Numerous behavior analytic methods developed since the early 1960s have proved effective for developing a wide range of skills in learners with autism. Recent advances in stimulus control technology, in particular, offer effective methods for teaching many important skills and for promoting independent, generalized performances. This article reviews selected stimulus control techniques, including new methods for teaching conditional discrimination (matching) skills, stimulus equivalence procedures, prompt and prompt-fading techniques, and incidental teaching procedures.


A leap-frog scheme for shallow water equations has been widely employed in most of finite difference numerical models for the simulation of tsunami propagation. This scheme gives a correct dispersion effect for uniform water depth, if the grid size is properly selected. However, if the water depth changes, the dispersion effect can not be accurately kept in the whole computational domain. In this study a new 2-dimensional finite difference numerical scheme is developed to satisfy locally the physical dispersion for slowly varying topography. The new scheme uses an imaginary grid to satisfy dispersion relationships of tsunami for a given water depth and time step, and also uses the variables at the imaginary grid point by interpolating them at neighboring points. The accuracy of the numerical scheme developed in this study is tested by comparing the present numerical results for an initial Gaussian hump with analytical solution and other numerical results reported earlier.


■ Measurement Method The infrared spectrum was measured using a single reflection ATR accessory (DuraSamplIR II). A photograph of the DuraSamplIR II is shown in Fig. 1, and the analytical conditions are shown in Table 2. ■ Spectrum of Calcium Carbonate Fig. 2 shows an infrared spectrum of calcium carbonate measured using the single reflection ATR technique. Analysis of Rubbers by FTIR -Method to Remove Calcium Carbonate in Rubbers-


A hydraulically actuated sampling valve suitable for extracting high temperature (2700 K), high pressure (60 atm) gases from the chamber of an internal combustion engine has been developed and successfully operated during recent studies of engine contribution to air pollution. The valve, easily constructed, provides capability for large variation in sample size and duration of opening with adjustable sample timing through 360° or more of crank angle, thus allowing extremely flexible operation and eliminating many of the limitations found with other valve types.


The influence of the dielectric constant of an organic solvent on the extraction of sodium picrate by 15-crown-5 ether was studied using sodium-22. The logarithm of the extraction constants decrease linearly with increase in the reciprocal value of the dielectric constant of an organic solvent.


The article is devoted to the study of key problems in the expansion and integration between the BRICS alliance members in a globalizing world. The relevance of the article is characterized by growing economic integration between the BRICS member countries in the modern world economy. Under the conditions of reconfiguration of the world order, scientific justifications have been developed, as a result of which the BRICS strategic association could take more advantageous positions in the global economy.


The random-cluster model with parameters (p, q) is a random graph model that generalizes bond percolation (q = 1) and the Ising and Potts models (q ≥ 2). We study its Glauber dynamics on n×n boxes Λn of the integer lattice graph Z, where the model exhibits a sharp phase transition at p = pc(q). Unlike traditional spin systems like the Ising and Potts models, the random-cluster model has non-local interactions. Long-range interactions can be imposed as external connections in the boundary of Λn, known as boundary conditions. For select boundary conditions that do not carry long-range information (namely, wired and free), Blanca and Sinclair proved that when q > 1 and p 6= pc(q), the Glauber dynamics on Λn mixes in optimal O(n 2 logn) time. In this paper, we prove that this mixing time is polynomial in n for every boundary condition that is realizable as a configuration on Z \ Λn. We then use this to prove near-optimal Õ(n) mixing time for "typical" boundary conditions. As a complementary result, we construct classes of non-realizable (non-planar) boundary conditions inducing slow (stretched-exponential) mixing at p≪ pc(q).


Possibility theory is a kind of mathematics of uncertainty for handling incomplete information. In this paper, we discuss vagueness and randomness as some causes of uncertainty and we introduce the possibility theory as a way of dealing with uncertainty, comparing it with the probability theory.


A method for optimizing the operation of a spark ignition internal combustion engine of a motor vehicle, in which the Verbrennunsmotor in dependence on driving conditions of the motor vehicle is operated in either lean or stoichiometric, wherein power available from an engine control unit of the engine information is evaluated in order to make a prediction, and the result predicting the engine control unit when determining the mode of operation is lean or stoichiometric taken into account, characterized in that available from the engine control unit information about current and / or past driving conditions of the motor vehicle (2) are evaluated in order to make a prediction of expected imminent driving conditions, and that the operating mode is set lean, when the expected result of the prediction period (T) of an immediately adjacent phase lean mode a predetermined minimum time period (Tmin) m it is a certain probability (WD) exceeds.


We introduce Scaph, a GPU-accelerated graph system that achieves scale-up graph processing on large-scale graphs that are initially partitioned into subgraphs at the host to enable iterative graph computations on the subgraphs on the GPU. For active subgraphs to be processed on GPU at an iteration, the prior work always streams each in its entirety to GPU, even though only the neighboring information for its active vertices will ever be used. In contrast, Scaph boosts performance significantly by reducing the amount of such redundant data transferred, thereby improving the effective utilization of the host-GPU bandwidth drastically. The key novelty of Scaph is to classify adaptively at each iteration whether a subgraph is a high-value subgraph (if it is likely to be traversed extensively in the current and future iterations) or a low-value subgraph (otherwise). Scaph then schedules a sub-graph for graph processing on GPU using two graph processing engines, one for high-value subgraphs, which will be streamed to GPU entirely and iterated over repeatedly, one for low-value subgraphs, for which only the neighboring information needed for its active vertices is transferred. Evaluation on real-world and synthesized large-scale graphs shows that Scaph outperforms the state-of-the-art, Totem (4.12×), Graphie (8.93×), and Garaph (3.71×), on average.


AbstrcatThe estrous cycle and ovulation time of the bitches are very different from other farm animals, especially their wide ranges of the ovulation time, therefore, the accurate breeding time is difficult to be determined for the bitches. The experiment is designed to determine the optimum mating time of the bitches by studying the changes of the corneous cells in the vagina of the naturally estrous bitches. The results show that the corneous epithelial cells were more than 80% in much of the naturally estrous bitches after 11~13 days of the vaginal bleeding, and there were obvious accumulation of the vaginal mucosa like floating ice. So, the examination results of the vaginal cells can be an auxiliary tool to determine the breeding time of the bitches in the estrum period.


10054 Background: Survivors of pediatric cancer treated without CNS-directed therapy are at risk of neurocognitive impairment and peripheral neuropathies. Using the St. Jude Lifetime Cohort, we investigated longitudinal associations with neuropathy to inform contributors to long-term cancer-related neurocognitive decline. Methods: Survivors of pediatric cancer (N=899 mean age 32 [SD 12], 24[10] years from diagnosis) treated without CNS-directed therapy completed neurocognitive testing and medical assessments at two timepoints (T1, T2 4.4[2.3] years apart). Peripheral sensory and motor neuropathy subscales combined with functional tasks were severity graded using a modified CTCAE (no neuropathy = none or grade 1 at T1 and T2; new onset = new grade 2 or 3 at T2; persistent = grade 2 or 3 at T1 & T2). Linear regression models estimated change in neurocognitive Z-score associated with neuropathy groups, adjusted for diagnosis age, time between visits, sex, race/ethnicity, high-dose intravenous methotrexate & baseline neurocognitive Z-score. Results: New onset sensory (n=33, 3.6%) and motor (n=35, 3.9%) neuropathy was associated with a 0.33 standard deviation (SD) decline in visual-motor processing speed (Table). New onset motor neuropathy was associated with a 0.50 SD decline in sustained attention as well as significant declines in verbal recall, working memory, and cognitive flexibility (p's<0.05). Persistent sensory neuropathy (n=25, 2.8%) was associated with large declines in focused attention and cognitive flexibility (p's<0.05). Persistent motor neuropathy (n=18, 2.0%) was associated with a 0.50 SD decline in sustained attention, verbal recall, and working memory (p's<0.05). Conclusions: Peripheral neuropathies are associated with future neurocognitive decline in adult survivors of pediatric cancer. Research is needed to understand shared mechanisms (e.g. pain, inflammation) to inform targeted interventions to improve neuropathic symptoms and neurocognitive function. [Table: see text]


Being the major participant of the experiment on funded hypothecary system of housing provision of military servants the Agency on Hypothecary Housing Credit JSC has developed a special product Military Hypothecation. In this article the author analyses the basic differential peculiarities of the product that make it different from the existing on the market standard hypothecary credits and also gives suggestions on product's quality improvement and balancing of its key figures.


The evolution of density profiles in picosecond laser plasmas have been inferred from frequency shifts of reflected probe laser beams. The frequency shifts are caused by two mechanisms: hydrodynamic expansion and ionization front motion. Both time-resolved expansion velocities and ionization rates are presented for plasmas produced by 1 0 Wcm2, 1 ps, 580 nm laser irradiation.


A phase II study with sorafenib in patients with angiosarcoma conducted by the French Sarcoma Group, and published in this issue of The Oncologist, is evaluated. The importance of proper design and conduct of phase II trials is stressed.


W-type ferrite having chemical formula SrNi(LiFe)0.5Fe16O27 was prepared by using conventional solid state reaction method at little low temperature (1100°C). The prolonged and continuous heating resulted in better product formation and it has validated that the Lithium present in the compound facilitates the synthesis. Typical IR bands observed are assigned to the Fe–O bonds in S block of W ferrite structure and the band near 914.3 cm−1 is assigned to the stretching vibrations of Sr–O. High resistivity is found which suggested presence of very small amount of mixed valency cations on equivalent lattice apart from the little amount created due to the release of an electron by divalent Ni to become trivalent. The magnetic properties of compound do not differ much from those of the reported for SrNi2W ferrite except a little decrease in saturation magnetization at room temperature due to canting effect. The experimental observations support presumed site preferences to a greater extent and also the prediction that the Li present on sub-lattice results in small canting effect of 12k cations. The low value of coercivity observed is attributed to the larger particle size resulting due to prolonged heating.


