In a series of articles this year, Robert A. Dowling, MD, will examine what you need to know about the law, what the CMS proposed rule for implementation implies for the near and long-term future, and—when it is issued later this year—what the final rule means to your urology practice.


It was shown recently [1] that stochastic control problems with non-classical information patterns can be cast equivalently as nonconvex optimization problems and that lower bounds could be obtained by using the information-theoretic data processing inequality for creating convex relaxations. We present a linear programming relaxation to these problems. This provides a new avenue for obtaining lower bounds and yields the largest known class of inverse optimal cost functions. The linear programming relaxation improves on information theory based relaxations since it retains in its set of extreme points, all the extreme points of the original nonconvex problem. Lower bounds on the optimal cost of the original nonconvex problem can be found by constructing feasible points for the dual of the relaxation. We show that our relaxation is tight for the problem of minimizing the expected distortion of a binary source over binary memoryless symmetric channel for block length of 1 and 2. This gives a new, direct and non-communication-theoretic proof of the optimal distortion. Incorporating the data processing inequality in the linear programming relaxation, we obtain the largest known class of inverse optimal cost functions.


Objective To investigate the changes of the corneal endothelium in patients with chronic renal failure in order to better treat ophthalmopathy and evaluate risk of intraocular operation. Methods Assessment of the corneal endothelium in patients with chronic renal failure and the control group was performed using non-contact specular microscopy(TOPCON SP-2000P).Results corneal endothelial cell density in patients with chronic renal failure was 2650.30±414.90, and there was no difference statistically (P0.05,P=0.155)between the patients with chronic renal failure and the control group. CV is 26.36±4.68 and 6A% is(52.49±3.53)%. There was a statistically significant difference (P0.01,P0.01)between patient with or without chronic renal failure.Conclusion The results indicate that there are morphologic abnormalities of the corneal endothelium in patients with chronic renal failure.The safer surgery and medicine should be choosed for these patients.


The plasma activation is a promised process to improve the bonding performance for materials pretreated with the plasma. In this study, the chips studded with gold bumps flipped-bonding onto alumina substrates using the thermal compressional bonding. To improve the bonding performance of gold bumps onto copper electrodes, both gold bumps and alumina substrates were pretreated to Ar/H2 plasma at 400 W for 30 s. Other parameters of plasma activating are 100 mTorr in back pressure and 120 sccm in gas flow rate of Ar/H2. After chips with gold bumps boned on copper electrodes over alumina substrates, the die-shear test was conducted to determine the bonding performance and the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to examine the integrity of the bonding interface. All specimens of chips bonded on alumina substrates were subjected to reliability of high temperature storage test (HTS) at 150 °C from 200 hrs to 1000 hrs. The changes in die-shear forces and the integrity of bonding interface were used to evaluate the reliability of specimens subjected to HTS test. For alumina substrates pretreated with plasma activating, a higher die-shear force was obtained and a sound bonding interface was achieved. This observed results prove that Ar/H2 plasma was an effective scheme to enhance the bonding performance. After specimens subjected to HTS test, die-shear forces decreased with increasing the storage durations for substrates pretreated with plasma activating or not. Die-shear forces were higher than the minimum requirement stated in JEDEC specification at the storage duration of 400 hr and then die-shear forces were degraded when the storage duration extended from 600 to 1000 hrs for the substrate without Ar/H2 plasma pretreating. A obviously delamination was found at bonding interface between gold bumps and copper electrodes, and most fracture occurred at bonding interface after HTS test for substrates without Ar/H2 plasma pretreating. For substrates pretreated with Ar/H2 plasma, a clean bonding surface can be achieved and a sound bond with sufficient strength was obtained. The bonding performance and reliability of HTS are thus improved. The Ar/H2 plasma activation is an effective scheme to improve the bonding performance of chips and substrates assembly and to enhance the reliability of HTS test.


Objective: analytical study of scientific achievements by Institute's specialists in the field of prevention of non-communicable and infectious diseases of the population caused by negative impact of environmental and social factors of living conditions, based on the results of research work and their implementation. Materials and methods: scientific reports, acts of implementation of the results of scientific research works. The research uses a system-analytical method. Research results: The results of research conducted at the Institute for the last three years were analyzed. The physical, chemical, and social factors, life conditions of different segments of the population have been assessed and their negative impact on health has been proven. A number of scientifically substantiated regulatory and methodological instructive and information documents have been developed aimed at minimizing harmful environmental factors and preventing diseases in the population.


In 1900, France possessed little reliable ethnographic knowledge about Morocco other than elite gossip and anecdotal details. Thirty years later, an extensive colonial archive on Moroccan society had been compiled. This article explores the origins of the Moroccan colonial archive and traces its connections to the French experience in Algeria. It surveys its chief publications, including the Archives marocaines, Archives berbères, and Villes et tribus du Maroc, which together with studies on Morocco in the Revue du monde musulman and the Bulletin du Comité de l'Afrique francaise et du Maroc, comprised the core of the Moroccan colonial archive. Although marked by the deforming lens of orientalism, the Moroccan colonial archive represents a formidable intellectual achievement. By imagining a "traditional Morocco", it provided the chief justification for the French protectorate (1912–56) as well as the template for the colonial state. It continues to inform the image of contemporary Morocco.


This project represents the intersection of two of the biggest influences in my life story thus far: my Christian faith, and my older brother's life and death. In the ten years since his motorcycle accident, writing has been one of the biggest ways for me to process my grief. By transferring my memories of the two of us from early childhood to young adulthood onto paper, I mark them as both important and permanent, rather than letting them fade with time. The first section tells about my background in writing and studying memoir. Sections two and three consist of my analysis of two spiritual memoirs that revolve around the death of a loved one. I examined Stations of the Heart: Parting with a Son by Richard Lischer, and Touching the Edge: A Mother's Spiritual Path from Loss to Life, by Margaret Wurtele. Piece by piece I reflected on each author's use of rhetorical tools and liturgical elements to shape a story that touches the reader's heart and spirit. In section four, I discuss how I use my findings to build my own work. The fifth section is my personal spiritual memoir. I constructed my story following the order of worship commonly found in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), including elements such as confession, scripture and song. The story highlights my faith journey in the shadow of my brother's death as I strive to paint a picture of an admirable young man who lived a full life in twenty short years, and to honor him and memorialize his life for those he left behind.


Traditional bitmap allocator algorithm has no feedback mechanism and can not fit well in every circumstances.Ppractically, it is discovered that in bitmap allocators,the problem of searching for free blocks is a load-balancing problem. This paper applies the study results of balls-into-bins, a load-balancing problem, into the bitmap allocators. After contrastive analysis and tested by the C~3I system, The conclusion is shows that the algorithm is better than the traditional bitmap allocator algorithm.


The performance of gene prediction programs strongl y depends on the methods that they use to locate sp lice sites. Different pattern recognition techniques ar e available to assess the quality of candidate spli ce sites, see [1] for an overview and further references. All of thes e techniques proceed by computing a score derived from the distribution of the nucleotides in the neighbourhoo d of a splice site consensus sequence. These score s are normally obtained with splice sites models that hav e been estimated from large training sets of exempl ary neighbourhoods. The training sets may also include negative examples, i.e. sequences that contain the consensus sequence, but that are actually no splice sites. U nfortunately, the concept of 'neighbourhood' is rat her ambiguous, and there is no general recommendation a b ut the positions of the nucleotides that should b e included in the calculation, i.e. the analysis wind ow that should be employed. In principle, the windo w length is an important parameter, because it determines the a mount of information that has to be evaluated. On the one hand, the window should be long enough to provide a s m ny details as possible about the patterns. On the other hand, the window should be short enough to take onl y the relevant information, in order to improve generalization. In the present study, we investigat e how splice-site prediction accuracy depends on th e window size and shape, using support vector machines (SVM) [2]. Our results show that the choice of the windo w is crucial for splice site prediction, and therefore w suggest that the window length should be consider ed as an essential parameter of the model.


In this letter,starting from a Backlund transformation,a general solution ofa(2+1)-dimensional integrable system is obtained by using the new variable separation approach.


The purpose of this study is to analyze and test whether political connection has an influence on firm value and to analyze and test whether audit quality can moderate the relationship between political connection to firm value. The population used in this study is manufacturing companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) with a research period 2016-2019. This study using purposive sampling method and secondary data. The number of samples is 108 companies every year. Regression analysis used to analyze data is performed using the moderated regression analysis (MRA). The results of this study indicate that political connection has a positive and significant influence on firm value. Audit quality cannot moderate the effect of political connection on firm value.


The reaction of 1,1-dimethyl-1-phenacylhydrazinium bromide with 1 M aqueous sodium hydroxide give benzoic acid, 3-phenyl-1-methylpyrazole, 5-benzoyl-3-phenyl-1-methylpyrazole, and benzonitrile as the major components; the expected product, 2-benzoyl-5-phenylimidazole was formed in only small amounts. Mechanisms to rationalize the formation of the major products are discussed.


Current biofuel production in Australia and the opportunities that the co-products offer for Australia's intensive and grazing livestock production systems are described. Based on the use of grain sorghum and co-products of grain and sugar processing, the current biofuels industry in Australia is small. At present it is not a significant challenge to the availability of feedstocks for the intensive livestock industries and only provides relatively small amounts of co-product for livestock utilization. However, new non-food biomass production systems for biofuel and bio-energy are being researched and developed. These include the use of ligno cellulosic feedstocks from agricultural residues and on-farm plantings of short-rotation coppicing eucalypts, as well as new bio-oil feedstocks such as the low-rainfall oilseed crop Brassica juncea, the oilseed tree Pongamia pinnata and algae. This move towards the production of bio-energy and biofuels from non-food feedstocks raises the question: What will be the likely challenges and opportunities for the Australian livestock industries with land-use change for the production of these feedstocks? To answer this question, those developments that will affect livestock have been considered through an examination of Australian and other research. Factors examined include the diversion of feedstocks currently used by livestock (cereal stubble or straw), the production of co-products potentially useful to livestock (juncea and pongamia meals) and the development of a biomass production system that could be integrated with the livestock production systems in Australia (short-rotation coppicing (SRC) eucalypts). The process as discussed here includes research into the use of these crops. The systems of production of the new ligno cellulosic feedstocks are of particular relevance for grazing livestock, both sheep and cattle. Research carried out over many years has been combined to identify the opportunities and challenges for grazing livestock as the new production systems for these feedstocks develop in Australia's agricultural lands.


