Techniques recently developed in paleohydrology enable the estimation of discharges and dates of occurrence of flood events which occurred thousands of years ago. We use computer simulation to assess whether a single paleoflood estimate, when included in a single-site or regional flood frequency analysis procedure, gives a worthwhile increase in the accuracy of estimates of extreme floods. We find that the main factors affecting the utility of this kind of paleological information are the specification of the fitted flood frequency distribution (whether it has two or three unknown parameters) and the size of the measurement error of paleodischarge estimates. Errors in estimating the date of the paleoflood are of minor importance. We conclude that paleological information is most useful when estimating a three-parameter flood frequency distribution for a single site possessing only a short gauged record. When several independent and homogeneous gauged records from different sites are used in a regional flood frequency analysis, the value of paleological information is, within the limits of this study, negligible.


Through analyzing the constraints of traditional way's appliance in the aspect of reducing waste and the basic requirements of circular economy, based on modern property rights theory, this paper proposed to establish pre-paid deposit system, and gave relevant system design, which can be a reference for promoting the reutilization of castoff and developing recycling economy.


Drug biotransformation study is an integral part of preclinical screening for new drug candidates. This assessment usually involves both in vitro and in vivo models in animal species where the main pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics and toxicological profile are investigated. Several in vitro models utilized in studying hepatic drug biotransformation. Such models which range from whole cell system (intact perfused liver, human hepatocytes culture, hepatic and transfected cell lines)to enzymes preparations (liver Microsomes, cytosolic and S9 fraction) are now increasingly applied for quantitative and qualitative assessment in preclinical drug development, post-approval routine checks, identification of metabolic determinant factor etc. A literature survey was done to study reported metabolites and metabolic pathway of pazopanib Ex-vivo protocol for metabolic assessment was developed after collecting the appropriate enzymatic fraction. RHPLC method was developed and validated for quantitation of pazopanib in presence of metabolizing enzymes. Microsomal fraction was isolated from goat liver obtained from slaughterhouse using centrifugation technique. A sample was incubated with pazopanib and also in the presence of microsomal enzyme inducer and inhibitor and sample withdrawn at different time interval were subjected to analysis by the developed HPLC method for detection of possibly formed metabolites. The developed chromatographic method will be a handy tool for assessment of quantitative formation as such metabolites and will help in metabolic stability for pazopanib.


This paper describes the implementation of a precise underwater navigation solution using a multiple sensor fusion technique based on USBL, GPS, DVL and AHRS measurements for the operation of a remotely operated mine disposal vehicle (MDV). The estimation of accurate 6DOF positions and attitudes is the key factor in executing dangerous and complicated missions. To implement the precise underwater navigation, two strategies are chosen in this paper. Firstly, the sensor frame alignment to the body frame is conducted to enhance the performance of a standalone dead-reckoning algorithm. Secondly, absolute position data measured by USBL is fused to prevent cumulative integration error. The heading alignment error is identified by comparing the measured absolute positions with the DR algorithm results. The performance of the developed approach is evaluated with the experimental data acquired by MDV in the South-sea trial.


SiBCN ceramics were introduced into porous Si3N4 ceramics via a low-pressure chemical vapor deposition and infiltration (LPCVD/CVI) technique, and then the composite ceramics were heat-treated from 1400 °C to 1700 °C in a N2 atmosphere. The effects of annealing temperatures on microstructure, phase evolution, dielectric properties of SiBCN ceramics were investigated. The results revealed that α-Si3N4 and free carbon were separated below 1700 °C, and then SiC grains formed in the SiBCN ceramic matrix after annealing at 1700 °C through a phase-reaction between free carbon and α-Si3N4. The average dielectric loss of composites increased from 0 to 0.03 due to the formation of dispersive SiC grains and the increase of grain boundaries.


The spread of trichinosis in bears and circulation features of the disease in the populations of predators is an important issue, knowledge of which is necessary for the prevention of helminthiasis in humans. The results of studies of biological material from carcasses of brown bears on the trichinosis for 2003- 2007, 2009-2010 for the Kamchatka region and from 2006 to 2011 in the Sakhalin area. The causative agent of trichinosis in bears in the Russian Far East is the species of Trichinella nativa. The extent of Trichinella infestation varies from 2,4 % in Sakhalinsky region to 30,6 % in Kamchatsky region. Trichinosis infection among Asiatic black bears is lower than among brown bears. Eating bear's meat is the main cause of man's Trichinosis infection. Bear meat is a source of infestation with trichinosis people in the Khabarovsk region in 20 % of cases and in 17 % of cases in the Amur region. In Russia 85 % of cases of human infection occurs after eating the meat of a brown bear. On the South of the Russian Far East (Primorsky region and southern Khabarovsk region) trichinosis exposed to two species of bears: brown and Himalayan bears - one of the main causes of infection of human trichinosis. According to the information of the Federal State Budgetary Institution Magadan Interregional Veterinary Laboratory, in Magadan region cases of trichinosis in the brown bear were found in 28 specimens of brown bear, in 17 cases (61 %) in meat have been identified larvae of Trichinella, suggesting greater spread of trichinosis in Magadan region.


Background: Corporate fraud and earnings management have been controversial and discussed extensively in the literature, as companies consider the practices strategic and creative to keep their companies afloat and sustain a desired firm value. While this unethical practice has remained illegal, unethical and a global concern, the trajectory to higher incentives by executives to insider dealings to keep the stock price attractive by managers is unacceptable, this study provides new insight and implications of corporate fraud and earnings management on firm value.

Objective: This paper investigates the effect of corporate fraud and earnings management on firm value from the perspective of the application of Beneish M-Score manipulation and probability index as indicators to detect corporate fraud and earnings management on Tobin's Q as a surrogate of firm value The main aim is to establish the consequence of corporate fraud and earnings management on firm value and highlights the forms of corporate fraud and earnings management, stakeholders concerns and unattractiveness of fraud corporate in whatever capacity.

Method: Using descriptive statistics and inferential analysis, the study provides evidence that leverage index, sales growth and sales and administrative expense exerted positive effects and channels for corporate fraud and earning management of the selected Nigerian-listed consumer goods manufacturing companies. We found that while each of the day's sales trade receivables index, assets quality index, leverage index and sales growth quality index exerted positive effects, the gross margin index, depreciation index and total accruals to total index exhibited negative insignificant effects. However, the joint attributes of corporate fraud and earnings management had a positive significant effect on Tobin's Q as a firm value surrogate

Our Conclusion: The study contributing to knowledge, provides new empirical evidence of the application of the Beneish M-Score model as a novelty to the probability incentive for corporate fraud and earnings management in the companies examined.


Space hardware must function under severe environmental conditions. In addition, low masses are required in order to limit launch weight. This implies that material properties and sensitivities have to be known with a high degree of accuracy and reliability in particular if advanced materials or new material combinations are considered. The system-level impacts of uncertainties in hardware characteristics are presented for some examples of European space projects or studies in the field of solar system exploration and space transportation. Among all possible hardware characteristics the presented sensitivity analyses are restricted to surface thermo-optical properties and thermal conductivity. For new material applications extensive test campaigns are necessary to determine the characteristics with the needed accuracy and reliability. However, it is not always possible to cover all the design cases by test or a basically known material might be applied under unusual environmental conditions. Under such circumstances a mathematical description of material characteristics validated by some tests is helpful.


In previous papers, we reported the first dry actuator that can be fabricated simply by layer-by-layer casting, using 'bucky gel', a gelatinous room-temperature ionic liquid containing single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs). The actuator has a bimorph configuration with a polymer-supported internal ionic liquid electrolyte layer sandwiched by polymer-supported bucky-gel electrode layers, which allow quick and long-lived operation in air at low applied voltages. In this paper, some of the recent developments of the actuator performance are reported.


A corpus of 1,001 criminal cases from the public prosecutor's office of the Netherlands was analyzed to determine whether judicial or extrajudicial factors were responsible for the overrepresentation of the unemployed in summonses as compared to dismissals & out-of-court fines, the other two alternatives available to the public prosecutor. Such overrepresentation in courts has been quantitatively demonstrated in several previous studies, which concluded that a selective judicial policy was applied by the public prosecutor's office discriminating against the unemployed. However, comparison of quantitative & % values for battering, property destruction, & theft does not show significant differences in the treatment of the two groups if the analysis takes into account the overall prevalence of cases involving the unemployed that come before the public prosecutor. The variables affecting the prosecutor's decision making with respect to fine vs summons are studied, & it is concluded that there is no biased treatment. High recidivism of unemployed defendants & frequent noncompliance with the transactional offer of paying a fine play an important part in their overrepresentation in court. 6 Tables, 11 References. Z. Dubiel


This article is the fifth Seminar series of Mr. Feng Jizhong's works, it mainly discussed about the Urban Planning Framework of Nanjing City, which Feng Jizhong joined as planner in 1947, as well as his urban planning in 1947, as well as his urban planning thoughts.


Present study provides the distributional records of genera of protozoan ciliates namely Epistylis, Vorticella, Veginicola, Acineta and Tokophyra as epibionts got attached on the body surface of zooplankton such as Labidocera pectinata, Euterpina acutifrons, Pontella danae, Pontella securifer, Corycaus danae, Metis jousseaumei, Disticoulus minor, Lucifer hansei, Tortanus forcipes, Oithona rigida, O.brevicornis and Gastropod veliger collected from Tuticorin and Ennore coastal waters. Five genera of ciliates viz., three peritrichids and two suctorians, were identified and classified within the subclass Peritrichia: Epistylis Ehrenberg, 1830 (Epistylidae), Vaginicola Lamarck, 1816 (Vaginicolidae) and Vorticella Linnaeus, 1767 (Vorticellidae); and Suctoria: Acineta Ehrenberg, 1834 (Acinetidae) and Tokophrya Butschli, 1889 (Tokophrydae). Data collected suggest that the epibiont attachment on copepods may have a significant impact on the health of the fish population due to the substantial reduction in the population density of the copepods leading to food scarcity for the fish populations which directly depend on them.


