Background Antimalarial (AM)-induced cardiomyopathy (AMIC) has been rarely reported in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). However, given the large number of patients treated, it seems possible that AMIC is under-recognized and may run undiagnosed as an ill-defined heart failure syndrome. Specific cardiac biomarkers may identify patients at risk. We sought to investigate the prevalence and associated factors for such biomarkers in SLE. Methods One hundred sixty-eight consecutive patients (153 females) attending the a large lupus clinic, without past history of cardiac disease (heart failure, coronary artery disease, valvulopathy etc.) and/or pulmonary hypertension, were enrolled. None had chest pain or electrocardiographic (ECG) abnormalities suggestive of acute coronary syndrome. High-sensitivity cardiac troponin I (cTnI) and B-natriuretic peptide (BNP) were measured simultaneously in serum and plasma samples, respectively. Patients were categorized according to normal or abnormal BNP and/or cTnI. For the assessment of the impact of AM duration on abnormal cardiac biomarkers, patients were divided in two groups according to the median duration of use, which was calculated at 5.6 years in the current cohort. Statistical analysis was performed with SAS 9.0 software; p<0.05 was considered significant. Results Sixteen patients (9.5%) had elevated BNP and/or cTnI. Compared to subjects with normal biomarkers, they were older, had longer disease and AM use duration and more frequently persistent creatine phosphokinase (CPK) elevation (table 1). Multivariable regression analysis showed prolonged AM treatment (>5.6 years) and persistent CPK elevation to be important predictors for elevated cardiac biomarkers [HR=5.43, 95% CI=1.14 to 25.9, p=0.034 and HR=4.62, 95% CI=1.22 to 17.51, p=0.024, respectively]. Two patients were diagnosed with AMIC on endomyocardial biopsy; both had CPK and BNP/cTnI elevation.Abstract CS-14 Table 1 Comparison between BNP/cTnI abnormal and BNP/cTnI normal patients VARIABLE (At assessment) BNP/cTnI abnormal (no history of heart disease or PAH) (n =16 ) BNP/cTnI normal (n= 152) P Age (y) 54.7±15.1 47.83±12.15 0.037 SLE duration (y) 22.54±10.44 15.45±10.05 0.008 SLEDAI-2K 1.88±2.47 2.79±3.64 0.329 AMS for 2 years prior 2.52±2.96 3.02±3.18 0.549 eGFR<30 ml/min 0 (0%) 3 (2%) 0.571 Hypertension 10 (62.5%) 54 (35.5%) 0.035 Diuretics treatment 5 (31.3%) 8 (5.3%) < 0.001 Systolic BP at test (mmHg) 118.4±21.7 113.5±16.9 0.28 Diastolic BP at test (mmHg) 71.9±10.1 69.5±11.8 0.444 Abnormal CPK ⌘ 7 (43.8%) 24 (15.8%) 0.008 Cumulative years on AM 13.66±9.14 7.88±8.02 0.008 AM duration>5.6 years 14 (87.5%) 69 (45.4%) 0.001 Corticosteroids 8 (50%) 70 (46.1%) 0.763 Mean prednisone (mg/day) 9.4±4.2 7.53±5.1 0.326 Immunosuppressives 10 (62.5%) 87 (57.2%) 0.685 AMS adjusted mean SLEDAI-2K; eGFR: estimated glomerular filtration rate, PAH: pulmonary arterial hypertension, BP: blood pressure, CPK: creatine phosphokinase, AM: antimalarials, CQ: chloroquine, HCQ: hydroxychloroquine, ⌘ Three abnormal measurements during the last two years Conclusions Approximately 9% of SLE patients had elevated myocardial biomarkers, in the absence of prior cardiac disease or pulmonary arterial hypertension. Prolonged AM therapy and persistent CPK elevation conferred an increased risk for abnormal BNP and cTnI, which might predict AMIC.


Tammy Y.Olson began pursuing her PhD in Physical Chemistry in the Jin Zhang Lab at the University of California-Santa Cruz after receiving her B.Sc. degree in chemical engineering from Washington State University in 2003. She was a participant of the research experience for undergraduates (REU program) in the summer of 2001 and 2002 at Washington State University and the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, respectively. As a REU student, she investigated the stiffness of phthalocyanine Langmuir-Blodgett thin films and adhesion properties between thermoplastic polyurethane and polypropylene. Tammy has focused her graduate work on developing, synthesizing, and characterizing metal nanostructures for use in surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). Since 2005, she has been a fellow at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) under the Lawrence Scholar Program (formerly known as the student employee graduate research fellowship). Under the mentorship of Dr. Christine A. Orme at LLNL, Tammy is also involved in studies related to the shape control and crystal growth of nanomaterials.


This report provides a description of the current national systems of student financial support in 24 European countries. It provides information on tuition fees, grants, scholarships, student loans, and indirect student support through students families (family allowances and tax benefits) and support in kind in the form of subsidies for travel, accommodation, student restaurants etc. It forms a background report for the study on the extent to which student financial support can be used for study abroad.


The respiratory apparatus is formed as a face seal, the face seal and the interface comprises a single body that includes a lens and chassis. The chassis includes at least one port for fluid connection. Respiratory protection, breathing apparatus, gas masks, seals, harness, chassis, and Ports


Abstract It is shocking to realize that children do commit suicide. For those under the age of 14, suicide is still relatively rare. But in the 14–24 age group, the suicide rate has almost doubled during the 1970s and almost tripled since the 1950s. Evidence suggests that youngsters who do not learn to express feelings verbally act them out in self-destructive behavior. Behaviors that provoke parents, teachers, and peers could indicate an unconscious desire for self-destruction. The reason this desire is overpowering in some but not in others seems to stem from parental attitudes toward the children. If children are denied affection and approval, thay have difficulties developing sufficient ego strength to solve emotional problems. Burdened with negative self-images, children may never learn to form personal relationships or to develop coping mechanisms. They end up feeling worthless and finding no reason to live. If suicide is a cry for help in the young, help must consist of teaching coping mechanisms a...


In this paper, optical simulation of double rapid adiabatic passage (RAP) is investigated in three evanescently coupled waveguides with longitudinally varying detunings of the propagation constants. Unlike the time-dependent detuning which is kept linearly increased or decreased when the RAP is applied in two-state atomic systems, here all possible situations of the corresponding space-dependent detunings with or without sign flips are considered. At the maximum of the couplings in the waveguide structure, the detunings tend to become zero and the sign flips are supposed to occur. Theoretical analysis shows that different light evolutions such as light splitting, complete light transfer, or complete light return can be realized adiabatically, depending on the choices of the detunings. Moreover, two of the above three phenomena can be observed simultaneously in the waveguide structure under some circumstances. The theoretical analysis is confirmed by numerical calculations. Due to the robustness of the double RAP, the technique can be applied to design optical devices such as achromatic beam splitters or beam couplers.


Wurtzite gallium nitride nanostructures were synthesized by catalyst-free thermal reaction of gallium oxide and ammonia. Depending on ammonia flow rate the resulting morphology varied. At 75 sccm only nanowires were obtained, while polyhedral crystals and nanobelts were observed at 175 sccm. From scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy, both thin smooth and thick corrugated nanowires were observed. The growth orientations of most of the smooth ones, as well as the nanobelts, were perpendicular to the c-axis ( ), while the corrugated nanowires and the large polyhedra grew parallel to . We propose a model to explain these variations of morphology and growth orientation in terms of the Ga/N ratio and the different characteristic length of {0001} polar surface in each morphology.


Thirty-eight infants were observed interacting separately with their mothers and fathers in the home at seven and 12 months of age. Social initiative measures together with reciprocal parental response measures adopted from Clarke-Stewart were used. The infants distributed their social initiatives equally to both parents but made fewer initiatives when older. Ma ternal and paternal contingent responsiveness was highly correlated at both age levels. However, infants played more with their fathers than with their mothers. It is argued that the stylistic differences in how mothers and fathers responded to their infants represent differences in typical performance but not in optimal performance. Both parents become attachment figures because of their contingent responsiveness but with complementary, not redundant, roles.


Yorkshire in Bloom judging results have been announced revealing that gardening communities across the region are flourishing in their efforts to make ...


Higher education is the instrument par excellence for development and there is the ultimate need to make it relevant and responsive to the needs of the society. A reliable and sufficient funding platform is a necessity for achieving access to and excellence in university education in Africa. Sources and systems of funding for Nigerian Universities have proven inadequate and innovative or alternative funding mechanisms have become very important more than ever before. This paper examines the funding debacle in Public and Private Universities in Nigeria. It presents the case study of Nigeria Higher Education Foundation (NHEF). Using the secondary data research methodology, it finds that private higher education is the fastest growing segment of higher education worldwide and African universities can as well be more active in getting funds from local institutions and global philanthropic support sources. It recommends, amongst others, the putting in place of a National University educational budget reform which gives unflinching priority to allocation of more funds and that actualizing the realization of suggested intensified creative financing strategies should be the responsibility of all major stakeholders of University education in Nigeria. Article visualizations:


CONTEXT
Papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) is the most prevalent endocrine malignancy. The reported incidence of PTC has more than doubled in many countries during the past half century. In Tasmania, an island state of the Commonwealth of Australia the incidence has increased by 24.7% per annum during the last two decades.

OBJECTIVE
Using the Tasmanian population as a model, this study sought to determine the relationship between changes in PTC incidence and trends for utilization of thyroid surgery and thyroid fine-needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) cytology.

DESIGN
Hospital and pathology services in Tasmania provided data relating to all thyroid surgical, cytologic, and histopathology procedures undertaken between 1988 and 1998. The accuracy of PTC case ascertainment by the Tasmanian Cancer Registry was validated and the relationship between thyroid procedures and PTC incidence assessed.

