In this study, the genetic variation of porcine heart fatty acid-binding protein(H-FABP) gene was detected by PCR-RFLP with HinfⅠ and HaeⅢ in 77 pigs of Zhongxu Black Line I. Meanwhile, effects of different PCR-RFLP genotypes of H-FABP gene on main growth traits were analyzed in order to investigate whether they have unfavorable effects on growth traits or not during making meat qualities assistant selection by H-FABP gene. The results showed three variant restriction sites of porcine H-FABP gene including HinfⅠ-RFLP in 5′-upstream, HaeⅢ-RFLP and HinfⅠ *-RFLP in intron 2, were conformed by PCR-RFLP method. Statistic significant difference(P0.05) of product performance (weight of 170 days) was found among animals grouped by different genotype at the HinfⅠ-RFLP site, while groups divided by any other genotypes had no significant differences among all product performance. Conclusion made in this paper will contribute to molecular assistant selection of economic traits including meat quality and production performance in pig breeding.


The traditional education, which puts great emphasis on reciting, cannot meet the needs of times. Schools come to seek after novelty and reformation. As one branch of education, Chemistry is also required to culitivate of creative thinking of students. It need to utilize creative thinking tactics, cooperate with course and provide students with chance of using imagination to train student's sharpness, smoothness, creativity and rigor in thinking.


The development of novel sorbents for reducing the carbon dioxide emissions at high temperature focused on cesium-doped CaO sorbents with respect to other major flue gas compounds in a wide temperature range has been studied in this paper. The sorbent calcined under oxygen atmosphere leads to the formation of cesium superoxide (CsO 2 ) on the sorbent surface. The thermogravimetric analysis of sorbent with 20 wt % cesium loading on CaO demonstrated a CO 2 sorption uptake of 66 wt % CO 2 /g of sorbent. It is remarkable to note that zero adsorption affinity for N 2 and O 2 at temperatures as high as 600 °C was observed. This is due to the presence of highly oxidized phase of cesium (CsO 2 ) on the sorbent surface and the sorbent being unable to react with nitrogen at the above-mentioned temperatures. In the presence of water vapor, the adsorption of CO 2 increased to the highest capacity of 77 wt % CO 2 /g of sorbent. The reason for this behavior is that the water vapor digs into the bigger particles, thus making the porous type of sorbent material. In the presence of nitrogen oxide, the final CO 2 adsorption remained the same, but the rate of adsorption was higher at the initial stages (10%) than the case where no nitrogen oxide was fed.


Abstract The vitamin gets through food and the sun. But there is case that density alters by certain factor in vitamin.So this research analyzed effect of the liver function factor and change of 25OH-VIT.D 3 density. Research targetis a person who undergo health medical examination in the certain university hospital medical examination centerfrom August, 2012 to December, 2012. Comparison classified to experiment group and control group. As a result, variable that influence in 25OH-VIT.D 3 density showed by age and B type inflammation of the liver titer. Specially,B type inflammation of the liver titer displayed reverse corelation (R 2 =0.40). Therefore, inflammation of the livercarrier must manage liver fuction test and density of 25OH-VIT.D 3 . Key Words : AST, ALT, 25-Hydroxyvitamin D 3* Corresponding Author : Dong-Yeop Lee(Sunmoon Univ.)Tel: +82-10-4421-7177 email: email@example.com Received March 19, 2013 Revised (1st April 4, 2013, 2nd April 9, 2013) Accepted June 7, 2013


Objective To investigate the risk factors for low cardiac output syndrome( LCOS) after heart valve replacement in elderly patients. Methods Of 150 elderly patients who underwent heart valve replacement,39 patients with postoperative LCOS were in the observation group,111 patients without postoperative LCOS were in the control group. A clinical data of the patients were analyzed by univariate analysis to determine the influence factors for LCOS,and then the risk factors for LCOS were determined by logistic regression analysis. Results Univariate analysis showed that body mass index,renal insufficiency,cardiothoracic ratio,pulmonary arterial pressure( PAP),cardiopulmonary bypass time,aortic clamping time,blood loss ratio,postoperative arrhythmias,ventilation time and intensive care unit stay were the influence factors for postoperative LCOS( all P 0. 05). Unconditional logistic regression analysis showed that patient's body mass index 19 kg /m2,cardiopulmonary bypass time 100 min,blood loss ratio 20%,aortic clamping time 60 minutes were the risk factors for postoperative LCOS. Conclusion Patient's body mass index 19 kg /m2,cardiopulmonary bypass time 100 min,blood loss ratio 20%,aortic clamping time 60 min are the risk factors for LCOS in elderly patients undergoing heart valve replacement.


Cloud model is an effective tool for qualitative and quantitative transform,a specific structure generator is formed by normal cloud model through expectation,entropy and hyper entropy,This particular structure makes the normal cloud model has more general applicability and simply and straightforward completed conversion process between qualitative and quantitative.An intrusion detection methods is proposed based on cloud model and BP Network.The cloud model and BP algorithm are combined.The simulation experiment is compared respectively by KDD99 CUP data set.Experimental results show that the method is not only fast convergence but also has fewer number of iterations.It can improve the accuracy of intrusion detection.


Abstract We present a few highlights concerning the search for short-period variable stars in four galaxies, namely IC 1613, LGS3, Cetus and Tucana, based on very deep, multi-epoch HST/ACS photometry. These are discussed in the context of the star formation histories obtained from our very deep color-magnitude diagrams. In particular, we show how the pulsational properties of the RR Lyrae stars, which represent the vast majority of the observed variables, can trace subtle differences in the age and metallicity of the old population. For example, in the dwarf spheroidal galaxy Tucana we find that the fainter RR Lyrae stars, having a shorter period, are more centrally concentrated than the more luminous, longer period RR Lyrae variables. Through comparison with the predictions of theoretical models of stellar evolution and stellar pulsation, we interpret the fainter RR Lyrae stars as a more metal-rich subsample. In addition, we show that they must be older than about 10 Gyr, indicating that the metallicity gradient must have appeared very early on in the history of this galaxy. We also compare the populations of Cepheids in the galaxies of our sample based on their period-Wesenheit diagram. We tentatively classify them as classical short-period Cepheids in the two gas-rich galaxies (IC 1613 & LGS3), and as anomalous Cepheids in the dwarf spheroidals.


It is intended a classification of passages from Plautus and Cicero with ut -modal regarding the sintactical function that the relative ut and its antecedent have (or, on the absence of the latter, the whole subordinate clause). As a result we offer, but with many reservations, five groups (respectively, Adjunct of Manner, Adjunct of Context, Apossition + Reasoning, Defining Disjunct of inner logic and Non-defining Disjunct of inner logic).


To prevent food safety risks,the coverage of food traceability system need to be promoted and popularized.Compared with ordinary food production,enterprises should increase investment to produce traceable food.Analysis of food-producing enterprise's willingness to invest in the implementation of traceability system or not,the level of investment and influence factors is the foundation of the key issues.Based on the Logistic,Interval Censored regression model,this paper studied the main factors impacting enterprises' willingness to invest trace back system's and the level of investment.The results showed that 79.2% of companies are willing to invest in the implementation of traceability system,of which 80.7% of the enterprises are willing to choose the level of cost 20% of new investments or below.The major factors of investing willingness are as below: Employees(between 1000-2000),manager's age,expected return and the government preferential policy,and the main factors affecting the level of investment are the characteristics of agricultural processing industry,sales volume(3 million and above),manager education level(college and above) and the expected return.


The authors assessed the risk for psychosocial maladjustment in a population-based sample of dependent children of parents with serious physical illness. In the context of The Hamburg Health Survey, a wide range of data on current life situation and health status was collected from a representative sample of families with children and adolescents between 4 and 18 years old (N=1,950). For 4- to 18-year-old children and adolescents in Germany, the prevalence of a serious physical illness in a parent was 4.1%. The adjusted risk of psychosocial maladjustment in this target group, depending on the case definition, is elevated, with internalizing problems being more prevalent than externalizing problems. Although problems for affected boys decline with puberty, they increase for girls. In this age-group, girls and boys appear to be under particular strain when the respective same-sex parent has a serious physical illness. Exposure to serious parental physical illness is an epidemiologically relevant risk factor for psychosocial maladjustment in children and adolescents that needs to be better recognized by medical professionals.


This thesis describes a client-server toolkit called Sync Kit that demonstrates how client-side database storage can improve the performance of data intensive websites. Sync Kit is designed to make use of the embedded relational database defined in the upcoming HTML5 standard to offload some data storage and processing from a web server onto the web browsers to which it serves content. Sync Kit provides various strategies for synchronizing relational database tables between the browser and the web server, along with a client-side template library so that portions web applications may be executed client-side. Unlike prior work in this area, Sync Kit persists both templates and data in the browser across web sessions, increasing the number of concurrent connections a server can handle by up to a factor of four versus that of a traditional server-only web stack and a factor of three versus a recent template caching approach. Thesis Supervisor: David R. Karger Title: Professor


This paper presents the design and development of Modular Multilevel Inverter (MMI) to reduce Total harmonic distortion (THD) using intelligent techniques towards marine applications. Many researchers have described the additional advantage of inverter control challenges such as voltage imbalance, increasing the number of voltage levels, power quality issues, reducing the number of semiconductors switches and achieving higher efficiency. Under the intelligent techniques, the implementation is carried out with aid of Artificial Neural Networks (ANN), Fuzzy Logic Controller (FLC) and Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS) to calculate the modulation index (ma) and switching angles (θ) for MMI. Based on the calculation, it is trained to form a mapping between inputs and outputs for obtaining reduced Total Harmonics Distortion (THD). The objective of the intelligent controller is to control the inverter for regulating the output voltage with lowest THD. The proposed control structure has been estimated and compared for better robustness in terms of switching angle and modulation index with least THD in the inverter. Simulations and prototype models are made to analyze the controller's performance, for inverter output voltage and harmonics. This proposed system is designed for marine lighting load application. The FPGA performance with all intelligent methods are analyzed by in SPARTAN3E500 FPGA device.


pressure accumulating system provided for a hydraulic circuit of a hybrid vehicle featuring hydraulic machines (20, 22) associated with a transmission (4) driving the vehicle wheels, which deliver a high pressure to a gas pressure accumulator (46) of this system, characterized in that it comprises a closed enclosure of impact protection (56) comprising within the pressure accumulator (46), a control fluid inlet (48) into this accumulator which is secured in the absence of signal, and a controlled gas exhaust means (52) outside the enclosure (56) in case of overpressure.


