This research seeks to reflect and identify different ways, aspects and meanings of innovation in journalism. In view of the innovation reports of the New York Times , the documentary analysis was adopted, being a kind of case study founded on Yin, Duarte and Clemente Junior's studies, and on the analysis categories systematized by Rosseti, which, in turn, are based on Aristotle's typology of the concept of change. Starting from Barbosa, Mazza, Giacomini Filho, Silverman, and Fonseca, this important discussion contributes to understand the concept of innovation in journalism and points out trends in the field of communication.


The purpose of the substation structure design guide is to provide a comprehensive document for the design of outdoor electrical transmission substation structures. The recommendations of this document apply to substation structures that support electrical equipment, rigid bus, and electrical cables/wires. The electrical equipment can be of significant weight and have attachments of brittle porcelain components. Specific guidelines for structural loads, deflection limits, analysis, design, fabrication, maintenance and construction of substation structures are recommended. Guidelines for the design of the structure to the foundation connections are provided. The design criteria for substation structure foundations are not covered by this document. Foundations in substations should be designed according to accepted engineering practice, the same as foundations designed for other structures. The guide addresses steel, concrete, wood, and aluminum used for the design of substation structures. Design equations are provided when reference to existing structural design documents are not appropriate or convenient. The intent of the design guide is to cover structures that are located inside the fenced area of a substation yard. The guidelines of this document may also be appropriate for structures that serve the purpose of supporting electrical equipment located outside the substation fence that are required to satisfy electrical substation design criteria.


As young people are increasingly dependent on Social Networking sites (SNS) to socialize, seek information, and self-broadcast, their SNS consumption has been found to be associated with social capital and social support in a positive way especially among individuals with low psychological assets. This exploratory study investigated SNS involvement in relation to college students' perceived self-efficacy change afterwards based on the social cognitive theory and literature review on social media effects studies. Undergraduate students (N = 395) in a Midwest U.S. public university participated in a web survey in September 2012. Results indicated a positive potential of involving in SNS activities to strengthen users' self-efficacy. Research data also point to the mediating roles of social support and social learning on SNS involvement and self-efficacy, especially among low self-efficacy college students with homogenous SNS networks. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. Do College Students Benefit from Their Social Media Experience? Social Media Involvement and Its Impact on College Students' Self-Efficacy Perception


Background The patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are less physically active than the general population [1]. Physical exercises improve muscle strength, range of movements, aerobic capacity and bone density in patients with RA [2–4]. However, some physicians fear to recommend the intensive exercises. Objectives To compare the efficacy of two exercise programs in patients with early RA during 6 months. Methods 51 patients with early RA (92,2% females, age of 18 to 53 years, disease duration of 2 to 17 months) were randomized into 3 groups. At hospital stage 15 patients underwent 10 high-intensity dynamic exercises using gym apparatus Enraf-Nonius for 45–60 min, including aerobic part (En-Cardio) and 18–20 muscle-strengthening exercises (En-Dynamic Track), 18 patients – 10 therapeutic exercises for joints for 45 min under the supervision of a trainer. At outpatient stage the exercises lasted for 6 months 3 times a week. 18 patients received only drug therapy (control). Tender and swollen joint count, pain on 100-mm VAS, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), DAS28, HAQ, RAPID3, the average powers of knee extension and ankle flexion by EN-TreeM movement analysis were evaluated at baseline and at 6 months. Results After 6 months in the both exercise groups there were statistically significant differences from the control group in most parameters (p<0,05). Efficacy of the intensive gym exercises was higher than the therapeutic exercises by tender joint count, HAQ, RAPID3 (p<0,05). Table 1 Parameters Baseline 6 months Gym Therapeutic exercises Control Gym Therapeutic exercises Control Tender joint count 7,9±3,1 7,6±2,5 7,8±2,4 3,0±1,5*#§ 3,8±1,8* 4,6±1,9* Swollen joint count 4,8±2,8 4,5±1,9 4,9±2,5 2,1±1,3*# 2,5±1,5*# 3,8±2,1 ESR, mm/h 21,9±14,2 23,4±17,6 22,3±14,9 9,9±3,7*# 11,5±5,6*# 16,0±12,3* Pain on VAS, mm 60,5±21,3 62,4±18,3 59,7±14,6 23,8±12,5*# 27,2±11,8*# 35,4±21,2* DAS28 4,13±1,28 4,32±1,53 4,49±1,42 3,14±1,23* 3,18±1,67* 3,47±1,47* HAQ 1,35±0,63 1,38±0,34 1,30±0,83 0,44±0,24*#§ 0,66±0,31*# 0,94±0,32* RAPID3 9,84±3,17 10,34±4,25 10,11±6,52 4,62±1,35*#§ 5,93±2,93*# 7,72±2,53* Extension power of a weaker knee joint, W 4,54±2,58 3,99±3,11 4,27±1,13 7,93±2,37*# 6,87±3,42* 6,13±2,53* Flexion power of a weaker ankle joint, W 0,39±0,15 0,44±0,21 0,41±0,22 0,67±0,19*# 0,62±0,31*# 0,43±0,19* Significance of differences from baseline;# significance of differences from control,§ significance of differences between two exercise groups, p<0,05. Adherence to the regular therapeutic exercises for 6 months was better (77,8%) then to the gym exercises (60,0%). Predictors of the regular high-intensity gym exercises were the young age (under 40 years) and the very early stage of RA. Most patients, who regularly did exercises, had DAS28 low disease activity (66,7% in the gym group and 57,1% in the therapeutic exercises group vs 36,7% in the control group, p<0,05). Conclusions The both 6-month exercise programs reduce pain, increase functional status, quality of life and power of motion without detrimental effect on disease activity. References van den Berg M.H. et al. J Clin Rheumatol 2007;13(4):181–6. Hurkmans E. et al. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2009;4:CD006853. De Jong Z. et al. Clin Rheumatol 2009;28(6):663–71. Baillet A. et al. Arthritis Care Res 2010;62:984–92. Disclosure of Interest None declared


Spacecraft proximity operations are complicated by the fact that exhaust plume impingement from the reaction control jets of space vehicles can cause structural damage, contamination of sensitive arrays and instruments, or attitude misalignment during docking. The occurrence and effect of jet plume impingement can be reduced by planning approach trajectories with plume effects considered. An A* node search is used to find plume-fuel optimal trajectories through a discretized six dimensional attitude-translation space. A plume cost function which approximates jet plume isopressure envelopes is presented. The function is then applied to find relative costs for predictable 'trajectory altering' firings and unpredictable 'deadbanding' firings. Trajectory altering firings are calculated by running the spacecraft jet selection algorithm and summing the cost contribution from each jet fired. A 'deadbanding effects' function is defined and integrated to determine the potential for deadbanding impingement along candidate trajectories. Plume costs are weighed against fuel costs in finding the optimal solution. A* convergence speed is improved by solving approach trajectory problems in reverse time. Results are obtained on a high fidelity space shuttle/space station simulation. Trajectory following is accomplished by a six degree of freedom autopilot. Trajectories planned with, and without, plume costs are compared in terms of force applied to the target structure.


Abstract The stationary and periodic motion of a motorcycle under typical and extreme running conditions on a straight road and during cornering is investigated. The motorcycle model consists of six rigid bodies: a rear frame, a steering head with handlebar and the suspended part of the front fork, the unsuspended part of the front fork, a rear swing arm, and two wheels. The tyre force model deals effectively with large camber angles and combined longitudinal and lateral slips plus normal spin rate. The equations of motion are generated in a symbolic form by the multi-body dynamics program AutoSim. For analysing solutions of the equations of motion, the numerical continuation program AUTO 97 is employed. Bifurcation diagrams for a motorcycle running straight ahead or in a circle are presented and discussed. The motorcycle can have three basic modes of instability: capsize, wobble, and weave mode. The results indicate that aerodynamic drag has a tendency to make the wobble mode more damped and the weave mode less damped. The emerging bifurcating periodic solutions are mostly of the subcritical kind for the weave and of the supercritical kind for the wobble.


Ecological and evolutionary predictions are being increasingly employed to inform decision-makers confronted with intensifying pressures menacing life on Earth. For these efforts to effectively guide conservation actions, knowing the limit of predictability is pivotal. In this study, we provide realistic expectations about the enterprise of predicting changes in ecological and evolutionary observations through time. We begin with an intuitive explanation of predictability (that is, the extent to which predictions are possible) employing an easy-to-use metric, predictive power PP(t). To illustrate the challenge of forecasting, we then show that among insects, birds, fishes, and mammals (i) 50% of the populations are predictable at most one year in advance, and (ii) the median one-year-ahead predictive power corresponds to a sobering prediction R2 of approximately 20%. Nonetheless, predictability is not an immutable property of ecological systems. For example, different harvesting strategies can impact the predictability of exploited populations to varying degrees. Moreover, considering multivariate time series, incorporating explanatory variables or accounting for time trends (environmental forcing) can enhance predictability. To effectively address the urgent challenge of biodiversity loss, researchers and practitioners must be aware of the predictive information within the available data and explore efficient ways to leverage this information for environmental stewardship.


Philip Conway Moore became medical officer of health for Oswestry and district in the 1960s. He then became deputy chief medical officer of Nottinghamshire and chief medical officer of Shropshire. While in Nottinghamshire, he obtained a Council of Europe scholarship. He was the last president of the county medical officers' association and …


government regulation all affected the Wabash. The challenges of running a railroad during the highly regulated environment after 1920 rate several chapters. Then, the Great Depression precipitated another bankruptcy and ensuing reorganization, just in time for the demands of another wartime environment. The final two chapters examine the postwar Wabash and its fate during the merger mania of the 1960s. Grant's book is well illustrated, but is by no means a rail-fan pictorial; rather, it is one of the best in the genre of traditional corporate history. For historians of transportation, business, labor, or even medicine, there is much to recommend it. Extensively researched and fully documented, it stands as a model of scholarship. If only we had histories of the several dozen other major U.S. railroads that were as good as this one.


