules is decided by evaluating the guards. Rule applications may add and remove constraints. The anticipated interaction under an immediate update view leads to a small number of prototypical join evaluation code templates. Their Prolog realization is discussed in this paper.


Background and Goal of Study: There is limited information on the thromboelastogram (TEG) ef fects of sevoflurane and desflurane (1). We aimed to compare the ef fects of sevoflurane and desflurane on homeostasis using TEG. Materials and Methods: Af ter institutional approval and informed consent, 60 adult patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy were randomized. Af ter i.v. induction anesthesia was maintained with sevoflurane (Group S) or desflurane (Group D). Venous blood samples, obtained preoperatively, at the 30th min of induction and at the 24th hour were analyzed with TEG. Student t-test, Mann-Whitney U test, One-way ANOVA or paired t-test was used as appropriate. p< 0.05 was considered as significant. Results and Discussion: Demographical properties, Hb, Hct, PT, aPTT, platelet count, arterial pressures and heart rates were similar between the two groups. Reaction time (R) was longer in group D than group S at the 30th min (p=0.033). Coagulation time (K) value was shorter in group S than group D at the 30th min (p=0.021). Alfa angle and maximum amplitude (MA) values were statically lower in group D than group S at the 30th min and 24th hour (p< 0.001). In group D, R value was statistically higher at the 30th min compared to preoperative values (p=0.022). K value was statistically lower at the 30th min compared to preoperative values, in group S (p< 0.001). α-angle and MA were statistically lower at the 30th min and 24th hour compared to preoperative values in group D (p< 0.001). Conclusions: Sevoflurane shortens coagulation time during anesthesia. Desflurane causes changes in TEG values suggesting a delay in coagulation extending to 24 hours postoperatively. References: 1Kozek-Langenecker SA. The ef fects of drugs used in anaesthesia on platelet membrane receptors and on platelet function. Curr Drug Targets. 2002; 3: 247-58


Objective:Proximal tubular cell hypertrophy is an important pathological feature in remnant kidney and diabetic nephropathy. Our previous work suggested that connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) is involved in AngⅡ induced human proximal tubular cell line (HK2) hypertrophy. This study was designed to further investigate the effect of CTGF antisense oligonucleotide (CTGF AS) on AngⅡ induced tubular cell hypertrophy. Methodology:HK2 cells were grown in DMEM containing 10% heat inactivated fetal calf serum (FCS). After rested in serum-free medium for 24 hours, the influence of CTGF AS(20micro;g/ml)on AngⅡ (10~(-7)M) induced CTGF mRNA and protein expression were observed by RT-PCR and confocal microscopy respectively. The effect of CTGF AS on AngⅡ induced total cellular protein content (Coomassie brilliant blue G250 method), change of cellular size (determined by scanning electronic microscope, SEM) were observed respectively. The influence of CTGF AS on cell cycle was analyzed by fluorescence-activated cell sorter (FACS) flow cytometer. The control group was treated with scrambled oligonucleotide. Results:It was shown that AngⅡsignficantly induced the increased expression of CTGF mRNA and protein (P0.01, respectively). After stimulating HK2 cells with AngⅡ for 48h, the total protein content was significantly increased (P0.01, respectively), which were significantly attenuated by treatment with CTGF AS (P0.05 and 0.01, respectively). Furthermore, flow cytometer study showed that AngⅡ arrested most of the cell cycle at G0-G1 phase, which was significantly attenuated by treatment with CTGF AS (P0.01 and 0.05, respectively). SEM showed that the diameter of cells was significantly enlarged by treatment with AngⅡ, while CTGF AS could significantly reduced the enlargement of AngⅡ treated cells. Conclusion:AngⅡ could induce the hypertrophy of tubular epithelial cells, which could be significantly attenuated by treatment with CTGF AS. Our data further provided evidence that CTGF is involved in AngⅡ induced tubular cell hypertrophy.


Evolutionary algorithms (EAs) have been widely used in evolvable hardware. The very term, evolvable hardware, reflects the importance and omnitude of EAs in this field. However, EAs have primarily been used as an optimisation or search tool, which can explore a large and complex space. While success has been demonstrated by EAs in exploring unconventional designs that are hard to reach by human experts, it is interesting to ask the question whether we have fully used all the potentialities of EAs. We argue in this paper that there is rich information in a population which can and should be exploited. The classical approach of evolving the best individual in a population may not be the best one. A truly population-based approach that emphasizes population rather than the best individual can often bring in several important benefits to evolvable hardware, including efficiency, accuracy, adaptiveness, and fault-tolerance.


In work the method of the decision of a problem of global routing on the basis of ant algorithm is considered. Taking into account features of a problem of global routing the modified mechanisms of behaviour of ants and structure of space of decisions in which frameworks the search process which is based on modeling of adaptive behaviour of an ant colony is organized are developed. Distinctive feature of the presented algorithm of global trace, that is, the ant colony is broken on clusters and search of the concrete decision of a problem of a covering is carried out by collective of ants clusters. The basis of behaviour of an ant colony is made by the self-organizing providing achievements of overall aims of a colony on a basis of interaction inside clusters and between clusters. Experimental researches were spent on IBM PC. In comparison with existing algorithms improvement of results is reached.


. It is suggested that the mechanical behaviour of structural ceramics like SiC and AIN should be closely related to that of semiconductors like Si and GaAs. What is known


The present study proposes a new method for estimating mixing parameters from continuous CTD profiling data processing. The method is mainly oriented to the continuous profiling systems that can be installed in permanent observatories. The method could be particularly useful in studies of biologicalphysical interactions at small scale, because it overcomes some of the limitations of the eddy diffusivity concept when dealing with the complex vertical pattern of biological and chemical tracers. The proposed method obtains empirically the coefficients of the transilient matrix, this being the discrete descriptor used in non-local mixing closure.


For a commercially pure titanium subjected to warm severe plastic deformation and subsequent annealing, the relation between mean grain size, structure homogeneity, and uniformity of deformation was studied in a broad range of grain sizes (0.4-57 μm). A nonmonotonic dependence of the homogeneity of the structure and deformation on the mean grain size was revealed, with a maximum in the microcrystalline range of grain sizes (2-10 μm), where the most uniform plastic flow corresponds to the most homogeneous structure. The submicrocrystalline state is shown to be characterized by a high nonuniformity of grain-size distribution and by the least uniformity of deformation. The effect of the mean grain size on the homogeneity of the structure and deformation is discussed.