The main purpose of the paper Li et al (2020 New J. Phys. 22 113019) is to determine the common properties of electronic waves and electromagnetic waves. The electronic Maxwell's equations are identical to the Dirac equation, describing both electrons and positrons.


In order to investigate the exchange between copper complexes (Cu centers) in silicon crystal, the change of the photoluminescence (PL) intensity of the Cu center (Cu PL center; no-phonon peak: 1.014 eV) with annealing time was measured for p-type float-zone grown silicon crystals diffused with various concentrations of Cu at 700 °C followed by rapid cooling to room temperature. It was essential to assume the presence of at least one preceding species (precursor) of the Cu PL center to explain the annealing behavior of the PL intensity. Almost the same quantity of the precursor as the Cu PL center was estimated to remain in the as-cooled crystal. The formation energy of the Cu PL center was 0.57±0.05 eV, and dissociation energy was 0.63±0.05 eV. A positive correlation between the precursor of the Cu PL center and the deep level transient spectroscopy center located at Ec−0.15 eV was suggested.


Multiplierless CSD(canonical signed Digit) filter architectures are widely investigated for the application of high-speed and low-power wireless communication systems like digital IF(Intermediate Frequency) filters. In this paper, we propose a CSD architecture with minimum adders for linear phase FIR(Finite Impulse Response) filters. Reduction of the number of adders through sharing the common sub-expression has been used in fast filter application. We propose new techniques to make artificial common sub-expression through the bit shift, bit add, and bit complement. As an example, we utilize the 73 taps FIR filters with specification in the first version of CDMA cellular. It is shown that the proposed CSD format architecture achieves 9.2% adder reduction comparison to the conventional common sub-expression sharing architecture.


salt policy, which has embroiled public health officials in an often contentious and occasionally personal feud regarding the dangers of the ubiquitous mineral, seems closer than ever before to being broken. At the urging of the American Medical Association (AMA) and a coalition of public health advocacy groups, the FDA is now contemplating whether to revoke salt's "generally recognized as safe" (GRAS) designation. A revocation would open up the door to tighter regulation and would force the food industry to meet government standards for allowable salt content in foods. The government needs additional regulatory power, restriction advocates contend, because 77% of the sodium in the U.S. diet comes from processed and restaurant foods, while only 6% is added by consumers at the table. They say that even Americans who diligently attempt to lower their sodium intake are stymied by the food industry's excessive use of sodium in its products. Indeed, the average American now consumes about 4 g/d of sodium, which well exceeds the 2.3 g/d the Institute of Medicine (IOM) recommends as a tolerable upper intake level. Even further reductions in intake would be needed to reach the 1.5 g/d target level that the IOM has set for healthy Americans aged 19 to 50 years.


RU-486, which has proven efficacy as an abortifacient in early pregnancy and potential as a contraceptive or contragestive, represents one of the most promising new approaches to population control. Clinical trials have demonstrated that 60-85% of women with pregnancies of 8 weeks' duration or less will experience complete abortion after a single dose of 6000 mg/os of RU-486 and a further 10-20% will in addition require surgical intervention. These rates are improved significantly by the addition of a small single dose of a synthetic prostaglandin. No side effects directly attributable to the antiprogesterone have been reported, and bleeding in RU-486-induced abortions is comparable to that after vacuum aspiration. Other applications in pregnancy include the induction of labor at or near term in cases of intrauterine death and termination of 2nd-trimester pregnancies in combination with oxytocic agents. When RU-486 is administered during the follicular development phase of the menstrual cycle, ovulation is delayed for several days. Administration shortly after ovulation inhibits corpus luteum formation. Careful timing of RU-486 treatment is essential to gain an effective luteolytic effect, and more study is need to understand the reduced effectiveness of RU-486 as a menstrual inducer in the presence of human chorionic gonadotropin. In short, RU-486 has immense potential, but many unanswered questions remain regarding its mechanism of action during pregnancy and the various phases of the menstrual cycle.


Recently, discriminative methods such as SVM has been widely used in object location. But there has been no method to perform well enough both at accuracy and speed. For linear SVM, it is hard to separate the nonlinear samples exactly. For kernel SVM, it is hard to be applied to real-time application, because of the computational cost kernel function. Local linear SVM has been proved to be a good tradeoff between fast linear SVM and qualitative best kernel methods. However, it is still time-consuming for real-time application. To design a high efficiency and high precision eye locahzer, first, we deduce a fast variation for LL-S VM which can serve as a more fast and accurate substitute of the traditional nonlinear kernel SVM. Second, to further improve the speed, we also adopt a candidate selection strategy. Extensive experiments on the BioID, FERET, FRGC, and LFW database show that our proposed method achieves favorable localization accuracy against other state-of-the-art methods at a speed as fast as 5ms to localize two eyes.


Preliminary notes The paper presents research results on noise levels in 2010 and 2013 in accordance with the prescribed standards HRN ISO 6393, HRN ISO 6395, HRN ISO 6394, HRN ISO 6396, and HRN ISO 5131. The measurements were performed on the test fields of the Belje holding company. The research was conducted on 3 FENDT tractors, model 410 in order to determine the increase of generated noise with regard to the exploitation time of the tractors. The results show that none of the tractors included in the research generated higher levels of noise than the 80 dB allowed by standards. Generally, the hypotheses were proved that exploitation "older" tractors would generate higher noise levels compared to exploitation "younger" tractors.


Crystal of GaV 4 S 8 , a multiferroic system hosting a N´eel-type skyrmion lattice phase, has been investigated by polarized Raman and IR spectroscopy above and below the ferroelectric phase transition. Counts of the observed IR and Raman-active modes belonging to distinct irreducible representations agree quite well with group-theory predictions. Phonon spectra are assigned and interpreted with the aid of ab initio calculations of the phonon spectra in the ferroelectric phase. Results allow appreciation of phonon frequencies of the modes involved in Jahn-Teller distortion and their contribution to the spontaneous polarization.


An inverse scattering technique for estimating the unknown shape of a two-dimensional acoustic obstacle, based on scattered pressure field measurements, is proposed. The pressure field is measured around the obstacle domain at distinct points when the obstacle is excited by incident plane waves with different angles of incidence. The contour of the obstacle is described by a parametric model utilizing cubic B-splines, while the obstacle boundary is considered acoustically either soft or hard. Given an estimate of the obstacle shape the scattered field is computed based on the boundary element method. Then the shape is updated iteratively by minimizing a cost function representing the discrepancy between the measured and the estimated field. To minimize the cost function the particle swarm optimization algorithm is adopted, which belongs to the general class of evolutionary algorithms. In the present study, two different operation modes of the particle swarm optimization, the asynchronous and the synchronous one, are examined and applied to simulated scattered pressure field data. The performance of the algorithm with respect to different original obstacle shapes and in cases of noisy simulated measurements is investigated.


Successful performance improvement efforts draw from such disciplines as psychology and systems theory, and from the fields of instructional design and human resource development. Both knowledge management and organizational learning are valuable additions to the human performance technologist's repertoire for performance analysis and intervention selection. Future endeavors in research should provide empirical evidence of the value of knowledge management and organizational learning to organizational performance. The study of knowledge management and organizational learning is currently moving towards broad-based, empirical research. The knowledge gained from this research will enable human performance technology researchers and practitioners to implement interventions based on tested models, and proven processes and outcomes of knowledge management and organizational learning. This paper discusses how the human performance technologist can augment human performance analysis and solution planning by drawing from knowledge management and organizational learning literature. (Contains 26 references.) (Author/AEF) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS HUMAN PERFORMANCE TECHNOLOGY U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research arid Improvement BEEN GRANTED BY EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION LITERATURE REVIEW CENTER (ERIC) "'This document has been reproduced as M-.SlmorisOnreceived from the person or organization originating it. Mary Ann Doucette 0 Minor changes have been made to Concordia University improve reproduction quality. TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) EXPANDING THE HUMAN PERFORMANCE TECHNOLOGIST'S REPERTOIRE: KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT, ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING AND Points of view or opinions stated in this document do not necessarily represent official OERI position or policy. Successful performance improvement efforts draw from such disciplines as psychology and systems theory, and from the fields ofinstructional design and human resource development. Both knowledge management and organizational learning are valuable additions to the human performance technologist's repertoire for performance analysis and intervention selection. In this paper, I will discuss how the human performance technologist can augment human performance analysis and solution planning by drawingfrom knowledge 00 management and organizational learning literature. kr) kr) The concept of organizations as learning systems emerged at the beginning of the twentieth (2( century. However; it was not until the 1990s that we witnessed an overwhelming interest in the impact of knowledge management and organizational learning on organizational performance. Current research on knowledge management and organizational learning has dealt primarily with theory and model building. In addition to the empirical research, there is an abundance of literature based on the experiences of practitioners and facilitators working in these fields (Davenport & Prushak, 1998; Preskill & Torres, 1999; Hansen, Nohria, & Tierney, 1999). The existing literature represents the first step in a long-term research program. The second research phase began in the late 1990s. It involves the development and validation of survey instruments to diagnose and establish learning organizations; and empirical studies that test models and describe the processes and outcomes of knowledge management and organizational learning on organizational performance (O'Dell, Grayson, Jr., & Essaides, 1998; Yeung, Ulrich, Nason, & Von Glinow, 1999). Knowledge management is a conscious strategy of getting the right knowledge to the right people in the right time, and helping people share and put information into action in ways that strive to improve organizational performance (O'Dell, Grayson, Jr., & Essaides, 1998). The focus of most knowledge management literature is on knowledge generation, codification and transfer. Knowledge generation encompasses knowledge acquired by an organization as well as knowledge developed within it. The aim of codification is to put organizational knowledge rito a form that is organized, explicit, portable, easy to understand and accessible to those who need it. An essential element of knowledge management, which is vital to the organization's success, is to develop specific strategies to encourage spontaneous, unstructured knowledge transfer (Davenport & Prusak, 1998). Nonoka and Takeuchi (1995) defined organizational knowledge creation as the capability of a company as a whole to create new knowledge, disseminate it throughout the organization, and embody it in products, services and systems. Similarly, DiBella and Nevis (1998) stated that organizational learning is a cycle of three processes: knowledge creation or acquisition, knowledge dissemination, and knowledge use. In contrast, O'Dell, Grayson, Jr., and Essaides (1998) proposed a seven-step knowledge process (create, identify, collect, organize, share, adapt and use). Yeung, Ulrich, Nason, and Von Glinow (1999) offered a different perspective about the organization's capacity to learn. They proposed that an organization's fundamental learning capability represents its capacity to generate and generalize ideas with impact (change) across multiple organizational boundaries (learning) through specific management initiatives and practices (capability).


Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a respiratory infectious disease caused by a coronavirus known as SARS-CoV-2 and is currently a worldwide pandemic. Treatment management for COVID-19 patients is grouped based on the level of symptoms experienced by the patient. The use of large amounts of drugs (polypharmacy) in COVID-19 patients with moderate and severe symptoms can increase the possibility of drug interactions. This study aims to determine patient characteristics and the potential for drug interactions in COVID-19 patients at Hospital X Samarinda City. The data collection method was conducted retrospectively based on the medical records of COVID-19 patients hospitalized from March to December 2020. Data on potential drug interactions were analyzed using the Drugs.com application. The results showed that of the 30 patients with COVID-19, male-dominated (60%) and aged between 46 and 55 years (50%). Data on potential drug interactions showed that 28 out of 30 patients had the potential to experience drug interactions in the categories of severe (9,23%), moderate (74,62%), and mild (16,15%).


Dimensional analysis is traditionally one of the first topics covered in a general chemistry course. Chemists use dimensional analysis as a tool to keep track of units and guide them through calculations. Although unit conversions are taught in a variety of subjects over several grade levels, many students have not mastered this topic by the time they enter college. To properly equip beginning chemistry students, a collaborative active-learning activity was developed. This article describes the activity and reports data of the effects it had on students' performance in a first-semester general chemistry course at a large research institution.


By 1904 (Moriya, 1904) it was recognized that the lactate formed by various animal tissues was entirely, or almost entirely, the L-form. A few years later, however, Dakin and Dudley (1913) found that animal tissues formed D-lactate from methylglyoxal; Neuberg (1913) also discovered glyoxalase a t the same time. Dakin and Dudley (1913) also reported that phlorizin-treated dogs formed glucose from D-lactate, and proposed methylglyoxal as an intermediate between both lactate isomers and glucose. Other workers (e.g., Neuberg & Kobel, 1929) observed methylglyoxal formation from hexose diphosphate by many biological materials, and this compound became generally accepted as a glycolytic intermediate. Thus Meyerhof (1933) wrote: ". . . the whole biochemical world was seized with the idea that lactic acid formation must take place with methylglyoxal as an intermediate." The fact that the lactate formed by glyoxalase was the D-form seems not to have discouraged these theories. That D-lactate readily formed glucose did not pass unchallenged; Cori and Cori (1928) reported that it gave rise to little glycogen in fasted rats, and was utilized a t roughly one-fourth the rate of the L-isomer. Over 30 per cent of administered D-lactate was excreted in the urine, compared with none of the L-isomer. Meyerhof and Lohmann (1926) also found that liver only formed carbohydrate readily from L-lactate, and that the respiration of various tissue preparations was barely stimulated by the D-form. In 1931-32, strong evidence was forthcoming against the idea that methylglyoxal, and hence D-lactate, was an important metabolic intermediate (see Lohmann, 1931 & 1932). I t was shown, inter alia, that glutathione was the cofactor for glyoxalase, while glycolysis by dialyzed muscle extracts required adenosine phosphates and magnesium, and was unaffected by lack of glutathione. With these findings D-lactate vanished from the biochemical scene for some 20 years. In 1951-53, Mahler and his co-workers (Huennekens et al, 1951; Mahler et al., 1952; Mahler & Huennekens, 1953) reported that liver and kidney mitochondria oxidized only D-lactate to pyruvate, and that this did not require pyridine nucleotides. Pigeon muscle particles showed opposite stereo. specificity; a "factor," supposed to be a lactate racemase, was reported to be present in liver and kidney cytoplasmic fractions that enabled either type of mitochondria to oxidize both lactates. D-lactate was suggested as an intermediate in propionate metabolism, but later work has not supported this. While the above mitochondria1 stereospecificities have been confirmed, it is


Climate change is forcing the development of new adaptation techniques. Drainage in the cities does not escape to this fact, requiring new techniques that allow the adaptation to the new changing scenarios. Usually, these new techniques for urban drainage systems are based in complex and detailed evaluation methods; therefore, they need to be easy to apply and have a strong physical basis for modelling the rainfall-runoff processes. This paper shows the integration of a geographic information system with a hydrodynamic model. The tool was developed in python language and is able to incorporate all the Low Impact Development techniques (LIDs) contained in the Storm Water Management Model. It was applied to an extreme rainfall event in the city of Cabudare in Venezuela. The drainage system of the city was tested with and without LIDs for comparison and validation of the tool. Results show that the tool is able to model the main drainage features in the city (streets, pipes and channels), showing a good performance. Also, it is a user-friendly tool for urban drainage evaluation.


SUMMARY For age-dependent branching processes X(t) integrals of the type Y(t) = f X(s) ds are studied. These may be looked upon as a measure of the amount of toxins produced in time (0, t) by a colony of bacteria. An integral equation for the moment generating function of {X(t), Y(t)} is deduced and used to analyze the asymptotic behaviour of the two first moments of the vector. A functional equation is found that determines the limit distribution of Y(t) uniquely, and an iterative method of solving the equation is given. An application is made to the case of binary splitting with exponential life-lengths, and last the convergence of the process [X(t)/E{X(t)}, Y(t)/E{Y(t)}] is studied.


In this paper, we investigate the construction of error estimating codes and propose a content-based error estimation coding framework(CBEEC). The CBEEC captures the bur sty nature of channel errors and provides a better estimation than that of EEC proposed by Chen et.al. Specifically, the core technique of the CBEEC is that each bit of a group is chosen consecutively from the original data bits and the number of '1's in each group is taken as error estimating bits. We provide the estimation quality, redundancy, and computational overhead in theory, respectively. We conduct experiments, in which an ad hoc wireless network is set up and partial packets are collected for error estimation. Experimental results show that 90% estimated errors are below 60 bits for a partial packet with 12000 bits, which outperforms EEC significantly.


Fast optical imaging of individual neurons in deep brain circuits remains a critical challenge in neuroscience requiring new computational/optical approaches. We demonstrate single optical fiber fluorescence imaging with three-dimensional and multi-color capability using wavefront shaping.


(6−4) Photolyases are enzymes utilizing light to repair DNA pyrimidine−pyrimidone photolesions. The first step of enzyme function involves absorption of a photon and electron transfer from a flavin adenine dinucleotide anion (FADH−) to the (6−4) lesion-inducing repair, that is, splitting of the covalently bound nucleobase dimer. Here we demonstrate that the repair mechanism occurs in the electronic ground state of the lesion radical anion because the initially absorbed photon energy is not sufficient to initiate electron transfer and to excite electronically the radical anion of the (6−4) lesion simultaneously.


A study has been made of the competition between exothermic ion—molecule reactions and resonant charge‐transfer processes in collisions of diatomic molecule ions and their parent molecules; H2+–H2 and N2+–N2. Experimental values of resonant charge‐transfer cross sections are shown to be smaller than values obtained from calculations using an impact parameter method. Much better agreement between experiment and theory is obtained if competition between ion—molecule reaction and charge transfer is assumed and experimental values of both channels of reaction are summed prior to comparison with theory. The mechanisms of the respective processes are illuminated by an examination of the velocity dependences of charge‐transfer cross section for both diatomic systems. With H2+–H2 where reaction producing H3+ is a probable process, in low‐velocity collisions, the velocity dependence of charge transfer is essentially that of collisions of ions with unperturbed rectilinear trajectories. In a similar low‐energy regio...


In nmr spectroscopy involving organic substrates, one often has a situation in which there is a dominant species in rapid equilibrium with one or more minor components. In general, one knows, a priori, neither the population of these minor components nor the rate constants involved in the equilibrium process. In fact, from the physical appearance of these spectra, one cannot normally even deduce that such an equilibrium exists. For example, in cases involving 13C nmr spectroscopy, this minor component may not be observable under slow exchange nmr conditions because of signal-to-noise ratio problems and hence is referred to as a 'hidden' exchange partner. In this paper, we have analyzed the extent of nmr line broadening to be expected from a two-component system of this type, varying the populations, chemical shift separations, and intrinsic line widths. Thus, the presence of a 'hidden' partner can sometimes be detected by a characteristic, but often very subtle, peak broadening–resharpening sequence invol...