Floral organs usually take on the characteristics of petals in ginger plants. In Canna indica, the most ornamental parts of the flowers are considered to be staminode, which means rudimentary and sterile stamen. However, the precise nature of these petaloid organs is yet to be determined. Two floral organ identity genes GLOBOSA (GLO) and AGAMOUS (AG) are isolated from Canna indica. Their expression patterns suggest that petaloid staminodes and labellum are of androecium identity, in agreement with their position within the flower. But the current molecular, morphological and anatomical data, are still not sufficient to explain the distinct morphology observed in staminodes and fertile stamen in Canna indica.


Introduction. Self-treatment, defined as application of drugs without prescription without consulting your doctor has become a common phenomenon. Easy access to this group of pharmaceutical. advertising campaigns and lack of awareness of adverse effects as a result of incorrect application makes drugs without prescription the medications which have become our first choice. The aim of the study is to assess the problem of the use of over the counter (OTC) drugs by young people living in the Silesian Voivodeship. Material and methods. The study included 180 persons from the Silesian voivodeship at the age of 18-30. The research tool was an author's, anonymous questionnaire. The questions included within it concerned, among others: frequency, form and side effects of drugs applied without prescription. Results. Despite the fact that the majority of respondents (57%) assess their health state as good, the overwhelming number of people (91%) report applying medications without a prescription. The most popular OTC pharmaceutical products include painkillers and vitamins. One in five respondents (20%) admits that he or she consumes more medication than it is recommended in the package leaflet. Conclusions. Very good and good health state declared by the respondents does not exclude accepting their medication without prescription. In case of treatment of intermittent or mild symptoms, the use of medications without a prescription – saves patient's time and unburdens health care system. This phenomenon, however, is a challenge for the public health sector. Actions must be undertaken which are aimed at raising consumers-patients' awareness regarding the dangers posed by improper use of OTC drugs.


The LHC operating conditions present several challenges to the module performance of the ATLAS Semiconductor Tracker (SCT). This detector consists of four cylindrical barrel layers of silicon strip detectors and of 18 disks in the forward and backward direction. Four dieren t module designs exist, one for the barrel and three (inner, middle and outer) for the rings of the disks. A series of several end-cap module pre-production prototypes of inner, middle and outer types have been built and extensively characterized on single module test benches in the institutes of the collaboration. The scope of this document is to summarize the electrical performance measurements made in laboratory on these end-cap module pre-production prototypes, with special emphasis on the result of electrical tests after irradiation. As summarized in the conclusion, the electrical performance specications are met before irradiation, but are exceeded at 1 fC threshold after an irradiation dose of 1:5:10 14 24 GeV-p/cm 2 , that is a uence corresponding to about half the total dose ATLAS-SCT is foreseen to receive during its life time. After the full uence, the noise occupancy limits could be met by increasing the threshold of the discriminator, with a corresponding expected loss of tracking eciency .


The total isovector M1 $gamma$-decay rate of the 16.6--16.9-MeV doublet in $sup 8$Be to the broad first excited state has been measured with the reaction $sup 4$He($sup 4$He,$gamma$). A width of 4.8+-0.7 eV has been found. When properly interpreted, this result seems consistent with predictions of conserved vector current theory and with the absence of a second-class induced-tensor form factor. (AIP)


Xerox DataGlyph technology is a 2-D matrix barcode encoding which com- bines relatively high data density with an error correction scheme and an unobtrusive format. Some of the more exciting applications proposed for this technology involve the decoding of unconstrained camera images of DataGlyphs. This paper details a set of grayscale methods including steered gradient filters and the Radon transform which can decode many uncon- strained camera images. This method has been successfully tested on nearly camera images with very good results. Flowport™ and is an active area of development 1. This paper describes robust methods of decoding DataGlyphs from images taken by a hand-heldcamera or webcam, extending the range of applications for which DataGlyphs can be used. Thisintroductionexplainsindetail the DataGlyphformatand theuniquechallengesof decoding camera images of DataGlyphs. The paper then describes the proposed decoder and the methods used in it. Results of the new decoder are compared with a binarization and correlation-based method, followed by the paper's conclusions


Machine learning models have become increasingly popular in the field of path loss prediction. Their performance depends profoundly on the data they use as their input. The work at hand proposes and evaluates new input features for urban propagation. These features were obtained via image processing tools. Moreover, we propose a new two-level ensemble model using the concept of stacked generalization. The proposed model is based on seven different basic machine learning models. To the best of the authors knowledge is the first time that a two-level ensemble method is applied to a modeling problem in electromagnetics. The results demonstrate that the new input features, coupled with the new ensemble provide improved prediction performance.


The aim of this article is to reveal the possibilities offered by the San Ramon Regional Museum as a space for strengthening heritage education by researching, publicizing and rescuing various cultural events directly linked to cultural heritage. Moreover, it aims to promote greater levels of commitment in the new generations with the tangible and intangible heritage as fundamental elements that have built the history and identity of the inhabitants of this region of the country.


Technological developments open new spaces for interaction. Women are still issues in conversation today. Women are commodity from their bodies. This study discusses the use of whatsapp stickers that use photos of women's bodies, the use of these stickers is widely used in the application group whatsapp, this shows that women are still physically viewed, sexually exploited and placed subordinate in conversation. This type of research is a qualitative descriptive with case study research method, with the critical paradigm. Using interviews as a data collection technique, researchers interviewed group members who often used sensual female stickers to find out the background, motives and tried to uncover the practice of subordination of whatsapp group members who used female body sensual stickers. The results of this study show that the occupants of the group use sensual female body stickers as a joke, a medium of virtualization in the group. For men in the Whats app group, the use of a sensual female body as a conversation sticker, is a form of recognition of the beauty of the body and sexuality appeal of women. Subordinate practice in women occurs in whatsapp 19 Ers group conversations, when women's bodies in various sensual poses uses as mere joke objects.


Many results showed fertilization enhanced plant assimulation.But it's not clear that whether these assimulation products will have effect on soil dissolved organic carbon(DOC) and dissolved organic nitrogen(DON) or not.And whether that will make changes to soil quality,especially in arid and semiarid regions,such as the Loess Plateau in China.Therefore,a field trial was carried out with ryegrass as indicative crop in wind-water erosion crisscross region on the Loess Plateau,to study the effect of fertilization on the contents and accumulations of DOC and DON in farm soil.The results showed that both the application of nitrogen fertilizer and phosphorus fertilizer increased the above-ground and root biomass of ryegrass.And the relative relation is very significant between them.There was no obvious effect on the content of DOC when only phosphorus was applied to soil.The content of DOC decreased with the application of nitrogen fertilizer.And the largest decrease amplitude,25.9%,was found in 0-20 cm by PN4 treatment in 2008.There was no significant decrease in the content of DON in the soil where only phosphorus applied.But the content of DON increased in its degree in different soil layers with the application of nitrogen fertilizer.There was an obviously positive correction between accumulation of DON and N fertilizer.And both the correction coefficients of 2007 and 2008 was 0.99(n=5).The result indicated that the chemical nitrogen application was in favor of the biomass and DON in the region,but was against DOC.It suggested higher chemical nitrogen application was of beneficial to the increase of soil nitrogen supply capacity in wind-water erosion crisscross region on the Loess Plateau.


The article is devoted to the linguistic and etymological analysis of the ethnonyms in the "Kitabi-Dada Gorgud" epos. It is known that ethnonyms as a branch of onomastics bear in themselves impormation on the ancient history, customs and traditions of the people. From this point of view, the analysis of the ethnonym in "Kitabi-Dada Gorgud" is important. In the article, the author tries to analyse etymologically the ethnonyms registered in the epos.


North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was referred to by U.S. President Trump as one of the worst trade deals ever made. Given this billing, one might have expected the result of its renegotiation to be a major change to the trading relationship between the United States and Canada. The new United States, Mexico, Canada Agreement (USMCA), however, retains a great deal of its predecessor. This is particularly true for agricultural trade. Canadian market access into the United States remains virtually unchanged. No major domestic regulatory changes were agreed to by Canada. While there were concessions made on market access for U.S. products into Canada's heavily protected sectors where the supply management policy applies, they do not appear to threaten the system. While the value of the compensation has not yet been announced, compensation for losses that will be suffered by farmers producing under supply management is agreed in principle. The USMCA is an agreement to keep things pretty much the same.


The concept of wireless body area network (WBAN) technology holds great potential for many applications such as continuous, remote healthcare monitoring. To develop a power-efficient and reliable wearable system, a fundamental understanding of the propagation medium must be developed. This letter investigates the creeping wave transmission path loss and phase delay of a horizontal path and a vertical path around the human head from 300 MHz to 3 GHz. Measurements are compared to numerical simulations and a theoretical model of the same scenario. The dominant wave mechanisms are extracted from measurement data and compared with theory predictions.


We propose modeling an angle-of-arrival (AOA) positioning measurement as a 3-dimensional von Mises-Fisher (VMF)-distributed unit vector instead of the conventional normally distributed azimuth and elevation measurements. Describing the 2-dimensional AOA measurement with three numbers removes discontinuities and reduces nonlinearity at the poles of the azimuth-elevation coordinate system. Our computer simulations show that the proposed VMF measurement noise model based approximative Bayesian filters outperform the normal distribution based algorithms in accuracy in a scenario where close-to-pole measurements occur frequently.


RNA sequences are expected to be identical to the corresponding DNA sequences. Recent studies have found that the RNA sequences do not match their DNA templates at thousands of sites throughout the human transcriptome. Many of these mismatches can be attributed to RNA editing mediated by Adenosine Deaminase Acting on RNA (ADAR). ADAR enzymes deaminate adenosine to inosine which is then read by translational machinery as guanosine. In our analysis, we focus on 8,837 A-to-G editing sites found in B-cells of ten individuals. We found that RNA editing levels vary among individuals. We searched for cis variation near these editing sites and found evidence of allelic association with editing levels. We further studied an editing site found in the 3' untranslated region of SEC16A, a gene involved in protein transport. Our data suggest that editing of SEC16A may influence the binding of proteins involved in RNA transcript stability. This work sheds light on the regulation of editing and the effect of editing on RNA processing.