Objective
To investigate the level of foot care behavior and analyse related influencing factors in patients with high risk of type 2 diabetic foot (DF).

Methods
Apply the Chinese version of the Nottingham Assessment of Functional Footcare to 300 cases of patients with high risk of DF and take oneway ANOVA and multiple stepwise linear regression analysis on the general information and current foot condition.

Results
The score of foot care behavior was (45.58 ±7.83) scores. 52.3 percents patients' scores were less than 45. Gender, previous education of diabetic foot care and history of diabetic foot ulcer were influencing factors of foot care behavior in patients with high risk of type 2 diabetic foot (t=3.196, 3.392, 2.462, P<0.05).

Conclusions
The current level of foot care behavior was relatively low in patients with high risk of type 2 DF. It was also approved that female patients with high risk of DF who had received diabetic foot care education and suffered from diabetic foot ulcer before score much higher on foot care behavior.

Key words:
Diabeties mellitus; Diabetic foot; Foot care behavior


A Monte Carlo simulation was conducted to assess the performance of Multi-Carrier Code Division Multiple Access (MC-CDMA) in a sectored cell, in an indoor environment. In each sector, terminal schedule packet transmission using slotted p-persistent Inhibit Sense Multiple Access, while the packets themselves are transmitted using MC-CDMA. The simulated bit error rate performance of MC-CDMA with combining strategies maximal ratio combining (MRC) and equal gain combining (EGC) used in the frequency domain are presented. A comparison is made between analytically determined bit error probability for a single user in an additive white Gaussian noise channel using binary phase shift keying (BPSK), and simulated bit error rate for a single user using MC-CDMA with MRC and EGC. The determination of the number of sectors in a cell is also given. MC-CDMA with diversity combining outperforms BPSK in a non-fading AWGN channel. Further, as the user-number increases, EGC performs better than MRC if these combining strategies are used with MC-CDMA. Finally, the results show the basis for determining the number of sectors in a cell. When using slotted p-persistent ISMA, it is envisaged that only a single user will transmit at a time in a sector.


Features of ordinary and extraordinary rays travelling through an optically anisotropic prism with total internal reflection on one of the faces are considered in the paper. Special attention is paid to the process of extraordinary ray reflection from the face of total internal reflection. Ray propagation was investigated for prisms made of four optically uniaxial crystals (TeO2, CaCO3, Hg2Cl2, Hg2J2) having different optical signs and values of birefringence. Possible ways of ray propagation through a prism at different angles of incidence on the prism and different directions of ray propagation within the prism were calculated. The examined features allow channels in fiber-optical communication systems to be split by optical means.


Abstract : The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is working to reconstruct wetlands at the former Hamilton Army Airfield (HAAF) on San Pablo Bay (SPB). This 203-ha site will provide tidal habitat to endangered species such as the clapper rail and the saltmarsh harvest mouse. Means to mitigate MeHg magnification in bay aquatic food webs are needed not only for HAAF but for other Bay restoration sites as well. This interim technical report describes studies primarily performed in 2006. A field study was conducted in San Pablo Bay focusing on site-specific rates of mercury methylation and demethylation, and biogeochemical parameters related to the mercury cycle as measured by both conventional and emerging methods, including Diffusive Gradient in Thin Film (DGT) and Diffusional Equilibration in Thin Film (DET) techniques. Experiments on MeHg accumulation by clams, fish, and DGTs were conducted under laboratory conditions to test the ability of the DGT technique to mimic MeHg bioaccumulation. The multiple source mixing models SOURCE and STEP were used to quantify food web sources and trophic structure using multiple stable isotopes, and, thus, contribute to elucidating the trophic relationships leading to MeHg bioaccumulation. Use of these models showed that macrophytic primary producers of the salt marsh formed important food sources of consumers. Consumers in the nearshore bay were found to be largely benthivorous and fed partly on higher plant fragments and/or bay-POM, of which the relative contributions decreased with increasing trophic level. A data gap exists on food chain structure, components, bioaugmentation mechanisms and MeHg accumulated in the biota associated with San Francisco Bay wetlands. Additional field, experimental, and modeling research was recommended to decrease the uncertainty of these early model outcomes.


The major focus of this investigation is to study the fundamentals of layer spreading mechanisms during growth of doped Ge (a facet forming material), and to determine the conditions for morphological instability of vicinal solid-liquid interfaces. The investigation will also lead to the determination of the effect of dopants on the layer growth kinetics, step free energy, and dopant capture by the advancing ledges. The theoretical treatment of growth of faceted interfaces indicates that the kinetics of a step on a growing vicinal interface considerably depends on its angle of inclination, the melt concentration, and characteristics of flow currents in the melt. The morphological stability of the interface also depends on these parameters, as well as on the density and spreading velocity of the steps. However, the treatment of the instability of the interface by the layer growth mechanism is rather difficult because it requires exact knowledge of the thermal and solutal fields, hydrodynamics of the melt, and supercooling at the interface. The results of recent space experiments of the principal investigator involving directional solidification of faceted Bi-Sn alloys have shown that the morphological stability of various crystallographic orientations is significantly affected by the anistropy in interfacial properties of the faceted alloy in general, and the interface kinetics in particular. These findings have also raised many important and fundamental questions, particularly with respect to the behavior of interfacial steps, which need to be addressed via additional groundbased and microgravity experiments. For the present investigation we will use a novel crystal growth technique which provides axial heat flux close to the solid-liquid boundary. The Axial Heat Processing (AHP) technique allows for precise control and determination of the heat and mass transfer close to the crystallization front, and the establishment of a planar interface over the entire cross-section of the growing crystal.


An essential criterion for applying TiO 2 and TiN ultrafiltration (UF) membranes in the cross-flow filtration is the pore size distribution in the active filter layer. This layer is very thin (0.1–0.5 mm) compared to the entire cross-section of the membrane. Therefore the pores inside the layer cannot be determined by means of the classical method of N 2-adsorption, but only by high resolution techniques which are demanding (as the pore sizes amount to only a few nanometers), and require intricate preparation methods. However, adsorption measurements are easy to perform in so-called unsupported layers which are manufactured by the crystallization of the gel in a glass dish. Using high resolution electron microscopy and image analysis methods we have directly evidenced (i) the pore and particle sizes and (ii) the very good agreement of the results of the adsorption measurements in unsupported layers with the real pore size distributions in the UF layer of the multilayer membranes. Converting the volume distribution of the spatial pore diameters from the N 2-adsorption measurements into a number distribution of the chord lengths allows the comparison of both methods. In addition, scanning electron microscopy combined with energy dispersive X-ray microanalysis revealed the thicknesses of the UF layers of the multilayer membranes to be 130 nm for TiO 2, and 550 nm for TiN. No sol particles had penetrated into the multilayer supports. ©2000 Published by Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.