In the matter of plant names and their corresponding original plants,there exist innumerous examples in the world that different plants share the same name or the same plant has different names,which would easily cause confusion. Thus it is necessary to discriminate them. This paper took the word"lily"as the research object. When it was searched as a keyword and a subject word on 2 websites:http: / /scholar. google. com and http: / /apps. web of knowledge. com,534 000 and 11 734 pieces of information were collected respectively. However,when the keyword and the subject word was changed to"lilium",only 27 000 and 6 087 pieces of information were obtained respectively. Based on this,these words and phrases containing"lily"were classified and analyzed. The results show that: "lily"originally referred to genus Lilium plants,but the words and phrases containing"lily"have a very broad meaning,which not only just imply Lilium,but also refer to Begoniaceae,Amaryllidaceae,Araceae,new hybrid plants,etc. Even some animal names also contain this word. In conclusion,the word "lily"is usedwidely and it is difficult to determine all terms containing it precisely. So,more attention should be paid when we use this word to make literature research and other related researches.


Editor's Note: The reviewed edition of this book is no longer available. The information for the second edition is as follows: Hot, Flat and Crowded 2.0: Why We Need a Green Revolution—And How It Can Renew America. Thomas Friedman. New York: Picador, 2009. 528 pp., $16.00 paper (ISBN 9780312428921). Prize–winning author's most comprehensive analysis of energy and environmental issues to date. In a series of chapters that diagnose the causes and impacts of unsustainable resource consumption, Friedman examines closely the connections among the key environmental, economic, and geopolitical issues that confront twenty-first-century civilization. His argument? That the United States now faces its new 'Sputnik" moment, in the form of an unprecedented convergence of socioeconomic and physical issues threatening the future human quality of life. Will the United States lead the way to solutions with innovation and the strength of its markets, or will it continue to shrink from this task, as other surging economies recognize opportunity within peril? With a narrative tone throughout that is critical, yet optimistic and warm, Friedman extends the concept of renewal (as the secondary title of the book suggests) beyond mere resources and materials, to the very fabric of American strength, morality, and influence. The leitmotifs of Friedman's narrative are the adjectives of its main title. Climate change— escalating, capable of triggering unanticipated feedbacks, and exacerbated by human activity— comprises the "hot" theme of the text. Globalization, focused around a hyperincrease in communication and access to information and markets, contributes to a more "flat" trend in the ability of nations and individuals to learn, collaborate, compete, and consume. Meanwhile, our rising tide of population continues to intensify a "crowded" condition, applying pressure to resources and ecosystems. Although each of these elements separately poses serious challenges to the human condition (and each has been subject to much debate and scrutiny by other writers as well as this one), Friedman argues that it is their peculiar synergy that has amplified the global peril. The picture he paints is not a happy one; the reader is likely to conclude that the United States has shrunken from its position as superpower through slow or unwilling response to mounting evidence on many fronts


We thank the authors Brinjikji et al for their study on contrast-induced nephropathy (CIN) in acute stroke patients.1 The study concludes that iodinated contrast for computed tomographic (CT) angiography/CT perfusion does not increase the risk of acute kidney injury (AKI) in patients with acute stroke. We have a few observations and questions. Do the authors have an explanation as to why AKI incidence was lower in patients who received contrast as noted in the meta-analysis results (2.3 versus 6.3% in case-controlled studies)?

Preexisting renal dysfunction is the most important risk factor for development of CIN.2 Baseline creatinine is not reliable enough to identify patients at risk for CIN, and creatinine clearance is more reliable to assess renal function.3 Closer scrutiny of the case-controlled studies included …


Objective To investigate the effects of acute hypervolemic hemodilution(AHH) on the function of blood coagulation and hemodynamics to the patients in orthognathic surgery, and to evaluate its appliance on orthognathic surgery.Methods Forty patients in orthognathic surgery chosen according to the schedule were randomized to four groups and 10 each. HES experimental group (group A) were infused with half and half of 6% hydroxyethyl starch(HES) and Lactate Ringer's solution before surgery. HES control group (group B) were infused with 6% hydroxyethyl starch and Lactate Ringer's solution to complement the blood and liquid loss during surgery. Gelofusin experimental group (group C) were infused with half and half of 4% succinyl gelatin (Gelofusine) and Lactate Ringer's solution before surgery. Gelofusine control group (group D) were infused with 4% succinyl gelatin and Lactate Ringer's solution to complement the blood and liquid loss during surgery. Mean artery press( MAP) of patients in all groups was controlled between 50 to 60 mmHg with sodium nitroprusside deliberated hypotension. RBC, HBG, HCT, the change of blood coagulation index and the change of hemodynamics were recorded before AHH(T0), before surgery (T1), at the end of surgery (T2), 8 AM of the first day after surgery (T3) in the two experimental groups; before surgery (T1), at the end of surgery (T2), 8 AM of the first day after surgery (T3) in the two control groups.Results In group A and C, MAP was lower at T1 than at T0 ( P0.01), and was higher at T2 than at T1 ( P0.01). In group A and C, HR was higher at T2 than at T0 and T1 ( P0.01). In group A and C, RBC、HGB、HCT and PLT were lower at T1 than at T0 ( P0.01). RBC、HGB、HCT and PLT were higher at T3 than at T1, close to T0.Conclusion Acute hypervolemic hemodilution(AHH) has rare effect on the hemodynamics in patients undergoing orthognathic surgery. And AHH can reduce haemorrhage. HES and Gelofusine can bring the change of some blood coagulation index. But neither of them would affect the function of blood coagulation. AHH is a effective way and facilitatory to orthognathic surgery.


Device (1) for monitoring a sample taken using a piston pump (3, 8) of syringe type, characterized in that it comprises a pressure sensor (11) near the orifice (6 ) suction and / or discharge. Such a device is particularly suitable for being implemented in an automatic analysis apparatus, in particular for the analysis of a blood sample. Such a sensor makes it possible to ensure that it sucks out the liquid to be analyzed, in particular, which can not draw in air, or there is no cap at the inlet or outlet .


A clinical and clinical-laboratory examination of 130 women with viral and viral-bacterial infection verified at the stage of pre-gravid preparation was carried out. The control group consisted of 20 practically healthy women. We performed gynecological examination, reproductive and somatic history taking, bacterioscopic and bacteriological examination of vaginal contents. Infectious screening was carried out by identifying TORCH-group infections by enzyme immunoassay and polymerase chain reaction. Evaluation of parvovirus infection B-19 V was performed by identifying specific antibodies IgG and IgM using ELISA method. As a result, the study proved that patients in the study group - 41 women (31.53%) had no parvoviral symptoms of infection, 73 patients (82.02%) had characteristic symptoms at the planning stage of pregnancy long before the gestation. During ultrasound signs of uterine infection or threat of miscarriage in the first trimester - the antibodies to PV-B-19 (Ig G) were revealed in 68.46% of patients, 31.53% were seronegative, so they formed a group of high risk.


In this study, the shape of plate-fin type heat sink is numerically optimized to acquire the minimum pressure drop under the required temperature rise. To do this, a new sequential approximate optimization (SAO) is proposed and it is integrated with the computational fluid dynamics (CFD). In thermal/fluid systems for constrained nonlinear optimization problems, three fundamental difficulties such as high cost for function evaluations (i.e., pressure drop and thermal resistance), the absence of design sensitivity information, and the occurrence of numerical noise are confronted. To overcome these problems, the progressive quadratic response surface method (PQRSM), which is one of the sequential approximate optimization algorithms, is proposed and the heat sink is optimize by means of the PQRSM.


Transforming schools to ensure every student has the opportunity to learn requires innovation at the teacher education level. The goal of inclusion is complex, and so it is critically important to prepare teachers to lead organizational change that will increase engagement and achievement of children with diverse learning abilities.


Aim To investigate the effect of angiotensin system blockers on the levels of serum angiotensin Ⅱ(Ang Ⅱ),interleukin-1(IL-1),C-reaction protein(CRP) and lipid metabolism in patient with chronic glomerular disease. Methods 89 cases of chronic glomerular disease were randomly divided into 3 groups: benazepril group(n=30),valsartan group(n=30) and combination of benazepril and valsartan group(n=29).Serum Ang Ⅱ,IL-1,CRP,quantity of 24 hour urinary protein and lipid were measured before and after 8~12 weeks therapy. Results Serum total cholesterol were effectively decreased in 3 groups after therapy.Combination of benazepril and valsartan therapy reduced triglyceride effectively.Benazepril group and combination of benazepril and valsartan group have more influence on the low density lipoprotein(LDL),apolipoprotein B than valsartan group(P0.01).Meanwhile the levels of serum Ang Ⅱwas effectively decreased in benazepril group and combination of benazepril and valsartan group(P0.05),in contrast to valsartan group,the level of serum Ang Ⅱ was increased(P0.05).The levels of serum IL-1 and CRP were significantly reduced after therapy(P0.05).Therapeutic alliance group decreased proteinuria more effectively than that of benazepril alone or valsartan alone(P0.05). Conclusions The combination of benazepril and valsartan may reduce the level of serum Ang Ⅱ,IL-1 and CRP,decrease urine protein excretion and ameliorate lipid metabolism in patients with chronic glomerular disease.


Description By combining constant, linear, and quadratic local models, lazy estimates the value of an unknown multivariate function on the basis of a set of possibly noisy samples of the function itself. This implementation of lazy learning automatically adjusts the bandwidth on a query-by-query basis through a leave-one-out cross-validation.


Despite the obvious promise of the strategy, pharmaceutical angioinhibition has had variable success in clinical cancer management. Thyroid hormone is a potent pro-angiogenic factor. Endogenous circulating levels of proangiogenic thyroid hormone in cancer patients treated with anti-angiogenic drugs may contribute to host resistance to angioinhibition and explain, at least in part, the variable cancer chemotherapeutic responses obtained with anti-angiogenic agents. The chick chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) angiogenesis assay accepts human tumor xenografts and is a system in which individual patient blood samples can be tested in xenograft vasculature for anti-angiogenic content—including thyroid hormone—in the presence of angioinhibitory drug dose escalation. The assay may also be used to screen individual patient tumor biopsy xenografts for susceptibility to angioinhibition.


