We have developed a new technique of Feature Importance, a topic of machine learning, to analyze the possible causes of the Covid-19 pandemic based on country data. This new approach works well even when there are many more features than countries and is not affected by high correlation of features. It is inspired by the Gram-Schmidt orthogonalization procedure from linear algebra. We study the number of deaths, which is more reliable than the number of cases at the onset of the pandemic, during Apr/May 2020. This is while countries started taking measures, so more light will be shed on the root causes of the pandemic rather than on its handling. The analysis is done against a comprehensive list of roughly 3,200 features. We find that globalization is the main contributing cause, followed by calcium intake, economic factors, environmental factors, preventative measures, and others. This analysis was done for 20 different dates and shows that some factors, like calcium, phase in or out over time. We also compute row explainability, i.e. for every country, how much each feature explains the death rate. Finally we also study a series of conditions, e.g. comorbidities, immunization, etc. which have been proposed to explain the pandemic and place them in their proper context. While there are many caveats to this analysis, we believe it sheds light on the possible causes of the Covid-19 pandemic.


Four-probe resistivity measurements were performed on the TMTTeN crystal by using a diamond anvil high-pressure cell up to 30 GPa. The crystal could not be metallized though the room-temperature resistivity decreased to a very small value (1.5 x 10-3 Omega cm). Although single-component molecular metals are composed of molecules, the pressure-induced metallization of a single-component pi molecular crystal while maintaining the initial molecular structure appears to be very difficult.


THE LURE OF DESIGNER IDENTITIES "Be the person the chatroom thinks you are." This was the text of an advertisement I saw posted on a wall in New York several years ago. The line suggests that one can reinvent oneself, come up with a new, desirable identity, and purchase the goods" — a car in this case — to back it up. It is the epitome, the most direct and unapologetic example of a public curriculum that says, "You are what you buy."


Objective To study the etiolog ical factor in fever of unknown origin (FUO) and verify it in clinical therapy . Methods Blood samples were cultured and bacteria was identified by the complex bacteria synchronous culture and drugs se nsitivity tests.According to the bacteria identified and the result of sensitiv ity test,appropriate medicine was selected for the treatment of the patient. Results Five complex bacteria septicemias an d 184 bacteria L-type septicemias were diagnosed in 189 patients.The highest bo dy temperature was 41.5℃,the lowest was 37.8℃,and the average was 3 8.2℃ in these patients.The body temperature was turned to normal in 5~28 day s(the average was 12 days). Conclusion Bac teria complex and bacteria L-type infection may be the etiological factors for FUO.


ABSTRACT Chemical composition of the essential oils of 85 individuals of Artemisia annua L. was determined by GC. The plant material was cultivated in Budaors (near Budapest). The essential oil content varied between 0.48–0.81%. The main components of the oil obtained from fresh flowering shoots were artemisia ketone (33–75%) and artemisia alcohol (15–56%). Five other components of the oils were identified by GC/MS. Four different types of A. annua oils were identified: (a) 41% of the individuals contained artemisia ketone (75%) and artemisia alcohol (15%); (b) a decreasing ratio of artemisia ketone and an increasing ratio of artemisia alcohol (38% of the individuals); (c) artemisia ketone (50%) and artemisia alcohol (45%) (14% of individuals); and (d) artemisia ketone (33%) and artemisia alcohol (56%) (7% of individuals).


We investigate an active region that produced three C-class flares and one M-class flare within 2.5 hr. The morphology and location of the C-flares indicate that these events constitute a set of homologous flares. Radio observations indicate the occurrence of a downward-moving plasmoid during the impulsive phase of the M flare. We use TRACE 1700 Å filtergrams and SOHO Michelson Doppler Imager magnetograms to examine the character of the UV brightenings; i.e., we search for re-brightenings of former flare areas both across the series of events and within one and the same event. We find that essentially the same footpoints re-brighten in each C flare. Based on the progression of both the derived magnetic flux change rate and the observed Radio Solar Telescope Network microwave emission, we speculate about a further re-brightening during the decay phase of the M flare as a further member of the series of homologous flares. We conclude that the "postflare" field is driven to repeated eruption by continuous, shear-increasing, horizontal, photospheric flows, as one end of the involved magnetic arcade is anchored in the penumbra of a large sunspot. The observed motion pattern of the UV kernels indicates that the arcade evolves during the series of events from a both highly sheared and heavily entangled state to a still sheared but more organized state.


To investigate high frequency arc instabilities observed in subsonic-arc-attachment thrusters, a 3 kW, segmented-anode arcjet was designed and tested using hydrogen as the propellant. The thruster nozzle geometry was scaled from a 30 kW design previously tested in the 1960's. By observing the current to each segment and the arc voltage, it was determined that the 75-200 kHz instabilities were results of axial movements of the arc anode attachment point. The arc attachment point was fully contained in the subsonic portion of the nozzle for nearly all flow rates. The effects of isolating selected segments were investigated. In some cases, forcing the arc downstream caused the restrike to cease. Finally, decreasing the background pressure from 18 Pa to 0.05 Pa affected the pressure distribution in the nozzle, including the pressure in the subsonic arc chamber.


