Vibration energy harvesters convert the energy of ambient, random vibration into electrical power often using piezoelectric transduction. The stochastic dynamics of a piezoelectric harvester with parameteric uncertainties is yet to be fully explored in the nonequilibrium regime. Motivated by mathematical results that establish the counterintuitive phenomenon of stabilization of response in certain nonlinear systems using noise, we investigate the stochastic stability of a generic harvester in the linear and the monostable nonlinear regimes excited by multiplicative noise characterized by both Brownian and the Lévy stable distributions. First, a lower bound on the magnitude of noise intensity that guarantees exponential stability almost surely, is obtained analytically as an inequality in terms of system parameters in the linear case. This result is validated numerically using the Euler-Maruyama scheme. Next, noise-induced stabilization in the harvester dynamics is demonstrated numerically for both the linear and nonlinear cases wherein Lévy noise was found to achieve stabilization at lower noise intensities than Brownian noise. Additionally, the inclusion of a nonlinear stiffness does not have an appreciable affect on the stabilization behavior. The results indicate that stabilization may be achieved using noise and are expected to be useful in harvester design.


Venn and Euler diagrams intuitively visualize relationships and relative cardinalities of data sets. They are used extensively in areas as biosciences, business and criminology to facilitate data reasoning and analysis. However, current automatic drawing techniques do not always produce desirable diagrams. My research aims to develop novel algorithms to automatically draw readable diagrams that facilitate data analysis. It includes software, theory, and studies demonstrating how such diagrams aid probabilistic judgment.


The security of Internet applications relies crucially on the secure design and robust implementations of cryptographic algorithms and protocols. This thesis presents a new, scalable and extensible approach for verifying state-of-the-art bignum algorithms, found in popular cryptographic implementations. Our code and proofs are written in F∗, a proof-oriented language which offers a very rich and expressive type system. The natural way of writing and verifying higher-order functional code in F∗ prioritizes code sharing and proof composition, but this results in low performance for cryptographic code. We propose a new language, Low∗, a fragment of F∗ which can be seen as a shallow embedding of C in F∗ and safely compiled to C code. Nonetheless, Low∗ retains the full expressiveness and verification power of the F∗ system, at the specification and proof level. We use Low∗ to implement cryptographic code, incorporating state-of-the-art optimizations from existing C libraries. We use F∗ to verify this code for functional correctness, memory safety and secret in- dependence. We present HACL∗, a full-fledged and fully verified cryptographic library which boasts performance on par, if not better, with the reference C code. Several algorithms from HACL∗ are now part of NSS, Mozilla's cryptographic library, notably used in the Firefox web browser and the Red Hat operating system. Eventually, we apply our techniques to miTLS, a verified implementation of the Transport Layer Security protocol. We show how they extend to cryptographic proofs, state-machine implementations and message parsing verification.


Nowadays, given the major problems facing humanity, the increasing environmental pollution and the need for sustainable and cheap energy sources represent important research issues [...].


We construct a Neveu–Schwarz–Ramond superstring model which is invariant under supersymmetric U(1)V×U(1)A gauge transformations as well as the supergeneral coordinate, the superlocal Lorentz and the super-Weyl transformations on the string worldsheet. We quantize the superstring model by covariant BRST formulation a la Batalin and Vilkovisky and noncovariant lightcone gauge formulation. Upon the quantizations the model turns out to be formulated consistently in (10+2)-dimensional background space–time involving two time dimensions.


During most of an annual cycle, we studied the temporal variation of total mercury (HgT) and methyl mer- cury (MeHg) in unfiltered and filtered (0.45 µm) peat water from a minerotrophic peat bog in southeastern Sweden. MeHg in bulk water ((MeHgT)) and total Hg in filtered water in discharge water from the peat bog ((HgD)) were an order of magnitude higher than in upland runoff water entering the peat bog. At the discharge end, peat-water (HgD) and (MeHgD) ranged from 8 to 54 pmol·L -1 and from 1 to 32 pmol·L -1 , respectively. Whereas the variation of (MeHgT) was explained by changes in (MeHgD), the variation of inorganic HgT (IHgT )=( HgT) - (MeHgT )w as ex- plained by changes in particle-bound IHg (IHgP) = (IHgT) - (IHgD). Filterable organic matter and sulfide in the water both correlated poorly with (HgD). Neither did the amount of HgT in precipitation and upland runoff water correlate well with the estimated discharge of HgD from the peat bog. However, there was a strong correlation between (HgD) and (MeHgT) in the peat water (r = 0.96). Furthermore, a significant fraction of HgD was MeHg (mean 28%; range 8- 60%). These results suggest that methylation increased the mobility of Hg.


Chemical pesticide usage was increased and it may lead to the deposit of these pesticide residues on agricultural crops. Organic farming promotes eco-friendly agricultural practices without making use of synthetic inputs and majorly relies upon the use of organic wastes to raise crops. Neem cake which is a form of organic manure used in organic farming for the enhancement of crop yield. This experiment was designed to carry out the synergistic effect of neem cake amended with Trichoderma viridi and Pseudomonas fluorescens species. Neem cake along with 0.1% of microbial load did not affect the physical nature and chemical constituents of the cakes. We observed that the Trichoderma population was reached up to 1x10 7 cfu/gm and the Pseudomonas population was estimated as 1x10 8 cfu/ml. KeywordsNeem cake, organic manure, microbial load, Trichoderma viridi, Pseudomonas


Study was conducted for estimation of price spread in different channels of groundnut in Maharashtra. For the study, about 96 summer groundnut growers were randomly selected with area under groundnut and were stratified into two groups like TAG-24 and SB-11 groundnut grower from eight villages of Sengaon tehsil of Hingoli district. Five wholesalers, five village retailers and five town retailers were selected to investigate marketing cost and marketing margin in groundnut marketing. The data pertained for year 2011-12. The results revealed that, price paid by consumer was the highest as Rs. 6470.41 in channel-III (P-W-TR-TC) in which producer's share in consumer's rupee was 71.89 per cent and price spread was found to be Rs. 2119.12. In channel-II (P-VR-VC) price paid by consumer was found to be Rs. 6155.21 in which producer's share in consumer's rupee was 72.08 per cent and price spread was Rs. 1718.44. In channel-I (P-PW-OC) price paid by consumer was Rs. 5035.93 in which producer's share in consumer's rupee was 86.28 per cent and price spread was found to be Rs. 690.92. Thus, in absolute term, net price received by producer was the highest in channel-III followed by that of in channel-II and channel-I.


In this paper we attempt to revive interest in the reversion method for solving non-linear differential equations by combining the reversion technique with the Cauchy integral method for solving differential equations by direct quadratures. The resultant synthesis is easy to implement on any standard symbolic manipulation package and various standard problems are solved showing the superiority of the current method over previous attempts to employ the reversion technique using, for example, Laplace transforms.


This paper investigates the effects of post-failure material behaviour on redundancy factor for the design of structural components in nondeterministic systems. The procedure for evaluating the redundancy factors of components of ductile and brittle nondeterministic systems is demonstrated using systems consisting of two to four components. The effects of the number of brittle components in a mixed (ductile–brittle) system and the post-failure behaviour factor on the redundancy factor are also studied using these systems. An efficient approach for simplifying the system model in the redundancy factor analysis of brittle systems with a large number of components is proposed. In order to generate standard tables to facilitate the design process, the redundancy factors and the associated component reliability indices of nondeterministic ductile and brittle systems with large number of components are calculated considering three correlation cases and two probability distribution types. Finally, a bridge example is used to demonstrate the application of the redundancy factor in the design of steel girders taking into account their post-failure behaviour.


Theoretical treatments of dynamic properties of polymer solutions are reviewed. Particular emphasis is placed on the discussion of diffusion in polymer solutions. The relationship between the slow diffusion coefficient found by Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS) and the Self Diffusion Coefficient is shown. An introduction to DLS theory is given . The experimental techniques involved in DLS measurements are discussed. Concentration dependencies of the DLS observed slow diffusion coefficient in ternary polymer solutions of polystyrene-poly vinyl methyl ether-solvent have been measured. Solvents used were toluene, carbon tetrachloride and tetrachloroethylene and the polymer molar masses were I IO 000 gmoJ1 for both polystyrene (PS) and poly vinyl methyl ether (PVME). Solvents were chosen to be very nearly isorefractive with PVME. Toluene is very nearly an equally good solvent for the polymer pair PS and PVME, while tetrachloroet hylene is equally poor for both polymers. Carbon tetrachloride is an unequal quality solvent for this polymer pair. The results of these DLS measurements are reported. Four sets of experiments are described . The first is the effect on the relationship between D1 (the slow mode diffusion coefficient found by DLS) and D s (the self diffusion coefficient) of different mass fractions in the polymer solution. It is found the mass fraction , x, has little effect on the observed diffusion coefficient. Secondly the effect of the polymer-polymer interaction parameter, X, on the relationship between D1 and Ds is investigated. It is found solutions formed with equal quality solvents have Di nearly equal to D 5 . But so lutions formed with unequal quality solvents have D 1 considerably less than Ds and that these solutions suffer phase separation at lower concentration . Thirdly the effect of polymer molar mass on the relationship between D1 and Ds is investigated. These are found to be in line with those expected from literature. II


Objective
To investigate the efficacy of chemotherapy combined with programmed death-1 (PD-1) inhibitor in the first-line treatment of Lewis xenografts and its possible mechanism of regulating cellular immune function.

Methods
Lewis xenografts mouse model was established. The mice were randomly divided into control, chemotherapy, immunotherapy and combination group according to the method of random number table (10 in each group), and each group separately received saline, cisplatinum, PD-1 inhibitor and cisplatinum combined with PD-1 inhibitor. The tumor growth and survival of each group were observed. Flow cytometry was used to detect and compare the proportion of CD8+ T cells and CD4+ CD25+ FOXP3+ regulatory T cells (Treg cells).