The crystallization behaviour of polyethylene produced with metallocene catalysts (metallocene polyethylene, MPE) was examined in its cross-linked form. Large spherulitic structures were observed very easily in these polyethylene compounds of very low density. Such a microstructure was absent in a cross-linked low density polyethylene (LDPE) produced with free radical polymerization technology. When MPE and LDPE were melt blended and cross-linked, the morphology depended on the blend ratio and annealing conditions. The spherulitic structure disappeared at 50/50 blend ratio and when annealing took place above 90/spl deg/C. Although the cross-linked blends of MPE and LDPE may exhibit resistance to the growth of water trees under laboratory tests on moulded dishes, their performance under full-size cable tests deserve more attention and scrutiny. The crystallization behaviour of these MPE's can be expected to complicate the aging process under accelerated conditions with a strong thermal gradient.


Modal activity at the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor, in which open channel probability switches reversibly between discrete values, arises from changes in the resting affinity at the agonist site.


For three years, the archaeological site of Apamee upon Euphrat was investigated by electric and magnetic methods in relation with the excavations and the topographic study. These geophysical surveys have greatly contributed to the global understanding of this site, which will disappear in December 1999 by the formation of a lake due to the building of a dam. This mission of rescue organised on this Hellenistic City required fast and efficient methods. Thanks to a greater and greater efficiency and the edition of maps more and more detailed the geophysical methods are confirmed today very adapted to this context. The use of the Cesium gradiometer (G-858. Geometries) for the magnetic method allowed maps of a rare quality revealing the urban system (streets, walls of defence, stocks of habitations). They constitute a real archaeological document, which permitted one to make a pertinent choice of the locations of the excavations. These excavations have completed the geophysical information, studying sectors in an out of the way place with the magnetic method but localised in the urban scheme from the geophysical maps. Twelve hectares have been surveyed among the thirty-five hectares of the site. Different sectors occupied by thick orchards can't be prospected with the Cesium gradiometer but they should be razed before the filling in of the lake. We hope thus to complete the map of Apamee before its disappearance under the waters. Fig. I. Magnetic survey of local area (houses and streets)


In 1967, Prentice Hall publishers released the first edition of Marketing Management by Philip Kotler. Since then and through more than four decades, this title has established itself as a bestseller with an exceptional history of transformations. As a canonical graduate-level textbook in a popular discipline in which textbooks are myriad, Marketing Management can be taken as an archetype for the study of translation practices in higher education publishing – an influential sector of the book industry which heavily relies on translation (both in its restricted and extended definitions) but has thus far received scant attention in translation studies. The present article focuses on interlingual translations of Kotler's volume in three languages (Spanish, French and Italian), which are considered in relation to other forms of rewritings such as new editions and English-language adaptations. The authors analyse and compare the formal characteristics of these interlingual translations; they explore by whom and for what purposes they were initially produced, as well as how they evolved over time. While highlighting the specific trajectory of Marketing Management in each language, the study also reveals common features and questions to what extent these reflect the agency of those who produced the translations as well as ongoing transformations in higher education publishing.


A human pregnancy exposed to a luteinizing-hormone-releasing hormone agonist (buserelin) in its early stages is reported. The possible mechanisms leading to conception under this mode of treatment and its consequences are discussed.


With the advancement of technology, the Internet users are increasing exponentially. In this technology enhancement era, web-based complaint management system becomes more favored and therefore, it becomes more effective and efficient to manage the complaints received, especially for the service-oriented organizations or business operators that are profit-oriented. Up to date, little literature could be found with regards to community welfare and public health complaint systems developed for the non-profit-oriented organizations or companies, especially as an intervention to combat tobacco use at public or work places. This study aims to fill in the gap by designing and developing a web-based smoking complaint management system as an innovative initiative to support the Blue Ribbon Campaign initiated by the World Health Organization, to fight the tobacco epidemics within the context of Malaysia. A framework for this web-based smoking complaint management system is proposed. This study employs the iterative waterfall model that incorporates the adapted human-centered agile work flow. The interface design and the development of the system are described. Limitation and recommendations for future works are also presented.


A dielectric barrier is a simple but efficient device to modulate the current in a gas dis- charge. The barrier-configuration, consisting of two electrodes, the dielectric barrier and the gas gap, is exposed to an alternating vol- tage. During the voltage rise pulse-like mi- crodischarges of short duration are generated in the gas gap. These microdischarges have different properties due to the voltage sup- plied at the electrodes. A high voltage pulse generator has been devel- oped to investigate the influence of voltage shape and pulse repetition rate on barrier- discharges. It is based on a semiconductor halfbridge with two IGBT-switches and a pulse- transformer for steep high voltage pulses. The amplitude and the repetition rate of the out- put pulses are adjustable. The maximum voltage is 17 kV, reached in 4 ps, the maximum repeti- tion rate is 30 kHz. The paper discusses the interaction between voltage generator and gas discharge. Charac- teristics of the power supply and barrier-dis- charge conditions, which are suitable for sur- face treatment applications, are pointed out.


An alternative phase delivery system based on piston pumps and a back-pressure regulator has been developed for capillary column SFC. The chromatography is not affected by the fast piston pump refill. A homogeneous on-line mixing of binary phases with simultaneous pressure programming is easily accessible without any additional computing. Acceptable reproducibilities (< 3.5% RSD for external and < 2.0% RSD for internal standard methods) were found with mixtures of 2-propanol/CO2 as mobile phases using UV detection and split ratios of 1:60 and 1:120. Variation and control of the split are easily done by simple flow rate volumetric changes.


School organization culture is taken as a new idea of management mainly because of its subtle influence on school management,which determines its particular function that can't be performed by stuff management.It is a kind of soft management mode.


As English learners originate from many cultural and language backgrounds, they come to class with different circumstances. This paper examines the backgrounds, common problems and solutions for English for Academic Purposes (EAP) students and Language, Literacy, and Numeracy Programme (LLNP) students. EAP students are from Meridian International School based in Surry Hills, Sydney, and LLNP students are from MTC Training Solutions, an LLNP provider commissioned from the Australian government to offer students with English language and numeracy proficiency to gain sustainable employment in Australia. This paper will introduce and provide insights into EAP and LLNP programmes from the perspective of a teacher/trainer. It will highlight the differences in the backgrounds of the two programmes and identify their problems and solutions, thus maximise students' learning outcomes.


In this paper, the theoretical analysis of hollow-core microstructure fiber for improving the temperature stability of fiber optic gyroscope (FOG) is carried out. The analysis shows that the thermally induced Shupe error can be reduced by a factor of about 23 in theory in a hollow-core microstructure FOG. A FOG prototype is constructed by utilizing a 300mlong 7-cell bandgap-guided hollow-core microstructure fiber, and its temperature stability is compared with that of traditional FOG under the same specification conditions. The experimental results exhibit that the hollow-core microstructure fiber in use can promote the temperature stability of FOG by 2.5 times.


A generally covariant and gauge invariant description of physical optics, the Sagnac effect, and the Aharonov-Bohm (AB) effect is developed using the appropriate phase factor for electrodynamics. The latter is a generally covariant development of the Dirac-Wu-Yang phase factor based on the generally covariant Stokes theorem. The MaxwellHeaviside (MH) field theory fails to describe physical optics, interferometry, and topological phase effects in general because the phase factor in that theory is under-determined. A random number from a U(1) gauge transformations can be added to the MH phase factor. The generally covariant phase factor of the Evans unified field theory is gauge invariant and has the correct property under parity inversion to produce observables such as reflection, interferograms, the Sagnac and AB effects, the Tomita-Chao effect and topological phase effects in general. These effects are described simply and self consistently with the generally covariant Stokes theorem in which ordinary exterior derivative is replaced by the covariant exterior derivative of differential geometry.


On the basis of a study on the fundamental property of vari-toned song in the Ming-ming cicada, the original mechanism of the sound production is further analysed in this paper.
In the Mingming cicada, each single call consists of the prelude, loud song containing some vari-toned syllables "Weiying" and coda. Each vari-toned syllable is composed of "Wei" with the basic sound (BS) as the dominant tone and "ying" with the upper partials (UP2) as the dominant tone, and the upper partials (UP1) is a sound accompaniment of low intensity. The BS, UP1 and UP2 are produced by vibrations of the long ribs LR2, LR3 and LR1 in the sounding membrane driven by twiches with different properties in the sounding muscle, respectively.
The LR1 and LR2,3 may be analogous to a string tensioned on two ends and a beam hinged on two ends with a load in the middle, respectively. In analogical models, the acoustic properties of sounding vibration are not only suited to the structural characteristics of LR1,2,3 but also consist basically with the acoustic properties of the song.


Present study was proposed the monitoring of mathematical model of electric voltage source with using neural network for application in control systems as sensor and command signal. The monitoring system, consist of toroidal choke or transformer with high saturated ferromagnetic cores. The input information we receive from current periodic curves. The current was distributed into Fourier or walsh series. The combination of these harmonics and their amplitude values determine monitoring voltage value directly. For increase of this system precision, the mathematical model was constructed on basis of partial differential quasi-stationary electromagnetic field equations and ordi-nary differential electromagnetic circuit equations combination.