Commonly, SOFCs are operated at high temperatures (above 800°C). At these temperatures expensive housing is needed to contain an operating stack as well as coatings to contain the oxidation of the metallic interconnects. Lowering the temperature of an operating device would allow for more conventional materials to be used, thus lowering overall cost. Understanding the surface chemical states of cations in the surface of the SOFC cathode is vital to designing a system that will perform well at lower temperatures. The samples studied were grown by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) at the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL) at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). 20% strontium doped lanthanum manganite (LSM-20) was grown on YSZ and NGO (neodymium gallate). The films on YSZ have a fiber texture. LSM-20 on NGO is heteroepitaxial. Lanthanum strontium cobalt ferrite (LSCF-6428) films were grown on LAO and YSZ with a GDC barrier layer. Total X-ray Reflection Fluorescence (TXRF) was used to depth profile the samples. In a typical experiment, the angle of the incident beam is varied though the critical angle. Below the critical angle, the x-ray decays as an evanescent wave and will only penetrate the top few nanometers. TXRF experiments done on LSM filmsmore » have suggested strontium segregates to the surface and form strontium enriched nanoparticles (1). It should be pointed out that past studies have focused on 30% strontium A-site doping, but this project uses 20% strontium doped lanthanum manganite. XANES and EXAFS data were taken as a function of incoming angle to probe composition as a function of depth. XANES spectra can be difficult to analyze fully. For other materials density functional theory calculations compared to near edge measurements have been a good way to understand the 3d valence electrons (2).« less


Abstract Thiol chemistry is an efficient tool to manipulate the microstructure of aliphatic polyesters and open the way to different applications. Synthetic strategies that aim to synthesize thiol-functionalized aliphatic polyesters are reviewed herein. The introduction of thiol-editable groups on aliphatic polyesters can occur both at chain ends and along the chains, enabling diverse modifications of the polymeric chains and imparting new properties and functions. The use of thiol chemistry for postpolymerization modification of this class of polymers and the (co)polymerizations of monomers bearing thiol groups has also been described herein.


Results of chemoradiotherapy for 103 nasopharyngeal cancer patients were studied. The assessment of treatment efficacy showed that beneficial results were obtained in cases of combination of radiation therapy with 2 courses of polychemotherapy including platinum. A radiation therapy regimen of daily dose fractionation according to the schedule 1 + 1,5 Gy allowed the total tumor dose to be increased not increasing the incidence of radiation-induced reactions. Adjuvant polychemotherapy is recommended after 3-4 courses of chemoradiotherapy, thus improving survival.


Acid-sensing ion channels (ASICs) are ligand-gated ion channels activated by extracellular proton. To date, six members of ASICs family have been identified. They are widely expressed in the peripheral and central nervous system. Using gene knockout techniques, ASICs are demonstrated to be involved in sensory perception as touch, pain, sour taste, learning and memory as well as some pathological conditions. ASICs can be modulated by neuropeptide, temperature, some metal ions and ischemia-related compounds, integrating multiple extracellular signals to function their roles.


This paper investigates the relationship between volatility and liquidity on the German electricity futures market based on high-frequency intraday prices. We estimate volatility by the time-weighted realized variance acknowledging that empirical intraday prices are not equally spaced in time. Empirical evidence suggests that volatility of electricity futures decreases as time approaches maturity, while coincidently liquidity increases. Established continuous-time stochastic models for electricity futures prices involve a growing volatility function in time and are thus not able to capture our empirical findings a priori. In Monte Carlo simulations, we demonstrate that incorporating increasing liquidity into the established models is key to model the decreasing volatility evolution.


Table of Contents

Abstract i
List of Figures and Tables viii

Chapter 1. Introduction to Soft Electronics:
Organic Semiconductors and Their Applications 1
1-1. Soft Electronics 2
1-2. Organic Semiconductors 7
1-3. Basic Field-Effect Transistor Operation 12
1-4. Semiconductor-Gate Dielectric Interface Engineering 17
1-5. References 35

Chapter 2. Polymer-Coupled Oxides:
Physicochemically Stable Dielectrics for Multipurpose Organic Electronic Applications 39
Abstract 39
2-1. Introduction 41
2-2. Experimental 45
2-3. Results and Discussion 47
2-4. Conclusion 71
2-5. References 72
2-6. Appendix 78

Chapter 3. Soft Polymer/Oxide Hybrid Dielectrics:
Subsidence of Organic Semiconducting Layers onto Soft Polymer Dielectrics 92
3-1. Introduction 93
3-2. Experimental 97
3-3. Results and Discussion 99
3-4. Conclusion 127
3-5. References 128
3-6. Appendix 132

Chapter 4. Future Works: Organic Flash Memory 134
4-1. Introduction to Organic Memory 135
4-2. Operating Principles of Organic Flash Memo


Since the presence of pain impedes motor recovery in individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI), it is necessary to understand their supraspinal substrates in translational animal models. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in a rat model of hemicontusion cervical SCI, supraspinal changes were mapped and correlated with sensorimotor behavioral outcomes. Female adult rats underwent sham or SCI using a 2.5 mm impactor and 150 kDyne force. SCI permanently impaired motor activity in only the ipsilesional forelimb along with thermal hyperalgesia at 5 and 6 wks. Spinal MRI at 8 wks after SCI showed ipsilateral T1 and T2 lesions with no discernable lesions across shams. fMRI mapping during electrical forepaw stimulation indicated SCI-induced sensorimotor reorganization with an expansion of the contralesional forelimb representation. Resting state fMRI based functional connectivity density (FCD), a marker of regional neuronal hubs increased or decreased across brain regions involved in nociception. FCD increases after SCI were in the primary and secondary somatosensory cortices (S1 and S2), anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), insula and the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and decreases were across the hippocampus, thalamus, hypothalamus and amygdala in SCI. Resting state functional connectivity (RSFC) assessments from the FCD altered regions of interest indicated cortico-cortical RSFC increases and cortico-insular, cortico-thalamic and cortico-hypothalamic RSFC decreases after SCI. Hippocampus, amygdala and thalamus showed decreased RSFC with most cortical regions and between themselves except the hippocampus-amygdala network, which showed increased RSFC after SCI. While select nociceptive region's intrinsic activity associated strongly with evoked pain behaviors after SCI (eg., PFC, ACC, hippocampus, thalamus, hypothalamus, M1 and S1BF) other nociceptive regions had weaker associations (eg., amygdala, insula, auditory cortex, S1FL, S1HL, S2 and M2), but differed significantly in their intrinsic activities between sham and SCI. The weaker associated nociceptive regions may possibly encode both the evoked and affective components of pain.