Background and Objective: Palliative care has been introduced as a strategy to improve the quality of life (QoL) of patients with incurable diseases and their families. One of the crucial points in palliative care is respect for human dignity. Therefore, this study aims to review the dignity of patients under palliative care along with its impact on patients. Materials & Methods: In the current narrative review, Persian studies were searched in Persian language databases, such as SID and Magiran, with the keywords, patient dignity, and palliative care from April 2012 to May 2022. To search for studies in English, the keywords of patient dignity and palliative care were used in PubMed and Cochrane databases from June 2010 to May 2022. Meanwhile, the search was conducted in the Google Scholar database in Persian and English along with a manual search in Google. After searching the databases, 106 articles were selected and by applying the inclusion and exclusion criteria and removing duplicates, 8 articles were examined. Results: The results of the study showed that out of 8 articles, 1 article was in Iran and 5 articles were qualitative studies. Individual, care, and communication factors are effective in maintaining patients' dignity. Conclusion: Maintaining human dignity is one of the critical needs of a person under palliative care. Hence, the healthcare staff should consider treatments based on human dignity and perform their professional tasks deservedly according to the factors affecting the creation of dignity.


continued to improve. This was a definite decrease in the number of ECT required to produce such a response when compared with similar patients not taking hydrazines. The results in the group of 22 more chronically disturbed depressed patients were less gratifying. Eight did report complete relief and 2 of these even became slightly euphoric but this condition subsided when the dose was reduced. Three continued to have the same general neurotic complaints but were somewhat less despressed. Eight were unaffected by the drug. One of these later improved with imipramine and another with ECT while 6 remained depressed although still ambulatory. Three were classed as indeterminate; one lost all symptoms almost immediately after admission; the other 2 had considerable concomitant ECT and psychotherapy so that their improvement could not be attributed to any one factor. Thus, as with all therapies, Marplan is more effective in acute depressions but is still of definite value in those of longer duration. It may also serve to decrease the number of ECT needed.


Abstract. A recent technique materializes time integration with steps larger than the steps by which the excitations are digitized. The ratio of integration steps to the digitization steps need to be an integer. By considering linear changes for excitations, between the excitation stations, this paper introduces a generalization, such that the technique becomes applicable when the above ratio can be stated, as a rational number, with a numerator arbitrary greater than the denominator. With a negligble additional computational cost, the proposed generalization entails more efficiency, and, hence, is beneficial in practical time history analysis of structural systems againt strong motions.


Quantitative data on the occurrence of corticolous lichens in 40 forest stands involving a total of 8000 randomly selected quadrats have been gathered and subjected to both ordination by principal-components analysis and agglomerative classification in an attempt to define community relations. The results of these two methods of analysis are in agreement and indicate that variation between communities is essentially discontinuous and related to the host substrate. Effects of a more continuous nature related to moisture levels and age of the trees within each stand are also strongly suggested by the ordinations. The distribution of the different growth forms is related to environmental variables and discussed.


Abstract A fourth-order compact difference scheme with unequal mesh sizes in different coordinate directions is employed to discretize a two-dimensional Poisson equation in a rectangular domain. Multigrid methods using a partial semicoarsening strategy and line Gauss–Seidel relaxation are designed to solve the resulting sparse linear systems. Numerical experiments are conducted to test the accuracy of the fourth-order compact difference scheme and to compare it with the standard second-order difference scheme. Convergence behavior of the partial semicoarsening and line Gauss–Seidel relaxation multigrid methods is examined experimentally.


Received: 1 January 2019 Accepted: 4 May 2019 Model of the earth was constructed and magma chamber was created in outer coremantel region. A spherical magnet is put in the centre. Sealing sticks was put fully in a deep stele cup and it was layered by clay soil paste for making magma chamber, then, it was rounded up electric heater coils, dipped into clay soil layering, and terminals were connected to the power plug. A junction of thermocouple wires of copper and nickel coated iron was put at distance of about 1.0 cm of magma chamber. Globe was fully filled making mantel with lithosphere and upper most hydrosphere and model was made fully dry. Another junction of thermocouple wire was dipped fully in ice bath. Volcano was created by heating magma chamber and produced geo thermo electric current was measured with micro ammeter. Thermoelectric current of earth was increasing with the time and then remained stable. The ratio and proportion and scope of the study had been discussed.


The product development process is concerned, not only with the design of products, but with how these products are manufactured, distributed and serviced. Engineering conceptual design can be de ned as that phase of the product development process during which the designer takes a speci cation for a product to be designed and generates many broad solutions to it. Each of these broad solutions is, generally, referred to as a scheme. Each scheme should be su ciently detailed that the means of performing each function in the design has been xed, as have any critical spatial and structural relationships between the principal components. While it is generally accepted that conceptual design is one of the most critical phases of the product development process, few computer tools exist which provide support to designers working in this stage of product development. The thesis defended in this dissertation is that constraint processing o ers a rich basis for supporting the human designer during engineering conceptual design. A new perspective on the conceptual phase of engineering design is presented, upon which a constraint-based approach to supporting the human designer is developed. This approach is based upon an expressive and general technique for modelling: the design knowledge which a designer can exploit during a design project; the life-cycle environment which the nal product faces; the design speci cation which de nes the set of requirements that the product must satisfy; and the structure of the various schemes that are developed by the designer. A computational reasoning environment based on the notion of constraint ltering is proposed as the basis of an interactive design support tool to assist a human designer working in the conceptual phase of design. Using this interactive design support tool, the designer can be assisted in developing models of proposed schemes which satisfy the various constraints that are imposed on the design. The primary contribution of this research is that it provides a novel approach to supporting the human designer during the conceptual phase of engineering design. The approach presented here not only addresses the issue of modelling and reasoning about the design of products from an abstract set of requirements, but it also demonstrates how life-cycle knowledge can be incorporated into the conceptual design of a product and how alternative schemes can be compared. xii Declaration This dissertation is submitted to University College Cork, in accordance with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Science. The research and thesis presented in this dissertation are entirely my own work and have not been submitted to any other university or higher education institution, or for any other academic award in this university. Where use has been made of other people's work, it has been fully acknowledged and referenced. Barry Alan O'Sullivan July 1999. xiii Dedication This dissertation is dedicated to my mother, for always being there. xiv Acknowledgements I would like to extend my warmest gratitude to my PhD supervisor, Professor James Bowen, for his help and encouragement while I carried out the research presented in this dissertation. In particular, I would like to thank him for the time he spent helping me to present my research and thesis in the form of this dissertation. I would like to thank my partner in love and life, Linda, for always being there for me while I completed this research. Her love has been a constant source of inspiration to me. I would like to thank Frank Boehme and Chris Dornan for the all the advice on LATEX. Also, I would like to thank my fellow members of the Constraint Processing Group, Alex Ferguson, Peter MacHale, Marc van Dongen and Steve Prestwich, for the many interesting discussions on constraint processing, but in particular, for just being good friends. I would like to thank Maurice O'Brien, Pat Doyle and Mel Conway, of Bourns Electronics Ireland, for their assistance with the industrial case-study that was carried out at their company. I also wish to acknowledge the support of the European Commission and their funding of the \Concurrent Engineering Design Adviser System" (CEDAS) project (Esprit Project 20501) and the Integration in Manufacturing and Beyond (IiMB) Subgroup for Design Coordination (Esprit Working Group 21108). My involvement in these activities was a very valuable source of inspiration for the research that I present here. Finally, I would like to extend my deepest thanks to my family: my mother, Joan; my father, Noel; my brother, Brian; my sister, Carmel; and my brother-in-law to be, Anthony. They are a constant reminder of what is truly important in life. xv Chapter


