This study aims to investigate underlying mechanisms of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). In this work, the GSE70493 dataset from GDM and control samples was acquired from Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. Afterward, differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were screened between GDM and control samples. Subsequently, functional enrichment analysis and protein–protein interaction (PPI) network analysis of these DEGs were carried out. Furthermore, significant sub‐modules were identified, and the functional analysis was also performed. Finally, we undertook a quantitative real‐time polymerase chain reaction (qRT‐PCR) with the purpose of confirming several key genes in GDM development. There were totally 528 up‐regulated and 684 down‐regulated DEGs between GDM and healthy samples. The functional analyses suggested that the above genes were dramatically enriched in type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) process and immune‐related pathways. Moreover, PPI analysis revealed that several members of human leukocyte antigen (HLA) superfamily, including down‐regulated HLA‐DQA1, HLA‐DRB1, HLA‐DPA1, and HLA‐DQB1 served as hub genes. In addition, six significant sub‐clusters were extracted and functional analysis suggested that these four genes in sub‐module 1 were also associated with immune and T1DM‐related pathways. Finally, they were also confirmed by qRT‐PCR array. Besides, the four members of HLA superfamily might be implicated with molecular mechanisms of GDM, contributing to a deeper understanding of GDM development.


Charge, mass and isotopic distributions of fragments formed in the central collisions of neutron poor and neutron rich elements 112Sn + 112Sn and 124Sn + 124Sn have been theoretically calculated and compared to the experimental data. Influence of surface and symmetry terms on charge and isotopic distributions, at low density freeze-out were investigated. We show that significant reduction of the symmetry term coefficient leads to better reproduction of the isotopic distributions, while the surface term effect is negligible. This is in agreement with our previous findings obtained from the interpretation of both central and peripheral heavy ion collisions.


Circuit for converting an AC voltage into a DC voltage, in which a full-bridge rectifier is replaced by two controlled switches. It is preceded by a throttle, so that to allow the rectifying function, a power factor correction. The circuit has a center voltage at the output. Characterized a rectangular load current can be generated with the aid of two other switches.


this article describes the methods for the transition of teaching in English of certain natural Sciences, in particular chemistry and didactic conditions, forms and methods of implementation of interdisciplinary integration of academic disciplines "chemistry" and "English", recommendations for the organization of lessons. This method stimulates students to study chemistry with the help of communicative capabilities of the English language, and thus contributes to the increased interest and motivation of students to study chemistry.


School-enterprise cooperation is an important method on training applied talents with high skills.The methods of order-based,pulling enterprise into school and resource sharing are used currently,However,much cooperation are simple,superficial,and lacking comprehensiveness,long effectiveness and institution.Through cooperation,Agricultural University of Hebei and Great Wall Motor Company Ltd.have established College of Great Wall Motor and the construction mode between enterprise and school,features,and the reasons without initiative of factory and students is analyzed,proposing the training mechanism for automobile applied talents from benefit equilibrium,changing ideas,evaluation mechanism,social security system.


The amount of data that is being generated and collected as a by-product of contemporary business processes grows faster than the ability to process them. To a many, they are an excessive load, but there is much less those who, by means of specialized tools and methods, manage to analyze that data efficiently in order to improve their business results. This thesis illustrates the Interactive Visual Analysis as a way of presentation of large amounts of data, in order to reveal and understand the underlying information. Primarily, by means of proofing or disproving presumed thesis and revealing unexpected regularities. In order to familiarize the reader with the methodology, a short systematization of data and related terms is given. A general model of data is also presented; the way the data correlate mutually, different sets regarding their structure and role in the analysis. The term "visualization" has been explained and a brief description of the visualization history is given. Each phase of the process is described, together with the related terms and procedures, concluding with an overview of the most used chart types. By introducing interactivity, we enter the domain of Interactive Visual Analysis. The reader is introduced with basic techniques of achieving interactivity in visualization, and their application on different chart types. A few commercial software tools are listed, with the emphasis on ComVis – general purpose Interactive Visual Analysis tool,used in our example. The described methodology is depicted in details through an example on a real data set, gathered from POS terminals a hypermarket, in order to illustrate an approach to discover cognitions which may help in better understanding and improvement of the business activities.


Oil and amygdalin were extracted simultaneously from cerasus humilis by twophase solvent extraction.The optimum extracting conditions were investigated by two orthogonal tests.They are hexane∶material=1∶5(W/V),methanol∶material=1∶7(W/V),concentration of alkali 0.1%,concentration of methanol 94%,temperature 60℃,time 4.5h.The extraction ration of oil and amygdalin are 82% and 91% respectively.


An infrasound calibration system has been developed at the National Center for Physical Acoustics. The calibration tank is comprised of a 1" cylindrical shell 40" in diameter, 40" long, with 40" diameter hemispherical end caps. The interior volume of the tank is approximately 1.8 cubic meters. Each hemisphere has a 10" punch-out with sealing gasket that allows either a speaker assembly or an "end cap" to be attached to each end. Normal assess is through an end cap attached to one end, with a speaker assembly attached to the other. The end cap allows rapid switching out of sensors. The speaker assembly consists of a 10" subwoofer with a sealable back volume designed to equalize the static pressure in the interior of the tank to that of the speaker back volume. The subwoofer is able to generate pressures up to 10-Pa in the interior of the chamber, with excellent isolation from external sound. Using 2 subwoofers, by playing a different frequency tone through each speaker and measuring their associated interm...


In vibration control with piezoceramics, a high coupling of the piezoelement with the structure is desired. A high coupling improves the damping performance of passive techniques like shunt damping. The coupling can be influenced by a the material properties of the piezoceramics, but also by the placement within the structure and the size of the transducer. Detailed knowledge about the vibration behaviour of the structure is required for this. This paper presents an in-depth analysis of the optimal shape of piezoelectric elements. General results for one-dimensional, but inhomogeneous strain distribution are provided. These results are applied to the case of a longitudinal transducer and a bending bimorph. It is obtained that for maximum coupling, only a certain fracture of the volume should be made of piezoelectric material.


Following the "frequency matching" concept,two approaches have been tested to improve ensemble-based precipitation forecasts for the case of Beijing "7.21"(21 July 2012) severe rainstorm and the period of rainy season from 1 May to 31 July 2010 in China.One approach is "probability-matched ensemble mean(PM)",which uses ensemble member-based precipitation frequency to calibrate the frequency of simple ensemble mean to correct smoothing effect caused by ensemble averaging;another is "bias correction",which uses observed precipitation frequency to calibrate the precipitation frequency of each ensemble member to remove systematic forecast bias caused by model deficiency.The results show that(1) PM can effectively correct the problem of "too-wide-spread light precipitation and too-much-reduced heavy precipitation" in a simple ensemble mean,especially so for extremely heavy rains.The larger ensemble spread is,the more improvement will be achieved.However,PM can barely improve total precipitation amount forecasts and has no ability to correct the systematic bias of the model.(2) Although bias correction is not effective in correcting precipitation position errors,it can effectively remove systematic bias in precipitation amount forecasts and,consequently,improve ensemble spread and probabilistic forecasts significantly.Bias correction of ensemble mean forecast needs to be done independently rather than through bias-corrected ensemble members via simple averaging.(3) PM approach also works well even after each ensemble member's bias has been removed in advance.Therefore,both PM and bias correction need to be done jointly to maximize benefit through model forecast post-processing in an operational environment.


Using two-fluid LES technology, a numerical model is developed to simulate double-plume formation under conditions relevant to CO2 ocean sequestration applications. A small-scale ocean turbulent flow is created and maintained by a forced-dissipative mechanism and LES. Data on ocean currents, temperature and salinity were employed by the model as inlet boundary and initial conditions, respectively. A set of empirical formulae, calibrated with laboratory experimental data, was developed to describe momentum, mass and heat transfer phenomena. Using this model, the influence of the initial diameter of CO2 droplets released in the deep ocean and thermal effects on the structure of two plumes were investigated. The height of the CO2 droplet plume and the local minimum pH within the CO2-enriched seawater plume were found to be very sensitive to the initial diameter of injected CO2 droplets. Plume height and pH are two key parameters to assess CO2 sequestration efficiency and related biological impacts. Thermal effects associated with CO2 dissolution appeared to have limited influence on CO2-enriched seawater plume structure and pH, but can significantly affect the LCO2 plume and the temperature field near the CO2 injection nozzle.


Despite long years of study, pathologists not only are ignorant of the causation of or the factors underlying the psychoses but are even uncertain of any constant pathologic change characteristic of this state. In the present investigation an attempt has been made to attack this problem from a new angle. It is suggested that much of the work on the psychoses has given negative results because the cerebral tissue was not obtained for examination during the life of the patient and because staining methods for oligodendroglia cells have only comparatively recently come to hand. These cells are so sensitive to change that they are rendered unfit for study during the agonal and the postmortem period that inevitably precedes necropsy. Removal of cerebral tissue for biopsy, orHirnpunktion, has been employed in Germany, especially in the differential diagnosis of dementia paralytica (Foerster1). However, the more recent silver impregnation methods are


Abstract, The archeological research that was conducted in the banks of Ranau Lake. West Lampung had been result some of conclusions and can be classified as religious sites, settlement sites and both. As religious sites they are Hujung Cumalagi, Batu Andak Kenihang. Johor. Way Lumbok. Batin Katung. and Si Pahit Lidah. and as settlement sites are Langkat. Batu l.umpang land 2. while sites considered as both religious and settlement is Tanjung Raya. The estimation of period that goes along the usage of the banks of Ranau Lake was based on relative chronology and ceramics dale. As a result, the sites could 've been occupied at least in 7 - 19 M and the presence of some megalithic traditions could be lies in the banks since late prehistoiy until history. Ceramics found that also lies there giving notes that these people has been interact with their outside place. Kata Kunci: penghunian, interaksi, Danau Ranau, situs


Bayesian equilibrium by iterative conjectures (BEIC) analyzes games with players forming their conjectures of what other players will do iteratively starting with first order uninformative conjectures (or prior distribution functions) and updating their conjectures iteratively with game theoretic reasoning until a convergence of conjectures is achieved, and this process of conjectures formation and updating itself is a common knowledge. The BEIC is a refinement of Nash equilibrium and narrows down the set of equilibrium, normally to a unique one. The paper compares how BEIC fares as a refinement of Nash Equilibrium with other refinements, including payoff-dominance, risk-dominance, iterated admissibility, subgame perfect equilibrium, Bayesian Nash equilibrium, perfect Bayesian equilibrium and the intuitive criterion.