This paper proposes an extension of two degree-of-freedom of self-tuning generalized predictive control (GPC) based on state-space approach by using coprime factorization approach. The extended controller has new design parameter which can change controller poles without changing closed-loop poles. When the identified plant parameters converge on true values and the control system has no perturbation, performance degradation due to an integral compensation, such as an excessive control effort, can be avoided.


Mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) consist of wireless mobile nodes that can dynamically and freely selforganize into arbitrary and temporary ad hoc network topologies. Due to high mobility of nodes, there exist frequent link breakages which lead to frequent path failures and route discoveries. In a route discovery, both cluster and broadcasting scheme is deployed, where a mobile node blindly rebroadcasts the first received route request packets unless it has a route to the destination, and it causes the broadcast storm problem. In cluster based multipath routing scheme is proposed for reducing routing overhead and energy consumption in MANETs. Multipath routing with cross layer framework is proposed to effectively exploit the load balancing and also to improve the network lifetime, accurate additional coverage ratio of cluster is determine the sensing cluster member coverage knowledge. Packet integrity is determined to provide the hop to hop authentication. By combining the cluster and cross layer frame work, a reasonable node lifetime is set to improve communication coverage. This scheme combines the advantages of the new enhanced RSA encryption/decryption scheme and energy consumption model which can significantly decrease the number of retransmissions so as to reduce the routing overhead, energy consumption, vulnerability of attackers and can also improve the network lifetime. Keywords—Mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs), Energy Consumption, Security, Data Integrity, and Load Balancing


Hetao Irrigation District (HID) is one of the main regions for maize and sunflower production in North China. However, water resource shortages and soil salinization greatly limit maize and sunflower production. The surface irrigation method is the main irrigation method in HID; however, now, the plastic mulching and drip irrigation area is increasing to reduce irrigation water and enhance crop yield. In this study, the soil water, salt, and nitrogen contents at the 0–100 cm soil layer under plastic mulching and non-mulching conditions with the surface irrigation—fertilizer broadcast practice and drip fertigation method were investigated at the maize elongation and maturation stages in the 2021 and 2022 seasons. The results show that the mulching practice and irrigation methods greatly influenced the soil salt and ionic nitrogen (NO3− and NH4+) distributions and, ultimately, the maize yield. Mulching reduced the soil salt content in the 0–20 cm soil layer by a mean of 35.7% under surface irrigation and by 18.6% under the drip irrigation condition. The NO3− content in the 0–20 cm soil layer with the drip fertigation system was approximately 8 times higher in mulching soil than that out of mulching. However under the surface irrigation condition, the NO3− content was 8–10 times lower under mulching than that out of mulching. The soil salt and NO3− contents were distributed uniformly at each soil layer deeper than a 40 cm depth, indicating minor effects of mulching. The soil NH4+ content decreased as the soil depth increased and distributed uniformly at each soil layer, indicating the insignificant influence of the mulching practice. As a result, the maize yield under the drip-mulching condition was approximately 11% (10.6~11.4%) higher than that under the surface-mulching condition in the two maize seasons. Given that surface irrigation is currently the primary irrigation method in the Hetao Irrigation District (HID), we have proposed three approaches aimed at enhancing maize production through the improvement of nitrogen levels in surface-mulching practices.


Objectives Long-term use of high-dose glucocorticoids can lead to severe immunosuppression and increased risk of treatment-resistant pneumonia and mortality. We investigated the aetiology and prognostic risk factors of mortality in hospitalised patients who developed pneumonia while receiving glucocorticoid therapy alone or glucocorticoid and other immunosuppressant therapies. Design Retrospective cohort study. Setting Six secondary and tertiary academic hospitals in China. Participants Patients receiving glucocorticoids who were hospitalised with pneumonia between 1 January 2013 and 31 December 2019. Main outcomes We analysed the prevalence of comorbidities, microbiology, antibiotic susceptibility patterns, 30-day and 90-day mortality and prognostic risk factors. Results Conclusions A total of 716 patients were included, with pneumonia pathogens identified in 69.8% of patients. Significant morbidities occurred, including respiratory failure (50.8%), intensive care unit transfer (40.8%) and mechanical ventilation (36%), with a 90-day mortality of 26.0%. Diagnosis of pneumonia occurred within 6 months of glucocorticoid initiation for 69.7% of patients with Cytomegalovirus (CMV) pneumonia and 79.0% of patients with Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia (PCP). Pathogens, including Pneumocystis, CMV and multidrug-resistant bacteria, were identified more frequently in patients with persistent lymphocytopenia and high-dose glucocorticoid treatment (≥30 mg/day of prednisolone or equivalent within 30 days before admission). The 90-day mortality was significantly lower for non-CMV viral pneumonias than for PCP (p<0.05), with a similar mortality as CMV pneumonias (24.2% vs 38.1% vs 27.4%, respectively). Cox regression analysis indicated several independent negative predictors for mortality in this patient population, including septic shock, respiratory failure, persistent lymphocytopenia, interstitial lung disease and high-dose glucocorticoid use. Patients who developed pneumonia while receiving glucocorticoid therapy experienced high rates of opportunistic infections, with significant morbidity and mortality. These findings should be carefully considered when determining treatment strategies for this patient population.


ObjectiveTo understand the current situation of children's obesity and its risk factors in Urumqi.MethodsA total of 1 440 children(aged 7-12) whose household registration in Urumqi were clustered sampled by age.By using the questionnaire of 2005 National Physique Monitoring Report,all the 1 440 children were diagnosed with the criteria from Body Mass Index Reference Norm for Screening Overweight and Obesity in Chinese Children and Adolescents.The questionnaires were completed by parents.ResultsThe prevalence rate of obesity was 4.86% for boys and 1.80% for girls.In the boys,the prevalence rate of obesity was highest in 8-year-old group,and it was increasing with age in girls.The prevalence rate of obesity in boys was higher than that in girls.The influencing factors to obesity were birth weight,sex,sleeping time,fathers'weight and mothers'weight.ConclusionPrevalence rate of obesity is low among schoolchildren in Urumqi.Healthcare work should be enhanced to promote children's health.