The modern liberal state arose as part of a rebellion against the entrenched hierarchies of rank, power, and privilege that had characterized the feudal order of European society. Under that order, a person's prospects in life were determined almost entirely by his status at birth. The individual lacked the liberty to change his social and economic ranking and was rendered dependent on the will of those in higher-ranking positions. It was against this inclusive, closed, and ascriptive system of inequality and dependence that the proponents of the liberal state fought.


Obesity is strongly linked with chronic systemic inflammation, and each has been linked with disease progression and survival in patients with colorectal cancer (CRC). The authors investigated the joint prognostic effects of obesity and circulating cytokines in patients with metastatic CRC (mCRC), an understudied patient group.


Iain Neil may not be well known among film buffs, but his technical expertise has earned him numerous scientific and technical Academy Awards in recent years. The 47-year-old Scot is chief technical officer and executive vice president for R&D and optics at Californian company Panavision, which has won 26 Academy Awards since 1958, mainly for advances in cameras and lenses. Neil has been at least partially responsible for 11 of those awards, mostly for the design of zoom lenses. He has also received or applied for more than 200 worldwide patents for advances related to optical design.


INTRODUCTION: The Prevalence of Diabetes Mellitus Is Increasing All Over the World Particularly in The Developing Countries. Diabetes Is Associated with Hearing Impairment Which Has Been Described as Sensorineural in Origin, But Evidence Favoring a Specific Mechanism Is Insufficient. Brainstem Evoked Response Audiometry Is a Simple, Non-Invasive Procedure to Detect Early Impairment of Acoustic Nerve and Auditory Pathway, Even in The Absence of Specific Symptoms. The Present Study Is Under Taken to Evaluate the Impact of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus on BERA Parameters. OBJECTIVES: To Analyze and Compare the Brainstem Evoked Response Audiometry in Diabetic Patients and Age and Gender Matched Controls. METHODS: 40 Type 2 Diabetic Patients Attending Outpatient Department of Otorhinolaryngology and Medicine, C. S. S. Hospital, Meerut and 40 Non Diabetic Age and Gender Matched Subjects from General Population Were Selected Randomly, With None of Them Having Complains of Hearing Loss and Were Subjected to Brainstem Evoked Response Audiometry (BERA). BERA Parameters Such as Latency of Wave I, II, III, IV, And V; Inter-Peak Latencies I-III, I-V and III-V Were Analyzed. BERA Parameters Were also assessed according to The Duration of Diabetes and Fasting Blood Glucose Levels.


The power of isotopic substitution for the elucidation of a reaction mechanism is illustrated with reactions named after Hofmann and Favorskii. These reactions have important roles in synthetic chemistry; therefore, a wide range of experiments involving isotopic labeling or kinetic isotope effects were employed to establish their mechanistic pathways. The concepts introduced by these investigations are drawn together with an isotopic labeling study of the oxidation of urea with hypohalites. The two mechanisms proposed for this reaction have been described as a Hofmann rearrangement and a nitrogen analogue of the Favorskii rearrangement.


Assessment of atherosclerotic plaques by imaging techniques is essential for in vivo identification of vulnerable plaques. Several invasive and noninvasive imaging techniques are available. Most techniques identify luminal diameter or stenosis, wall thickness, and plaque volume, and are ineffective in identifying the high-risk plaques that are vulnerable to rupture and thrombosis.

In vivo, high-resolution, multicontrast MRI holds the best promise of noninvasively imaging high-risk plaques, due to its ability to differentiate plaque components on the basis of biophysical and biochemical parameters. These methods, however, do not allow for the visualization of calcification because of its short transverse relaxation time (T2). Presently, calcification is observed as a uniformly dark signal intensity area, which can also be caused by diverse signal artifacts. Ultra-short echo time (UTE) MRI allows for the detection of short T2 components and can therefore visualize calcification of the vessels as positive signal. The combination of UTE with other MR techniques may provide a comprehensive tissue characterization protocol, which will allow all plaque components to be directly and reproducibly imaged using a single modality.

Keywords:

magnetic resonance imaging;
atherosclerosis;
plaque;
calcification;
aortic specimen;
carotid endarterectomy specimen


A study was conducted to explore allelopathic potential of volatile oil from Artemisia scoparia leaves against Triticum aestivum, Zea mays, Amaranthus viridis, Chenopodium murale and Bidens pilosa. Under laboratory bioassay, seed germination, seedling length, seedling dry weight, chlorophyll content and respiratory activity of different test plants were measured. Different concentrations (0.5, 1.0. 2.5 and 5.0 μL/Petri dish) of Artemisia oil inhibited seed germination of all the test plants. Besides early growth, the chlorophyll content and cellular respiration were also found to be severely affected upon Artemisia oil treatment. In general, the inhibitory effect was greater on weeds than on crops. Among the test plants, A. viridis was observed to be the most sensitive. The study concludes that Artemisia oil possesses stron phytototxicity against weeds and hence could be used as a bioherbicide. KEY WORDS Allelopathy Artemisia oil Bioherbicide Phytotoxicity


(57) Abstract: The invention relates to a device for printing an indefinite information on the tape. The apparatus includes a labeling station of a production line, which in combination with the sealing station of the case for sealing handle the case with adhesive sealing tape. The apparatus preferably comprises a unspecific information printer is a thermal printer (30). The thermal printer preferably comprises a thermal transfer print head and the thermal transfer ribbon (34). The ribbon is a special one in which printing through the tape peeling agent. Tape is pulled out from tape pull-out spool, advanced past the print head in a state of sandwiching the thermal transfer ribbon between the print head and the tape surface. The thermal transfer ribbon (34) is compatible to the physical properties and chemical composition and the best of the tape (50). Thus, the device (210) to any target surface can be bonded product code, stock or lot number, bar code, a tape having an indefinite information such as shipment data. In the preferred embodiment, unspecific information is controlled by the standard operation control panel of the controller (48) which is integrated with the unspecific information printer (30).


The main hole of the Chinese continental scientific drilling project is located in Donghai county in the east segment of the Dabie-Sulu ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) metamorphic belt. With a depth of 5100 m, the lithology of the upper part 2050 m of the hole consists mainly of eclogite, ortho- and paragneisses, garnet peridotite (pyroxenite) and some schist and quartzite. These rocks have experienced UHP metamorphism and later amphibolite-facies retrogression. Five types of fluid inclusions with different compositions are found in the rocks by detailed petrographic observation and Raman analysis of fluid inclusions. They are: (1) aqueous inclusions of medium-low salinity (typeⅠ) which occur either as primary inclusions in the magmatic cores and UHP-metamorphic rims of zircon grains of eclogite and gneisses, in omphacite, zoesite and in calcite- and quartz blebs encompassed by omphacite, or as exsolution inclusions in apatite, or mainly as secondary inclusions along transgranular fractures in omphacite, garnet, kyanite, zoesite and quartz of eclogite; aqueous inclusions also occur in isolation or cluster in calcite veins crosscutting eclogite, in recrystallized garnet and epidote in gneiss; (2) CO2 ( CH4)-H2O inclusions (typeⅡ) which are present in both magmatic cores and metamorphic rims of zircon and are distributed along quartz fractures; (3) complex saline inclusions containing halite ± SiO2 ± CaCO3 which either occur as primary inclusions in omphacite of eclogite, coexisting with quartz rods and paralleling to the c-axis of omphacite, or distributed along intragranular fractures in diopside of garnet pyroxenite; (4) CO2 rich inclusions (type Ⅳ) which are distributed randomly in quartz of eclogite; and (5) monophase gas inclusions (type Ⅴ) which occur randomly or along fractures of various minerals. The occurrence of fluid inclusions and their relative chronology suggest that the inclusions of types Ⅰ and Ⅱ occurred in the protoliths, in the peak- and retrograde stages of UHP metamorphic rocks but the type Ⅲ was present primarily in the early decompression-retrogression stage of UHP rocks, whereas types Ⅴ and Ⅳ were trapped mainly in the amphibolite-facies or later stages. This study gains the following understanding: (1) The low-salinity H2O and CO2 fluids are present in all the prograde-, peak- and retrograde metamorphic stages, suggesting that the fluids were inherited during the entire UHP metamorphic evolution. (2) While fluid inclusions are abubdant in the protoliths of UHP rocks and in the amphibolite-facies rocks those trapped in the peak stage are rare, implying that abundant fluids contained in the protoliths were removed from the rock system or entered into UHP hydrous minerals or nominally anhydrous minerals. (3) The identification of primary inclusions with complex composition demonstrates that a melt-like fluid was present in the early decompression-retrograde stage after the peak UHP metamorphism and nominally anhydrous minerals might hold a significant amount of fluids under UHP conditions and released in retrograde process, resulting in fluid-rock interactions. (4) Fluid inclusions trapped in the amphibolite-facies stage have various compositions and they are concentrated locally and may partly derived from external fluids. (5) Great differences in type, abundance and composition of fluid inclusions exist in different lithologies and depths of the drill hole, suggesting that there was no large-scale pervasive fluid flow during UHP metamorphism. (6) The pressures obtained from the isochores of the fluid inclusions trapped during the peak of UHP metamorphism are mush less than the peak metamorphic pressures as derived from the mineral thermobarometers, indicating density changes of the fluid inclusions due to fluid leakage, partial decrepitation and fluid-rock interactions, etc.