② (School of Electronics and Information Engineering, Hunan University of Science and Engineering, Yongzhou 425006, China) Abstract: The type and scale of data has been promoted with a hitherto unknown speed by the emerging services including cloud computing, health care, street view services recommendation system and so on. However, the surge in the volume of data may lead to many common problems, such as the representability, reliability and handlability of data. Therefore, how to effectively handle the relationship between the data and the analysis to improve the efficiency of classification of the data and establish the data clustering analysis model has become an academic and business problem, which needs to be solved urgently. A hierarchical clustering method based on semantic feature is proposed. Firstly, the data should be trained according to the semantic features of data, and then is used the training result to process hierarchical clustering in each subset; finally, the density center point is produced. This method can improve the efficiency and accuracy of data clustering. This algorithm is of low complexity about sampling, high accuracy of data analysis and good judgment. Furthermore, the algorithm is easy


The influence of TiSi2 formation on native Si point defects has been studied at temperatures between 800 and 890 °C. Sb and B in doping superlattices were employed to trace point defect behavior. Formation of TiSi2 at 890 °C gives rise to an interface root‐mean‐square (rms) roughness of 22 nm. Ambiguities in the interpretation of the data arising from possible secondary ion mass spectroscopy artifacts due to sputtering through such a rough interface were avoided by etching the TiSi2 film and replanarizing the Si surface. A rms roughness of 0.05 nm was obtained, as checked by atomic force microscopy and cross‐sectional transmission electron microscopy. We observed an enhancement in Sb diffusion and retardation of B diffusion over control samples without TiSi2. This indicates a vacancy supersaturation and an interstitial depletion in the Si due to the presence of the silicide. Possible mechanisms of vacancy creation and interstitial depletion are discussed.


Background Since the introduction of National Institute for Health and Care Excellence glaucoma guidelines 2009, the number of referrals from community optometrists to hospital eye services has increased across the UK, resulting in increase in first visit discharge rates (FVDRs). Aim To assess the impact of Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) 144 on quality of referrals from community optometrists. Methodology A retrospective study of patient records who attended as new adult glaucoma referrals to clinics in Princess Alexandra Eye Pavilion, Edinburgh, and in Greater Glasgow and Clyde, was carried out across October–November 2014 (group 1) and September–October 2016 (group 2), before and after the introduction of SIGN 144. The primary outcome of this study is FVDRs. A secondary outcome is the extent of compliance to referral recommendations by SIGN guidelines. Results Three hundred and twelve and 325 patients were included in groups 1 and 2, respectively. There was a significant decline in FVDRs between these two periods from 29.2% to 19.2%. ( p=0.004) (OR 0.58 (95%CI 0.40 to 0.84)). Post-SIGN guidelines, 87% of referrals were compliant to SIGN referral criteria while 13% remained non-compliant. The main reasons for non-compliance were no repeatable visual field defects (42.0%) and referrals due to high intraocular pressure were either not repeated or not interpreted in the context of age and central corneal thickness (36.8%). Conclusion Patients referred after the introduction of SIGN guidelines were 33.5% less likely to be discharged at the first visit. Although compliance to most recommendations in SIGN guidelines has improved, there is still a need to improve adherence to referral criteria


Abstract Writing is one of the four language skills which have to be mastered in language learning, especially English. It is a productive skill in which the students produce the language in the written form. Most of the students think that writing is the most difficult skill. It is because they need some processes to be done. Narrative text is a genre text that is taught in Junior High School. This text is considered as an important text since it arises every year from Junior High School until Senior High School except expository text. Using personal letter as an activity can be use to help the students in writing narrative texts. This study are to describe how is the personal letter activity implemented in teaching writing of narrative texts to the eighth grades, to describe how the students' writing tasks after  the personal letter is implemented as an activity, and to find out the students' responses are toward the personal letter activity in teaching writing of narrative texts. This research is a descriptive qualitative research. The subject of the study is the eighth grades. The instruments of this study are semi – structured observation, students' writing tasks and questionnaire. The instruments are used to gain the data. The data are collected and analyzed by doing observation during the teaching learning process. The semi – structured observation and questionnaire were used to describe the implementation of personal letter as an activity in teaching writing of narrative texts. And, the students' writing tasks are used to know the students' writing abilities in narrative texts. Based on the research conducted by the researcher, the results showed that writing of the students were better after using personal letter as the activity in writing narrative texts. In conclusion, personal letter can be used as an activity to teach writing of narrative texts. It is because this activity can help the students to organize, to generate, and to write their ideas of writing narrative texts, so they can write the narrative texts well. Keywords: Writing, Narrative text, Personal letter


The sixteenth-century Price Revolution in Spain induced by the gigantic stream of Mexican and Peruvian silver was followed by a century of alternate inflation and deflation resulting from wars and weak governments. But in spite of frequent, long, and unsuccessful wars, monetary stability characterized the first half of the eighteenth century. Then a sharp rise in the output of the precious metals, particularly of Mexican silver, increased the Spanish monetary stock and forced prices upward by almost one third in the next three decades of comparative peace. To finance a bitter conflict with England in 1779–83, Spain was compelled to resort to her first issues of paper money. The paper currency depreciated rapidly during the war but rose to par after the conclusion of peace and remained there throughout the Nootka Sound controversy.


We study maximal identifiability, a measure recently introduced in Boolean Network Tomography to characterize networks' capability to localize failure nodes in end-to-end path measurements. Under standard assumptions on topologies and on monitors placement, we prove tight upper and lower bounds on the maximal identifiability of failure nodes for specific classes of network topologies, such as trees, bounded-degree graphs, d-dimensional grids, in both directed and undirected cases. Among other results we prove that directed d-dimensional grids with support n have maximal identifiability d using nd monitors; and in the undirected case we show that 2d monitors suffice to get identifiability of d-1. We then study identifiability under embeddings: we establish relations between maximal identifiability, embeddability and dimension when network topologies are modelled as DAGs. Through our analysis we also refine and generalize results on limits of maximal identifiability recently obtained in [12] and [1]. Our results suggest the design of networks over N nodes with maximal identifiability Ω(√log N) using 2√log N monitors and heuristics to place monitors and edges in a network to boost maximal identifiability.


To perform topological quantum computation we first need to experimentally realise anyons in a topological system. These systems are characterised by intriguing non-local quantum correlations that give rise to the anyonic statistics. What are the diagnostic tools we have to identify if a given system is indeed topological or not? Different phases of matter are characterised by their symmetries. This information is captured by order parameters. Usually, order parameters are defined in terms of local operators that can be measured in the laboratory. For example, the magnetisation of a spin system is given as the expectation value of a single spin with respect to the ground state. Such local properties can describe fascinating physical phenomena efficiently, such as ferromagnetism, and can pinpoint quantum phase transitions. But what about topological systems? Experimentally, we usually identify the topological character of systems, such as the fractional quantum Hall liquids, by probing the anyonic properties of their excitations (Miller et al. , 2007). However, topological order should be a characteristic of the ground state (Thouless et al. , 1982; Wen, 1995). The natural question arises: is it possible to identify a property of the ground state of a system that implies anyonic excitations? The theoretical background that made it possible to answer this question came from entropic considerations of simple topological models. Hamma et al . (2005) studied the entanglement entropy of the toric code ground state and noticed an unusual behaviour.


The viticultural industry is becoming an increasingly significant part of the Australian agricultural sector, with gross earnings of over $4 billion in 2002. Expansion of the industry in the last decade has been rapid, however its heavy reliance on irrigation has resulted in further expansion in many wine growing regions being limited by the
availability of water. This problem is not confined to the viticultural industry, with ever increasing pressures on water resources worldwide. As demands for water continue to
rise, new strategies to meet demands must be adopted. One of the strategies being increasingly employed is the recycling of wastewaters for a number of applications such
as irrigation and industrial uses.

The use of recycled water for vineyard irrigation provides a number of benefits. Among them are the reduced demands on potable supplies, reduced waste discharges to surface waters, and the opportunity for expansion of production. Recycled waters however, contain constituents which have the potential to cause deleterious effects to both
production and the environment. Therefore, the use of recycled water for irrigation requires targeted monitoring and management to ensure the long term sustainability of
both the vineyard and the surrounding environment. Traditional monitoring techniques including water quality monitoring and soil testing can be complimented by new
technologies and techniques which provide large quantities of information with relatively less labor and time. Such techniques can be used to monitor the vineyard environment to identify impacts arising from management practices, allowing vineyard managers to adjust management for sustainable production.


Security has become a matter of utmost importance since the aftermath of September 11th, especially in the area of computer systems. There are many options that a health educator can do as an individual to help secure the computer system at their worksite and in their home. This article is a brief overview of some of the precautions that should be taken on a daily basis to protect your computer systems, files, data, and other pertinent information. © 2005 Californian Journal of Health Promotion. All rights reserved.


Maturation of Xenopus laevis oocytes can be induced by mianserine, a tricyclic antidepressant. K+-free medium facilitates this maturation process. Mianserine must be kept in contact with the oocytes during the whole process of maturation for maximal efficiency. It is inactive after injection into the oocytes. Mianserine induces the formation of maturation-promoting factor (MPF) in the treated oocytes. Mianserine-induced maturation is strongly inhibited by theophylline, even in K+-free medium. Progesterone displays synergistic effects with mianserine for the induction of maturation. Likewise, oestradiol shows cooperative maturing effects with progesterone as well as with mianserine. It is suggested that mianserine exerts its primary effects on oocyte maturation by inhibiting a membrane adenylate cyclase.