This article offers the hypothesis that an increasing effort to help families and marriages may inadvertently contribute to their dysfunction. By examining the institutions of family and marriage in the broader societal perspective as well as the theories we use to assign the labels "functional" or "dysfunctional" to families and marriages, we may render a more useful service to the health of these systems. In our enthusiasm to do good, let us first do no harm.


This paper focuses on analyzing teachers' perspective of using language games. The subjects were eleven English teachers who teach at Muhammadiyah junior and senior high school located in Surabaya. They were taken by using proportional stratified random sampling. The details were seven from Muhammadiyah junior high schools and four from Muhammadiyah senior high schools. This research took one English teacher from each school. The research instruments were questionnaire and interview. Based on data analysis, it gathered several results; first the teachers prefer non digital language games. Second, if they apply language games in pre teaching, they become as "a bridge" to the new topic being discussed. When the teachers hold language game in the post teaching activity, the purpose is to check the students' comprehension. The teachers agree that language games give positive insights toward the students in learning English. However, these also bring some problem – the need of using L1 for students to understand how they run the language games and to win the game.


The article describes the results of the psycholinguistic experiment directed to the revelation of the associate efficiency of the connection of the ergonims with the nominated city objects.


Objective To study the mechanism of how helicobacter pylori(Hp) infection affects the duodenal ulcer treatment of proton pump inhibitor(PPI).Methods The patients with duodenal ulcer whose Hp is both positve and active were chosen,and divided into two groups:the simple PPI acid suppression treatment group(single group) and the joint PPI anti-Hp triple treatment group(combined group).The study includes the lysis of the alimentary tract symptoms,the rise of the pH in gastral,and the ratio size of active ulcer into scar period(S period)of the two groups of the patients.Results (1)The lysis ratio of the upper abdominal pain symptoms of hunger of the patients in the combined group is obviously higher than the single group(χ2 values were 6.05 and 6.54,all P0.05)in the third and the sixth weeks after treatment.(2)The average percentage of 24 h pH4 in the combined group is obviously lower than the single group(χ2=5.81,P0.05=in the sixth week after treatment.(3)The total rate of S period of the single group is 51.8% after the digestive endoscopy observation of the single group in the sixth weeks,which is lower than 89.7% of the combined group(χ2=7.32,P0.05).Conclusion Hp affects the treatment course of the duodenal ulcer by changing the pH value of the patients's stomach.Compared with the simmle PPI treatment,the triple anti-Hp treatment based on PPI can ease the alimentary tract symptoms and the rise of the pH in stromach of the duodenal ulcer more effectively,and finally improve the cure rate of canker.


Characteristic features of deep structure and petrophysical parameters  of intraplate structures (hot spots, intracontinental rifts, inrtraplate basins and passive continental margins) are considered. Examples of the structures of Barents-Kara region and Eurasian continent north margin are presented.


Within the period from 20.04.2020 to 15.02.2021 the state of 2087 pregnant cows was studied to identify the connection between abortions and the occurrence of mastitis. During the study period 97 cases of clinical mastitis and 149 cases of abortion were identified. Abortions were observed in 42 out of 97 cows with registered clinical mastitis. It was found that cows that had a clinical form of mastitis during the first 45 days of pregnancy (in the embryonic period of development) subsequently had the maximum number of abortions - 27 heads or 64.28% of abortions of cows with mastitis. Among cows that had mastitis in the period of 46–150 days of pregnancy 13 cases of abortion were revealed (30.9% of abortions of cows with mastitis). Among cows that had mastitis during pregnancy for more than 150 days 2 cases of abortion were detected (4.7% of abortions of cows with mastitis). On the basis of bacteriological analysis, Staphylococcus spp., Streptococcus spp. and Enterobacteriaceae were isolated from milk of 15 aborted cows with the diagnosis of clinical mastitis. To identify species the conventional biochemical methods were applied together with the API 20 E, API Staph, API 20 Strep test (bioMerieux SA, France). In total, 18 species of pathogens were identified, including Ps. aeruginosa (n = 5), E. coli (n = 4), S. aureus (n = 1), S. saprophyticus (n = 8). Ps. aeruginosa, E. coli, S. aureus were isolated both from the organs of the reproductive system and from the milk of the cows who had had abortions after suffering from mastitis, whereas no relationship was found between the microflora of the reproductive system and the udder of the cows whose abortions are not associated with mastitis. The study was supported by the Russian Science Foundation, project No.20-16-00106


New sulphur isotopic data for the stratiform barite and associated pyrites at Mangampeta indicate that the sulphur in the barite and pyrites was derived from sea water sulphate by bacteriogenic reduction. The barium may have come from volcanogenic or subrnarine-exhalative sources.


Abstract Background: Invasive fungal infections (IFIs) present a major issue in clinical practice, due to their high morbidity and mortality rates. In a pivotal multi-centre, randomized clinical trial, posaconazole prophylaxis prevented IFIs more effectively than did either fluconazole or itraconazole, and improved overall survival. Objective: The aim of this study was to perform an economic evaluation of the aforementioned therapeutic strategies for IFI prophylaxis in neutropenic patients, in the Greek healthcare setting. Method: A decision analytic model was developed, which described the course of neutropenic patients under posaconazole or standard azole (fluconazole or itraconazole) treatment. Effectiveness data for each treatment regimen were derived from published results of a pivotal, multi-centre, randomized clinical trial. Cost and healthcare resources utilization data depict Greek clinical practice and are derived from official Greek sources, from a third party payer perspective. Results: Prophylaxis with posaconazole resulted in fewer IFIs (0.05 vs 0.11 per patient) compared to treatment with fluconazole or itraconazole, during the first 100 days from initiation of prophylaxis treatment. The cost per avoided IFI with posaconazole was €6455, while the incremental cost per life year gained (LYG) was estimated at €24,196. Extensive sensitivity analyses corroborated the base-case results. Possible limitations of the study are the exclusion of indirect and outpatient costs from the analysis and the inherent uncertainty with regards to the transferability of the clinical efficacy results of the clinical trial to the Greek healthcare setting. Conclusions: The utilization of posaconazole for prophylaxis of IFIs neutropenic patients is a therapeutic strategy that provides superior clinical efficacy, while being cost-effective compared to alternative therapies.


C. Fulvius Plautianus, African by birth, was akinsman of the emperor Septimius Severus (Herodian 3.10.6), who became Praetorian Prefect and amassed extraordinary power and wealth before his downfall in 205 ce (Dio. 76(75).15–16; Herodian 3.11.2–3).