The present invention using two or more semiconductor light-emitting diode chip having a light emitting layer of its own relates to a process for the preparation of neutral and capable of multi-color multi-color emission (多色) a light emitting diode other than the three primary colors. The plurality of the invention comprising the steps of: connecting to a method comprising mounting by using an adhesive agent to a different plurality of the LED chip wavelength on a printed circuit board or a lead frame of a single product, the plurality of light-emitting diode chip wire bonding, and a step of molding the light emitting diode chip by the transparent phosphor is added to the mold in response to a predetermined wavelength so as to cover, comprises the step of dicing into individual diodes.


In late February 2010 the French Space Agency (Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales, CNES) and NASA (LaRC, Langley Research Center) operations teams in charge of the CALIPSO satellite were notified of an unfavorable spacecraft collision risk with the Landsat-5 satellite detected by the NASA Earth Science Mission Operations (ESMO) team. As a member of the Afternoon Constellation, CALIPSO is orbiting in a sun-synchronous frozen orbit following a repetitive ground track at a mean equatorial altitude of 705 km. Landsat-5, operated by the United States Geological Survey (USGS), is also orbiting in a sun-synchronous frozen orbit following almost the same ground track at the same mean equatorial altitude. Both orbits can be considered as nearly identical, the main difference between them being the mean local time of the ascending node. The assumed in orbit position difference between the two satellites was such that the relative phasing should not create any collision risk despite the orbit intersections. However, changes in mean local time of Landsat-5 and the Afternoon Constellation modified the orbital configuration and led to dangerous crossings during a significant period of time. This issue concerns not only CALIPSO and Landsat-5, but also all the current and future Afternoon Constellation missions. This paper will introduce the station keeping principles that led to the dangerous orbital configuration and the flight dynamics aspects taken into account to study the crossings. It will continue to present the CNES and LaRC tools developed to identify the crossings and to compute the maneuver trade space permitting to choose the maneuver parameters that mitigate the collision risk. Finally, it will describe the maneuver strategy agreed upon by all the concerned missions to manage the close approaches.


The analysis and design of integrated circuits depend heavily on the utilization of suitable models for integrated-circuit components. This is true in hand analysis, where fairly simple models are generally used, and in computer analysis, where more complex models are encountered. Since any analysis is only as accurate as the model used, it is essential that the circuit designer have a thorough understanding of the origin of the models commonly utilized and the degree of approximation involved in each. This chapter deals with the derivation of large-signal and small-signal models for integrated-circuit devices. The treatment begins with a consideration of the properties of pn junctions, which are basic parts of most integrated-circuit elements. Since this book is primarily concerned with circuit analysis and design, no attempt has been made to produce a comprehensive treatment of semiconductor physics. The emphasis is on summarizing the basic aspects of semiconductor-device behavior and indicating how these can be modeled by equivalent circuits.


The convergence to consensus of all products of a given set of matrices is known to be algorithmically decidable when all matrices in the set are stochastic. We formulate this question as a stability problem for switched systems, and show that the decidability result remains valid for more general classes than stochastic matrices. Our results make use of a general theorem of Lagarias and Wang on the convergence of switched systems, and allow showing as a byproduct that the bound provided by this theorem is tight.


Surveys in mobile learning developed so far have analysed in a global way the effects on the usage of mobile devices by means of general apps or apps already developed. However, more and more teachers are developing their own apps to address issues not covered by existing m-learning apps. In this article, by means of a systematic literature review that covers 62 publications placed in the hype of teacher-created m-learning apps (between 2012 and 2017, the early adopters) and the usage of 71 apps, we have analysed the use of specific m-learning apps. Our results show that apps have been used both out of the classroom to develop autonomous learning or field trips, and in the classroom, mainly, for collaborative activities. The experiences analysed only develop low level outcomes and the results obtained are positive improving learning, learning performance, and attitude. As a conclusion of this study is that the results obtained with specific developed apps are quite similar to previous general surveys and that the development of long-term experiences are required to determine the real effect of instructional designs based on mobile devices. These designs should also be oriented to evaluate high level skills and take advantage of mobile features of mobile devices to develop learning activities that be made anytime at anyplace and taking into account context and realistic situations. Furthermore, it is considered relevant the study of the role of educational mobile development frameworks in facilitating teachers the development of m-learning apps.