RESULTS
A total of 3452 individuals underwent a thyroid procedure, comprising 1968 surgical and 1756 FNAB cytologic procedures. Of these, 184 patients were diagnosed with thyroid carcinoma, of whom 121 (65.8%) had PTC. Thyroidectomy and thyroid FNAB increased by 7.0% and 49.7% per annum, respectively. The likelihood of diagnosing PTC in thyroidectomy specimens increased by 99.7% per year in those patients preoperatively assessed by FNAB, compared to 10.1% per year in those for whom a preoperative FNAB was not performed. PTC incidence increased independently of PTC tumor size, although the greatest increase occurred for PTC 1 cm or less with a history of preoperative FNAB.

CONCLUSIONS
These results suggest increasing PTC incidence is largely attributable to greater diagnosis of small PTC, many of which are likely to have been asymptomatic, identified by neck ultrasonography and subsequent FNAB. However, the incidence of PTC larger than 1 cm in patients without history of preoperative FNAB has also risen, suggesting the occurrence of clinically relevant tumors may also have increased.


Background: Lysine-specific demethylase 1 (LSD1/KDM1A) acts as a transcriptional co-regulator and utilizes flavinadenine dinucleotide (FAD) as a cofactor to remove mono- and di-methyl groups from histone H3 lysine-4 (H3K4) and lysine-9 (H3K9). SP-2577, in contrast to other LSD1 inhibitors in clinical evaluation, is a reversible inhibitor of LSD1. SP-2509 (a tool compound for SP-2577) reversed the EWSR1-FLI1 mediated transcription profile and oncogenic phenotype. To follow-up on these results, the PPTC evaluated SP-2577 against a set of Ewing sarcoma and rhabdomyosarcoma xenografts. Methods: SP-2577 was administered at a dose of 100 mg/kg intraperitoneally (IP) for 28 days and was tested against 7 Ewing sarcoma and 4 alveolar and 1 embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma xenografts. Standard PPTC methods for assessing time to event (EFS T/C = ratio of median time to event for treated versus control animals). Objective response measures similar to clinical measures were applied (Houghton, Pediatr Blood Cancer 2007;49:928-940). Results: SP-2577 was generally well tolerated during the efficacy testing phase. Among 120 animals treated with SP-2577 in efficacy testing, 9 (7.5%) experienced toxic death, and the median maximum weight loss was 1.8% (range 0.0% to 13.7%). As a single agent, SP-2577 induced a statistically significant prolongation in time to event in 3 of 7 Ewing sarcoma models and 4 of 5 rhabdomyosarcoma models. The extent of prolongation of time to event was small for most of the models for which there was a statistically significant prolongation in time to event, with EFS T-C values ranging from 1.9 to 14 days and with EFS T/C values ranging from 1.15 to 2.79. None of the models tested showed objective responses, but rather showed progressive disease as their best response. The minimum relative tumor volumes were significantly smaller compared to control for 4 of 7 Ewing sarcoma models and for 2 of 5 rhabdomyosarcoma models. However, the mean minimum relative tumor volumes were all greater than 1.0, indicating the lack of tumor regression. Pharmacodynamic effects of SP-2577 that were studied included c-Myc, N-Myc, HMOX1, histone H3, and histone H3(K4) dimethyl levels. There were no consistent changes in global histone H3(K4) dimethyl levels, and there was no obvious decrease in either c-Myc or N-Myc, whereas HMOX1 was slightly increased by treatment in two Ewing sarcoma models. Conclusions: SP-2577 was adequately tolerated in the Ewing sarcoma and rhabdomyosarcoma xenografts treatment cohorts that were studied. While a number of the models studied showed statistically significant effects on tumor growth rate, the effect size was generally small and tumor regression was not observed. (Supported by CA199297 and CA199222) Citation Format: Peter J. Houghton, Steve W. Erickson, Beverly Teicher, Malcolm A. Smith, Ruolan Han, Raushan Kurmasheva. In vivo evaluation of the LSD1 inhibitor SP-2577 against Ewing sarcoma and rhabdomyosarcoma preclinincal models: A report from the Pediatric Preclinical Testing Consortium (PPTC) [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2019; 2019 Mar 29-Apr 3; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2019;79(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 3848.


Since 1996, contractual forest management involving the local population has been proposed as a solution to deforestation and poverty in Madagascar. This article highlights the way in which two contrasting farming systems can be adapted to conservation constraints without threatening sustainability. The authors show that farmers' adaptation capacities are heterogeneous among local communities and that a knowledge of the factors influencing this variability can help in the design of guidance for farms to enable them to develop sustainably in line with current perceptions of agriculture's role in land management and forest conservation.


One and four types of asymmetric discrete envelope soliton solutions are found for semi-discrete sine-Gordon equation and semi-discrete wave equation with cubic nonlinearity. They are found by appropriately transforming the variables of already-known discrete envelope soliton solutions. Some properties of these solutions are discussed.


ABSTRACT In the medieval Islamic world, elite men were the benchmark of hegemonic masculinity and social power. A presumption of masculine authority within the household shaped the way early medieval rulers were described by chroniclers, and how medieval fathers related to their sons. The formal and informal ways in which they interacted with lower status men – whether their clients, their courtiers, or their sons – were hedged about with the symbolic language of gender. The article focuses on the ways in which certain Andalusī literary sources talk about relations of fathers and their sons with the ruling Umayyad family, to offer an additional dimension to our picture of how the dynasty conceptualised and legitimised its power.


OBJECTIVE The number of people with metabolic syndrome is increasing worldwide, and changes in socioenvironmental factors contribute to this increase. Therefore, investigation of changes in metabolic syndrome and its components in South Korea, where rapid socioenvironmental changes have occurred in recent years, would be foundational in setting up an effective strategy for reducing this increasing trend. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS We compared the prevalence and pattern of metabolic syndrome among participants in the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys for 1998, 2001, 2005, and 2007. In each survey, stratified, multistage, probability–sampling designs and weighting adjustments were conducted to represent the entire Korean population. The revised National Cholesterol Education Program criteria were used as the definition of metabolic syndrome. All biochemical parameters were measured in a central laboratory. RESULTS A total of 6,907 (mean ± SE age 45.0 ± 0.2 years), 4,536 (45.5 ± 0.2), 5,373 (47.1 ± 0.2), and 2,890 (49.9 ± 0.3) Koreans over 20 years of age have participated in the studies in 1998, 2001, 2005, and 2007, respectively. The age-adjusted prevalence of metabolic syndrome increased significantly from 24.9% in 1998, 29.2% in 2001, and 30.4% in 2005 to 31.3% in 2007. Among the five components, the level of low HDL cholesterol increased the most, by 13.8% over the 10 years. Abdominal obesity and hypertriglyceridemia followed, with 8.7 and 4.9% increases, respectively. CONCLUSIONS Because dyslipidemia and abdominal obesity were major factors in increasing the prevalence of metabolic syndrome in Koreans for the past 10 years, lifestyle interventions should be conducted at the national level to reduce the burden and consequences of metabolic syndrome.


This paper has its grounding in that products of today can be seen as increasingly dynamic, yet increasingly complex. The components of a dynamic product have dimensions not only of visual quality; instead a pattern of sensory, contextual and temporal relations forms the quality. Combining this statement with a perspective on interaction design as "relational sketching" we could grasp complexity. By "sub sketching" on different dimensions and relating them with each other, a solution emphasizing all dimensions could be easier found. We propose also using this method on gathered research, to illustrate the problem where the design should starts. If relational sketching is applied through the whole design process we believe users would perceive the product as simple to handle.


Solving the problem of agricultural water use efficiency is an effective means to understand the agricultural ecological civilization and food security. In order to balance the relationship between agriculture water efficiency and regional economic size, this study examines the agricultural water use efficiency in China based on the Super-SBM model of unexpected output. At the same time, the Spatial Durbin Model (SDM) was introduced to analyze the spatial spillover effect and try to find ways to improve agricultural water use efficiency from the perspective of influencing factors. The present study used the panel data of 30 provinces in China from 1998 to 2018 for obtaining empirical results. The results show that (1) China's agricultural water resources' utilization efficiency in 21 years has not remained high, the results showed that it was 0.496 in 1998, 0.572 in 2008, and 0.657 in 2018, but it is slowly rising which explains that the low efficiency is mainly caused by the low pure technical efficiency; (2) the overall agricultural water use efficiency in China is in a situation of spatial agglomeration but there has been a trend of shifting positive correlations to negative correlations among neighboring provinces, The study found that compared with 1998 in 2018, high–high agglomeration type and low–low agglomeration type down from 20 provinces 12 provinces, And low – high agglomeration type and high–low agglomeration type' is increased from 10 provinces to 2018, which specifically manifested as a negative spillover effect; (3) during the research period, the province's agricultural fixed asset investment, fiscal expenditure on agriculture, forestry, and water affairs, the number of years of education of rural residents and the increase in crop sown area have positive impacts on the efficiency of agricultural water use in the province. While the transfer of labor and increase in the disposable income of rural residents reduced the efficiency of agricultural water use in the province. Fixed agricultural investment, labor transfers, and financial expenditures for agriculture, forestry, and water affairs in neighboring provinces have negative impacts on the province's agricultural water use efficiency. The impact is specifically manifested as a negative spatial spillover effect. As a result, China's agriculture will move towards healthy and green development. Therefore, the efficiency of agricultural water use needs to be comprehensively improved.


Battery electric storage systems (BESS) are characterised by their fast ramping, pumped-storage plants (PSP) by their relatively larger storage capacity. In this paper the pooling of PSP (with ternary set) and BESS for the common provision of frequency containment reserve (FCR, primary reserve) is analysed. For this, different joint operation modes have been studied and their power output and energy flows have been simulated on a second-wise resolution. It is shown how common FCR provisioning and volatility reduction in PSP by pooling with BESS is possible. The main benefit of volatility reduction is the lifetime extension of wearing parts in the PSP. It could be shown, that a PSP and BESS aggregate operated in dual mode to provide FCR and volatility reduction at once is more profitable compared to respective individual stand-alone PSP and BESS FCR provisioning. Keywords—pumped-storage, hydro power, ternary set, battery, BESS, cycle lifetime, pooling, frequency containment reserve, primary reserve, frequency response


Having a fast neutron nuclear reactor internal structure as supporting the core base and the supply of liquid metal to the core, the platform is placed in the bottom of the main reactor vessel, the inner container and the hot and the cold collector zone separate collection zone. The inner container is directly fixed to the upper base, the base is supported by sliding means on the internet. A base region of its circumference and outside the inner container is connected to a platform and means for cooling the liquid metal supply. Neutron side guard assembly fixed to the base circumference of the core.