Keywords:

biography;
Roman history


In this paper, we study on the necessity for limiting impedance of Superconducting Fault Current Limiter(SFCL) considering protective coordination. Several countermeasures have been proposed to protect the wop system effectively from the larger fault current. Among them, the SFCL has been expected as one of the most effective solutions. However, the application of SFCL into wop system can cause some problems, such as non-operation of instantaneous elements of protective coordination because of limiting fault current So we suggest that impedance of SFCL is sum limited for operation of instantaneous elements. This method is essential to introduce application of SFCL into power distribution system.


Let X be a vector space and let φ : X → R ∪ {−∞,+∞} be an extended real-valued function. For every function f : X → R ∪ {−∞,+∞}, let us define the φ-envelope of f by f (x) = sup y∈X φ(x − y) −· f (y), where −· denotes the lower subtraction in R ∪ {−∞,+∞}. The main purpose of this paper is to study in great detail the properties of the important generalized conjugation map f 7→ f φ . When the function φ is closed and convex, φ-envelopes can be expressed as Legendre–Fenchel conjugates. By particularizing with φ = (1/pλ)‖·‖p, for λ > 0 and p > 1, this allows us to derive new expressions of the Klee envelopes with index λ and power p. Links between φ-envelopes and Legendre– Fenchel conjugates are also explored when −φ is closed and convex. The case of Moreau envelopes is examined as a particular case. In addition to the φ-envelopes of functions, a parallel notion of envelope is introduced for subsets of X . Given subsets 3, C ⊂ X , we define the 3-envelope of C as C = ⋂ x∈C (x + 3). Connections between the transform C 7→ C and the aforestated φ-conjugation are investigated. §


The invention provides a method for producing the liquid strain of cordyceps militaris. The method comprises the following steps: (1) inoculating the mother culture of cordyceps militaris to a dedicated strain culture medium to carry out the shaking culture; (2) moving the strain solution cultured in step (1) into a dedicated strain culture medium to carry out the amplification culture, wherein the inoculation amount accounts for 2% to 20% of the volume of the culture medium; (3) filtering the strain solution cultured in step (2) by using a sieve with the bore diameter thereof being 50 to 500 meshes to obtain the filtrate containing more than 107 conidia per ml; and (4) diluting the filtrate obtained in step (3) by using sterile water until the density thereof is 105 to 107 conidia per ml to obtain the liquid strain of cordyceps militaris. The method of the invention is applicable to inoculating and cultivating the fruit body of cordyceps militaris, wherein the dedicated strain culture medium contains carbon source, yeast nitrogen base, magnesium sulfate, monopotassium phosphate, dipotassium phosphate and agar.


Pecheranskyi I. P. Kantian meditations of Martin Heidegger about human freedom essence. - Article.
In the article the historical-philosophical analysis of M. Heidegger interpretation of Kant studying about freedom is done in the context of mutual integration of transcendentalism and practical philosophy, rethinking of Aristotle's categories of "actual" and "potential", problems of causality, movement and finiteness.
In the boundaries of German idealism including above mentioned problems, special attention is drawn to the
works of the late M. Heidegger which is a break up and simultaneously continuous development of Kant's project. If we are saying about so-called "turn" in M. Heidegger's thinking which is in main comes down to the revaluation of Kant practical philosophy, so the important in this situation are his lectures of 1930 "Human freedom essence" which contains thoughts about mutual integration of problem of truth, freedom and practice.
In the results of Kantian meditations' analysis by M. Heidegger about human freedom essence, the German scientist came to the thoughts about importance of closer mutual integration of transcendentalism and practical philosophy, dove in the synthesis of Kant definition of freedom and Aristotle's thoughts as for "actual" and "potential", substantiated the thought that I AM moves on the ground of based constitution and this movement I AM calls Bewegung; inseparable movement of things rethinking dynamics of physical world which does not exist out of overlived experience which implies its coevolution and joint movement with I AM, defended the thought that the temporality Dasein does not exist separately from progressive things in the world, emphasizes on idealistic synthesis of theory and practice and also defends the thought that the problem of essence and truth is directly connected with the problem of freedom; research of freedom makes us dependent on the transcendent mind and the problem of causality, showing the ethics is based first of all on the freedom and it, in its turn, on causality as a result of practical freedom which depends on transcendental freedom; rethinking the question of causality and freedom to demonstrate that it is in fact freedom that enables causal communication as a type of temporal being.


When a robot performs the same task repeatedly, a learning controller can enhance the performance of the system significantly. The function of the learning controller is to update the feedforward compensator which cancels the dynamics of robot manipulators and friction of each joints. The feedforward compensator especially plays an important role in the contact force control of robot manipulators with a rigid workpiece. In this paper, the learning algorithm which guarantees the asymptotic stability is studied and used to refine the feedforward compensator. Experiments with a two degree of freedom direct drive robot confirms the effectiveness of the algorithm.<<ETX>>


Screening with faecal occult blood tests (FOBT) has been shown to reduce both the mortality and incidence of colorectal cancer1,2 and is being introduced within pilot programs in Australia. Colorectal cancer is a significant health problem accounting for 4,634 deaths and 11,289 new cases of cancer in Australia in 1998.3 Screening for bowel cancer is different from screening for breast or cervical cancers, as people can purchase FOBT kits without prescription and the test can be performed without any medical direction, infrastructure or quality standards. We support the introduction of the bowel cancer pilot screening programs as part of a national, government-funded and accredited program. Should we also be encouraging the use of home test kits outside this framework? Direct marketing of FOBT is already occurring. Companies have sent kits to general practitioners4 and have issued media releases encouraging general practitioners to mail test kits to their patients. Test kits are available for direct mail order (albeit at this stage only in the USA and UK) from the Internet,5,6 through community testing programs such as Rotary Bowelscan, and NGOs are also advertising the availability of kits. Screening taking place in the privacy of the home, in the absence of a structured public health framework – possibly with no reference to the health system at all – may have some advantages.7 Individuals who would otherwise not see a GP (either by choice or circumstances) may be encouraged to participate in screening. However, this increased access and opportunity may be achieved at the expense of other important issues desirable in a screening program.


Carbohydrate antigen (CA) 19-9 is another useful tumor marker that has been utilized mostly during the monitoring of pancreatic tumors (4,5), although it is also expressed in nonmalignant tissues of the digestive and respiratory tracts (6). Several previous studies have shown increased expression of CA19-9 in MTC tissues and the presence of elevated serum CA19-9 levels, especially in aggressive cases of MTC (7-9). However, the published literature on this topic is limited, and the mechanism of the association with MTC remains mostly unknown. The current study investigated the postoperative serum CA19-9 level in patients with MTC to investigate whether they reflect aggressive behavior and worsened prognosis (10).