"iSAY"' is a Blockchain-based polling system created for legislative assistance. Sri Lanka is a democratic country. Country follows a representative democracy and voters in Sri Lanka vote for their preferred government based on their election mandate. However, governments implement legislative decisions that are not stated in the election mandate. People won't get a chance to state their opinion on this legislative matter and the government also doesn't know whether people like this or not.  To solve this issue, in this paper the authors propose a blockchain-based intelligent polling application for legislative assistance.  "iSay" is an application where blockchain technology gets together with machine learning to add value into the public opinion. The government can create a poll about a legislative decision and people can state their opinion which could be further discussed in the legislature. Adding a significant change to the blockchain based e-voting solutions this paper proposes a novel feature where users can add their idea to a relevant poll. Using machine learning algorithms all these user ideas will be classified and analyzed before presenting to the government. Through this research, it is expected to deploy scalable elections among the general public and get their vote and ideas about specific legislations to generate an overview of general public opinion about legislative decisions.


During the Archean and Paleoproterozoic, large amounts of iron precipitated from seawater to yield banded iron formation (BIF). It has been argued that during this time, the presence of abundant and highly reactive iron oxyhydroxides may have limited critical nutrients as a consequence of various adsorption and co-precipitation processes. More recently, the idea that these iron oxyhydroxides acted as important nutrient sinks appears to be giving way to the idea that BIF simply serve as paleo-proxies for the composition of seawater by the predictable nature of iron oxyhydroxide sorption reactions. We add to the debate regarding the composition of ancient seawater throughout BIF deposition by evaluating the degree to which ferric oxyhydroxides sequester aqueous Si, P, Mo, Ni, and V. Mo, Ni, and V act as enzymatic co-factors that are critical, and at times limiting, for specific biological functions in modern microbes, while P is a major nutrient controlling oceanic productivity today. Dissolved silica was more abundant at the time of BIF deposition and likely influenced elemental partitioning to iron oxides through a combination of competitive surface adsorption and co-precipitation processes. Accordingly, we examine its role in the sequestration of these nutrients into iron oxyhydroxides, and the fate of silica itself in terms of the Si/Fe compositions of the resulting particles. Finally, we evaluate our experimental data in light of the concentrations in which these elements are found in BIF, and make preliminary estimates of their availability in ocean water at the time of BIF deposition. Kinetics of production and dissolution of earthworm excreted calcite


The end of the sedimentation as a endorheic drainage basin and the beginning of the present erosive cycle
in the tertiary Ebro Basin has been attributed until now to the fluvial incision during the "Messinian Crisis". The consideration of diverse types of data as a whole indicates that the erosive emptying could have
initiated previously and will be in relation with the beginning of the deposition of the Castellon Group in
the Valencia Trough (late Serravallian and Tortonian) and not with the sedimentation of the Ebro Group
(Pliocene and Quaternary), since it had been assumed until now. This hypothesis would explain diverse geologic facts such as the absence ofTurolian (late Tortonian and Messinian) paleontological sites in the Ebro
Basin, the big thickness of sediments that, in spite of the intense Messinian erosion, the Castellon Group
presents, the momentarily change of the Duero Basin to unclose conditions at the end of the Aragonian
(late Serravallian - early Tortonian) or the beginning of the open and erosion conditions in the Calatayud
Basin during in the early VaUesian (Tortonian).


Complete and accurate survey data are key input for research, policy, and decision making in many disciplines. However, survey respondents do not always fully cooperate, such that they skip some items or overuse the "don't know" answer option. Evasive answer bias reflects different information than overall survey response rates, leading to item missing data and causing substantial inaccuracies in survey results. Using data from the World Values Survey, this article identifies the magnitude of the problem, then relies on individual data and country-level cultural values to derive patterns of and reasons for this evasive answer bias. While skipping answers happens less often in collectivistic and low power distance cultures, the choice of the "don't know" option is not significantly influenced by any cultural dimension. Across countries, the effect of cultural values is stronger for female than for male respondents. Accordingly, cross-cultural researchers are advised to use advanced imputation rather than deletion methods for handling missing data.


TPS1113Background: Hormone receptor positive (HR+) disease is the most common subset of both early and late stage breast cancer (BC). The majority of women with HR+ metastatic BC (MBC) ultimately develop resistance to endocrine therapy, with a median survival of ~2-3 years. A new standard-of-care strategy to treat HR+ metastatic disease involves the combination of hormone therapy and cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) 4/6 inhibition, which has demonstrated improved progression-free survival (PFS) in both the first- and later-line metastatic setting. More recently, preclinical data with the dual phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K)/mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) inhibitor gedatolisib (PF-05212384) suggest synergy with the combination of hormone therapy, CDK 4/6 inhibition, and inhibition of the PI3K/mTOR pathway. Methods: This phase Ib study includes a dose escalation portion to evaluate dose-limiting toxicities (primary endpoint) and determine the recommended phase II dose for triplet therapy with gedato...


In this paper we prove integrated energy and pointwise decay estimates for solutions of the vacuum linearized Einstein equation on the domain of outer communication of the Kerr black hole spacetime. The estimates are valid for the full subextreme range of Kerr black holes, provided integrated energy estimates for the Teukolsky Master Equation holds. For slowly rotating Kerr backgrounds, such estimates are known to hold, due to the work of one of the authors. The results in this paper thus provide the first stability results for linearized gravity on the Kerr background, in the slowly rotating case, and reduce the linearized stability problem for the full subextreme range to proving integrated energy estimates for the Teukolsky equation. This constitutes an essential step towards a proof of the black hole stability conjecture, i.e. the statement that the Kerr family is dynamically stable, one of the central open problems in general relativity.


A close connection between the theory of competitive markets, game theory, and Arrow's impossibility theorem is given by limited arbitrage, a condition originally defined on the preferences and endowments of the traders of an Arrow-Debreu economy in Chichilnisky (l99I, l993b, l994, 1995). This condition limits the traders' diversity, and is shown here to bound their mutually beneficial gains from trade. Limited arbitrage is necessary and sufficient for the existence of an Arrow Debreu equilibrium (see also Chichilnisky. 1991, l993b, 1994, I995), and for the existence of the core (see also Chichilnisky, 1993d); it is also necessary and sufficient for the elimination of Condorcet cycles on allocations involving large utility values. Condorcet cycles are the basis for the cyclical behavior of voting rules and a building block of Arrow's impossibility theorem, so that limited arbitrage appears to be at the core of social choice theory.


Cell counting is a basic and important detection technique in biomedical diagnosis. However, current cell counting devices are expensive and bulky, which are not conducive to rapid cell counting. To solve this problem, we design a low-cost and simple on-chip cell counting device based on lensless imaging technology. The device uses an ordinary white LED light and a CMOS image sensor to capture the cell image in the microfluidic chip, and uses a microcomputer - Raspberry Pi 4B for image transmission and processing. Then a self-developed processing program is designed to count the cells. In addition, the device can perform micron-scale particle imaging, which can identify microbeads of different sizes. Compared with other lensless imaging devices, our device has obvious advantages in low cost, scalability, and degree of automation, which can improve the efficiency of biological experiments, and is of great significance for expanding the population of healthcare services in the future.


The utility model provides a pressure limiting valve with adjustable pressure limiting values. The pressure limiting valve with the adjustable pressure limiting values comprises a valve body, a valve seat, a valve core, a thimble and an air exhaust pipe. The valve core seals the air exhaust pipe through the thimble. The valve body comprises an upper valve body and a lower valve body. An elevation rail is arranged on the upper valve body and a first station, a second station and a third station are arranged on the elevation rail in the sequence of gradually increased height. An elevation bump which corresponds to the elevation rail is arranged on the valve seat. The lower valve body is connected with the valve core and seals the air exhaust pipe. When the elevation bump supports the first station, the lower valve body is pressed by the upper valve body. When the elevation bump supports the second station, the upper valve body and the lower valve body are separated. When the elevation bump supports the third station, the upper valve body lifts the lower valve body so that the thimble is separated from the air exhaust pipe. The utility model further provides a pressure cooker with the pressure limiting valve at the same time.


Institutions of higher Learning shall aim at getting students train in innovative consciousness and creativity. This paper puts forward some points noticeable in practicing innovative education: innovation of notions; innovation of management system; innovation of teaching contents, teaching methods, and teaching measures; and establishment of a democratic, liberal, and open cultural atmosphere.


Solid-liquid phase change materials(PCMs) are extensively applied in latent heat storage due to their diversity and lower cost.As a novel solid-liquid PCM,cetyl stearate(CS) was synthesized via the esterification reaction of stearic acid(SA) with cetyl alcohol(CA) by a two-step process in this study.Fourier transform infrared(FT-IR),wide-angle X-ray diffraction(WAXD),differential scanning calorimetry(DSC) and thermogravimetric analysis(TG) were performed to investigate the structure,crystalline properties,phase transition behaviors and thermal stability of pristine cetyl alcohol,stearic acid and cetyl stearate,respectively.The results indicated that CS showed typical solid-liquid phase transition properties,e.g.suitable phase transition temperature and high transition enthalpy.Compared with SA and CA,the thermal stability of CS improved obviously.