An abstract of the thesis of Laura Suzanne Fellman for the Master of Science in Physics presented January 29, 1996. Title: The Genetic Algorithm and Maximum Entropy Dice. The Brandeis dice problem, originally introduced in 1962 by Jaynes as an illustration of the principle of maximum entropy, was solved using the genetic algorithm, and the resulting solution was compared with that obtained analytically. The effect of varying the genetic algorithm parameters was observed, and the optimum values for population size, mutation rate, and mutation interval were determined for this problem. The optimum genetic algorithm program was then compared to a completely random method of search and optimization. Finally, the genetic algorithm approach was extended to several variations of the original problem for which an analytical approach would be impractical. THE GENETIC ALGORITHM AND MAXIMUM ENTROPY DICE by LAURA SUZANNE FELLMAN A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE m PHYSICS Portland State University 1996


Generating proper and natural sounding prosody is one of the key interests of today's speech synthesis research. An important factor in this effort is the availability of a precisely labelled speech corpus with adequate prosodic stress marking. Obtaining such a labelling constitutes a huge effort, whereas interannotator agreement scores are usually found far below 100%. Stress marking based on phonetic transcription is an alternative, but yields even poorer quality than human annotation. Applying an automatic labelling may help overcoming these difficulties. The current paper presents an automatic approach for stress detection based purely on audio, which is used to derive an automatic, layered labelling of stress events and link them to syllables. For proof of concept, a speech corpus was extended by the output of the stress detection algorithm and a HMM-TTS system was trained with the extended corpus. Results are compared to a baseline system, trained on the same database, but with stress marking obtained from textual transcripts after applying a set of linguistic rules. The evaluation includes CMOS tests and the analysis of the decision trees. Results show an overall improvement in prosodic properties of the synthesized speech. Subjective ratings reveal a voice perceived as more natural.


Abstract : The patent application discloses a method and apparatus for measuring the optical absorption coefficient in a sample. The absorption coefficient is determined by measuring the magnitude of an acoustic wave induced by an optical radiation pulse transversing a partially absorbing sample. Detection is accomplished by either attaching a stress or strain transducer to the solid or applying electrodes thereto and observing the electrical output signal.


Lung sound analysis has been used for assessing the lung conditions of children with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). However, the inconsistent data distribution, caused by variant CAP symptoms appearing at different ages of children, limits the generalization ability of most diagnostic models. The data scarcity will further exacerbate this problem. Therefore, we propose a contrastive embedding-based domain adaptation network (CEDANN) to eliminate individual differences and alleviate data scarcity for improving the generalization ability. It forces the embedding layer to learn the subject-independent but task-dependent features by the adversarial learning between the domain classifier and the task classifier. Multiple contrast input tuples are constructed by combining samples from different classes to increase input combinations to alleviate data scarcity. The proposed method is evaluated on a multi-center clinical dataset. The subject-independent experiments show that CEDANN improves the sensitivity from 45.93% to 59.06% and the specificity from 35.07% to 59.55% in identifying CAP-confirmed, symptomatic relief, and recovery children. It demonstrates the effectiveness of CEDANN in the diagnosis and prognosis of children CAP.


The rollout of 5G cellular communication technology is well underway worldwide. The advocates of 5G mobile technology hail it as a faster and more secure technology than its predecessor, 3G and 4G systems. The major enabling infrastructure uses millimeter-wave (mm-wave) and phased-array technology to achieve line-of-sight directivity, high data rates, and low latency. A central vulnerability or security threat is that it may allow spying on users. Nevertheless, this is a system architecture and technology or regulatory issue but not a biological effect or health safety matter.


This study examined family forms in rural and semi-rural areas of the central highlands of Yemen and especially in the town of Amran. Data were obtained from fieldwork by 14 scholars over 35 years a period marked by a sociopolitical revolution (1962) and an economic restructuring. Changes occurred in internal households economic activity and traditional statuses and roles. During the 1970s and 1980s a period of high migration and a consumer economy more families became nuclear ones while after return migration in the mid-1980s extended families and multiple family households returned. This study examined residence ideals actual family composition the influence of external forces on the domestic cycle work force participation by family composition and some causes of household variation. The cultural ideal was a frame of reference for all informants at some point. Cultural influences result in emulation of the most prominent families the belief that Islam favors large families and no birth control care of aged parents by resident sons and fraternal solidarity. This ideal was prevalent in the prerevolutionary period in practice. Now remittances impact on father-son relations marriage patterns life styles business investment and housing. The rise of commerce and services reduced the link between migrants kin and land. But return migration led to a return to farming increased family size repatriation into camps loss of kinship ties and difficulties in assimilation. Large families diversified their economic productivity. Extended families are the ideal but family composition is changing due to a range of factors.


Of the approximately 70 million tons of fly ash, bottom ash, and boiler slag produced by United States utilities in 1978, only 24% was used. The rest was placed in storage or disposal areas. This manual was developed to provide reference information for ash disposal. It is intended to aid in the selection and operation of ash disposal systems with respect to cost considerations and operation of ash disposal systems with respect to cost considerations and current governmental regulations by furnishing specific disposal criteria, where available, and by outlining methodologies for decision making and cost estimating. Specific topics covered include site selection methodology; ash physical and chemical properties; current disposal philosophies; possible governmental regulations affecting new ash disposal sites; conceptual design of ash disposal systems and estimates of ash quantities; case studies of existing ash disposal sites; monitoring; site reclamation; and cost estimating. References covering these topics and ash disposal site design are included.


Objective: Patients with schizophrenia may be at increased risk of aggressive behavior in relation to factors such as symptoms and severity of the disease. In this study, it is aimed to explore the thoughts and experiences of aggression in schizophrenia patients using a semi-structured interview questionnaire. Methods: Semi-structured individual interviews were conducted with 26 patients who had been hospitalized with a diagnosis of schizophrenia in Elazig Mental Health and Diseases Hospital. Interviews were recorded with voice recording and then transcribed. Content analysis was used in data analysis. Results: As a result of the analysis of the data obtained from the interviews, four themes were identified: aggressive behavior, feelings, consequences, suggestions. It was determined that consists of subthemes as 'violence', 'mental illness' for aggressive behavior theme; 'regret' for feelings theme; 'sent to prison, a closed service', 'death, wounding' and 'loss of hope' for consequences theme; 'treatment and rehabilitation', 'communication', 'spirit' and 'education', 'awareness' for suggestions theme. Conclusions: This study includes the physical, psychological and social reasons for the aggressive behaviors experienced in patients with schizophrenia, possible consequences and suggestions for preventing the occurrence of behavior. It is estimated that these results will enlighten on providing health care professionals and caregivers with the necessary support in sharing feelings in the management of the patient's aggressive behavior.