As the dairy industry faces the future, consumers' demand for better milk quality and safety is increasing. Milk quality is of major interest to both consumers and dairy farmers alike. However, scientific data on milk quality in terms of somatic cell count (SCC) in Uganda and most developing countries has been lacking. This study used SCC to compare Southwestern Uganda's milk quality against international standards. The study also sought to assess dairy farmers' perceptions about milk quality. Milk samples were obtained from 100 farms in Mbarara and Kiruhura districts, the major cattle corridor in Uganda. The milk's SCC was analyzed using a DeLaval DCC. A structured questionnaire surveyed farmers on milking procedures and milkquality perception. Descriptive statistics and qualitative analysis was used to characterize and compare milk quality against the international benchmark. The study found that the 100 farms had an average SCC of 507,000 cells/ml. About 34% of farms in the study had SCC under 200,000 cells/ml, an indication of high-quality milk. Excluding 7% of the farms with SCC over 1,000,000 cells/ml, the remaining 93% had an average SCC of 276,000 cells/ml, a level comparable to international standards, well below the EU threshold of 400,000. The study also revealed that 98% of farmers considered milk quality as important or very important both to them and to the milk buyers. However, all farmers reported that they currently do not receive a milk-quality premium and are not penalized for poor quality. Seventy-nine percent of farmers reported the cooperative they belong to as their main source of information on management practices. An improved perception of milk quality both domestically and internationally will benefit Uganda's dairy farmers and its dairy industry at large. Consumers must be assured that Uganda's dairy industry, its government, industry stakeholders such as the Dairy Development Authority, the Uganda National Bureau of Standards, and the private sector place the utmost importance on the quality and safety of milk and other dairy products. New technologies to measure for SCC and strict food safety regulations will help improve the country's milk-quality image, allowing Uganda's dairy industry to tap into major milk export markets. Most developed countries have seen increased raw-milk quality or reduced SCC as a result of strong regulatory pressure.


Telescope star-image profiles for various observing conditions are compared. Effects of mirror realuminization, secondary support diffraction spikes, and atmospheric haze are shown. A modification to the previously found inverse-square aureole is discussed. Key words: star image profile


Earlier studies on organic agriculture helped to spur increased interest in composting and compost use, and gave way to the development of commercial composting facilities that supply finished compost products to horticultural producers. Composts are beneficial by providing a nutrient supply, reducing nutrient losses and improving cation exchange capacity (CEC), promoting better plant survival and growth, reducing soil compaction, improving soil water holding capacity (WHC), controlling erosion and providing weed suppression. An increasing body of experimental evidence indicates that plant diseases can also be suppressed by foliar application of compost extracts. The factors that influence pathogen suppression include choice of compost feedstocks, compost age, added nutrients, temperature and pH. The detailed studies on compost tea microbiology bring out the possibility to modify the production methods and application technology for better action. This review discusses current practices and issues related to the uses and benefits of plant-based composts and compost tea in the horticultural industry with emphasis on halophytic vegetal feedstock materials as potential substrate for vegetable crop production.


The asymmetric simple exclusion process and its analysis by mode coupling theory (MCT) is reviewed. To treat the weakly asymmetric case at large space scale $x\varepsilon^{-1}$, %(corresponding to small Fourier momentum at scale $p\varepsilon$), large time scale $t \varepsilon^{-\chi}$ and weak hopping bias $b \varepsilon^{\kappa}$ in the limit $\varepsilon \to 0$ we develop a mesoscale MCT that allows for studying the crossover at $\kappa=1/2$ and $\chi=2$ from Kardar-Parisi-Zhang (KPZ) to Edwards-Wilkinson (EW) universality. The dynamical structure function is shown to satisfy for all $\kappa$ an integral equation that is independent of the microscopic model parameters and has a solution that yields a scale-invariant function with the KPZ dynamical exponent $z=3/2$ at scale $\chi=3/2+\kappa$ for $0\leq\kappa<1/2$ and for $\chi=2$ the exact Gaussian EW solution with $z=2$ for $\kappa>1/2$. At the crossover point it is a function of both scaling variables which converges at macroscopic scale to the conventional MCT approximation of KPZ universality for $\kappa<1/2$. This fluctuation pattern confirms long-standing conjectures for $\kappa \leq 1/2$ and is in agreement with mathematically rigorous results for $\kappa>1/2$ despite the numerous uncontrolled approximations on which MCT is based.


This paper proposes the use of power flow controller based on multi-winding transformer (MWT) for voltage control in a three phase unbalanced distribution network. The power flow controller can be taken as an add-on block to the existing distribution transformer and its parameters can be adjusted to control voltage magnitude and angle at various buses in the distribution network. The mathematical model of the controller is derived for implementation of load flow program on three phase unbalanced distribution network. The optimal values for controller parameters, for improving voltage profile and reducing unbalance in the distribution network, are found using Grey Wolf Optimization (GWO) with simulation studies carried out on 26 bus test network.


NKK developed steelmaking technology in the 20 t h century while considering its social responsibilities NKK developed and applied highly efficient production technology and produced high quality steel products while reducing the generation of wastes. The 21 s t century will face a worldwide border-less society. Hence, the newly formed JFE Steel Corporation will develop new steelmaking processes and contribute to meeting diverse demands from around the world. .


This article shows a good idea to digitalize any unerrorics for software of turbojet engine thrust asymmetry control. The well-known results of scientific developments presented in the publications used confirm the practical usefulness and relevance of digitalization of measurement results processing methods for the software unerroric of applied algorithms for system analysis and approximate synthesis. However, the equality of addition and multiplication speeds in digital signal processors and programmable logical devices is achieved mainly by hardware. Therefore, the need to reduce hardware costs for digital signal processing increases the role of IT-research on the possibility of flight safety analytics by software. The article purpose is a research of software for unerroric of such control. The used methods of that research are the methods of system analysis and the methods of the software modeling. To achieve the stated goal, the following tasks have been set and solved: the task of directional search and comparative evaluation of digital methods for ensuring unerroric of control of mutual compliance of controlled values of thrust parameters of two-shaft turbojet two-circuit engines of the same series; the task of adapting deductive algorithms for digital processing of measurement results of controlled values of thrust parameters of two-shaft turbojet two-circuit engines for the software of an unerroric of the flight of a twin-engine aircraft with such engines; the task of selecting the element base for hardware and software experimental modeling of digital algorithms for software unerroric of thrust asymmetry of turbojet two-circuit engines. The formulation and solution of problems of selection and adaptation of methods and algorithms for digital processing of measurement results contributed to the development of software for flight safety unerroric of a twin-engine airliner with twin-shaft turbojet engines by tightening the control of the mutual correspondence of the controlled values of their thrust parameters. The results of experimental modeling of adapted algorithms have confirmed the practical feasibility of such software and the high importance of IT-research in its design. It is described the possibility of turbojet two-circuit engines tractions forces asymmetry analysis unerroric. A set of formulas for digital processing of control signals from rotors speeds sensors of civil airplane with two turbojet two-circuit engines is presented.