Results
On the second day after treatment, the tumor volume of Lewis xenografts in control group, chemotherapy group, immunotherapy group and combination group were (1 662.0±209.0) mm3, (1 189.2±155.6) mm3, (991.1±146.6) mm3 and (761.7±141.8) mm3, with statistically significant difference (F=29.78, P<0.001). The tumor volume in the three treatment groups were significantly smaller than that in control group, combination group was significantly smaller than chemotherapy group and immunotherapy group, and immunotherapy group was significantly smaller than chemotherapy group (all P<0.05). Three mice died during the experiment (two in control group and one in chemotherapy group). The median survival time of mice in the four groups were 10, 12, 14 and 18 days, with statistically significant difference (χ2=26.06, P<0.001). The median survival time of mice in the three treatment groups were significantly longer than that in control group, combination group was significantly longer than chemotherapy group and immunotherapy group, and immunotherapy group was significantly longer than chemotherapy group (all P<0.05). The proportions of CD8+ T cells in the peripheral blood of the four groups were (28.5±1.2)%, (33.9±2.9)%, (34.0±2.5)% and (42.4±1.5)%, with statistically significant difference (F=21.32, P<0.001). The proportions of CD8+ T cells in the peripheral blood of the three treatment groups were significantly higher than that of control group, and combination group was significantly higher than chemotherapy group and immunotherapy group (all P<0.05). The proportions of CD8+ T cells in the tumor microenvironment of the four groups were (23.5±1.3)%, (26.7±1.4)%, (34.2±2.8)% and (41.3±2.0)%, with statistically significant difference (F=61.65, P<0.001). The proportions of CD8+ T cells in the tumor microenvironment of the three treatment groups were significantly higher than that of control group, combination group was significantly higher than chemotherapy group and immunotherapy group, and immunotherapy group was significantly higher than chemotherapy group (all P<0.05). The proportions of CD4+ CD25+ FOXP3+ Treg cells in the spleen of the four groups were (8.6±0.5)%, (7.2±0.3)%, (6.3±0.4)% and (5.4±0.4)%, with statistically significant difference (F=37.06, P<0.001). The proportions of CD4+ CD25+ FOXP3+ Treg cells in the spleen of the three treatment groups were significantly lower than that of control group, combination group was significantly lower than chemotherapy group and immunotherapy group, and immunotherapy group was significantly lower than chemotherapy group (all P<0.05).

Conclusion
Chemotherapy and PD-1 inhibitor can enhance the anti-tumor effect of the body immune system by down-regulating the proportion of Treg cells and up-regulating the proportion of CD8+ T cells, etc. Chemotherapy combined with immunotherapy can improve the anti-tumor immune function, inhibit tumor growth and prolong the survival of mouse with xenograft, which were significantly better than chemotherapy and immunotherapy alone.

Key words:
Lung neoplasms; Drug therapy; Immunotherapy; T-lymphocyte subsets; PD-1


The current study has the aim to investigate the effectiveness of the photocatalytic degradation of humic acid using the catalysts ZnO and TiO2. The humic acid model solution was prepared using humic acid sodium salt (technical grade, H16752) purchased from Sigma Aldrich at a concentration of 30mg/L. Batch experiments were carried out under UV-A irradiation using a medium-pressure mercury-vapour lamp (240V, 18W) whilst continuous flow tests were performed using the photoreactor employing UV-A (λ= 400 nm) and UV-C (λ=250 nm) lamps. Concentrations of ZnO varying from 0.05g/L to 1.6g/L were tested for a fixed period of 24hr in batch systems. For the continuous flow tests, concentrations of 0.5g/L of ZnO and TiO2 during a contact time of 6hr, and regular sampling was performed at 2hr intervals. The removal efficiency was monitored using HPSEC and UV254 analysis. Batch results demonstrated that degradation and complete mineralisation of humic acids can be achieved with UV-A irradiation using the catalysts ZnO and TiO2. Concentration of 0.5gZnO/L achieved the highest humic acid removal (99.64%) for an exposure time of 24hr in the batch system, while 89.22% removal was observed in the continuous flow photoreactor for a shorter period of time of only 6h. This indicates the superior efficiency of the continuous flow photoreactor. Continuous flow results showed that the catalysts ZnO is more efficient than TiO2 for humic acid degradation in terms of molecular weight and absorbance values at UV254. For a fixed loading of 0.5g/L ZnO has achieved higher removal efficiencies compared to TiO2 at 2, 4 and 6 hours of reaction using UV-C irradiation. ZnO achieved 97.44% HA removal in terms of molecular weight and 94.02% in terms of UV254 following a total contact time of 6 hours compared to the respective values of 89.22% and 91.51% for humic acid removal using TiO2. Results derived also determined that the photocatalytic process with ZnO using UV-C irradiation was superior to the photodegradation of humic acid using UV-A irradiation. The humic acid solution irradiated with UV-C achieved a total degradation efficiency of 97.44% in terms of molecular weight compared to the respective value of 89.22% for the solution irradiated with UV-A. In summary, the results demonstrate that ZnO is a potential effective nanomaterial to be used in water treatment technologies.


Model atmospheres for cool giant stars are usually computed with detailed equation of state and opacity calculations that include many molecular species. We show that models of oxygen-rich stars with effective temperatures below 3000 K must also include dust grains. The effects of dust condensation in the equation of state and on the opacity must be included to obtain accurate temperature structures and spectra.


OBJECTIVES In March 2020, the World Health Organization declared coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) a pandemic. High morbidity and mortality rates of COVID‐19 have been observed among older adults and widely reported in both mainstream and social media. The objective of this study was to analyze tweets related to COVID‐19 and older adults, and to identify ageist content. DESIGN We obtained a representative sample of original tweets containing the keywords "elderly," "older," and/or "boomer" plus the hashtags "#COVID19" and/or "#coronavirus." SETTING Tweets posted between March 12 and March 21, 2020. MEASUREMENTS We identified the type of user and number of followers for each account. Tweets were classified by three raters as (1) informative, (2) personal accounts, (3) personal opinions, (4) advice seeking, (5) jokes, and (6) miscellaneous. Potentially offensive content, as well as that downplaying the severity of COVID‐19 because it mostly affects older adults, was identified. RESULTS A total of 18,128 tweets were obtained, of which a random sample of 351 was analyzed. Most accounts (91.7%) belonged to individuals. The most common types of tweets were personal opinions (31.9%), followed by informative tweets (29.6%), jokes/ridicule (14.3%), and personal accounts (13.4%). Overall, 72 tweets (21.9%) likely intended to ridicule or offend someone and 21.1% had content implying that the life of older adults was less valuable or downplayed the relevance of COVID‐19. CONCLUSION Most tweets related to COVID‐19 and older adults contained personal opinions, personal accounts, and jokes. Almost one‐quarter of analyzed tweets had ageist or potentially offensive content toward older adults. J Am Geriatr Soc 68:1661‐1665, 2020.


N owhere is the explosion of medical jargon more apparent than in the field of experimental cardiology: from myocardial salvage with its attendant border zones and wave fronts, through reperfusion injury, the no-reflow and the slow no-reflow phenomena, myocardial stunning, hibernating myocardium, the ephemeral syndrome X, to arrive now at preconditioning. As Andrew Henderson' warned, "Metaphors degenerate into jargon and like models (of disease) can limit thought." Perhaps Shakespeare had a better suggestion when he wrote, "The first thing we do, let's kill all the language lawyers" (Henry VI, part II).


The novelty of Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) radar can effectively improve radar system performance by utilizing the multi-antennas and orthogonal signals. While the traditional single sequence can't keep the complete orthogonality (the sidelobes of the auto-correlation and cross-correlation function equal to zero at all delays). The expression of ambiguity function of complete complementary sequence (CC-S) is deduced in this paper. The simulation results show the validity of the proposed ambiguity function of CC-S. The application of CC-S in MIMO radar is studied and the MIMO radar transmitter model based on CC-S is established. It is demonstrated that the CC-S has the potential to significantly improve the performance of MIMO radar system and the validity of the CC-S applied in MIMO radar is verified.


: Introduction: Spirulina stands out as a sustainable bioactive microalga with health-promoting properties, and an important active ingredient of natural cosmetics products. Spirulina is a unicellular blue-green alga rich in vitamins, minerals, pigments, proteins, polysaccharides, which indicates a high potential use in anti-aging cosmetic products as well as for skin protection. Preliminary studies showed antioxidant potential, immediate benefits on the skin microrelief and hydration and skin compatibility of formulations containing Spirulina extract. Objective of this study: To assess the clinical profile of Spirulina on Skin Diseases-A Study In Tertiary care Hospital, Bangladesh. Methods: It is a descriptive study conducted at Dermatology and Venereology OPD in 250 bedded Mohammad Ali Hospital , Bogura and Rangpur Medical College Hospital, Rangpur, Bangladesh for the period from 1st January, 2020 to 31st December 2020. Fifty (50) healthy male and female participated in the clinical efficacy study, aged between 18-65 yrs. The gel-cream formulation, supplemented, or not (vehicle - FGV) with 0.1% (w/w) of Spirulina extract (FGA) was applied twice daily on the volunteers face region. The effects were evaluated in terms of skin hydration, transepidermal water loss-TEWL, skin micro relief, sebum content and morphological and structural epidermal features before and after a 28-day-period of application of the formulations . Results: A total of 50 patients were included in the study conducted over a period of 1 year, of which 25 (50.0%) were male and 25 (50.0%) were females. 50 healthy male and female participated in the clinical efficacy study, aged between 18-65 yrs. After 28 days of application of the formulation containing Spirulina extract, a significant increase of the stratum corneum water content was observed in both groups. This effect was more pronounced on the mature skin group. The formulation containing Spirulina extract increased stratum corneum water content and reduced the TEWL in both groups. However, a significant reduction in the older group, that received the formulation with Spirulina extract, was observed when compared to the younger group and to the vehicle formulation. Only the formulation containing the active ingredient under study reduced significantly the sebum content on the volunteer's skin. It was also noted an improvement of the skin microrelief by the reduction of the surface roughness and after the treatment the keratinocytes were more uniformly distributed and homogeneous. Conclusion: The formulation containing Spirulina extract improved skin conditions and provided long term skin benefits such as hydration, protection of the skin barrier function and oil control. Finally, Spirulina extract stands out as a unique active ingredient for effective multifunctional dermocosmetic formulations for the care of young and mature skin.