Mobile devices are increasingly becoming a melting pot of different types of data ranging from sensitive corporate documents to commercial media to personal content produced and shared via online social networks. While it is desirable for such diverse content to be accessible from the same device via a unified user experience and through a rich plethora of mobile apps, ensuring that this data remains protected has become challenging. Even though different data types have very different security and privacy needs and accidental instances of data leakage are common, today's mobile operating systems include few, if any, facilities for fine-grained data protection and isolation. In this paper, we present SWIRLS, an Android-based mobile OS that provides a rich policy-based information-flow data protection abstraction for mobile apps to support BYOD (bring-your-own-device) use cases. SWIRLS allows security and privacy policies to be attached to individual pieces of data contained in signed and encrypted capsules, and enforces these policies as the data flows through the device. Unlike current BYOD solutions like VMs and containers that create duplication and cognitive overload, SWIRLS provides a single environment that allows users to access content belonging to different security contexts using the same applications without fear of inadverdant or malicious data leakage. SWIRLS also unburdens app developers from having to worry about security policies, and provides APIs through which they can create seamless multi-security-context user interfaces. To implement it's abstractions, SWIRLS develops a cryptographically protected capsule distribution and installation scheme, enhances Taintdroid-based taint-tracking mechanisms to support efficient kernel and user-space security policy enforcement, implements techniques for persisting security context along with data, and provides transparent security-context switching mechanisms. Using our Android-based prototype (>25K LOC), we show a number of data protection use-cases such as isolation of personal and work data, limiting document sharing and preventing leakage based on document classification, and security policies based on geo-and time-fencing. Our experiments show that SWIRLS imposes a very minimal overhead in both battery consumption and performance.


The review of currently available overlay design methods indicates that these may be grouped in three categories: those based on a visual condition rating, those using ndt deflections and relationships between allowable deflection and overlay needs, and semi-rational procedures using stress analysis. The more promising of these procedures were subjected to detailed analysis and compared using data from a variety of projects. This paper presents the formulation of a method that attempts to overcome the difficulties and limitations of current methods. The proposed method utilizes both ndt and visual condition evaluation as well as limited destructive and laboratory testing to evaluate existing pavement condition. A coupled fem-multilayer elastic subgrade is used in stress analysis, and the amount of overlay is determined based on limiting formation of load-induced fatigue cracking. (Author/TRRL)


The oxygen isotope shift of [ital T][sub [ital c]] in YBa[sub 2]Cu[sub 3]O[sub 7] has been measured for samples containing [similar to]95% [sup 18]O in the CuO[sub 2] plane [O2,O3] sites and primarily [sup 16]O in the apical [O4] and chian [O1] sites. The [ital T][sub [ital c]] of the site-selectively substituted samples is [ital higher] than that of the [sup 16]O control samples by 0.10--0.14 K, in contrast to the [ital decrease] in [ital T][sub [ital c]] of 0.20--0.23 K for complete [sup 18]O substitution at all sites. Our results inicate that the phonon-mediated contribution to the pairing mechanism in YBa[sub 2]Cu[sub 3]O[sub 7] involves the apical [O4] sites, and not just the CuO[sub 2] plane [O2,O3] sites.


Abstract Wake formation and heat transfer from a rotationally oscillating circular cylinder in cross-flow at $\mathit{Re}= 750$ are studied. Two aspects, the effect of cylinder forcing on vortex shedding and the effect of the wake structures on convective heat transfer, are studied. Cylinder forcing conditions range between $0.09 \leq \theta _{PP} \leq 2.09$ , where $\theta _{PP}$ is the peak-to-peak oscillation amplitude in radians and $0.70 \leq F_{R} \leq 3.16$ , where $F_{R}$ is the ratio of forcing frequency to natural shedding frequency. Digital particle image velocimetry (DPIV) is used to obtain quantitative wake structure information. Wake modes, and regions of the parameter space in which they occur, are identified for both heated and unheated cylinders. For the heated cylinder, cylinder forcing is found to affect the convective heat-transfer rate. Certain wake modes, including newly discovered wake modes synchronized over multiple oscillation cycles, are found to correlate with significant heat-transfer enhancement. Cylinder tangential velocity is also found to affect the heat-transfer rate in certain regions of the parameter space.


response of articular tissues to extrinsic or intrinsic insult, or both.4 5 The recognised synthetic activity of osteoarthritic tissues," the radiographic remodelling and favourable outcdone seen in many patients with OA,7-9 and the prevalence of asymptomatic 'disease'3 10 11 support the concept of OA as a repair process.4'5 Like any repair process, OA may succeed or fail when responding to a variety of triggering or perpetuating insults (fig 1). The pathogenesis and variability of OA are poorly understood, but multiple factors, including genetic, constitutional, and environmental, are likely to play a part.3 12 13 Marked variability in the nature and chronicity of the insult(s), and host differences in effective repair response, result in the confusing heterogeneity of radiographic and clinical maniestations.


The SAP of Kosovo place in a strong relief with characteristics of hillmountain ranges. The terrain lines of 500-1000 m have an unbroken stretches of 6.849,7 km/2, 64,3% of Kosovo's area (10.887 km/2). The modern processes in this spaces are characterized by low degree of benefits of natural and human potency, by abandoned properties, stretched slopes of erosion and the emigration of a population. Meanwhile, on a soft slopes with the favourable laky stratum is possible to establish the modem vinyeards and orchards complexes, also to cultivate the other cultures with intensive manner. The hill-mountain ranges of Kosovo with their geological, morphological and hydrological characteristics, offer the excellent natural conditions to erect an artificial water-gate under existing conditions for their intensive transformation.

Until now, in this terrains are erected 7 water-gates with 570 mil m/3 of water, 15% of Kosovo's waterway. But, the existing analyses shows that in this upland is possible to erect about 54 small and 47 big water-gates, wich hydrographic inventory radically will be changed.


Recent advances in hydrogen generation with chemical methods are reviewed. As an attractive alternative energy source, hydrogen energy has been studied widely and intensively. Among the three hydrogen generation modes, (1) with chemical methods (2) from electrolysis of water (3) by biologic methods, the first is the major method for mass production of hydrogen, in which catalysis reforming holds a large proportion of the total output. Along with the developments of fuel cell techniques, novel hydrogen generation techniques, such as hydrogen generation with biomasses, metals, solar energy or metal hydrides, have attracted more and more attention. These hydrogen generation techniques have a promising future in the coming hydrogen age, accompanied with the R&D of fuel cells and hydrogen engines.


Electrical Impedance Tomography is an imaging method which attempts to reveal the conductivity distribution of a domain based on the electrical boundary condition. For time difference EIT, the voltage difference at two time steps is employed for reconstruction. This is an ill-posed inverse problem, especially, it is non-linear. The currently available EIT devices are all based on linearized reconstruction algorithms. The linearized reconstruction employs a reconstruction matrix which is essentially a regularized pseudo inverse of the Jacobian matrix. This reconstruction matrix multiplying the voltage differences will provide a distribution of conductivity changes. However, the linearized reconstruction contains modelling error. In this paper, we study the modelling error caused by linearization based on the shunt model through simulations. Specifying a current injection pattern in simulation, at each time step a simulated voltage measurement can be calculated from Maxwell's equations. The voltage difference between two time steps can be obtained. On the other hand, according to the assumption of linearized reconstruction, the voltage difference is assumed to be the Jacobian matrix multiplying the conductivity distribution changes. The discrepancy between these two voltage differences will be studied.


A bent-core compound derived from a 4-cyanoresorcinol core unit with two terephthalate based rod-like wings and carrying chiral 3,7-dimethyloctyloxy side chains has been synthesized in racemic and enantiomerically pure form and characterized by polarizing microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, X-ray diffraction and electro-optical investigations to study the influence of molecular chirality on the superstructural chirality and polar order in lamellar liquid crystalline phases. Herein we demonstrate that the coupling of molecular chirality with superstructural layer chirality in SmC s P F domain phases (forming energetically distinct diastereomeric pairs) can fix the tilt direction and thus stabilize synpolar order, leading to bistable ferroelectric switching in the SmC* phases of the ( S )-enantiomer, whereas tristable modes determine the switching of the racemate. Moreover, the mechanism of electric field induced molecular reorganization changes from a rotation around the molecular long axis in the racemate to a rotation on the tilt-cone for the ( S )-enantiomer. At high temperature the enantiomer behaves like a rod-like molecule with a chirality induced ferroelectric SmC* phase and an electroclinic effect in the SmA 0 * phase. At reduced temperature sterically induced polarization, due to the bent molecular shape, becomes dominating, leading to much higher polarization values, thus providing access to high polarization ferroelectric materials with weakly bent compounds having only ''weakly chiral'' stereogenic units. Moreover, the field induced alignment of the SmC s P F( * ) domains gives rise to a special kind of electroclinic effect appearing even in the absence of molecular chirality. Comparison with related compounds indicates that the strongest effects of chirality appear for weakly bent molecules with a relatively short coherence length of polar order, whereas for smectic phases with long range polar order the effects of the interlayer interfaces can override the chirality effects.


We consider a matrix algebraic approach to describe the multi-carrier CDMA (MC-CDMA) system with forward error control coding. We consider the uplink of a mobile communications system and derive the frequency selective channel model and show its similarity with the DS-CDMA channel. We therefore take advantage of a previously published technique that combines iterative decoding and interference cancellation to reduce the multiuser interference (MUI) present in the system and show that the performance approaches single user performance even for moderate signal to noise ratios.