I. Introduction VITAMIN D plays an essential role in vertebrates. In concert with the two peptide hormones PTH and calcitonin, vitamin D mediates calcium and phosphorus metabolism at target tissues, including intestine, bone, and kidney. The sterol must be metabolically activated before exerting its action. Vitamin D derived from the diet or generated in the skin by photometabolism of 7-dehydrocholesterol or ergosterol undergoes 25-hydroxylation in the liver. In the kidney, 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25OHD) is further metabolized to lα,25-dihydroxyvitamin D [1,25-(OH)2D] and 24,25-dihydroxyvitamin D [24,25-(OH2)D]. The most biologically active form of vitamin D is 1,25-(OH)2D. 1,25-(OH)2D functions in a classical endocrine fashion. Its production in the kidney is under a complex regulatory system so that more of the metabolite is available when demand for calcium is high. Moreover, there is substantial evidence which indicates that, analogous to classic steroid hormones, 1,25-(OH)2D elicits its biological respo...


The invention discloses a modified polypropylene composite material of high gloss and low shrinkage and a preparation method thereof. The polypropylene composite material includes the raw materials of by weight: 100 parts of PP (polypropylene) resin, 25-40 parts of PS (polystyrene) resin, 5-15 parts of a compatilizer, 1-6 parts of a flexibilizer, 35-40 parts of a reinforcing agent, 0.3-0.6 parts of an anti-oxidant, 0.5-1.2 parts of a lubricant and 0.3-0.5 parts of a nucleating agent. The preparation method comprises the steps of: mixing the PP resin, the PS resin, the compatilizer, the flexibilizer, the anti-oxidant, the lubricant and the nucleating agent uniformly at a high speed, then adding the reinforcing agent into the mixture and continuing high-speed mixing, adding the obtained mixture into an extruder, conducting extrusion granulation after fusion, thus obtaining the composite material. The modified polypropylene composite material prepared by the method provided in the invention has the characteristics of high gloss and low shrinkage as well as the advantages of good impact strength and high flexural modulus. And the composite material of the invention can be used for material replacement under the precondition of not replacing the original ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene) die and for production of household electrical appliance surface shell products.


This chapter traces Justice Antonin Scalia's rise from law school to a position on the Supreme Court and then his emergence as a judicial icon representing "conservatism" and "originalism" in opposition to the legacy of the Warren Court. It locates his rise in his political commitment to the Republican Party, his appeal to President Ronald Reagan and Attorney General Edwin Meese III, and his triumph over his fellow conservative intellectual Robert Bork for the leadership of judicial conservatism and the effort to promote constitutional originalism. Once established on the Court, Scalia's influence grew until he and his jurisprudence became significant political issues for both national parties, especially in subsequent judicial confirmation hearings and presidential elections. When Scalia died in early 2016, his replacement became a major issue in the presidential campaign, and the new Trump administration promised to replace him with the most Scalia-like candidate it could find.


Abstract Daphnetin, Chlorogenic Acid, Quercetin Polyphenols play an important role in the 'immune system' of plants. Since their charge is important for their physiological effect it is important to know their pKj values. Therefore, the pKj values of some plant contents such as daphnetin (pK = 7.36), chlorogenic acid (pK ≈ 8.5), and quercetin (pK1 = 7.03, pfro = 9.15) were determined in the pH range 7 -10 using UV/VIS spectroscopy. The decomposition kinetics of quercetin in alkaline solutions was taken into consideration by extrapolating the absorbance time curves to time zero (t = 0). The graphic method of absorbance (A) diagrams was used to determine the pKi values. In the case of quercetin the method of linear regression was also used for the determination.


The preparation of bibliographic references and citations
compliant with the international standard ISO 690 is required
by many institutes not limited to the Czech and Slovak
academia. However, the typesetting of bibliographies conforming
to the respective standard is not yet supported in the LaTeX
document preparation system. The biblatex-iso690 package has
been revised and improved to fully meet the requirements of the
international standard and thus greatly simplifies the
typesetting of bibliographies for all kinds of information
resources. The presentation is focused on the new version of
the package biblatex-iso690, which introduces the possible
usage examples and thus provides also the brief insight into
the standard ISO 690.


The aim of this research is to define ways of G. Bashirou's addressing to the oral folk art the role of proverbs in his works, the ways of penetrating into the text and their coincidence with the writer's ideal-esthetical standpoints.


This essay attempts at an interdisciplinary investigation into literary translation and postulates that the translation activity is a process of signification of the sign systems of the target culture. I shall attempt to instantiate and discuss the poetics of translation, which views the translation works as stylistic and holistic texts. Besides, the analysis of interlingual translation can serve as a key to comparative poetics and study of universal literature. The distinguished anthology of compiling Japanese waka Ogura Hyakunin Isshu and the Chinese translation by Derun Liu can serve as a desirable instance of analysis.


In this special guest lecture, held at Liverpool Hope University on 26 July 2016, Professor Petra Kuppers paid tribute to the life and work of her friend and colleague Tobin Siebers.1 As David Bolt explained in his introduction to the event, Professor Siebers served on the board of JLCDS for over a decade. He was an active reviewer and edited a special issue of the journal with Alice Hall shortly before he died in 2015. His work continues to make a leading contribution to the field. Given her work and friendship with Tobin Siebers and her role as a disability culture activist and community performance artist, it was more than fitting for Petra Kuppers to give the Tobin Siebers Disability Arts and Culture Lecture.The Centre for Culture and Disability Studies at Liverpool Hope University welcomed academics, independent researchers, artists and representatives from disability arts organisations across the UK to this memorial lecture. Taking place only shortly after the UK vote to leave the European Union and the horrific murder of 50 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Kuppers's talk addressed the relevance of disability activism and disability arts to asylum and sanctuary. These themes have resonated equally through her distinctive pedagogy, research, and arts practice. Beginning with personal insights into the foundations of the disability studies community at the University of Michigan, we were reminded of its emergence through activist rather than academic energies. A further account of the playful nature of the community arts activities at Michigan offered a moving description of the early days of this important work, of which Siebers was a significant part.Kuppers's address centered on the importance of interdependency and mutuality to creative arts practice through an exploration of her shared experiences of two site-specific pieces of work with her partner, the somatic poet Stephanie Heit. Kuppers began by acknowledging the influence of poet Audre Lorde on her exploration of collaborative arts practice, disability arts, and activism. The significance of "interdependency between women" is acknowledged by Lorde as "the only way to the freedom which allows the I to be not in order to be used but in order to be creative" (Lorde and Clarke 111). This sentiment is evident in Kuppers's emphasis on mutuality in her pedagogic approach as well as through her arts practice. She was keen to connect with her audience, prompting us to explore who was in the room and who was not, a pedagogic approach explained in Disability Arts and Culture. She engaged us in a fluid, conversational sharing of experience through the uses of participatory approaches, such as audience/group sourced visual descriptions and communal readings of text. These approaches enabled us to share potentially distant personal experiences making them live again in this new space. …


A two-layer rotation system is designed for quarterly surveys with two-stage sampling designs.In this system,the rotation patterns for the primary and secondary sampling units are 6 in and 3 in respectively.This system ensures that the there are 2/3 common secondary sampling units for the two adjacent quarters,and also ensures that the sample size for the primary sampling units remain unchanged during rotation process.


This paper considers the problem of passing from a linear time-invariant high order controller designed for a linear time-invariant plant (of presumably high order) to a low order approximation of the controller. The approximation problem is often best posed as a frequency weighted L¿ approximation problem. Many different controller representations are possible, giving different performance of the various reduction algorithms.


PURPOSE: A silicon carbide single crystal manufacturing device is provided to make a SiC single crystal grow up for a long time by reducing deposition of the SiC poly-crystal at a portion which does not want. CONSTITUTION: A first purge gas inflow port(8b) is included at the inner wall of a heating container. A purge gas supply source(14) supplies purge gas to the first purge gas inflow port. A second purge gas inflow port is included at the external wall of a base. The base is located within a reacting chamber of the heating container. The base comprises a first side and a second side. The second side is an opposite side of the first side. A purge gas inflow tool(11) supports the base. The purge gas inflow tool supplies the purge gas to the base from the second side of the base.


This study aims to describe and explain how Indonesia's cooperation with Norway in the conservation of Indonesia's forests through the REDD + Framework is related to the interests of both countries in carrying out this environmental cooperation as well as how the implementation of the REDD + program that both countries have formed for Central Kalimantan's forests. The method used by the writer is descriptive method of analysis, collecting techniques used by the author is literature review. The authors analyzed the data using qualitative analysis techniques supported by quantitative data. The results of this research indicate that the cooperation between Indonesia and Norway certainly has different interests between the two countries. Indonesia itself has the interest to create a good image in the eyes of the international world, this is why Indonesia has a large forest but has various problems, therefore it takes a great commitment also to maintain its forests, Norway itself has a moral obligation to developing countries who has large of forest. The implementation of this REDD + program is the activities undertaken by various parties that mentioned into the Letter Of Intent agreed by Indonesia and Norway.


The Hierarchical personnel training conformes to the modern teaching theory and practice of the individualized quality education in China.It is of great significance to meet the growing demand for innovative talents,cultivating the psychological health of the innovative talents and creating a favourable environment to generate innovative ideas.