The properties of high-redshift quasar host galaxies are studied in order to investigate the connection between galaxy evolution, nuclear activity, and the formation of supermassive black holes. We combine new near-IR observations of three high-redshift quasars (2 < z < 3), obtained at the ESO Very Large Telescope equipped with adaptive optics, with selected data from the literature. For the three new objects we were able to detect and characterize the properties of the host galaxy, found to be consistent with those of massive elliptical galaxies of MR ∼ − 24.7 for the one radio-loud quasar, and MR ∼ − 23.8 for the two radio-quiet quasars. When combined with existing data at lower redshift, these new observations depict a scenario where the host galaxies of radio-loud quasars are seen to follow the expected trend of luminous (~5L*) elliptical galaxies undergoing passive evolution. This trend is remarkably similar to that followed by radio galaxies at z > 1.5. Radio-quiet quasar hosts also follow a similar trend but at a lower average luminosity (~0.5 mag dimmer). The data indicate that quasar host galaxies are already fully formed at epochs as early as ~2 Gyr after the big bang and then passively fade in luminosity to the present epoch.


HabEx Architecture A is a 4m unobscured telescope mission concept optimized for direct imaging and spectroscopy of potentially habitable exoplanets, and also enables a wide range of general astrophysics science. The exoplanet detection and characterization drives the enabling core technologies. A hybrid starlight suppression approach of a starshade and coronagraph diversifies technology maturation risk. In this paper we assess these exoplanet-driven technologies, including elements of coronagraphs, starshades, mirrors, jitter mitigation, wavefront control, and detectors. By utilizing high technology readiness solutions where feasible, and identifying required technology development that can begin early, HabEx will be well positioned for assessment by the community in 2020 Astrophysics Decadal Survey.


In the gyrotron traveling wave amplifier (gyro-TWA), high loss dielectric materials loaded in a cylindrical waveguide are adopted to suppress the unwanted parasitic oscillations. It is of great importance to accurately understand the relative permittivity r and tan δ for studying the microwave and millimeter wave dispersion, and loss properties of a specific mode. The high lossy dielectric loaded circuits of the gyro-TWAs made of the BeO-SiC ceramic are theoretical calculated, simulated, and measured. The field distribution, dispersion, and loss properties of three different dielectric loaded circular HE12, HE d 22, and TE d 02 modes (corresponding to the TE11, TE21, and TE01 modes in the smooth hollow cylindrical waveguide respectively) in different frequency bands are respectively investigated. The theoretical analysis, simulation, and measurement results have a good agreement. This work has clear guiding significance for the stable work of gyro-TWAs.


Objective To analyze the effect of low-dose of mirtazapine and lorazepam in the treatment for chronic insomnia.Methods 72 cases of chronic insomnia patients w ere randomly divided into tw o groups,35 cases in A group w ere given lorazepam,37 cases in B group w ere given olanzapine,to observe sleep quality improvement and adverse reactions after 1 and 2 w eeks treatment.Results The excellent rate of B group w as higher than that of A group(P 0.05); after 1 and 2 weeks treatment,PSQI scores of B group were lower than that of A group(P 0.01); the incidence of adverse reactions betw een the tw o groups had no significant difference(P0.05).Conclusion Low-doses of mirtazapine treatment for chronic insomnia is more effective than lorazepam,it can significantly improve sleep quality,it is safe and reliable.


The purpose of this paper is to take stock of the work done by Justice Canada to harmonize the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act 2 [hereinafter B.I.A.] with Quebec civil law. This paper deals with some of the most important and fascinating examples arising out of the harmonization process. Our work is still at a preliminary stage. In a way, then, this paper is an interim report, a series of findings and observations. It should therefore be noted that no legislative amendments are recommended in this paper, nor should any be deduced from the following remarks. We would therefore be delighted to receive any comments you might have.


Abstract We modified the Rothamsted carbon model (RothC) to adopt it to Andosols. We changed the decomposition rate constant of the humus (HUM) pool because the presence of Al-humus complexes in Andosols gives HUM strong stability. In addition, the inert organic matter (IOM) pool was set at zero, because the soil did not contain carbon when it was formed from fresh volcanic ash. H(f) was defined as the factor required to divide the decomposition rate constant of the HUM pool so that the modelled soil organic carbon (SOC) level matched the measured level. H(f) was calculated for 32 Japanese Andosols, and the relationships between H(f) and soil properties such as contents of acid-oxalate-extractable Al, Fe, and Si (Mo, Feo, and Sio) or pyrophosphate-extractable Al (Alp) were analysed. The equation H(f) =1.20 + 2,50Alp(% ), (r 2 = 0.518) was selected to divide the decomposition rate constant of HUM. The modified model was tested for four long-term experimental data sets on Andosols under various climatic conditions, soil textures, and management techniques from north to south across Japan. We obtained considerably improved fits between the contents of modelled and measured SOC by using the modified RothC instead of the original model. Use of this modified model may contribute to the improvement of the performance of existing SOC2 models in modelling Andosols. It can be used for estimating CO2 emission from soils, as well as for planning suitable organic matter management in Japanese Andosols.


MathsAid was established in 2001 as a university‐wide resource for students enrolled on programmes at Kingston University that contain a mathematics or statistics component. Its broad aims are to provide a set of non‐threatening remedial and motivational opportunities in maths and statistics through one‐to‐one tutorial support, peer‐assisted learning (PAL) and ICT products managed through the BlackBoard learning management system. An evaluation of the MathsAid program has found it to aid some students in both their short‐ and long‐term learning objectives but has raised questions of whether it could be adjusted to reach more of the most vulnerable students. This article outlines the MathsAid programme and the evaluation results.


The effect of tool rotational speed on tensile properties and microhardness of dissimilar Aluminum alloys 6061 & 2024 welds fabricated via friction stir welding (FSW) have been analyzed in this current study. The different weldments are fabricated by diverge the rotational speeds of the tool as 900, 1120 and 1400 rpm. In all the experiments the rotating speed is fixed at 40 mm/min. For both the alloys all the weld produced should be perpendicular to the rolling direction. Microhardness (Hv) and tensile tests are performed at room temperature to evaluate the mechanical properties of the weldments. It is seen that better tensile properties are exhibited at 900 rpm instead of 1120 and 1400 rpm. It is also observed that at 1120 rpm micro hardness is 115 Hv obtained. The observed tensile properties and hardness are correlated with microstructure and fracture features.


Fifteen adult cystic fibrosis patients completed a randomised two-period, two-treatment crossover study to investigate whether it is necessary to perform thoracic expansion exercises during the active cycle of breathing techniques (ACBT) with postural drainage. Treatment A comprised the ACBT with postural drainage, incorporating thoracic expansion exercises. Treatment B was as described for treatment A with the exclusion of the thoracic expansion exercises. During treatment By the thoracic expansion exercises were replaced with an equivalent period of relaxed breathing. No significant differences were found between treatments A and B for spirometry, sputum weight or oxygen saturation measured up to 30 min post-treatment. This suggests that, if desired, thoracic expansion exercises can be omitted from the ACBT with postural drainage and be replaced with relaxed breathing with no obvious loss of effect or detrimental sequelae in the short term.


Report discusses an investigation into the tensile strength of cast-iron piston rings, NACA microtensile specimens, and bar specimens. Photographs showing the relation between graphite-flake size and tensile strength and radiographs showing the shrinkage cavities in the piston rings are provided. Piston rings tend to be one of the first parts of an aircraft engine to fail, so discovering the ideal material composition and foundry treatment is very important.


The interrelationship between genetic susceptibility and carcinogenic exposure is important in the development of haematopoietic malignancies. Both factors need to be considered to enable assessment of disease risk associated with a given individual under certain environmental conditions. GSTT1 and GSTM1 are two genes whose proteins are involved in the detoxification of potential carcinogens. We have studied the prevalence of GSTT1 and GSTM1 null polymorphisms using a novel PCR multiplex protocol in a group of 158 patients with B‐cell lymphoma (BCL, 138 with non‐Hodgkin lymphoma and 20 with Hodgkin lymphoma) and 214 healthy controls. A questionnaire regarding occupational exposure and lifestyle factors was also completed by both groups. GSTM1 null genotype showed no significant differences between patients and controls (46.9% and 55.6%, respectively). In contrast, GSTT1 null genotype was observed in 25.3% of patients and 15.4% of controls (P = 0.013; OR = 1.85; CI (95%):1.11–3.09), suggesting a role for the GSTT1 null genotype in the development of BCL. This effect was even more evident in females (27.5% vs. 14%: P = 0.014). No significant association was observed between GST genotypes and disease risk in relation to smoking or occupational exposure. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


Renewable energy is one of the key drivers for reducing CO2 emissions in the future. In order to support effective policy-making relating to renewable energy, estimation of available potentials mixed with all energy resources including fossil fuels is needed. However, previous research has sometimes focused on only one particular approach. Therefore, a diversified analysis of potential renewable energy contributions to energy supply in Asian regions was carried out in this paper. In order to estimate physical potential, a grid cell approach using geographical information system (GIS) data was adopted. Once the physical and technical potential had been estimated, the economic potential was then calculated. Socio-economic potential was analyzed using energy outlook data collected and reviewed from various publications in order to assess trends in energy demand and supply. The results indicate that almost all Asian countries will continue to develop and that the demand for energy will grow. With the aspect from potential amount, renewable energy supply is effective even though fossil fuels will continue to dominate totally energy mixes for the foreseeable future. In renewable energy supply, potential of solar is dominated and bears on wide implication compared with that of wind and biomass. To ensure the best possible results, further research should be carried out on the optimal schedule for the multiphased introduction of renewable energy in long-term policy.