This paper presents an intelligent wind speed sensor less maximum power point tracking (MPPT) method for a variable speed wind energy conversion system (VS-WECS) based on a Q-Learning algorithm. The Q-Learning algorithm consists of Q-values for each state action pair which is updated using reward and learning rate. Inputs to define these states are electrical power received by grid and rotational speed of the generator. In this paper, Q-Learning is equipped with peak detection technique, which drives the system towards peak power even if learning is incomplete which makes the real time tracking faster. To make the learning uniform, each state has its separate learning parameter instead of common learning parameter for all states as is the case in conventional Q-Learning. Therefore, if half learned system is running at peak point, it does not affect the learning of unvisited states. Also, wind speed change detection is combined with proposed algorithm which makes it eligible to work for varying wind speed conditions. In addition, the information of wind turbine characteristics and wind speed measurement is not needed. The algorithm is verified through simulations and experimentation and also compared with perturbation and observation (P&O) algorithm.


Recently, considerable efforts have been devoted to the estimation of soil properties using optical payloads mounted on drones or satellites. Nevertheless, many studies focus on diverse pretreatments and modeling techniques, while there continues to be a conspicuous absence of research examining the impact of parameters related to optical remote sensing payloads on predictive performance. The main aim of this study is to evaluate how the spectral resolution and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of spectrometers affect the precision of predictions for soil organic matter (SOM) content. For this purpose, the initial soil spectral library was partitioned into to two simulated soil spectral libraries, each of which were individually adjusted with respect to the spectral resolutions and SNR levels. To verify the consistency and generality of our results, we employed four multiple regression models to develop multivariate calibration models. Subsequently, in order to determine the minimum spectral resolution and SNR level without significantly affecting the prediction accuracy, we conducted ANOVA tests on the RMSE and R2 obtained from the independent validation dataset. Our results revealed that (i) the factors significantly affecting SOM prediction performance, in descending order of magnitude, were the SNR levels > spectral resolutions > estimation models, (ii) no substantial difference existed in predictive performance when the spectral resolution fell within 100 nm, and (iii) when the SNR levels exceeded 15%, altering them did not notably affect the SOM predictive performance. This study is expected to provide valuable insights for the design of future optical remote sensing payloads aimed at monitoring large-scale SOM dynamics.


Role of substituent (−OCH3) on the conformation about N-C(phenyl) bond at different positions in arylimides of anthracene-maleic anhydride and hexachloro cyclopentadiene-maleic anhydride system has been demonstrated through 1H NMR spectroscopy.


To what degree an organization both embraces the ethos of equal opportunities and backs it up with an investment in sound policies may be expected to have an impact on both the progress of women in management and their experience in the workplace in that organization. This paper compares how women managers fare in two organizations, one with a developed equal opportunities policy and one that has none. It also considers the limits of applying the business case concept of equal opportunities and the problems of a diversity approach and it explores the ways women themselves articulate gender issues according to the discourses they have available to them. It concludes that, while restrictive in its implementation, women managers are more able to articulate their needs and fare better in an organization with an equal opportunities policy than in one without.


The study of the media culture, the virtual world requires human knowledge and skills analysis of media texts of different levels of complexity. The article explains the technique of analysis of media texts detective-fiction genre as an example of the screen adaptations of A.N.Tolstoy (1883-1945) novel – "The Hyperboloid of Engineer Garin" (1927) in the context of media education. The author believes that the technology fits into the basic range of media education goals of higher education (especially in the training of future cultural studies, art historians, sociologists, linguists, psychologists, teachers).


This paper deals with the position control of robot manipulators with uncertain and varying-time payload. Proposed is a novel nonlinear regulator consisting of a linear combination of the bounded proportional control mode, bounded derivative control mode, and two integral control modes driven by a nonlinear function of position errors and the derivative of position errors, respectively. By using Lyapunov's direct method and LaSalle's invariance principle, the simple explicit conditions on the regulator gains to ensure global asymptotic stability are provided. The theoretical analysis and simulation results show that: an attractive feature of our scheme is that this kind of NPID-like regulators has the faster convergence, better flexibility and stronger robustness with respect to uncertain and varying-time payload, and then the optimum response can be achieved by a set of control parameters in the whole control domain of interest, even under the case that the payload is changed abruptly.


The aims of the study were to review trends in out-of-home care, both in the numbers of children being placed in different types of care in Australia and in the ways of organising and supporting such care that are emerging in different national and State contexts. The study also involved identifying emerging models of care and the drivers of change, and reviewing evidence on the outcomes of different models. The research involved a review of recent literature from Australia and the main English-speaking countries overseas; analysis of policy documents relating to fostering and kinship care in the states and territories of Australia; and informal discussions with policy informants and practitioners in Australia and overseas.


Jacques Proust : Protestantism in the «encyclopedie ». Although many Encyclopedie articles, mostly in the fields of politics and philosophy, were drawn from Protestant sources, the number of Protestants who contributed as such was comparatively small. The four discussed in this article are Bottens, Formey, Romilly, Jaucourt. The first is a good example of the radical trend that led Voltaire to believe that Calvin's Geneva had turned Deist. Formey and Romilly seem more orthodox, but their contribution on religious matters is too slight to be significant. Jaucourt, on the contrary, whose collaboration was extensive, was the epitome of those French Protestants who, living in their native country, were able to maintain and express their faith — sometimes at their own risk.


The chondrocyte specific miR-140 miRNAs are necessary for normal endochondral bone growth in mice. miR-140 deficiency causes dwarfism and craniofacial deformity. However, the physiologically important targets of miR-140 miRNAs are still unclear. The miR-140 gene (Mir140) encodes three chondrocyte-specific microRNAs, miR-140-5p, derived from the 5' strand of primary miR-140, and miR140-3p.1 and -3p.2, derived from the 3' strand of primary miR-140. miR-140-3p miRNAs are ten times more abundant than miR-140-5p likely due to the non-preferential loading of miR-140-5p to Argonaute proteins. To differentiate the role of miR-140-5p and -3p miRNAs in endochondral bone development, two distinct mouse models, miR140-C>T, in which the first nucleotide of miR-140-5p was altered from cytosine to uridine, and miR140-CG, where the first two nucleotides of miR-140-3p were changed to cytosine and guanine, were created. These changes are expected to alter Argonaute protein loading preference of -5p and -3p to increase -5p loading and decrease -3p loading without changing the function of miR140-5p. These models presented a mild delay in epiphyseal development with delayed chondrocyte maturation. Using RNA-sequencing analysis of the two models, direct targets of miR140-5p, including Wnt11, were identified. Disruption of the predicted miR140-5p binding site in the 3' untranslated region of Wnt11 was shown to increase Wnt11 mRNA expression and caused a modest acceleration of epiphyseal development. These results show that the relative abundance of miRNA-5p and -3p can be altered by changing the first nucleotide of miRNAs in vivo, and this method can be useful to identify physiologically important miRNA targets.


This article investigates Jane Austen's network of bodily metaphors in Persuasion, re‐examining 'bloom' in the context of its pair, 'ruin'. While the novel is traditionally understood as a progress narrative that moves from Anne's self‐description as being 'in ruins' to the restoration of her 'bloom', the article examines the inconsistency around Anne's appearance and 'bloom' throughout the novel, contending that rather than presenting a progression, the novel stages the problematics of physiognomy, of reading the body as an index of internal feeling. I argue that by situating Austen's metaphors within context of picturesque writing on ruins and 'roughness' from William Gilpin and Uvedale Price, we can conceive of weathered, worn out, broken, pierced, and ruined bodies as the rough texture that animates Persuasion.


AbstractUptake of phosphate (PO43−, P) was investigated on two kinds of Ca-layered double hydroxides (LDHs) containing Fe and Al, respectively. The P removal amount was 3.37  mmol/g over Ca-Al-LDH and 2.71  mmol/g over Ca-Fe-LDH. Our results reveal that the removal of P was correlated to the dissolution of LDH as Ca2+ precipitating P to form apatite [Ca5(PO4)3OH] in both cases. It resulted in a constant molar ratio of removed Ca2+ to P(Ca2+/P)=1.8 in the precipitate, which was close to the Ca2+/P ratio in apatite. In particular, the P adsorption on CaxFe(OH)(3+2x) from the hydrolyzed Ca-Fe-LDH was also observed with the corresponding removal amount up to 1.1  mmol/g. This decreased the Ca2+/P ratio in the case of Ca-Fe-LDH from 1.8 to 1.3, when free Ca2+ was unavailable. Consequently, we propose that the dual removal mechanism over Ca-Fe-LDH was attributed to the high aqueous solubility of Fe from the LDH dissolution.


The colorimetric characterization of printers using more than three colorants is discussed. In such printers, there is no unique combination of colorant amounts for the reproduction of a particular color. We categorize these printers as either black printers or hi-fi printers. Black printers use black (K) in addition to cyan (C), magenta (M), and yellow (Y). Hi-fi printers use saturated colorants such as red (R), green (G), and blue (B) in addition to CMYK colorants. We propose two methods of determining combinations of colorant amounts: the variable reduction method and the division method. The variable reduction method uses connecting functions to reduce the number of variables controlling colorant amounts. Although this method offers simplicity, it does not always utilize the entire color gamut. The division method employs sub-gamuts composed of appropriate sets of three or four colorants; these sub- gamuts are combined to form the entire color. While the division method allows access to the entire color gamut, its boundaries tend to cause pseudo contours due to abrupt changes of colorant amount. To facilitate the use of the division method, we have developed a software tool and verified the algorithm involved using a hypothetical hi-fi printer in computer simulation.