This paper presents an experimental investigation into concrete filled steel tubular (CFST) members under lateral impact at mid span using a dropped weight moving with low velocity. A series of tests were carried out to obtain the residual deformation mode and the time histories of impact loads. The testing parameters include, impact energy and the axial level on CFST. Based on the testing data, stability value of impact force, time of duration impact, as well as the maximal deformation at mid span of the composite members under different axial load level and impact energy are analyzed and discussed.


The investigation of the condition of acoustic afferentation in 18 patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary pathology and secondary venous encephalopathy of the first and second stages was conducted. The authors revealed some peculiarities of the acoustic analizator damage in chronic hypoxia and venous insufficiency of the brain.


In this paper, we have conducted a simulation study to evaluate Multipath Grid-Based Geographic Routing Protocol (MGGR) under different selected mobility models. The protocol has been evaluated under three mobility models (i.e. Random Way Point, Reference Point Group and Meandering Current Mobility Model) using Aqua-Sim NS2-based simulator. An Extensive number of experiments have been conducted to assess the packet delivery ratio, the end-to-end-delay and power consumption under different operating conditions. We have noticed that the performance of MGGR is only marginally affected by the mobility behavior of nodes especially with the condition where the speed of nodes movements increased. Nevertheless, the evaluation has also shown that MGGR exhibit only average performance when used in coastal areas. This is evident as the MCMM (used primarily to model the movement of nodes in coastal areas) gave the lowest performance compared to other models.


With the increasing permeation of data into all dimensions of our information society, data is progressively becoming the basis for many products and services. It is hence becoming more and more vital to identify the means and methods how to exploit the value of this data. In this paper we provide our definition of the Data Value Network, where we specifically cater for non-tangible data products. We also propose a Demand and Supply Distribution Model with the aim of providing insight on how an entity can participate in the global data market by producing a data product, as well as a concrete implementation through the Demand and Supply as a Service. Through our contributions we project our vision of generating a new Economic Data Ecosystem that has the Web of Data as its core.


It has been both a pleasure and an honor to serve as president of SWE-TAMU this year. I can't believe how quickly it has come to an end! We have accomplished a lot as an organization this spring! In February, we attended the SWE Region Conference in Dallas and took home two awards (Most Creative Membership Campaign and Outstanding Collegiate Section). That month we also hosted 100 high school students and their parents at our successful 37 th annual High School Conference. In between, we've had fabulous corporate recruiters come talk to SWE about why engineers are important to their companies. Between Relay for Life and nearly 50 Big Event volunteers, SWE continually honors the Aggie core value of selfless service. And don't forget about our annual Summer Camp! This June, SWE members will show 70 middle school girls why it's cool to be an engineer. As always, thank you to our corporate sponsors, our advisor Mrs. Lagoudas and ESSAP, the incoming and outgoing SWE officer teams, and all SWE members for contributing to our great success this year. To all graduating seniors: best wishes to you in your post-graduation endeavors, whatever they might be! And to those of you who will join SWE for exciting activities next year, enjoy your summer! Lainy Dromgoole


This brief for researchers planning or implementing an evaluation of a teen pregnancy prevention program provides an overview of the HHS Teen Pregnancy Prevention Evidence Review.


The Hand in Action J.R. Flanagan, P. Haggard, and A.M. Wing, The Task at Hand. M.A. Goodale, L.S. Jakobson, and P. Servos, The Visual Pathways Mediating Perception and Prehension. The Motor Hand M.-C. Hepp-Reymond, E.J. Huesler, and M.A. Maier, Precision Grip in Humans: Temporal and Spatial Synergies. J. Fridin and R.L. Lieber, Muscle Architecture Basis for Neuromuscular Control of the Forearm and Hand. M.H. Schieber, Individuated Finger Movements: Rejecting the Labeled-Line Hypothesis. E.M. Rouiller, Multiple Hand Representations in the Motor Cortical Areas. J. Armand, E. Olivier, S.A. Edgley, and R.N. Lemon, The Structure and Function of the Developing Corticospinal Tract: Some Key Issues. Hand Positioning in Reaching J.F. Soechting, D.C. Tong, and M. Flanders, Frames of Reference in Sensorimotor Integration: Position Sense of the Arm and Hand. D.A. Rosenbaum, R.G.J. Meulenbroek, and J. Vaughan, Three Approaches to the Degrees of Freedom Problem in Reaching. C. Ghez, S. Cooper, and J. Martin, Kinematic and Dynamic Factors in the Coordination of Prehension Movements. F. Lacquaniti, Neural Control of Limb Mechanics for Visuomanual Coordination. Hand-Arm Coordination in Reach and Grasp T. Iberall and A.H. Fagg, Neural Network Models for Selecting Hand Shapes. Y. Paulignan and M. Jeannerod, Prehension Movements: The Visuomotor Channels Hypothesis Revisited. M. Wiesendanger, O. Kazennikov, S. Perrig, and P. Kaluzny, Two Hands--One Action: The Problem of Bimanual Coordination. A.M. Wing, Anticipatory Control of Grip Force in Rapid Arm Movement. The Sensorimotor Hand C.E. Chapman, F. Tremblay, and S.A. Ageranioti-Belanger, Role of Primary Somatosensory Cortex in Active and Passive Touch. L. Jones, Proprioception and Its Contribution to Manual Dexterity. A.B. Vallbo and J. Wessberg, Proprioceptive Mechanisms and the Control of Finger Movements. R.S. Johansson, Sensory Control of Dexterous Manipulation in Humans. J.R. Flanagan, Action–Perception Coupling in Judgments of Hand-Held Loads. S.J. Lederman and R.L. Klatzky, Action for Perception: Manual Exploratory Movements for Haptically Processing Objects and Their Features. References. Glossary. Subject Index.


This paper considers design standards for cars in the Middle East concerning the protection of occupants and protection of the environment. Safety requirements for the protection of occupants covering impact testing, safety belts, windshield, head restraints, steering column and tyres are discussed and the relevant Gulf Standards listed. A number of recommendations are made concerning the environment, motor vehicle users, pedestrians and the motor vehicle itself. In the latter section it is suggested that safety levels be raised, controls on spare parts and tyres tightened, training provided for maintenance work and production of lead-free petrol increased. Maximum exhaust fume concentrations of various pollutants are also recommended for both diesel and petrol engines. For the covering abstract of the conference see IRRD 856301.


Octree (OT) geometry partitioning has been acknowledged as an efficient representation in state-of-the-art point cloud compression (PCC) schemes. In this work, an adaptive geometry partition and coding scheme is proposed to improve the OT based coding framework. First, quad-tree (QT) and binary-tree (BT) partitions are introduced as alternative geometry partition modes for the first time under the context of OT-based point cloud compression. The adaptive geometry partition scheme enables flexible three-dimensional (3D) space representations and higher coding efficiency. However, exhaustive searching for the optimal partition from all possible combinations of OT, QT and BT is impractical because the entire search space could be huge. Therefore, two hyper-parameters are introduced to specify the conditions on which QT and BT partitions will be applied. Once the two parameters are determined, the partition mode can be derived according to the geometry shape of current coding node. To investigate the impact of different partition combinations on the coding gains, we conduct thorough mathematical and experimental analyses. Based on the analyses, an adaptive parameter selection scheme is presented to optimize the coding efficiency adaptively, where multi-resolution features are extracted from the partition pyramid and a decision tree model is trained for the optimal hyper-parameters. The proposed adaptive geometry partition scheme has shown significant coding gains, and it has been adopted in the state-of-the-art MPEG Geometry based PCC (G-PCC) standard. For the sparser point clouds, the bit savings are up to 10.8% and 3.5% for lossy and lossless geometry coding without significant complexity increment.


Motion planning is the problem of finding a collision-free path for a robot from a start to goal configuration. State of the art techniques rely on samplingbased planning which samples and connects configurations until a valid path is found. Although most of these methods have been kept strictly computational, we implemented motion planning to physical robots to demonstrate their efficiency in real world scenarios. In "A Machine That Learns" by W. Grey Walter, he used light in his experiments with similar robots as a means to get the machine to perform a certain task. In this work we explore a new method for physical robots, allowing them to push boxes from an initial to a final position. Our novel method allows the robot to read pre-coded markers, which contain a set of data specifying the location in the global map there are supposed to be in. In our experimental results, we saw that the final position the robot left the box in was well within an acceptable margin of error. Additionally, the robot was completing the task ninety-six percent of the time.


While the business world has been moving inexorably online ever since the PC appeared, documentation itself has remained paper based for the most part. Paper of course has several major advantages including its longevity and robustness, its legal traditions, and its ability to be signed. But now the reach and speed of the Internet plus the sheer volume of business documentation is creating irresistible demand for entirely electronic documents and processes. Why should you have to wait for a hard copy to arrive by courier when you can get an e-mail instantaneously? And why should you have to re-key faxes, especially when the original almost certainly started out as a soft copy somewhere? Recent digital signature technology and associated legal analysis mean that contracts can be reliably formed online, and that purely electronic evidence can be treated the same as paper, for all legal and accounting purposes. This paper explains how digital signatures are used and online information authenticated, and paints a picture of the future documentation environment, utilising trusted electronic credentials for lawyers, doctors, accountants and so on. # KPMG Information Solutions Pty Limited 1998. All rights reserved. D ow nl oa de d by U ni ve rs ity o f N ew ca st le A t 2 2: 16 2 1 M ar ch 2 01 7 (P T ) representing an organisation. Different authorities or attributes may attach to different transactions (and so different `̀ digital personae'' may be appropriate for different types of business). At the top of the authentication staircase is `̀ Persistent ID'': the ability to prove yourself to multiple parties. This is not merely a matter of efficiency. Persistent ID is also the key to proving yourself to people who do not already know you, one of the ultimate goals of much electronic commerce. Remember that passwords only serve to identify you to an entity that already knows who (and what) you are. Document authentication (and as it happens, integrity) can be provided by digital signatures. These will be discussed sepa-


The formal establishment of the Societe Europeenne de Culture (SEC) took place in Venice in 1950 to build a bridge between West and East political Europe. Through constant reflection on the general development of European society, the SEC tried to focus on priorities for interest and action, in order to foster cultural positions that can take ethical-political responsibilities implying the understanding, collaboration and peace. This commitment was founded theoretically with the concept of 'political culture', formulated by Umberto Campagnolo and expressed in a session of the General Assembly in November 1951. Immediately Norberto Bobbio gave notice of it on the 'Rivista di Filosofia' ('Journal of Philosophy') in January of 1952, in 'Cultural Policy and Politics of Culture', with which he shared the principles expressed and publicized by Campagnolo. The dialogue between the two philosophers intensified under the theoretical aspect at the beginning of the 60s, when it was clear that the common civil commitment sprang from a different conception of philosophy and politics.