This study examined variables that contribute to the workload of a local highway maintenance crew. It was determined which of these work-influencing factors correlate most closely with the work hours available to maintain Kansas highways. A computer program of multiple regression analysis revealed that work hours show a dependency on the following variables in the indicated percentages: 55 percent on two-lane kilometers, 20 percent on centimeters of precipitation, 4 percent on average annual daily traffic, 1 percent on square meters of buildings, and 20 percent on all other variables combined. The multiple regression analysis program redistributed the available labor among the 114 local subarea shops throughout the state based on the amount of each of the influencing variables present within the boundaries of each subarea. /Author/


In this investigation we explored how two dimensions underlying current models of psychopathology, threat sensitivity and executive cognitive processing, may come together to influence downstream responses to social threat. Specifically, we investigated how set-shifting ability influences responses to simulated peer-rejection in high threat sensitive individuals (n = 66) selected from a larger sample. Our findings suggest the possibility of risk-reducing benefits imparted from higher set-shifting and executive resources. In particular, we saw evidence of greater approach-related behavior, including higher intensity positive emotional expressions and a relative increase in the proportion of parasympathetic activity, with higher set-shifting. Our findings join a small but growing body of research examining how risks elevated by threat sensitivity may be mitigated by executive cognitive processing.


This report briefly summarizes the 1991 Travel Outlook Forum held in Pittsburgh, Pennslylvania, on October 16, 1990. Copies of the "1991 Outlook for Travel and Tourism" are available from the U.S. Travel Data Center, Two Lafayette Centre, 1133 21st Street, N. W., Washington, D. C. 20036 for $125. 00.


In particular, English has become a universal language all over the world and has had a huge impact on several academic and professional fields. Therefore, not only has the teaching and learning of English as a foreign language (EFL), gained importance, but in particular, English for specific purposes (ESP). This article presents a case study that explores and identify engineering students' needs and demands by means of a Needs Analysis that involves interviews and surveys in order to design an ESP Reading Course. This inquiry included identifying needs to design an ESP course which may provide students with the essential tools in order to understand, and manage accurately, specialized information, which is relevant for their professional development.


Differentiation of sex chromosomes is thought to have evolved with cessation of recombination and subsequent loss of genes from the degenerated partner (Y and W) of sex chromosomes, which in turn leads to imbalance of gene dosage between sexes. Based on work with traditional model species, theory suggests that unequal gene copy numbers lead to the evolution of mechanisms to counter this imbalance. Dosage compensation, or at least achieving dosage balance in expression of sex-linked genes between sexes, has largely been documented in lineages with male heterogamety (XX/XY sex determination), while ZZ/ZW systems are assumed to be usually associated with the lack of chromosome-wide gene dose regulatory mechanisms. Here we document that although the pygopodid geckos evolved male heterogamety with a degenerated Y chromosome 32-72 million years ago, one species in particular, Burton's legless lizard (Lialis burtonis), does not possess dosage balance in the expression of genes in its X-specific region. We summarize studies on gene dose regulatory mechanisms in animals and conclude that there is in them no significant dichotomy between male and female heterogamety. We speculate that gene dose regulatory mechanisms are likely to be related to the general mechanisms of sex determination instead of type of heterogamety.


Doing business in Slovakia begins to evolve very rapidly. The establishment of the airline as a business entity in itself means putting together many acts, both administrative and legal. The thesis aims at presenting the issue of establishing an airline in terms of the procedural rule. The work is divided into seven chapters. The last chapter is devoted to certification which is major requirement if some company wishes to operate in the field of air transport.


In this paper, we present an approach to model bar length drum patterns with weighted finite-state transducers. Motivated by the existing algorithms for speech recognition, we discuss similarities to music, by considering a bar as word and the progression of bars as language. However, in contrast to speech, music has special characteristics, like metrical regularity and multiple notes at one point in time, which have to be taken into account. We use MIDI data to retrieve the drum notes for every bar, which are the input for the training of the WFST models. Once the models are trained, they are used to automatically recognize drum patterns and their time signature in a sequence of unknown drum notes. We present an experiment on symbolic genre classification to demonstrate the principle of operation, training and recognition. It shows that the sequence of drum notes is representative for the four genres: Rumba, Samba, Tango and Waltz leading to a genre recognition rate of 88.9%±2.8%. Applications that could benefit from this approach include drum loop organization, drum note transcription, music similarity and genre detection.


Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) and state relations are a complex, dynamic, multi-faceted, multi-actor, interactive and vibrant process. The relationships have local, national and international dimensions. NGOs can direct opinions and request of personal, local and public demands to the relevant institutions and organizations. As of 10-11 December 1999, Turkey's EU candidacy formally approved at the EU summit of Heads of State and Government held in Helsinki and Turkey would be on equal footing with other candidate countries anymore. December 17, 2004 at the Brussels Summit, and there was another turning point in EU-Turkey relations and it has been decided to get started for accession negotiations as of October 3, 2005 at the summit. After Turkey has gained a candidate status in the 1999 year, there have been significant changes in the legislation concerning freedom of association and civil society. The reforms in this period are a turning point in the strengthening of the legal framework for civil society. Some of the reforms in the legislation constitute arrangements between NGOs and local governments. Considering the candidate country status of Turkey, the study will discuss the legal regulations of Municipal Act of 5393, 5216 Metropolitan Municipality Act of 5216, and Special Provincial Administration Law of 5302 at the NGO and local administration relationship perspectives.


AIM
A highly sensitive semi-automated immune complex transfer chemiluminescence enzyme immunoassay (ICT-CLEIA) for the detection of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) was recently developed. Our aim is to investigate clinical significance of ICT-CLEIA in patients with HBV.

METHODS
Of 829 HB carriers in our hospital and 167 commercial panels, performance of ICT-CLEIA(detection range 0.0005-2.5 IU/mL) was compared with two quantitative HBsAg detection systems (Architect HBsAg QT assay [0.05-250 IU/mL] and HISCL HBsAg assay [0.03-2500 IU/mL]) and COBAS TaqMan HBV-DNA assay (CTM, 2.1 Log copies/ml) using serum samples from patients or panels.

RESULTS
The ICT-CLEIA had good accuracy and reproducibility. The sensitivity of wild type and HBsAg escape mutants (I126S, D144A, G145R) by ICT-CLEIA was 2- -5 to 2- -6 times higher than that of Architect HBsAg QT. For clinical practice, ICT-CLEIA assay could detect HBsAg even in the presence of anti-HBs during window periods in acute hepatitis B panel. HBsAg has been detectable for around 9 years in a patient with HBsAg clearance by Architect. In a patient with HBV reactivation after bone marrow transplantation followed by systematic chemotherapy, HBsAg by ICT-CLEIA was detectable at the same time point when HBV-DNA was detected by PCR. In conclusion, the ICT-CLEIA assay permits not only an earlier detection of acute hepatitis B infection but also may be useful for monitoring hepatitis B patients.


As life expectancy has increased and the global population has aged, the global burden of chronic diseases has risen alarmingly. This study aims to determine if there is any significant correlation between adherence to therapeutic recommendations and locus of control orientation. Cross-sectional quantitative correlational design carried out in Al-Najaf City. Non-randomized purposive sampling consisted of 120 patients with coronary artery disease after percutaneous coronary intervention. The date collected from June 20th, 2021 and last to November 27th, 2021 through interview method by Multi-dimensional health locus of control questionnaire form (C) which include 18 items, and adherence questionnaire which include 54 items in addition to multi-dimensional health locus of control instrument which include 18 items regarding internal, chance, and power full others domains. This study finds that patients adherence to therapeutic recommendations and their locus of control orientation is significantly correlated through statistical indicator of Pearson correlation of 0.539 at probability value of less than 0.05. The study findings also reveals that it is possible to predict patient's adherence to therapeutic recommendations through their locus of control orientation. Internal LOC. Orientation appear to be associated with disease prevention and control in addition to health promotion.


The evolution of the texture in 6111 aluminum alloy sheet during the manufacturing processing has been investigated by ODF(orientation distribution function).The results show that the α-Al matrix exhibits the weak copper type of rolling texture after hot rolling and random texture after annealing.After cold rolling the annealed plate into the sheet,the strong copper tape of rolling texture is formed.During the following solution treatment,the recrystallization occurs,and as a result recrystallization texture is formed which consists of the rotated cube component Cube+ND15 and the component {011}111.


Child creation education is the preschool education in which educators awaken children's creative potential, inspire their creative intentions, develop their creative thinking, train their creative behaviors, and shape their creative personality based on the basic principles of creation and the law of children's creative psychology in the process of implementing quality education. The development of child creation education is closely related to the future of innovative talent pool, the improvement of quality education, and the implementation of science and technology power. On the basis of summarizing and analyzing the previous study results, this paper analyzes the current situation and existing problems of preschool education, especially child education, expounds the background, essence and significance of child creation education, and puts forward in detail the theoretical construction of child creation education and its practical approaches. The research results of this paper provide a reference for further improving the level of child creation education.


Different sulfur-bearing species from Palaeozoic formation have been analyzed for δ34S values aiming to addressing their origin and potential application in oil-source rock correlation.The results show that oils produced from the Ordovician are sulfur-poor and have δ34S values from 13.6 to 19.9‰.The values are close to those of associated H2S gas and authigenic pyrite in the range from 15 to 18.5‰.Oils produced from the Carboniferous and Silurian are sulfur-rich and have δ34S values from 20‰ to 25.8‰ whilst associated pyrite has much wider values from 9.5‰ to 34‰.Interestingly,anhydrite and barite veins in enlarged fractures show much higher δ34S values(from 44.2‰ to 46.6‰) than those of Phanerozoic seawater, suggesting that the sulfates may have been the residue of thermochemical sulfate reduction(TSR) due to kinetic sulfur isotope fractionation.Small amount of pyrite was found to precipitate near TSR site in the Ordovician but did not inhibit TSR proceeding,whilst much higher pyrite occurs in the overlying strata.Relationship between oil sulphur content and δ34S value shows that TSR-derived inorganic sulfur may have been incorporated into petroleum.However,sulfur-poor oils have low δ34S values distinct from inorganic sulfur.The oils show 2.5‰ to 7.5‰ lower than the Cambrian potential source rock,but much higher than the Upper Ordovican potential source rock,indicating that they may have derived from the Cambrian.Thus,it is reasonable to apply sulfur-poor oil δ34S value to petroleum-source rock correlation.