Nature has gifted numerous plants to mankind for prevention and management of diseases. Kumari [ALOVE VERA (L.)] belonging to Family Liliaceae is traditionally advocated by the IndianAyurvedic medicine to treat a huge variety of health problems. Its burn wound (Agnidagdha vrana) healing action has been mentioned in Ayurvedic classics viz. Kaiyadev Nighantu, Bhavprakash Nighantu and Shaligram Nighantu. According to Ayurveda, due to its Dahaprashman (cooling), Rasayana (rejuvenating), Vishaghna (anti-toxic), Balya (strength providing) actions and Kledashodhan (removes kleda) acions, it helps in burn wound healing. This plant contains Lupeol, salicylic acid, Anthraquinones, Glycoproteins, Polysaccharides etc. which are accountable for speedy wound healing. It is endowed with varied pharmacologicalactivities like antiseptic, anti-inflammatory, immune-modulatory, analgesic, anti-bacterial, moisturizing and cooling and anti-oxidant that aid wound healing.This plant has potential to cure sunburns, burns and minor cuts, and even skin cancer. The present review compiles information on Ayurvedic aspect as well as phytoconstituents and relevant pharmacological studies of Kumari regarding burn wound (Agnidagdha vrana) healing action. The present data is an endeavour to give scientific justification to the acclaimed activity i.e. its burn wound healing potential (Agnidagdhavranapaha) as stated in Ayurveda. It provides encouragement to investigators for conducting further research in order to develop an efficient and safe innovative chemical entity for the cure of burn wound.


ABSTRACT As previously demonstrated by scholars, the social justice feminism movement in the United States accomplished its two central goals by the time of that nation's official involvement in World War II. This article examines the subsequent development of former social justice feminists' search for political activism after World War II through the activities of one of the social movement's later, significant leaders, Gladys Avery Tillett, particularly in her participation in the controversial and bitter campaign of North Carolina United States Senator Frank Porter Graham to retain his seat in the 1950 Democratic party primary.


A common, lasting condition from traumatic brain injury is impairment to smell. In patients with olfactory impairment, recent meta‐analyses have demonstrated that olfactory training consistently improves higher‐order functions, such as odor identification. The focus of this work was to assess effects of olfactory training (OT) in posttraumatic olfactory loss patients through several metrics including psychophysical, olfactory bulb (OB) volume, and functional magnetic resonance imaging.


In this article, Bryan McKinley Jones Brayboy and Emma Maughn explore epistemic tensions within an Indigenous teacher preparation program where students question Western systems for creating, producing, reproducing, and valuing knowledge. Grounding their argument in a rich understanding of Indigenous Knowledge Systems, the authors advocate for an approach to training Indigenous teachers that recognizes the power of Indigenous Knowledge Systems, considers diverse knowledge systems equally, and equips teachers to make connections between various schooling practices and knowledge systems. Through the "story of the bean," in which an Indigenous student teacher reconceptualizes a science lesson from a more holistic perspective, the authors illustrate the wealth of understanding and insight that Indigenous teachers bring to the education of Indigenous students, and they depict the possibilities for pre-service teaching programs in which university staff honor the inherent value of Indigenous perspectives.


A significant proportion of the naturally occurring hydrocarbon-degrading populations within Alaskan sediments affected by the Exxon Valdez oil spill had both the xylE and alkB genes and could convert hexadecane and naphthalene to carbon dioxide; a greater proportion of the population had xylE than had alkB, reflecting the composition of the residual oil at the time of sampling; nearly equal populations with xylE alone, alkB alone, and xylE + alkB genes together were found after exposure to fresh crude oil; populations with xylE lacking alkB increased after enrichment on naphthalene. Thus, the genotypes of hydrocarbon-degrading populations reflected the composition of the hydrocarbons to which they were exposed.


This paper presents first results of a channel measurement campaign performed in an urban micro (UMi) street canyon scenario at 158 GHz and 300 GHz.


The grooved-mirror-type Fabry-Perot (GFP) oscillator was used for coherent power-combining of multiple elements in the millimeter- and submillimeter-wave region. The admittance of the Gunn diode in oscillation was measured experimentally in the millimeter-wave region to design the GFP oscillator. The gain characteristics of the diode were found at the frequencies from 42 to 48 GHz from the measured results. With this Gunn diode in the GFP resonator, oscillation was observed. The experimental results indicated that for impedance matching between the diode and the resonant cavity, the groove height must be adjusted. >


Sea-urchin spines embedded in the skin can be hard to remove. The authors describe an approach to removal that uses liquid nitrogen.


The paper proposes an Asymmetrical Modular Multilevel Converter (AMMC) suitable for low/medium-voltage dc-ac conversions with very high output quality. The modules' dc-links of the AMMC are charged to a binary exponential sequence to produce a large number of output levels using only a few modules.The concept of using asymmetrical dc-links for high-quality output is not entirely new. However, the practicality of existing approaches is relatively low and challenged by the difficulties in maintaining the required dc-link voltages as well as suppressing their interaction with the output, which often requires multiple isolated dc/dc converters. We solve this problem by aligning the modules in the Marquardt MMC inverter module configuration that offers more control freedom, hence the term AMMC. Furthermore, we introduce a highly effective switched-inductor charge transfer and balancing mode between modules and even across arms. We accordingly modify the underlying conventional chopper modules so that the dc-link voltage control can be completely sensorless. The proposed AMMC is tested in a lab setup with four modules per arm reaching 32 output levels. In contrast to the low benefit of an additional module in MMC due to only linear improvement of the output granularity, each further module halves the finest voltage step. The components to maintain the graded voltage sequence and the underlying inductive charge transfer only a fraction (< 10%) of the load current so that relatively low-power devices can be used.


Companies increasingly use the crowd for collective decision making. Currently the most popular approach used to aggregate multiple decisions is majority voting. This approach however can lead to suboptimal outcomes by, on the one hand, neglecting different levels of individuals' experiences and, on the other, ignoring decision biases to which individuals are prone. As an alternative to simply averaging judgements, researchers have proposed weighted models that favor more experienced judges in the crowd. However, previous research is inconclusive as to whether more experienced judges are any better at avoiding decision biases. To shed light on this question, we conduct several experiments using the well-established bias known as the anchoring effect. Results indicate that a greater level of experience does not decrease reviewers' tendency to follow the displayed anchor, and consequently does not reduce their proneness to decision bias.


Modern search engines are typically queried with keywords, which foremostly convey the topic of the sought web page. Consequently the resulting top hits are often topically relevant, but nonetheless not what the user wants. The premise of this paper is that the relevance of the hits can be improved when also searching by genre, classification criterion orthogonal to topic. To this end a genre classifier was built using machine learning methods. It was used in web page retrieval to filter out the hits not belonging to the desired genre. This approach considerably improved the relevance of the top ten hits, which indicates that genre classifier can be a useful addition to search engines.


A method of small target detection in infrared image sequences is proposed based on the Fuzzy Support Vector Machine(FSVM) temporal background predication.Firstly,the pixel gray value sequences at the same position of the previous frames are fitted with function by using the FSVM optimized.The pixel gray value at the same position of the next frame is predicted by the fitted function.Then,the estimated image subtracted from the source image gives the residual image.The residual image is segmented using two-dimensional Tsallis-Havrda-Charvat's entropy thresholding method.The real small target is confirmed by the continuity and consistency of its movement.The experimental results were given and analyzed.They were compared with those of the existing method of spatial or temporal background predication.The results show that the proposed method can precisely detect the small infrared target and it is superior to the existing method.


From several aspects of the connotation,features and importance of school running characteristics,characteristic school running location and disciplines and specialities,characteristic items for serving locality,the article expounds how to cultivate school running characteristics of colleges and universities,and takes Hunan City University for example to make proof.


As a key influence factor on the lifetime of pulsed capacitors, the repetitive frequency (fR) of charge/discharge is studied in this paper based on the method of TSDC measurement. When fR ranges from 0.1 Hz to 10 Hz, the lifetime of capacitors increases. The TSDC measurement is conducted, which is used to study the parameters of space charge induced by charge/discharge at various frequencies. The measurement result indicates that compared with capacitors which have experienced no charge/discharge, for capacitors that have experienced charge/discharge at 0.1, 1, 8 and 10 Hz for 3000 times, the trap density within the dielectric respectively increases by 66.1, 62.1, 54.8 and 31.5%. For pulsed capacitors which have experienced charge/discharge at 10 Hz, the peak current (IM) is 22.2 pA, meanwhile, for pulsed capacitors which have experienced charge/discharge at 0.1 Hz, the Im is 29.4 pA. For pulsed capacitors which have experienced charge/discharge at 10 Hz, the depth of deep traps is 0.94 eV, and the temperature corresponding to Im is 97 °C, meanwhile, for pulsed capacitors which have experienced charge/discharge at 0.1 Hz, the depth of deep traps is 1.83 eV, and the temperature corresponding to Im is 110°C. The parameters reflecting the characteristic of space charge can reasonably explain why the lifetime of capacitors tested at 10 Hz is three times of that at 0.1 Hz.


The first scientific paper written by Newton was on the compound nature of white light, a paper where he described his experiments with prisms and the spectrum produced by the light. Newton had performed the experiments, probably between 1664 and 1667, in Woolsthorpe and Cambridge, using several glass prisms [1]. These glass artifacts existed and were sold at the country fairs to be used for the "play of colours", that is, to see the rainbow colours looking through them. This phenomenon of white light dispersion, created by crystals and glasses, was well known from ancient times and reported by Latin writers. Newton, experimenting with glass to improve optical instruments, explained that the play of colours was inside the nature of light. Few years after the Newton's studies, the development of lead glasses allowed new applications for the play of colours. Here a short history of prisms from Seneca to Ravenscroft.