Coke plant wastewater was treated by the composite anaerobic biological filters,which was packed with expanded spherical clay.Under the condition of the influent liquid temperature 20~25℃,HRT 9~(12 h),mixture liquid recycle ratio 3∶1,aeration undertaken using a constant air:liquid ratio of(3~6)∶1,the results indicated that anaerobic unit acted an important role on removal of both organic simple nitrogen heterocyclic compounds and phenol of the wastewater treated.The system could effectively remove the pollutant and the average removal rate of COD、BOD_5 was 30.2%、36.7%,respectively.The quality of effluent met the need of following treatment.


Process Intelligence signal processing technologies ensure reliable and accurate continuous measurement and provide full integration into data control, communications, configuration and programming for level measurement. Noncontacting radar technology for level measurement and a technique of automatic detection and suppression of false echoes from vessels obstructions are discussed in this topic.


ABSTRACT As ecotourists become increasingly interested in snorkeling and diving with sharks, it is important to establish directives for safe interactions. The study considered eye contact between humans and approaching sharks, examining specifically whether an interruption in it owing to, for example, a person glancing at a camera or regarding where to retreat, would affect a shark's behavior. In standardized field tests, divers maintained or interrupted eye contact with approaching Caribbean reef sharks, Carcharhinus perezi. The results showed a significant difference in the sharks' approaches depending on whether the divers maintained or interrupted eye contact with them. More specifically, the analysis revealed that sharks came significantly closer to the divers when eye contact was interrupted and also reduced their speed.


The conformations of the cycloalkanes and related molecules are expressed in terms of a symmetry‐adapted set of coordinates. The coordinates measure the deviation of the molecule from a planar regular structure. Use of these coordinates leads to relatively simple expressions for the conformational energy and to a method for finding possible paths for free pseudorotation. We conclude that conformations with low symmetry are more likely to pseudorotate with low energy barriers than are conformations with high symmetry. Selection rules for electric dipole transitions among the energy levels characteristic of pseudorotation are derived. The conformational energy surface is discussed in detail for a number of the smaller cycloalkanes. Description of the conformation of very large rings in terms of our coordinates is expected to be incomplete and our method will consequently not be applicable to these rings.


317 A 13-year-old boy reported right knee pain for 3 weeks before presenting to the authors' institution. He previously was admitted to another institution for evaluation, where plain radiographs and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans were taken. Radiologic studies revealed a destructive bone lesion on the right proximal fibula, and subsequently the patient was referred to the current authors' institution for additional evaluation. The knee pain gradually had worsened with time, and the patient could not bear weight on his right leg. The patient presented to the emergency room of the authors' institution before the date of appointment because of severe knee pain. The child otherwise was healthy with no previous major illnesses, injuries, or surgeries. He was the product of a full-term, uncomplicated pregnancy, and his developmental and family histories were noncontributory. On physical examination, the patient was a healthy appearing boy who reported moderate to severe pain over the area of the right proximal fibula. He was unable to bear weight on his right lower extremity. The neurovascular Orthopaedic • Radiology • Pathology Conference CME ARTICLE


This book aims to achieve two things based on the author's observation. These two things are in chains: lifting up the needy person and thereby stepping yourself up further. And according to the book the giver is positioned to receive financial breakthrough & assorted rewards. The book showed that the financial and material life, security and health of a lot of people are not getting better, because they refuse to obey the supernatural law of lending to God. The society is becoming more self-seeking not knowing that through selflessness there would be grand liberation for many from the grips of socio-economic and financial quagmire. And extending a helping hand is not just giving money only, but whatever comparative advantage one has can be used to uplift the needy one and which in turn will put the giver in a wonderful advantage according to the enacted supernatural laws.


The current trend in the construction industry is to build better, faster, and more cost-effectively. Accomplishing this requires the job to be fast-tracked through a team-based approach, such as design-build. This trend requires managers to solve tasks with various team members. These demands exacerbate the need for construction project managers to have "soft skills," such as communication and conflict resolution, in addition to "hard skills" such as means and methods of construction. This paper analyzes the impact of project based learning on the soft skills in general, and on the student"s confidence and stress coping ability in specific.


Four successful applications of Cf-252 sources to assure the presence of adequate amount of neutron absorbers in control materials at a reactor plant have been described. In all instances the unique features of Cf-252 as a neutron source were used such as high neutron density, compactability, and transportability. These particular features made the experimental measurements conceptually simple, easy to carry out, suitable to computer evaluations, and very economic compared to alternate non-destructive measurement techniques or the use of test reactors. These techniques being used to support N-Reactor operation should also prove useful at other nuclear reactor sites.


AIM: To study the regeneration of cartilage by rhBMP-2 in tracheal autograft with muscular wrapping. METHODS: Fifteen mongrel dogs were randomly and equally divided into 3 autotransplanted groups: group wrapped with muscle (Group A), group wrapped with muscle and implanted with rhBMP-2 (Group B) and group with no treatment (Group C). A five-ring cervical tracheal segment was harvested as the autograft. The animals were sacrificed at 1, 2, 4, 8 and 10 weeks postoperative. The general conditions of animals, gross and histological character of the specimens and microvessel density were examined and modified Ca-Co method was used to detect alkaline phosphatase (ALP). RESULTS: Little regeneration of cartilage was found in Group C while obvious regeneration of cartilage was found in Group A and Group B. Significant difference was found in ALP within 8 weeks after operation between the three groups, with Group B the highest, followed by Group A and then Group C, while no significant difference was found in ALP 8 weeks after operation between the 3 groups. CONCLUSION: Local use of bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) may up-regulate ALP in tracheal cartilage and inhibit the Absorption of tracheal cartilage. Muscle wrapping can increase the microvessel density and RhBMP-2 helps to maintain tracheal's structure.