In February 2019, a new destructive leaf and stem spot disease was reported from commercial tomato fields in Kimbissa, Central Province, Sri Lanka. This disease resulted in significant loss of foliage where the disease severity ranged from 50-70% in the infected tomato fields. The objectives of the study were to isolate and characterize the pathogen causing the disease and confirm its pathogenicity. A fungal pathogen with cottony, grayish mycelium and cylindrical, straight, multi-septate conidia was isolated from the leaf and stem lesions on Potato Dextrose Agar PDA. Based on morphological, molecular and pathological data, the fungus was identified as Corynespora cassiicola. Re-inoculation of leaves and stems of healthy tomato plants under green house conditions produced symptoms similar to those observed in the field. Sequence was deposited in GenBank for Sri Lankan C. cassiicola strain TS-1 (Accession No.MT071510.1). A BLAST search revealed 97% sequence identity to Corynespora cassiicola in GenBank Accession No. MH780759.1 (Soybean, Brazil).


In this paper, a cascade control framework is proposed a class of remote operated vehicles (ROVs) to enhance the control performance and capacity of interference resistance. Specifically, the control framework is composed of a fuzzy-based controller in primary loop and a PID neural network based controller in secondary loop. In the primary loop, fuzzy controller is implemented to avoid precise establishment of ROV model for calculating the expected velocity of the vehicle. Furthermore, in the secondary loop, a PID neural network with adaptation is adopted to accomplish the capacity of resisting disturbance. Eventually, the control framework is verified by theoretical and simulation analyses. The obtained results indicate that the proposed cascade control framework endows the ROV with the ability to guarantee the control performance and attenuate external disturbance effectively.


Modular switching system - an operating module comprising at least an accessible for a user actuator (124) - and a contact module having at least one formed for cooperating with an associated actuator (124), electrical contact element, characterized, that the contact module comprises a contact plate (104) at which the at least one contact element is provided, and that a cable (108) at one end with the contact plate (104) and at the other end a plug (106), wherein the tactile sensation imparted to the user of the modular switching system is determined exclusively by the actuation module, and wherein the actuation module is at a given contact module interchangeably to the mediated the user tactile feeling to change.


The paper describes a new stratified charge lean burn combustion management system based on the invention of a new gas dynamic segregation system. The principles leading to high thermal efficiency are explored in relation to their adoption in the new system. Some test results taken on two different Merritt Engine prototypes are shown. Thermal efficiency values obtained compare very favourably with the latest published results for advanced automotive gasoline and TDI diesel engines. The potential for further improvements is discussed.


Surface plasmon (SP) coupling technique was used to enhance blue and green light emissions from InGaN/GaN quantum wells (QWs). Large enhancement of photoluminescence (PL) of both blue and green emissions was observed with silver coated samples, whereas the enhancements were not so effective for the gold coated samples. We could obtain well enhanced green emission by tuning the matching condition of QW‐SP coupling with nano‐grating structures at gold layers. This method should be useful to design even more efficient structures and to fabricate super bright light emitting devices. (© 2007 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)


Superconducting magnetic bearings (SMBs) are usually composed of superconductors and permanent magnets (PMs). These SMBs are based on pinning forces between superconductors and PMs. In this paper, SMB-I composed of disk-shaped superconductor and SMB-II composed of doughnut-shaped superconductor are studied. To compare SMB-I with SMB-II, impulse responses in the vertical and horizontal directions are performed. Moreover, new types of SMB-III and SMB-IV are proposed. These SMB-III and SMB-IV are composed of superconductor and superconducting coils. To compare SMB-III with SMB-IV, impulse responses in the vertical and horizontal directions are studied. Then, natural damped vibration curves for impulse responses are observed. The damping coefficient for SMB-IV is larger than other SMB-I, SMB-II and SMB-III.


Objective To discuss the evaluation of MSCT indissections aortic.Methods Sixteen cases of dissections aorticstudied by sweep and strengthen scanning use MSCT,then use many kinds of treament technology to rebuild.Results All cases determin the diagnosis and type of dissections aortic,have good show of crevasse,and accuratly measure before EVGE.Conclusion Integrate axial view and treatment technology,MSCT can supply detailed affluent and dependable image message,have high evaluation.


The invention discloses a magnetic grease seal device adopting a spray cooling mode. The magnetic grease seal device comprises a rotary shaft, an end cover disc, a pole shoe, magnetic grease and a permanent magnet. An annular spray pipe is fixed to one side of the end cover disc and is filled with a cooling medium. The spray pipe and the pole shoe are located on the same side of the end cover disc. The spray pipe surrounds a rotary shaft device. A plurality of spray heads are arranged in the position, corresponding to the pole shoe, of the inner side of the spray pipe at intervals along the circumference. Outlets of the spray heads are aligned with the pole shoe. According to the magnetic grease seal device, the cooling medium which is low in boiling point and good in heat exchange effect is adopted for conduct spray cooling on the pole shoe of the magnetic grease seal device, the operation temperature of the magnetic grease during operation can be decreased greatly, the life of the magnetic grease is prolonged effectively, the reliability of the magnetic grease is improved effectively, and the whole magnetic grease seal device has the characteristics of being simple in structure, convenient to assemble and the like.


The water consumption was determined of thirty-seven Large White suckling sows that were tethered on grass. The mean consumption was 43 lb. a day, the variation between sows, and of particular sows from day to day, being particularly wide. The consumption was practically unaffected by weather and was nearly the same in summer and winter; it was impossible to demonstrate any relation between consumption and number or weight of litter, but there was evidence of a slight decrease as lactation progressed. It is evident from a brief discussion that exact balance experiments as to the partitions of water for its various uses in the body of the pig are badly needed. It is hoped that the facts given here may draw attention to this point which has been neglected in animal nutrition studies.


The current and breakdown characteristics of a dual channel 4H-SiC metal semiconductor field effect transistor (4H-SiC MESFET) are studied by using simulation tool ISE-TCAD. The simulated results show that current density of the dual channel structure is much higher than that of the conventional structure at the same gate bias. The breakdown happened in the gate terminal close to the drain and the breakdown voltage of the dual channel 4H-SiC MESFET is 120V, 50% higher than that of the conventional 4H-SiC MESFET because there is a more dispersive electric field distribution. So, the dual channel 4H-SiC MESFET has better power performance, when compared with the conventional structure.


PurposeThis work aims to assess the potential of a Bio-District as a model for applying the circular economy concerning the waste scope. It aims to understand the capability of organic farms to manage waste with a circular perspective, starting with the use of indicators that directly or indirectly impact the waste scope.Design/methodology/approachThis study is based on previous work that identified and systematised the circular indicators of the agri-food sector within a dashboard. With this research as a basis, the indicators within the waste scope in the dashboard were extracted. Cross-linked indicators with an indirect connection to the waste scope were also systematised and tested in a case study. Primary and secondary data were used for the study. The primary data came from a semi-structured interview, and the secondary data were from official databases.FindingsThe work highlights two important results. The first allows the definition of a subclassification of indicators by product and organisation, extracting those with a cross-linked characteristic concerning the waste scope. Secondly, the indicators' application shows the farm's circular and waste valorisation potential within the Bio-District. The study also made it possible to test a new indicator, the "Potential Energy Biomass Recovery", to measure the farm's potential to produce energy from waste.Originality/valueThis research proposes a new circular economy approach to evaluate waste management in the agri-food sector.


Garbage collection (GC) provides an elegant, convenient, and safe approach to managing memory. For many applications, it is an appropriate technique for all data. For other applications, it works well only for most data. For example, it may complicate data-level interoperability with legacy code or exhibit poor performance with respect to a few critical data types. In other systems, such as embedded devices and operating systems, the environment may simply prove too hostile for GC to be a realistic technique. Unfortunately, an approach to memory management is often a system-wide decision, made when choosing a run-time system or even when choosing a language. Furthermore, using malloc and free, as in C, usually requires sacrificing safety. We believe programming languages should support manual and automatic memory-management, allowing programmers to choose the mechanisms most appropriate for (different parts of) their applications. They should us GC when possible and manual techniques when necessary, with smooth intra-language evoluation paths among the options. At the same time, the language should remain safe, which to us means (at least) two things. First, programs should not crash (or worse, silently misbehave) because the same memory is simultaneously used for different types. Second, parts of an application should be able to maintain private state by allocating fresh memory and restricting access to it. The key to both requirements is to prohibit dangling-pointer dereferences; making the allocator type-safe by partitioning memory into typed pools satisfies the first requirement but not the second. Toward this end of safe, flexible memory management we have designed and implemented a comprehensive memorymanagement framework meeting our requirements in the context of the Cyclone programming language. Cyclone is a type-safe, C-like language intended for use in systems programs where control is needed over low-level details such as data representations and resource management. In the remainder of this paper, we provide an overview of our approach in Cyclone, summarizing technical results presented in other papers [2, 3]. We present some performance measurements that show how manual and automatic memory management can be combined to good effect, and lay out plans for future work.


The Indian telecom market is one of the fastest growing markets in the world today. This research paper is an attempt to look into the implementation of Mobile Number Portability (MNP), its impact on subscribers in India. The motivation for this research emanate from the various concerns and issues raised by subscribers in the country and this work looks at the need for authorities to have close monitoring and evaluation of the MNP facility. A comprehensive review of literature and explanatory research on MNP was carried out in NCR (National Capital Region). It was found that there is a mixed reaction about the effectiveness of this facility and its impact on providing the needed flexibility and freedom to subscribers. Mobile number portability has increased the satisfaction level of mobile users in terms of connectivity, tariff rates, call drops, network coverage, customer care services and desired service package. The study concluded that this facility will prove a sigh of relief to the customer in case of bad services provided by a particular telecom service provider. The competition will intensified because of implementation of MNP and telecom service providers will be compelled to innovate their services to retain existing market share.