We commend Fralick and colleagues for their article on drug interactions with rivaroxaban.[1][1] All novel oral anticoagulants (NOACs) were introduced as at least noninferior (in some cases superior) to warfarin. In addition to high efficacy, NOACs were reported to have a better safety profile with


An implemented exercise program was applied to 120 obese children from 8-11 years of age in the city of Hermosillo Sonora. The objective was to determine the levels of anxiety and depression before and after the exercise program. The study had a longitudinal section design with pre and post test, and the following instruments were applied: Depression Questionnaire for Children and Manifest Anxiety Scale for Children. The results show high levels of both psychological factors, resulting in a decrease in the levels of both test conditions with respect to pre test, without this difference beco ming significant. It is concluded that physical activity applied with greater intensity and duration above moderate levels has positive psychological effects. The design and validation of psychological instruments appropriate to the condition and age of obese children will give the opportunity to remove existing limitations to this type of studies.


Despite the importance of science education in the establishment, maintenance and support of a knowledge economy, the ensuing economic challenges facing Lesotho deprive schools and pupils of some important resources, namely laboratories and the associated accessories required for quality delivery of teaching. This manuscript reports on the results of a survey on the resources available for teaching chemistry at secondary schools in preparation for the introduction of an advanced level (A level) curriculum in Lesotho schools. The survey was administered to first-year students registered at the National University of Lesotho for different science-based degrees. The findings from the survey showed that about 90 % of the schools had physical laboratories although on average 70 % of the students reported not having performed more than five experiments over the last year of the secondary school education. Only two schools reported having performed between 15 and 20 experiments of the more than 20 prescribed in the syllabus. The reasons cited ranged from poor facilities, for example poor or no benchtops, no or unusable fumehoods, lack of general apparatus and glassware, a poor range of suitable chemicals, to interestingly, the experiments not even being scheduled in the timetables. The study concludes that the schools in Lesotho are not ready to offer A level chemistry and suggests some recommendations that could be considered should the introduction of A-level be implemented in the near


A vocal critic of commercialized athletics within the NCAA was small liberal arts colleges. The liberal arts athletic model, in contrast, believed that competitive athletics bred a distinctive masculinity tied to leadership and intellectual development. They decried the commercialized model that defined success by winning games and attracting a paying public, instead calling for athletics to be funded out of the regular college budget and providing opportunities for all interested male undergraduates. Their attempts to take advantage of the NCAA as a reform agency, however, frequently ran up against that organization's "home rule" principle, which prohibited the organization from enacting any binding legislation. Additionally, the disinterest or inability of most NCAA schools to compete against the big-time programs led them to avoid or be excluded from the NCAA's governance committees. Thus, though many liberal arts colleges belonged to the NCAA, they really played no role in it, watching with chagrin as it emerged as an organization in thrall to big-time athletics. In response, many smaller schools within the NCAA weighed the possible benefits of dividing the organization or leaving it entirely to found their own organization devoted to smaller colleges. The frustration with commercialized athletics reached their pinnacle with a series of academic, athletic, and gambling scandals in 1951.


bimD6, a ts mitotic mutant sensitive to UV only in dividing cells and defective in recombination, was tested for epistasis with members of the four Uvs groups of A. nidulans. UV survival of quiescent and germinating conidia was compared. While details varied between tests, results from UV-treated germinating conidia consistently showed additive or synergistic interaction. This suggested a new type of function for bimD and perhaps indirect effects on DNA repair and recombination, in line with recent evidence for defects in chromosome cohesion and compaction in mutants of bimD and its homologs (van Heemst et al. 2001 PNAS 98:6267-6272). This regular paper is available in Fungal Genetics Reports: https://newprairiepress.org/fgr/vol48/iss1/9 22 Fungal Genetics Newsletter Tests for epistasis of bimD with UV repair genes representing four epistatic groups and their putative types of DNA repair in Aspergillus nidulans Etta Kafer. Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C., V5A 1S6, Canada bimD6, a ts mitotic mutant sensitive to UV only in dividing cells and defective in recombination, was tested for epistasis with members of the four Uvs groups of A. nidulans. UV survival of quiescent and germinating conidia was compared. While details varied between tests, results from UV-treated germinating conidia consistently showed additive or synergistic interaction. This suggested a new type of function for bimD and perhaps indirect effects on DNA repair and recombination, in line with recent evidence for defects in chromosome cohesion and compaction in mutants of bimD and its homologs (van Heemst et al. 2001 PNAS 98:6267-6272). ______________________________________________________________________________ The ts mutant, bimD6, which is blocked in mitosis at 42°, was found to be meiotic-defective and hypersensitive to UV and MMS (methyl-methane sulfonate) during growth at low temperature. When cloned its sequence showed no homology to any known gene (Denison et al. 1992 Genetics 134:1085-1096). We therefore started a project testing bimD for epistasis with uvs gene members of the four Uvs groups identified in Aspergillus (Chae and Kafer 1993 Curr. Genet. 24:67-74). Some of these groups contain genes with mutants of very similar phenotypes, suggestive of functional grouping, as known for epistatic groups of yeast RAD genes involved in radiation repair. Similarities and differences of the Aspergillus Uvs groups compared to the budding yeast RAD groups and repair types are increasingly becoming documented (see below). In Aspergillus, conidia are dormant non-metabolizing spores, basically in G0, and the first mitosis occurs only after several hours of exposure to growth conditions. Certain repair-defective mutants are found to be UV sensitive when quiescent conidia are treated; presumably in such cases repair can occur in haploid non-dividing cells, as typically occurs in excision and possibly in other types of error-free repair. Alternatively, mutants may show sensitivity only when growing cells are treated, as was found for bimD6 and is typical for mutants defective in recombinational repair. The latter type of treatment was therefore more likely to give meaningful results but we used both methods, because synergism in double mutants has occasionally also been found when one or both of the single mutants did not show sensitivity (e.g., in MMS tests of uvsA101 and uvsI501, neither of which is hypersensitive to MMS, the double mutant showed high sensitivity; Chae and Kafer 1993 ref. cit.). Single and double mutant strains of bimD6 and uvs mutations from each of the four epistatic groups were compared for UV survival using parallel platings of UV treated conidia, irradiated either immediately (data not shown) or after preincubation (4 examples in Fig. 1). Overall, the results of tests using dividing cells showed additive or synergistic interaction of bimD6 with all of the tested mutations. However, in a few cases the difference between double and single mutants were barely additive; namely for uvsD153 (Fig. 1C), and especially for musN227 which is not UV sensitive (Fig. 1D). In addition, since for such tests null mutations were not available (especially for bimD and uvsF which are essential genes) these results have to be interpreted with caution. However, conclusions can be reached with some confidence when the null phenotype is known to be identical to that of the mutants used. This appears to be likely for uvsI501, and has recently been shown for the cell cycle checkpont genes uvsB and uvsD, after sequencing and construction of disruption alleles (De Souza et al. 1999 Mol. Biol. Cell 10:3661-3674). This is however not the case for musN227 which will need further testing. (musN227 had produced inconsistent results which could well have been due to partial function; namely, while musN227 apparently showed typical epistatic interaction with uvsC114 in tests for MMS survival, non-epistatic interaction, i.e., significantly increased UV-induced mutation was obtained for the musN227;uvsC114 double mutant strain; Kafer and Chae 1994 Curr. Genet. 25:223-232; Chae 1993 Ph.D. Thesis, McGill Univ. Montreal Canada). In fact, the original musN227 mutant was recently shown to differ from musN? types which have poor growth and high sensitivity to MMS and UV, in line with the identified homology of musN to E. coli, fungal and human recQ helicases and their extreme mutant phenotypes (A. Hofmann, personal communication). In several cases, the findings after pregermination were confirmed by at least additive interaction also after treatment of quiescent conidia; namely, for uvsF201 and uvsI501 results were almost identical (shown for uvsI in Fig. 1 A) and for uvsB110 the double mutant with bimD6 showed synergism in either test but considerably more after pregermination. On the other hand, for mutants with dormant conidia that are not UV sensitive, i.e., uvsE182, a recombination-deficient type similar to the recA homolog uvsC114, and also for musN22, treatment of quiescent spores produced overlapping survival curves of all mutant and control strains. Such results differed clearly from those obtained after pregermination (Figs 1B and 1D). The overall conclusion, therefore, is that bimD most likely is not a member of one of the four identified epistasis groups of UV repair genes in Aspergillus. This agrees with recent findings which suggest a different primary function for bimD from that proposed for genes of the four Uvs groups (see below). While genetic analysis of bimD6 showed extreme reduction of spontaneous mitotic recombination in diploids, similar to that found for the recA homolog uvsC114, intrachromosomal conversion in bimD6 duplications was practically at wild type levels but almost absent in uvsC114 (van Heemst et al. ref. cit.). Furthermore, detailed cytoimmunological analysis localized the abundant BIMD protein on the chromosomes at most stages of the meiotic and mitotic cell cycle, as found also for its Sordaria homolog, SPO76 (van Heemst et al. 1999 Cell 98:261-271). It was therefore concluded that bimD is unlikely to be enzymatically involved in recombination, DNA repair or cell cycle progression, but rather functions in mitotic and meiotic chromosome morphogenesis, possibly affecting chromosome cohesion and compaction. This conclusion is supported by analysis of bimD6 suppressors (e.g., Holt and May 1996 Genetics 142:777-787) and also by results in yeast and human homologs (reviewed by van Heemst and Heyting 2000 Chromosoma 109:10-26). 1 Kafer: Tests for epistasis of bimD with UV repair genes representing fou Published by New Prairie Press, 2017


In order to get high resolution imaging of aircraft frequency modulated continuous wave synthetic aperture radar( FMCW SAR),in this paper,by improving Stolt transform,combining the wavenumber domain algorithm with the traditional two step motion compensation method,a new wavenumber domain algorithm suitable for FMCW SAR was put forward. This method decomposes motion error compensation into first and second compensation,and the azimuth focusing would be after the second motion compensation,which makes the motion error get effective compensation and get a good result of resolution imaging. At the end of this paper,simulation of point target imaging confirmed that the algorithm is effective.