ABSTRACT If anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions are not drastically curtailed within the next two to three decades, sea-level rise will displace tens of millions of people worldwide – and potentially many more – in the latter decades of the current century and the early decades of the next. Displacements are already taking place in small communities situated in erosion-prone, low-lying coastal locations. The scale and geographical distribution of displacements will expand as atoll states and densely populated coastal deltas and coastal plains experience growing damage from tropical cyclones, storm surges, and king tides. Many coastal settlements around the world are experiencing rapid population growth, which further increases the number of people at risk. Governments will need to invest heavily in protective infrastructure for high-population-density settlements and to develop strategies for organized relocations of people from high-risk locations that will need to be abandoned. Experience suggests that the costs will be beyond the means of many less-developed and middle-income countries, and that the socioeconomic well-being of those who must relocate will be heavily compromised. An anticipatory "migration with dignity" strategy proposed by the government of Kiribati may be one way to avert worst-case displacement scenarios.


In this paper, an optimal path of trajectory for inertial platform motion relative to the earth will be designed. The time dependent motion, (i.e., vertical and level mobility rates), must be designed to excite all the parameters of the system, i.e., gyro and accelerometer parameters. The criterion used for optimization is the maximization of the determinant of the observability matrix. An application of this technique to two and three parameters of an accelerometer is shown. The computer results for a four accelerometer parameters case is also given.


The propagation of elastic waves through a one-dimensional chain of beads with grafted stubs is experimentally as well as numerically investigated. The results obtained by both approaches are well correlated and show that the stub introduces a dip in the spectral response of the chain, which is related to the excitation of a stub mode. A parametric study on the stub is carried out and shows which parameters have an effect on the position and the shape of the stub mode. The results allow potential applications for the filtering and the multiplexing of elastic waves.


This study examined together machine scheduling and finished–product batch delivery. Particularly, this study considered all jobs required different storage space during delivery. Three single–machine scheduling models are developed that considered transportation time of a single delivery vehicle serving one customer area. Two of the models considered release time, the other does not. All models are developed using integer programming to optimally solve the problem. In doing so, total tradiness is minimized. The problem is NP–hard in the strong sense in general. The results of a computational experiment were reported as well.


In order to solve the problem of high-silicon encrustation in the spray pipe and graphite heat exchanger in Baosteel's 1550mm pickling and cold rolling line,some flocculant is added to the acid pickling solution to improve the sedimentation of the silicon sludge in the new process. In this paper, effect of the flocculant on the cold rolling emulsion is studied. Destructive effect of the flocculant on the emulsion is also examined. Now the flocculant concentration which will produce negative effect on the emulsion has been found out and the effect degree on the emulsion by the flocculant in the pickling solution has been studied.


Corresponding author: Dariusz Rokicki MD, PhD Department of Pediatrics, Nutrition and Metabolic Disorders Children's Memorial Health Institute Al. Dzieci Polskich 20 04-730 Warsaw, Poland Phone: +48 22 815 75 45 E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com 1 Department of Pediatrics, Nutrition and Metabolic Disorders, the Children's Memorial Health Institute, Warsaw, Poland 2 Department of Pathology, the Children's Memorial Health Institute, Warsaw, Poland 3 Department of Medical Biology, Molecular Biology Laboratory, Institute of Cardiology, Warsaw, Poland 4 Department of Medical Genetics, the Children's Memorial Health Institute, Warsaw, Poland 5 University Children's Hospital and Molecular Genetics and Metabolism Laboratory, Munich, Germany 6 Molecular Genetics and Metabolism Laboratory, Munich, Germany 7 Department of Biochemistry, Radioimmunology and Experimental Medicine, the Children's Memorial Health Institute, Warsaw, Poland 8 Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Unit, Institute of Cardiology, Warsaw, Poland 9 Department of Medical Genetics, Centre of Biostructure, Medical University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland 10 Unit for Screening Studies in Inherited Cardiovascular Diseases, Institute of Cardiology, Warsaw, Poland


The importance of wicketkeeper in a cricket team is indispensable. A perfect wicketkeeper keeps the morale of the team high and acts as the confidence booster to the bowler and the entire team. The performance of a wicketkeeper in a match can change the fate of the game. A wicketkeeper should be capable of several cricketing skills like stamping, catching and appealing for a dismissal and in these days an important decision maker of call for a decision review. However, the International Cricket Council (ICC), which regularly publishes ranking for batsman, bowlers, all-rounders and cricket teams, do not produce any ranking for wicketkeepers. Thus, considering the importance of a wicketkeeper in a cricket team, the researchers feel that it is necessary to identify the performance of wicketkeeper. The exercise can help in selecting the best keeper for a team from a host of available options. In this study an attempt has been made to rank the performance of wicketkeepers with the help of Sharpe ratio. Here the score card of wicket keeping data of selected players are taken from last five editions of Indian Premiere League (IPL) and accordingly the wicketkeeper with most expected number of dismissals is extracted. Based on the descriptive statistics, the sharpe ratio is calculated to identify and rank of the wicketkeepers.


The extensive range in time duration (from microseconds to seconds) of power line distrubances which might affect the operation of data processing equipment requires monitors with characteristics not generally available. The operating and detection characteristics of two types of monitors specifically developed to monitor these disturbances are described. The first is an oscilloscope-automatic camera monitor called an "analog monitor." The second is a small, two-unit "digital printout monitor." Data obtained from the use of these monitors is also presented.


In this investigation, singular spectrum analysis (SSA) is explored to decompose and analyze ultrasonic signals in nondestructive evaluation (NDE) applications. Unlike transform-based algorithms, SSA is a time-series analysis algorithm which is completely driven by the signal itself. As a result, ultrasonic signal is decomposed through a four-step processing, that is embedding, singular value decomposition (SVD), grouping and diagonal averaging. The decomposition result can be used to characterize ultrasonic signals for the NDE of materials. Simulation results show that SSA reveals signal trend related to defects and grain scatters. The performance of the algorithm is also compared with other algorithms of ultrasonic signal decomposition for signal analysis and feature extraction. Numerical and analytical results demonstrate that SSA is effective in ultrasonic signal analysis. Especially the data-driven nature makes SSA unique for signal analysis. The algorithm can be utilized for flaw detection, signal classification, and pattern recognition in NDE applications.