In the field of psychology, deficit theoretical frameworks for studying African-American students dominate mainstream psychological theorizing and research. This is particularly the case within research explaining the academic achievement gap between African-American and White students. The aims of the present study are to adopt a culturally responsive theoretical framework to study one of the most widely used explanations for the African-American achievement gap, "the 'acting White' hypothesis," as well as to further interrogate the more globally generalizable concept of "race-acting" and what specifically it means to "act Black." The data were generated from an open-ended survey question as part of a larger longitudinal mixed-method study. One hundred and fifteen African-American middle school students participated. Researchers used a thematic content analysis to systematically analyze the data and concluded, based on their multiple interpretations, that the meaning of race-acting is varied and complex. Academic Intelligence was discovered as a prominent and affirmative theme for what it means to these adolescents to "act Black" and, with the exception of two themes (i.e., Ghetto and Superiority), what it means to these adolescents to "act Black" and to "act White" was the same. One implication of the study is that the concept of "race-acting" has utility for guiding future theoretical and methodological development about racialized belief systems of all groups living in racialized societies and culturally specific identity processes for African-Americans.


The permanent grasslands from the analysed area are located in the central part of the Orăștiei Corridor and the west of the Șureanu Mountains, from 225 -1,630 m altitude. The coverage with grassy vegetation is 91% and the average number of vascular plants on the vegetal associations is 60. The participation in the grassy carpet of fodder species reaches almost 60% and the harmful ones over 30%. The average pastoral value (PV) is 45 with differences from 60 - 80 for the most valuable associations to 5 - 7 for the degraded ones. The highest green mass production (GMP) of the grasslands was estimated at over 23 t/ha at As. Arrhenatherum elatioris harvested as hay and As. Trifolio repenti - Lolietum with 19 t/ha that has a grazing capacity of 1.6 UVM / ha in a season of 185 days. The worst results are obtained in the economically degraded associations Violo declinatae - Nardetum, Junco - Molinietum, Botriochloetum ischaemi and Clinopodio - Pteridietum aquilini, with 5 -7 PV and 0.4 - 0.8 t/ha GMP


An acute 2 day trial of methylphenidate (10 mg) and of meclizine (12.5 mg) and a 6 month crossover placebo-controlled chronic trial of meclizine (12.5 mg) in children with developmental dyslexia are reported from the University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada.


The establishment of regulations on the exercise of autonomy and the specific regulations therein embodies the autonomous power of the autonomous governmental organs in ethnic regions. The validity of autonomous regulations stands above the local regulations, but the regulations are limited to the local areas. Government organs at higher levels should respect and guarantee the autonomous power of the local ethnic autonomous organs, but the latter cannot restrict and check the former. The false idea that both the regulation enactment organ and the regulation ratification organ enjoy "half legislative power" comes from the mistaken notion equating the application for ratification of autonomous regulations with the consideration of autonomous regulations, and equating the enactment power of autonomous regulations with the drawing-up power. As is known, it is a legislative rule that the autonomous regulations of the autonomous counties or prefectures must be presented to the Standing Committee of the People's Congress at the Provincial level for ratification. This is a typical Chinese characteristic in the regional legal system of ethnic autonomy. Disagreements on the level of validity and application come from the different understanding of autonomous system of ethnic regions.


BACKGROUND:Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP) is a developmental vascular retinopathy of multifactorial origin including oxygen exposure, occuring in the incompletely vascularized retina of the premature infant, which may have devastating consequences. Indomethacin is widely used in the perinatal period, for tocolysis, prevention of cerebral hemorrhage, and for nonsurgical closure of the patent ductus arteriosus. Its impact on ROP is controversial, with published studies showing a worsening, no effect, or improvement in ROP. OBJECTIVE: To test the hypothesis that indomethacin administration during the hyperoxic injury phase reduces the severity of oxygen induced retinopathy (OIR) in the mouse model. METHODS: The mouse (C57BL6)model of OIR was used. Pups were exposed either to normoxia or hyperoxia (75% FiO2) from postnatal day 7 through 12(P7-P12) with or without indomethacin (0.5mg/kg/day SQ). Animals were sacrificed between P17-P21. The severity of OIR was assessed using a scoring system with fluorescein conjugated dextran angiography of the retinal vasculature. These findings were corroborrated using periodic acid Schiff(PAS) staining of retinal sections. Statistical significance was evaluated using the students t test. RESULTS: Pups exposed to indomethacin and oxygen had significantly lower retinopathy scores (5.6 ± 1.4)than animals exposed to oxygen alone (8.1 ± 2.1). There was also a statistically significant decrease in the severity of blood vessel tufts, extraretinal neovascularization, central vasoconstriction and plus disease, when compared to animals exposed to hyperoxia alone. PAS staining for extraretinal neovascularization in the indomethacin and hyperoxia group showed a significantly lower number of nuclei (11.8± 6.6) as compared to hyperoxia alone (38.4 ± 10.4) per retinal section. CONCLUSION: Indomethacin decreases the severity of OIR without having an adverse effect on the normal retinal vasculature development in the mouse model. We postulate a protective mechanism of indomethacin because of its inhibition of cyclooxygenase which may modulate the inflammatory response during the hyperoxic injury phase and improve OIR.


Since the birth of the republic of Ecuador has had a strong concentration with an agro-export economic model, as reflected in the composition of their exports, which have high prevalence products such as bananas, coffee, cocoa, flowers and shrimp. This composition has there been a change from the start of oil exploitation, is from, that moment in economic history, when oil becomes the main source of foreign exchange; this fact remains unshakable until now.
This high dependence on oil exports has prevented industrial sectors linked to exports, in contrast to traditional export products still linked to the agricultural theme and constitute international sales with low added value are developed. Thus, the Ecuadorian economy has a point of vulnerability unable to transform its economic model of extractive natural resources to be one based on the industrial and service processes technology-intensive economy.
This research thesis show the composition of exports from Ecuador in the period 2007 - 2013, to analyze the relationship between changes in exports and economic growth.


The oily petroleum hydrocarbon discharge lead to the soil pollution, become harmful to both human being and the environment by long run. This present work is carried out systematically to evaluate the efficiency of Brij-35 for washing used lubricant oil. For this study, the soil and waste engine oil which was collected from local service station are characterized. The soil under study was categorized through soil gradient test. The permeability of the soil was also determined. The soil fraction which was obtained by sieving through mm sieve was used for the present analysis. All the characteristic properties of the soil and oil were tested by a prescribed method. The used lube oil density was 0.853 gm/cc at 15C. The interfacial tension of the oil under study was 52.1 mN/m. This important finding helpful in finding the solution for soil contamination by improper disposal of oily hydrocarbon wastes like waste lube oil.


This research is intended to know 1) the production process of textile from sugarcane fiber, 2) the difference of tensile strength between the textiles from sugar canefiber and those from cotton fiber.This research employed experiment method, involving sugar cane fiber and cottonfiber textile as independent variable. The dependent variables include the tensile strengthand absorpsion of textile. This research was conducted from Februari to Juni 2007 inEngineering Faculty Laboratory of Yogyakarta State University and handicraft andbatik gallery of Yogyakarta.Key Words: sugar cane fiber textile, cotton fiber textile, textil tensile strength, textileabsorpsion.


There has been a growing interest in research for halal industry as the market has seen a tremendous growth in the global market and develops a strong presence in developed countries. With the halal industry being worth of US$1.2 trillion worldwide or US$650 billion alone in the food sector, vast opportunities in the global halal food industry for Brunei to use in order to diversify its economy. Brunei has been prioritised economic diversification as a mean to economic development; however, it has not shown any successful result so far. For a long period, Brunei has sustained its high dependency on oil and gas sector, in which economic diversification is a key to lower down the current dependency. Brunei Halal brand was established as one of attempts to help push forward Brunei's halal industry and supply the amount of halal certified food to the global Muslim population. In addition, owing to strong religious identity and principle, Brunei halal gained a reputable status to international and Islamic standards. The attempt of this paper is to assess the viability of the halal food industry as a source for economic diversification of Brunei with understanding of the current status of Brunei halal food industry by SWOT analysis. This study conducted semi-structured interview with respondents who are stakeholders in halal food industry to obtain further data in addition to data collected from secondary sources.


Precision agriculture requires detailed information about numerous factors that determine optimal agricultural management. Recently, the importance of accurate assessment of field boundaries for precision agriculture has also been recognised. It has been claimed that the upcoming targeted approach to managing field operations requires that field boundaries are measured with cm level accuracy, thus avoiding losses such as wasted inputs, unharvested crops and inefficient use of the area. The aim of this work is to develop a method for experimental verification of such claims. The method comprises three main steps. The first step concerns the choice and parameterisation of a geostatistical model defining positional error. Secondly, the model is used to generate a set of possible realisations of field geometry. Next, these realisations are the input to a model computing the effects of positional uncertainty on field operations. The output is compared with that obtained using reference geometry. We illustrate the method using, amongst others, data from the 2005 GPS workshop of the EU Joint Research Centre. Our implementation of the model uses the Data Uncertainty Engine (DUE), which is free software that aids the user in defining probability distributions for uncertain spatial objects and draws random samples from these distributions. The application concerns an irregularly shaped field of approximately 15 ha. Results for three different measurement scenarios (Egnos augmented GPS, RTK-GPS, topographic map) are shown.