A stroke patient with a mild right hemiparesis (NIH Stroke Scale score 4) underwent dual-slab CT perfusion (CTP). In the midst of acquiring the lower CTP slab, she became aphasic and developed a dense right hemiparesis (NIH Stroke Scale score 17). Reconstruction of the CTP into a dynamic CT angiogram demonstrates fragmentation of an internal carotid artery thrombus at the time of clinical worsening (figure 1; video on the Neurology® Web site at Neurology.org). The upper CTP slab, acquired 2 minutes later, provides the earliest known view of the hemodynamics of ischemic stroke in humans. It demonstrates total absence of flow to the middle cerebral artery territory during the ultra-acute phase (figure 2). Follow-up imaging demonstrates infarction of this territory.


Abstract Naphthalic anhydride is a seed-applied herbicide safener which reduces the toxicity of imazethapyr, an imidazolinone herbicide, to maize (Zea mays L.). Protection of maize from imazethapyr was dependent on the amount of naphthalic anhydride applied to the seed. Metabolism of imazethapyr by maize roots and shoots was increased by exposure of the roots to a solution containing naphthalic anhydride. Increased imazethapyr metabolism due to naphthalic anhydride treatment of roots was observed within 4 h following safener exposure. Nitrogen, carbon monoxide and tetcyclacis inhibited imazethapyr metabolism in maize coleoptiles grown from naphthalic anhydride treated seed. This suggests that imazethapyr is metabolized by a cytochrome P-450 monooxygenase. Naphthalic anhydride application to maize seed increased the level of cytochrome P-450 in the seedling shoots. Microsomes isolated from coleoptiles grown from naphthalic anhydride treated seed, but not untreated seed, converted bentazon to hydroxy-bentazon but did not me tabolize imazethapyr. Protection of maize from imazethapyr damage by naphthalic anhydride is due to a safener-induced higher rate of imazethapyr metabolism associated with elevated cytochrome P-450 levels. However, this was not demonstrated in vitro for imazethapyr.


Abstract: Herein, we designed and fabricated a hierarchically porous crosslinked polymeric microbead (PCP) with high density of functional groups for selective adsorption of cationic dyes from water. On account of...


e15159 Background: Rare cancers have poor prognosis due to lack of standard and investigational treatment options. In our previous report, genomically matched therapy was performed for patients with rare cancers by comprehensive genomic profiling (CGP) test using next-generation sequencing (NGS), with some success. After CGP was covered by National Health Insurance (NHI: A system in which all citizens are covered by public health insurance) in Japan in 2019, it was expected that its needs and clinical utility would be further enhanced by the operation of CGP in the universal health insurance system, but the transition of the needs and effectiveness for CGP for rare cancers remains unclear. Methods: Patients with metastatic or unresectable solid tumors (including rare cancers defined as an incidence of less than 6/100,000/year) who agreed to NGS testing and underwent NCC Oncopanel NGS before or after NHI coverage at the National Cancer Center Hospital (Tokyo, Japan) were included. Patients' clinical background, treatment, outcome, and survival were reviewed. Patients were classified into pre-NHI coverage group (pre-group; clinical research patients: July 2013-April 2016) and post-NHI coverage group (post-group; practice patients: July 2019-July 2022) according to when they received NGS testing. Cancer types were classified into disease groups according to the WHO-proposed ICD10 classification of malignancies. Information on those who received molecularly "matched" treatment and the overall response rate were identified. All data was collected from the electronic medical records. Results: A total of 956 patients were identified; 289 in the pre-group and 667 in the post-group. Of the pre-group patients, 39% (112/289) were classified as rare cancers, most frequent being ovarian cancer, cholangiocarcinoma, and cervical cancer. Of the post-group patients, 52% (348/667) were classified as rare cancers, most frequent being malignant melanoma, cholangiocarcinoma, and cancer of unknown primary origin. Rare cancers were identified into 10 disease groups in the pre-group, while this number increased to 13 disease groups in the post-group. The most frequently altered genes in the pre-group were TP53, KRAS, and FBXW7, BRCA2 whereas those in the post-group were TP53, BRCA2, and APC. In the pre-group, 8%(9/112), in the post-group, 12% (41/348) of patients were treated with a genomically "matched" therapy and the response rates were 11% and 29% for the pre- and post-groups, which was comparable to the usefulness of CGP in the treatment of rare cancers compared to more common cancers. Conclusions: The use of CGP in the treatment of rare cancers under the national health insurance system has enabled us to expand the usage to a variety of disease groups, indicating a growing need.


OBJECTIVES
Usability and pilot testing of a web intervention (BeInCharge.org [BIC]) of behavior plus nutrition intervention for children with cystic fibrosis (CF) ages 4-9 years.

METHODS
Think Aloud methodology was used with five mothers to assess usability and refine the intervention. A pilot trial was then conducted with 10 mothers of children with CF ages 4-9 years randomized to the web-based BIC or a Standard Care Control (STC). Change in weight gain for each group was compared in a pre-to-post design.

RESULTS
Mothers rated the usability and clarity of BIC highly. The pilot trial showed children of mothers who received BIC had a significant change in weight pre-to-post-treatment (0.67 kg, p = .04). Change for the STC was not significant (0.41 kg, p = .10).

CONCLUSIONS
A web-based behavior plus nutrition intervention appears promising in increasing weight gain in children with CF.


We study the relationship between financial development, technological development and economic growth in Romania. We construct aggregate indices of financial development and technological development using principal component analysis. The ARDL bounds testing approach shows the presence of cointegration between financial development, technological development and economic growth. Financial development and technological development contribute to economic growth. Moreover, financial development leads technological development which Granger causes economic growth. Our empirical evidence suggest that economic growth is driven by financial development via technological development and that, in Romania,a stable financial system and capital market can facilitate technological innovations.


For n > 2 let I n be the σ-ideal in P(n ω ) generated by all sets which do not contain n equidistant points in the usual metric on n ω . For each n > 2 a set S n is constructed in R n so that the σ-ideal which is generated by the convex subsets of S n restricted to the convexity radical K(S n ) is isomorphic to I n . Thus cov(I n ) is equal to the least number of convex subsets required to cover S n - the convexity number of S n . For every non-increasing function f: ω \ 2 → {κ ∈ card: cf(κ) > N 0 } we construct a model of set theory in which cov(I n ) = f(n) for each n ∈ ω \ 2. When f is strictly decreasing up to n, n - 1 uncountable cardinals are simultaneously realized as convexity numbers of closed subsets of R n . It is conjectured that n, but never more than n, different uncountable cardinals can occur simultaneously as convexity numbers of closed subsets of R n . This conjecture is true for n = 1 and n = 2.


This chapter sets out to offer a more complex picture of smell on the streets of eighteenth-century England than has been offered previously. Far from only being disgusted, urbanites engaged with the smells of putridity and mouldy food in subtle and complex ways that were freighted with questions of social status. This is apparent from domestic advice, jokes, and satirical prints. Yet sanitary records, parliamentary improvement acts, and occupational medicine all offer declining evidence for concerns about the health threats of smell. Despite this, the smells of trades, food, and the streetscapes continued have important social meanings for city-dwellers. A study of the dichotomized olfactory representation of London's City and the West End demonstrates the continued cultural currency of unsanitary scents.


The impact of computer integrated manufacturing on the first-line supervisor position is investigated. Twelve typical activities performed by the first-line supervisor were identified in an extensive review of the literature. Computer integrated manufacturing (CIM) is described as it is envisioned and reported at several existing flexible manufacturing systems in this country. The impact of CIM on the twelve first-line supervisor activities is conceptualized, and a forecasted new list of seven activities is developed. The possibility of retraining first-line supervisors for the new technology is discussed.


Case-Based Reasoning (CBR) is a recognised and well established method for building medical systems. In this paper, we identify strengths and weaknesses of CBR in medicine. System properties, divided into construction-oriented and purpose-oriented, are used as the basis for a survey of recent publications and research projects. The survey is used to find current trends in present medical CBR research.


Famous sporting goods brands are the important intangible assets. Using the methods of documentation and logical analysis, the paper analyzes the phenomena of insufficient protection of China's famous sporting goods brands. It discusses the connotation and importance of brand protec- tion and puts forward the tactics of protecting China's famous brands of sporting goods.


Generally, furniture belongs to industrial products. Therefore furniture designers usually use industrial product design method which is effective for mass production to develop their new furniture goods. However, furniture design needs its own method and process because of its traits. Its own method is especially efficient on personal and home decorative items. This study focused on the method of intuitive design in furniture. In contrast with the traditional method of mass production item design, it is suitable for small scale factories or studios and should be supported to produce distinguished items which are impossible to develop in the way of mass production. Mass production furniture items can be developed by common design process which is known well as the orthodox method of product design for industrial companies. On the other hand, the small amount produced furniture items, which is quite decorative, attractive and creative, are effectively developed by the intuitive method based on experience and motive. In this study, the intuitive design method was classified into four groups, the way of metaphor expression, material approach, interpretation of structural function in forms, and inspiration from motive. The character and case of each method was analyzed for the pertinent application in furniture design.


We show that any isometric irredundant embedding of a graph into a product of complete graphs is the canonical isometric embedding. This result is used to design a simple O(mn) algorithm for recognizing Hamming graphs.


I examine the liquidity effect of the implementation of ASC 606: Revenue from contracts with customers. I find that the implementation of ASC 606 increases liquidity. Next, I examine the channels through which the implementation of the standard affects liquidity. Theory suggests that the implementation of standards can affect liquidity through either the precision channel, i.e., the change in the accounting report's ability to reflect economic events, the comparability channel, i.e., the increase in comparability across reporting entities, or both. I find that the implementation of the new revenue standard is associated with increases in both precision and comparability, which are, in turn, associated with an increase in liquidity. I further show that firms that experience an increase in neither precision nor comparability do not experience an increase in liquidity.