Least Square Support Vector Machine is expansion of the standard Support Vector Machine. It is the form under the Support Vector Machine in quadratic loss function. It uses equality constraints instead of inequality constraints. The solution process becomes a solution group of equality equation,and avoids time-consuming in quadratic programming problem solving,but the least square support vector machine loses the sparseness,which would influence the efficiency of re-learning. In view of the above questions,this paper presents an improved incremental least squares support vector machine learning methods,In the solution of the sparsity by using adaptive pruning method,according to the initial classification to set performance pruning threshold and increase the size of samples. If you get good performance classifier,the pruning threshold and the sample increment will be greater,Otherwise,pruning threshold and the sample increment will be smaller. The result is improved efficiency of least square support vector machine training,and will solve the problem of sparse. Finally,the simulation results show that the algorithm feasible.


The sar culture is the pre-existing culture of the Kanum tribe whose implementation is aimed to maintain and preserve nature. Sar culture not only has a positive influence on the environment, but it also represents symbolic violence against women and the Kanum people. This research is aimed to describe sar culture based on the theory of habitus and symbolic violence by Bourdieu. This research involved a qualitative descriptive method, in which the data was obtained from in-depth interviews with Kanum tribal head, Kanum tribe elders, and some village residents involved in sar , observation in Naukenjerai district, and supported by literature review. All collected data were then analyzed descriptively according to the concepts of habitus and symbolic violence by Bourdieu. The research results show that sar culture is a habitus resulting from an interaction between human beings and their nature that has existed for long before. Besides that, there is symbolic violence to the Kanum women and also to the Kaum people, which done by the Kanum men and the leaders of the Kanum tribe as the dominant actors.


E thanol from corn has been the primary biofuel for liquid fuels in the United States, but perennial cellulosic biofuels are on the horizon. Intensive corn production with large fertilizer inputs leads to large losses of nitrogen into the environment, both through gas emissions of nitrous oxide and leaching losses of nitrate to ground and surface (through tile systems) waters. Nitrous oxide is an important greenhouse gas, and nitrate can contaminate drinking water supplies and leads to coastal ocean problems. The hypoxic zone that forms each summer in the Gulf of Mexico is a result of nitrate losses from the tile-drained Corn Belt of the midwestern United States. There are few measurements of nitrogen losses on large, tile-drained fi elds planted with perennial biofuels in the Midwest of the United States, a likely location for biofuel production. Nitrogen budgets (to assess balances and need for fertilization) and loss measurements are needed to fully understand the response of the nitrogen cycle to the production of biofuel crops on tile-drained fi elds. This allows for a more complete assessment of the long-term sustainability of biofuel production systems compared with corn and soybean production. In the January–February 2013 issue of the Journal of Environmental Quality, researchers report on four years of measurements of nitrogen losses during the establishment phase of perennial biofuel crops compared with conventional corn and soybean production in east-central Illinois. The biofuel crops, planted on rich Mollisols, were miscan-thus, switchgrass, and mixed prairie species, all compared against a typical corn–corn–soybean rotation. Miscanthus is a highly productive grass, planted from rhizomes, that is being evaluated as a biofuel crop. Harvested biomass and nitrogen, nitrous oxide emissions, and nitrate leaching in the mid-soil profi le and through tile drainage lines were all measured. The authors found that perennial crops quickly reduced nitrate leaching in the mid-soil profi le as well as from tile lines, so that by Year 4, each of the perennial crops had small losses. Nitrous oxide emissions also were much smaller in the perennial crops (including switchgrass, which was fertilized with nitrogen, unlike prairie and mis-canthus). Overall nitrogen balances (inputs minus outputs) were positive for the corn and soybean treatment as well as switchgrass but were negative for prairie and miscanthus. Prairie and miscanthus balances were negative due to harvest of the plant biomass (and nitrogen) each winter, with no fertilizer nitrogen additions to replace it, as occurred in …


The well-known methods of iteration used suitably can yield a more accurate and rapidly convergent computation for the values of many functions. One typical example is the base-2 logarithm-antilogarithm computation. Some recently proposed techniques are reviewed and compared with an iterative process for computation using a fixed number of iterations. It is shown that the latter yields improved accuracy and can be implemented either as a subroutine or as a hardwired peripheral device for, say, a minicomputer.


HER2 overexpression is evaluated in 15-20% of breast tumors and associated with aggressive type of the disease. Introduction of trastuzumab in clinical practice significantly improve the prognosis of patients with metastatic and early HER2-positive breast cancer. However, up to 40% of patients have a resistance to trastuzumab therapy (de novo or acquired resistance). Dual anti-HER2 blockade of trastuzumab in combination with other anti-HER2 targeted agents is more effective then trastuzumab monotherapy. Neoadjuvant systemic therapy has become very useful in early breast cancer and serves as a model for research of new antitumor agents, treatment regimens and predictive biomarkers. In current review the most important recent neoadjuvant trials in HER2-positive breast cancer and their impact on clinical practice are being analysed.


An original generalised procedure of determination of the transonic trajectory has been proposed. The procedure is much faster than the commonly used Newton Critical Point approach. The approach was applied in modelling of a carbon dioxide transonic two-phase flow through the converging-diverging nozzle by means of the Homogeneous Equilibrium Model and Delayed Equilibrium Model (DEM). The simulations concern flows that were experimentally and theoretically investigated in the literature. DEM was prev ously used only in choked water flow simulations. Its application in CO2 flow modelling and the supersonic trajectory part determination is a novel contribution. The adjusted for CO2 version of the closurelaw was proposed. The investigation revealed that the applied Darcy friction factor determination approach has a significant influence on the results. Moreover, the models are unable of producing physically acceptable solutions until theLockhartMartinelli approach is utilised. It was shown that the Friedel approach might be considered more proper for CO2 flows.


The authors report the generation of 20 GHz, 3.0-3.5 ps transform-limited optical pulses across the wavelength tunable range 1550-1557 nm using a wavelength tunable, polarisation-maintaining actively modelocked Er/sup 3+/-doped fibre ring laser. Stable bit-error-free modelocking operation is confirmed throughout the wavelength tuning range.


ABSTRACT Climate change can affect the distribution, abundance, and phenology of organisms globally. Variations in the timing of passage during autumn and spring migration can have consequences at individual and population levels. We assessed whether global climatic indexes and increasing air temperature over a 28 yr period were concurrent with shifts in the autumn migration phenology of 16 eastern North American raptor species. We used count data from 7 eastern North American raptor-migration watch sites and examined whether key species-specific traits such as migration strategy (complete vs. partial and trans-equatorial vs. not), diet specialization, body mass, flight strategy (soaring vs. flapping), and latitude of the northern limit of breeding distribution were associated with a shift in the timing of autumn migration. Our results suggest an overall delay across species in autumn migration passage date of ∼1 day decade−1, which coincided with an increase in temperature across eastern North America. This shift in average autumn passage date was more pronounced in short-distance migrants (+1.03 days decade−1); no shift was detected in trans-equatorial migrants. Although we did not detect clear links between annual climatic indexes and the other life-history traits studied, the results nonetheless indicate that the autumn migration phenology of eastern North American raptors may be delayed by ongoing climate change. However, the amplitude of these effects varies on a species-by-species basis. Our results—combined with new evidence of an earlier passage during spring migration for the same species in the same area—suggest that, since 1985, most raptors spent ∼2 additional days decade−1 north of our study's migration sites. Such an increase in time spent at northern latitudes in a large number of terrestrial avian predators over a wide geographic area may have profound impacts on population and ecosystem dynamics. Unraveling such impacts will require linking interspecific and intraspecific variations in phenological adjustments to ongoing climate change.


Winds are an important climatic variable in utility operational planning. Light winds reduce air quality, severe winds represent a threat to structures, and dispatchers must know the wind speed if wind energy conversion facility output is to be anticipated. This report examines two wind forecasting problems: forecasting wind energy output and forecasting extremely strong winds. Utilities have long used weather forecasts in making load projections. However, the problem of forecasting wind energy availability presents a new challenge. Wind is one of the hardest weather variables to forecast. In addition, the wind turbine's response to variations in the wind is very nonlinear. To be useful, studies have shown that wind forecasts must be accurate to within 2 mph. The current state of the art'' appears to be a forecasting error of about 3 mph. 16 refs., 37 figs., 9 tabs.


We report the first spectropolarimetric observations and modeling of CaH transitions in sunspots. We have detected strong polarization signals in many CaH lines from the A-X system, and we provide the first successful fit to the observed Stokes profiles using the previously developed theory of the Paschen-Back effect in arbitrary electronic states of diatomic molecules and polarized radiative transfer in molecular lines in stellar atmospheres. We analyze the CaH Stokes profiles together with quasi-simultaneous observations in TiO bands and conclude that CaH provides a valuable diagnostic of magnetic fields in sunspots, starspots, cool stars, and brown dwarfs.


JL Mueller, Inc As technology devices become more powerful and portable, they are able to combine with wireless networks to support a myriad of applications with on-the-go support. These digital applications aim to replace analog methods and enhance the capabilities and efficiency of their user. Using mobile wireless technology as a platform, a compensatory aid is being developed to support community re-entry for persons with cognitive impairments resulting from acquired brain injuries (ABI). A human-centered design approach is combined with research in other disciplines, including computer science and rehabilitation engineering to help resolve the central concern of designing a user interface that is both understood and operable by individuals with significant cognitive impairments.