Significance Relatedness-dependent behavior modification is common among social organisms and has been a major feature of social evolution theory for decades. However, the evolutionary causes of kin discrimination are often unclear. Here, we document many spontaneous origins of kin discrimination in a social microbe that appear to arise as indirect byproducts of adaptation at other traits and we show that kin discrimination evolves by diverse genetic mechanisms. Diverse forms of kin discrimination, broadly defined as alteration of social behavior as a function of genetic relatedness among interactants, are common among social organisms from microbes to humans. However, the evolutionary origins and causes of kin-discriminatory behavior remain largely obscure. One form of kin discrimination observed in microbes is the failure of genetically distinct colonies to merge freely upon encounter. Here, we first use natural isolates of the highly social bacterium Myxococcus xanthus to show that colony-merger incompatibilities can be strong barriers to social interaction, particularly by reducing chimerism in multicellular fruiting bodies that develop near colony-territory borders. We then use experimental laboratory populations to test hypotheses regarding the evolutionary origins of kin discrimination. We show that the generic process of adaptation, irrespective of selective environment, is sufficient to repeatedly generate kin-discriminatory behaviors between evolved populations and their common ancestor. Further, we find that kin discrimination pervasively evolves indirectly between allopatric replicate populations that adapt to the same ecological habitat and that this occurs generically in many distinct habitats. Patterns of interpopulation discrimination imply that kin discrimination phenotypes evolved via many diverse genetic mechanisms and mutation-accumulation patterns support this inference. Strong incompatibility phenotypes emerged abruptly in some populations but strengthened gradually in others. The indirect evolution of kin discrimination in an asexual microbe is analogous to the indirect evolution of reproductive incompatibility in sexual eukaryotes and linguistic incompatibility among human cultures, the commonality being indirect, noncoordinated divergence of complex systems evolving in isolation.


Deformation and disintegration behavior for single water drops in an oil phase in electric fields were studied experimentally. The experimental degree of deformation of the drops and their maximum degree just before their disintegration agreed approximately with the theoretical value proposed by Taylor. Two types of electrical disintegration for the drops were observed depending on the size of the drops: a small deformed drop was disintegrated by ejecting a series of smaller drops at its sharp pointed ends; while a large drop was elongated as a rod-like shape and immediately disintegrated into several small drops.


Esthetic component of personality's humanitarian culture which uncovers spiritual intentions of human existence is characterized. The role of facial visualization in educational formation of becoming adult person as the subject of behavior-active strengthening of humanitarian values, ideas and ideals is established.


Abstract Background: Hydatidiform mole (HM) is more common as molar pregnancy. It is a disease classified under the category of gestational trophoblastic diseases, which could metastasize after originating in the placenta. A majority of females suffering from molar pregnancies are curable by evacuating retained products of conception and the patient's fertility is preserved. In some cases, the growth perseveres and leads to gestational trophoblastic neoplasia, which is an extremely malicious condition that needs chemo-based treatment. There is a possibility to lessen the risk of gestational trophoblastic disease in females with HM through the administration of prophylactic chemo. Yet, there is controversy regarding prophylactic chemotherapy administered pre-or-post removal of HM to curtail the malignant sequelae. Therefore, we will conduct this research to assess both the efficacy as well as security of using prophylactic chemotherapy to treat HM. Methods: In the preliminary review, the authors will search for randomized controlled trials involving prophylactic chemotherapy to treat HM. The literature search is carried out in the following electronic databases from their inception to May 2021: Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure, Chinese BioMedical Literature, and WanFang database are the three Chinese language databases. Web of Science, PubMed, Cochrane Library, and EMBASE are the four English language databases. The authors will also perform a manual search through the bibliographies in related literature to find extra articles and ongoing studies. Two independent authors will assess the literature according to an inclusion criteria, use a specialized data collection table to extract data, and use the Cochrane 'Risk of bias' tool for evaluating any possible bias risk in the selected articles. Data synthesis and statistical operations are completed with the RevMan software (v. 5.3). Results: The present systematic analysis provides a rationalized synthesis of existing evidence related to the use of prophylactic chemotherapy in the treatment of HM. Conclusion: Our findings will summarize the current evidences for prophylactic chemotherapy in the treatment of HM. Ethics and dissemination: An ethics approval is nonrequired because pre published results will be used. Registration number: DOI 10.17605/OSF.IO/6QV52 (https://osf.io/6qv52/)


The invention provides an automatic pressure device for grinding equipment. The automatic pressure device for the grinding equipment comprises upper springs, wherein the lower ends of the upper springs are installed on the upper portion of a base disc of the grinding equipment, the upper ends of the upper springs are installed on the lower portion of an upper spring bearer plate, and the upper spring bearer plate is connected with an upper lifting driving mechanism which is used for driving the upper spring bearer plate to move up and down. The automatic pressure device further comprises lower springs, wherein the upper ends of the lower springs are installed on the lower portion of the base disc, the lower ends of the lower springs are installed on a lower spring bearer plate, the lower spring bearer plate is connected with a lower lifting driving mechanism which is used for driving the lower spring bearer plate to move up and down, and the upper spring bearer plate, the base disc and the lower spring bearer plate are coaxial with one another. The automatic pressure device for the grinding equipment is capable of applying a load larger than the dead weight of grinding discs and a load smaller than the dead weight of the grinding discs at the same time, high in control accuracy, good in stability and low in cost.


The article deals with the innovative legal regulation of the support for social entrepreneurship in order to meet citizens' social and property needs. In particular, an analysis is presented of legal forms and means of state support for small and medium businesses.


We investigate quantum repeaters in the context of quantum key distribution. We optimize the secret key rate per memory per second with respect to different distillation protocols and distillation strategies. For this purpose, we also derive an analytical expression for the average number of entangled pairs created by the quantum repeater, including classical communication times for entanglement swapping and entanglement distillation. We investigate the impact of this classical communication time on the secret key rate. We finally study the effect of the detector efficiency on the secret key rate.


This service record is an account of military actions during the American Civil War by veteran Joseph M. Whitailt (1844- ), dated from 1912.


OBJECTIVES
To study the frequency of medication reconciliation errors (MREs) in hospitalized patients and explore the profiles of patients at greater risk. To compare the rates of errors in prescriptions written by emergency physicians and ward physicians, who each used a different prescribing tool.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
Prospective cross-sectional study of a convenience sample of patients admitted to medical, geriatric, and oncology wards over a period of 6 months. A pharmacist undertook the medication reconciliation report, and data were analyzed for possible associations with risk factors or prescriber type (emergency vs ward physician).

RESULTS
A total of 148 patients were studied. Emergency physicians had prescribed for 68 (45.9%) and ward physicians for 80 (54.1%). A total of 303 MREs were detected; 113 (76.4%) patients had at least 1 error. No statistically significant differences were found between prescriber types. Factors that conferred risk for a medication error were use polypharmacy (odds ratio [OR], 3.4; 95% CI, 1.2-9.0; P=.016) and multiple chronic conditions in patients under the age of 80 years (OR, 3.9; 95% CI, 1.1-14.7; P=.039).

CONCLUSION
The incidence of MREs is high regardless of whether the prescriber is an emergency or ward physician. The patients who are most at risk are those taking several medications and those under the age of 80 years who have multiple chronic conditions.


It is impossible to comprehend Aristotle's system without taking into consideration Plato's project stated in «The Republic». This article is considering Plato's and Aristotle's dispute on the form of political structure. The author supposes that specific features of the state become apparent in its education system; education occupies a special place in this article. By the analysis of unity and education as the key concepts of Plato's «The Republic», he leads us to Aristotle's idea of state that implies a possibility of virtuous, happy and independent life.


Lip sync model is one of the aspects in computer facial animation. To create realistic lip sync model, a facial animation system needs extremely smooth lip motion with the deformation of the lips synchronized with the audio portion of speech. A deformable, parametric model of the lips was developed to achieve the desired effect. In order to create realistic speech animation, the articulatory modeling of the lip alone is insufficient. The other major articulators such as the tongue and jaw must also be considered. This lip sync model was initially developed by using polygonal model and blended key shape techniques and then parameterized by using 36 control points. The data for lip sync model was collected from video image and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques. The articulatory movements of our lip sync model were presented along with virtual reality (VR) objects in an interactive multimedia (IMM) interface. This IMM interface was used to teach small vocabulary of hearing impaired (HI) children. Virtual reality objects used to increase the cognitive process within HI children. The bilabial speech sounds were differentiated by using appropriate visual cues. Control panel was developed to present articulatory movements at different speed. For this study, six hearing impaired children were selected between the ages 4 and 7 and they were trained for 10 hours across 2 weeks on 18 meaningful words. The intelligibility of hearing impaired children was experimented to find out their performance in articulation and in memory retention. The results indicated that 65-75% of given words were articulated well and 75-85% of words were identified by all children.


The optical properties and excited‐state geometries of some organic light‐emitting diodes have been investigated by the SAC‐CI method. The absorption and emission spectra have been predicted in high accuracy and the chain‐length dependence of transition energies has been precisely reproduced. The present study provides the useful basis for the theoretical design predicting the photo‐physical properties of the organic light‐emitting diodes.


In order to realize the rapid and accurate evaluation of new medical devices, this paper puts forward a specific evaluation method for the clinical effect of medical devices based on clinical data. A multi-objective evaluation model is designed for scientific and normative evaluation of multiple performances of multiple medical devices simultaneously by converting clinical data into medical device evaluation data. The simulated calculation result shows that the method is practical and effective to evaluate whether a medical device can or cannot achive its intended/designed function.


To solve the engineering application of in-pulse features to recognizing the radar emitter signal,this paper proposes an engineering implementation method for signal recognition of radar emitter based on in-pulse multiple features by analyzing the actual demand, in terms of general framework, key technologies, application design and etc. And finally, by the development of system software hardware platform and a rough identification in real-time, and the application analysis of fine recognition functions afterwards, it verifies the feasibility and effectiveness of this method, thus providing a beneficial reference for the application and transformation of theory and technologies of signal recognition of radar emitter.