A simple approach to modeling the plasma layer similar to that appearing in the vicinity of a hypersonic vehicle is demonstrated in a laboratory experiment. This approach is based on the use of a hypersonic jet from a cathodic arc plasma. Another critical element of this laboratory experiment is a blunt body made from a fairly thin foil of refractory material. In experiments, this blunt body is heated by the plasma jet to a temperature sufficiently high to ensure evaporation of surface deposits produced by the metallic plasma jet. This process mimics reflection of gas flow from the hypersonic vehicle in a real flight. Two-dimensional distributions of the hypersonic plasma flow around the blunt body were measured using electrostatic Langmuir probes. Measured plasma density was typically 1012  cm−3, which is close to the values measured for real hypersonic flight. The demonstrated laboratory experiment can be used to validate numerical codes for simulating hypersonic flight and to conduct ground-based tests...


This paper describes the status of efforts to improve the safety of motor vehicle operation through training. The following types of programs are described: (l) the safety components of driver education and improvement courses, (2) the remedial training of traffic violators, (3) programs utilizing simulation techniques, and (4) the use of mass media such as books and films. A general lack of conclusive evidence concerning various training approaches is noted. A greater research effort should be directed toward (l) better identification of means by which accidents can be anticipated and avoided, (2) methods of coping directly with driver habits and skills, and (3) techniques of maintaining safe driving behavior through periodic evaluation and retraining. Downloaded from SAE International by University of British Columbia, Monday, September 24, 2018


In-situ synthesis of 10 vol% TiC/Fe and (Ti,W)C/Fe composites made in block raw materials was investigated using scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction. The results expatiate that in the TiC-Fe composite, the TiC, as only second phase is in two kinds of morphologies, i.e. spherulic and rod-like ones. It is thought that the spherulic TiC is a hypoeutectic phase and the rod-like one is a eutectic phase. The (Ti,W)C reinforcements in (Ti,W)C/Fe composites, as only one second phase, are more homogeneously distributed in iron matrix by replaying part of titanium for tungsten in TiC/Fe composite. Most of the reinforcements are spherulic, rod-like are few. Titanium, tungsten and carbon are homogeneously distributed within the spherulic (TiW)C phase except that its core is rich in iron. Comparing with the TiC, the (TiW)C phase has a density matchable for iron melt, which makes it more suitable to in-situ synthesize reinforcements in large size ingots of iron matrix composites. is feasible.


In this paper I take the view, common among statisticians, that a design is an allocation of a set Γ of n treatments to a set Ω of plots: see [2]. (The word plot does not necessarily denote a piece of ground: it is used for any type of experimental unit.) Thus the design may be thought of as a function f from Ω onto Γ: plot ω receives treatment γ if f(ω) = γ. If Ω is partitioned into blocks then f is called a block design. A block design is proper if all its blocks have the same size. In this paper all block designs are proper, having b blocks of size k. Suppose that the restriction of f to each block is injective, that is,


This paper adds quadratic trends to unit root tests of post-World-War-II U.S. real GDP to allow for a gradual evolution in any deterministic trend. The DF-GLS test, standard DF test, KPSS stationarity test, and an out-of-sample forecasting test are employed. Bootstrapping addresses the small-sample effects of lag coefficients, data-based lag-selection, and heteroskedasticity. Several data generating processes are used, and the resulting p-value variation is resolved with Bayesian techniques. The DF-GLS test rejects the unit root at approximately the 0.05 level with a value highly consistent with a quadratic trend. The other test results generally support this finding. (JEL C22; E32; N1; O47)


In comparison to classic strengthening methods of fatigue-damaged steel structures, adhesively bonded CFRP
lamellas show several advantages. Compared to bolted reinforcement measures and the drilling of the crack tip, crosssectional weakening is avoided. Heat-induced, negatively acting residual stresses and distortions, usually occurring during repair welding, can also be excluded. Therefore, the effectiveness of adhesively bonded CFRP lamellas to enhance
the remaining lifetime of fatigue damaged steel structures is examined in a German research project. Selected results
are presented in this paper. To characterize the steel, CFRP and adhesive materials, different tests on small scale specimens are carried out. With the help of fatigue tests on CT-samples the remaining fatigue lifetimes of specimens strengthened with adhesively bonded CFRP lamellas is compared to the remaining lifetimes of specimens strengthened by established methods such as drilling the crack tip and repair welding. Based on the evaluation of the crack propagation
after the rehabilitation measures, the great potential of adhesively bonded CFRP reinforcements can be deduced. By
prestressing the lamellas, the remaining lifetime can generally be increased further. The combination of adhesively
bonded CFRP lamellas together with established rehabilitation methods shows a particularly high positive influence on
the remaining lifetime of the CT-specimens.


The traumatic or surgical amputation of the forearm or of the hand is a challenging interdisciplinary domain, requiring the collaboration of surgeons, engineers, prostheticians, clinical pharmacology experts in chronic pain management, exoprosthesis manufacturing companies, social workers and last but not least the patient himself/herself. There are a relative few methods of surgical preparation of the amputation stump for use use an external prosthesis. Most of these techniques do not provide a sufficient number of electrical sEMG signals for the efficient control of a modern myoelectric exoprosthesis. We present the surgical aspects and anesthesio-pharmacological implications of the practical study into the applicability of the concept of myoplastic transposition through a forearm fascia breach. We present the data and we discuss the results of sEMG signal acquisition, both before and after the procedure, and we conclude regarding the potential of the method as a means of improving the current standard surgical technique.


The study aims to develop a model of digital inclusion among entrepreneurs (SMEs) in Malaysia. The existing digital gap instrument is geared towards access, skills and motivational aspects of using ICT and looking at the issue of usage gaps, whereas digital inclusion is about how users benefit from the use of ICT as well as prevent the occurrence of digital imperfections. Digital inclusion is a holistic approach that a) measures the impact of ICT on economic and social (new skills), b) an environment that can help the economic and society capabilities benefit from ICT (innovation and entrepreneurship), c) Clear policy and identify opportunities for public-private collaboration (robust legislation and law). Hence, the formation of antecedent and digital inclusion model is a new lead in measuring individual and community development. The objective of the study is to determine the re-concept of digital inclusion and to test the identified digital domain domains such as communication networks, entertainment, and search for business information, e-commerce, creating business sites, advertising and product marketing. Subsequently, the expected outcome of the study is to introduce a new digital inclusiveness instrument among entrepreneurs (SMEs) in Malaysia based on a number of domains that have been tested and identified.


Since this year marks the 1200th anniversary of the establishment of Tendai in Japan from China, there is no question that Tendai is old. However, its long history naturally prompts the question about Tendai's present and future. Is it frozen in outdated forms from the past, or is it still changing and growing? Having taken root in Japan, can it take root in the West? Has it made its major contributions, or does it have anything new to offer to the world? That is to say, what is the modern relevance of Tendai Buddhism? Although Tendai (Chin., T'ien-t'ai)' has the reputation of being a major denomination in Japanese history, and the most comprehensive and diversified school of Chinese Buddhism, it is almost unknown in the West.2 This meagre presence is in marked contrast to the vision of the founder of the movement in China, T'ien-t'ai Chih-i (538-597), who provided a religious framework which seemed suited to adapt to other cultures, to evolve new practices, and to universalize Buddhism. This essay will survey a few of these principles and then focus on the T'ien-t'ai idea of fourfold religious stages as a topic which could serve as a bridge between Japanese Tendai and the West. Specifically, T'ien-t'ai Chih-i proposed that all Buddhist teachings can be grouped into four different orientations called the Four Teachingsthe Tripitaka, Shared, Distinct, and Complete. Although these four teachings sometimes use the same words, values, and practices, these take on different meanings within each of these four separate orientations. For example, Buddhahood, ignorance, meditation, and compassion have different meanings, different causes, and different consequences in each of the Four Teachings. Secondly, there is a sequence of the Four Teachings, so even though one


Let T > 0 be given. Let be the analogue of Wiener measure space, associated with the Borel proba-bility measure on , let be the centered Gaussian measure space with the correlation operator and be the abstract Wiener measure space. Let U be the space of all sequence in such that the limit converges uniformly on [0,T] and give a set function m such that for any Borel subset G of , . The goal of this note is to study the relationship among the measures and .


has been detected from a Galactic magnetar SGR 1935+2154 by STARE2 and CHIME/FRB. It provides strong evidence linking magnetars to sources of FRBs. The explosively growing number of FRBs and studies of individual FRBs start to reveal the source and radiation mechanisms of FRBs. Significant breakthroughs rely on the emergence of new observational facilities as well as a growing breadth of expertise joining the field. With ever-growing capabilities of observing facilities and processing power, the FRB sample in the next 5 years will supersede that of radio pulsars from the past half century. We are witnessing the unveiling of a dynamic Universe.


We present a method to control the cold collision between an ultracold atom and a trapped ion. A laser is used to excite the ground state atom to a repulsive Rydberg potential level at a certain atom-ion distance. In this way the ion is effectively surrounded by a potential wall that the atom cannot cross. Once the atom leaves the interaction area, it is de-excited back to its original level. The adiabaticity of the scheme is analyzed as a function of different parameters such as laser frequency, laser power, initial atom-ion collision energy, as well as the direction of the collisional process with respect to the light field. By controlling e.g. the laser power and the laser frequency, as well as by addressing different Rydberg states, the properties of this shielding effect can be widely tuned. In particular, unwanted chemical reactions between atoms and ion can efficiently be suppressed, which is an important step towards realization of diverse quantum technological applications for hybrid atom-ion systems.