The method to detect residues effectively of three pyrethroids in Houttuynia cordata by gas chromatography was established for enhancing the edible safety of Houttuynia cordata.The samples were extracted with acetone,cleaned by Florisil column which was leached with 50 ml hexane-acetone(95∶5,V/V),and determined by Agilent 6890N GC-μECD.The results showed that the recovery rate was 77.0%~108.5% with the relative standard deviation(RSD) of 1.6%~12.6%.This method was simple with good separation and high sensitivity and could meet the requirement of pesticide residue detection.


Endoscopic botulinum toxin injection is considered a safe and viable option for the management of achalasia [1,2]. Although esophageal perforation and mediastinitis are well-documented complications of this treatment, pseudo-aneurysm formation of the thoracic aorta following intersphincteric injection is exceedingly rare [3]. We report the first published fatality from a thoracic aorta pseudo-aneurysm bleed following inter-sphincteric botulinum toxin injection. Endoscopists should be vigilant of this potentially fatal complication. An 89-year-oldwomanwith a background of previous myocardial infarction and a permanent pacemaker for complete heart block complained of severe left scapular pain and pleuritic right chest pain 8 days after an endoscopic botulinum toxin injection. The toxin had been injected into the four quadrants of the lower esophageal sphincter using a 5mm needle (25 units into each quadrant). She had undergone 3-monthly endoscopic botulinum toxin injections for the previous 8 years. A chest radiograph showed no acute abnormalities. A computed tomography (CT) pulmonary angiogram revealed inflammatory changes around the esophagus suggesting mediastinitis without gas bubbles to prove perforation. There was also a small 7-mm aortic pseudo-aneurysm (found only in retrospect) (●" Video 1). She was started on intravenous meropenem. Discussions with a cardiothoracic tertiary center confirmed the decision of conservative management and agreed with the choice of antibiotic. Fig.1 Esophagogastroduodenoscopy images taken near the level of the gastroesophageal junction. a Narrowing of the lumen with the corresponding external compression from the hematoma. b Further extrinsic obstruction of the esophagus.


As the result of research conducted in 2011 in 107 different organisations, a new model of practice has been developed which offers significant insights into what makes a successful EDRMS project.


The factors of thulium, excessive silicon, Al Ti B, thulium additive and quench with wind and with water, which influence the intension of 6063 aluminum alloy, were investigated. The change of the inner structure were illustrated in theory. The results show that the amount of thulium and Al Ti B and thulium additive and the way of heat treatment have influence on intension. [


The catch and effort data collected on the Dolnctters based at Nawabunder, Rajpara and Jaffarabad landing centres formed the basis of the study. The data on size distribution of A. Dussumieri was collected from Nawabandar. Jaffarabad is one of the major landing centers
with 270-285 dolnet units under operation, Nawabunder is the second largest dolnet landing centre, with 250 dolnetters and 40-50 gill netters.


Introduction Techniques of assisted reproduction Who pays? The right that no stone should be left unturned What constitutes a right? Do people need to have children? A further look at the question of whether there can exist a right to do what is morally wrong The moral status of the human embryo Back to infertility 2. May doctors refuse treatment? The slippery slope Are those who are not infertile entitled to assisted conception? Openness Why do homosexuals want children? The natural and the unnatural The search for security Is fear a proper basis for moral judgement? Conslusions so far Are all methods of fertility treatment legitimate? Cloning: 1997-2001


Response of individual and combined strains of A. lipoferum (nativa and introduced) inoculation to wheat crop, in black cotton soils of Gulbarga district were studied. Higher yields of root and shoot dry matter and high nitrogenase activity (CH, reduction) were observed due to inoculation effect, as compared to unino- culated control. However, results of inoculation with combined strains of Azospi- tillum indicated no significant effect on the yield of dry matter and nitrogenas activity in comparison with individual strain inoculation.


Statistical methods are central to safeguards work. Measurements forming the basis of much materials accountancy are not perfect - perfect'' in the sense of being error free. Other sessions in this course address the destructive and nondestructive measurement of nuclear material, together with the inherent limitations in those measurements. The bottom line is that measurement errors are a fact of life and, since we can't eliminate them, we have to find a rational way to deal with them. Which leads to the world of statistics. Beyond dealing with measurement errors, another area of statistical application involves the sampling of items for verification. Inspectors from the IAEA and domestic regulatory agencies periodically visit operating facilities and make measurements of selected items. By comparing their own measured values to those declared by the facilities, increased confidence is obtained. If verification measurements were not expensive, time consuming, and disruptive to operations, perhaps verification of 100% of the inventories would be desirable. In reality, many constraints lead to inspection of only a portion of those inventories. Drawing inferences about a larger population'' of declared items in a facility based on verification information obtained from a sample of those items is a statistical problem. Theremore » are few texts on statistics in safeguards. The lengthy exposition IAEA Safeguards: Statistical Concepts and Techniques'' and the US NRC book edited by Bowen and Bennet are two good sources of general information. In the next section, the subject of measurement quality is addressed. The third section covers the evaluation of MUFs, and discusses the related subjects of error propagation and sequential analysis. The final section covers verification, inspection sample size calculations, and the D statistic. The text is written at an elementary level, with references to the safeguards literature for more detailed treatment.« less


PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a strongly-acid ion-exchange resin catalyst for producing a bisphenol compound industrially in high yield with high selectivity and a method for producing the bisphenol compound. SOLUTION: The strongly-acid ion-exchange resin catalyst for producing the bisphenol compound consists of a styrene-divinylbenzene copolymer resin having a sulfonate group and satisfies that (1) an ion exchange resin of the strongly-acid ion-exchange resin catalyst is a spherical gel type, (2) the amount of the sulfonate groups in all of the ion exchange resins is 0.5-4.0 meq/g in dry states, and (3) the ratio B/A of the maximum amount B of the sulfur atoms existing within 40% of the radius from the resin surface to the amount A of the sulfur atoms existing in the center of the ion exchange resin is ≥5. COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT


: In osmium-catalyzed dihydroxylations use of polymer-supported alkaloids with an anthraquinone core allows to obtain optically active diols with high enantioselectivities. Soluble as well as insoluble polymers have been tested for immobilization


The Hadriaca Patera (HP) volcano [e.g. 1-9] on Mars is situated on the north-easten rim of the giant Hellas impact basin, and on the western edge of the vast volcanic plains of Hesperia Planum [10, 11]. The eastern Hellas rim region harbours also other, possibly separate centers of volcanism that have only recently been proposed [12, 13]. The area is additionally characterized by a multitude of fluvial features, extending from small, partly dendritic channel networks (e.g 14-16, references therein) to vast, several km deep and hundreds of km long outflow valleys (e.g. 14, 16-19, references therein). The origins of the latter type have been theorized to be in volcanism and creation of sills and dikes beneath or near the channel heads [7, 19]. The Hesperia-Hellas region also shows evidence of even more significant volatile erosion prior to the formation of the outflow channels, also induced by endogenic activity [20]. We study a roughly 1200-km wide region around the HP volcano in search of real-life dike-indicative formations [for details and more discussion, see 21]. The origin and distribution of the dikes in the east Hellas region is of importance when discussing the regional geology, and especially when attempting to synthesize a chronology and causal relationships between regional events such as outflow channel formation. The dike patterns and sizes are related to the whereabouts and characteristics of their feeding magma bodies. Thus, the dike distribution around HP gives a hint about the heat flux in the region. This reflects on the possible formation scenarios of e.g. the outflow channels near HP as well as the formation of the several floor-fractured craters in the NE Hellas region. We have identified and documented a large number of straight/curvilinear ridges, fractures and grabens on the volcano itself, on its flanks, and on the whole eastern Hellas rim region. The best candidates for actual dike manifestations include e.g. transitions from linear fractures or grabens to linear ridges as well as grabens harbouring narrow ridges on their floors. Most dike candidates near HP are either radial or concentric to the volcano, indicating a causal relationship. However, many clusters farther away appear not to have been controlled directly by any HPrelated magma reservoirs. The existence of the latter kind hint towards regions of separate and so far unrecognized magmatic centres, and may thus help put together e.g. the long-disputed formation scenarios of the outflow channels adjacent to them. Acknowledgements We would like to thank Prof. Dr. H. Hiesinger for his imput in compiling this work. Funding for the work was provided by Alfred Kordelin foundation, and attending this meeting would not have been possible without the graciousness of the University of Oulu rector, Dr. L. Lajunen.


Zhujiding porphyry copper deposit is located in the north part of the "Three-river" metallogenic belt,and in the south part of non-ferrous and precious metal concentration region of Yidun island arc.Geochemistry of mineralizing bodies show that Rb,Th and U are enrich and Ba,Nb,Sr,P and Ti are obviously deficit.Light rare earth elements are riched with medium Eu anomaly.Based on ore chemical compositions and mineralizing tectonic setting,it is suggested that Zhujiding porphyry copper deposit is formed in the magma-tectonic environment of collision orogenic extension cooling process.Subduction of the western Yangzi platform offers factor for the mantle Cu-rich fluid went into the middle and upper Crust.


Genetic divergence assessed in 56 genotypes of cowpea using D2 statistics for thirteen yield contributing characters showed grouping of genotypes into nine clusters. Cluster I had the maximum number of genotypes. Characters viz., days to maturity, 100-seed weight and days to flowering were the highest contributors to D2 values. The geographical diversity was not related to genetic diversity.


The method of determining the performance of electromagnetic telephone receivers from input measurements has been extended and improved. It is shown that not only may an actual receiver at any one frequency be correctly represented by a simple piston‐phone but also the the position of the equivalent piston may be chosen arbitrarily, say at the mouth of the receiver. The characteristics of the equivalent piston‐phone for all positions of the piston are easily found graphically from a single, simple diagram constructed from data which are readily obtained from a few input measurements. The accuracy of the method has been tested experimentally by making independent measurements at the output end of the receiver. The results check closely.