We build a connuent, local, asynchronous reduction on-terms, using innnite objects (partial injections of Girard's algebra L*), which is simple (only one move), intelligible (semantic setting of the reduction), general (based on a large-scale decomposition of), and may be mechanized.


Enzymes play a key role in life activity of organism.The harmony and unity of organic function depends on enzyme's action.The newly developed atomic force microscopy(AFM)has provided unique window to the mi-croworld of cells,subcellular structures and biomolecules.It can image the three-dimensional structure of biological specimens in a physiological environment.This enables real-time biochemical and physiological processes to be mon-itored at molecular resolution.Besides its imaging capability AFM can also be applied to observe the forces between molecules at piconewton resolution.At present ,AFM has already been used to study the chemical property and ac-tive mechanism of individual enzyme molecule.This review focus on the application of AFM in enzymology.


Unstiffened steel plate shear walls are an effective and economical method of resisting lateral forces on structures due to wind and earthquakes. Structural engineers require the ability to assess the inelastic structural response of steel plate shear walls using conventional analysis software that is commonly available and is relatively simple and expeditious to use. The strip model, a widely accepted analytical tool for steel plate shear wall analysis, is refined based on phenomena observed during loading of steel plate shear walls in the laboratory. Since the original strip model was proposed as an elastic analysis tool, these refinements are made primarily to achieve an accurate representation of yielding and eventual deterioration of the wall, although moderate improvements in initial stiffness predictions are also made. In assessing each of the proposed refinements, modeling efficiency is evaluated against the accuracy of the solution. A parametric study using the modified strip model examines the effect of varying the angle of inclination of the tension strips on the predicted inelastic behavior of the model. Notably, it was found that the ultimate capacities of steel plate shear wall models with a wide variety of configurations vary little with the variation of the inclination of the strips.


THE EMERGENCE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY is changing the way people interact with computers.1 Technological advances have gradually shifted the focus from computers, which have become less of an end in themselves, and more of a means in terms of what people actually do with them. The most evident sign of this change has been the diffusion of the Internet. The technological evolution of the media leads us to believe that Internet could become in the very near future, the predominant medium, or rather, it is possible that will become a general communication interface; an interface used for interpersonal relationship and for the creation and management of information. Its success is creating a new psychosocial space that is the fertile ground for social relationships, roles, and a new sense of self.2 As recently noted in an interview3 by Sherry Turkle, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology researcher, "The Internet is the identity technology—much of what people do online, is selfexplanation and presentation, form searching and e-mailing, to chatting or creating a home page" (p. 17). "The Web is a safe place to try out different roles, voices and identities" confirms John Suler,3 psychologist and Web researcher for the Rider University. "It's sort of like training wheels for the self you want to bring out in real life" (p. 17). The result of these new selves is a new sense of presence that fills the space with a fluid form of network/community that is usually called Cyberspace.4 Cyberspace is a universe made up of things that can be seen and heard, but they are neither physical objects nor necessarily a representation of physical objects. They are built of information coming partly from operations of the physical world, but largely from the accumulation and exchange of knowledge arising from human initiatives in the fields of culture, science, and art. In this sense, a key goal for psychology is doing more thinking and theorizing about how to get people to make better connections between Cyberspace and the rest of their lives.5 If we accept the definition of the Internet as a general communication interface, questions arise spontaneously on what form the Internet is taking, how it is possible to give it a form and, most important, how it will affect us. This inevitably leads us to ask ourselves what type of reality is the Internet.6 The Internet is a medium that can be experienced in many guises.7 Though a computer and


With the development of language research many experts have realized that SLA can be studied on the basis of many fields.This paper,based on cognitive psychology,summarizes the influence of psychology on the study of SLA and also analyzes the psychological activity and cognitive law in the process of foreign language learning.At last the significance and value of this research in foreign language teaching is provided.


This chapter assesses the relationship between phonology and literacy by comparing children at family risk of dyslexia, children with SLI, and typically developing children on preschool phonological measures and literacy and phonological skills at eight years of age. As expected, 37% of the family-risk group and half of the SLI group show literacy difficulties. Surprisingly, there are no clear connections between the preschool phonological measures and literacy outcomes. The SLI group generally obtained the lowest scores on the phonological measures, followed by the family-risk group, but these were not necessarily linked to literacy outcome. In contrast, non-word repetition and rapid serial naming at 8 years of age do show a relationship with literacy outcome, as well as group. The study thus 1) shows similarities and differences between the family-risk and SLI groups, 2) confirms that phonology is a multidimensional skill that can affect literacy in different ways, 3) points to compensatory domains across time and thus 4) can be accommodated within multi-risk models of dyslexia and SLI.


In his discussion of the components of motivation, Katz (2, Ch. 6 ) suggested that a relationship might exist between food preference and body build. He hypothesized that the "introvert-asthenic" would prefer a vegetarian diet, while the "extravert-pyknic" would prefer a meat diet. Katz reports some evidence supporting this hypothesis. If Katz's hypothesis is valid, food aversions may bear some relationship to body build, or to the extremes of body weight. We explored the relationship between body weight, height/body weight ratio and the number of food aversions in human Ss. METHOD Ss for this study were 298 juniors and seniors from 2 high schools located in 2 rural non-farm communities. A number of personality inventories: Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale, California F-scale, and The Personal Audit-(Emotionality and Stability sections), was administered to 162 girls and 136 boys, 17 and 18 yr. old. The inventories were administered by the classroom teacher with the explanation that the results would be part of the guidance department's records. A list of foods, described earlier ( 4 ) , was included with the inventories. Each student's weight (to the nearest pound) and height (to the nearest halfinch) were obtained from the school's health records. Each student's IQ on the Terman Group Test of Mental Ability was obtained from the school's guidance counselor.