N,N'-Bis(salicylidene)ethylenediaminecobalt(II) (1) has been investigated as a highly efficient water oxidation precatalyst with a TON of 854 at pH = 9.0, using [Ru(bpy)3](ClO4)2 as a photosensitizer and Na2S2O8 as a sacrificial electron acceptor.


This article examines the polemical rapport between Aksakov and Solov'ev regarding the relationship of the national and that of common humanity principles in the history. Special attention is focused on the ideas of national self-denial and national identity. The author concludes that Aksakov gave more importance to the national idea while Solovyov highlighted that of common humanity.


Freshwater pearl mussels (Margaritiferidae fam.) are one of the most important groups of molluscs in terms of economy and nature protection. The review presents generalized data on the origin and evolution of Mesozoic species of pearl mussels. They originated in the Late Triassic, and during the Jurassic and Cretaceous they were widely distributed in the rivers of the Northern Tethys Basin.


Today more than half of the world population use the internet and online communication tools. These changes in communication has come with a pay-off, which is cyber aggression. Bullying behavior in physical space has changed its medium. Personality is one of the factors that play a role in traditional bullying and it is related to cyberbullying. Different personality theories examine personality and online harassment behavior relations from different perspectives. Biological theories focus on brain anomalies and hormone-behavior interaction. Psychoanalytic theory emphasizes how cyberspace effect personality. Trait view of personality theories found that different traits which are psychopathy, narcissism, machiavellianism, extraversion, openness, agreeableness, consciousness, neuroticism are related to cyberbullying perpetration. In this study, how personality traits related to online bullying behavior is examined. Researchers clearly showed that personality is a crucial factor in cyberbullying behavior. As cyberbullying behavior is complex, there is a need for further studies.


This article addresses the questions of when are outstanding price targets and recommendations most useful for investors, and how should investors interpret inconsistent price targets and recommendations? There are four key conclusions. First, recommendations pertain more to the quality of a stock, while price targets pertain more to the valuation of a stock. Second, price targets are more useful than recommendations for forecasting returns. Third, high price targets are most predictive of returns when they are accompanied by unfavorable recommendations. And fourth, investors who use price targets and recommendations in their investment process may benefit from also incorporating individual analyst data.


The crystal structure of iodine/trans-polyacetylene complexes (CHIy)x (y = 0,009, 0,035, 0,17 and 0,30) was investigated by X-ray diffraction analysis of highly oriented samples. An iodine-containing phase (PAI) was observed in all cases, accompanied by residual crystallinity due to pristine polyacetylene (PA) for y < 0,17. A structural model is proposed for PAI, consisting of blocks of iodine-saturated PA (PAIs) and blocks of PA, arranged in a mosaic-like lattice, paracrystalline in character. PAIs, corresponding to (CHI0,40)x, is formed by layers of (CH)x chains alternating with layers containing polyiodide chains, the latter being characterized by ordered stacking of sequentially disordered (I3−-I5−-I3−) groups. I… C non-bonded interactions are identified in the lattice, which may be responsible for the electron transfer from the polymer to the polyiodide anions. Short-range transverse correlation occurs within the polyiodide layers with a resulting quasi-regular two-dimensional lattice of iodines. The iodine and the polymer lattices are incommensurate along c. The model fits the experimental data from an X-ray fibre diagram. A mathematical expression is derived, which allows to evaluate the intensity scattered by the iodine lattice. An approximate expression of the non-equatorial intensity along the ξ reciprocal direction was obtained, which accounts for the modulation of the streaks observed in the fibre pattern.


The facility of Online Banking is not a new concept. In fact, internet banking was first introduced in the UK as early as 1997 (BBC, 2009). And with the advances in technology and the constant growth in internet use, it has continued to develop ever since. However, even 18 years since its inception, it is still common to hear news stories about Online Banking security breaches and attacks on a fairly regular basis.
Additionally, past experiences with several Online Banking websites have proven to be increasingly frustrating as the time it takes to complete the logging in process appears to be taking longer, and longer, and longer, and longer……
These reasons have proven to be the motivation and inspiration for the birth of this project, which seeks to explore whether the security and the convenience of Online Banking authentication systems are at a sufficient standard. Furthermore, the project investigates the effectiveness and the possibility of the biometric technology improving these vital authentication characteristics.


Diagenetic mineral zones characterize an originally homogeneous turbidite sandstone reservoir at North Coles Levee (NCL). The medium to coarse-grained sands in the reservoir contain a 500 ft oil column with high water saturation. Extensive plagioclase porosity and associated diagenetic kaolinite occur in the lower third of the oil column. Plagioclase dissolution is greatest near the oil-water contact. Kaolinite and plagioclase porosity are vary rare in the upper third of the oil column next to the gas cap. Previous work has sown that at NCL plagioclase dissolution occurred in the last several million years of the reservoir burial history, nearly contemporaneous with oil emplacement. Clearly if plagioclase alteration was independent of the hydrocarbons, a uniform alteration pattern would be expected. The zonation pattern described here appears to be related to the presence of the oil. Thus diagenesis was most intense where the residence time of the hydrocarbon was greatest (in the lower part), whereas near the gas cap, plagioclase diagenesis was minimal where the accumulation of gas effectively shut down feldspar dissolution. These new results indicate that plagioclase porosity at NCL was an effect of oil emplacement, perhaps due to acid components solubilized from the oil. Important implications of these findingsmore » are: (1) Maximum porosity enhancement may be off-structure away from the gas cap, (2) tends to confirm the importance of acid components associated with hydrocarbons on feldspar dissolution, and (3) diagenetic interpretations may differ if sample locations relative to gas/oil/water zones are not known.« less


Professional morbidity in Tatarstan Republic during 1997-2001 is studied. Factors and conditions causing the professional diseases were imperfection of technological processes, structural drawbacks of machines and equipment, disorders of safety measures, lack of individual protection and other reasons. Professional morbidity structure in Tatarstan Republic is characterised by high degree of pathology as a result of the effect of physical factors: vibration disease and neurosensor deafness. Periodical medical examinations do not reveal professional disease at early stages, in each fifth patient it is diagnosed at late stage. Each forth case is accompanied by loss of professional capacity.


Crystalline phases are usually characterised by their periodic structures and space group symmetry. However, some crystalline materials have periodic structures only on average and deviate on a local scale. Several different locally ordered structures can exist with identical average periodic structure and space group symmetry, making them difficult to distinguish using regular crystallographic techniques.


Of the 1.5 million heart attacks and 600 000 strokes that occur in the United States each year, almost half will affect apparently healthy men and women with normal or even low cholesterol levels. Older age, smoking, diabetes, and high blood pressure all contribute to risk of heart disease. However, you may well have family members or friends who suffer from heart disease yet have few, if any, of these traditional risk factors.

In an effort to better determine risk of heart disease and prevent clinical events, many physicians have begun to measure C-reactive protein (CRP) as a routine part of global risk assessment. This inexpensive and simple approach to heart disease evaluation has recently been endorsed by both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and by the American Heart Association. When measured with new "high sensitivity" CRP assays, levels of CRP less than 1, 1 to 3, and greater than 3 mg/L (milligrams per liter) discriminate between individuals with low, moderate, and high risk of future heart attack and stroke. CRP testing, however, is not a replacement for cholesterol evaluation. Rather, CRP testing should be used along with cholesterol and other traditional risk factors to determine individual risk. Evidence also indicates that individuals with high CRP levels are at increased risk of developing diabetes. This Cardiology Patient Page explains the clinical use of CRP and suggests methods for prevention of heart disease for patients found to have elevated levels of CRP.

CRP is a critical component of the immune system, a complex set of proteins that our bodies make when faced with a major infection or trauma. CRP was discovered nearly 70 years ago by scientists exploring the human inflammatory response. The role CRP plays in heart disease, however, has only recently been uncovered.

Everyone makes CRP, but …


Laparoscopic surgery is an acceptable option for colorectal cancer. Robotic surgery is an emerging field and may be a solution to some difficulties inherent to conventional laparoscopic surgery. In this lecture, the outcomes of laparoscopic and robotic surgery will be reviewed from literature, and the perspective of robotic surgery in treating colorectal cancer will be discussed. In rectal cancer, robotic surgery takes a longer operative time and a higher cost, but decreases conversion to open surgery and shortens the learning curve. It has a great potential for preserving bladder and sexual functions after total mesorectal excision (TME). The TME quality may also be better. Robotic surgery can also modify the current standard anastomosis following rectal resection, which is a double-stapling technique. Robot enables a transanal specimen retrieval then a single circular stapled anastomosis, which is associated with low pain and fast recovery. More solid answers including long-term oncologic safety will be provided by ongoing randomized trials. In colon cancer, the ease of performing intracorporeal suture anastomosis may be a benefit. Since complete mesocolic excision with wide lymphadenectomy is more and more acceptable to achieve better oncologic outcomes, the role of robotic surgery with providing a stable environment for radically dissecting lymph nodes should be evaluated. Recently developed new technologies such as a fluorescent image or robotic stapler seem promising, with potentially providing further benefits such as a decrease of anastomotic leakage. Single port robotic surgery is also an interesting concept requiring a clinical evaluation. Robotic surgery is a developing field and may provide further functional and oncological benefits to colorectal cancer patients. Large scale randomized trials are timely important. 484 日本大腸肛門病会誌(年間 1-10号)第 65 巻第 9号 2012 年 9 月・第 67回学術集会抄録号