Tensile strain is a widely discussed method to improve electron mobility and luminescence of Ge and has been applied in infrared photodetectors. By combining thin film crimping technology with microelectronic processing technology, uniaxial or biaxial tensile strain is achieved in a suspended Ge micro-bridge structure. The strain state can be manipulated by adjusting the sizes of the patterns, and a uniaxial tensile strain of 3.46% and biaxial tensile strain of 0.31% have been demonstrated in this work. The three-dimensional finite element analysis proves that the tensile strain originates from the strain redistribution between the W film and the Ge micro-bridge structure, and finally, the simulation results agree with the experimental data very well.


PURPOSE: To provide a sample rate converter which can be easily executed in the small number of constituting members by reducing an expression operation to the minimum. CONSTITUTION: A weighted filtering operation is executed. This operation stores the pixel stream of an RAM 30. During conversion, a pointer stored in a counter 38 and a register 40 is used for selecting a pixel from the RAM 30, and the pixel is multiplied by filter weight, and accumulated. A counter 44 and a mapping unit 46 select the multiplied weight. The multiplication is executed by an ROM 32 of a lookup table. An accumulator 33 stores the multiplied results until all the multiplication is executed at a point in which the filtered pixels are outputted.


Exercise-induced bronchoconstriction (EIB) is a key clinical problem for asthmatic children. Exercise challenge tests, used to confirm EIB, are time consuming and require patient cooperation. The aim of this study was to investigate the diagnostic values of fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO), impulse oscillometry (IOS), and plethysmography for prediction of EIB in children with well-controlled asthma. Fifty-nine children with allergic asthma aged 6–18 years were included in the study. FeNO was measured and all patients underwent spirometry, IOS, and plethysmography. An exercise challenge test was performed to assess EIB. EIB was confirmed with an exercise challenge test in 20 (33.9%) patients. Baseline FeNO levels were significantly higher in the group with EIB (P = 0.003). Resistance at 5 Hz (R5) and frequency dependence of resistance (R5–R20) in IOS and total specific airway resistance (SRtot), residual volume (RV), and the ratio of RV to total lung capacity in plethysmography were significantly hig...


Holographic [1] signals are one of the visual signals which are important and popular, because after proper processing they enable viewers to watch 3D scenes without wearing any external equipment. Holographic technology, though not mature yet, is thus believed to be the ultimate way of 3D display. However, current optical viewing methods are not mature in accuracy. Under this circumstance, research on holographic signal processing is mostly carried out in computers. A complete system can be set up in computers to simulate the whole procedure. However, in such a system, there is a major problem. That is how to view reconstructed 3D objects on a 2D computer screen so that the output of the system can be evaluated. One commonly-used method is to obtain 2D projection images at different distances from hologram plane. However, this method can only show the front views of reconstructed 3D objects, thus is not suitable for comprehensively evaluation. Another method is to solve the problem by surface reconstruction, which can view the reconstructed 3D objects from different angle of view. Surface reconstruction can be done by estimating phase in light field [3]. There are several methods dealing with it. For example, there are norm based methods like least-squares, path-following methods like branch-cut, Fourier method, and energy minimization method. However, most of them don't perform very well because their anti-noise characteristics are not so good. In [4], authors use Unscented Kalman Filter (UKF) to solve noise problem and prove that UKF is effective in removing AWGN noise. But they don't give demonstration about its specific application in holographic signal reconstruction. In this paper, we propose a new method to reconstruct surface of a 3D object by processing its 2D holographic signal. The method is based on Extended Kalman Filter (EKF). EKF has good performance on removing noise [2], and has been successfully used in recovering topography in InSAR [5]. The anti-noise characteristics of EKF will extend our method to various scenes. Our method involves pre-filtering, EKF, and self-adaptive weighting. With our method, the reconstructed 3D object can be viewed on a 2D screen. This will certainly facilitate future research on signal processing of 3D holograms.


Of the three known low-nuclearity iron−sulfur clusters in metallobiomolecules with the core units Fe2S2, Fe4S4, and Fe3S4, the last has not been obtained in stable form outside a protein environment. We describe a direct route to such clusters in the [Fe3S4]0 oxidation state, and demonstrate an effective stereochemical and electronic structural congruence with the native cluster. The synthesis is based on iron-site-differentiated clusters. Reaction of [Fe4S4(LS3)(SEt)]2- with (Et3NH)(OTf) affords [Fe4S4(LS3)(OTf)]2-, whose unique site is activated toward terminal ligand substitution. Treatment with 1 equiv of (Et4N)2(Meida) affords [Fe4S4(LS3)(Meida)]3-, which is readily converted to [Fe3S4(LS3)]3- with 1−2 equiv of additional reactant. The trinuclear cluster is formed by abstraction of Fe2+ from a precursor cubane-type [Fe4S4]2+ core and complexation as [Fe(Meida)2]2-. An analogous procedure starting with [Fe4Se4(LS3)(SEt)]2- yields [Fe3Se4(LS3)]3-. The compound (Et4N)3[Fe3S4(LS3)]·MeCN crystallizes in o...


About 2.8% of trauma sick persons hurt from peripheral nerve damages, thus, numerous approaches are using to improve peripheral nerve regeneration. In the current study, the efficacy of several dosages of Taurine for peripheral nerve regeneration was evaluated. About 0.1%, 1%, and 10% (w/w) of Taurine were added into thiolated chitosan hydrogel and its features including morphology, swelling properties, weight loss, hemo-, and cytocompatibility were assessed. Hydrogels' functionality was evaluated by injecting them into the crushed sciatic nerve of rats by using walking-foot-print analysis, Hot plate latency test, gastrocnemius muscle wet weight loss, and histopathological evaluation. Results demonstrated that the average pore size is in the area of 30–40 μm with interconnected pores and their weight loss was around 70% after 7 days. Results of blood compatibility and the MTT tests confirmed the biocompatibility of hydrogels. In vivo study illustrate thiolated Chitosan/Taurine hydrogels especially hydrogel includes 1% of Taurine enhanced sciatic nerve regeneration. In conclusion, Taurine can be used as a feasible treatment for peripheral nerve regeneration.


1. An absorbent product made with the possibility of controlled deformation under the influence of physiological secretions user, which comprises: a. absorbent inner layer having a surface that faces the garment, and a body facing surface; b. a deformable barrier structure disposed adjacent the body facing surface of the inner absorbent layer, wherein the barrier structure has a longitudinal direction, a transverse direction, a longitudinally central line disposed transversely central line and a peripheral edge; and c. shrinkable under the action of a fluid line connected to the deformable barrier structure in such a way that under the influence of physiological secretions user he exerts on the barrier structure impact force in both the longitudinal and transverse napravleniyah.2. An absorbent article according to Claim. 1, wherein the shrinkable under the action of a fluid line connected to the barrier structure into two or more spaced-apart points by means of fastening means selected from the group consisting of stitches compound bonding adhesives, cohesive bonds, thermal bonding, ultrasonic bonding, sealing and crimping tisneniya.3. An absorbent article according to Claim. 1, comprising two or more shrinkable under the action of a fluid medium cord, wherein at least two shrinkable under the action of a fluid medium cord intersect each drugom.4. The absorbent article of claim. 3, wherein at least one shrinkable by fluid cord


This paper examines the participation of women's organization in people diplomacy since the economic reforms and recognizes opportunities that diplomacy presents to women's organizations for further development.Such development exists in organizational theory,sources of funding,capacity building as well as the expansion of issues for discussion.


ABSTRACT Skempton coefficient B is commonly used to evaluate the saturation of a sample before the shearing stage in a triaxial test. For unsaturated soils, measuring the degree of saturation Sr at the end of the consolidation stage is very difficult whereas measuring Skempton coefficient B is very simple. Using this coefficient to obtain Sr of a sample in a triaxial apparatus without complex procedures might be an improvement, especially as regards testing procedures for unsaturated soils. Different authors have proposed a relationship between these two parameters based on the hypothesis that a variation of B coefficient with Sr is mostly due to the compressibility of air in the pores. However, the presence of air as a fluid phase gives rise to suction after the equilibrium is reached inside the sample leading to an increase in stiffness. Based on this observation, this article presents a new relationship that enables Sr to be evaluated with a given Skempton coefficient taking into account not only the initial void ratio and the isotropic elastic modulus but also the suction and the elastoplastic behaviour of the soil. The results of the proposed approach are then confronted with the original relationship and compared to experimental data.


Roadways that located around the beach often have some problems with seawater puddle caused by the tidal condition or commonly known as rob water. Therefore, it is better to apply steel slag with higher quality than ordinary aggregate as an alternative way to prevent the pavement damage. This research substitutes aggregate into the steel slag with 100% coarse aggregate sieve number 1⁄2" and 50% fine aggregate sieve number 30 that was soaked in the seawater for about 6 hours, 12 hours, and 24 hours, respectively. From this research, the longer this immersion was conducted, the more significant the Marshall characteristic was affected, resulting in poor quality of asphalt, marked by the declining of stability value, VFWA value, and MQ value. Meanwhile, the value of flow, VITM and VMA tended to rise. Keywords— immersion, Marshall, sea puddles, seawater, steel slag.


Forced, low-wavenumber disturbances of normal-mode form are determined for zonal flows with meridional shear, but no vertical shear, using the linearized primitive equations with spherical geometry. Results are presented both for stationary waves in the winter westerlies and for travelling, equatorially trapped modes.

For flow profiles representative of the winter lower stratosphere results are in agreement with some earlier studies, curvature effects giving a maximum geopotential perturbation close to the axis of the polar night jet. Wave structure is more variable for upper stratospheric profiles of larger meridional scale, and more sensitive to zonal wavenumber, spherical geometry and ageostrophy. Geopotential maxima are typically located polewards of mean flow maxima, and meridional structures are in general agreement with observation. The vertical penetration of disturbances to these broader flows is significantly reduced by singular-line absorption.