Fig. 4 Variation of backscattered power with dielectric thickness for normal incidence f= 9-850GHz, a = 0-5d, d = k The low backscatter for normal incidence can be explained as a consequence of eqn. 1 when 6, = 0, i.e. the diffraction angle will be 90°. The backscattered power is plotted by rotating the receiver along the circumference of a circle with the geometric centre of the plate as the centre in the horizontal plane (Fig. 5). The maximum diffracted power is obtained when the receiving angle becomes 90°. The same result is obtained when 0 f = 90°, i.e. when the incident ray is parallel to the plane of the grating. Fig. 5 Scattered power against angle for normal incidence / = 9-840GHz, a = 0-5d, h = 0 0 8 A Conclusion: The problem of eliminating normal and near-normal incidence specular reflection is solved using a self-complementary strip grating. This could not be achieved using conventional rectangular metallic corrugations. Fabricating corrugations on the metal surface is a tedious process, which can be avoided by using strips on the dielectric sheet with a reflector. To reduce the multipath interference from buildings and to solve the problem of air traffic control systems at airports and instrument landing system interference etc., we can use strip gratings of the appropriate period and thickness. The fabrication of metallic corrugated horns giving symmetrical beams with a low sidelobe level is a difficult task. However, by employing a strip grating structure for the walls of a horn, we may obtain better performance with the additional advantage of easier construction technique and lower cost.On the edge mode in the theory of TM scattering by a strip or strip grating', The bit error rate (BER) of a two-channel ASK heterodyne lightwave system employing envelope detection is evaluated analytically. The result is used to calculate the power penalty resulting from intrachannel crosstalk. To main a BER below 10~ 9 , the power penalty increases from 0-2 to 1 dB when the level of crosstalk increases from —15 to —10 dB. The theory predicts a minimum channel spacing of three times the bit rate if the design criterion is to keep the crosstalk penalty below 0-1 dB. The minimum channel spacing increases to five times the bit rate for multichannel systems when crosstalk from the nearest neighbours on both sides is included. Introduction: One of the attractions of coherent …


Model nuclear reactor fuel subassemblies were produced from single clad fuel plates rather than from many individual fuel tubes, plates or pins. The coolant channel spacings of the models are maintained by projections rising from non-fuel areas dispersed throughout the core region. A preliminary cost study indicated that subassemblies produced from a single fuel element generally have a cost advantage over those produced from numbers of pins, plates, or tubes. (auth)


The construction of enterprise portal is a combination process of both gradual progress and violent progress.From this point of view,the paper discusses how the concepts of knowledge management,information architecture and integration management impact the intelligent enterprise portal's construction.


Lactoferricin is an multifunctional polypeptide derived from the N-terminal region of intact lactoferrin through pepsin hydrolysis under acidic conditions.In some cases,the activity of lactoferricin is more potent than that of lactoferrin,including the anti-bacterial(gram-positive or negative),antifungal,antiviral,antitumour,immunomodulatory and anti-inflammatory activities.Comparing to the verified effects of lactoferricin by in vitro experiments,its in vivo effects is being investigated,involving genomic and proteomic approaches for insight mechanistic studies.This article reviews the structure,biological activities and mechanisms of lactoferricin,as also projects its prospects in the preparation and applications.


Background Symptomatic treatment of common cold in children does not reduce the duration and severity of disease. Since zinc has been used to enhance cellular and humoral immunity, it has the potential to reduce the severity of the common cold. However, the effects of zinc on the common cold have been inconclusive. The use of zinc to treat cold symptoms deserves further studies. Objective To determine the effect of zinc supplementation on the severity of the common cold in children. Methods We performed a randomized, double􀁁blind, controlled trial in children aged 3􀁁 5 years who were diagnosed Mth a common cold at primary health care centers in Gedongtengen, Umbulharj 0 I and Kotagede II, Yogyakarta. Subjects were collected by consecutive sampling and their parents were interviewed. Severity of illness was categorized as mild, moderate or severe. Results One hundred fourteen patients with common cold were divided into 2 groups of 57 subjects each. One group received zinc supplementation while the other group received a placebo. Subjects with fever received additional paracetamol. After 7 days of treatment, there were no significant differences in clinical improvement in the zinc group (80.7%) compared to that of the placebo group (78.9%), P􀁂O.83. Conclusion The severity of the common cold in children aged 3􀁁5 years was not significantly different in those who received zinc supplementation compared to placebo. [Paediatr Indones. 2012;52:324-8].


This study proposes a catheter consisting of dual-frequency transducer for intravascular ultrasound. Both ultrasonic elements with different frequencies were connected to one coaxial cable to make the connection simple. The aperture sizes of the ultrasound elements were <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$0.4 \times 0.6$ </tex-math></inline-formula> and <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$0.3 \times 0.4$ </tex-math></inline-formula> mm2 for the low-frequency element and high-frequency element, respectively. The center frequency and bandwidth of the fabricated low-frequency transducer were 33.8 MHz and 49.3%, respectively. Meanwhile, the center frequency and bandwidth of the high-frequency transducer were 80.6 MHz and 50.3%, respectively. Imaging evaluations of wire phantom, tissue phantom, and vessel tissue demonstrated good imaging capability of the dual-frequency catheter. The spatial resolutions are <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$19~\mu \text{m}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> axially and <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$128~\mu \text{m}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> laterally for the high-frequency transducer, and <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$37~\mu \text{m}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> axially and <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$199~\mu \text{m}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> laterally for the low-frequency transducer. Bandpass filters were designed to separate the mixed echo signals. After filtering, the images from different ultrasound elements can be successfully identified, indicating the feasibility of the proposed cable-shared dual-frequency imaging strategy. The proposed method has simple structure, good imaging resolution, and large penetration depth, showing good application prospect for intravascular ultrasound.


LMS adaptive filtering in the spectrum domain is addressed and applied to noise cancelling. The spectrum domain noise cancellor minimizes the noise power at each spectral bin of the primary input. It requires, however, the power spectra of the input data to be estimated prior to cancelling. The paper discusses the function of the proposed cancellor and describes its general structure.


We have used the Balmer and Paschen jumps to determine the temperatures of the H+ zones of a total sample of 47 H II regions. The Balmer jump was used on MMT spectrophotometric data of 22 low-metallicity H II regions in 18 blue compact dwarf (BCD) galaxies and of one H II region in the spiral galaxy M101. The Paschen jump was used on spectra of 24 H II emission-line galaxies selected from the Data Release 3 of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). To derive the temperatures, we have used a Monte Carlo technique varying the electron temperature in the H+ zone, the extinction of the ionized gas and that of the stellar population, the relative contribution of the ionized gas to the total emission, and the star formation history to fit the spectral energy distribution of the galaxies. For the MMT spectra, the fit was done in the wavelength range 3200-5200 Å, which includes the Balmer discontinuity, and for the SDSS spectra, in the wavelength range 3900-9200 Å, which includes the Paschen discontinuity. We find for our sample of H II regions that the temperatures of the O2+ zones determined from the nebular-to-auroral line intensity ratio of doubly ionized oxygen [O III] λλ(4959 + 5007)/λ4363 do not differ, in a statistical sense, from the temperatures of the H+ zones determined from fitting the Balmer and Paschen jumps and the spectral energy distributions (SEDs). We cannot rule out small temperature differences of the order of 3%-5%.


The description of the process "Internal audit" in algorithm form with the help of block-schema and methodology of functional simulation of IDEFO is given.


Page segmentation has received great attention in recent years. However, most research has been based on some pre-defined heuristics or visual cues which may be not suitable for large-scale page segmentation. In this paper, we proposed two parameters: seam degree and content similarity, to indicate the coherent degree of a page block. Instead of analyzing pre-defined heuristics or visual cues, our method utilizes the visual and content features to determine whether a page block should be divided into smaller blocks. We also proposed a principled page segmentation method using these two parameters. An experiment was conducted to determine the relationship between the two parameters and the number of segment results. The empirical results also show that our segmentation method can effectively segment a page into different semantic parts.


Criminal penalties in the United States are more severe in the 1990s than they have been at any other period in this century. Throughout our history there has been a swing between retribution and rehabilitation. In the late 18th century prisons began to replace corporal punishment. Initially, offenders were sentenced to prison for a fixed time, without any possibility of early release. In the early 19th century New York passed laws allowing time off for good behavior. The indeterminate sentencing model was adopted in the late 19th century. By the 1980s the notion that prisons could rehabilitate offenders was discredited and determinate sentencing, or "truth in sentencing", was adopted by more and more states in an effort to increase public safety and to reduce discrepancy in sentencing (Edwards, 1995). The demand for this came from those in corrections, in the legal and justice fields and from political leaders.


Aim: To assess the primary patency of the tibial vessels after using long dilatating balloon catheters in below the knee angioplasty in patients with critical limb ischemia, and its effect on limb salvage rates. These results were compared with previous literature results of treating tibial lesions using short balloon catheters. Patients & methods: Twenty (20) patients with critical lower limb ischemia essentially attending the vascular out-patient clinic and the emergency department of Ain Shams University Hospitals from December 2012 till December 2014 were included in the study. Patients were treated by long balloon catheter and the primary patency of this procedure, and its effect on limb salvage were assessed. Results: The technical success rate was 95%, while primary patency rate after one year was 75% for patients treated by long balloon catheters for multi-segmental long tibial lesions in below the knee angioplasty. Limb salvage rate was 90% after one year. Comparison with results from previous literature using short balloons in the treatment of tibial lesions revealed no significant difference as regard technical success rate, primary patency rate or limb salvage rate. Conclusion: Infrapopliteal angioplasty with a long balloon was feasible, with encouraging midterm outcome, in the treatment of severe limb ischemia. The advantage of long balloons is that it can easily treat complex long lesions with a single balloon covering complicated anatomy of the most of the lesion area, resulting in better arterial remodeling, also, decreased procedural time and decreased radiation exposure.