Semiconductor lighting has the characteristics of energy saving, high efficiency, long life and environmental protection. It is the product of "green lighting" and semiconductor luminescence technology, and CUK converter is widely used in semiconductor lighting drive. In this paper, the main features of CUK main circuit are discussed, and a new CUK high power and high efficiency semiconductor lighting control scheme is proposed, that is, the CUK drive system controlled by OCC feedforward technology. Then, the author makes a deep research on its work dynamics, such as SIMULINK and SIMPOWERSYSTEMS and other tools simulation analysis, and the corresponding relationship expression of its system dynamic performance is derived to achieve that the system has the characteristics of high efficiency, fast response, strong anti-interference and so on. Introduction CUK converter is also known as Boost-Buck converter, as shown in Fig. 1. It is one of the best topologies in semiconductor lighting drives, and is widely used [1-6], with both boost and buck output, maintaining the continuity of Boost-type converter input current with a wide input voltage range. It can easily achieve boost or buck by changing the duty cycle of the switch. Through serial in two inductors, the exchange ripple wave value becomes smaller, in practice, electromagnetic interference (EMI) filter does not need to be added. The drive system is small and the voltage is stable. Based on the traditional control, this paper presents a new scheme, OCC feedforward drive system. Figure 1. Schematic diagram of CUK convertor Basic Ideas and Implementation Scheme of OCC Feedforward Control At present, most of the drive control is to linearize the obtained model equation firstly, and then use a feedback loop to control [7-10]. The OCC control technology is shown in Fig. 2. However, due to the dynamic characteristics of the filter, the controlled output voltage will be disturbed, and its anti-load disturbance capability is weak, and the power factor of the whole converter may decrease at light load. In view of these problems, this paper proposes OCC feedforward control vr L1 L2 C


Alencar and Francisco (1998) proved the absolute minimum and maximum value of a given probability mass function is related to the limit of the Renyi entropy. In this paper, we have determined the minimum or maximum of some probability mass function (PMF) using this point. In the following, it will be shown that the absolute minimum value of a given PMF is related to the limit of the Generalized Renyi entropy, as α → −∞ and β is fixed or (β → −∞ and α is fixed).The absolute maximum value of a PMF is related to the limit of the Generalized Renyi entropy, as α→∞ and β is fixed or (β →∞ and α is fixed).


A high-temperature high-pressure ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) cell is described. The cell has been designed specifically for use with the UV spectrophotometer Hewlett–Packard 8453 but it could work up to 780 K at 100 MPa with any other UV-Vis spectrophotometer, as well as for near infrared (NIR) experiments. Three features of the cell make it convenient for experiments with supercritical fluids: the possibility to choose an optimal path length, the presence of three interchangeable ports into the cell, and a movable thermocouple in the working zone of the cell. The cell has been used to study a range of chemical reactions in water under near-critical and supercritical conditions, as well as for measuring the kinetics of such reactions. Some examples illustrating the performance of the cell are given.


This paper describes research on the applicability of Monte Carlo simulation to the study of large scale power system reliability. Reliability in this context refers to the ability of the system to meet demand for electricity over time. A generalized program capable of modeling any pool of generators was developed using a modified version of the GASP-IV simulation language. The logic of this program is described and the results of two applications of the program are presented.


We considered the two-dimensional stress aspect of a fault from the viewpoint of differential geometry. For this analysis, we concentrated on the curvatures of the Airy stress function surface. We found the following: (i) Because the principal stresses are the principal curvatures of the stress function surface, the first and the second invariant quantities in the elasticity correspond to invariant quantities in differential geometry; specifically, the mean and Gaussian curvatures, respectively; (ii) Coulomb's failure criterion shows that the coefficient of friction is the physical expression of the geometric energy of the stress function surface; (iii) The differential geometric expression of the Goursat formula shows that the fault (dislocation) type (strike-slip or dip-slip) corresponds to the stress function surface type (elliptic or hyperbolic). Finally, we discuss the need to use non-biharmonic stress tensor theory to describe the stress aspect of multi-faults or an earthquake source zone.


This book surveys Amazonia in the last two decades of the twentieth century. The author emphasizes the processes of globalization in the region with theoretical analyses on the relationship between...


Objective: To investigate the job satisfaction and its influencing factors among nurses worked in ward.Methods: Nurses worked in the terriary hospital of Harbin were recruited and completed the job satisfaction assessment sacle and a demographic form.Results: The total average socre of nurses' job satisfaction was(76.85±10.97),the influencing factors of job satisfaction including age,marital status,and professional title.Conclusion: The level of ward nurses' job satisfaction was moderate,the factors of sociodemographic which influencing the job satisfaction were age,maritual status,and professional title.The manager should pay more attention to improve the working conditions,and formulate the personality regulatory framework to increase the nurses' job satisfaction,in order to enhance the quality of work.


Elderly acute myeloid leukemia (AML) accounted for 35% of all AML with the increased incidence year by year, and the median onset age is 67 years old. Generally, AML patients require strong chemotherapy, but older patients often cannot tolerate intense chemotherapy due to the viscera dysfunction. It is still lack of unified treatment clinically. Reports on treatment of elderly AML in the 57th American Society of Hematology (ASH) annual meeting covered multiple fields, in which the traditional induction chemotherapy, demethylation drug alone or in combination with other drugs, and novel drugs were an involved. This article reviewed the latest research on the elderly AML in the 57th ASH annual meeting.

Key words:
Leukemia, myeloid, acute; Elderly; American Society of Hematology annual meeting


Dynamic spectrum access (DSA) technique has been widely accepted as a crucial solution to mitigate the potential spectrum scarcity problem. As a key form of DSA, government is proposing to release more federal spectrum for sharing with commercial wireless users. However, the flourish of federal-commercial sharing hinges upon how privacy issues are managed. In current DSA proposals, the sensitive operation parameters of both federal incumbent users (IUs) and commercial secondary users (SUs) need to be shared with the dynamic spectrum access system (SAS) to realize efficient spectrum allocation. Since SAS is not necessarily operated by a trusted third party, the current proposals dissatisfy the privacy requirement of both IUs and SUs. To address the privacy issues, this paper presents a privacy-preserving SAS design, which realizes the complex spectrum allocation decision process of DSA through secure computation over ciphertext based on homomorphic encryption, thus none of the IU or SU operation parameters are exposed to SAS.


A conjugated diene polymer is provided which includes a constituent unit based on a conjugated diene, and a compound represented by formula (I) constituent unit shown below, wherein the compound represented by formula (I) constituent unit represented between a structural unit based on a conjugated diene and a construction unit based on a conjugated diene is present and the content of the compound represented by formula (I) illustrated construction unit 1 unit and 2 units per polymer chain. (In the formula, X (In the formula, R


It is proposed a method of curing a chemical composition, said composition comprising at least one or more binders which have ethylenically unsaturated groups and contains one or more initiators of radical Polymersiation. The method includes a thermal curing step, wherein the curing of the composition is effected by means of a free-radical polymerization of the binder, which is initiated by a thermal initiator, and carried out under protective gas. With the method paint films can be produced with improved mechanical properties.


Two cesium phosphotungstate-derived solid acid catalysts (Cs2.5H0.5PW12 and Cs0.5H2.5PW12) were prepared. The resulting catalysts were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), N2 adsorption and desorption isotherm and temperature programmed desorption of ammonia(NH3-TPD). The Cs2.5H0.5PW12 and Cs0.5H2.5PW12 were respectively used to catalyze the tranesterification of castor oil and methanol for the synthesis of biodiesel with the assistance of microwave. Results shown microwave radiation can greatly enhance the transesterification process when compared with conventional heating method. Cs2.5H0.5PW12 showed better catalyst performance than Cs0.5H2.5PW12. A maximum yield of 90% was obtained from the using of 30:1 molar ratio of methanol to castor oil and 15 wt % mass ratio of catalyst to castor oil at 343 K under microwave radiation after 4h.


This paper reports on the experimental observation of power and wavelength optical bistability (OB) and nonlinear gain in a 1550 nm- vertical cavity semiconductor optical amplifier (VCSOA) biased just below threshold and operated in reflection. Two different shapes of power and wavelength OB and nonlinear gain, anticlockwise and clockwise, have been experimentally observed, both with high on-off contrast ratio.


Let $\mathcal{R}$ be the Grothendieck ring of complex smooth finite-length representations of the sequence of p-adic groups $\{GL_n(F)\}_{n=0}^\infty $, with multiplication defined through parabolic induction. We study the problem of the decomposition of products of irreducible representations in $\mathcal{R}$. We obtain a necessary condition on irreducible factors of a given product by introducing a width invariant. Width $1$ representations form the previously studied class of ladder representations. We later focus on the case of a product of two ladder representations, for which we establish that all irreducible factors appear with multiplicity one. Finally, we propose a general rule for the composition series of a product of two ladder representations and prove its validity for cases in which the irreducible factors correspond to smooth Schubert varieties.


The cement industry is one of the primary sources producing anthropogenic CO2 emissions. The significant increase in the demand for cement in years has significantly contributed to the increase in carbon emissions. Among numerous CO2 treatment technologies, calcium looping (CaL) is a practical approach to mitigating CO2 emissions. This paper used calcium looping (CaL) to capture CO2 from flue gas in a cement pre-calciner kiln system. The raw material exiting the lowest stage of the preheater is used as a calcium-based adsorbent, and the carbonation reactor is built between the tertiary and secondary preheaters, using the high-temperature flue gas exiting the tertiary preheater to provide heat for the reaction. The CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) simulation technology was used to evaluate the rationality of the carbonation reactor and the key factors affecting the carbon removal efficiency of the carbonation reactor. The results indicate that the velocity and pressure fields of the carbonation reactor conform to the general operating rules and are reasonable. The optimal operating speed of particles in the carbonation reactor is 15 m/s, with a separation efficiency of particles of 92.5%, ensuring the smooth discharge of reaction products. The factor analysis of the carbonation reactor shows that when the temperature is 911 K, the mass flow rate of CaO is 2.07 kg/s, and the volume fraction of CO2 is 0.28, the carbonation reaction reaches a chemical equilibrium state, and the carbon removal efficiency is 90%. It should be noted that this carbon removal efficiency is the optimal carbon removal efficiency based on a combination of economic factors. In addition, the influencing factors show a precise sequence: CO2 volume fraction > CaO addition amount > temperature. Finally, we investigated the impact of the addition of the carbonation reactor on the preheater system. The results show that adding the carbonation reactor causes an increase in the flue gas velocity at the outlet of the preheater and a decrease in pressure, reducing the separation efficiency. Although the separation efficiency decreases slightly, the impact on the pre-calciner system is minimal.