Equatorial wave solutions show the vertical wavelength of the Rossby–gravity wave to be sensitive to the meridional scale of the mean flow, and for and asymmetric jet the wave structure is approximately symmetric about the latitude of zero zonal mean absolute vorticity. The Kelvin wave is much less sensitive to meridional shear. A simple expression is given for the zonal mean acceleration due to waves dissipated by Newtonian cooling, and results confirm a suggestion that asymmetries in the zonal mean flow profile will be enhanced by the presence of such waves.


At full intensity the energy contained in each beam of the Superconducting Super Collider (SSC) is 400 MJ. The loss of a small fraction of that beam has the potential to cause magnet quenches or even severe damage to Collider components. To help protect the machine a sensitive and reliable beam loss monitor (BLM) system must be designed and built. In fact, BLM systems will be needed for all the accelerators of the SSC. The BLM system requirements for each of these accelerators will be discussed, but emphasis will be placed on the Collider. The discussion will include the preliminary design of BLM systems, the considerations that led to these designs, the calculations that were performed in development of the designs, and the problems that remain to be solved. A major tool in the design process has been a series of Monte Carlo calculations that were used to estimate beam loss distributions for the Collider arcs, the interaction regions, and the west utility region. These calculations were also used to stud...


Ruby Payne-Scott's family history reveals that her forebears believed in the importance of education; these ancestors included a number of independent-minded women. Payne-Scott, herself an educator, had many role models to follow as numerous women in her family tree were teachers. Similar to Ruby Payne-Scott, her female ancestors tended to have children later in life, while men in her lineage tried their hands at numerous professions. Although little is known about Payne-Scott's maternal ancestors, her paternal ancestors can be traced back three generations to the United Kingdom, based on census data, birth, death and marriage certificates and the occasional public notice in a local newspaper. Utilising these sources, this chapter describes the history of Payne-Scott's ancestors in order to place her educational and professional achievements within the context of a family story of success and emigration to a new continent.


Porta Gándara, M.A., E. Rubio Cerda & J.L. Fernández Zayas, "Solar Desalination System of Sea Water for Efficient lrrigation of a Crop Module", Hydraulic Engineering in Mexico (in Spanish), vol. XVll, num. 2, pages 5564, April-June, 2002. The lack of vegetables in the diet of people living by the seaside in Mexican California results in important health problems. lt is not easy to produce vegetables due to the lack of potable water, ln order to solve this problem, this paper introduces a household agricultural production system utilizing seawater, which is distilled by means of a shallow solar still. The still has a free surface of 10 m2 and can yieid an average daily quantity of daily. Distilled water is employed to grow vegetables (basically radishes, pumpkins and tomatoes) in an experimental plot of land where a highly efficient irrigation is pursued. Hence, it is possible to obtain biomass production of about 1 kg of fresh product for every 19 to 200 liters of distilled water, depending on the crop, in also variable crop cycles, between 30 and 150 days of duration. This paper ends with an economic evaluation and the assesment of water use. In comparison with the irrigation district of the valley of Santo Domingo, B.C.S., where extreme lack of water is felt, water is used in the latter in a proportion of between 180 and 500 times more than the strictly indispensable per unit product.


This study presents findings on the effect of domestic laundry detergents on the fastness to light of selected fibre reactive dyes applied to cotton. The study was carried out to elucidate the reasons for the accelerated colour loss of cotton garments was


Abstract: This paper raised a method of pattern recognition, it can be used to the continuous speech recognition with reference, text understanding and data file analysis. The tests run on a P II 350 personal computers shows that the judgment results of continuous speech recognition with reference, text understanding and data file analysis are the same as the human brain.


Two experiments are described in which subjects were required to report the name of a single position-cued 'critical' letter in a tachistoscopically displayed string of four letters. The stimulus characters were arranged to form three types of letter strings: (i) strings in which the letters did not form words; (ii) words in which contextual constraint of the critical letters was minimised; and (iii) words in which contextual constraint of the critical letters was maximised. The serial position of the letter to be identified in each string was cued at delays of −500, −100, and +500 ms, in experiment 1 and at delays of −510 and +510 ms in experiment 2, and in both experiments one group of subjects responded to letter strings which subtended a horizontal visual angle of 3·95 deg, while a second group responded to strings which subtended 1·02 deg. Correct identifications of critical letters showed that the presentation of words resulted in superior performance. This 'word superiority effect' is consistent with earlier findings implying that it has a perceptual locus. For the stimuli which subtended the large visual angle the word advantage was detrimentally affected only when the position of the critical letter to be identified was cued either 500 or 510 ms prior to the display of the letter string.


Graphitic carbon nitride, GCN, was oxidized using the Hummers' method. Both initial and modified materials were extensively characterized by various physical and chemical methods. The results showed the marked changes in morphology. Even though the short-range layered structure was still present in the oxidized sample, spherical nanoparticles with 5–50 nm sizes made up the bulk of the material. This results in the development of porosity in the mesopore range. Incorporation of oxygen groups at the edges of carbon nitrogen layers/units is likely responsible for the formation of nanospheres (folding due to the polar forces). This process also increased the band gap energy from 2.85 to 3.39 eV. The initial and oxidized samples were used as reactive adsorbents of a mustard gas surrogate. The results showed an improvement in the adsorptive performance upon oxidation. Both samples were found photoactive in visible light. The degradation to ethyl vinyl sulfide was enhanced on the oxidized sample owing to the developed porosity and chemical heterogeneity.


This paper proposes a new color halftone image quality assessment method based upon the color structural similarity measure with considering the human visual characteristics. To include the color visual characteristics, we carry out the color filtering for each luminance, red-green, and blue-yellow channels. Then, we apply the color structural similarity measure to the color filtered images, which are the reference image and the halftoned image, to evaluate the localized structural difference. By considering those characteristics, in this paper, the assessment of the color halftone images can be realized. We apply the proposed measure to the various kinds of color halftone images and confirm that the proposed measure can give reasonable results compared with the results by subjective evaluation.


In this chapter, we review the recent advances in the use of ILs in the process of forming polymeric gels (ionogels) and hydrogels. The tunability and versatility of ILs aligned with the features of natural (e.g. chitin or cellulose) and/or synthetic polymers have opened up new ways to process them not only as hydrogels, but also as matrices in different shapes and sizes. In particular, polymeric hydrogels processed in ILs can be useful for a broad range of applications from the removal of anionic dyes to biomaterials. We also highlight the physico-chemical properties and characteristics of the natural and synthetic polymers most used in the preparation of polymeric ionogels and hydrogels in ILs.


An ultrafast 4-bit CMOS flash A/D converter suitable for system-on-chip was designed based on 0.18 μm generic CMOS technology.In this A/D converter,the analog part of traditional flash structure was replaced by the so-called threshold inverter comparator(TIQ) array.The resulting 4-bit ADC operates with 2 GSPS,dissipating 9.80 mW of power at 1.8 V supply voltage.


Data schemes and data extract,analysis and apply are important phrases for building a data warehouse.In this paper,on the base of research of the data model,treatment scheme,architecture of data warehouse,in line with nowadays technology and realistic appling needs.we give a data warehouse intergrative processing model.the paper emphasizes on the structure and the basic processing task for every part of the model.This model in favor of improve the efficiency of designing a data warehouse.


Poverty is a complex phenomenon based on a network of interlocking economic, social, political, and demographic factors. An understanding of the extent, nature, and determinants of rural poverty is a precondition for effective public policy to reduce poverty in rural Pakistan. The present study attempts to analyze the impact of socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of households on poverty, using primary data collected in the village of Betti Nala in Tehsil Jatoi, district Muzaffargarh in southern Punjab. We have used two distinct approaches: (i) a poverty profile, and (ii) an econometric approach in our empirical analysis. The results show that household size, dependency on household, participation, landholdings, and number of livestock have a significant impact on poverty incidence. Our final conclusion is that efforts should be made to improve socioeconomic factors in general and demographic factors in particular to alleviate rural poverty in remote areas of Pakistan, while land should be allotted to landless households.


A novel, multi-spherical, sliding friction isolation bearing for seismic design of bridges is developed in this paper. The configuration characteristics, operation and sliding mechanism are explained. The nonlinear restoring model is presented and the simplified calculation formula of force-displacement relationship of the bearing with identical friction coefficient of frictional interface is established. Experiment of mechanics performance is carried out and the sliding order and the force-displacement relationship are verified. The results show sliding order in theoretical analysis and experimental observation is identical and force-displacement relationship curve derived from theoretical analysis is well agreed with experimental results. The multi-spherical sliding friction isolation bearing has good energy dissipation capacity, horizontal displacement capacity, designated re-centering function, smart stiffness and smart damping behavior under different intensity amplitudes external excitation as it can optimize the parameters of an isolation system for a given bridge based on multiple performance objectives or multiple earthquake levels. These characteristics make the proposed bearing suits for performance-based seismic design of bridges for multiple levels of ground shaking.


The real minimum skew rank of a simple graph G is the smallest possible rank among all real skew symmetric matrices, whose (i,j)-entry (for i not equal to j) is nonzero whenever {i, j} is an edge in G and is zero otherwise. In this paper we study the problem of real minimum skew rank of powers and strict powers of paths.


Nowadays airport managers are facing several challenges: steady passenger traffic growth over the next 20 years and in parallel increasing security and environmental regulations. This also heavily affects the development of airports themselves in combination with an establishment of different requirements from carriers. Large international airlines concentrate their service on a few hubs with local feeder (Hub-and-Spoke). Low-cost carriers indeed operate from smaller and remote located airports predominantly (Point-to-Point). Because of law and environmental conditions, many international hub-airports operate at capacity limits. However smaller airports complain about decreasing utilisation and their dependency on no-frills airlines.
Both problems can be addressed and solved stepwise by introducing so-called Decision Support Systems measuring the performance as well as quantifying the airports facility management efficiency.


ABSTRACT In this paper the n- -injective (pre)envelopes and the n- -projective (pre)covers are investigated, which generalize and include some known envelopes and covers. Various equivalent characterizations and sufficient conditions of their existence are provided. In addition, the (special) -injective (pre)envelopes are discussed under almost (or quasi)excellent extensions of rings, some new or extending results on the -envelopes and the -covers are obtained.