BACKGROUND: The nitrogen oxide molecule (NO) is a one of the most important factors in the anti-infectious resistance of the bodys immune system.
AIM: This study aims to improve the effectiveness of preventing bacterial complications by including nitric oxide inhalations as part of traditional intensive care.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: Ninety-seven full-term newborns without signs of bacterial complications were included in a controlled, randomized, blind clinical trial. The main group (n = 44) received inhaled nitrogen oxide (iNO). The control group (n = 53) did not receive iNO. On days 1, 5, and 20 the plasma concentrations of IL-1, IL-6, IL-8, TNF-, G-CSF, sFas, FGF, and NO were determined by capture ELISA; CD3+CD19, CD3CD19+, CD3+CD4+, CD3+CD8+, CD69+, CD71+, CD95+, CD3+HLA-DR+, CD14+, CD3CD56+, Annexin-V+/FITC; PI+/PE immunophenotype analysis.
RESULTS: In the main group, sepsis developed in 4 patients and 13 controls (p1 = 0.04; p2 = 0.005). Fatalities occurred in 6 patients, and 10 controls (p1 = 0.37; p2 = 0.59) in the main group. The median duration of the IVL in the main group was 5 days, and 10 days for controls (p = 0.00007). Stays in ORIT were main 11 days for patients in the main group, and 15 days for controls (p = 0.026). On day 3, when compared with controls, patients in the main group had significantly reduced (p 0.05) of TNF-, IL-8 and IL-6, CD3+CD69+, CD3+CD95+, lymphocytes in apoptosis, increasing (p 0.05) G-CSF, sFas, FGF, NO; CD14+, CD3 +CD19.
CONCLUSIONS: iNO used as a part of intensive care decreases the frequency of sepsis development, the duration of mechanical ventilation, and hospitalization. iNO also tends to decrease the lethal outcome frequency, reduces cytokine aggression, inhibits lymphocyte apoptosis, activates the monocyte-macrophage immunity and proliferative processes. It is appropriate to continue research.


. Through an examination between 1950 and 1980 of household income in central cities and suburbs of the 37 largest Metropolitan Statistical Areas of the United States. was found that considerable polarization of household income groups had occurred. By 1980 the median share of the poorest within the total households of the central cities had risen to well over double the share of the group in the total households of the suburbs. The share of the wealthiest households in the total for the suburbs rose to double that of that group's share of the total central cities households. No generalizations could be made which would explain the degree nor the rate of polarization, though a number of socioeconomic variables were tested.


The practice was introduced to service for the troop of a military hospital as to enhance the organization, to upgrade work quality,to innovate work methods and to improve self - support ability.


Few people know of this, possibly the most primitive dance in Europe. We find scanty records therefore, the earliest dating only from the 17th century. Robert Plot, in his Natural History of Staffordshire, 1686, p. 434, says:– At Abbots, or now rather Pagets Bromley, they had also within memory, a sort of sport, which they celebrated at Christmas (on New-Year and Twelft-day) call'd the Hobby-horse dance, from a person that carryed the image of a horse between his leggs, made of thin boards, and in his hand a bow and arrow, which passing through a hole in the bow, and stopping upon a sholder it had in it, he made a snapping noise as he drew it to and fro, keeping time with the Musick: with this Man danced 6 others, carrying on their shoulders as many Rain deers heads, 3 of them painted white, and 3 red, with the Armes of the cheif families (viz.) of Paget, Bagot, and Wells) to whom the revenews of the Town cheifly belonged, depicted on the palms of them, with which they danced the Hays, and other Country dances. To this Hobbyhorse dance there also belong'd a pot, which was kept by turnes, by 4 or 5 of the cheif of the Town, whom they call'd Reeves, who provided Cakes and Ale to put in this pot; all people who had any kindness for the good intent of the Institution of the sport, giving pence a piece for themselves and families; and so forraigners too, that came to see it: with which Mony (the charge of the Cakes and Ale being defrayed) they not only repaired their Church but kept their poore too: which charges are not now perhaps so cheerfully boarn. Why Plot says 'within memory' it is difficult to understand, unless there was a temporary cessation of the rite. He might easily have learnt whether the sport still lived or no, but from this and various internal points I suspect the Doctor never went to see for himself. Like too great a number of folklorists he preferred keeping his nose in a book to embarking on 'field work'. The pot into which they put the feast has now disappeared, and so far from repairing the church and keeping the poor, the few shillings gained hardly pay the dancers for the loss of a day's work.


The following paper descriptionbes a process which enables the recovery, by mechanical means, of those diamonds which cannot be recovered by the normal method of application to grease. Up to the present the principal means of obtaining these diamonds has been to pick them out by hand from suitably prepared gravity concentrates. This is laborious and inefficient. These diamonds, to which the term 'refractory' has been applied, mainly occur in alluvial deposits. They do not adhere to grease because their surfaces are covered with a thin, invisible layer of a wettable substance, or mixture of wettable substances such as sodium chloride, iron oxide, calcium or magnesium hydrate, etc. The substance which forms the wettable layer depends on the salts dissolved, in the natural waters with which the diamonds have been in contact during their existence. The process of recovery depends on the production of a non-wettable surface on the diamond. To accomplish this, an alkaline solution of whale acid oil is added to the diamondiferous concentrate. The surface condition of the diamonds which are present in the concentrate is altered from the wettable to the non-wettable state by the action of the fatty acids which are present in the whale acid oil. The surface condition of the gravel in the concentrate is almost unaffected and remains in the wettable state. In the non-wettable state, the diamonds will adhere to a greased surface when applied to it. The conventional grease equipment which is used on the diamond mines cannot be used to recover the diamonds which have been treated by this process since the grease surfaces very quickly become coated with layers of dust. The diamonds will not adhere when the grease surfaces are coated with dust. The dust occurs with the gravel in the alluvial deposits and is also continuously produced by attrition as the gravel passes through the treatment plant. To overcome the difficulty caused by the dust layer on the grease, it was necessary to develop a machine which would supply a continuously fresh grease surface. This machine is descriptionbed in the paper.


It is a well known fact that the ability of locating sound sources by persons with normal hearing depends on the type of signal. It is moreover a fact that persons with unilateral deafness, at least to certain types of signals, lose the ability of sound localizing.Experiments were performed with the intention of making certain the relation between the ability of sound localization in the horisontal plane and the threshold difference between the two ears, one of which had normal hearing. The listeners with eliminated visual orientation were placed in different angular positions to the sound source in an anechoic chamber. Different types of signals were used. The results will be discussed in regard to a practical point of view.


We investigate the orbital Hall effect through a disordered mesoscopic device with momentum-space orbital texture that is connected to four semi-infinite terminals embedded in the Landauer-B\"uttiker configuration for quantum transport. We present clear analytical and numerical evidence that the orbital Hall current fluctuations are universals (as with spin Hall current fluctuations). The universal orbital Hall current fluctuations (UOCF) exhibit two universal numbers of 0.36 and 0.18 for weak and strong spin-orbit coupling, respectively. The universal numbers are obtained by analytical calculation via random matrix theory and are supported by numerical calculations based on the tight-binding model. Furthermore, the UOCF lead to two universal relationships between the orbital Hall angle and conductivity. Finally, we confront the two universal relations with experimental data of the orbital Hall angle, which shows good concordance between theory and experiment.


Submitted for publication April 16, 2010 Accepted for publication April 20, 2010 From the Departments of Surgery and Endocrinology (Emeritus), Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts. Address correspondence to Dr. Robert M. Beazley, 45 West Newton Street, Boston, MA 02118. Published as a Rapid Electronic Article in Press at http:// www.endocrinepractice.org on May 3, 2010. DOI: 10.4158/EP10104.CO Copyright © 2010 AACE. I recall with clarity an "on-call evening" as a senior medical student at the University of Maryland Hospital in Baltimore when I was told of a talk to be given in Davidge Hall by Dr. Jerome W. Conn (Fig. 1). Even though I had not heard of Dr. Conn, I did know of his eponymous tumor, although a few years would pass before I would encounter a patient with such a tumor. Out of curiosity, I decided to attend what was a black-tie affair, "The Maurice C. Pincoffs Lecture in Medicine" on Tuesday evening, December 11, 1962. I entered the Hall by way of the "secret" circular staircase (often used by late students), which yielded discreet access high up in the back of the amphitheater. My presence in "whites" went unnoticed, but I was amazed at the good cheer and splendor of the entire faculty gathered seated and standing below me in their formal wear, waiting for the talk to begin. Dr. Conn, a short, slender, middle-aged gentleman, was introduced by Dr. Thomas B. Connor, Chief of Endocrinology (Fig. 2). Dr. Connor remarked that Dr. Conn was a particularly appropriate Pincoffs Lecturer in that Dr. Pincoffs also had a long-standing interest in hypertension, being the first physician to diagnose a pheochromocytoma preoperatively, which was successfully removed by


Until recently, techniques on speech analysis have been built around the all‐pole linear predictive model. This study demonstrates the advantage and effectiveness of using the perceptual linear predictive (PLP) method in analyzing nasal consonants. Six speakers (three men and three women) produced 300 CV syllables with initial nasal consonants /m/ and /n/. A threshold‐based boundary detection algorithm was developed to extract nasal segments from CV contexts. Poles of the fifth‐order PLP model were calculated to characterize the place of articulation of nasal consonants. Results indicated that the frequencies for the transformed poles, particularly for the second pole, were significantly lower for /m/ than for /n/ and were independent of factors such as vowel context and gender of the speaker. A nasal identification rate of 86% was obtained based on the frequency of the second pole. The use of the PLP method clearly has overcome difficulties associated with the antiresonance in analyzing nasal consonants.


The elimination of measles by 2010 is part of the strategic plan for measles and congenital rubella infection in the European Region of the World Health Organization.