Immunoparalysis is an important pathological mechanism in sepsis. However, an effective small molecule therapy is lacking. Here, we show that ouabain, a Na+,K+‐ATPase ligand, can reverse immunoparalysis in vitro, in vivo, and in clinical samples. Notably, the effect of ouabain was critically dependent on TNF‐α expression. However, ouabain had opposing effects on the stability of TNF‐α mRNA: Ouabain triggered miR‐181 transcription, which promoted TNF‐α mRNA degradation and induced immunoparalysis, and ouabain triggered the nuclear export of human antigen R (HuR), which stabilized TNF‐α mRNA and suppressed immuno‐paralysis. Interestingly, because the miR‐181 binding site is located within the HuR binding site in the 3′‐untranslated region of TNF‐α, in ouabain‐treated cells, HuR competed with miR‐181 for binding to TNF‐α mRNA and recruited TNF‐α mRNA to stress granules, thereby stabilizing TNF‐α mRNA and reversing immunoparalysis. Ouabain also induced GM‐CSF and interferon‐γ expression in a HuR‐dependent manner. Hence, the fine‐tuning of TNF‐α mRNA stability by HuR and miR181 plays a crucial role in immunoparalysis, and Na+,K+‐ATPase ligands are promising agents for immunoparalysis therapy.


We present numerical evidence that maximum-likelihood sequence estimation (MLSE)-based receivers, assuming ideal implementation, could operate over as much as 11 000 ps/nm of chromatic dispersion (700 km of G.652 fiber), keeping the total penalty with respect to back-to-back within approximately 3 dB. We argue that these results suggest that the penalty of an MLSE-based receiver versus total chromatic dispersion could be bounded to an asymptotic value, provided that enough trellis states are used to properly deal with the channel memory.


In the work Robert Grosseteste and the Origins of Experimental Science 1100-1700 , Alistair C. Crombie credits Grosseteste with influential advances in the methodology of science and experimental practice. Through Grosseteste's works he wants to demonstrate that modern science derives from medieval science and that it is, through its methodological and philosophical inspiration, a medieval invention. Grosseteste's Commentarius in Posteriorum Anayliticorum Libros , represents Grosseteste's methodology of science ( scientia ), shows the role of mathematics in the natural sciences, and demonstrates his understanding of experience and experiment ( experimentum ). This paper focuses on the last point – on Grosseteste's understanding of experiment. In oposition to Crombie, this paper attempts to demonstrate that Grosseteste's understanding of experiment cannot be connected to the so-called controlled experiments of early modern science. In fact it is his experiential, experimental observations that are related to illumination or enlightenment.


June 28, 2013 Botanic Garden of the University of Tartu has celebrated its 210th anniversary. To mark the occasion four significant events were presented: the first electric car trip, opening of the sculpture in honor of the gardeners of Estonia, the opening of "Moss garden" and a concert at the summer stage in the rock, which was held on June 29.


Encapsulating Peritoneal Sclerosis (EPS) is a rare but serious complication of peritoneal dialysis. Medical treatment for EPS includes a combination of anti-fibrotic and anti-inflammatory agents. Despite optimal treatment, EPS is still associated with a high risk of morbidity and mortality. We present a case of EPS who was successfully treated with tamoxifen and far-infrared therapy. The abdominal computed tomography scan mimicked the "double-Pokemon-ball sign".


ABSTRACT Professional communication amongst library and information professionals in Thailand occurs through various channels and institutions. The most effective is membership in the Thai Library Association (TLA), the only national library association in Thailand, and its affiliated librarians groups. In this way, professionals can transfer and distribute information whilst exchanging knowledge, ideas, and experiences amongst themselves. This happens through the TLA Bulletin, TLA Newsletter, annual library conference, and seminars dealing with all aspects of library and information science that are relevant to the current situation and needs of people in the field. Other institutions, especially library schools and university libraries, also issue professional journals as well as organizing conferences and seminars. Through the Internet, computers are now widely used.


THE PREVIOUS "MINDFUL VOICE" COLUMN was dedicated to unpacking "brain lateralization theory," and with it, the popular view of the brain as an organ neatly divided into two halves, each with distinctly different "personalities."1 Even though neuroscientists have long noted that the brain actually works via a system of integrated networks, the notion that the left brain is rational and the right brain is creative persists in popular culture, as does the twin notion that people evince either right or left brain personalities and "learning styles." Indeed, the left brain/right brain theory of personality ranks right alongside the "Mozart Effect" (the myth that listening to classical music makes you smarter) as one of the most enduring scientific legends of the current age.2 These beliefs are almost as pervasive as the sense that the mind is "wiser" than the body, a notion rooted in the classic "mind-body problem" of philosophy.With rapid advances in neuroscience, the gulf that once separated mind and body is eroding just as rapidly as brain lateralization theory, as evidenced by Descartes's famous insight, "I think, therefore I am," now challenged by the neuro-creed "the mind is what the brain does."3 Neuroscience is confronting some of the most confounding questions of human existence, and the most fundamental of those is the very nature of consciousness itself.An easily grasped definition of consciousness is a kind of self-consciousness; that is, I am not only aware, but I am aware that I am aware. This state of mind-awareness of awareness-is also called "mindfulness," and it is this quality, according to the philosophy of mind, that distinguishes humans from all other creatures. Psychologist Daniel Robinson describes a conscious state as that thing which "every man, woman and child know to be true during every waking hour of daily life."4 Australian philosopher and cognitive scientist David Chalmers calls the question of consciousness "the hard problem of consciousness."5 Neuroscientist Joseph LeDoux labels the question simply, "the Big One."6LeDoux recounts how, until recently, this question was primarily the province of elderly scientists, facing their own mortality, while younger researchers avoided "the Big One" altogether, for fear that confronting it would give budding scientists a "bad reputation."7 Yet the question is now at the forefront of scientific research, abetted in part by the pairing of philosophy with neuroscience.8At first glance, this pairing might seem a strange combination, yet this union is now over thirty years old. It began in the 1970s when cognitive psychology (the science of how the mind works) started toward its inevitable merger with neuroscience (the science of the brain), which eventually produced the new field of cognitive neuroscience.Experiments in this new field, such as the studies of "split-brain" patients discussed in the previous column, proved at once so thrilling and disturbing that age-old existential questions were re-ignited.Did splitting the brain split the soul? The soul was supposed to be indivisible, not divisible like a walnut. But there they were, the split-brain results, available for all to see: if the brain's hemisphere's are disconnected, mental states are disconnected. Those results were a powerful support for the hypothesis that mental states are in fact states of the physical brain itself, not states of the nonphysical soul.9The merger of cognitive psychology and neuroscience also secured a central place for biology in the study of mental processes. Nobel laureate and pioneer in neurobiology Eric Kandel writes that "the new biology posits that consciousness is a biological process that will eventually be explained in terms of molecular signaling pathways used by interacting populations of nerve cells."10But LeDoux opines that the quest to explain consciousness is "being overemphasized" and asks us to imagine a scenario in which, somehow, "an indefatigable neuroscientist finally has solved the consciousness problem. …