To improve the delivery of services, municipalities in South Africa are implementing information and communication technology (ICT) initiatives. The use of digitalization thus demands municipalities to introduce e-government services. With adequate resources and training, some municipalities also aim to advance their status as smart cities. However, However, not all municipalities are equipped to operate ICT-based services.  The article aims to explore this situation in the City of Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality (herein referred to as CoE). The article is qualitative in nature and the data collected is analyzed descriptively. The article utilizes the triangulation of data (document review, literature review, interview) to strengthen validity and reliability in the research process. The findings explore the challenges related to leadership in the municipality that requires a willingness to adopt, adapt and implement ICT initiatives for smart governance; ICT infrastructure that requires a municipality to allocate adequate budget to smart governance platforms, training of employees to equip them to operate digitalized processes, to state a few. Overall, the study considers the status and implementation levels of ICT and smart governance in the CoE to be unsatisfactory and requires policy recommendations for effective realization to become a smart city. The article offers policy recommendations emphasizing incorporating ICT in municipal budgets to invest in digital infrastructure.


Phenyl-is disclosed a method and characterized for substituted cyclohexylamine derivative and their synthesis. The method for their synthesis and use of these compounds for the treatment / prevention of neurological disorders are described herein. Exemplary compounds of the invention inhibit the re-uptake (e.g. from the synaptic gap) of endogenous monoamines such as dopamine, serotonin and norepinephrine, and adjusting at least one monoamine transporter. Pharmaceutical preparation which combines the compounds of the invention are also provided. Phenyl-substituted cyclohexylamine derivative, neuropathy, monoamine reuptake inhibition


Significance Immune cell signaling is heavily associated with the spatial organization of molecules. Here, we examined the nanoscale organization of coreceptor CD4 and its relative spatial localization to the T-cell receptor and the active form of Src kinase p56lck (Lck), using two different superresolution microscopy techniques photoactivated localization microscopy and direct stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy in both living and fixed cells. With concurrent spatial analyses, we show that neither CD4/T-cell antigen receptor nor CD4/active Lck nanoclusters colocalize but only overlap at the interfaces. In activated T cells, the enhanced clustering of each kind results in increased seclusion from each other. Our observations here in molecular resolution may reveal the general roles that are played by nanoscale organization of critical components in immune cell signaling. CD4 molecules on the surface of T lymphocytes greatly augment the sensitivity and activation process of these cells, but how it functions is not fully understood. Here we studied the spatial organization of CD4, and its relationship to T-cell antigen receptor (TCR) and the active form of Src kinase p56lck (Lck) using single and dual-color photoactivated localization microscopy (PALM) and direct stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy (dSTORM). In nonactivated T cells, CD4 molecules are clustered in small protein islands, as are TCR and Lck. By dual-color imaging, we find that CD4, TCR, and Lck are localized in their separate clusters with limited interactions in the interfaces between them. Upon T-cell activation, the TCR and CD4 begin clustering together, developing into microclusters, and undergo a larger scale redistribution to form supramolecluar activation clusters (SMACs). CD4 and Lck localize in the inner TCR region of the SMAC, but this redistribution of disparate cluster structures results in enhanced segregation from each other. In nonactivated cells these preclustered structures and the limited interactions between them may serve to limit spontaneous and random activation events. However, the small sizes of these island structures also ensure large interfacial surfaces for potential interactions and signal amplification when activation is initiated. In the later activation stages, the increasingly larger clusters and their segregation from each other reduce the interfacial surfaces and could have a dampening effect. These highly differentiated spatial distributions of TCR, CD4, and Lck and their changes during activation suggest that there is a more complex hierarchy than previously thought.


Abstract The rapid development of social networks, intelligent sensors, mobile solutions and Internet of things has led to the emergence of large data-sets. Efficiently and effectively exploring these data-sets is a challenging question, especially when the imperfectness of real-world needs to be taken into account. The objective of this paper is thus to propose several solutions for modelling, representing and implementing imperfect information within large fuzzy databases. More specifically, in this paper imperfect information is modelled through a series of generic fuzzy data types, uniformly represented by means of possibility distributions and implemented using the basic constructs of object databases. These solutions are particularly useful for exploring large fuzzy databases since they permit to minimise the space required to store imperfect information, and access efficiently and effectively these databases.


Government sponsored technology-infusion related to automated tools and their application to military and commercial technologies, such as automotive, airline and consumer systems is presently being planned through the Automatic Test Systems (ATS) strategy. This ATS strategy is proceeding in a direction which includes a DoD and industry organization that will standardize the test interfaces for the application of tools for design, production and support. This standardization relates to the development of an Interface Information Exchange Standard. At present the majority of automated tools operate as stand alone entities not allowing for multiple program application without major modifications tailored to the target system. This paper addresses the requirement to establish and implement standardized interfaces that allow interchangeability, flexibility and reusability of automated tools to satisfy both government and commercial requirements. This paper will also discuss the requirements that must be established to meet the above goals as well as the method of implementation and the contributions required by both government and industry.<<ETX>>


Abstract Salicylaldehyde and pyridoxal derivatives carrying optically active residue were applied for the derivation of Schiff base copper chelates from α-amino acids. In aqueous media the chelate formation process proceeded spontaneously and the process was reversed by the addition of EDTA. Thus the applicabilities of the process to the method for the resolution of alpha-amino acids were investigated. Chromatographic separation of the chelates from pyridoxal derivative on a reverse-phase column was found to be successful. The separation of two elution peaks within a pair of enantiomers was excellent for most of amino acids although some improvement is required for the separation of amino acids with acidic or basic side chain.


Using a vertical source array, directive horizontal transmission of 1200 cps sound pulses was studied in the Caribbean north of Bonaire Island. Both the fixed source and a linearly moving receiver were operated at 800 m depth and ranges between 0.35 and 5.6 NM. Close to the source, the pulse consisted of two sets of 12 wavefronts, each in immediate sequence with their phases exactly reversed. The directly propagated pulse exhibited a well‐recognized phase‐reversal point out to a range of 4 NM, beyond which it gradually merged into the basic pulse. Measuring transmission times to this phase reversal, a total of 4000 were statistically analyzed, using a moving average to eliminate the effect of the linear motion of the receiver. The rms deviation of transmission time from this average remained between 0.3 and 0.5 msec for ranges up to 4 NM, beyond which it climbed to 2 msec. The normalized autocorrelation coefficient calculated with respect to time interval always had the same shape and a first null near 1....


Single-photon detector based on an InGaAs avalanche photodiode is one of hot research on the quantum photon, and is one of the key technologies on quantum communication and quantum image. It is widely used in applications as high sensitive photon spectrum, high speed optic measurement and so on. A suitable delay and comparator with latch function circuit are used to prevent positive and negative transient pulses from influencing the detection of true photon induced avalanches. A dead time modulation feedback control circuit decreases the after-pulse. Especially, ECL difference circuit is the key of high speed single photon detector. In addition, the detector uses the hot tube fan-cooling method. From the performance test, the lowest temperature reaches -62°C, the minimum gate pulse width is 2ns (Full-Width-Half-Max, FWHM) and the dark counter rate is 2.5×10-6 ns-1 with a detection rate of 10MHz when the quantum efficiency is more than 10%.


This article shows ten special stiffened plates. With the help of high transient non-linear numerical software LS-DYNA, air blast wave load can impulse on stiffened plates. Overpressure of air blast wave distributes on the stiffened plates with different kinds of forms. The overpressure distributions are effected by the stiffeners. From the results, it can be seen that stiffeners have the effects of reflection and convergence. The stiffening ways of facing to the explosive can reduce the quasi-static pressure with small mass of TNT and small size of plates. Stiffeners can be used in some engineering structures to protect important parts.


A 39 year old woman attends your surgery with a history of "large heavy breasts" since puberty and general unhappiness with her appearance. After taking an appropriate history, you feel that she has low self esteem, with her macromastia playing an important role. She also describes experiencing back pain and neck ache. She wants to find out whether breast reduction surgery will help her.

Macromastia is often described as disproportionately heavy breasts on an otherwise average size patient. Women generally seek consultation for breast reduction surgery because of psychological reasons, physical reasons, or both. It is important initially to distinguish between two types of patient—the one who believes she has disproportionately large breasts, but hasn't, and the one who does have macromastia. The history and physical examination should indicate patients with true macromastia, whereas those who have distorted body appearance would benefit from further psychological assessment.

### Medical or social history

### Physical examination

Physical examination should include inspection and palpation. We recommend a chaperone for all doctors of either sex, but a chaperone essential for male doctors.

Other factors to include in the physical examination are:


Clinical Image:

A 19-year-old patient was admitted to our emergency department with a right hemi-scrotal pain, tenderness and swelling of 5 hours of duration. The pain was associated to nausea, one episode of vomiting and no fever (37.4°C). There was no previous history of trauma or lower urinary tract symptoms. Moreover, the patient denied any similar episodes. The clinical examination finds a sensitivity of the right testicle with sign of positive PREHN without any inflammatory signs. No ultrasound doppler was performed given the time not exceeding 6 hours. The patient underwent immediate surgical exploration through a medial scrotal incision. First of all, we observed a torsion of the right testicular appendix (Figure 1), right testis was normal. An excision of this appendix was performed. The histopathological findings were in favor of stromal oedema and hemorrhage. The evolution was without any complications (Figure 1).


The 1960s were times of considerable change both within the discipline of geography and in the geography of urban areas. Urban geography came of age in a time when suburbanization and major population decentralization were transforming both inner cities and the outer reaches of the newly expanding cities. Geographers joined planners to investigate the nature and significance of these changes and moved from largely descriptive interpretations of cities and city sites to attempts to theorize the urban transformation. The move to theory and conceptualization placed urban geography at the heart of the changing concept of the discipline and it remains central even in the face of increasing splintering of human geography. The influence of a small group of geographers at the University of Chicago and the University of Washington resonated across the U.S., and the Pacific, through the edited collection of articles in Readings in Urban Geography (Mayer and Kohn) and Studies of Highway Development and Geographic Change (Garrison, Berry, Marble, Nystuen and Morrill). Those volumes contained theoretical insights and rich empirical analysis, hallmarks of the creativity of urban geographers in the 1960s. [Key words: urban geography, University of Chicago, University of Washington.]


Infrared optics is a broad general term, relevant to a range of fields. The manufactured diamond optical components utilized within this thesis were applied to both astronomy, in which direct imagi ...