The massive biomass of Eastern Georges Bank haddock (Melanogrammus aeglefinus) is difficult to harvest without capturing less robust, but still valuable groundfish stocks like Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) and some flatfish species. Specialized haddock trawls that raise the mouth of the nets off-bottom have reduced bycatch but the very poor status of Atlantic cod prioritizes even greater reduction to prevent exceeding regulatory fishing quotas. Raising the entire fishing gear off-bottom may further reduce bycatch while eliminating benthic impacts, expanding access to grounds previously off-limits to bottom-tending trawls. We evaluated an off-bottom trawl (OBT) to harvest Eastern Georges Bank haddock while reducing catches of overexploited stocks. The OBT net has very large meshes at the front end, made with innovative "helix" twine that produces lateral hydraulic forces while towing, resulting in self-spreading of the meshes. We established optimal gear configurations to achieve the target OBT net shape and distance to the seafloor by using an assortment of mensuration sensors/loggers and cameras. The OBT caught similar amounts of haddock and reduced some bycatch more than a standard bottom "Ruhle trawl", but also caught fish of the same lengths despite the OBT using a smaller mesh-sized codend. The OBT also demonstrated similar requirements in vessel RPMs as the Ruhle trawl, despite having a larger swept area.


This paper reports my experience on care to clients with AIDS, based on a Homeodynamics Model of Martha E Rogers which was published in a previous issue of this journal. I present the steps that I lived through in this process and emphasize the challenges, the gains, and the opportunities for personal-professional and environmental growth as well as the alternative therapies I utilized with those clients. From that experience I recommend the use of this model in the process of caring for clients with AIDS, due to the humanistic, innovative and effective approach it offers. However, I call attention for the fact that its utilization requires, from the part of the nurse, a new world view, demanding new attitudes and values, new ways of perceiving, beyond the five senses.


To solve the problem of low efficiency using physical model in circuit simulation, a surrogate Kriging model is introduced and discussed in this paper. Taking the example of an RF amplifier, contrast of effects of different regression and correlation models on the accuracy of Kriging model built is given. Based on analysis of the result, useful strategies for choosing optimal regression and correlation models are proposed.


A description of the self-adapting filter based on the least mean square algorithm is presented and its ability in removal of the noise components in real time recording of the high resolution ECG (HRECG) is discussed. Beside the classical solution, an application of the network of the time sequenced adaptive recurrent filter is shown. Such a filter requires of an additional synchronisation algorithm, however, is able to track rapidly varying nonstationarities without smoothing effect and therefor can be used for dynamically changing ECG signals.


On the proposition of the Synod of Bishops on the Word of God in the life and mission of the Church (2008) speaks of the analogy of God's Word. If being is said in many ways and tberefore the relationsbip between them is analog and if God has spoken and speaks in many ways, tben the relationsbip between these modes is analog. Scripture is not identified substantially with the Word of God. But the scripture is about God's way of containing all unique, singular and eminent for the Word of God in Person, Jesus Christ. Scripture is Verbum Dei de Verbo Dei.


The method of quasilinearization generates a monotone iteration scheme whose iterates converge quadratically to a unique solution of the problem at hand. In this paper, we apply the method to two families of three-point boundary value problems for second order ordinary differential equations: Linear boundary conditions and nonlinear boundary conditions are addressed independently. For linear boundary conditions, an appropriate Green\`s function is constructed. Fer nonlinear boundary conditions, we show that these nonlinearities can be addressed similarly to the nonlinearities in the differential equation.


The purpose of this study was to understand the cultural identities of students in a twelfth grade English language arts classroom. Additionally, this study sought to explore and to better understand how implementing culturally relevant pedagogy in the English language arts classroom may enhance students' literacy experiences, may empower the cultural identity of students, and may shape students' perspectives of themselves and their peers. A case study method was utilized; there were five cases: teacher, four students, and whole class. Multiple interviews, classroom discussions, and student writings were used as data. The findings show that with the implementation of culturally relevant pedagogy in the classroom, there needs to be an intentional emphasis put on building cultural competence, the second tenet of CRP. This focus leads to students' abilities and confidence in acting on the third tenet, challenging the social structures. Additionally, cultural competence leads to a deeper level of authenticity among the students; this enabled students to really see others' cultural identities and how they inform and influence perspectives. Further research needs to be done in more schools, with more students, and over longer periods of time.


ABSTRACT The theory of natural law is usually used as a moral and philosophical foundation in order to protect the individuals property rights of Intellectual Property (IP). Philosophically, the protection of  Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) can not be separated from the dominant thought that emphasizes the doctrine of natural human factors research. This study is legal research by using law and historical approach. The analysis of primary data is qualitatively through internal valuing to obtain a complete understanding (verstehen), while the secondary data such as law material is analyzed using hermeneutics (interpretation), content analysis and deductive method. The result shows that in respect of the development of the theory of natural law, there are four dominant theory of natural law to examine IP namely utilitarian theory, labor theory, personality theory, and social-planning theories. Moral doctrine which is based on natural law was adopted by the IPR regime to protect the individual owners of IPRs in order to that rights  would not be violated by others. The natural law theory (the natural right) is still relevant to be used as a moral and philosophical foundation for the protection of IPR, as an individual property rights. Keywords : Intellectual Property, Intellectual Property Rights, traditional cultural expression, Protection


This paper seeks to appraise Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice through a multifocal perspective. It broaches the themes of jurisprudence, religious bigotry, marginalization and the omnipresence of anti-Semitism in Venice and analyses them through the various lenses of literary ideologies prescribed by scholars over time. In this way it explains the play as a story of the misconstrued pain and misery of a misunderstood man, alienated on grounds of adhering to beliefs that opposed the majoritarian religious code of the day. This paper goes on to juxtapose the Venetian ghetto with the social order of contemporary India by interrogating into the similarities between these pluralistic geographies through a postcolonial perspective. It further explains The Merchant of Venice as oscillating between an infectious remainder of historical prejudices and a still suppurating, exigent exposé of our contemporary stereotypes. It unravels The Merchant of Venice as a contemporary social commentary on the binary of inclusion and exclusion. . Equivocality and The Merchant of Venice "The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there" -L.P. Hartley


Aiming at the problem of low accuracy of short-term load forecasting in power system, this study combines genetic algorithm GA and BP neural network to establish a short-term forecasting model for power system load forecasting. Firstly, the weights and thresholds of BP neural network are optimized using genetic algorithm GA to get the optimal solution of BP neural network prediction model. Then the validity of the prediction model is verified by examples. The results show that the improved model can effectively reduce the measurement error of the BP neural network model and improve the prediction accuracy, which provides a reference and reference for the development of short-term load forecasting in China's power system.


A recent report by Tan [1 ] described a patient with two intnaluminal diverticula of the stomach demonstrated on an upper gastrointestinal series but not detected on endoscopy or on follow-up radiographic studies [1]. The existence of these diverticula was later called into question by Beeckman [2], who offered the explanation that they were artifacts created by barium jets in high viscosity residual fluid in the stomach. In the absence of surgical and pathologic confirmation, the nature of these barium collections that resemble the well known intnaluminal diverticulum of the duodenum has remained speculative. This report describes a child with radiographic findings that suggested two intraluminal gastric diventicula, in whom surgical exploration failed to reveal the lesions.


Background: Management of head and neck cancer includes surgical resection, chemotherapy and radiotherapy (RT). We hypothesized that pre-radiation treatment with a mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) antagonist, spironolactone (S), may have radioprotective effect on salivary glands. Materials and Methods: Study included 30 adult female Wistar albino rats. Rats were divided into four groups (G); G1, control group; G2, RT-only group, G3, S-only group; G4, RT plus S group. Rats were sacrificed at 6th hour; 21st and 100th days after RT. Salivary gland samples were taken for microscopical examination. Results: Periductal-perivascular inflammation scores in 21st and 100th days tended to be higher in G2 than in G4, but the difference was not statistically significant. Periductal-perivascular fibrosis score was significantly different between the groups in 100th day (P: 0.010). Pairwise comparisons revealed that periductal-perivascular fibrosis scores were different between G1 and G2 (P: 0.014), G2 and G3 (P: 0.014), G2 and G4 (P: 0.034). Conclusions: MR blockade with S, when initiated before RT, ameliorates late radiation-induced fibrosis in the submandibular glands.


BACKGROUND
Esophageal bypass surgery is palliative surgery for unresectable esophageal cancer with esophageal stenosis, which often leads to poor nutrition. We investigated the clinical characteristics, nutritional status, and outcomes of patients who underwent esophageal bypass surgery.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
We reviewed 11 cases of esophageal bypass surgery for unresectable esophageal cancer performed in our hospital between 1992 and 2015, and we examined the surgical outcome along with preoperative nutritional assessment.

RESULTS
There were 1, 9, and 1 cases of cStage Ⅲ, Ⅳa, and Ⅳb, respectively. For the bypass, a gastric tube was used in 8 cases and colon reconstruction in 3. Postoperative complications were 1 case of recurrent laryngeal nerve palsy (9%), 4 cases of anastomotic leakage (36%), and 4 cases of pneumonia (36%). The preoperative nutritional status (total protein, albumin, and cholinesterase levels) in the esophageal bypass group (n=11) was significantly worse than that in the esophagectomy group (n=40). The median survival of all patients (n=11) was 5.7 months. Patients receiving induction chemoradiotherapy followed by bypass surgery (n=7) had a median survival of 15.2 months.

CONCLUSION
Since patients undergoing esophageal bypass surgery often present with malnutrition, attention to anastomotic leakage and infectious complications is necessary.