Abstract 1362 G-CSF is a very effective treatment for idiopathic, congenital and cyclic neutropenia (SCN). G-CSF also expands myeloid tissues that give rise to osteoclasts that resorb bone. For this reason, the Severe Chronic Neutropenia International Registry (SCNIR) has collected data on fractures in this population for over 15 years. These data indicate that fractures are uncommon events. To expand information on bone health for patients on long-term G-CSF, we collected additional information from a patient survey and reviewed reports of bone mineral density measurements (BMD) in US children and adults in the SCNIR. Letters were sent to 680 patients; 367 responded. 17 of 367 patients reported fractures; 15 were related to accidents (11 extremities, 4 spine) and 2 were categorized as spontaneous (both spine). The frequency of fractures was 0.005 per patient year on G-CSF. 222 patients indicated that they had not had a BMD study. We received 266 BMDs on 145 subjects (45 children { 205 of 266 BMD reports were normal; BMDs for 34 of 45 children and 85 of 100 adults were normal. 11 BMDs prior to G-CSF treatment were normal (4 children, 5 adults – 2 adults had 2 normal BMDs) and 194 BMDs during G-CSF treatment were normal (30 children, 85 adults). The G-CSF median dose for children with normal scans was 5.1 mcg/kg/day (range 0.0 - 53) and for adults was 1.1 mcg/kg/day (range 0.0 - 38). 61 of 266 scans were abnormal in 11 children and 15 adults. 1 of 6 adult scans prior to G-CSF treatment was abnormal. During G-CSF treatment there were 60 abnormal BMDs in 11 children and 14 adults. The G-CSF median dose for children with abnormal BMDs was 3.6 mcg/kg/day (range 0.0 - 18) and for adults was 2.3 mcg/kg/day (range 0.0 - 37). 28 subjects (8 children, 20 adults) had three or more sequential BMD reports. Of these, 17 subjects (3 children, 14 adults) suggested a trend of decreasing BMD while on G-CSF, 11 subjects (5 children, 6 adults) had normal serial BMDs on G-CSF without trending toward decreased bone mineral density. 33 patients reported treatments with osteoporosis medications; 15(46%) calcium supplements, 12(36%) bisphosphonates, 3(9%) Vitamin D supplements, 2(6%) hormonal supplements, and 1(3%) calcitonin; the effectiveness of these therapies could not be evaluated. This survey confirms that overt fractures are low-frequency events for patients with SCN on many years of G-CSF therapy. The trend toward decreased BMD in approximately 60% of patients with serial assessments suggests that bone loss is a common effect of chronic G-CSF treatment. The data also suggest that baseline and follow-up BMD assessments are useful for determining bone health for SCN patients on long term G-CSF therapy. Disclosures Dale: Amgen Inc.: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding, Speaker. Boxer: Amgen Inc.: Equity Ownership.


Coded caching is a technique that generalizes conventional caching and promises significant reductions in traffic over caching networks. However, the basic coded caching scheme requires that each file hosted in the server be partitioned into a large number (called the subpacketization level) of non-overlapping subfiles. From a practical perspective, this is problematic as it means that prior schemes are only applicable when the size of the files is extremely large. In this work, we propose coded caching schemes based on combinatorial structures called resolvable designs. These structures can be obtained in a natural manner from linear block codes whose generator matrices possess certain rank properties. We demonstrate that several schemes with subpacketization levels that are exponentially smaller than the basic scheme can be obtained.


According to the grim situation of traffic safety,the article analyzed and forecasted the trafficdeaths in Fujian Province by using topological forecast method which belonged to grey system theory,and used MATLAB program to achieve the calculation. According to statistical data of traffic accident hap-pened between 2005 and 2013 in Fujian Province,the article determined a group of threshold values,es-tablished GM(1,1) model in groups,and forecasted the time traffic accident which would occur in futureby using GM(1,1) model. The results show that the gray topological prediction model accuracy reaches lev-el 1 standard. This method is scientific and practical,the forecast results will be of a certain guiding sig-nificance to relative departments.


A new diterpenoid, jolkinolide F (1), was isolated from roots of Euphorbia jolkinii. The planar structure of 1 was elucidated by spectroscopic analysis, and its stereochemistry was determined by NO...


How can complex relationship structures be managed? When collaborating in networks, the diversity of stakeholder relationships is increasing. Most times, this leads to interoperability issues that need to be addressed. In this chapter, the authors show how Anything Relationship Management (xRM) can increase interoperability in many-to-many (n:n) relationships. Building upon relationship management theory, they firstly categorize different types of relationships and link them with fitting IT solutions. The authors then give a brief introduction to the xRM concept. Following and more specifically, they present the EU research project GloNet1 and propose three technical xRM approaches (collaboration spaces, integration of external services, and synchronization framework) in order to improve social network interoperability, services interoperability, and data interoperability. The chapter closes with a conclusion, an example of application, and a research outlook.


The recent surge cycle of Kyagar Glacier, in the Chinese Karakoram, caused formation of an ice-dammed lake and subsequent glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) exceeding 50 and 40 million m3 in 2015 and 2016, respectively. 5 GLOFs from Kyagar Glacier reached double this size in 2002 and earlier, but the role of glacier surging in GLOF formation was previously unrecognised. We present an integrative analysis of the glacier surge dynamics from 2011 to 2016, assessing surge mechanisms and evaluating the 10 surge cycle impact on GLOFs. Over 80 glacier surface velocity fields were created from TanDEM-X, Sentinel-1A and Landsat satellite data. Changes in ice thickness distribution were revealed by a time series of TanDEM-X DEMs ::::::: elevation :::::: models. The analysis shows that during a quiescence phase 15 lasting at least 14 years, ice mass built up in a reservoir area at the top of the glacier tongue and the terminus thinned by up to 100 : m, but in the two years preceding the surge ::::: onset this pattern reversed. The surge clearly initiated with the onset of the 2014 melt season, and in the 20 following 15 months velocity evolved in a manner consistent with a hydrologically-controlled surge mechanismwith dramatic accelerations coinciding : . :::::::: Dramatic ::::::::::: accelerations :::::::: coincided with melt seasons, winter deceleration ::: was accompanied by subglacial drainage, and rapid surge termination 25 ::::::: occurred following the 2015 GLOF. Rapid basal motion during surging :: the ::::: surge : is seemingly controlled by high water pressure, : caused by input of surface water into either an inefficient subglacial drainage system or unstable subglacial till. Over 60 m of thickening at the terminus caused ::: The potential 30 lake volume to increase more than 40-fold since surge onset, to currently more than ::::::: increased :: to ::::: more :::: than : 70 million m3 , indicating that lake formation :: by :::: late ::::: 2016, :: as :: a ::::: result :: of ::: over ::::: 60 m :: of ::::::::: thickening :: at ::: the :::::::: terminus. ::::: Lake :::::::: formation ::: and :: the :::::::: evolution ::: of ::: the :: ice :::: dam :::::: height should be carefully mon35 itored ::::::: through :::::: remote :::::: sensing : to anticipate large GLOFs in the near future.


This thesis consists of three essays in the field of competition economics. Chapter 1 contains an essay on resale price maintenance, co-authored by Johannes Muthers, doctoral student at the University of Wurzburg. Chapter 2 contains an essay on strategic backward integration, co-authored by Lars-Hendrik Roller and Konrad Stahl. Chapter 3 contains an essay on the design of damage compensations in case of competition law infringements such as price cartels.
Each of the three essays is built around a game-theoretical model that is used to analyze how the allocation of rights to profits and control over strategies within a vertical
chain influences the market outcome.


Through the method of CTAB,total DNA of Wild Species of Boehmeria nivea(Linn.)Gaudich was extracted.Because there are many secondary metabolites in Boehmeria tricuspis(Hance) Makino such as polysaccharide,polyphenol,pectin and flavone,so we added certain contents of PVP and β-mercaptoethanol into lysate buffer and used the method of one step extraction and one step purification,the traditional method of ethanol precipitation was improved that would be more convenient for concentration and purification of the genomic DNA,high quality DNA could be obtained,and the procedure and time could be reduced.The results of the experiment showed its purity could satisfy the demands of enzyme digesting and jointing experiments and so on.


Managers of emergencies face challenges of complexity, uncertainty, and unpredictably. Triadic constraints imply requisite parsimony in describing the essence of the emergency, its magnitude and direction of development. Linguistic separation increases as the crisis management organization is more complex and made up of diverse constituents. Therefore, a standard objective emergency scale is vital to quantify and unambiguously communicate the nature of any emergency. Previous work laid the foundations for an objective measurable emergency event scale. This article proposes a unified emergency scale based on a mathematical model, accompanied by several examples spanning local to national events. DOI: 10.4018/jiscrm.2009071001 IGI PUBLISHING This paper appears in the publication, International Journal of Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management, Volume 1, Issue 4 edited by Murray E. Jennex and Bartel Van de Walle © 2009, IGI Global 701 E. Ch colate Avenue, Hershey PA 17033-1240, USA Tel: 717/533-8845; Fax 717/533-8661; URL-http://www.igi-global.com ITJ 5410 2 International Journal of Information Systems for Crisis Response Management, 1(4), 1-14, October-December 2009 Copyright © 2009, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited. calculable emergency scale should therefore quantify and clearly communicate the notion of "emergency". This article proposes such an emergency scale that could be understood and used at different scopes and by various clientele – internationally, nationally, regionally, at the municipality level, as well as by global companies through local organizations. Further, the proposed model satisfied all five roles of system science (Warfield 2003): it describes the physical world and portrays the results of interactions among a few of its components; it proposes a generic design; it is a constituent of "science of complexity" as it enlarges the domain of demonstrable results in the service of humanity; and, it is actionable, as it has linguistic clarity and a model that suggests clear direction of actions essential to resolve emergencies. Our model addresses several of Warfield's Twenty Laws of Complexity (Warfield 2002). It does not require humans to process more that three components at a time (triadic constraint). The model renders a parsimonious description of any emergency. It addresses the challenge of vertical incoherence as it can show the right aggregated level to decision makers at different organizational levels. Similar to the CRISSI project (Asproth and Håkansson 2007) we consider all relevant factors of emergencies in a balanced fashion. However, while CRISSI limits itself to flooding, our abstract model can be applied to any emergency.


Wheat is one of the main crops in Ningxia.With the decrease of the farmland area,the increase of population,it is imperative to promote the production of wheat.Since Ningchun No.4 was widely planted in a large scale,the time has been lasted thirty years.The fifth updating of Ningxia spring wheat didn't show a good cultivar.However,the introduced new style hybrid wheat system with blue grain two-utilizable line that was a feasible hybrid wheat system.