The ADAMTS16 gene (a disintegrin and metalloproteinase domain with thrombospondin motifs) encodes a metalloproteinase with unknown physiological function. Due to structural similarity with other ADAMTS family members one would predict a role for ADAMTS16 in extracellular matrix degradation and angiogenesis. The aim of this study was to investigate ADAMTS16 expression and to identify transcriptional pathways involved in its regulation. Immunohistochemistry revealed a co‐expression of ADAMTS16 and WT1 in the embryonic kidneys and gonads, which require WT1 for normal development. Knock‐down of WT1 in kidney‐derived M15 cells by RNA interference reduced ADAMTS16 mRNA by 90±3% compared to transfection with non‐targeting siRNA. A luciferase reporter construct containing the ADAMTS16 promoter was activated more than 3‐fold by transient co‐transfection of a WT1 expression construct. Chromatin immunoprecipitation detected interaction of WT1 protein with the ADAMTS16 promoter in cultured M15 cells. In silico analysis and electrophoretic mobility shift assays proved three WT1 binding elements in the ADAMTS16 promotor in proximity to the transcription start site.


We categorize slow slip events at Kilauea Volcano into two distinct families based on GPS measurements of the surface displacement patterns. An event correlation filter confirms that "eastern" and "western" families are statistically distinguishable, with the western family notably self‐similar. The western family exhibits quasi‐periodicity with regular repeat times, while eastern family events are aperiodic or have complicated periodicity. If the decollement is the source fault for both families of events, it must have varying frictional properties at the ~10 km scale of separation. The temporal slip and spatial scaling behavior are consistent with a simplistic rate‐ and state‐dependent frictional formalism provided that the characteristic slip distance for state evolution, Dc, is of the order of millimeters rather than the 10–100 µm typically found in lab studies, and the shear rigidity is around 2 GPa, consistent with fault gouge material.


This paper encourages readers to experiment with inquiry-based learning (IBL) in their courses in the interest of identifying more diverse styles of instruction, and developing a wider understanding of the advantages and disadvantages of the methodology. The aims of the paper are to unpack the meanings of IBL, describe some uses of IBL in geography, and discuss their benefits and challenges for students and teachers. IBL is essentially a question-driven, philosophical approach to teaching that involves active, student-centred learning. The teacher acts principally as a facilitator or mentor, guiding and encouraging students through the inquiry process. Examples of IBL are presented, ranging from questioning exercises embedded in the class, through to entire courses or degrees using an inquiry-based approach. Students can benefit greatly from IBL since they are active in the learning process, can have improved understanding, more enjoyable learning, develop valuable research skills, achieve higher-order learning outcomes and perform better academically. Teachers can also benefit through a strengthening of teaching–research links and the clear gains in student engagement and learning. However, in order for IBL to be effective, teachers must be encouraged and supported to take on this facilitating role. When IBL elements are embedded in a more traditional curriculum, particular care needs to be taken so that students and teachers are carefully oriented to the expectations regarding the outcome of learning and teaching in this mode.


In Wireless Sensor Network(WSN),unreasonable node clustering algorithm will inevitably lead to premature death,unawareness of regional information.An improved LEACH algorithm based on remaining energy and location is presented.The clustering hierarchy arithmetic divides the cluster selection process into temporary cluster head and formal cluster head,considers the nodes distance and the remaining energy as an important factor in selection then chooses the best cluster head within the region.OMNET++ simulation results show its node higher utilization ratio and network reliability of improved LEACH algorithm.


The research aims to explore the resources of informational and educational nature available on the Internet and related to the theory of fuzzy logic, implementation of its mechanisms and its application to solving practical problems, the task is examine the opportunity of resources use in teaching of the relevant disciplines in higher educational establishments, the object – the cloud resource tools to support mathematical research, the subject – the cloud resources on the theory and methods of fuzzy sets and fuzzy logic, the main research method – a theoretical study.Methodological and theoretical materials with demonstrative Web-services dedicated to specified topics were found and combined into a single unit. As a result, it was formed a set of training resources that can have a positive effect during its implementation into the process of distance learning.


To gain insight into genetic microstructure of subregional populations of coastal Doug las-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii [Mirb . ] Franco var. menziesii), genetic variabi l ity in a population found on a 6 1 00-ha, central Oregon watershed is described . Genotypic values of 193 parent trees located throughout the watershed were esti mated from progeny grown in a common garden. Then, genetic variation was parti tioned into components attributable to parent-tree location and to differences among trees within locations . Within-location variation appeared to be homogeneous in the watershed ; between-location variation was related to topography, but the patterns of trait variation differed depending on the trait measured . Growth traits exhibited strong gradients with elevation, but the relationship varied depending on position within the watershed . Based on esti mates of proportions of nonadapted seedlings in hypothetical transfers of seed from one part of the watershed to another, genetic differentiation within the watershed was surpris ingly large. In one transfer of 3 .5 km between northand south-facing slopes at the same elevation, =80% of seedlings were esti mated to be poorly adapted . Although other possibi l it ies exi st, the topoclinal variation in traits probably results from selection as does the large within-location variation. Both kinds of variation are due to high selection intensities in the seedling stage, the former to selection by average environmental differences along gradients, the latter to microenvironmental heterogeneity. The combination of high withinand between-habitat variation is suited to a species which episodical l y colonizes an environment that is extremely heter ogeneou s in time and space.


Traditional theories of corporate finance and macroeconomics give no independent role to bank credit in real behavior, implicitly assuming perfect capital markets. However, most recent theoretical work in corporate finance stresses capital market imperfections which limit access to finance for certain borrowers. Banks are seen as means to overcome these difficulties, implying a comparative advantage over securities markets, and that bank lending may have real effects. Empirical results at a micro level tend to support many of these theories, based on asymmetric information and incomplete contracts, albeit often also being consistent with other hypotheses. Equally, some progress had been made relating recent developments in banking and corporate finance to macroeconomic developments (the so-called credit channel of monetary transmission). The central banks are showing a greater interest in credit as an indicator and component of the monetary-policy transmission mechanism, partly in the light of this body of research. Copyright 1994 by Oxford University Press.


The Nuclear Power Engineering Corporation (NUPEC) has conducted two hydrogen combustion tests to ensure integrity of a containment vessel. One is a small-scale test and the other is a large-scale test. The small-scale test was performed to investigate the flammability limit and behavior of hydrogen combustion using a cylindrical vessel with an inner diameter of 1.5 m and an inner height of 3.5 m. As shown in Table 1, test conditions were selected on the basis of light water reactor accident conditions. A spark igniter was used with an energy of 1.86 J at the plug tip. A piezo electric-type pressure transducer was used to measure the peak pressure in the vessel. Thermocouples were arranged at intervals of 30 cm to determine the flame propagational speed.


With the fast propagation of time, most of the activities are now available on internet. In this environment, users have to be authenticated before to being granted access to sensitive contents. Password is the predominant tool which protects data and keeps information digitally safe. It is been seen that text password stays popular than the other forms of passwords due to its simplicity and convenience. Therefore, it can be easily stolen and misused under different vulnerabilities such as hacking, identity theft, Cyber stalking and website cloning. Users are likely to choose weak passwords and reuse the password for various websites. In this case if one password is revealed, it can be used for all other websites. This is called as the Domino Effect. Another issue is when a person enters his/her password into an untrusted computer; the adversary can steal password by launching attacks such as phishing, malware and key loggers etc. In this paper, we propose a simple approach which allows a client to counter such attacks by separately entering a long-term secret used to generate one-time password for each login session on all websites through an independent personal trusted device such as a cell phone, which provides two-factor authentication. Along with this, system requires each participating website possesses a user's unique cell phone number and involves telecommunication services in registration and recovery phases. Keywords— Network Security; Password Authentication Protocols; Phishing and Password Reuse Attacks.


To the Editor: We have read with great interest the recent paper of Michal and colleagues reporting a distinctive atypical lipomatous neoplasm with anisocytosis, focal nuclear atypia, p53 overexpression, RB1 gene abnormalities and a lack of MDM2 gene amplification by FISH, for which they propose the term "dysplastic lipoma."1 Recently, the clinicopathologic, immunohistochemical, and molecular characteristics of a heterogenous group of atypical low-grade adipocytic neoplasms with spindle cell features were described, for which the term atypical spindle cell lipomatous tumor (ASLT) has been proposed.2 In our experience, marked regional morphologic variation within the same lesion and between different lesions can be observed in ASLT, depending on the variable proportions of adipocytes, spindle cells, and an either myxoid or collagenous extracellular matrix.2–4 When reviewing the hematoxylin-eosin pictures of the "dysplastic lipomas" in the paper of Michal et al,1 we noticed striking morphologic similarities (including the reported adipocytic size variation with single-cell fat necrosis, the patchy often mild adipocytic atypia with chromatin coarsening, nuclear enlargement, and focal binucleation or multinucleation) with recent referral cases of low cellular examples of ASLT, which were composed of a predominant adipocytic component (Fig. 1). Moreover, all these so-called "fat-rich" variants of ASLT consistently show similar immunohistochemical and molecular features as described by Michal et al1 in "dysplastic lipoma," including p53 overexpression, RB1 protein loss, and RB1 gene deletion by fluorescence in situ hybridization. In these cases, the collagenous stroma and spindled stroma cells were not abundant (comparable with the observations in the group of "dysplastic lipomas") and only very focally (< 5% of the tumor) more cellular diagnostic areas were seen, composed of atypical spindle-shaped tumor cells with hyperchromatic nuclei, compatible with the diagnosis of ASLT (so-called "fat-rich" or "spindle cell-poor" variant of ASLT) (Fig. 2). It is known that the diagnostic atypical morphologic features (such as cytonuclear atypia of the spindle cell component) can be very focal in ASLT and can be easily missed microscopically or as a result of insufficient sampling of large lesions.5 In conclusion, "dysplastic lipomas" show similar morphologic, immunohistochemical, and molecular features as the recently described ASLT and one could argue that (at least some) dysplastic lipomas could represent "fat-rich"/"spindle cellpoor" variants of ASLT.