The accumulation of arsenic in solid, liquid and gaseous waste of metallurgical production is an acute problem. Deposition of arsenic by sodium hydrosulfide is an effective and fast method of arsenic removal from solutions. The paper proposes a reactor design procedure for extraction of As (III) using the sulfide technology from washing solutions for wet gas scrubbing in sulfuric acid production. The paper takes into consideration the optimum parameters for removal of arsenic from solutions: the specific consumption of sulfide sulfur per1 kgof arsenic, the concentration of As (III) ions in the solution, the rate of sodium hydrosulfide feeding into the solution, and the hydrodynamic regime of the reactor. The obtained results are useful for design of experimental-industrial reactors used in dearsenication of solutions.


Instructing infected staff to stay home 849 87 Confining residents to room 731 75 Cohorting infected residents 654 67 Restricting visitors 641 66 Quarantining units on which outbreaks occur 543 56 Administering prophylaxis 459 47 Closure of facility to new admissions 336 35 Use of rapid diagnostic methods for case detection 270 28 Transferring infected residents to another facility 51 5 Antibiotic Stewardship Policies


Senior high school students in a Human Biology course were given college level work through the Phase Achievement System (PAS), a biology course at Brigham Young University (BYU). Statistical analysis showed significant growth in high school student learning through the PAS. When ability to work with PAS was measured, significant differences between the high school and college groups were not evident. A high percentage of college and high school students dropped out of the PAS, probably because students could fail at the PAS without experiencing academic failure.


The authors present the findings of a special task group (STG) organized to explore effective training strategies for the practice guidelines focused on diverse populations. They provide a brief literature review and summarize survey data from academic training directors regarding current use of practice guidelines. The authors then describe the Integrative Training Model (ITM), developed by the STG, as a framework for students and professionals to incorporate the complex array of information contained in each set of guidelines. Unique challenges associated with incorporating the ITM are described, as well as pedagogical considerations for both students and current professionals. The authors believe the ITM may help students and professionals increase their diversity competence by developing a more holistic understanding of the various dimensions and social group experiences that affect their clients and themselves.


The neutron flux spectrum in the HFIR has been deter-mined with computer codes ANISN 1 and THERMOS . This spectrum was used to calculate the reaction rates of several flux monitors for which measurements were made. The results of: the calculations and the measurements agreed within +107»>


The effects of mechanical stimuli on fibroblasts were investigated, using the collagen gel culture method. Specimens of thin collagen gel membrane involving cells were supported by a stainless steel wire mesh and subjected to static and dynamic uniaxial tensile/compressional loads in an incubator. The cell alignment, the shrinkage of the collagen gel matrix, and the mechanical properties of the specimens were examined. We found that both of the static and dynamic uniaxial tensile loads significantly strengthened the collagen gel matrix. From morphological evidence, dynamic stimuli were proven to be more effective in matrix strengthening than static stimuli. However, since the specimens were not strengthened uniformly and portions where compressional stresses were induced remained weak, the macroscopic tensile test failed to show the differences between static and dynamic stimuli on mechanical properties of the specimens.


Medical care providers commonly resort to billing separately for procedures which should be billed as a single CPT code. Writing a program to profile or rebundle medical claims is complicated by problems such as the: · need to evaluate a random nwnber of claims simultaneously · permutations of logic used to recombine claims · characteristics of profiles or bundles that are not composed of mutually exclusive CPT codes An elegant solution to these difficulties is to use some of the subtle features of tlte FORMAT Procedure and Macros. The following describes how to write a program which may be used under Releases 5.18, 6.04, or Version 6.06.


Abstract 1H NMR experiments have been undertaken to elucidate the structural effects of methoxy substitution at the C8 of a deoxyguanosine residue in a self-complementary dodecadeoxyribonucleotide, d(C-G-C-mo8G-A-A-T-T-C-G-C-G), duplex, which has an 8-methoxy-2′-deoxyguanosine (mo8dG) residue at the 4th position. NMR data indicate that the mo8dG residue takes an anti glycosidic conformation in a mo8dG(anti):dC(anti) base-pair structure in a B-form duplex. The thermal stability of the duplex is reduced, but the overall structure is much the same as that of the unmodified d(C-G-C-G-A-A-T-T-C-G-C-G) duplex.


Two spent hard chromium plating solutions were regenerated using an industrially viable electroseparation method for removal of metal impurities. The spent and regenerated baths were used to obtain chromium electrodeposits that were compared with electrodeposits obtained from freshly made, impurity-free plating baths. The morphology of the electrodeposits was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Comparative evaluation of the hardness and corrosion resistance clearly shows that the physical properties of the electrodeposits obtained from the regenerated baths are superior to the properties of the electrodeposits produced from the spent solutions. These properties are close to those obtained for the electrodeposits produced from a freshly prepared hard chromium plating solution.


Social media growth is surging and broadcasters are vying to gain a share. Brad Howarth looks at how they're tapping into audience's desire for distraction.


Objective: The present study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of HCV among high-risk Egyptian children.
Background: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a global health problem. Children with certain risk factors are at high risk of infection.
Methods: The study included 1357 children. aged 3-15 years with risk factors of HCV including receiving blood products, hemodialysis, previous surgical intervention, insulin therapy and positive family history. They were subjected to careful history taking, thorough clinical examination and routine laboratory investigations. All children were tested for HCV antibodies using commercial 4th generation enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kits. Those with positive results were further assessed using polymerase chain reaction (PCR).
Results: Among the studied patients, there were 89 children (6.6 %) with positive HCV Ab and 73 children (5.4 %) with positive PCR test for HCV. Using multivariate logistic regression, significant predictors of HCV infection in the studied children were blood transfusion (OR:1.23, CI: 0.019-13.4), IV injection (OR:10.962, CI: 1.937-62.026) and previous operation (OR: 3.12, CI:1.046-31.6).
Conclusion: HCV infection is highly prevalent among high-risk children. Blood transfusion, IV injection and exposure to surgery are independent risk factors for infection in this population


The eComma "electronic commentary machine" project is a web application built to assist teachers and scholars working with texts and commentaries on those texts. The eComma application enables groups of students, scholars, or general readers to build collaborative commentaries on a text and to search, display, and share those commentaries online in a more pliable form than has previously been available. This white paper describes our results and findings in the second stage in the development of this application.


Of the industrial goods considered, hydrogen is identified as applicable for the decarbonization of several goods. While anode copper and pig iron production can be partially or fully decarbonized with green hydrogen, this approach is not an option for aluminum production. The chemical industry can decarbonize ammonia with green hydrogen. Methanol and refinery products can also be produced with green hydrogen, but this requires an additional source of green carbon. The decarbonization of the cement industry faces another challenge.The demand of green hydrogen for historic production volumes of the industrial goods sums up to 1296 TWh, most of it for refinery products (fuels and chemicals). The economic comparison of green hydrogen with natural gas shows a short-term increase of costs, which differ from good to good.


A recently proposed method for approximating the paleorelief of mountain belts makes use of the predictable relationship between the isotopic depletion of precipitation and the net elevation of an orographic barrier over which an air mass rises. This rain shadow effect often creates desert regions on the lee side of mountain belts in which precipitation is isotopically light. Changes in the isotopic composition of precipitation can be estimated from the isotopic composition of authigenic or pedogenic minerals, which can then be used to infer both the development of relief during orogenesis as well as the stability of a rain shadow formed by developing mountains. The δ18O of smectites formed from the weathering of Middle Miocene to Late Pliocene volcanic ashes currently exposed in the rain shadow of the modern Sierra Nevada of California show no indication of large‐scale Late Cenozoic surface uplift of the Sierra and corresponding regional rain shadow development. Rather smectite isotope data tentatively suggest that elevations may have decreased over this time by as much as 2000 m toward the southern end of the range and 700 m in regions farther north. This suggests that the modern rain shadow cast over the western Basin and Range has been in existence since pre‐Middle Miocene and that the Sierra Nevada have been a prominent orographic barrier since before this time. These interpretations are in accord with several recent studies also suggesting a possible Cenozoic elevation loss of an already developed Sierra Nevada mountain range.


Real-time systems which have to respond to environmental state changes within a very short latency period are often using event-triggered task activation. If the system has to work even in case of sensor failures, event-triggered task activation is not reliable. Task activations may occur too early, thus causing a system overload, they may occur too late or are entirely omitted. To overcome these problems the task-splitting model is introduced, which integrates fault tolerance into the analysis and construction of hard real-time systems. This model controls event-triggered task activations to handle faults while guaranteeing timely reponse to changes of environmental states. The task-splitting model is independent of any particular scheduling algorithm, it is based on a general task model. The result of this work has influenced the design of a robust engine controller of the next generation.<<ETX>>