In the midst of pauperization, persecution, and patriarchy, African women are providing new narratives for challenging normative paradigms in religion, culture, ethics, and health. In the parlance of liberation theology, they have engendered an irruption that seeks to valorize wholeness, abundance, and dignity. They seek to understand the African worldview from the underside of history and also reinterpret tradition. This is an approach that challenges subordination in its various forms and manifestations. African women are confronted with the "triple bind" of race, class, and gender. Yet they provide fresh interpretations that shed light on these three categories. Our global landscape demands new moral discourse that challenges oppressive models and practices. This is a radical hermeneutic that challenges oppressive cultural norms and practices. By utilizing the power of naming, African women identify, categorize, and label cultural practices that subject people, especially women to dehumanizing and oppr...


Nate Lovitt Central Connecitcut State Fr M Cross Country/Indoor / Outdoor Track &Field Marketing Ryne Nutt Central Connecticut State Sr Football Accounting Blair Smart Central Connecticut State Jr Football Biology Katherine Bossardet Central Connecticut State Fr W Cross Country/Indoor /Outdoor Track & Field Elementary Education Amanda Adams Central Connecticut State So W Soccer Elementary Education Jamie Baumert Central Connecticut State So Volleyball Elementary Education Milou Saxton Central Connecticut State Sr Volleyball Graphic Design Emily Rose Central Connecticut State So. Women's Basketball Management Jillian Piedescalzo Central Connecticut State Jr. Women's Swimming & Diving Secondary Education Lindsey Snyder Central Connecticut State Jr. Women's Swimming & Diving Elementary Education Sherry Wallace Central Connecticut State Jr. W Indoor / Outdoor Track & Field English Samantha Canniff Central Connecticut State Fr. Women's Lacrosse Undeclared Sarah Kinne Central Connecticut State Jr. Women's Lacrosse Secondary Education Rachel Brenneman Central Connecticut State Jr. Softball Biomolecular sciences Caylee Johanson Central Connecticut State So. Softball Mathematics


The ARM7TDMI kernel embedded processors S3C44B0X embedded data acquisition system design was discussed.The ARM peculiar mine dynamic mechanism of interrupt GuiDaoHeng of real-time data acquisition was used by RS485 interface to PC.This systemis applied for several mining coal data acquisition intellectualization,small volume,low power consumption,the function is strong,good scalability for mine,the development Guidaoheng provides a reference value.


The invention relates to DNA sequences, the use thereof and the use of DNA sequences of the MAG genes or high mobility group protein genes, agents for treating various disorders including tumour disorders, for influencing vascular development and for contraception and tissue regeneration, and to suitable kits and procedures. The specified sequences, agents, applications, kits and procedures allow a specific action on molecular mechanisms common to various disorders, vascular development, contraception and tissue regeneration. This reduces the drawbacks normally observed with agents and procedures of this type.


he article is based on the analysis of newly identified documents from the funds of architects I.P. Mashkov (RGALI) and P.I. Goldenberg (RGAE), as well as documents of MOVANO (RGALI), reconstructs the history of the competition for the Moscow planning project 1932. These documents helped to clarify many previously unclear aspects of the competition. Among them: the nature of the competition itself; the timing of its execution; the number of teams involved in the competitive design and the number of competitive projects; the process of preparing expert opinions and critical articles published as the results of the competition; and the authorship of conditional schemes of competitive projects, first published in the article P.I. and B.I. Goldenberg in 1933. It was also revealed that over the projects in the first half of 1932, in addition to the previously known seven brigades of soviet and foreign specialists, worked one more team of soviet architectsled by E.G. Weis. At the same time, this team also carried out the project of planning the Stalin district of Moscow. Particular attention in the article was paid to the analysis of manuscripts and graphics revealed among the materials of P.I. Goldenberg. It allowed to evaluate from qualitatively new positions to assess the role played by this then very young architect in the analysis of projects, submitted to the competition, and to identify him as the author of conditional schemes of competitive projects. The surviving originals of these schemes are published in the article for the first time. In addition to introducing new materials into the scientific circulation, the article also allows us to assess from qualitatively new positions the role that was given to competitive projects in the search for ways of Development of Moscow, and the attitude to the competition on the part of the Architectural and Planning Moscow Council.


Abstract 1438

The hierarchical cytogenetic classification for chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) provides a valuable prognostic framework validated in several studies; however, the relationship between these cytogenetic abnormalities and IGHV and ZAP-70 has not been as well studied. Less is also known about the prognostic significance of different 14q32 rearrangements and combined cytogenetic abnormalities. We retrospectively examined cytogenetic abnormalities in 576 CLL patients seen at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute between 2005 and the present. Interphase FISH analysis was performed using commercial probe sets (Abbott Molecular, Des Plaines, IL, USA) including P53/ATM, 12cen/13q14.1, and CCND1-IGH to exclude mantle cell lymphoma and identify chromosome 14q32 rearrangements, which were further evaluated with a t(14;18) probe. t(14;18) was evaluated separately from other 14q32 rearrangements. Fisher's exact test was used to assess the association of ZAP-70 and IGHV mutation status with cytogenetics. Median time to first treatment (TTFT) was summarized using Kaplan Meier estimates. In univariate analysis, the log rank test was used to assess associations of TTFT and cytogenetics, and in multivariable analysis, a Cox regression model was used. P-values were not adjusted for multiplicity of testing. The median age at diagnosis was 55 (range 25–86). At time of analysis, 43% (n=247) of patients had been treated, and 78% (n=452) of patients were still alive. Of 432 patients tested, 57.4% (n=248) had mutated IGHV, and of 420 patients tested, 42% (n=243) were ZAP-70 positive. Cytogenetic abnormalities of the 576 patients are summarized in [table 1][1]. Patients with 2 abnormalities were classified as the poorer risk abnormality by the Dohner hierarchy. The del(13q) group was significantly associated with negative ZAP-70 status (p = 0.003), whereas del(11q) was associated with positive ZAP-70 (p=0.02). A significant association was observed between unmutated IGHV and del(17p), del(11q), and trisomy 12 (p < 0.001 for each), and with complex cytogenetics (p = 0.03), whereas del(13q) had a significant association with mutated IGHV (p < 0.0001). In univariate analysis, a shorter median TTFT was associated with del(17p) vs. other (44 vs. 77 months, p = 0.0006), del(11q) vs. other (22 vs. 77 months, p < 0.0001), and 14q32 rearrangement vs. other (44 vs. 76 months, p=0.001), whereas a longer TTFT was observed for del(13q) vs. other (131 vs. 51 months, p < 0.0001). Of note, TTFT was not associated with trisomy 12 (p=0.20), trisomy 12 + del(13q) (p=0.61), IgH t(14;18) (p=0.57), normal cytogenetics (p=0.27), or complex cytogenetics (p=0.15). TTFT was similar between patients with mono-allelic, bi-allelic, or mixed del(13q) (131, 103, or 153 months, respectively, p = 0.97). In multivariable analysis, adjusting for ZAP-70 and IGHV, shorter TTFT was independently associated with 14q32 rearrangement (HR 2.51, 95% CI (1.41, 4.45), p=0.002) and del(17p) (HR 1.53, 95% CI (1.0, 2.33), p = 0.047). Del(13q) remained independently associated with longer TTFT (HR 1.97, 95% CI (1.40, 2.77), p < 0.0001). Overall, we show that high risk abnormalities such as del(17p) and del(11q) are associated with unmutated IGHV status and shorter TTFT, and that low risk del(13q) is associated with mutated IGHV, negative ZAP-70 status, and longer TTFT. Also, TTFT is similar between mono- and biallelic del(13q). Interestingly, trisomy 12 was highly associated with unmutated IGHV, but not shorter TTFT, suggesting that trisomy 12 may somehow mitigate the risk of unmutated IGHV. In contrast, 14q32 rearrangement was not associated with either IGHV or ZAP-70, but did predict a short TTFT of 44 months. This suggests that 14q32 rearrangement may hasten the need for treatment, regardless of IGHV or ZAP-70 status. Notably, 14q32 rearrangement due to t(14;18) did not confer increased risk of requiring early therapy. Ongoing analysis will assess overall survival for these cytogenetic abnormalities.

View this table:

Table 1.
Cytogenetic abnormalities in 576 CLL patients

Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

 [1]: #T1


COVID-19 pandemic is spreading rapidly with more speedy transmission. In the month of March 2021, its infection is getting more dangerous in not only Ujjain district of M.P. but all over the India. Our study is although limited to a particular district of Madhya Pradesh India, but our results reflect almost all over the country. Authors have seen that corona virus may be more active during a particular transition season like other viruses. In the month of March 2021, all of sudden there was increase in number of active cases. The numbers of corona positive cases in March 2021 were found to be more than 4 to 20 times as compared to the month of February 2021. Data have shown that the disease occur more in males as compared to females. The average age of corona positive cases is 40-50 years. It seems that corona is temperature sensitive to some extent, and becomes more active during the transition season.


Objective: To determine the effect of balance training with Biodex Balance System in improving balance function in patients with diabetic neuropathy. Methods: A quasi experimental study was conducted at physiotherapy department of Rehman Medical Institute Peshawar from January to June 2018. Thirty-eight Diabetes Mellitus Type-II patients with diagnosis of diabetic neuropathy participated in the study. Those patients were included who were able to stand independently and who scored moderate or severe neuropathy on Toronto Scale. Participants received 12 sessions (two sessions per week) of balance training on Biodex stability system in six weeks. Berg Balance Scale and Time Up and Go test were used to collect pre and post treatment data. Paired sample T-test was used to compare pre and post treatment data because data was normally distributed. Results: The mean age of the participants was 63.08 ± 3.3 years. Pretreatment Berg Balance Scale score was 42.68 ± 3.7 which improved to 48.89 ±3.7 after the treatment (P<0.001). Similarly, pretreatment Time Up and Go test score was 17.47 ± 2.0 while post treatment score was 13.57 ±1.5 (P<0.001). Conclusion: Balance training with Biodex Balance System can significantly improve balance function in Diabetes Mellitus Type-II patients with diabetic neuropathy.