Tobacco use is the single greatest preventable cause of death in the world. Most tobacco users want to quit but find it difficult to stop due to the addictiveness of nicotine. Interventions for tobacco cessation are important in enabling tobacco users to stop using, which includes pharmacological and nonpharmacological approaches to aid tobacco cessation. Pharmacological approaches include nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) and nonnicotine medications (bupropion and varenicline). NRT delivers nontoxic forms of nicotine to help tobacco user's deal with nicotine cravings and maintains stimulation of the nicotine receptors. Forms of delivery for NRT include the following: nicotine chewing gum, nicotine lozenge, transdermal patch, nicotine inhaler, nicotine nasal spray, and nicotine sublingual tablets. These NRTs are in general well tolerated and have minimal adverse effects. The present review gives an overview about various modes of NRT methods currently used to treat nicotine dependence.


We report the activation of silicon implanted with phosphorus and boron atoms by microwave annealing using carbon powder as a heat source. Silicon substrates were covered with carbon powder and then irradiated with 2.45 GHz microwaves using a commercial microwave oven. Carbon powder effectively absorbs microwaves and heats itself at 1000 °C. Silicon substrates are heated by thermal conduction. We carried out implantations of phosphorus atoms at a concentration of 1.0 × 1015 cm−2 at 75 keV and boron atoms at a concentration of 1.0 × 1015 cm−2 at 25 keV for p- and n-type silicon substrates, respectively. Microwave annealing at 1000 W for 120 s achieved sheet resistivities of 140 and 85 Ω/sq for the phosphorus- and boron-implanted samples, respectively. It also realized the recrystallization of surface amorphized regions caused by implantation. Moreover, low surface recombination velocities of 3.8 × 102 and 2.7 × 102 cm/s were obtained at the top implanted surfaces for the phosphorus- and boron-implanted samples, respectively. Typical diode rectified characteristics and solar cell characteristics with a conversion efficiency of 10.1% were successfully obtained.


Making autonomous mobile devices capable of autonomous positioning and map building in a GPS-denied environment as well as being able to circumvent people in the operating area simultaneously, is essential for many UGV appliances. In this paper, a mapping and positioning system using dual LIDAR is proposed for positioning and building maps. The system may also detect people in the operating space of the equipment using infrared heat maps. The localization and mapping information from each LIDAR is unified in a loosely coupled approach after simultaneous extrinsic calibration. We propose a method for constructing factor graph using LIDAR point cloud geometric features to optimally solve the dual LIDAR extrinsic in real time. We tested the localization accuracy with a publicly available dataset and three real-world scenarios and compared it with three existing methods. The test results in open-source datasets and real scenarios show that our proposed method improves the position and attitude estimation by up to 50% compared to the three existing methods, and the proposed dual LIDAR extrinsic calibration method can achieve an estimation accuracy of 0.05 m for the translational extrinsic and 1deg for the rotational extrinsic. In addition, our proposed method achieves well position and attitude estimation when other existing methods show severe drift in trajectory estimation in real scenarios. Thus, our proposed method is suitable for obtaining high accuracy measurements of LIDAR extrinsic parameters and for dense mapping and accurate localization in the environment of GNSS-denied and human mobility.


The pig feed additive made up by Chinese herbal medicines of allicin, ginger extract, licorice, biota seed, polygonatum root, medicated leaven, magnolia bark, crataegus fruit, tangerine peel and sping jujube kernal contains no chemical hormone, and has no toxic side effect, can promot growth of pig, daily gain can be up to above 600g.


Oil painting represents the mainstream of modern Western painting art. The development history of Western painting art cannot be separated from the evolution of the style, subject matter and techniques of oil painting. Since its emergence, oil painting has experienced several style periods, including classicism, Romanticism, Impressionism, abstraction and so on. Among them, Impressionism, which was born in the middle of 19th century, played an important role in the history of western oil painting. It changed the style and way of oil painting popular in the past few centuries with new color theory and creative techniques. Impressionism emphasized the intuitive observation and real performance of the painting object. Since then, painting is no longer limited to the spiritual transmission of the author, and "what you paint is what you see" has gradually become one of the creation principles of Western oil painting. This paper analyzes the paintings of famous Impressionist painters with examples, sums up how Impressionist paintings skillfully use light, shadow and color to create, and discusses its referential significance for modern illustration.


The present thesis concerns the crowdsensing though the use of PAN technologies. Specifically the technologies that we are going to analyze firstly, are the case of Location identification through the use of Cellular networks technologies (GSM/3G/4G) and then the case of Wi-Fi.Concerning the case of Wi-Fi, we are describing the proper equipment and the steps that we have to follow, to apply the Passive Wi-Fi tracking technique that will help us with crowdsensing.Then they presented some relatively new technologies, as this of Bluetooth-BT (and Bluetooth Low Energy - BLE) and this of NFC and RFID.
About the BLE technology we are manufacture and describing the use of ibeacon, where with the help of android application that we developed, we can find the user's location.In conclusion, we report the web and online Social Networks which give us enough information to identify the atoms in space.The difference of the last service of the others, is that the user voluntarily provides us with the necessary information to detect him, while the other detection techniques become many times unknowingly. For this reason we must mention that this thesis become only for research purposes and not for exploitation.Finally, all tests were made using exclusively our own devices and there was no use of personal data to third parties, and this is why all the tests performed on appropriately configured lab environment (anechoic chamber).


The problem of this study is  the emotionality and selfishness of the characters in the novel of Tere Liye Pulang. The purpose of this study is to describe the study of emotionality and egoism in literary novels. The method used in this study is a descriptive method. The data source for this study is the novel Pulang Go by Tere Liye  published by Sabak Grip Nusantara Jakarta in January 2021. The data collection technique of this study is the documentary technique. The data analysis technique for this study is the content analysis technique. The results of the research and discussion of the novel Tere Liye Pulang Go  show the results of the emotional analysis, which includes the emotions of sadness, anger, fear and happiness of the characters Bujang, Salonga, Krestniy Otets, Maria, Natascha and Thomas. And the results of the analysis of egoism include 4 things, namely how  a person perceives himself as himself, how  a person thinks about himself, how  a person evaluates himself, how  a person tries to improve himself in various ways.

Keywords: Emotionalism Studies, Selfishness, Novel


The change in the state of sky from cloudy to cloudless (or vice versa) comprises an additional phase called "transition zone," in which the characteristics of the particle suspension lay between those corresponding to pure clouds and atmospheric aerosols. This phase, however, is usually considered, in atmospheric monitoring and modeling, as an area containing either aerosol or thin clouds. A sensitivity analysis has been performed to assess the longwave radiative effects resulting from different approximations to the transition zone for three radiation parameterizations included in the Weather Research and Forecasting Model. The parameterizations produce important differences (up to 60 W m−2) between radiative effects of optically thin layers of aerosols and clouds (as surrogates for transition zone suspensions) in the longwave region, both at the top and bottom of the atmosphere. Also, differences are greater if the suspension of particles is located at higher altitudes, but smaller in high humidity conditions.


" Transfer population of agriculture",this title has been there quite a long time,but it is really perceived by people was in the " Eighteenth National People's Congres",it proposed " citizenization of transfer population of agricultural orderly way". At present,although the study of citizenization of transfer population of agriculture shortly after the start,but the era characteristics of its has make it become a hot issue. This article will summarizes the results of academic research for the citizenization of transfer population of agricultural orderly way in order to promote the in-depth study of it workers also provide some reference to social practices.


The Lake Albano is situated in the Colli Albani volcanic district, about 20 km SE from the city centre of Rome. It is 287 m above sea level and is the deepest among the volcanic crater lakes of Italy, being presently 167 m deep. It is 3.5 km long and 2.3 km wide with an area of about 6 km. The crater has a long history, which starts with the formation of the Albano crater ~70 ka B.P., and shows evidence of human settlements since pre-historical times. Geological evidence indicates that a catastrophic overflow of the lake occurred in 396 B.C.E. due to a rapid increase of the water level. This phenomenon persuaded the Romans to excavate an artificial outlet though the crater wall to control the lake level. The lake is thought to be hazardous for the surroundings human settlements and the city of Rome, high resolution multibeam bathymetry of the of Lake Albano was performed for the Italian Dipartimento della Protezione Civile, in order to evaluate the potential for CO2 storage and eruption from the lake. The shape of the crater floor was mapped in 2-D and 3-D. Here, we show the main submerged morphological features and a brief history of the lake level changes, which still affect this basin today.

http://www.earth-prints.org/bitstream/2122/5965/1/The Albano crater lake_GSL_REV_final 101209.pdf


Least Squares Support Vector Machine (LS-SVM) is a computationally efficient kernel-based regression approach which has been recently applied to nonparametric identification of Linear Parameter Varying (LPV) systems. In contrast to parametric LPV identification approaches, LS-SVM based methods obviate the need to parameterize the scheduling dependence of the LPV model coefficients in terms of a-priori specified basis functions. However, an accurate selection of the underlying model order (in terms of number of input lags, output lags and input delay) is still a critical issue in the identification of LPV systems in the LS-SVM setting. In this paper, we address this issue by extending the LS-SVM method to sparse LPV model identification, which, besides non-parametric estimation of the model coefficients, achieves datadriven model order selection via convex optimization. The main idea of the proposed method is to first estimate the coefficients of an over-parameterized LPV model through LS-SVM. The estimated coefficients are then scaled by polynomial weights, which are shrunk towards zero to enforce sparsity in the final LPV model estimate. The properties of the proposed approach are illustrated via simulation examples.