The phenomenon of outsourcing has spawned a rich body of scholarly work in the last two decades. Yet, the answer to one important question has remained elusive: Does outsourcing really improve firm performance? Addressing this question is important as firms across nations continue to embark on the practice of outsourcing to save operating costs and remain competitive. Scholars, practitioners and policy-makers need to understand whether and how outsourcing benefits the firm. However, no comprehensive review of empirical evidence has been published so far that can address this question. This study reviews 57 empirical research articles that investigated the outsourcing–firm performance relationship in 47 peer-reviewed scholarly journals over a 20-year time-span (1996–2015). The articles differ widely in research scope, context, level of analysis, data source, time-span, industry sector, extent of outsourcing and measure of performance. The findings suggest that outsourcing can produce positive, negative, mixed, moderated or no significant impact on the firm. This study also provides useful directions for future research on outsourcing and firm performance.


Atypical antipsychotic (AAP) medication is a critical tool for treating symptoms of psychiatric disorders. While AAPs primarily target dopamine (D2) and serotonin (5HT2A and 5HT1A) receptors, they also exhibit intrinsic antimicrobial activity as an off-target effect. Because AAPs are often prescribed to patients for many years, a potential risk associated with long-term AAP use is the unintended emergence of bacteria with antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Here, we show that exposure to the AAP quetiapine at estimated gut concentrations promotes AMR in Escherichia coli after six weeks. Quetiapine-exposed isolates exhibited an increase in minimal inhibitory concentrations (MICs) for ampicillin, tetracycline, ceftriaxone, and levofloxacin. By whole genome sequencing analysis, we identified mutations in genes that confer AMR, including the repressor for the multiple antibiotic resistance mar operon (marR), and real-time RT-qPCR analysis showed increased levels of marA, acrA, and tolC mRNAs and a reduced level of ompF mRNA in the isolates carrying marR mutations. To determine the contribution of each marR mutation to AMR, we constructed isogenic strains carrying individual mutant marR alleles in the parent background and re-evaluated their resistant phenotypes using MIC and RT-qPCR assays. While marR mutations induced a robust activity of the mar operon, they resulted in only a modest increase in MICs. Interestingly, although these marR mutations did not fully recapitulate the AMR phenotype of the quetiapine-exposed isolates, we show that marR mutations promote growth fitness in the presence of quetiapine. Our findings revealed an important link between the use of AAPs and AMR development in E. coli.


Fracture toughness of Si3N4 ceramic can be improved obviously by adding TiN particulate. The test results indicate that maybe there are several toughening mechanisms in Si3N4-TiN particulate reinforcement composites. Because the mismatch between second phase and the thermal expansion coefficients of the matrix and the elastic modulus, the residual stress may be produced after sintering during cooling from higher temperature to room temperature. Crack branch induced residual stress. Indention crack propagation path was observed by means of SEM, crack deflection and bowing was found. Microcrack was observed in grinding surface by means of SEM. It has been put forward a toughening mechanism that residual stress toughening, crack deflection and stress-induced microcrack toughening exist together, and the calculation value corresponds to testing value of composites.


Section 1: An Overview of Occupational Therapy's Conceptual Foundations Introduction / Organization and Use of Knowledge / The Development of Occupational Therapy's Paradigms / The Contemporary Paradigm Section 2: Conceptual Practice Models The Nature and Use of Conceptual Practice Models / The Biomechanical Model / The Canadian Occupational Performance Model / The Cognitive Disabilities Model / The Cognitive-Perceptual Model / The Model of Human Occupation / The Motor Control Model / The Sensory Integration Model / Conceptual Practice Models: The State of the Art Section 3: Related Knowledge The Nature and Use of Related Knowledge / The Medical Model / Disabilities Studies / Intrapersonal and Interpersonal Concepts Section 4: The Future of Knowledge Development Identity and Competence / Future Development of Occupational Therapy's Conceptual Foundations


The invention provides a brushless outer rotor permanent magnet motor for a soybean milk machine. The brushless outer rotor permanent magnet motor comprises a motor fixed seat, a motor shaft connected with the motor fixed seat in a matched manner, a coil arranged on the outer periphery of the motor shaft, an iron core arranged on the outer periphery of the coil, an electric wire assembly electrically connected with the coil, an encircled magnetic steel ring arranged on the outer periphery of the iron core, an encircled iron shell arranged on the periphery of the magnetic steel ring, and fan blades which are arranged on the iron shell and are coaxially connected with the motor shaft. The brushless outer rotor permanent magnet motor for the soybean milk machine provided by the invention is small in structure, large in rotary inertia, stable in operation, free of product carbon powder accumulation and convenient in maintenance, and high-speed running noise of the motor is reduced by adopting a high-quality low-noise bearing.


High Entropy Alloys (HEAs) and Refractory High-Entropy Alloys (RHEAs) are novel potential materials for high-temperature applications [1]. NbMoTaW, a RHEAs, such as the one in Fig. 1, possess superior mechanical properties, combining high strength, outstanding thermal stability, and resistance to softening at high temperatures [2]. The influence of adding Vanadium [3], Tantalum [4], and Rhenium [5] to NbMoTaW alloys on the bulk mechanical behavior was investigated by the previous studies. In this research, the effect of adding Rhenium with different (Re0, Re0.5, Re1) on the microstructure and the mechanical properties of NbMoTaW thin films will be nvestigated. The larger the enthalpy of mixing in negative values, the higher the binding force between the elements, which has been enhanced with Rhenium addition. As for the entropy of mixing, it increased from 11.53 to 13.38 for Re0 and Re1, respectively. The higher the mixture entropy suggests a more stable solid solution. This is confirmed by calculating the thermodynamic parameters proposed by Yang et. Al [6] where they suggested that a mixture with δ < 6.6 and Ω > 1.1 correspond to solid solution formation. The anticipated crystal structure for the three samples is BCC structure according to the valence electron concentration (VEC) theory, where the VEC values were less than 6.87 as suggested by Gou et. Al [7]. The RexNbMoTaW HEAs thin films are fabricated using RF magnetron sputtering. The film thickness, deposition power, and temperature impact on the films' characteristics are studied. Field emission (FE-SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and nanoindentation are used to investigate the RexNbMoTaW thin films' crystal structure, surface morphology, and mechanical properties. The mechanical properties of the thin films will be compared with their counterpart bulk materials.
 References

 Kim, H., et al., International Journal of Refractory Metals and Hard Materials, 2019. 80: p. 286-291.

 Feng, X., et al., Materials Letters, 2018. 210: p. 84-87.

 Senkov, O.N., et al., Intermetallics, 2011. 19(5): p. 698-706.

 Han, Z.D., et al., Materials Science and Engineering: A, 2018. 712: p. 380-385.

 Zhang, J., et al., Journal of Alloys and Compounds, 2020. 827.

 Yang, X. and Y. Zhang, Materials Chemistry and Physics, 2012. 132(2-3): p. 233-238.

 Guo, S., et al., Journal of Applied Physics, 2011. 109(10): p. 103505.

 Figure 1


Podophyllum peltatum (L.) is an important medicinal plant that produces podophyllotoxin with anti-cancer properties. In the present study, we report the establishment of plantlet regeneration of P. peltatum via somatic embryogenesis. Somatic embryos differentiated directly from cotyledon explants of zygotic embryos on Murashige and Skoog (MS) basal medium supplemented with 21.6 μM α-naphthaleneacetic acid after 8 weeks of culture. An embryogenic callus developed from cotyledon explants of somatic embryos on MS medium + 6.78 μM 2,4-dichlorophenoxy acetic acid under continuous darkness after 6 weeks of culture. When the embryogenic callus was first grown on MS basal medium + abscisic acid (11.35 μM) for three weeks, followed by sub-culturing onto plain MS basal medium, it led to the development of high frequency somatic embryogenesis. Germination of cotyledonary somatic embryos was noticed on MS basal medium with the addition of 2.89 μM gibberellic acid after two weeks. The germinated embryos grow into plantlets with well-developed roots. Rooted plantlets were acclimatized in soil. The present protocol can be widely used for micropropagation and metabolic engineering.


Psoriatic arthritis (PsA) is a chronic inflammatory arthropathy affecting up to 40% of patients with psoriasis and leading to severe physical limitations and disability. Beyond skin and joint involvement, PsA is characterized by a high prevalence of comorbidities, such as autoimmune, infectious, and neoplastic diseases. Moreover, metabolic syndrome (MetS) and its major features (obesity, hypertension, impaired fasting glucose, hyperlipidemia) have been frequently found in PsA patients, and a shortened life expectancy was reported in this clinical setting, with CV disease accounting for up to 36% of the overall mortality. Growing evidence on CV morbidity and mortality in PsA patients suggests that a 62% increased mortality has been reported in PsA subjects compared with the general population. By assessing cardiovascular risk factors, PsA patients exhibit an increased prevalence of MetS as compared to both subjects with AR or with AS, (38% vs 20% and vs 11%, respectively). Similarly, an increased prevalence of hypertension, hyperlipidemia, obesity and type II diabetes (Odds Ratios ranging from 1.54 to 2.59) has been found in PsA subjects as compared with those with psoriasis. However, the presence of traditional CV risk factors does not entirely explain the CV morbidity and mortality found in PsA patients, inflammation appearing to act synergistically with traditional CV risk factors, thus contributing to the atherosclerotic process and to the increased CV risk. Thus, EULAR suggested the need of studies evaluating the intimate mechanisms of the interaction between inflammation and the CV risk. The primary aim of this project was to evaluate primary and secondary haemostatic parameters, as well as surrogate markers of atherosclerosis in PsA patients to understand underlying mechanisms leading to the increased CV risk in this clinical setting. Interestingly we found that platelet reactivity is increased in PsA patient, especially in those with an active disease. In particular, lower concentrations of pro-aggregating agents were needed by PsA subjects to achieve a stable platelet aggregation (LT-50%) than controls and the maximal aggregation (max-A%) was higher in PsA subjects than in controls. However, by stratifying for the disease activity, we found that LT-50% and max-A% of PsA subjects in Minimal Disease Activity (MDA) were comparable to controls and lower than PsA subjects with active disease. In addition, we documented that PsA patients with an active disease have significantly increased levels of several haemostatic and fibrinolytic factors. On the other hand, we found that the control of the inflammatory process is associated with a significant improvement of haemostatic and fibrinolytic parameters in PsA subjects, maximal changes being documented in patients achieving MDA. The assessment of CV risk surrogate markers showed that PsA is associated with subclinical atherosclerosis and endothelial dysfunction. In particular, we demonstrated an increased carotid IMT with a high prevalence of carotid plaques and impaired FMD in patients with PsA. The link between inflammation and the subclinical atherosclerosis has been further addressed showing that, IMT was lower in PsA subjects on TNF-α blockers than in those on traditional DMARDs and the co-existence of a MetS was associated with an higher CCA-IMT in subjects on DMARDs than in those under TNF-α blockers.
Overall, results of our project suggest that PsA patients have a increased platelet reactivity, impaired fibrinolysis and subclinical atherosclerosis accompanied by an impaired endothelial function. Most of these alterations seem to be associated with the inflammatory status and are likely to be modified by the anti-rheumatic treatments. All these data are in line with many literature data that support the possibility of an increased CV risk in patients with PsA.