For more than 75 years, Aberdeen Proving Ground (APG) has been in the business of research, development, and testing of munitions and military vehicles for the US Army. Currently, APG is on the National Priorities List and an installation wide human health risk assessment is underway. Like many Department of the Army facilities, APG has an active hunting program. Hunters harvest approximately 800 whitetail deer (Odocoileus virginanus) from APG annually. To assure public safety, the authors completed a study during the 1993 hunting season to identify any potential human health hazards associated with consumption of venison from APG. This paper will discuss the unique strategy behind the experimental design, the actual assimilation of the data, and the results of the human health risk assessment to establish an appropriate contaminant levels in APG deer. Also, based on information in the literature, the authors considered gender, age, and season in the study design. The list of chemicals for residue analysis included explosives, PCBs, organochlorine pesticides, and metals (As, Cd, Cr, Pb, Hg). Of the 150 deer sampled, metals were the only chemicals detected. The authors compared these data to metal levels in deer collected from an off post background site. Metal levelsmore » did not differ significantly between APG deer and off post deer. Finally, the authors completed a health risk assessment of eating deer harvested from both APG and off post. From a survey distributed to the hunters, they incorporated actual consumption data into the exposure assessment. Their findings concluded that the risk of eating APG deer was no higher than eating off post deer; however, total arsenic levels in muscle did appear to elevate the risk.« less


Let G be a locally compact Hausdorff group. We study adjunction spaces and unions of equivariant absolute neighborhood extensors (G-ANE's) in the category of all proper G-spaces that are metrizable by G-invariant metrics. We establish equivariant versions of the Borsuk-WhiteheadHanner Theorem and of the Kodama Theorem. As an application, we prove that every proper G-CW complex is a G-ANE provided G is a Lie group.


Instances in this paper summarize six basic interface navigation modes of mobile application interfaces, analyze these six interface navigation modes' scenarios and features from information display and interactive operation, and most of the mobile phone interface structures base on and derive from them to a certain extent. In order to explore the visual browsing and searching rule of eye movement about different interface navigation modes, this study measured and recorded data by using eye tracking system. This paper adopted qualitative and quantitative research methods for searching visual browsing differences of interface navigation modes and the research result can be applied to design practice.


Value-based methods for control often involve approximate value iteration (e.g., Q -learning), and behaving greedily with respect to the resulting value estimates with some degree of entropy to ensure the state-space is sufficiently explored. Such a greedy policy is an improvement over the policy of which the current values reflect. As learning progresses, value-iteration may produce value functions that do not correspond with any policy. This is especially relevant with function-approximation, when the true value function cannot be perfectly represented. This raises questions about what such inaccurate value functions represent, and whether there exists alternative ways to derive value-based behavior. In this work, we explore the use of Inverse Policy Evaluation , the process of solving for a likely policy given a value function. We derive a simple, incremental algorithm for the procedure, analyze how inaccuracies in the value function manifest in the corresponding policy, and provide empirical results emphasizing key properties of the mapping from value functions to policies. This sets up a framework for matching proposed returns , as opposed to explicit maximization. Coupling this procedure with value-iteration, this provides a novel approach for deriving behavior from a value function which also tends toward an optimal policy, but appears to account for estimation error in the resulting behavior.


Female Drosophila melanogaster were maintained at five levels of nutrition, with either continuous or intermittent exposure to males. Remating frequency increased with nutrition and was higher with continuous exposure to males. Age-specific and lifetime egg production increased with increasing nutrition, but lifespan peaked at intermediate nutrition. Females on the three highest nutritional levels showed a cost of mating in reduced survival, but only at the highest food level did this reduced lifespan lead to a significant cost of mating for lifetime egg production. The data suggest that remating frequencies in laboratory cultures may evolve to a low enough level for the cost of mating to be only weakly expressed, if at all. Further data are required to assess the importance of the cost of mating in natural populations, where the evolution of low remating frequencies might be expected to be opposed by other costs.


We consider a sequence Zjj≥1 of i.i.d. d-dimensional random vectors and for every n≥1 consider the sample Sn={Z1,Z2,…,Zn}. We say that Zj is a "leader" in the sample Sn if Zj≥Zk,∀k∈{1,2,…,n}and Zj is an "anti-leader" if Zj≤Zk,∀k∈{1,2,…,n}. After all, the leader and the anti-leader are the naive extremes. Let an be the probability that Sn has a leader, bn be the probability that Sn has an anti-leader and cn be the probability that Sn has both a leader and an anti-leader. One of the aims of the paper is to compute, or, at least to estimate, or if even that is not possible, to estimate the limits of this quantities. Another goal is to find conditions on the distribution F of Zjj≥1 so that the inferior limits of an,bn,cn are positive. We give examples of distributions for which we can compute these probabilities and also examples when we are not able to do that. Then we establish conditions, unfortunately only sufficient when the limits are positive. Doing that we discovered a lot of open questions and we make two annoying conjectures—annoying because they seemed to be obvious but at a second thought we were not able to prove them. It seems that these problems have never been approached in the literature.


Thin, compliant fibers have been shown to provide a remarkably accurate means of detecting sound [Zhou et al., "Sensing fluctuating airflow with spider silk," Proc. Natil. Acad. Sci., 201710559 (2017) ]. The present study extends these results by examining the forces due to air-borne sound on a periodic array of infinitely long and thin micro-beams having rectangular cross section. Results obtained using both the Finite Element Method and analytical solutions to Stokes' equations are shown to be in excellent agreement. It is found that viscous forces are dominant when the width of the beams is less than 10 μm. Unlike typical MEMS resonators, which perform best in the absence of air, the dominance of viscous damping forces is desirable in directional acoustic flow sensors using these micro-beams. Furthermore, the frequency independent characteristic of these forces promises a flat response across a wide range of frequencies. It is predicted that smaller beams with wider gaps provide better sensitivity. For beams that are sufficiently thin, their thickness is found to have minimal influence on their performance.


The article describes the clinical observation of a rare severe dermatosis, paraneoplastic acantholyticus pemphigus, associated with colon cancer with reference to pathogenesis, clinical variations and difficulties of diagnostics of this condition.


The Norman Church has sometimes been depicted as welcoming the Capetian conquest of Normandy in 1204. Its relations with the last Angevin dukes of Normandy, Richard the Lionheart and King John, certainly showed signs of serious tension, especially the election dispute at Sées (1201–3), but there is also ample evidence of continuing co-operation between the dukes and the Norman Church. Prior to 1204, moreover, Philip Augustus of France had done very little to win over the Norman Church. It is demonstrated here that he was far less generous to the religious houses of south-east Normandy, which he had annexed in 1200, than has hitherto been believed. Most of the alms recorded in fiscal accounts for the Évrecin testify to the patronage of the local aristocracy, not the kings of England and France.


Abstract We present an analytical study of two-dimensional flow in a wedge driven by a time-dependent surface heat flux as a model problem to understand buoyancy-induced cross-shore flow. Besides the turbulent Prandtl number and the relevant Rayleigh number, both assumed to be of order unity, the solution is seen to depend on the geometry through a parameter $\beta$, representing the bottom slope. An analytic solution is sought in the asymptotic limit $\beta \ll 1$ for a water layer bounded by an adiabatic bottom surface subject to a harmonic heat flux on the upper surface. The analysis reveals that the motion at leading order can be expressed as the sum of a harmonic component and a steady component, the latter driven by nonlinear advection. This steady-streaming motion includes a near-shore vortex with associated recirculating motion that can affect cross-shore transport and dispersion in coastal environments. The analytical solution is compared with numerical solutions of the complete conservation equations for small values of $\beta$. Excellent quantitative agreement is found for values of the Rayleigh number below a critical value at which the periodic solution undergoes a period-doubling bifurcation, leading to the establishment of thermal-instability cells that dominate the offshore flow dynamics, while the near-shore dynamics remains well described by the analytical solution. The analysis illustrates that a periodic heat input that leads to a vertically inhomogeneous temperature distribution can result in residual motion, net heat fluxes and persistent temperature structure in the cross-shore direction.


Simple Summary Recent advances in technology allow for the study of animal behaviours through indirect observations. This facilitates research on cryptic animals for which direct observations may miss a considerable portion of their activity. The validity of accelerometers in obtaining accurate animal behaviours, however, needs to be tested before collecting data in the wild. Modern zoos offer excellent opportunities for researchers to test field techniques in a safe setting. Here, we describe a non-invasive training program to attach an accelerometer to an individual Bengal slow loris at the Shaldon Wildlife Trust. This training took 39 15-min sessions and allowed for the attachment of the accelerometer for validation with reduced stress for the animal. We also collected videos to associate to accelerometer data to estimate the accuracy of accelerometers in identifying the behaviours of Bengal slow loris. The accuracy was above 80% with some of the behaviours that were clearly identified (e.g., resting: 99.8%), while others were more difficult to discern (e.g., suspensory walk, a locomotion behaviour, was discerned only 60.3% of times from other behaviours). The non-invasive training and accelerometer validation can be used on similar species before using accelerometers in the wild. Abstract Accelerometers offer unique opportunities to study the behaviour of cryptic animals but require validation to show their accuracy in identifying behaviours. This validation is often undertaken in captivity before use in the wild. While zoos provide important opportunities for trial field techniques, they must consider the welfare and health of the individuals in their care and researchers must opt for the least invasive techniques. We used positive reinforcement training to attach and detach a collar with an accelerometer to an individual Bengal slow loris (Nycticebus bengalensis) at the Shaldon Wildlife Trust, U.K. This allowed us to collect accelerometer data at different periods between January–June 2020 and January–February 2021, totalling 42 h of data with corresponding video for validation. Of these data, we selected 54 min where ten behaviours were present and ran a random forest model. We needed 39 15-min sessions to train the animal to wear/remove the collar. The accelerometer data had an accuracy of 80.7 ± SD 9.9% in predicting the behaviours, with 99.8% accuracy in predicting resting, and a lower accuracy (but still >75% for all of them apart from suspensory walk) for the different types of locomotion and feeding behaviours. This training and validation technique can be used in similar species and shows the importance of working with zoos for in situ conservation (e.g., validation of field techniques).