The economy of the developing country like India predominantly depends on agriculture and development of it emphasizes on the need of related information to be transferred to the farmers. Now-a-days Information and Communication Technology (ICT) plays a vital role in every sector of development. The country like India is increasingly integrating ICT into its national development plan and adopting strategies for its wide spread promotion for transforming the nation into a knowledge vibrant e-learning society. The farmers are also showing interest towards ICT. A positive attitude towards ICT will surely enhance this interest towards harnessing benefits out of it on a sustained basis. As attitude depends upon the socio-personal disposition of an individual, the present study tried to tress out those factors in relation to use of ICT. The study was conducted in Cooch Behar district of West Bengal. An attitude scale was used to generate data. From the study, it has been found that family education, asset possession, management orientation and communication behaviour are significantly associated with the development of favourable attitude towards use of ICT tools.


Objective To investigate the effect of health education on enhance the hand hygiene consciousness and execution power of major company in direct rooming-in,prevent nosocomial infection(NI) and guarantee maternity and child health.Method A questionnaire survey and pertinent health education was made on major company in direct rooming-in.Result Except exposure to body fluids,the hand hygiene awareness and implementation rate of major company were poor,and it was significant different before and after health education(P0.05).Conclusion Health education is propitious to enhance the hand hygiene consciousness and implementation rate of major company in direct rooming-in.


This paper describes that using EGR will increases the diesel engine inlet charge temperature and lowers the charge mass as well as the oxygen concentration. Through the experimental investigation,the effects of increasing the inlet charge temperature and reducing the charge mass on vehicle DI diesel engine emissions are analysed.


Simple Summary North American bean thrips, Caliothrips fasciatus, native to California (U.S.), is a regular contaminant of navel oranges exported from California. Despite more than 100 years of accidental shipments overseas, this polyphagous thrips has not established outside of its native range. Understanding why this thrips has not successfully invaded other parts of the world may be explained, in part, by the effects of temperature on fitness. This study investigated the effects of nine fluctuating temperatures that averaged 8, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 32, 35, and 37 °C over a 24 h period on the developmental and reproductive biology of C. fasciatus to better understand the effects of temperature on these critical life history characters and how temperature may influence the invasion potential of this thrips. Abstract North American bean thrips, Caliothrips fasciatus, native to California U.S., has been detected inside the navels of navel oranges exported from California for more than 120 years. Despite this long history of accidental movement into new areas, this thrips has failed to establish populations outside of its native range. The cold accumulation hypothesis postulates that increasing levels of cold stress experienced by thrips overwintering inside navels is compounded when harvested fruit is shipped under cold storage conditions. Consequently, the fitness of surviving thrips is compromised, which greatly diminishes invasion potential. At the time this study was conducted, the effects of temperature on C. fasciatus fitness were unknown. To address this shortcoming, the effects of nine fluctuating temperatures that averaged 8, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 32, 35, and 37 °C over a 24 h period on the developmental and reproductive biology of C. fasciatus were evaluated. One linear and five nonlinear regression functions were fit to egg-to-adult development rate data for parent and offspring thrips to characterize thermal performance curves. Estimates of minimum, optimal, and maximum temperature thresholds for development were in the ranges of −4.37–6.52 °C (i.e., Tmin), 31.19–32.52 °C (i.e., Topt), and 35.07–37.98 °C (i.e., Tmax), respectively. Degree day accumulation to complete development, estimated from linear regression, ranged 370.37–384.61. Average development times for eggs, first and second instar larvae, propupae, pupae, and adult longevity, and mean lifetime fecundity of females were significantly affected by temperature. These biological responses to temperature may provide insight into how this abiotic variable affects the invasion potential of C. fasciatus.


Probiotics are gaining popularity both empirically and scientifically as eco-friendly alternatives in aquaculture. The present research proposed to examine the influences of selective probiotics on the growth, hematology, microbes, and morphology of the intestine of stinging catfish (Heteropneustes fossilis) in a biofloc system. Additionally, this study evaluated the benefit–cost ratio (BCR) of specific probiotics used in the biofloc system. Stinging catfish fingerlings (average weight 0.86 ± 0.26 g) were equally distributed (250 fingerlings/400 L water-filled PVC tank) into three treatment groups and reared for 16 weeks. Two commercial probiotics (CP-1 and CP-2) and one laboratory-developed probiotic were used in the study. The results showed significantly higher growth (weight gain and specific growth rate), feed efficiency, improved intestinal microbiota, and enhanced morphology in fish reared with laboratory-developed probiotics in the biofloc system. Moreover, indicators of increased immune responses, such as enhancements in the intestinal mucosal fold, width of enterocytes and lamina propria, and abundance of goblet cells, were also observed in fish reared with laboratory-developed probiotics. The BCR, which determined business profitability, was also highest for the laboratory-developed probiotics in the biofloc system. Therefore, the results suggest that laboratory-developed probiotics are economically viable and environmentally friendly growth stimulators for stinging catfish culture in a biofloc system.


Measurement errors in survey data on hourly pay may lead to serious upward bias in low pay estimates. We consider how to correct for this bias when auxiliary accurately measured data are available for a subsample. An application to the UK Labour Force Survey is described. The use of fractional imputation, nearest neighbour imputation, predictive mean matching and propensity score weighting are considered. Properties of point estimators are compared both theoretically and by simulation. A fractional predictive mean matching imputation approach is advocated. It performs similarly to propensity score weighting, but displays slight advantages of robustness and efficiency.


Co-hosted by Falmouth University and the Victorian Popular Fiction Association

Keynote Speakers:
William Hughes, Bath Spa University
Andy Smith, University of Sheffield

Villainous, feminised, weak and wanting; men in the sensation genre are often seen as lacking. Critical readings of the genre, moreover, have tended to focus on its constructions of femininity, largely neglecting representations of men and masculinity. Examining the under-explored subject of Victorian men, masculinity and sensation, "Sensational Men: Victorian Masculinity in Sensation Fiction, Theatre and the Arts" represents a timely and important intervention in the field.
This one day symposium at Falmouth University provided scholars working in many different fields such as: popular fiction studies, theatre studies, Gothic studies, art history, early photography and film, theories of gender, sexuality and nation in nineteenth century studies.


The study of the human‐structure interaction (HSI) using biodynamics models has gained attention lately. Several studies have demonstrated that the passive (standing still) and active (bobbing/bouncing or walking) persons can act for the benefit of the structural system by considering their body dynamic properties. Nevertheless, little concern has been addressed regarding the HSI during jumping loads on floors. This kind of human load is often considered as a "force‐only" model by design guides, and the body dynamics is disregarded. Therefore, aiming at filling this gap, this work investigates experimental and numerically an individual jumping on a vibrating (flexible) floor mounted in the laboratory. The active HSI was evaluated considering both single and two degree of freedom models in time and frequency domains. Besides, the assessment of the human body dynamic parameters (spring, mass and damper) was carried out based on optimisation techniques. The results show the potential benefit of taking into account the active HSI in near‐resonant cases to the detriment of a force‐only model.


*Department of Anaesthesiology, General Intensive Care Medicine and Pain Management, Medical University of Vienna; †Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Otto Wagner Hospital Vienna, Sozialmedizinisches Zentrum Baumgartner Höhe; ‡Department of Nephrology, Medical University of Vienna; §Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Otto Wagner Hospital Vienna; and kLudwigBoltzmann Institute for COPD and Respiratory Epidemiology, Vienna; and ¶Department of Nephrology, Landeskrankenhaus Steyr, Steyr, Austria. Copyright © 2015 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved. DOI: 10.1097/SA.0000000000000156


In the present work the kinetics of the acid-catalyzed esterification reaction of oleic acid with trimethylolpropane was described, by carrying out of the process under vacuo at 120°C and applying different weight percentage (w%) of p-TSA as a catalyst. The reaction was studied at following percents of p-TSA: 0 w%, 0.5 w%, 1 w% and 5 w% and the duration time of 1200 min. The reaction kinetics was monitored by analyzing the acid value of the aliquots taken from the mixture. Authors noticed that the highest reaction rate of the process as well as the best results in regard to the yield of the obtained product were achieved using 5 w% of p-TSA. However, darkening of the mixture was observed, probably due to the oxidation process, which reduces the purity and quality of the resulting product. Moreover, some problems with product purification during washing of the reaction mixture were observed, probably due to increasing of emulsification properties of reaction mixture at higher weight percents of catalyst. Therefore, in order to select the optimal reaction conditions, the percent of catalyst must be precisely selected by variations in the range between 2 w% and 5 w% p-TSA relative to oleic acid.


This chapter contains sections titled: Introduction Transform-Domain Receiver Background Transform-Domain Sampling Receiver Digital Baseband Design for the TD Receiver A Comparative Study Simulations Gain-Bandwidth Product Requirement for an Op-Amp in a Charge-Sampling Circuit Sparsity of ( G H G ) -1 Applications Conclusions References


The term neuroma is used generally to signify a tumour originating in or upon a nerve; but, like many other terms in medical nomenclature, the use of the word has exceeded its proper limitation. Thus it is not uncommonly applied to express the character of any tumour in connection with a peculiar train of nervous symptoms, although such tumour has nothing whatever to do with the nerves or their ramifications. For instance, the " painful subcutaneous tubercle" is commonly called a neuroma, whereas it has been plainly demonstrated by repeated dissections and microscopic examinations, that in the great majority of cases no nerve fibrils can be found, either in or upon the tumour. A neuroma, properly so called, is always developed on the interior of the nerve sheath, in the substance of the nerve itself, or on the extremity of a divided nerve.