In Canada, the agricultural sector has long held a prominent economic, social and cultural position, from substantial evidence of extensive fishing and farming since the times of the first human settlements, to currently accounting for over 100 billion dollars of production and employing 2.3 million people. Steady growth in agricultural production in the country over several decades, supported by strong investment in public agricultural science, has allowed an increasing supply of a wide variety of food and agricultural goods to be available both within the country as well as allowing for substantial exports abroad and deep integration of the Canadian agricultural sector into global markets. Along with securing continued productivity growth in agricultural output for the future, policy makers and public sector agricultural scientists in Canada have become increasingly concerned with managing environmental externalities associated with agricultural production in order to achieve the objective of sustainable intensification of the sector. However, the process of identification of the best tools and practices to improve the sustainability of the agricultural sector in Canada has evolved over time due to shifting research priorities and dynamic changes in the problems facing the sector. In this paper we discuss applied and direct-to-farmer agricultural science research initiatives that are focused on identification and implementation of best environmental management practices at the farm level. We believe that involving farmers directly in scientific research and communication of scientific results provides for a deeper understanding of agro-environmental externalities. It also allows farmers to find greater adoption potential in their specific farm system, thus combining both environmental and economic sustainability. We trace the history of public agricultural science engagement with Canadian farmers to address economic and environmental problems in the sector. We then provide examples of successful public sector projects based in applied agricultural science research that foster effective farmer/scientist collaboration, leading to improved agriculture sustainability in Canada.


Leaf intercellular vapor pressure (ei) can be unsaturated, but its effect on leaf water heavy isotope enrichment (LWE) has not yet been quantified. We evaluated the ecological relevance of unsaturated ei for LWE, i.e., for leaf water oxygen-18 and deuterium enrichment, using data from a boreal forest stand and a large-scale dataset. Unsaturated ei can firstly affect LWE by directly decreasing ei in the Craig Gordon model (Mechanism 1), which leads to an increased influence of atmospheric vapor isotopic enrichment above source water (Δv), and a decreased influence of kinetic fractionation by diffusion through the stomata and boundary layer (εk). Unsaturated ei can secondly affect LWE by changing εk (Mechanism 2). To evaluate the effect of Mechanism 1 to LWE, we employed sensitivity tests on LWE model performance using varying measured intercellular relative humidity (RHcellular), or RHcellular fitted to observed LWE. To explore the effects of Mechanism 2 to LWE, we modified the calculation of εk and observed consequences to LWE predictions. Unsaturated ei is relevant to LWE by Mechanism 1, since a lowered RHcellular noticeably changed LWE predictions. It clearly improved deuterium predictions and conditionally improved oxygen-18 predictions. Isotope fractionation by Mechanism 2 is unlikely relevant to oxygen-18 and deuterium enrichment. Unsaturated ei must now be recognized as a variable that introduces error to heavy isotope enrichment models and reconstructions from organic material, via Mechanism 1. We suggest a correction for unsaturated ei for both oxygen-18 and deuterium enrichment using a variable RHcellular calculated from atmospheric relative humidity.


Clinical evaluation of the patient with occupational lung disease pathologic features of occupational lung disease analytical methods for identifying and quantifying mineral particles in lung tissue diseases caused by gases and fumes diseases caused by metals and related compounds coak workers' pneumonconiosis diseases due to non-asbesto silicates non-neoplastic diseases caused by asbestos neoplastic asbestos-induced disease diseases due to synthetic fibres occupational asthma, byssinosis, extrinsic allergic alveolitis legal aspects for the pathologist.


AIMThis integrative review synthesized baccalaureate minority nursing students' perceptions of their clinical experiences. BACKGROUNDThe diversity of the nursing workforce does not mirror the United States population. Attrition rates of minority nursing students remain higher than rates for White students. Literature examining facilitators and barriers to minority student success predominantly focuses on academic factors, excluding those relevant to clinical education. METHODAn integrative review using literature from nursing and education. FINDINGSThree common perceived barriers were identified: discrimination from faculty, peers, nursing staff, and patients; bias in faculty grading practices; and isolation. CONCLUSIONAlthough little is known about the relationship between clinical failures and overall attrition, this review provides evidence that minority students encounter significant barriers in clinical education. To increase the diversity of the nursing workforce, faculty must address these issues and make modifications to ensure an equal opportunity at a quality education for all students.


It is generally thought sports are very important to health in the whole world.At present,"third state"between health and unhealth causes globle research.Modern society grants new effects to sports,by means of conduct therapy,people can adjust themselves from "third state"to "first state".


Information security, and Cryptography as a part of it, is a critical topic for computer science students to understand. Different teaching approaches can be effective in helping the students understand abstract principles. In this paper, we present our approach to Cryptography education that is based on the idea that the stages of growth of the individual might recapitulate the stages of growth of the science. The Cryptography is apprehended as pilot model for further proposal of Computer Science education. Key-Words: History, Ontogeny, Phylogeny, Cryptography, CS subjects, Knowledge


Reflector A u is extensively developed along the western margin of the North Atlantic Ocean. Evidence from ichthyoliths (fish skeletal debris) would suggest that the sediments immediately overlying the prominent hiatus are of early Miocene age.


The transmitted spectra of Cu2O hollow spheres have been measured in the range of 1–10 THz and analyzed by the classical dispersion theory and group theoretical analysis. Two strong phonon resonances are observed at v1 = 4.54 THz (148.3 cm–1) and v2 = 4.91 THz (163.5 cm–1), corresponding to the transverse optical (TO) phonon and longitudinal optical (LO) phonon modes, respectively. In addition, we have identified a possible surface optical (SO) phonon mode located between the TO and LO phonon frequencies and have observed that a forbidden phonon mode at 9.36 THz (312 cm–1) is activated due to the imperfect lattice of the Cu2O hollow spheres. The optical and dielectric parameters are also derived and discussed based on the Lorentz model of dielectric response.


As a core part of the modern market economy system, the financial market has a direct impact on the development of national economic construction. Based on Jeffrey Wurgler's Capital Allocation Efficiency Model and relying on the 2007–2014 data of A-share market, empirical research shows that China's resource allocation efficiency is low. The direct factors that affect the allocation efficiency of China's stock market are investor heterogeneity belief, agency cost and enterprise value. Through the multiple linear regression analysis, it is found that the investors' heterogeneous beliefs and agency costs have an inhibitory effect on the efficiency of resource allocation in China's stock market, while the value of the enterprises has played a catalytic role. Investors' heterogeneous beliefs have the greatest impact on stock market resource allocation efficiency. According to the results of the research, a scheme to solve the efficiency of stock market resource allocation is designed. The scheme puts forward the solution from weakening the government's administrative intervention, perfecting the stock market's market mechanism and strengthening the investors' judgment ability. At the same time, the scheme is analyzed from the viewpoints of feasibility, rationality and applicability.


In a recent article published in the February 2001 issue of the Bulletin of American Meteorological Society, Weaver and Avissar (hereafter WA) investigated the response of the atmosphere to landscape heterogeneity to assess the importance of mesoscale fluxes of sensible and latent heat arising from differences in land use in the southern Great Plains. To do so they used the RAMS mesoscale model and a surface flux data set derived from observations and the Simple Biosphere Model. They selected six days for analysis based on the criterion that the study region located at the Department of Energy's Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program's Cloud and Radiation Testbed (CART) was not obscured by clouds with obvious non-local origins. WA noted that mesoscale fluxes of latent heat on those six days were large, especially near and above the top of the boundary layer. They argued that regions of strong vertical motion that they associated with mesoscale fluxes were closely correlated with regions of precipitation on one of the six days they studied and with cloudy regions on two other days. From these findings, WA concluded that landscape heterogeneity arising from human influences can''significantly affect local weather and climate.'' They further concluded that the inabilitymore » to predict mesoscale fluxes is a serious failing of general circulation models (GCMs) used to predict climate change and that further studies in parameterizing such fluxes for use in GCMs is therefore necessary. In this paper we offer a somewhat different interpretation and perspective on the findings of WA.« less


We construct N-complexes of non completely antisymmetric irreducible tensor elds on R D generalizing thereby the usual complex (N = 2) of diierential forms. These complexes arise naturally in the description of higher spin gauge elds. Although, for N 3, the generalized cohomology of these N-complexes is non trivial, we give a generalization of the Poincar e lemma. Several results which appeared in various contexts are shown to be particular cases of this generalized Poincar e lemma.


Organizational survival requires constant change. While change can bring improvements to performance and the bottom line, it can also improve employee morale if change leaders anticipate and manage employee resistance. Change leaders must understand the..


Along with the rapid development of MRT project in urban areas,shield tunneling method has been widely used in tunnel construction.On Basis of the shield boring experience in the construction of Beijing Rail Transit Line from Beijing Railway Station to West Beijing Railway Station in respect of shield launching,boring under the city-defense river and boring under Xuanwumen Metro Station,the author presents the key technologies of constructing tunnels in sand and pebble ground by shield boring method.This paper can provide reference for the construction of similar projects in the future.


Zenia is a Robber Bride who takes what she wants. She enters the lives of Tony, Charis and Roz, bringing disaster and damage, but also teaching them something. The personalities of the three women ...