The development of diets that economically and ecologically meet the requirements of bullfrogs (Lithobates catesbeianus) is important for frog farming. Therefore, the objective of this study was to determine the apparent digestibility coefficients for essential amino acids of eight animal feed ingredients (poultry byproduct meal, meat and bone meal, salmon byproduct meal, tilapia byproduct meal, spray-dried blood meal, powered red blood cells, feather meal and sardine meal) used in the diets of bullfrogs. Additionally, the limiting digestible amino acids were determined for each ingredient. Bullfrogs in different phases of post-metamorphic development were used: 810 animals in the early phase (mean weight: 40 ± 10 g), 405 animals in the growing phase (95 ± 15 g) and 243 animals in the finishing phase (175 ± 25 g). Poultry byproduct meal, salmon byproduct meal and blood meal exhibited the largest number of high apparent digestibility coefficients for essential amino acids (>70%) in the early, growing and finishing phases, respectively. The animal protein ingredients were well digested by the bullfrogs and could be used in practical diets for this species, respecting the limits of inclusion and digestibility values for each developmental phase.


We review several two- and three-dimensional metamaterial designs which serve as photonic simulators of topological phenomena in condensed matter physics. Based on a coupled-mode theory we show that lattices of interacting cavities can simulate Haldane lattices which exhibit one-way guided modes and mode coalescence in the absence of external magnetic field. Furthermore, periodic holey metals filled with a magnetoelectric material exhibit a nonreciprocal photonic band structure in the optical regime. Lastly, we show that a three-dimensional lattice of interacting cavities respecting time-reversal symmetry and a certain point-group symmetry can simulate a topological crystalline insulator.


The signal crayfish, Pacifastacus leniusculus, is the most widespread and one of the most successful crayfish invaders in Europe. In 2012 it was recorded in a karstic river in the continental part of Croatia, the Korana River, where it was illegally introduced. Here, it presents an alarming threat to native crayfish diversity, since three native crayfish species have viable populations in the Korana River and its tributaries. We explored the dynamics of signal crayfish range expansion in the Korana River, by i) examining the increase in its range, ii) analysing changes in its relative abundance, size and sex structure at former invasion fronts in 3 years (since the first study), and iii) examining the status of the native narrow-clawed crayfish (Astacus leptodactylus) in the area. Signal crayfish range increased 2.5 times since 2012, and currently covers 18.7% of the entire watercourse. Recorded dispersal rate (2.23 – 2.84 km/year) was similar in upstream and downstream direction. At both former invasion fronts, increase in the relative signal crayfish abundance by 4.9 – 6.1 times resulted in significant decrease in the size of signal crayfish individuals, demonstrating the prominent effect of density and competition intensity on the size structure its populations. The native A. leptodactylus was completely displaced from mixed populations at former invasion fronts, while at new invasion fronts no narrowclawed crayfish were recorded. Abundant A. leptodactylus populations are still present in the Mrežnica and Kupa Rivers, and outside the invaded area in the Korana River. We discuss these findings in the context of potential management actions and legal requirements for such actions under EU Regulations.


The rapid expansion of car ownership worldwide has further raised the importance of vehicle safety. The reduced cost of cameras and optical devices has made it economically feasible to deploy front-mounted intelligent systems for visual-based event detection for forward collision avoidance and mitigation. While driving at night, vehicles in front are generally visible by their tail lights. The turn signals are particularly important because they signal lane change and potential collision. Therefore, this paper proposes a novel visual-based approach, based on the Nakagami-m distribution, for detecting turn signals at night by scatter modeling of tail lights. In addition, to recognize the direction of turn signals, reflectance is decomposed from the original image. Rather than using knowledge of heuristic features, such as the symmetry, position, and size of the rear-facing vehicle, we focus on finding the invariant features to model turn signal scattering by Nakagami imaging and therefore, conduct the detection process in a part-based manner. Experiments on an extensive data set show that our proposed system can effectively detect vehicle braking under different lighting and traffic conditions, and thus, demonstrates its feasibility in real-world environments.


Olga Alonso-Villar is Professor of Applied Economics at the University of Vigo, Spain. She holds a PhD in Economics from the University Carlos III of Madrid. Her major fields are economic geography (location of economic activity), gender differences in the labor market (unemployment and occupational segregation), and economic inequality. Her work has been published in the Journal of Economic Geography, Papers in Regional Science, Regional Science and Urban Economics, Economic Theory, Regional Studies, Social Indicators Research, and Research on Economic Inequality, among other journals.


The stepwise and the one-pot condensation of 1,3-diiminoisoindoline (I) and para-phenylenediamine (II) lead to the para-benzihemiporphyrazine (IV) and its [3 + 3]-type hemiporphyrazine analogue (V), respectively.


AN INEVITABLE IMPLICATION of using a function f1 as an approximation to another function f2 is that f1 is also an approximation to functions other than f2. This is obvious and hardly relevant; what is relevant is how well f1 approximates f2 within some range of practical importance. With respect to the approximation to the CES function given by equation (2) in Dr. McCarthy's paper, the calculations which I have done indicate that the error of approximation tends to be relatively small except for cases in which extreme values of the elasticity of substitution are combined with extreme values of input ratios. Similar results have been obtained by H. Thornber in a recent Monte Carlo experiment. In that study the author compares several estimators of elasticity of substitution, including one based on our approximation, to the CES function.' The main part of Dr. McCarthy's paper is concerned with demonstrating that equation (2), intended to be used as an approximation to the CES function, could equally well be considered as an approximation to a whole class of production functions of which the CES function is a special case. It is not clear why this should be troublesome as long as equation (2) provides a good approximation to the CES function. The purpose of equation (2) is to simplify-at the cost of some loss of precision-the problem of estimating the parameters of the CES function. This purpose will be satisfied if the approximation is a satisfactory one. The main objection of Dr. McCarthy is that the use of the approximate version of the CES function affects the proper evaluation of statistical tests of significance. This is certainly true; it is a part of the price of using an approximation in place of the true function. But the seriousness of the specification error depends on the degree of closeness of approximation and, as emphasized at the outset, it is this aspect which is relevant and deserves attention.


In the present work, we have studied the magnetic and thermal properties of sol gel derived samarium chromite (SCO) polycrystallites. The magnetic measurements of SCO polycrystallites show a characteristic antiferromagnetic transition TN ∼ 190 K and spin reorientation temperature TSR ∼ 33 K, which is in the region of interest to study a possible magnetocaloric effect (MCE). The isothermal magnetic entropy change (ΔSM) is estimated by an indirect method from the isothermal magnetization curves measured in this temperature range. The SCO polycrystallites possesses both inverse (positive) and normal (negative) MCE at and above around the spin reorientation transition (TSR) with −ΔSmaxM values of ∼−24 × 10−2 & 13 × 10−2 J kg−1 K−1, respectively. The SCO also shows another normal (negative) MCE peak around its Neel transition (TN) with −ΔSmaxM ∼ 11 × 10−2 J kg−1 K−1. The presence of two successive MCE peaks in SCO in the temperature range of 3–50 K, leads to an ∼47 K operating temperature window with one thermodynamic cycle. In addition, the low temperature heat capacity (CP) measurements of SCO polycrystallites reveal a λ-shaped peak at TN which is associated with a conventional second-order, paramagnetic to antiferromagnetic (AFM), phase transition. The temperature and magnetic field dependence of the specific heat capacity was studied and analyzed to estimate the adiabatic temperature change (ΔTad). In addition the CP vs. T curve in SCO also shows a weak anomaly around the ∼TSR along with a Schottky anomaly below 10 K.


Objective: To identify the relationship between the degree of disability and level of functional independence of adults with cerebrovascular disease from Cartagena Colombia. Methodology: A cross-sectional study with sampling intention in 48 adults with clinical diagnosis of cerebrovascular disease, the WHO DAS II instruments were applied to the degree of disability and the Barthel index to assess functional independence. Results: The mean age of participants was 64.4 ± 14.9 years, 57% were male. As for the medical diagnosis 61% had unspecified CVD, 31% had an ischemic CVD and 8% hemorrhagic CVD. Scores on total disability as a result yielded a mean of 57 ± 18 points. In relation to the degree of disability, it was found that 61.7% have a severe degree. Regarding the total score of the Barthel index has an average of 76.3 ± 28.2 points at the level of functional independence 61% has minimal dependence. Significant differences were observed in the relationship between the degree of disability and level of functional independence. Conclusions: The relationship found the degree of disability and level of functional independence can be considered by clinicians as a follow-up strategy in the rehabilitation process.


The Collaboratory for the Study of Earthquake Predictability (CSEP) is an international partnership to support research on rigorous earthquake prediction in multiple tectonic environments. This paper outlines the first earthquake forecast testing experiment for the Japan area conducted within the CSEP framework. We begin with some background and briefly describe efforts in setting up the experiment. The experiment, which closely follows CSEP concepts, is of a prospective sort and is highly objective. Its major feature consists in using Japan, one of the most seismically active and well-instrumented regions in the world, as a natural laboratory. To make full use of this location and of the earthquake catalog maintained by the Japan Meteorological Agency, rules for this experiment have been set up. The experiment consists of 12 categories, with four testing classes each with different time spans (1 day, 3 months, 1 year, and 3 years, respectively) and three testing regions called "All Japan," "Mainland," and "Kanto." A total of 91 models were submitted; these are currently under the CSEP official suite of tests for evaluating the performance of forecasts. This paper briefly describes each model but does not attempt to pass judgment on individual models. Comparative appraisal of the different models will be presented in future publications. Moreover, this is only the first experiment, and more trials are forthcoming. Our aim is to describe what has turned out to be the first occasion for setting up a research environment for rigorous earthquake forecasting in Japan. We argue that now is the time to invest considerably more efforts in related research fields.