The main part of the brain's energy need is to support housekeeping functions and internal information processing, regardless of external tasks. Cognitive brain imaging, aimed at relating mental phenomena to neurophysiological processes, has conventionally investigated the brain activity induced by external stimuli. In contrast, resting state functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (rs-fMRI) aims to characterize the spatiotemporal properties of the ongoing baseline brain activity. In the projects constituting the current thesis, we have used rs-fMRI to investigate effects of neuropharamcological administrations, long-term physical exercise and to characterize central pain processing in rheumatic pain conditions. Study I is a randomized, cross sectional placebo study, in which healthy subjects were administered Parkinson medications (L-dopa), anxiolytics (oxazepam), or placebo. Our a priori hypothesis of preferential modulations of connectivity of brain regions with high density of target receptors was not confirmed. Instead, oxazepam was associated with increased connectivity of cardinal hubs within the default mode network, and interestingly, a decoupling of the amygdala. L-dopa, on the other hand, primarily decreased connectivity, particularly between amygdala and bilateral prefrontal gyri. In studies II-IV we investigated rheumatic pain patients. In study II we compared a fibromyalgia (FM) cohort and healthy controls (HC) with regard to functional brain connectivity of particularly cerebral pain regions. Conducting both data driven independent component analysis (ICA) and seed correlation analysis (SCA), we observed a weaker coupling between pain regions and sensorimotor brain areas in the FM group. Across groups, pain sensitivity correlated with e.g. increased connectivity between insula and the posterior cingulate cortex. Physical exercise is a potent reliever of FM symptoms. In study III, we investigated the effects a three months physical training intervention for FM patients. Following exercise, patients reported decreased symptom gravity, and the FM associated hyper-connectivity identified at baseline was partly normalized. In study IV, we investigated the extent to which exposure to chronic pain for patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) was reflected in functional connectivity of pain regions. Overall, RA patients had elevated connectivity, particularly between frontal midline areas and bilateral sensorimotor cortex. Taken together, we have shown that short-term neuropharmachological interventions, a three months physical exercise intervention as well as long-term rheumatic pain exposure, all are accompanied by changes in intrinsic brain activity. Although the functional significance of the observed group differences in connectivity warrants further investigations, the evidences presented here support the notion that rs-fMRI could prove useful for diagnosing neuropsychiatric conditions and evaluating interventions in the future.


Climate change has severe impacts on natural resources, food production and consequently on food security especially in developing countries. Likely accentuated by climate change, flooding is one of the disasters that affects people and destroies agricultural land and products. At different governance levels and scales, appropriate responses are needed. Cluster analysis using scaled at-site characteristics was used to determine homogeneous rainfall regions. A methodology for detecting change was applied to heavy daily rainfall of 34 stations across the Oueme basin, Benin, in order to assess potential change in its characteristics. The spatial variability of the detected changes in return periods was analyzed using the kriging interpolation method. For this analysis, up to 92 years (1921–2012) of rainfall data were used. Three homogeneous regions were found by the cluster analysis. For all studied return periods, 82% of the stations showed statistically significant change in daily precipitation, among which 57% exhibited a positive change and 43% negative change. A positive change is associated with an increase in heavy rainfall over the area of concern. An analysis of the interpolated change in heavy rainfall of different return periods revealed an east-west gradient from negative to positive along the lower Oueme basin (Region 2). From the middle to the upper Oueme (Region 1 and 3), a decreasing tendency of heavy rainfall is dominant mainly for the non-homogeneous period. This result of the complex pattern of changes could be veritable information for decision makers and consequently for development of appropriate adaptation measures.


The research objectives are to (1) describe the planning of the research madrasah quality improvement program. (2) Describe the organization of the research madrasah program. (3) Describe the implementation of the research madrasah program. (4) Describe the supervision of the research madrasah program. The method used is the descriptive qualitative method. Data collection techniques through observation, interviews, and documentation studies. The research subjects were: the head of the madrasah, the deputy head, the research madrasah quality development team, supervisors, committees, teachers and accompanying teachers. Data analysis techniques through data reduction, data presentation, and drawing conclusions. The results showed: (1) Program planning was carried out at the beginning of the year through a working meeting with the madrasah head, deputy head, supervising teachers, supervisors and committees, the formation of a research class, the establishment of a curriculum, the preparation of a research madrasah program work plan. (2) Organizing is done by assigning tasks to teachers who have competence in the field of research, the establishing a research madrasah implementing structure, and the establishing of a quality development unit. (3) Carrying out according to schedule, the research carried out aims to grow students' knowledge, develop a culture of literacy, writing and has participated in several competitions held, such as the MYRES, KOPSI, LIPI, KTI MTs Istiqlal and Robotics events. (4) Supervision has not been carried out properly. This is because there is no special team that has the task as a unit to carry out supervision, and also there is no supervision schedule. The conclusions showed the implementation of this research madrasah quality improvement program is due to program implementation regulations, the commitment of the madrasah principal, the magnitude of student interest, the availability of facilities and infrastructure and the budget for program implementation.


The invention provides a combination support of a clutch operation front mechanism. The combination support comprises a U-shaped support, wherein a master cylinder fixing plate used for mounting a clutch master cylinder is vertically arranged in the U-shaped support; mounting holes used for mounting clutch pedal rotating pins are coaxially formed in two side plates of the U-shaped support and the master cylinder fixing plate; a spring hook seat used for mounting a pedal return spring is arranged on the outer side wall of one side plate, a pedal upper limiting support is arranged on the inner side wall of the side plate, and a pedal lower limiting support is arranged at the lower end of the side plate; a baffle plate is connected between the two sides plates of the U-shaped support, and a steering support used for mounting a directional pipe column is arranged on the baffle plate. The combination support integrates the directional pipe column with the clutch operation mechanism, so that the space of a drive zone is saved, the utilization rate of space is improved, and mounting and maintenance are relatively convenient.


Abstract : Seventy-nine particle flux samples were collected from 1983 to 1986 using 7 automated time-series sediment traps at 6 stations distributed in the northern and eastern portion of the Nordic Seas as part of a joint West German/U.S. program on arctic sedimentation studies. Each sample represents either one month or two weeks of sedimentation at approximately 400 m above the sea floor. In this data file the results of laboratory analysis conducted at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, U.S.A. of the main sedimentological criteria (total mass, carbonate, opal, combustible, organic carbon, nitrogen, and lithogenic mass) are presented in both tabular and histogram form. Keywords: Greenland Sea; Norwegian Sea, Oceanographic sedimentation data.


The alignment between the goals of pre-service education and that of in-service education is important. Institutions which offer a degree in education must constantly connect and understand the experiences of the teachers and learners in the elementary and secondary schools so that they can offer better undergraduate programs. This study explored how critical thinking skills of secondary students contribute to their Mathematics performance. There were 236 secondary student participants in this study from a private high school in Mindanao, Philippines. Correlational design was utilized in this study. A questionnaire was used to gather data on critical thinking skills of the students. The questionnaire has undergone Rasch analysis with reliability indices of .88 (high) for Part 1 and .77 (moderate) for Part 2 thus establishing preliminary evidence of construct validity. Using path analysis, the model showed that critical thinking skills significantly explained the Mathematics performance of the participants. The results called for a need to address the teaching of critical thinking skills among secondary students because this will benefit the facilitation of better Mathematics performance. Critical thinking skills must be taught alongside Mathematics content. Teachers carry out multiple roles of delivering the content at the same time honing the critical thinking skills of the students. Undergraduate education specifically for teacher education has an important role to play in preparing future teachers on how to develop critical thinking skills of their students. It is a two-way task of developing future teachers to be critical thinkers and teaching them how to teach such skills to their students so that when they are in the field of teaching, they teach both content and critical thinking skills.


The research proposes and evaluates a structured approach to the development of complex multiorganizational incentive architectures for complex sustainable supply chains. It is proposed that ModelBased Systems Engineering (MBSE), a process for software and systems development, combined with SysML, a structured systems modeling standard, can be combined to design and test complex multiorganizational supply chain incentive architectures. Such an approach is a suitable for architecting complex 'system-of-systems' architectures such as 'Smart Cities'. A review of trends in associated literature is conducted to ground research design and scope: 1) Perspectives concerning sustainable, multistakeholder resource supply chain management; 2) Formal systems engineering and modeling practices (as relevant to multi-organizational and multi-stakeholder economic systems); and 3) Multi-stakeholder incentive architectures for sustainable resource value chain orchestration. A yet-to-be-determined central reference case involving sustainable multi-stakeholder resource management will be followed throughout to demonstrate the methodology (i.e. Dutch water management or Smart Grids). Structured multi-agent simulation is applied to analyze incentive alignment and systemic competition according to as-is and hypothetical to-be cases. General market-based models for satisficing sustainable value are extrapolated and examined for industry and regulatory consideration. The proposed methodology is thus an in vitro approach to exploring novel incentive and regulatory models, whereas field testing via live critical infrastructure is largely impractical.


Moore's Attack on Ethical Naturalism Abstract In this paper I seek to understand if G. E. Moore's Open Question Argument succeeds in refuting every sort of ethical naturalism; namely, I intend to see if there is any version of the argument that can be used to refute a non-reductionist view, such as Cornell realism. For that purpose, I shall evaluate the argument either in its original formulation, either in a reformulation with a broader scope presented by Terence Horgan and Mark Timmons in different articles. Keywords: Ethical naturalism; Open Question Argument; Non-reductionism; Cornell realism; Moral Twin Earth. Authors : G.E. Moore; Terence Horgan; Mark Timmons Resumo Neste artigo pretende-se averiguar se o Argumento da Questao em Aberto de G. E. Moore e bem-sucedido na refutacao de toda e qualquer especie de naturalismo etico; nomeadamente, pretende-se investigar se alguma versao do argumento pode ser utilizada para refutar uma perspetiva naturalista nao-reducionista de naturalismo etico, como o 'realismo de Cornell'. Para esse efeito, irei proceder a uma avaliacao critica do argumento quer na sua formulacao original, quer numa versao reformulada e com um espectro mais abrangente apresentada por Terence Horgan e Mark Timmons, em diferentes artigos. Palavras-chave: Naturalismo etico; Argumento da Questao em Aberto; Nao-reducionismo; Realismo de Cornell; Terra Gemea Moral. Autores : G.E. Moore; Terence Horgan; Mark Timmons. DOI : http://dx.doi.org/10.21747/21836892/fil32a8


In this paper, we consider a class of continuous-time Markovian jump singular systems with time-varying delays. The stability problem for this class of systems is discussed and delay-dependent sufficient conditions such that the systems are regular, impulse free and asymptotically mean square stable are developed in terms of linear matrix inequality (LMI). A numerical example is included to show the effectiveness of the proposed methods.