Abstract Plants that release molecules affecting other plants are a source of potential bioherbicides. Silver wattle (Acacia dealbata Link), considered invasive worldwide, was found to be phytotoxic to various other plant species. Combining the search for alternative bioherbicides while reducing the spread of this invader by preventing seed formation is a good potential strategy to solve both agricultural and environmental problems. This study aimed to identify nonvolatile compounds from A. dealbata flowers and explore their phytotoxicity on the germination process and seedling and plant growth of lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.), wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), and rigid ryegrass (Lolium rigidum Gaudin). We identified methyl cinnamate and methyl anisate as potential phytotoxins in the extracts, but we used pure commercial molecules to conduct bioassays. Methyl cinnamate showed higher phytotoxicity than methyl anisate and was selected for further bioassays. Methyl cinnamate reduced guaiacol peroxidase activity by 57% and 85% in L. rigidum and lettuce, respectively, and α-amylase by 6% in L. rigidum. This compound also inhibited early stem and radicle growth of dicotyledonous lettuce (60% and 89%, respectively) and monocotyledonous L. rigidum (76% and 87%, respectively), both species having small seeds. However, wheat with a larger seed size was not affected by the phytotoxin. The results obtained indicate a potential bioherbicidal effect for methyl cinnamate, and its application might be useful in wheat crops infested by L. rigidum. We suggest that collecting A. dealbata flowers would prevent Acacia seed formation and thus play a role in invasive pest management, as well as serving as a source of potential herbicides to other species.


This article provides an overview of the literature on mobile applications for mental health. The object of the study is mobile applications designed to help with various mental disorders. The authors discuss in detail the aspects related to the effectiveness and accessibility of such applications, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of using mobile applications in the context of benefits for the end user. This article offers a generalized review of the literature on this topic and can serve as a basis for further research in the field of mobile applications for mental health. An attempt has also been made to identify promising areas for this area. The authors conclude that mobile applications for mental health have a number of advantages, among which are their accessibility, confidentiality and a positive impact on the health of users, as well as disadvantages, which are largely associated with the recent emergence of the field and the lack of control by mental health professionals. The scientific novelty of the article lies in the systematization and analysis of existing data on mobile applications for mental health. The conclusions of the article can be useful for specialists in the field of psychology and developers of mobile applications for mental health.


The invention discloses a four-pitch wire twisting machine capable of realizing continuous production, comprising a machine body, a driving mechanism, a cradle, a wire-in main shaft, a wire-out main shaft, two twisting bow brackets, a pair of twisting bows, a first wire twisting guide wheel, a second wire twisting guide wheel and a traction device, wherein the pair of twisting bows are respectively used as a wire-in twisting bow and a wire-out twisting bow, that is, a counter weight twisting bow of the prior art is used as the wire-out twisting bow so as to ensure a core wire passes through the two twisting bows to realize four-pitch wire twisting; meanwhile, in order to ensure the core wire can walk along the wire-out twisting bow, a wire-out guide wheel, a third wire twisting guide wheel and a fourth wire twisting guide wheel are additionally arranged, so as to ensure multistrand conductors or core wires in the twisting machine first enter from the wire-in main shaft and finally exit from the wire-out main shaft by passing through the first wire twisting guide wheel, the wire-in twisting bow, the second twisting wire guide wheel, the traction device, the wire-out guide wheel, the third wire twisting guide wheel, the wire-out twisting bow and the fourth wire twisting guide wheel. The wire twisting machine is high in efficiency and low in loss, can realize continuous production, and can be used as a single machine or be used for united machine production.


In crystalline 4-cyano-4′-ethynylbiphenyl and 4-ethynyl-4′-nitrobiphenyl, molecules are connected with the hitherto unreported Câ–·C–H···Nâ–·C and Câ–·C–H···O2N supramolecular synthons to form linear arrays.


On 19 November 1985, an American jury sentenced the well-known oil giant Texaco to pay US$ 10,530 million to Pennzoil, including US$ 3,000 million punitive damages.1 This is the largest award ever made in a civil judgment in the United States and probably in the rest of the world as well. At the heart of the case was the question whether the 'agreement in principle' between Pennzoil and Getty Oil obliging the former to purchase a huge amount of Getty's shares was a binding contract and whether the initiation of negotiations with Getty by Texaco was a tortious interference with prospective economic relations between Pennzoil and Getty Oil. Finally, the case was ended by a peaceful settlement by which Texaco agreed to pay US$ 3,000 million to Pennzoil.2


Prime concern on stakeholders is a crucial aspect in each business success. Among the wide spectrum of organizational strategies, Strategic Entrepreneurship pays a greater emphasis. This essay details practical as well as empirical grounds with regard to the notion of Strategic Entrepreneurship. Focally, strategic Entrepreneurship is an integration of Entrepreneurship (Opportunity Seeking Behavior) and Strategic Management (Advantage Seeking Behavior). Thus I conclude, an amalgamation of Strategic Management and Entrepreneurship (I.e. Strategic Entrepreneurship) inevitably leads to create wealth, value and survival of the business. Given all the elaborations the author replicates the conceptual model of SE in a dissimilar viewpoint.


A sophisticated spin-vibronic model was developed to study electronic and nuclear dynamics in twofold degenerate electron systems. Eigenenergies and eigenfunctions of a model Hamiltonian are calculated in a basis set of products of electronic, electron spin, and vibrational functions. The X 2E ground electronic state of the CH3O pyramidal (C3v) system has been studied with the simultaneous treatment of spin-orbit coupling, all linear and quadratic Jahn-Teller interactions including multimode couplings, and anharmonic effects up to the sixth order for the CH–stretching. The group-theoretical analysis of the spin-vibronic Hamiltonian and its eigenfunctions was performed in terms of irreducible representations (E3/2 and E1/2) of the double C3v symmetry group. Vibronic and anharmonic model parameters of X 2E CH3O were calculated with numerical differentiation using ab initio energies of the CH3O geometries distorted on normal coordinates. The equation-of-motion coupled cluster method with augmented core-val...


Faith schools generally achieve better exam results than their counterparts, with Roman Catholic schools doing particularly well. If government proposals go ahead, oversubscribed new faith schools will soon be allowed to select all their pupils according to religion, rather than only half of them. But how much of their success is down to their intake? Rebecca Johnes and Jon Andrews find that much of the difference can be attributed to pupil characteristics such as eligibility for free school meals.


Background: Post–stroke cognitive impairment (PSCI) is a common consequence of stroke. Many factors that affect cognitive function are known, but the effects of self-efficacy and family support have not been identified. Objectives: This study was a descriptive correlation investigation to determine the mediating effects of family support on the relationship between self-efficacy and cognitive function in stroke patients. Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study recruited 339 adult patients with acute stroke. Data were collected using structured questionnaires between January and June 2020 and analyzed by multiple regression analysis using SPSS 25.0. The mediating effect of resilience on the relationship between emotional labor and job satisfaction was analyzed using multiple regression analysis according to Baron and Kenny's procedure. Results: In this study, self-efficacy in patients with acute stroke showed a positive relationship with cognitive function (r=.467, p<.05) and family support (r=.341, p<.001), and family support and cognitive function also showed a positive relationship (r=.356, p<.05). In addition, family support was shown to have a partial mediating effect on the relationship between self-efficacy and cognitive function in patients with acute stroke (β=.26, p<.001). Conclusions: To improve the cognitive function of acute stroke patients, their self-efficacy and family support must be evaluated, and interventions are necessary to enhance self-efficacy and improve family support.


Summary Exotic species of Cedrela (C. odorata C. de Canodolle and C. fissilis Vel.) grown on the New South Wales mid-north coast of Australia are not attacked by the shootborer Hypsipyla robusta whereas Australian red cedar (Toona ciliata) grown in plantation in the same location is heavily attacked. In an extension of our earlier study, further grafts were constructed using C. odorata and C. fissilis as scion and T. ciliata as rootstock. Tree height and degree of shootborer attack were monitored over a four-year period. Grafts of C. odorata on T. ciliata were attacked but not those of C. fissilis on T. ciliata, revealing further insights into the host preference of Hypsipyla. Possible reasons for the observed differences in susceptibility to attack between the two graft types are discussed.


The Introductory Lecture is a discussion about "What is the Web". It involves lots of calling out TLAs and writing them on the blackboard, dividing things into servers, clients, protocols, formats, and the punchline is that the one unique and novel thing about the web is the hypertext link. This follows naturally into the Web architecture - the answer to the question "what is the web".


Objectives: A reliable laboratory test for verifying diagnosis of Kawasaki Disease (KD) has yet to be developed. Given recent increases in KD-like disease among pediatric COVID-19 patients, such a test is of particular interest. Here, we investigate the bone-associated protein osteopontin (OPN)-a protein involved in vascular injury and remodelingas a potential biomarker for KD, a vascular inflammatory disease. Methods: We analyzed serum OPN levels of 62 KD patients and compared them to 63 Healthy (HC) and 11 Febrile Controls (FC). Osteopontin's correlation with the time course of the disease, its association with clinical parameters such as coronary artery aneurysm, its refractivity to IVIG, and its connection to routine inflammatory parameters were assessed. Additionally, in combination with routine laboratory parameters, OPN properties for predicting KD were investigated. Results: During the acute phase of KD, OPN levels were especially elevated as compared to the convalescent phase. In addition, OPN was positively correlated (r= 0.42) with CRP in KD patients. Among the three groups (KD, HC and FC), OPN levels were highest among KD patients. This differed significantly from the HC group. However, mean OPN did not considerably exceed FC mean levels. In analyzing osteopontin ́s potential to predict KD, we observed that the Area Under the Curve (AUC) of the Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve was 0.73% for OPN alone, but 93% for OPN in combination with other laboratory values. Andre Jakob1*; Eva Schachinger2; Simon Klau3; Markus Hufnagel4; Natascha van der Werf Grohmann5; Brigitte Stiller2; Anja Tengler1; Sarah Ulrich1 1Department of Pediatric Cardiology and Pediatric Intensive Care, Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich, Germany. 2Department of Congenital Heart Disease and Pediatric Cardiology, University Heart Heart Centre Freiburg-Bad Krozingen, University of Freiburg, Germany. 3Institute for Medical Information Processing, Biometry and Epidemiology, Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich, Germany. 4Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases and Rheumatology, Germany. 5Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, University Medical Center, University of Freiburg, Germany.