Abstract Powdery mildew on wasabi (Wasabia japonica (Miq.) Matsumura)plants reduces photosynthesis and severe infections can result in chlorosis and defoliation, resulting in reduced yields. Erysiphe cruciferarum Opiz ex L. Junell was confirmed as the causal agent using sequence analysis of the ITS1-5.8 S-ITS2 region, along with conidial and conidiophore morphology. To evaluate reduced-risk management options, the efficacy of four commercially available products was assessed over three separate trials conducted in a commercial wasabi greenhouse in British Columbia. The products tested included two biological pesticides, Bacillus subtilis strain QST 713 (formulated as Rhapsody ASO), and Streptomyces lydicus strain WYEC 108 (formulated as Actinovate SP), as well as a copper-based fungicide, Cueva, and a plant formulated extract, Regalia Maxx (from Reynoutria sachalinensis). Treatments were applied at two-week intervals over 10–12 weeks starting with onset of disease symptoms. Natural infection by E. cruciferarum was allowed to progress on the plants during the trials. Leaves were assessed for powdery mildew biweekly based on percentage of leaf surface infected, which was then converted to area under the disease progress curve (AUDPC) for each treatment. Five to six applications of Cueva and Regalia significantly (p < 0.05) reduced the progression of powdery mildew in all trials. Rhapsody also reduced disease progression in some trials, but to a lesser extent. Actinovate was not effective. These results provide producers of wasabi with reduced-risk options for management of powdery mildew.


We present new determination of the birth rate of AXPs and SGRS and their associated SNRs. We find a high birth rate of 1/(500 yr) to 1/(1000 yr) for AXPs/SGRs and their associated SNRs. These high rates suggest that all mas- sive stars (greater than � (23-32)M⊙) give rise to remnants with magnetar-like fields. Observations indicate a limited fraction of high magnetic fields in these pro- genitors thus our study necessarily implies magnetic field amplification. Dynamo mechanisms during the birth of the neutron stars require spin rates much faster than either observations or theory indicate. Here, we propose that neutron stars form with normal (� 10 12 G) magnetic fields, which are then amplified to 10 14 - 10 15 G after a delay of hundreds of years. The amplification is speculated to be a consequence of color ferromagnetism and to occur after the neutron star core reaches quark-deconfinement density. This delayed amplification alleviates many difficulties in interpreting simultaneously the high birth r high magnetic fields, and state of isolation of AXPs/SGRs and their link to massive stars.


MULTIPLE REPRESENTATION IN PRIMATE SI: A VIEW FROM A WINDOW ON THE BRAIN - A. W. Roe, R. M. Friedman, and L. M. Chen * DETERMINANTS OF MOLECULAR MECHANISMS IN NEURORETINAL DEVELOPMENT - R. K. Sharma and D. A. Johnson * MOLECULAR NEUROBIOLOGY OF RETINAL DEGENERATION - R. K. Sharma * CELLULAR AND MOLECULAR MECHANISMS OF MECHANICAL AMPLIFICATION IN THE MAMMALIAN COCHLEA - X. Wu and J. Zuo * NEUROCHEMISTRY OF THE GUSTATORY SYSTEM - D. V. Smith and J. D. Boughter Jr. * NEUROCHEMISTRY OF THE MAIN OLFACTORY SYSTEM - M. Ennis, K. A. Hamilton, and A. Hayar * GLUCOSE SENSING NEURONS - V. H. Routh, J. J. McArdle, N. M. Sanders, Z. Song, and R. Wang * CO2/H+ HOMEOSTASIS: ROLE OF CENTRAL AND PERIPHERAL CHEMORECEPTORS IN ADULT MAMMALS - S. Lahiri, S. M. Baby, C. D. Giulio, and A. Roy * SENSORY NEUROPATHIES - M. Auer-Grumbach, P. Auer-Grumbach, and T. Pieber * AMINO ACID-SENSING MECHANISMS: BIOCHEMISTRY AND BEHAVIOR - D. W. Gietzen, S. Hao, and T. G. Anthony * OXYGEN SENSORS OF THE PERIPHERAL AND CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEMS - G. M. C. Renshaw and M. Nikinmaa


In this paper, a scheme of rotating power flow controller (RPFC) is proposed, which can flexibly and effectively reduce the voltage deviation under the disturbance of distributed generation and load side. Firstly, based on the prototype of a new rotating power flow controller (RPFC) with a rated capacity of 40 kVA, a two-dimensional finite element model based on the core component RPST is established. Then the optimal parameter combination in RPST is determined by the Taguchi experiment method and weight calculation. Finally, Matlab, Maxwell, and Simplorer are used to realize the joint simulation of field-circuit coupling. The results show that the voltage regulation efficiency and power factors of RPFC are increased by 1.4% and 2.7% respectively under the optimal parameter combination, which provides a reference for the design and engineering application of large-capacity RPFC.


This study aims to clarify the flow characteristics and wake structure of convertible vehicles. Numerical simulations are performed to obtain a preliminary visualization, and the potential vortical motion characteristics are investigated by examining the Q-criterion across multiple cross-sections. Comparisons between numerical and experimental results validate the reasonableness of our numerical model. The predominant wake topology of a two-seat convertible is obtained in terms of the location, shape, and spin direction of the vortices. We observe a "nook" vortex that is triggered by the flow acceleration induced by the pressure gradient near the windshield step, provoking undesirable aeroacoustic noise and degrading the cabin comfort. Complicated A-pillar vortex dynamics are revealed, with small vortices that are shed into the cabin and impinge the seats, eventually forming a long tail structure above the back of the vehicle. Moreover, periodic fluctuations of the windshield vortex are induced by the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability, significant impacting the streamwise wake. Ultimately, the combined motion characteristics of the A-pillar and windshield vortices exert undesirable effects on the aeroacoustic noise and drag, suggesting fundamental mechanisms for achieving optimal energy-saving and acoustic convertibles in the future. Based on the wake topology and the vortical generating mechanism, approaches are proposed to reduce the drag and aeroacoustic noise by impeding the flow over the door into the cabin and modifying the shape of windshield step, and lengthening the windshield in stream direction.


Students in vocational high schools majoring in software engineering programs are required to have web programming skills as one of the favourable demands in the industry today. However, there are lacking supports for learning such subjects in vocational high schools that can be offered from conventional methods. Hence, the students failed to understand and follow the instructions in the module. This study aims to develop a web application to comprehend web programming in an advanced way for students and engage them with gamification method. By combining ADDIE and Prototyping models the research obtained validation results 95.24\% and 91.93\% from education and media experts, respectively. Based on the small and large groups trials conducted at State Vocational High Schools 4 Malang, more than 87 per cent participants accepted the web application's feasibility. From these validations, it can be affirmed that the research product was valid and feasible to support the learning process of Basic Programming subjects in Vocational High School.


Measurement of 228 Ra activities in the upper 300 m water column was conducted at two stations in the South China Sea using an MnO 2 -fiber extraction/b-counting technique of 228 Ac. Results showed that 228 Ra activities ranged from 0.38 to 3.60 Bq·m -3 . The vertical profiles of 228 Ra at the time-series station favored a steady state assumption. Based on a one-dimensional steady state model, 228 Ra-nitrate coupled approach was applied to stations NS97-43, NS99-53 (T 1 ), NS99-53 (T 2 ). New production thus quantified were 4.4, 5.1 and 5.7 mmolC·m -2 ·d -1 , respectively. f ratios in the South China Sea were estimated from the derived new production and the documented primary productivity in the regime, to be 0.12—0.15.


Development Credit Agreement-West Bengal Forestry Project (with schedules and General Conditions Applicable to Development Credit Agreements dated 1 January 1985). Signed at Washington on 25 March 1992


In this paper, the possibility of travelling wave amplification in graphene at the THz range of frequency is explored using a quantum mechanical model. Graphene as a zero overlap semi-metal can be easily doped electrically. Due to high mobility of electrons and holes in graphene, high drift velocities can be induced by applying a DC voltage across the graphene sheet. In this paper, the interaction between the EM wave and carriers in graphene is analysed. The linear response theory is applied to find the induced current and conductivity in the presence of an incident electromagnetic wave. The results show that the negative conductivity and in turn electromagnetic amplification in microwave and THz frequencies can be obtained for drift velocities slightly greater than the phase velocity at room temperature. With this property, graphene can be used in future solid state travelling wave amplifiers instead of its semiconductor counterparts.


Micro papillary carcinoma (MC) has been recently recognized as a rare distinctive variant of adenocarcinoma. It is considered as an aggressive variant with a high incidence of lymph node metastasis, only few cases of colorectal MC have been reported. Recently it has been officially recognized in WHO classification We present a case of MC of the sigmoid colon with extensive lymph node metastasis. A 61-year-old female patient was admitted with a complaint of acute abdomen diagnosed as MC of the sigmoid colon. The patient underwent Left hemi colectomy with lymph node dissection.


A new method of estimating the economic loss caused by dam-break by dividing flood inundated area is proposed based on the characteristics of flood propagation and property damage. In order to determinate the property damage rate,the flood inundated area is divided into six zones: breach zone,destructed zone,severely affected zone,medium disaster zone,slightly affected zone and safe zone. The criteria of zoning and the property damage rate of each zone are given. Furthermore,a method of dividing the inundated area is proposed based on matter-element model to avoid inconsistency. The estimation method saves workload,and is convenient and rapid.


741Background: Recently it has been suggested that primary tumor location may have a clinical impact on the front line chemotherapies; namely, right-sided tumor benefit less from cytotoxic and targeted agents compared with left-sided tumor. Regorafenib and TAS 102 have recently emerged and the prognostic impacts of tumor location on these agents are unknown. Methods: Clinical information of patients who were administrated Regorafenib and/or TAS 102 was retrospectively collected. Patients' demographics by tumor location were compared using Fisher's exact test. Time to treatment failure (TTF), and overall survival (OS) by tumor location were calculated using Kaplan-Meyer Methods and compared using Log-rank test. In addition, subgroup analyses were performed to see the interactions between tumor location and covariates in each agent. All tests were performed at the two-sided .05 significance level. Results: The median TTF (mTTF) and OS (mOS) were 2.0 and 8.0 months in the regorafenib group (n = 98) and were ...