Early experiments on the isolation and identification of serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine, 5-HT) were carried out from the late 1930s through the early 1950s. These studies demonstrated the presence of 5-HT in blood and in enterochromaffin cells of the gut, and they established the indole structure of the molecule. In 1953, it was shown that the mammalian brain contained appreciable (μg/g) quantities of 5-HT. A consideration of 5-HT's actions as a vasoconstrictor and cardiostimulant, the parallels between 5-HT and the then-nascent neurotransmitters norepinephrine and acetylcholine, and commonalities with the molecular structure of lysergic acid led rapidly to suggestions that 5-HT might play a role in mental disorders. In 1961, Shain and Freedman reported finding elevated levels of platelet 5-HT in individuals with autism. Serious consideration of the role of 5-HT in autism dates from this time. Although platelet hyperserotonemia has continued to provide an impetus for the study of 5-HT in autism, a wide range of neurobiological, pharmacological, and genetic data has contributed to the continuing interest in this area. As background, the central serotonergic system is depicted in Figure 1. As shown, nearly all cell bodies of central 5-HT neurons are located in the dorsal midbrain and brainstem and project in a pervasive fashion throughout the brain. 5-HT is produced from the dietary amino acid precursor, tryptophan, and metabolized predominantly to 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA). As might be expected from its phylogenetically ancient role in neural transmission and its extensive CNS projections, 5-HT has been shown to play a key role in a variety of behaviors and processes including sensory gating, behavioral inhibition, appetite, aggression, sleep, mood, affiliation, and neuroendocrine secretion. Theoretical considerations underlying the rationale for the study of 5-HT in autism include 5-HT's role in neurodevelopment, its especially rich innervation of limbic areas critical for emotional expression and social behavior, and the involvement of 5-HT in a wide range of behaviors often observed to be affected in individuals with autism. Providing a more empirical basis are studies showing therapeutic benefit of serotonergic agents in autism, reports of 5-HT–related neuroendocrine abnormalities, the well-characterized platelet hyperserotonemia, and recently reported associations between autism and 5HT–related genes. The critical involvement of 5-HT in guiding neurodevelopment and the extended ontogeny of the central serotonergic system provide theoretical bases for positing a role for 5-HT in the etiology and pathophysiology of autism and related pervasive developmental disorders. Serotonin and its associated transporter and receptors are found very early in development (embryonic day 11–12 in the rat, by 4 months of gestation in humans). Much of the early expression of 5-HT appears to be related to its role as a growth factor and regulator of neuronal development. Thus, in addition to functioning as a modulator of neural transmission, 5-HT appears to have critical effects on neurogenesis, morphogenesis, and synaptogenesis in the developing brain. Serotonin genetics and neurodevelopment intersect in the recent observation of an effect of transporter gene variants (HTT intron 2 alleles) on patterns of 5-HT transporter gene expression in the developing mammalian brainstem. Accumulating evidence indicates that 5-HT projections continue to undergo age-related change through early adulthood and that the serotonergic system is particularly plastic. Consideration of the fundamental social deficit in autism and of the behavioral sequelae of amygdalar lesions, as well as the results of cytological analysis of postmortem brain tissue, have made the amygdala and associated areas of limbic cortex of particular interest. The core social relatedness deficits in autism focus research attention on the rostral limbic system, including the amygdala, septum, medial orbitofrontal cortex, anterior insular cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, accumbens, and hippocampus. The various limbic areas are richly enervated with serotonergic projections. The cerebellum has also received intensive study in autism, with cerebellar alterations suggested due to its role in attention regulation and motor control and to the results of postmortem (cytological) and imaging studies. Although 5-HT innervation of the cerebellum is less prominent, 5-HT projections are critical to cerebellar function. Early transient dense expression of 5-HT receptors (5-HT1A) appears important in the formation of the cerebellar cortex. In adult animals, 5-HT plays important roles mediating the diverse autism-relevant behaviors of sleep, mood, arousal, aggression, impulsivity, and affiliation. Reduced serotonergic function has been associated with worsened sleep, depressed mood, altered arousal, increased aggression, greater impulsivity, and reduced social behavior. Although 5-HT tends to play an inhibitory role in the CNS, its actions are complex and depend greatly upon the specific location and class of receptor stimulated. For instance, markedly increasing extracellular 5-HT release can reduce appetite and aggression but also can lead to


The paper investigates the effect of adding a phase change material in thermal contact with the evaporator in a natural convection domestic refrigerator. The enthalpy method has been applied to investigate the heat release and storage rate of encapsulated ice. The effect of three parameters was investigated by the numerical method: PCM thickness, ambient temperature and evaporating temperature. The results showed that the melting and freezing time increased proportionally with PCM thickness. The refrigerator autonomy was reduced by 48% when the ambient temperature was increased from 20°C to 43°C and the freezing time increased by 27% when the evaporating temperature was reduced from -10°C to -15°C. A CFD simulation of the airflow and temperature distribution in the natural convection refrigerator was carried out to evaluate the most effective position to place the PCM (top or back wall). The predicted airflow patterns and temperature profiles were considerably different for the two PCM orientations. The predicted air temperature was above 5oC, thus a eutectic PCM may be required to reduce the temperature in the refrigerator compartment.


Earthen architecture, by its nature, is a fragile because it has a poor resistance toward the action of weathering, which has also increased in recent years through the effects of climate change. The presence of interesting examples of earthen brick buildings, for example, in the Piedmont Region of Italy, is characterised by the absence of rendering, which reveals the need to test treatments for the protection and/or strengthening of the walls of these buildings. This action is of fundamental importance to improve its resistance to the aggressive action of atmospheric agents and avoid their disappearance. A testing campaign adopting protective products with sustainability characteristics and low environmental impact was carried out on earthen brick walls. Different products belonging to various categories (synthetic polymers, natural resins, nano-structured materials) and selected based on previous experiments or tested for the first time on earthen surfaces were selected. The performance assessment of the products was carried out by taking into account the standardised procedures in the field of cultural heritage conservation through the following tests: water absorption, water vapour permeability, drilling resistance, water erosion tests (Geelong and spray), contact angle measurements, colorimetric measurements, and ageing tests. Although the choice of the optimal protective product should be made on a case-by-case basis, where it is not sustainable to proceed in this way, the results of this experimental campaign—in the presence of materials and weathering conditions similar to those of the case study analysed—will provide indications in identifying of the most appropriate product.


Objective: To explore the effects endangering medical staff in the infectious wards. Method: To investigate 90 medical staff in the way of questionnaire. Result: 95% of the candidates contact with blood due to perforations,98% with body fluid and excretion due to perforations on chest and belly,100% with saliva in communication with patients.Conclusion: Effective and positive measures should be taken to protect medical staff from the dangerous effects in infectious wards.


As a precursor to and validation of the core technology necessary for NASA's Active Sensing of CO2 Emissions over Nights, Days, and Seasons (ASCENDS) mission, we flew JPL's Carbon Dioxide Laser Absorption Spectrometer (CO2LAS) in a campaign of five flights onboard NASA's DC-8 Airborne Laboratory in July 2010. This is the latest in a series of annual flight campaigns that began in 2006, and our first on the DC-8 aircraft.


The equilibrium rate ry of a random variable Y with support on nonnegative integers is defined by ry(O) = 0 and ry(n) = P[Y = n 1]1P[Y = n], (n ~ 1). Let YJi), (j = 1, ... , m; i = 1,2) be 2m independent random variables that have proportional equilibrium rates with (II pJi»), (j = 1, ... , m; i = 1, 2) as the constant of proportionality. When the equilibrium rate is increasing and concave [convex] it is shown that p(l) = (pP), ... ,p~») majorizes p(2)= (p~2), ... , p~») implies Eg(YP), ... , Y~») ~ [~] Eg(y~2), ... , Y~») for all increasing Schur-convex [concave] functions g :~m ---+~, whenever the expectations exist. In addition if p~i) ~ p¥) ~ ... ~ p~i, (i = 1, 2), then ( ~ y~l) k = 1 ... m) ~ (~y~2) k = 1 ... m) L.J J' , , -st L.J J' , , . j=l j=l [(~ y~l) k = 1 ... m) -s (~y~2) k = 1 ... m)] L.J J' , , -st L.J J' , , j=k j=k k k and 2: YJ!) ~lr 2: YJ2) j=l j=l [ ~ y~l) $ ~ y~2)] L.J J -Ir L.J J ' j=k j=k k=I,··· ,m. These results are then used to establish the stochastic convexity [concavity] of the stationary number of customers in a birth-death queueing system and to establish the Schur-concavity [convexity] of the throughput function of quasi-reversible closed queueing networks. Also we provide the answer to an open question on the optimality of balanced workload in open and closed queueing networks. CONVEXITY; BIRTH-DEATH QUEUE; QUEUEING NETWORKS o. Introduction and summary Let Y be a random variable with support r\J = {O, 1, 2, . · .}. The equilibrium rate ry: r\J~R+ == [0,00) of Y is defined by ry(O) =0 and ry(n) = pry = n Received 11 February 1986; revision received 11 September 1986. * Postal address: School of Business Administration, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.


*Contribution No. 1, Subproject 1 " The Nutritional Status and Dietary Needs of Older People " of the North Central Region Cooperative Project NC-5 " Nutritional Status and Dietary Needs of Population Groups." Authorized for publication as Journal Article No. 1113 of the Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station. This work was supported in part by a grant made by the National Dairy Council, acting on behalf of the American Dairy Association. t Presented at a Joint Session of the Epidemiology, Food and Nutrition, Health Officers, and Statistics Sections of the American Public Health Association at the Seventy-seventh Annual Meeting in New York, N. Y., October 27, 1949. to arrange occasional visits to the laboratory for physical examination, chemical and physiological tests. There has been no attempt to avoid periods of strain or worry on the assumption that these are a part of modern living. The friendship of the woman has been cultivated by means of daily visits so that detailed and accurate records of unusual situations were obtained. Physical examinations have been made by a competent physician,** food consumption records and chemical and physiological tests have been done by the staff of the Foods and Nutrition Department. Two types of studies have been made. The first used typical survey techniques such as those employed by the Mobile Units of the U. S. Public Health Service, differing only in that repeated contacts with each subject have been made. Two samples of 100 women each have been drawn from Lansing, using area sampling techniques. Food intake records repre-


The levels of oxalic acid in commercially obtainable drinks were estimated using ion chromatography. Variability of oxalic acid contents in many drinks was observed. Large amounts of oxalic acid were contained in Maccha. That amount was about 6 times that in green tea. The difference of oxalic acid contents in tea by infusion time was examined. The maximum concentration of oxalic acid in distilled water was reached in 4 minutes. Oxalic acid concentration by water used for infusion distilled water and tap water were compared. The difference in the two results can be regarded as significant. There was a significant difference in the oxalic acid concentration in distilled water and in tap water (p<0.05.