The paper presents a summary of experimental studies of the corpuscular and X‐ray emission, which were carried out with two medium‐size Plasma‐Focus (PF) facilities at IPJ in Swierk, Poland, during recent years. Those experiments were performed with the MAJA‐PF and PF‐360 devices operated within the energy range from 37 kJ to 121 kJ. The two‐peak neutron emission was observed within PF‐360 facility discharges. Energy of neutrons in the first pulse, as measured along the z‐axis, was En = (2.65 ± 0.13) MeV, while that measured side‐on was En = (2.47 ± 0.15) MeV. Electron beams were mostly generated after the maximum compression phase, while high‐energy deuterons were generated earlier.


Abstract Traffic barriers are in widespread use all around the world as measures for decreasing the severity of roadside crashes. Considering a comprehensive set of more than 160 variables, this article presents the investigation of the variables affecting the severity of crashes involving traffic barriers. An ordinal logistic regression approach was applied to 10-year crash data collected in Wyoming. The crash data included a wide range of various parameters related to traffic, drivers, and road geometry conditions. The results show that the type of vehicles and traffic barriers has the highest effect on the severity of crashes involved with traffic barriers. The rigid barrier might be the best barrier type for reducing trucks' crash severity, whereas guardrail barrier did not provide the same level of protection for trucks on high truck traffic-volume roads. The presented analytical model is more practical for rural states similar to the Rocky Mountains Region due to its similar conditions. The conclusions of the study will help transportation agencies by (1) guiding the designers when selecting the proper type of traffic barriers based on different road conditions and (2) ranking the risk of various traffic barrier segments for prioritizing the most hazardous ones for future improvements.


Objective. The objective of the article is to suggest the ways of increasing the level of students' speech culture in the classes of the Ukrainian language for professional purposes in institutions of higher education. Methods. The study involves theoretical analysis and synthesis of literature on the studied problem, practical selection of factual material and the formulation of conclusion on its basis. Results. The article considers methods, types, techniques and forms of work on the formation of students' speech culture, the effectiveness of creating situations of professionally oriented speech in the Ukrainian language classes for professional purposes, offers examples of exercises and tasks that promote students' communicative competence. For the formation of the proper speech culture of future skilled specialists, it is important to form an understanding that speech culture will give them the opportunity to use the language in professional activities skillfully, as well as in the Ukrainian language classes to create professionally oriented situations of professionally oriented speech, to choose interesting, meaningful and informative exercises and tasks of different types in view of future professional activity. Studying the Ukrainian language at the professional level in accordance with the developed concept provides students with considerable opportunities: to understand peculiarities of the language system, the specificity of using different language units depending on the scope and purpose of use; develop skills in the correct use of language, speech, and communicative standards of professional communication; develop the ability and skills to navigate in the spheres of professionally oriented speech. The choice of effective teaching methods and technologies, forms of activity, ways of interaction between the teacher and the student enables us to optimize the process of learning the Ukrainian language, to improve the organization of individual, group and collective activities of students who are skilled specialists in future.


The article considers the issues concerning the nature and character of organizational structure of the main RussianMongolian political institution on governmental interaction in the field of protection and use of transboundary waters.


Background: Infantile tremor syndrome (ITS) is characterized by gradual onset of mental and psychomotor changes, pigmentary disturbances in hairs and skin, pallor, tremors and neuroregression. The aim of study was to determine clinical, haematological and radiological spectrum of children admitted with infantile tremor syndrome.Methods: It was a prospective cross-sectional study done in age group of 6 months to 5 years conducted in department of pediatrics of a tertiary care medical college with duration of 18 months. Clinical, haematological and radiological profile parameters of 36 children admitted during study period with ITS were recorded as per prepared performa and analysed. Microsoft excel was used in creating database while data was analysed by using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 23.0.Results: Total 36 children were enrolled in study. Mean age was 12.33±3.89 months and mostly were male (55.6%). Most (72.2%) of children belonged to lower socioeconomic status and (83.3%) were exclusively breastfed. Only 11.1% had severe acute malnutrition (SAM). 77.77% had vitamin B12 levels below normal. Progressive paleness (88.9%), delayed development (61.1%) and developmental regression (58.3%) were most common complaints reported. 63.9% had tremors at presentation. In MRI findings, poor myelination with thinning of corpus callosum (16.7%) and uniform thinning of corpus callosum with subtle hypomyelination in bilateral frontal lobes (8.3%) were major findings. In majority of children tremor disappeared in 11-15 days (30.6%) after starting treatment.Conclusions: ITS should to be considered as a differential diagnosis in an infant on exclusive breast feeding with vegetarian mother with poor weaning practices presenting with neuroregression, tremor and malnutrition with skin changes.


Corn silk is a well-known traditional Chinese medicine that has been widely used for its antidiabetic, antioxidant, antihyperlipidemic, and other effects in China for thousands of years. Numerous studies have revealed that corn silk contains multiple bioactive constituents that are beneficial for human health. However, the constituents of corn silk in vivo remain ambiguous. In this paper, high-throughput ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography combined with quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry technology using multivariate statistical analysis was established to systematically investigate the constituents migrating into blood from corn silk aqueous extract. As a result, 76 compounds were identified, including caffeic acid and 10 of its derivatives, (E)-p-coumaric acid and 2 of its derivatives, ferulic acid and 4 of its derivatives, and 5 flavones. Among the identified constituents, 21 constituents, including 9 prototype components and 12 metabolites derived from 8 components, were characterized in sequence. Based on the significance of the results, the applied approach was powerful for the accurate determination and rapid screening of bioactive components from corn silk aqueous extract. The obtained results are valuable for the in-depth understanding and further pharmacological study of corn silk aqueous extract. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.


This document contains information about submitting essays, commentaries, reviews, responses, and other writings to online companions to the main law reviews and journals at selected law schools. The document includes word-count limitations, subject matter specifications, preferred submission methods, whether articles from the online journal are included in HeinOnline's Law Journal Library and other information of possible interest to authors. It covers 50 online companions to main law reviews.


Urban-rural planning is the new content of region planning whereas there is no literature to analyze it systemically. The paper defines the concept and analyzes the necessity and impendence from the viewpoint of constructing harmonious society, dealing with the question of "Sannong" and promoting urban development. The paper proposes that symbiosis theory, industrial diffusion, spatial increasing and sustainable development theory as the basic theory for urban-rural planning and e-laborates on the relationship between symbiosis theory and the content of planning and the process of harmony of urban with rural entities. Based on the analysis of basic theory, the author concludes the content including nine aspects and summarizes the relationship between urban-rural planning and region planning.


The present invention provides a buffer controlling apparatus and method for controlling a packet storing buffer, wherein the buffer comprises a data buffer and a command storage area. The method comprising: calculating the number of packets stored in the data buffer; send multiple to the one of the packet buffer, and updates a count value in accordance with the access state of the buffer, wherein the count value indicates that the data buffer the remaining storage capacity of the region; and comparing the count value with a maximum length packet, determines whether to increase the number of packets stored in the buffers. Buffer control apparatus and method according to the present invention, the reaction can indeed data buffer storage conditions to reduce idle space in the data buffer, to enhance the effectiveness of the data buffer storage efficiency.


: "Software project managers need tools to estimate and track project goals in a continuous fashion before, during, and af-ter development of a system. In a ddition, they need an ability to compare the current project status with past project profiles to validate management intuition, identify problems, and then direct appropriate resources to the sources of problems. This paper describes a measurement-based approach to calculating the risk in-hereent in meeting project goals that leverages past project met-rics and exising estimation and tracking models. We introduce the IV & V Goal/Questions/Metrics model. explain its use in the software


Adopting reasonable chemical composition design,clean steel technology and TMCP process,Laiwu Steel realized industry productions of 610 MPa grade automobile beam steel. The products have good mechanical properties:The yield strength is 550 MPa,the tensile strength is 652 MPa and the percentage elongation is 27%. The microstructure of LG610L is mainly F+P and the even grain size reaches 12 grade. The fatigue strength is 635 MPa under 50% survival rates,meeting the user's requirements fully.


The paper deals with the petrographic and geochemical investigation of basalt flows present in a gravel quarry in the town of Moncoes in northwestern Sao Paulo State, members of the Serra Geral Formation of the Parana Basin. Were collected 11 samples from different horizons within a topographic vertical profile with an average of 18 meters in height. The samples were subjected to macroscopic and microscopic petrographic and chemical major, minor and trace. The results indicated that it is tholeiitic basalts with dense fine grained average. Petrographic analyzes show that basalts studied are basically constituted by plagioclase (between 33 and 49%), labradorite and clinopyroxenes (between 29 and 46%) represented by the subordinate pigeonite and augite, having as accessories opaque (between 3 and 15% ), olivine ( 1.8% TiO2, and apparently belong to the Pitanga magma-type. The geochemical analyzes proved unsatisfactory for the determination of a probable lithogeochemistry differentiation within the vertical stroke for generating multiple data correlation or no immediately discernible trends. Keys words: Petrology, Basalt, Magmatic Province of Parana, Serra Geral Formation, Lava flows, Geochemistry and Petrography.


DNA-sequence-dependent thymine-thymine (TT) dimerization was investigated from the perspective of the UV-induced charge transfer state. Steady-state and transient absorption measurements suggest that the relatively small oxidation potential and long-lived charge transfer state at the neighboring nucleobases of the TT site may reduce DNA lesion accumulation.


An efficient scheme for enhanced second harmonic generation in a nonlinear optical hexagonal microcavity by the combined mechanisms of total internal reflection and quasi-phase-matching is proposed. We demonstrate the operational principle by numerical simulation results showing resonance operation in a suitably designed hexagonal optical microresonator, revealing thus the operating feasibility of the proposed scheme in nonlinear material platforms such as Lithium Niobate. The fabrication of high optical quality hexagonal superstructures by chemical etching of inverted ferroelectric domains in this Lithium Niobate platform suggests a route for successful implementation. Design aspects, optimization issues and characteristics of the proposed device are presented.