In this paper, suppose [Formula: see text] be a convex function of class [Formula: see text] which is even and positively homogeneous of degree 1. We establish the Lions type concentration-compactness principle of singular Trudinger–Moser Inequalities involving [Formula: see text]-Finsler–Laplacian operator. Let [Formula: see text] be a smooth bounded domain. [Formula: see text] be a sequence such that anisotropic Dirichlet norm[Formula: see text], [Formula: see text] weakly in [Formula: see text]. Denote [Formula: see text] Then we have [Formula: see text] where [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] is the volume of a unit Wulff ball. This conclusion fails if [Formula: see text]. Furthermore, we also obtain the corresponding concentration-compactness principle in the entire Euclidean space [Formula: see text].


A recent analytic theory of two-dimensional isotropic percolation indicates that the critical behaviour near pc is determined by the same renormalisation group fixed point describing the behaviour of the associated dilute Ising model. A specific prediction is that the mean number of clusters, K(p), contains a singularity of the form K(p) approximately mod p-pc mod 2ln mod ln mod p-pc//, rather than the currently accepted form K(p) approximately mod p-pc mod 2- alpha , with alpha =-2/3. Novel series expansion studies for the site and bond percolation problems on the triangular and simple quadratic lattices, respectively, are presented in support of the new finding, which implies the absence of a separate universality class for two-dimensional percolation processes.


To develop the shooting rapidity of athletes of national biathlon team,the authors studied eight athletes' shooting rapidity and performance through interviewing experts,observing practice on the spot,and analyzing match videos.It was concluded that the shooting rapidity of biathlon rested with the finished time of three subroutines,first firing,each series firing,and each spare firing;and performance routine of athlete should be optimized by improving the correct cognition and active adjustment of self physical-psychological status and skill exhibition.The cognition of "quickness" and the adjustment of irrelevant emotion should be treasured specially.


Objective-To determine whether theavailability of2 agonist inhalers without prescription leads to undertreatment ofasthma. Design-Cross sectional studyofadequacy of treatment inasthmatic subjects whopurchased 2 agonist inhalers andsubjects whoobtained inhalers byprescription. Setting-Community


Edition description: This book proposes freedom through an unlikely source: science. Mediating Black religious studies and liberation theology, Philip Butler explores how Black Americans can utilize technology in conjunction with their spirituality in the fight towards materializing freedom.
 The discussions shaping what it means for humans to exist with technology and as part of technology are already underway – transhumanism suggests that any use of technology to augment intellectual, psychological or physical capability makes one transhuman. Black Transhuman Liberation Theology explores the role technology already plays in the lives of Black Americans, and considers the possibility for technology to be used as a liberative tool.
 Addressing some of the issues that have prevented Black Americans from participating in science, technology and even science fiction, the book engages how religion, medical abuse and the perception of the Black intellect in America have served as barriers. It takes a critical scientific approach to understanding the biological embodiment of Black spiritual practices, and projects how current and emerging technologies can be aligned with spiritually generative biological states to physically deconstruct oppressive societal structures.


After exposure to either an aggressive or nonaggressive television program, third and fifth grade boys and girls heard descriptions of nine conflict situations and were asked (a) to predict how the average child would react in such a situation and (b) to indicate the behavior they believed to be most morally correct. As predicted, children who had seen the aggressive film were significantly more likely to choose aggressive responses as being normative than were children exposed to the control film. Beliefs about the moral correctness of aggression, however, were not reliably influenced by film condition. Older children were found to regard aggressive responses to conflict as more commonplace than did younger children, and in accordance with sex-role stereotypes, males more frequently than females suggested that aggressive reactions were morally correct.


Khilaf or the divergence of opinion among the scholars is keep going on all the time; in fact it has increase in this latest era as what had been behold by prophet S.A.W in His word. Originally, khilaf among the scholars is an immensity of Syaria and the mercy to people will become delimit when it is involve with the desire element and selfish behavior, thus it will transform into disunity, strife and inflict chaos situation among community. This article is designed to discuss about the oversight situation among the ages scholars which had been wrote in the works created by them which we still can have them until today. Taking the lessons from a fairly prominent scholar, Imam Suyuti, there are a lot of morals and messages that can be obtained from the khilaf situation happened. Among of the lesson that can be taken from the good behavior that had been showed by Imam Suyuti is: The present scholars should take a deep breath to think about the consequences from the oversight view. The elements which are able to cause the continually of khilaf need to be avoided. The comportment of contention by showing of the fluency of argument and the capability of speaking should be avoided. The great ethical and the noble manners should be prioritized when confront with the oversight situation. Imam Suyuti does not give a quick reply or open an argument setting, in fact with his great manners; he gives the answers calmly and with the nature of a noble writer through his writing that can be seen with a calm mind out of pressure.


ABSTRACT Seed dispersal by birds is critical for regeneration and maintenance of plant populations. Birds likely rely on both visible light of human's eyes and ultraviolet (UV) reflectance when foraging for fruit. Fruit color is suggested to be an honest signal that allows birds to assess nutrient status. We assessed UV reflectance and pericarp color as honest indicators of fruit maturity in three fruiting shrubs in Osaka, Japan. We measured sugar content and light spectra in the fruits of Eurya japonica, Ligustrum obtusifolium and Ligustrum japonicum and observed birds foraging on target individuals. We found that a model including fruit color and UV reflection as explanatory variables best explained variation in fruit sugar content in E. japonica and L. obtusifolium, whereas UV reflection alone best explained variation in L. japonicum. Next, we assessed relationships between fruit color and bird foraging behavior and found strong temporal correlation between active foraging and peak sugar content. Bird foraging behavior differed among the three shrub species. This is probably because fruit consumption by birds is not entirely dependent on fruit color or sugar content of the fruits. It must depend on various factors such as the presence of fruiting neighbors of conspecific or heterospecific plants and seasonal variation of population-level or community-level fruit abundance.


Generally the spatial resolution for CCD camera is denoted by modulation transfer function. Based on the difference between theoretic analysis and practical testing for MTF, the alignment between the CCD pixels and the input pattern and the image motion between object and CCD camera within integral time will affect the modulation transfer function. The relationship and difference between MTF and CTF are discussed and described.


<jats:p>There has been a long history of interest on how (if) the absorption coefficient of "pure" fresh water (<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M1"><mml:msub><mml:mrow><mml:mi>a</mml:mi></mml:mrow><mml:mrow><mml:mtext>fw</mml:mtext></mml:mrow></mml:msub><mml:mfenced open="(" close=")"><mml:mrow><mml:mi>λ</mml:mi></mml:mrow></mml:mfenced></mml:math>) and "pure" seawater (<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M2"><mml:msub><mml:mrow><mml:mi>a</mml:mi></mml:mrow><mml:mrow><mml:mtext>sw</mml:mtext></mml:mrow></mml:msub><mml:mfenced open="(" close=")"><mml:mrow><mml:mi>λ</mml:mi></mml:mrow></mml:mfenced></mml:math>) changes with temperature (<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M3"><mml:mi>T</mml:mi></mml:math>), yet the impact of <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M4"><mml:mi>T</mml:mi></mml:math> reported in the literature differs significantly in the blue domain. Unlike the previous studies based on laboratory measurements, we took an approach based on ~18 years (2002–2020) of MODIS ocean color and temperature measurements in the oligotrophic oceans, along with field measured chlorophyll concentration and phytoplankton absorption coefficient, to examine the relationship between <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M5"><mml:mi>T</mml:mi></mml:math> and the total absorption coefficient (<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M6"><mml:mi>a</mml:mi><mml:mfenced open="(" close=")"><mml:mrow><mml:mi>λ</mml:mi></mml:mrow></mml:mfenced></mml:math>) at 412 and 443 nm. We found that the values of <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M7"><mml:mi>a</mml:mi><mml:mfenced open="(" close=")"><mml:mrow><mml:mn>412</mml:mn></mml:mrow></mml:mfenced></mml:math> and <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M8"><mml:mi>a</mml:mi><mml:mfenced open="(" close=")"><mml:mrow><mml:mn>443</mml:mn></mml:mrow></mml:mfenced></mml:math> in the summer are nearly flat (slightly decreasing) for the observed <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M9"><mml:mi>T</mml:mi></mml:math> range of ~19–27 °C. Since there are no detectable changes of chlorophyll during this period, the results suggest that <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M10"><mml:mi>T</mml:mi></mml:math> has a negligible impact on <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M11"><mml:msub><mml:mrow><mml:mi>a</mml:mi></mml:mrow><mml:mrow><mml:mtext>sw</mml:mtext></mml:mrow></mml:msub><mml:mfenced open="(" close=")"><mml:mrow><mml:mn>412</mml:mn></mml:mrow></mml:mfenced></mml:math> and <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M12"><mml:msub><mml:mrow><mml:mi>a</mml:mi></mml:mrow><mml:mrow><mml:mtext>sw</mml:mtext></mml:mrow></mml:msub><mml:mfenced open="(" close=")"><mml:mrow><mml:mn>443</mml:mn></mml:mrow></mml:mfenced></mml:math> in this <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M13"><mml:mi>T</mml:mi></mml:math> range. As a complement, the impact of salinity on <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M14"><mml:msub><mml:mrow><mml:mi>a</mml:mi></mml:mrow><mml:mrow><mml:mtext>fw</mml:mtext></mml:mrow></mml:msub><mml:mfenced open="(" close=")"><mml:mrow><mml:mi>λ</mml:mi></mml:mrow></mml:mfenced></mml:math> was also evaluated using three independent determinations of <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M15"><mml:msub><mml:mrow><mml:mi>a</mml:mi></mml:mrow><mml:mrow><mml:mtext>sw</mml:mtext></mml:mrow></mml:msub><mml:mfenced open="(" close=")"><mml:mrow><mml:mi>λ</mml:mi></mml:mrow></mml:mfenced></mml:math> and <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M16"><mml:msub><mml:mrow><mml:mi>a</mml:mi></mml:mrow><mml:mrow><mml:mtext>fw</mml:mtext></mml:mrow></mml:msub><mml:mfenced open="(" close=")"><mml:mrow><mml:mi>λ</mml:mi></mml:mrow></mml:mfenced></mml:math>, where good agreements were found from these observations.</jats:p>