Cover and Contents
Introduction

 1. DHR-superselection theory 2. Quantum groups as symmetry algebras 3. Lattice models and amplified DHR-theory
 4. Overview and summary of results

Chapter 1. Diagonal crossed products by duals of quantum groups

 1. Coactions and crossed products
 2. Two-sided coactions and diagonal crossed products 3. Generating matrices
 4. Quantum group spin chains and lattice current algebras

Chapter 2. Diagonal crossed products by duals of quasi-quantum groups

 1. Quasi-quantum groups
 2. Coactions of quasi-quantum groups
 3. Two-sided coactions
 4. Left and right diagonal crossed products
 5. Generating matrices
 6. Proofs

Chapter 3. Generalization to weak quasi-quantum groups

 1. Weak quasi-quantum groups
 2. Diagonal crossed products

Chapter 4. The quantum double D(G)

 1. D(G) as a quasi-bialgebra and D(G)-coactions
 2. The quasitriangular quasi-Hopf structure
 3. The twisted double of a finite group
 4. The monodromy algebra

Chapter 5. Quantum group spin chains and lattice current algebras

 1. Two-sided crossed products
 2. Quantum group spin chains
 3. Lattice current algebras
 4. Representation theory
 5. Proofs

Appendix A. Representation theoretic interpretation
Appendix B. Graphical calculus

 1. Basic definitions
 2. The antipode image of the R-matrix
 3. The antipode in the quantum double D(G)
 4. Graphical description of the diagonal crossed product

Conclusions and outlook
Bibliography
Curriculum Vitae


The high frequency of identification of periodontal pathogens
in infants and children in gingivitis sites compared to those
without clinical signs of inflammation supports the hypothesis
of the pathogenic involvement of these bacteria in periodontal
inflammation in childhood.


To construct large scale ontologies, two major approaches are discussed by many researchers. One is a cooperative construction of ontologies, and the other is a modularization of ontologies. To combine these two approaches, this paper discusses a framework for supporting cooperative ontology construction based on dependency management among modularized ontologies. In such a situation, one of the key issues is the maintenance of consistency among inter-dependent ontologies because each ontology is revised asynchronously by different developers. In order to realize consistent development of ontologies, the framework provides two functions: to manage the dependencies between ontology modules and to keep and restore consistencies between them when they are influenced by changes of other modules. Furthermore, we outline an implementation of our framework in our environment for building/using ontology: Hozo.


Thin-film superconducting microwave resonators play an important role in large superconducting photon cameras for applications ranging from cosmology to nuclear non-proliferation. The high quality factor and low loss of these devices make it possible to couple many resonators to a single feedline, enabling frequency-division multiplexing of large arrays of detectors. We review the use of superconducting microwave resonators for both microwave kinetic inductance detectors (MKIDs) and superconducting transition-edge sensors (TES).


The influence of borders on the spatial organization of the society leads to a discussion about the existence of the borderland phenomenon – a phenomenon that endows the territory with special properties and functions. A number of authors interpret borderland phenomenon as a predisposition to cooperate with a neighbor. It can relate to a variety of problems and restrictions associated with the border – from the cultural influence of a neighboring state to issues of mutual trade. Other researchers believe that borderlines are defined as a type of geographical location that endows territories with special functions. Still others suggest talking about the "effect of the border", its influence on the adjacent territories. The synthesis of approaches allows us to interpret the borderland phenomenon as territorial manifestations of the immediate proximity of the border, positional properties and functions of the territory, due to the border location. Border territories can be central, semi-peripheral, and peripheral. Borderland phenomenon potentially provides conditions and resources for the development of territories, however, with deep peripherality, even at open borders, growth zones are not formed. In addition, the redistribution of functions between different types of borders, the adaptation to external geopolitical challenges change the significance and correlation of border and peripheral properties of the territory.


Introduction: Assessment of risk factors for developing pressure ulcers is a part of palliative care. In the literature, there are few reports on the possible significance of hyponatremia in the development of pressure ulcers. Material and methods: Observational study was performed in 100 consecutive patients aged 71.1 ±11.9 years (± SD), including 57% women and 43% men, hospitalized in the Department of Palliative Care. 95% were oncology patients. Patients were divided into following groups: A (without pressure ulcers), B (admitted with pressure ulcers) and C (at which pressure ulcers developed during hospitalization). Among patients with pressure ulcers the following groups were specified: T (pressure ulcers have healed) and N (pressure ulcers have not healed). The Waterlow pressure ulcer risk assessment scale was used. On admission and during hospitalization (depending on the clinical indications) concentration of sodium in serum was measured. Results: In group C, the tendency to hyponatremia was higher than in group A (128.8 ±7.0 vs. 134 ±5.9 mmol/l; p = 0.018). Similarly, in group N the tendency to hyponatremia was higher than in group T (117.1 ±6.8 vs. 135.6 ±2.6 mmol/l, p = 0.018). Conclusion: Hyponatremia is a possible risk factor for the development and impaired healing of pressure ulcers. Confirmation of these findings requires further study.


The present paper describes a method for producing graphitic carbon nanospheres (GCNSs) by chemical vapour deposition (CVD), which includes supplying carbon atoms to a catalyser for forming carbon nanoparticles in a controlled manner, in which the amount of carbon supply is controlled in relation to the time and temperature parameters. In this method short carbon fibres are used as supporting substrate for the mass formation of pure graphitic carbon nanoparticles in a fluidized bed reactor chemical vapour deposition (FBCVD). The synthesis of graphitic carbon nanoparticles (GCNPs) is carried out by the catalytic decomposition of a carbon source over a substrate deposited with catalyst in the fixed bed reactor. The chemical composition of nanoparticles was measured by energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDX) in a scanning electron microscope (SEM). SEM, High Resolution Transmission Electron Microscope (HRTEM), thermal gravimetric analyser (TGA), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) were used for characterization of the catalyst and the products. This study indicates that GCNP is successfully grown at 600°C in ambient pressure for 1.8% Fe on carbon fiber, 8 minutes deposition time, and 15L/min acetylene flow rate. Graphitic carbon nanospheres have been produced in large amount of lattice images of various fullerenic carbons and aciniform of nanoparticles, which are seldom reported in the literature.


ABSTRACT The article analyses the specific features of a social innovation aimed at assisting a social group, which is not simply marginalized, but also socially excluded at least for decades. It focuses on the activities of a non-profit corporation providing microcredit, mentoring and other social services to undereducated, unemployed and socially excluded Roma people in Hungary. The paper relies on the capability approach developed by Sen and Nussbaum. The main conclusion is that providing loans without capability building can lead to a mission drift towards less disadvantaged groups, and consequently the exclusion of the most disadvantaged may even increase.


We have investigated how students tackle problems in geometric optics involving ray construction, to try to understand the nature and origin of the surprisingly wide variety of students' solution attempts. We find that students use various reasoning modes and knowledge elements in conjunction. Their thinking may usefully be described as an interplay of principle‐based and case‐based reasoning, drawing on a knowledge mixture of basic principles, procedures, specific cases and recalled result features. Even though we usually present solutions and teach problem solving as a systematic application of principles, real cognition is more complex. Associative thinking in terms of prior cases seems to be a strong natural tendency of both novices and experts. However, novices are not easily able to discriminate the specific from the general, and tend to lack epistemic awareness and metacognitive skills. Our research findings will be illustrated by examples of student thinking on a basic reflection problem. Implicat...


Quickest change detection in a sensor network is considered where each sensor observes a sequence of random variables and transmits its local information on the observations to a fusion center. At an unknown point in time, the distribution of the observations at all sensors changes. The objective is to detect the change in distribution as soon as possible, subject to a false alarm constraint. We consider minimax formulations for this problem and propose a new approach where transmissions are ordered and halted when sufficient information is accumulated at the fusion center. We show that the proposed approach can achieve the optimal performance equivalent to the centralized cumulative sum (CUSUM) algorithm while requiring fewer sensor transmissions. Numerical results for a shift in mean of independent and identically distributed Gaussian observations show significant communication savings for the case where the change seldom occurs which is frequently true in many important applications.