Associative operations are effectively used to solve such application problems as sorting, searching for certain features, and identifying extreme (maximum/minimum) elements in data sets. Thus, determining the maximum number as a result of sorting a numerical array is an acceptable operation in implementing the competition mechanism in neural networks. In addition, determining the average number in a numerical series by sorting significantly speeds up the process of median filtering of images and signals. In this case, the implementation of median filtering requires the use of sorting with the ranking of the elements of the number array. This paper analyses the possibilities of associative operations implementing the elements of a vector (one-dimensional) array of numbers based on processing by difference slices (DS). A simplified description of DS processing with a selection of the common part of the elements of the vector and the difference slice formed from its elements is given. In addition, elements of the binary mask matrix are used as an example of a topological feature matrix. The proposed approach allows for the formation of the ranks of the elements of the initial vector, as a result of sorting in ascending order of their numerical values. The paper shows a schematic representation of the process of DS processing, as well as an example of DS processing of a number vector in the form of a table, which shows the formation sequence of numbers of the sorted array and the ranks of numbers of the initial array. Therefore, the proposed use of topological features allows to determine the comparative relations between the elements of the numerical array in the process of spatially distributed DS processing, as well as to confirm the versatility of this approach.


More and more teacher pay attention to Multimedia teaching technology, it has been widely used in the class. Every coin has two sides. This paper discusses the advantages and disadvantages of application of multimedia technology in the teaching.


Medical education has shown an increasing trend toward active, small group learning, and away from a primarily passive, lecture based instruction. To further reinforce the small group learning that has traditionally characterized the educational process in cadaver dissection labs, a series of interactive, applied anatomy labs was added to the first year integrated curriculum at Morehouse School of Medicine. Applied anatomy labs typically consist of four to five stations through which small groups of students rotate over the three hour lab period. An applied anatomy lab normally coincides with the completion of the dissection lab and lecture components of each anatomical region. The current curriculum includes applied anatomy lab sessions covering: Back and Upper Limb, Thorax and Abdominal Wall, Abdomen, Orthopedic Surgery/Lower Limb, Pelvis and Perineum, and Head and Neck. During these sessions, the students interact in functional and clinically relevant activities related to the region just completed (e.g., blood pressure measurements following upper limb, cardiac ultrasound during the thorax, pelvic exam simulations after pelvis and perineum). The applied anatomy labs provide an opportunity to utilize clinical faculty to demonstrate regionally relevant techniques for physical exam or treatment, hands on applications of diagnostic and surgical technology, or enhancement of the students' understanding of both the normal anatomy and related pathologies in small group learning sessions. Applied anatomy labs account for 18 hours (12%) of the 148 total gross anatomy lab hours and enhance opportunities to promote interactive, small group learning within the integrated first year medical curriculum.


Abstract A thermogram or thermal image provides a two-dimensional map of skin temperature distribution. The technique, which uses the IR radiation of objects as the source for imaging, has significantly developed since it was launched for medical imaging in the 1960s. Modern focal array equipment provides both high spatial and high temperature resolution. Body temperature measurement is a traditional approach to estimating the time of death. A number of protocols have been described for that purpose. Another application for IR imaging is the assessment of environmental conditions of detected corpses (water, cars, weather conditions). Skin burns can be easily visualized by thermal images. Thermal imaging was also used to investigate the skin temperature at the entry point after shots were fired from 0.22–0.38-calibre handguns. Whiplash injuries gained importance in liability cases after car crashes. Occasionally thermal images can provide additional information in this pathology, but this might not be always unambiguous. Thermal imaging was successfully used as an alternative to Polygraph testing. In this application, psychological effects on blood flow are investigated, and an accuracy of 78% in detecting deceptive subjects is reported. Thermal imaging can be used as a method of temperature measurement in a number of applications of forensic medicine. When used for medico-legal evidence, it is important that a standard protocol for subject preparation, image capture and analysis is used. A scheme for standardization of the latter is proposed.


Abstract : The recent 2005 Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) reduced depot infrastructure DOD wide but did little to modernize and transform its depots into a joint system. The Services' current depot systems are legacy establishments whose foundations were laid in the early twentieth century. With the evolution of the commercial defense industrial base during World War II and the Cold War, their research and development roles migrated to the private sector. For example, the Army system consists of 5 depots that maintain, overhaul, and repair military systems. In general they are Cold War facilities with all the inherent inefficiencies implied in that description. To remain relevant the Army, its sister services and DOD must work on transforming these service depots through lean philosophies, public private partnerships, performance based logistics, and capital investment programs to bring the depot system into the 21st Century to support the overall DOD transformation. Transformation of the depot system requires more efficiency, effectiveness and flexibility to reduce duplication of effort, overhead and long term costs.


The rather innocuous title of this book, written by Professor Weerda of Lübeck, belies what I think is a considerable tour de force in surgical writing. In the chapter entitled 'Basic Principles', the author goes into great detail on the aesthetic principles of auricular reconstruction, and this is followed by chapters on malignant tumours, trauma and noninflammatory processes, all lavishly illustrated. Throughout the book, the majority of photographs are black and white, a little unusual in a modern textbook, but still very effective and informative, while the excellent line drawings are in shades of grey with colour highlights. The three remaining chapters, and the longest by far, are on the classification and surgery of auricular defects, abnormalities, and, lastly, diagnostics and auxiliary therapy. The latter includes a very useful and readable section on middle-ear reconstruction of the malformed middle ear, with only three pages devoted to auricular prostheses. The majority of the book is devoted to the assessment and correction of just about every conceivable abnormality of the external ear. The surgical techniques are described in some detail, and there are good references to the original publications. In total, there are 1340 illustrations in less than 300 pages. For the majority of otolaryngologists, the auricle is not a major source of pathology, and I can imagine that only a very small number of departments, or a few individuals with a particular interest in facial aesthetic surgery, will feel the need to invest the E179.95 suggested by the publishers. However, some of our colleagues in plastic surgery may see things differently and, for them, this book will be invaluable.


This article examines the legal issues arising out of the increasing prevalence of life threatening allergies (anaphylaxis) in public elementary schools. While there are many sources of anaphylaxis, this article focuses on peanut/nut allergies because they are the most serious food-inducing allergy and because they have raised the most controversy in attempts to develop school board policies.The article examines two dimensions of this problem: prevention and reaction. First, it considers the preventative steps a school is legally obliged to take. A human rights dimension is involved since the failure to take preventative steps constitutes discrimination on the basis of disability. Second, the article examines the liability in tort of a school board and school personnel should a child have an anaphylactic reaction as a result of the failure to take preventive steps. This "reactive" section also includes a brief examination of whether other parents could face tort liability if they fail to comply with a school's preventive measures. Because of the potential consequences of the adversarial process for the allergic child, the author concludes that legal avenues should be pursued only when all other options have failed.


In the present thesis, we will review various Bethe ansatz techniques such as the (nested) algebraic Bethe ansatz and the (nested) coordinate Bethe ansatz using well known models like the XXX model and the Hubbard model. Subsequently, the Bethe ansatz techniques are applied to obtain Bethe ansatz equations and Bethe vectors of the su(2|2)-invariant S matrix. Finally, these results are used to obtain the full S -matrix and Bethe equations of the string sigma model.


Astrophysical observations require the existence of non‐baryonic dark matter (DM). If the dark matter particle has a mass in the TeV range and decays or annihilates via the weak interaction, very high energy (VHE) γ‐ray telescopes like H.E.S.S., MAGIC and VERITAS are well‐suited to search for dark matter signals, as photons produced in dark matter annihilations allow directional back‐tracking to their source. Dark matter searches and related observations performed by the H.E.S.S. collaboration are summarized here.


Gum exudates are among the oldest natural polymer. Natural gums have remained one of the major areas of interest for the researchers for their applicability in the drug delivery system because of their wide availability, inexpensiveness and availability in a variety of structures with varied properties. They can be easily modified chemically, biochemically and are highly stable, safe, non-toxic, gel forming and in addition are biodegradable. Rosin is one of the natural gums obtained as resinous constituent of the oleoresin exuded by various species of pine, mostly conifers. Rosin consists primarily of abietic- and pimaric-type resin acids (or rosin acids) with characteristic hydrophobic hydrophenanthrene rings which impart them excellent film-forming properties. Rosin and its derivatives are biopolymers that are increasingly used for their pharmaceutical applications. In the pharmaceutical field, it has been investigated for film-forming and coating properties, microencapsulation and as a matrix material in the tablets for sustained and controlled drug release. This article reviews the literature on rosin and its derivative and describes the varied applications of the rosin and their future exploitation in novel drug delivery systems.