Speech recognition in car environments has been identified as a valuable means for reducing driver distraction when operating non-critical in-car systems. Likelihood-maximising (LIMA) frameworks optimise speech enhancement algorithms based on recognised state sequences rather than traditional signal-level criteria such as maximising signal-to-noise ratio. Previously presented LIMA frameworks require calibration utterances to generate optimised enhancement parameters which are used for all subsequent utterances. Sub-optimal recognition performance occurs in noise conditions which are significantly different from that present during the calibration session - a serious problem in rapidly changing noise environments. We propose a dialog-based design which allows regular optimisation iterations in order to track the changing noise conditions. Experiments using Mel-filterbank spectral subtraction are performed to determine the optimisation requirements for vehicular environments and show that minimal optimisation assists real-time operation with improved speech recognition accuracy. It is also shown that the proposed design is able to provide improved recognition performance over frameworks incorporating a calibration session.


-During a 16 month period, three hundred and seventy-five lizards of ten species from central Maricopa County, Arizona, were examined for helminth parasites in the buccal cavity, viscera and coelom. Twelve species of nematodes were found in the digestive tract of one or more of the lizard species. Adult cestodes were found in the small or large intestine of five species, and immature or encysted forms were found in the liver, mesenteries, coelom or small intestine of four species. Acanthocephalan larvae were found in the coelom of one species. No lung parasites or trematodes were found. The total percentage of helminth parasitism in each lizard species is given. Discussion of the various parasitic forms as they occurred in their lizard host is included. During the last 30 years, there have been numerous papers published on reptilian parasites, most of which deal with identification and naming of new species. Among these, however, are some interesting surveys of the parasite burdens of various lizards. Harwood (1932) surveyed the parasitism in both amphibians and reptiles around Houston, Texas. Ranking (1945) did an ecological study of the parasites of reptiles and amphibians in Massachusetts. Babero and Kay (1967) summarized the parasites of horned lizards in southern Nevada, Bostic (1965) did the same with whiptail lizards in southern California, and Babero and Matthias (1967) examined the helminths of the whiptail lizard in northern Arizona and southern Nevada. The most comprehensive study of lizard endoparasitism is that of Telford (1970) from southern California. Pearce and Tanner (1973) have surveyed the helminths of Great Basin sceloporine lizards. I am unaware of parasite studies on lizards of central Arizona, although Walker and Matthias (1973) examined some northern Arizona lizards for parasites. This paper examines and compares the parasite loads of the lizard species frequently found in an area of central Arizona. STUDY AREA.-Three-hundred and seventy-five lizards from within a 25 mile radius of Phoenix, Maricopa County, Arizona, were examined for helminth parasites. This area is primarily in the lower basin flood plain of the Verde and Salt Rivers and, except for the granitic and basaltic mountain outcrops, is covered by unconsolidated sediments from the adjacent highlands. Due to rapid influx of people, much of the study area, especially that closest to the city, has now been covered by housing developments. Vegetation at the time of the study ranged from mesophytic domestic plants and weeds in the irrigated sections (about three-fourths of the area) to the natural xerophytic flora of the desert. Creosote bush (Larrea tridentata) and burr sage (Franseria dumosa) were the most common plants in the natural areas. Mesquite, palo verde trees, willow and tamarisk occurred along the washes and waterways. Salt bush (Atriplex sp.) was abundant on alkaline soils. Many small herbaceous annuals and grasses thrive during the moist season (Nicol, 1937), and Opuntia and Saguaro were found at higher elevations. Lizard frequency and species as well as vegetation varied within the elevational range of 300 to 700 m above sea level. The seasonality and considerable annual variation in rainfall (Smith, 1956) affected the variety and quantity of the various insects and plants on which the lizards primarily feed. NOVEMBER 27, 1985 T E SOUTHWESTERN NATURALIST 30(4):467-473 This content downloaded from 126.96.36.199 on Fri, 22 Jul 2016 03:58:38 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms The Southwestern Naturalist MATERIALS AND METHODS.-During the sixteen months of this study a total of 375 lizards of ten species were examined. The lizards were killed by an intramuscular injection of Nembutal, opened by a midventral incision from the angle of the jaw to the vent, and the viscera removed and placed in physiological saline on slides or in watch glasses. Following examination of the buccal cavity and coelom of the animal under a dissecting microscope at 25X, the internal organs were opened and examined in the same manner. Any helminths seen were removed into vials of alcohol-formalin-acetic acid (A.F.A.). In addition to the species and location data, notations were made on each lizard's size, sex, contents of digestive tract and any anomalies. Nematodes were later mounted on slides using a methyl-green lactophenol stain in Hoyer's medium (Grundmann, 1955). Cestodes were stained in carmine, dehydrated and mounted on slides with Harleco synthetic medium as suggested by Morgan and Hawkins (1949). RESULTS AND DISCUSSION.-Although at least eleven families of nematodes are known to occur in lizards (Hyman, 1951), only representatives of the following four families were found in this study: Oxyuridae, Atractidae, Spiruridae, and Physalopteridae. There were no nematodes nor other helminths found in the lungs of any animals. Most nematode infestations of the stomach were very light, with the exception being heavily infested Phrynosoma solare in which Skrjabinoptera phrynosoma numbered in the hundreds in some of the larger, older animals. Those heavy infestations are probably associated with the tendency of horned lizards to concentrate on one type of prey, ants, which are the intermediate host of this nematode. No trematodes were found in any of the lizard species examined although they have been reported elsewhere (Cabellero, 1946; Gilbert, 1938). The general aridity of the Phoenix area, which limits intermediate hosts, may be a factor here. Cestodes were present in a few animals. Occurrences of the parasites within lizard family groups were as follows. Iguanidae.-Most of the lizards examined belong to the family Iguanidae. The lined tree lizard, Urosaurus ornatus linearis, and the desert sideblotched lizard, Uta stansburiana stejnegeri, were most commonly collected. One hundred individuals of both species were examined. Urosaurus o. linearis was lightly parasitized by larval Pharyngodon sp. nematodes, and one specimen had three unencysted tetrathyridia in the coelom. The occurrence of the Pharyngodon sp. infestations was curious in being confined to lizards from the higher elevations of the northeast section of the study are a (Table 1). Whether there is an elevational effect on the nematode life cycle or whether there is a soil effect as found by Harwood (1936) in Leiolopisma laterale near Houston, Texas was not determined. Uta s. stejnegeri were collected from central and northeast areas of Phoenix. No difference in occurrence of parasites between the two areas was noted. The nematodes of the genus Thubunea, present in small numbers in the stomachs of four U. s. stejnegeri, were large worms a centimeter or more in length. Tetrathyridia were in the liver, mesenteries and coelom in greater numbers than in any other lizard species examined. These were present as individual cysts, or as cysts containing up to 20 tetrathyridia, suggesting at least two different species. A tapeworm, Oochoristica sp., was also present in four of the animals (Table 1). Another iguanid, the desert spiny lizard, Sceloporus magister magister, was found to have the most species of parasites but each parasite occurred in only one lizard and was few in number. In all but one instance, the same genus of parasite was also found in another lizard species. The exception 468 vol.30, no. 4 This content downloaded from 22.214.171.124 on Fri, 22 Jul 2016 03:58:38 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms Benes-Lizard Helminth Parasites TABLE 1.-Gastrointestinal and Coelomic Helminth Parasites from Central Arizona Lizards


【Objects】 To master the health statutes and take the measures to improve the health level of kindergarten children in urban Bao'an district Shenzhen city.【Method】 The 60 817 kindergarten children's health examination records from 2005-2011 were summarized.【Results】 The male/female ratio went up then down,the qualified growing of height and weight,the qualified height and weight,vision abnormality,mental and behavior problem showed an increasing tendency(P0.05).The rate of anemia,malnutrition,dental caries showed a decreasing tendency(P0.05).The rate of obesity showed an increasing tendency firstly then decreasing tendency(P0.05).【Conclusion】 The physical development of the kindergarten children in urban Bao'an district is well,reducing the rates of obesity,vision abnormality and mental and behavior problem are the emphasis works in the future.


We tested the predation of B. bacteriovorus against Escherichia coli in milk samples in three different experiments. In Experiment 1, the growth and predatory activity of B. bacteriovorus against E. coli in milk stored at 4°C were evaluated. In Experiment 2, the predatory activity of B. bacteriovorus against E. coli in the milk matrix was compared to the optimal one in the medium of choice. In Experiment 3, the influence of the native milk microbial community on the predation of B. bacteriovorus against E. coli experimentally added or indigenous grown at 4°C was tested. The predator increased at 4°C by about 1 Log in the first 48 hours and caused E. coli decrease by about 2 Log after 24 hours. The predator at 30°C reduced E. coli faster (3 Log after 6 hours) than at 4°C (2 Log after 24 hours). B. bacteriovorus at 30°C preyed on E. coli more in the nutrient broth than in the milk, with the most significant difference by about 4 Log after 48 hours. In raw milk contaminated only by the predator, it increased by about 1 Log after 48 hours at 4°C, suggesting that it preyed on indigenous microorganisms. B. bacteriovorus could find application in raw milk used as food or raw material during storage at 4°C to reduce the microbial load of spoilage and Shigatoxin-producing E. coli (STEC) strains of E. coli and therefore increase its shelf-life and healthiness.


Objective To investigate the clinical effect and surgery operative skills of laparpscopic myomectomy.Methods The 148 cases performed laparoscopic myomectomy were analyzed to define clinical value and summarize surgery operative skills.Results Operations of all cases were performed successfully under laparoscopy without any complication.The operative time was(98±42)min,introperative blood loss was(83±35)ml,passage of gas by anus occurred at(24±5)h after operation,and the average hospital stay after operation was(7.8±1.5)d.Conclusion Laparoscopic myomectomy has all advantages of micro-traumatic operation,which is effective,safe and organ-saving.It is worth promoting the application.The strict case choice and good surgery operative skills are the sugrery successful key.