On the majority of highway projects let by the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT), each bidder has traditionally been allowed to choose which base material they would use to construct the project if they were awarded the contract. The choice usually comes down to an aggregate (usually limerock) base vs. a hot-mix asphalt (HMA) base. When using only direct cost parameters, in most cases, the limerock alternative appears to be the most cost effective. However, some or all of the savings experienced in the purchase may be offset when considering total cost including road user and construction engineering and inspection costs. This research effort attempts to develop a tool that compares the total cost of limerock base and HMA base. This tool, called a Cost Decision Tool (CDT), provides users with economic evaluations for limerock and HMA base options. The economic evaluation performed by the CDT will enable the FDOT practitioner to make a more reasonable and informed base material decision based on total cost/benefit parameters.


The tectonic relations between foreland and hinterland deformation in noncollisional orogens are critical to understanding the overall development of orogens. The classic central Cordilleran foreland fold‐and‐thrust belt in the United States (Late Jurassic to early Tertiary Sevier belt) and the more internal zones to the west (central Nevada thrust belt) provide data critical to understanding the development of internal and external parts of orogens. The Garden Valley thrust system, part of the central Nevada thrust belt, crops out in south‐central Nevada within a region generally considered to be the hinterland of the Jurassic to Eocene Sevier thrust belt. The thrust system consists of at least four principal thrust plates composed of strata as young as Pennsylvanian in age that are unconformably overlain by rocks as old as Oligocene, suggesting that contraction occurred between those times. New U/Pb dates on intrusions that postdate contraction, combined with new paleomagnetic data showing significant tilting of one area prior to intrusion, suggest that regionally these thrusts were active before ∼85–100 Ma. The thrust faults are characterized by long, relatively steeply dipping ramps and associated folds that are broad and open to close, upright and overturned. Although now fragmented by Cenozoic crustal extension, individual thrusts can be correlated from range to range for tens to hundreds of kilometers along strike. We correlate the structurally lowest thrust of the Garden Valley thrust system, the Golden Gate‐Mount Irish thrust, southward with the Gass Peak thrust of southern Nevada. This correlation carries the following regional implications. At least some of the slip across Jurassic to mid‐Cretaceous foreland thrusts in southern Nevada continues northward along the central Nevada thrust belt rather than northeastward into Utah. This continuation is consistent with age relations, which indicate that thrusts in the type Sevier belt in central Utah are synchronous with or younger than the youngest thrusts in southern Nevada. This in turn implies that geometrically similar Sevier belt thrusts in Utah must die out southward before they reach Nevada, that slip along the southern Nevada thrusts is partitioned between central Nevada and Utah thrusts, or that the Utah thrusts persist into southeastern Nevada but are located east of the longitude of the central Nevada thrust belt. As a result of overall cratonward migration of thrusting, the central Nevada thrust belt probably formed the Cordilleran foreland fold‐thrust belt early in the shortening event but later lay in the hinterland of the Sevier fold‐thrust belt of Idaho‐Wyoming‐Utah.


Events that take 10s to 100s of ns like cache misses increasingly cause CPU stalls. However, hiding the latency of these events is challenging: hardware mechanisms suffer from the lack of flexibility, whereas prior software mechanisms fall short due to large overhead and limited event visibility. In this paper, we argue that with a combination of two emerging techniques - light-weight coroutines and sample-based profiling, hiding these events in software is within reach.


Research investigators and clinicians are often interested in producing personalized risk graphs for research participants or patients. We used the GKPI procedure in SAS version 9.2 to produce batches of risk graphs for a randomized trial of an intervention to communicate participants' individual risks for developing type 2 diabetes based on demographic, clinical, and genetic risk factors. We pilot-tested a variety of potential graphs with 35 participants to determine, based on participant feedback, which graphs were most easily understood and most clearly communicated risk. Graphs created by PROC GKPI can only be produced by hard coding the data values within the procedure rather than by passing the values to the procedure through the "DATA=Data Set Name" option. We present a macro and CALL EXECUTE code to demonstrate a method for producing batches of graphs without having to hard code the data values within the GKPI procedure. This paper presents the final versions of these risk graphs and the associated SAS code for producing them. It is targeted towards users with an intermediate level knowledge of SAS programming.


This paper evaluates three widely used particle stochastic separated flow (SSF) models through large eddy simulation (LES) of gas-particle two-phase turbulent flows over a backward-facing step. The ability of the models to predict mean velocities, fluctuating velocities, and spatial dispersion of particles are carefully examined in comparison with LES reference results. Evaluation shows that the improved time-series SSF model produces good predictions on mean and fluctuating velocities in the particle phase which highly agree with LES results. However, the time-series SSF model has higher computational cost. Further, compared with the two other models, the time-series SSF model predicts better results on the spatial dispersion of particles. It has an overall advantage in terms of accuracy and efficiency in predicting velocity moments and particle dispersion even without the presence of so many particles. The dependence of different SSF models on the number of computational particles in a converged flow field is also discussed. This paper is useful for the selection and application of SSF models in numerical simulations of practical two-phase turbulent flows.


Abstract What follows is the edited and footnoted transcript of a conversation between Doreen Massey, recipient of an Honorary Doctorate from University of Glasgow in July 2009, and the Human Geography Research Group in the Department of Geographical and Earth Sciences, University of Glasgow, to mark this occasion. Themes explored include Doreen Massey's early work and influences ranging from geology to Marxism and feminism; recent political engagements in Venezuela; the politics of place beyond place; climate change and transnational solidarities; and 'being' political and an academic in the current conjuncture.


Managing pavements requires a reliable pavement performance indicator. The current study examines the feasibility of using the impulse response (IR) method to provide a reliable, mechanistic measure of current and future pavement performance. In an extension of the pavement family approach, IR-inferred dynamic stiffness (kd) decay models were generated for pavements with asphalt concrete (AC) and portland cement concrete (PCC) surfaces. AC pavement family subdivisions devised with the total thickness of structurally capable layers were found to yield the most significant correlations. Grouping data from all IR tests on PCC pavement sections into one family yielded a coefficient of determination of large significance with low scatter in the data. A statistically significant correlation could not be established for AC pavement between IR-estimated kd and the low-strain modulus (ESEIS) inferred by the method of spectral analysis of surface waves. In PCC pavements, a weak correlation was observed between kd and ESEIS. Though the sample used for comparison with structurally distressed sections was small, results suggested that in AC pavements, visually inferred traffic-related distresses did not correlate with structural failure. For PCC pavements, visual identification of structural distresses was more accurate than for AC pavements.


Yuhang has a long history of tea production. Taking advantages in culture, brand and management,the tea industry in Yuhang has developed healthily and rapidly since the late 1970 s when Jingshan Tea was reinstated. Through the investigation of the current situation of Yuhang tea industry, the existing problems and the insufficiency in the development of Yuhang tea industry were analyzed, while the countermeasures and suggestions for further development were also proposed, including implementing Jingshan Tea variety breeding, standardizing tea production, enhancing tea quality and safety management, improving the additional value of tea, developing the online business, building tea brand to promote the sustainable development of tea industry in Yuhang.


Based on scientific, historical and archival sources the author of the paper analyzes the history of developing plans aimed at irrigation of virgin lands in the central part of the Ferghana Valley in the first half of the 20th century by large Russian scientists and specialists. The author also shows a historical picture of the construction of the irrigation facilities of the Ferghana Valley using the high-speed hashar folk method in 1940. With the construction of hydraulic structures such as the northern and southern Ferghana canals, a new stage began in the development of irrigated agriculture in the Ferghana Valley, since the water of these hydraulic structures made it possible to irrigate new virgin lands in the central part and foothill areas of the Ferghana Valley. But it should be noted that these large and complex irrigation canals were constructed by the peoples of Uzbekistan mainly with the use of primitive tools such as a hoe, a crow, a shovel, a stretcher and pickaxes. For nearly 80 years, these hydraulic structures have provided agricultural areas with life-giving water. The author of the paper also summarizes the essence of economic measures carried out by the Soviet government on the development of irrigated agriculture in the valley.


Background: Community-acquired pneumonia can be caused by both bacterial and viral pathogens. The differential diagnosis based only on clinical data is not always feasible. The use of C-reactive protein (CRP) and procalcitonin might give some additional information for treatment decision-making. Aim: To evaluate the structure and rates of viral isolation in community-acquired pneumonia in hospitalized infants and changes in CRP and procalcitonin levels. Materials and methods: Seventy five infants at the age of up to 11 months and 29 days, who were hospitalized with community-acquired pneumonia confirmed by chest X-ray from March 2015 till February 2016, were included into the study. CRP and procalcitonin levels were measured. Detection of viruses in nasopharyngeal swabs was performed by a  real-time polymerase chain reaction. Results:  Nucleic acids of respiratory viruses were isolated in 72% (54/75) of infants. The most common were respiratory syncytial virus (in 70.4%, 38/54) and human rhinovirus (in 16.6%, 9/54). Median of white blood cell count in pneumonia associated with respiratory viruses was 10.95 (9; 14.1)×10 9 /L, CRP level, 1.95 (0.5; 7) mg/L, procalcitonin level, 0.087 (0.067; 0.17) ng/mL. Conclusion: The study showed a high prevalence of respiratory viruses in community-acquired pneumonia in infants. There was no increase in CRP and procalcitonin levels in pneumonia associated with respiratory viruses.