The aim of this research is to determine the potential benefits of applying the biostimulant liquid seaweed extract SEASOL® to sugarcane in an Australian production setting. Two large block sugarcane trials were started at the beginning of the 2014/15 season, in plant and ratoon crops, being commercially grown in far north Queensland, Australia. Both trials consist of two adjacent, irrigated cane blocks (3.5-7.5 ha) with similar soils and identical agronomic inputs. In each trial, both blocks are irrigated/fertigated by sub-surface drip irrigation (SSDI) one receives ongoing, monthly injections of SEASOL® at 10 L/ha and the other serving as an untreated control. Crop yield assessments were conducted at each site, by comparing harvested mill tonnages and CCS (commercial cane sugar) values from whole treatment block areas. Results data have been statistically analysed by 1-way ANOVA and means separated to P=0.05. It is intended the trials should continue, until replanting of the trial crops is deemed to be necessary, according to commercial standards. Results Summary: SEASOL® treated blocks yielded between 9.5 36% more tonnes of raw cane per hectare and between 11.1 37% more tonnes of raw sugar per hectare, compared to the untreated controls. There were no treatment differences in CCS values. These results support the use of the liquid seaweed extract biostimulant (SEASOL®), as a regular management input, for improving tropical sugarcane production and farm profitability. There is also the potential (pending further research) to show whether lower rates of fertilisers can be used to produce satisfactorily yielding crops. INTRODUCTION Sugarcane is an important crop in Australia and the sugar industry is a major generator of business, employment and valuable export income (Australian Sugar Milling Council, 2016). Recent environmental research has indicated that sugarcane farmers should make greater efforts to prevent sediment and fertilisers leaving their farms and entering the waterways that feed into the coastal lagoons, adjacent to the Great Barrier Reef (Queensland Government, Departments of Environment, Agriculture and Fisheries, 2016; Smartcane Best Management Practice, 2016). Plant biostimulants have been shown to increase productivity in cultivated plants (Tuhy et al., 2013; da Silveira et al., 2015) and plants treated with the biostimulant SEASOL® appear to have SEASOL IN SUGARCANE Final Version August 2018 3 bigger and healthier root systems (internal research). This characteristic of the seaweed extract biostimulants may make them useful at reducing the loss of farm soil and fertilisers, thereby making sugarcane production more environmentally sustainable. MATERIALS AND METHODS Ongoing Large Block Sugarcane Experiments 2014-17 On two separate commercial sugarcane farms in far north Queensland Australia, the following treatments are being evaluated: a. SEASOL® applied at 10 L/ha per month, via SSDI (sub-surface drip irrigation). b. Untreated control. On both farms, treatments were initially allocated at random, to adjacent, separately irrigated blocks, each with similar soil types. Regular monthly applications of SEASOL® are made to each block through SSDI as part of normal irrigation. In each trial, equal amounts of water, fertiliser and registered pesticides are applied to both treatment blocks. Yield and sugar quality data for each harvest provided by MSF mill, Lotus Glen are presented and averaged over the two sites and three seasonal harvests, for each treatment. Treatment yield parameters were compared statistically by one-way ANOVA (P=0.05) using Statistix 10.0. PLANT TRIAL (S) Started in plant sugarcane in 2014. Both treatment blocks are 4.2 hectares and both receive N 145, P 50, K 71, S 23 (kg/ha), in each crop cycle. The first application of SEASOL® was made 12 weeks after planting, 8 weeks after shoot emergence. Dates of Seasol ® applications and crop harvests are shown in Table 1. Table 1: Application Dates of Seasol ® (10 L/ha via SSDI) & Harvest Dates First Crop 15/10/14,12/11/14, 11/12/14, 15/1/15, 22/2/15, 25/3/15, 20/4/15, 18/5/15, 22/6/15 & 10/7/15 Second Crop 18/7/15, 16/8/14, 12/9/14, 11/10/15, 14/11/15, 22/1/16*, 25/3/16* & 3/7/16 Third Crop 25/8/16, 5/10/16, 23/11/16, 14/1/17*, 16/2/17, 2/3/17, 11/4/17, 3/5/17 & 30/7/17 * SEASOL® at 20 L/ha – where application delayed due to wet weather RATOON TRIAL (M) Started in first ratoon sugarcane in 2014. The SEASOL® treatment block is 7.5 hectares and the Untreated block is 3.5 hectares. In each crop cycle, both blocks receive N 180, P 36, K 90 (kg/ha). The first application of Seasol® was made 10 days after harvest of the previous plant crop, prior to ratoon shoot emergence. Dates of Seasol ® applications and crop harvests are shown in Table 2. Table 2: Application Dates of Seasol ® (10 L/ha via SSDI) & Harvest Dates First Crop 7/11/14,5/12/14, 2/1/15, 21/2/15, 25/3/15, 25/4/15, 24/5/15, 23/6/15, 26/7/15, 31/8/15 & 26/9/15 Second Crop 11/10/15, 28/11/15*, 17/1/16, 3/4/16*, 8/5/15, 19/6/16, 30/7/16, 23/8/16 & 24/9/16 Third Crop 1/10/16, 11/12/16, 22/2/17*, 19/3/17, 15/5/17*, 12/7/17*, 3/9/17 & 8/11/17 * SEASOL® at 20 L/ha – where application delayed due to wet weather SEASOL IN SUGARCANE Final Version August 2018 4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION


Pot experiment on red soil(garden soil) contaminated by heavy metal in Guixi city,Jiangxi province was conducted.The results indicated that using lime to tune soil pH to lightly alkalescence could improve net photosynthesis significantly,increase soil microbe C (especially for cellulose-decomposing bacterium),reduce the available content of heavy metal and reduce the harm to plants,so it's the viable amended measurment under the condition in existence.


We derive an exact solution for the total kinetic energy of noninteracting spinless electrons at half-filling in two-dimensional bipartite lattices. We employ a conceptually novel approach that maps this problem exactly into a Feynman-Vdovichenko lattice walker. The problem is then reduced to the analytic study of the sum of magnetic phase factors on closed paths. We compare our results with the ones obtained through numerical calculations.


Multidrug resistance is defined as the resistance of a tumor cell to the cytotoxic action of divergent drugs used in chemotherapy. Dihydropyridines are a class of calcium channel antagonists that were discovered to have a multidrug resistance reversing effect and prompted investigations resulting in the synthesis of hundreds of new derivatives. Most of the investigators tried to achieve two goals: a decrease in Ca2+ channel–blocking activity and an increase in the multidrug resistance reversing effect. Most of the synthesized compounds failed in the later stages of studies especially in clinical trials because of pharmacokinetic or pharmacodynamic limitations. Therefore, it will be necessary to include new methods, such as combinatorial synthesis, and, more importantly, to apply computational methods based on global structure–activity relationship models that consider all problems. Moreover, some compounds should be synthesized that are effective on several multidrug resistance targets.


Public policies' objective is achieving to justice in society, including justice in gender. Form the cross section, the lack of consciousness of gender in whole public policies brings about women's rights edged and distorted; Form the vertical section, the lack of consciousness of gender in the every internal levels of public policies leads to the primary policies unable to be implemented successfully, and it also brings about gender's disappearing in the primary policies. In order to make consciousness of gender become a main trend, we must raise the proportion of women 's participation in policy decisions, and accelerate the consciousness of gender to men who play important roles in policy decisions. At the same time, we must link up all the policies about gender in different policy areas.


Metasurface polarization optics that consist of 2D array of birefringent nano‐antennas have proven remarkable capabilities to generate and manipulate vectorial fields with subwavelength resolution and high efficiency. Integrating this new type of metasurface with the standard vertical cavity surface‐emitting laser (VCSEL) platform enables an ultracompact and powerful solution to control both phase and polarization properties of the laser on a chip, which allows to structure a VCSEL into vector beams with on‐demand wavefronts. Here, this concept is demonstrated by directly generating versatile vector beams from commercially available VCSELs through on‐chip integration of high‐index dielectric metasurfaces. Experimentally, the versatility of the approach for the development of vectorial VCSELs are validated by implementing a variety of functionalities, including directional emission of multibeam with specified polarizations, vectorial holographic display, and vector vortex beams generations. Notably, the proposed vectorial VCSELs integrated with a single layer of beam shaping metasurface bypass the requirements of multiple cascaded optical components, and thus have the potential to promote the advancements of ultracompact, lightweight, and scalable vector beams sources, enriching and expanding the applications of VCSELs in optical communications, laser manipulation and processing, information encryption, and quantum optics.


Abstract Ambrosia beetles frequently invade non-native regions but are typically of no concern because most species live in dead trees and culture nonpathogenic symbiotic fungal gardens. Recently, however, several ambrosia beetle—fungus complexes have invaded non-native regions and killed large numbers of host trees. Such tree-killing invasions have occurred unexpectedly, and the mechanism of the ecological switch from dead trees to live trees has been left unexplained, or termed an "evolutionary mismatch." We demonstrate that the mismatch hypothesis is not supported in the redbay ambrosia beetle, Xyleborus glabratus Eichhoff (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), because this beetle is able to colonize live trees also in its native range and its symbiotic fungus acts as a pathogen in some native hosts. We further synthesized findings from recent literature and unpublished observations on several other invasive fungus-associated beetles such as Euwallacea fornicatus (Eggers) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), Platypus quercivorus Murayama (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), and Pityophthorus juglandis Blackman (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) to present an alternative to the "evolutionary mismatch" hypothesis. The revised hypothesis is that the majority of destructive ambrosia beetle species that have invaded new regions are already capable of colonizing living tree tissues in their native habitats. Furthermore, associated fungi are typically mildly to strongly pathogenic to native host tree species. A predisposition to colonize living tree tissues occurs in very few ambrosia beetle species, but these species predictably act as pests in invaded regions. Thus, simple screening of ambrosia beetle—fungus pairs for this particular ecological trait—colonization of live tree tissues—in their native habitats could help discriminate future tree-killing invasive pests from the majority of species that likely remain harmless.


The levee height is determined by the summation between computed water level and an assumed freeboard. The water level is computed by given discharge in the steady conditions. Therefore, the water level is the function of the discharge, a rating curve, channel conditions such as cross-sectional data and bottom slopes, and friction coefficients.The unsteady condition also must be considered during flood. Even if the accurate discharge is selected based on the past data and probability law, the other conditions are not appropriate and the computed water level is not reliable. This study computes the reliability of the unsteady flow for given channel conditions and friction coefficients without a rating curve. The method for the unsteady computation without a rating curve is developed. This shows the water level always has reliability or risk based on the used assumptions during the computation.


The misalignment between workers' educational levels and the educational level typically required for their occupations, namely educational mismatch, has become widespread. However, despite its potential costs, there is little evidence of this situation in developing countries. Using longitudinal and retrospective data of employment histories between 2009 and 2019, this paper conducts sequence analysis to construct a typology of educational mismatch trajectories among Chilean workers. We demonstrate that mismatch is a prevalent and persistent phenomenon. Once people enter the labor market, either as undereducated or overeducated workers, they tend to stay in such positions for extended periods of time. Moreover, we find significant wage penalties for workers in a mismatch situation. Results indicate that females and young, less-educated men are more prone to follow trajectories with longer periods of mismatch or unemployment. New avenues for research and the need for public policies looking at these phenomena are required to avoid people's dissatisfaction due to a possible false promise that more education can improve their life standards.


TRAF-NETSIM and its successor CORSIM are comprehensive micro-simulation environments that have been widely used to model the urban traffic environment in the United States and abroad. CORSIM is employed in this study to simulate and evaluate the effects of pedestrian flows on right-turn saturation flow rates at signalized intersections. The saturation flow rates returned by CORSIM were compared with field data collected throughout the United States and with three existing analytical models in the United States, Australia, and Canada. These comparisons indicated that CORSIM models pedestrian interference with the turning vehicles more severely than the three analytical methods, but with a smaller effect than the empirical data indicate. Further, the empirical data exhibit a logarithmic relationship between saturation flow rate and opposing pedestrian volume, compared with the linear relationship used in the simulation and analytical models. Implications for the design and analysis of signalized intersections are presented.


This study aimed to provide evidence of whether unfractionated heparin used as adjuvant therapy in conjunction with systemic corticosteroid therapy improves hearing recovery in patients with profound idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss (ISSNHL), and to compare the effect of this treatment with those of additional intratympanic corticosteroid therapy.