In the present study a new improved two-color method based on particulate diffraction theory was used to investigate the local instantaneous flame temperature and soot concentration in cylinder of diesel engiens.Two representative measurement locations were arranged in the cylinder head which face the crown and the bowl of the piston separately.A significant difference of magnitude both in soot concentration and flame temperature was found between the two measurement locations,and the time difference of appearance was about 10° CA.There was a large cycle variation at the measurement location facing the crown.The influence of multi-parameters including load,speed,intake air temperature and cooling water temperature on local instantaneous flame temperature and soot concentration in cylinder of diesel engines was discussed analytically.


 Abstract— LTE-A is a very advanced and very adaptive intelligent network. Use of femto cells increases its capacity without increasing the installation cost of the network. Mostly femto cells are deployed by home users itself so a service has not to worry about installation cost. But due to co-channel operation interference increase between femto & macro users which can be reduced by using cross-tier interference cancellation strategy. In this paper analysis of LTE-A system has been done. This paper proposes a simulator that consists of practical deployment conditions, random user distribution, random building generation, MIMO and different coordinated multipoint schemes. This simulator takes into account both types of cross-tier interference, i.e., the macrocell interference to users attached to femtocell and the femtocell interference to users attached to macrocell.


Results of a neutron diffraction study on powder samples of and at 1.3 K and on a single crystal of flux-grown at 1.5 K are given. The magnetization and susceptibility of single crystals have been measured for both compounds from 2.0 K to room temperature. In addition a Mossbauer spectrum of was taken at 4.2 K, and the specific heat of has been measured from 0.5 K up to 25 K. and exhibit antiferromagnetic order below 4.9 K and 5.7 K, respectively, with a canted magnetic structure. The powder samples reveal two propagation vectors, , and , for as well as for . The magnetization measurements are interpreted in the mean-field approximation by taking the crystal field, spin - orbit coupling, isotropic Heisenberg exchange, magnetic dipole - dipole interaction and an external field into account. Within this model very good agreement between theory and experiment was obtained. By reproducing the antiferromagnetic - paramagnetic phase transitions with an applied external field parallel to the a- or c-direction an estimation of the effective exchange interaction between zigzag chains running along the c-direction is given. The magnetic structures, as derived from model considerations, agree with neutron diffraction results.


Abstract Sorghum is an important food crop in Uganda; in some areas it is the staple food grain. Low yields of sorghum are attributed to damage caused by insects, particularly the sorghum shoot fly, and to the weather. Chemical and cultural control measures against sorghum shoot fly in Uganda have given erratic results. It is postulated that these erratic results and unpredictable shoot fly behaviour observed by other workers are due to the presence of at least five species of Atherigona.


A brushless direct current motor utilizing magnet magnetic force. Force-electromagnetic force for cutting magnetic lines of force in a motor is replaced with the magnet magnetic force. The magnet magnetic force, attractive force and repulsive force are applied between a stator and a rotor of the motor. The rotor is provided with two arc-shaped magnets (D1, D2) in one plane; the two magnets are uniformly distributed, space angles between the two magnets are also uniformly distributed, thereby providing N poles or S poles for the stator. The stator is provided with four electromagnetic coils (X1, X2, X3, X4) in one plane, and the four electromagnetic coils are uniformly distributed and located in a rotor magnet magnetic field. When providing a magnetic pole axis N-S pole located at the N pole of the rotor magnet magnetic field, the electromagnetic coils generate the magnet magnetic force to enable the rotor to rotate. When providing a magnetic pole axis S-N pole located in the space between the two magnets, the electromagnetic coils generate the attractive force and the repulsive force with the same direction as the magnet magnetic force to enable the rotor to rotate. The brushless direct current motor is small in size.


The utility model relates to a light shade with a heat radiating structure, which comprises a diffusion light conducting plate, a light conducting plate, a first frame member, a protective plate, a second frame member which are jointly arranged at an open end of a seat body, a plurality of first air holes which are arranged on two corresponding wall faces of the seat body, a plurality of second air holes which are arranged on another two corresponding wall faces of the seat body, a plurality of heat conducting plates, wherein, each heat conducting plate is bent into a tapered sliver body; both ends of the heat conducting plates are respectively inserted into the second air holes on the two corresponding wall faces of the seat body; each heat conducting plate is respectively positioned between every two adjacent lamp tubes which are arranged in parallel on the surface of a bottom edge of the seat body, and is arranged in parallel; two tapered end faces of the heat conducting plate are used as reflecting surfaces of the light rays of the lamp tubes to eliminate shadow bands; each heat conducting plate can absorb the radiant heat of the lamp tubes, and can disperse heat from each second air hole through a triangular hollow interior. The utility model can enhance heat radiating effect and light reflectivity, and can effectively eliminate shadow bands; the light shade can compromise the structural rigidity of the whole of the light shade, and can largely save processing cost.


It seems fitting that our final consideration of the Negro in American life should be set in the broadest possible perspective, and so I propose as our final subject, The Negro in the Three Americas. Even should we discover no further common denominators-though I think we shall-there will be at least two of great contemporary concern and importance,-PanAmericanism and democracy, with both of which the general situation of the American Negro has, as we shall try to show, some vital and constructive connection. Our opening lecture, indeed, suggested that the -furtherance of democracy in this Western hemisphere was bound up crucially with basic social and cultural policies upon which Negro life and its problems had direct bearing. It is incumbent upon us to justify such statements.


Assessing and demonstrating Safety of Autonomous Systems is not a trivial task. It poses several challenges and requires covering aspects related to hardware, software, humans, the environment, and their interactions, in addition to legislation, society, and ethics. The International Workshop on Autonomous System Safety (IWASS) aims at identifying research directions and solutions for addressing these challenges. IWASS' first edition was held in 2019 in Trondheim, Norway, followed by a second edition in 2021 in an online format. IWASS 2019 and 2021 gathered each around 50 invited experts from various parts of the world on topics concerning autonomous systems safety from academia, industry, and governmental agencies. The two editions of IWASS focused on critical issues for autonomous systems safety, namely: (i) Demonstrating safety of autonomous systems – verification and validation (V&V), and risk acceptance, (ii) human in or on the loop – the role of humans in autonomous systems operations, (iii) modeling and simulation for understanding complexity and cascading failures, and (iv) artificial intelligence (AI) and data analytics for resilient autonomous systems. This special issue of the Journal of Risk and Reliability aims to provide a venue for researchers to extend and share scientific contributions to the topics addressed during IWASS. The papers in this special issue portray IWASS' wide range of discussed issues, as well as the represented industries and application areas. They complement IWASS' discussions, as described below.


Communication satisfaction and work commitment are two important elements for workers in an organization.This study was aimed at identifying the relationship bet ween dimensions of communication satisfaction (seven dimensions) and organizational commitment in a public organization; and differences in work commitment based on
age, gender and marital status.A total of 169 respondents from a public organization were chosen through simple random sampling. Communication satisfaction was measured using the Communication Satisfaction Questionnaire
(CSQ) by Down and Hazen (1977) while work commitment was measured using Organizational Commitment Scale by Allen and Meyer (1996). Results indicated that there were significant relationships in four dimensions of communication satisfaction (corporate perspective,corporate information, organizational integration and horizontal communication).Communication satisfaction towards superiors, subordinates and feedback were found to be unrelated to work commitment. Differences were also found in work commitment based on age and marital
status but not for gender.


A scroll or torus (10) has a variable thickness and variable radius structure rib support (14). The scroll or torus may be suitable in high temperature applications while avoiding the high stress found with conventional constant radii ribs and the weight penalty found in stainless steel scrolls and torus. The scroll or torus may be used, for example, on a turbo compressor machine in aircraft environmental control systems.


The educational objective of integration or "insight into relationships of one's own field to other areas of life" is discussed. Several types of general education science course are compared in their attempt to present science in relation to other fields of human knowledge. A two-week unit is outlined dealing specifically with the impact of science on man's life and thought.


Xq28 (involving MECP2) duplication syndrome is a severe
neurodevelopmental disorder in males, most females are asymptomatic
carriers, but there are phenotypic heterogeneities in the females.
Skewed X-chromosome inactivation (XCI) seems to prevent duplicated
region activation in asymptomatic females, but it remains controversial.
Herein we reported two asymptomatic females (daughter and mother) with
interstitial Xq28 duplication. HUMARA and RP2 assays showed that both
had complete skewed XCI, the Xq28 duplicated chromosome was inactivated
in the daughter, but surprisingly, it was activated in her mother.
Interestingly, by combining RNA sequencing and whole-exome sequencing,
we confirmed that XIST only expressed in the Xq28 duplication
chromosomes of the two females, indicating that the Xq28 duplication
chromosomes were inactive. Meanwhile, MECP2 and most XCI genes in the
duplicated X-chromosomes were not transcriptionally expressed or
upregulated, precluding major clinical phenotypes in the two females,
especially the mother. We showed that XCI status detected by RNA
sequencing was more relevant for establishing the clinical phenotype of
MECP2 duplication females. It suggested there were other factors
maintaining the XCI status in addition to DNA methylation, a possible
additional inhibition mechanism occured at the transcriptional level in
the unmethylated X-chromosome, counter balancing the MECP2 duplication's
detrimental phenotype effects


1. A method is described for more rapid and efficient analysis of spirographic tracings utilizing a new transparent plastic slide rule and tables prepared for direct conversion of millimeter measurements of spirographic tracings into actual volumes and flow rates. 2. This method provides simpler and slightly more accurate measurements of spirographic tracings, eliminates much calculation, and allows the use of unlined and much less expensive spirographic paper in carrying out these tests.


This paper surveys the potential design factors or criteria, which take all major stages of a product life cycle into consideration and consider the environmental and ecological impacts, as the evaluation base for the greener product. Using the design guidelines from Design for X (DFX) initiatives, each design factor or criterion of different product life-cycle stages is summarized to form a green design evaluation structure. This evaluation structure can provide product planners, designers or engineers the general guidelines to assess the design alternatives that would achieve the environmentally sound design in the earlier stages of the product design and development.