Data collected during the second run made with untreated water in the laboratory test facility constructed for studying corrosion supplement the information obtained in the first run when phosphate-treated water was used. In the test facility, there was less corrosion of the copper condenser tubes when untreated water was used than when phosphate-treated water was used. Also, the untreated water deposited much less silt on the tubes. However, steel piping in the test system was severely corroded by the untreated water. (auth)


Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Imaging is a popular non-invasive technique used for assessing the cardiac performance. Automating the segmentation helps in increased diagnosis accuracy in considerably less time and effort. In this paper a novel approach has been proposed to improve the automated segmentation process by increasing the accuracy of segmentation and laying focus on efficient pre-processing of the cardiac Magnetic Resonance (MR) image. The pre-processing module in the proposed method includes noise estimation and efficient denoising of images using discrete total variation based Non local means method.Segmentation accuracy is evaluated using measures such as average perpendicular distance and dice similarity coefficient. The performance of all the segmentation techniques is improved. Further segmentation comparison has also been performed using other state-of-the art noise removal techniques for pre-processing and it was observed that the proposed pre-processing technique outperformed other noise removal techniques in improving the segmentation accuracy.


The present study aimed at developing the social and environmental skills of the youth of the Arab Scout Organization, as well as the contribution of the Arab Scout Organization to achieving its objectives in serving the environment through a proposed program. Interviews with a number of mobile people and also through attending conferences and workshops in the Arab Scout Organization. Some observations were drawn. The most important of these were the lack of scouting programs to use the skill of time management, teamwork and communication, The appropriate strategy to confirmandstrengthen, In view of the importance of afforestation skills and the preservation of the environment and the rationalization of the consumption of water, food and electric energy for the protection of the environment, a program was developed to develop social and environmental skills for youth members of the Arab Scout Organization. The study used the descriptive analytical method. The study tools were a note card and a questionnaire. The sample of the study was the members of the Arab Scout Organization in Cairo (75) youth during the period 2017/2018. The research tools were applied to the members of the research group (experimental and control) before and after the application of the program. The results of the research resulted in the effectiveness of the proposed program in developing the skill of time management, teamwork and communication skills. Therefore, the research recommended the importance of developing the skill of afforestation, Consumption of water, food and electrical energy for the protection of the environment.


In the first autumn of the COVID-19 pandemic, long-time theatre collaborators in two different cities in the US South discuss the future of an art form that has currently gone dark. Influenced by punk culture, twenty-first-century internet aesthetics, social justice movements and their
 pets, this decade-strong creative team reflects in a multimedia format on their past work and enumerates their priorities for the future of musical theatre: cheap, remote, inexperienced, local, radical and full of women and sexual/gender minorities.


Killifish (Fundulus heteroclitus (L., 1766)) collected in the wild and kept in full-strength seawater were naturally parasitized by the ectoparasite Argulus funduli Kroyer, 1863, a copepod fish louse that creates inflamed skin le- sions on the opercular epithelium and host gills. We assessed the damage done by lesions by counting the density of mitochondria-rich cells by fluorescence microscopy and by measuring Cl - secretion rate electrophysiologically using con- trol (no lesions) and affected isolated opercular epithelia, often as paired left and right membranes from a single fish. Epi- thelia with lesions had a significantly reduced Cl - secretion rate, and in the lesions, the density of chloride cells was near zero. Contralateral membranes without lesions from infested fish had transport rates not significantly different from mem- branes taken from uninfected control animals, indicating no overcompensation on the contralateral membranes. Healthy control and infested animals were transferred to hypersaline conditions (twice seawater). Infested and control animals all survived transfer and had elevated plasma Na + and plasma osmolality. Infested animals failed to significantly elevate Im to the same level as healthy animals and there was a difference in hematocrit. Happily, the hypersaline challenge also re- sulted in detachment and death of adult A. funduli. We conclude that Argulus lesions impair salt transport in affected membranes but do not significantly affect survival on hypersaline challenge, and that hypersaline exposure is a successful treatment for A. funduli infestation in these strongly euryhaline teleosts. Resume´ : Des choquemorts (Fundulus heteroclitus (L., 1766)) recoltes en nature et gardes en eau de mer non diluee sont parasites naturellement par le copepode ectoparasite Argulus funduli Kroyer, 1863, un pou des poissons, qui cree des le´- sions cutanees inflammatoires sur l'epithelium operculaire et les branchies de l'hote. Nous avons evalueles dommages causes par ces lesions en comptant le nombre de cellules riches en mitochondries par microscopie a fluorescence; nous avons aussi mesurepar electrophysiologie la secretion de Cl - en utilisant des epitheliums operculaires isolest emoins (sans lesion) et affectes, souvent des membranes appariees droite et gauche provenant d'un meme poisson. Les epitheliums qui portent des lesions ont un taux significativement reduit de secretion de Cl - et la densitedes cellules a chlorures est presque nulle dans les lesions. Les membranes contralaterales non lesees des poissons infestes ont des taux de transport qui ne sont pas differents de ceux des membranes provenant des poissons temoins sains, ce qui indique qu'il ne se fait pas de surcom- pensation dans les membranes contralaterales. Nous avons transferedes animaux temoins sains et d'autres infestes dans des conditions hypersalines (deux fois l'eau de mer). Les animaux sains et infestes ont tous survecu a la transplantation et ils affichaient des concentrations accrues de Na + et une osmolaliteplasmatique plus elevee. Les animaux infestes n'ont pas reussi a faire augmenter significativement Im autant que les animaux sains et ils affichaient une difference d'hematocrite. Heureusement, le test de provocation a l'hypersalinitea aussi causele detachement et la mort des adultes d'A. funduli. Nous concluons que les lesions provoquees par A. funduli perturbent le transport des sels dans les membranes affectees, mais qu'elles n'affectent pas significativement la survie lors d'un test de provocation a l'hypersalinite´; l'exposition a des conditions hypersalines est un traitement efficace contre les infestations aArgulus chez ces poissons fortement hyperhalins. (Traduit par la Redaction)


and Metronidazole Combination in the Management of Diarrhea Associated with Mixed Infection, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, and Inflammatory Bowel Disease. Abstract Diarrhoea is usually a symptom of a bowel infection and the etiology of infectious diarrhea is generally mixed. Devel opment of resistance to anti-microbial agents and increased risk of developing clostridium difficile-associated diarrhoea pose a new threat. In combination with metronidazole, ri faximin with its unique properties and broad spectrum ac tivity can be a rational approach for infectious diarrhoea as co-infection is the norm in majority of the patients. Clostridium difficile -related post-infectious irritable bowel syndrome develops in about one-third of subjects after an acute bacterial and viral infection or parasitic infestation. In cidence for chronic inflammatory disorders of the intestine such as ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease has significant ly increased in the past years. The etiology for both diseases is complex with diarrhea as the most debilitating symptom. Oral metronidazole is still the first-line treatment option for clostridium difficile infection known to worsen the course of inflammatory bowel disease. However, prolonged adminis tration of antibiotics is limited due to systemic adverse ef -fects. Rifaximin is a broad-range, gastrointestinal-specific antibiotic that demonstrates no clinically relevant bacterial resistance. A combination of rifaximin and metronidazole, each having activity against Clostridium difficile infection causing diarrhea, would be a rationale combination for treatment of patients with irritable bowel syndrome and in flammatory bowel disease.


Two recent structural failures vividly illustrate problems experienced with the joint harness type tension ties commonly used on pipelines to prevent joint separation at flexible coupling locations. The transfer of imbalanced forces through joint harness tension tie bolts and lugs sets up high concentrations of streses in each element of the harness and the pipe wall. The tension tie bolt nut and washer pulled through the back plate of the joint harness lug in the first failure. The second failure occurred when the joint harness lug tore a section of pipe at the heel of the lug along the periphery of the lug to pipe weld. Both joint harnesses were designed using Table 19.7 or 19.8 in the AWWA M 11 Steel Pipe Manual. It is recommended that these joint harness design tables not be used until they can be further developed to better define limitations on pipe wall thickness, plate lug dimensions, pipeline configuration and construction practices.


This article probes into the status quo of advertising photography teaching and some concrete problerns ernerging in the teaching practice.From the aspects of previous accumulation,creativity and subsequent design,the author briefly discusses the basic thoughtway and methods which are conducive to enhancing the teaching effects of advertising specialty photography,and attempts to put forward suggestions for perfecting the current teaching system of advertising specialty photography.


Magnetotellurics (MT) is a geophysical method that investigates the relationships among the different components of the natural electromagnetic field related to the geoelectric structure of the subsurface. Data can be contaminated by anthropic noise sources and suffer from transient noise to signal variations. Since the 80s, robust processing methods have been introduced to minimize the impact of noise on sounding quality. This paper presents Razorback, an open source Python library, implemented to handle, manipulate, and combine time series of synchronous data. This modular library allows users to plug in data prefilters and includes both M-estimator and bounded influence techniques, as well as a two-stage multiple remote reference. Validation of this library is performed on a real data set by comparing the results with those of an existing code. In contrast to standalone codes, the developed library allows for the design of complex and specific processing procedures. As examples, Razorback is used to perform (i) continuous time lapse processing and (ii) processing of one site in a peri-urban context. In the latter case, we have tested all possible combinations of remote reference stations in an MT array. Our phase tensor analysis shows that the bounded influence outperforms the M-estimator in reducing the impacts of man-made electromagnetic noise on magnetotelluric soundings. The Razorback library is available at https://github.com/BRGM/razorback. Jupyter notebooks for data handling and MT robust processing are available at https://github.com/BRGM/razorback/blob/doc/docs/source/tutorials/.