ProblemThe year 1886 is regarded the birth year of the modern automobile. Since then, there have been many innovations that have seen the surface and some that have had an influential effect in cha ...


Multi-criteria analysis (MCA) and benefit-cost analysis (BCA) are established techniques for evaluating alternative transport and land use scenarios. They each have their own strengths and weaknesses. The MCA is usually applied to a strategic-level, rapid assessment of alternative options while the BCA is most often used to develop a robust, detailed business case for a particular project. In the conduct of an MCA there is an emphasis on the judgement of decision-makers (and stakeholders) in establishing strategic objectives and criteria and linking these to option evaluation. While providing clear links to the objectives, it is often difficult to incorporate rigorous, quantitative analysis within its framework. Evaluation criteria are rarely independent and can tend to overemphasise the benefits of an option rather than its costs. A BCA enables policymakers to assess whether a policy initiative or project will provide a net community benefit, taking into account that the (limited) resources deployed in implementing the initiative or project have alternative productive uses. The BCA carefully compares total costs and benefits. However, a BCA does not explicitly account for the broader policy objectives of decision-makers and is less concerned with the distribution of benefits. This paper presents a "middle" approach referred to as a strategic option assessment (SOA). It introduces elements of the MCA approach to the quantitative framework of a basic BCA. The relative importance of different strategic criteria are considered through differential weighting of the cost and benefit components of each option. Consideration is given to the spatial and temporal distribution of benefits and alternative policy emphases are considered through adjusting BCA parameters. The net result is a clear, transparent, rigorous method for assessing options against established policy objectives.


The field experiment was conducted during Rabi season of 2012–13 at Faizabad to study the bio-efficacy of clodinafop-propargyl + metsulfuron-methyl and some other new herbicide molecules against complex weed flora in wheat. Significant reduction density was recorded at different stages of crop growth due to effect of different treatments. As far as the narrow leaved (P. minor) and BLWs were concerned, both type of weeds were effectively controlled by application of clodinafop-propargyl + metsulfuron-methyl 400 g/ha at 32 DAS which was proved superior with respect to number of effective shoots/m2 (0.32) and grain yield (3.95 t/ha) of wheat over rest of the other herbicidal treatments. Lower value of weed index was calculated in clodinafop-propargyl + metsulfuron-methyl 400 g/ha (1.45%) followed by other herbicidal treatments.


With the gradual popularization of higher education, the influence of undergraduate education on students' physical and mental development has aroused more and more attention. It is found that students' physical and mental condition is closely related to undergraduate education and has a significant influence on it. Hence, it is vital to explore the relationship between these two variables. But these potential effects have not been published in detail and systematically by some researchers. Based on the literature analysis method, this paper mainly starts with the current situation of undergraduate education in China. It first analyzes the four main parts of Chinese education, then analyzes the positive and harmful influence on students caused by these parts, and finally puts forward suggestions for future improvement. The research significance of this paper is that it hopes to provide some improvement measures for university education in China, so as to make college students get better physical and mental development.


Remote evaluation of the mobility characteristics of a fluid enclosed in the pores of subsurface rocks is an issue of the major interest in the petroleum industry. In a last decade several techniques to perform such an evaluation based on attributes derived from seismic images have been proposed. Although these techniques have foundation in theory and have delivered results of reasonable quality in a number of cases, they are still considered experimental and sparsely used in industry. It is due to the fact that enormous complexity of the recorded seismic data makes any interpretation impossible without a sophisticated procedure of seismic imaging. This procedure in turn introduces significant distortions in the data. The question whether subtle spectral effects characterizing a fluid moving in porous rocks are still observable after seismic imaging remains under debate. It is the question that is investigated in this paper from the signal processing prospective.


Objective Marshmallow seeds as materials,studying the determination method of volatile oil content of marshmallow plant seeds by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry(GC-MS).Methods Using the American Perkin/Elmer company′s Auto Sys-tem XI GC and TurbMass a high performance chromatography-mass spectrometry technique on marshmallow seeds of volatile oil components of Identification.Results Isolated 19kinds of ingredients,In the peak area of a method to determine the composition of the relative content of main components:Linoleic acid(56.0%),oleic acid(16.8%),palmitic acid(11.9%),palmitic acid(8.05%),linolenic acid(1.41%),ethyl acetate(0.85%),benzene(0.65%),toluene(0.56%),2,3-dimethyl-4-methoxy-phenol(0.56%),caryophyllene(0.55%),ethyl benzene(0.51%),p-xylene(0.38%)o-xylene(0.36%),3-carene(0.23%),1-methyl-2-ethylbenzene(0.21%)palmitic acid(0.20%),myristic acid(0.18%),lauric acid(0.12%),Kwai acid(0.1 0%),etc.Conclusion This method is simple speed,high precision,good accuracy,and can be used as marshmallow seeds of volatile oil of determination.


This paper deals about pulp flow control at a paper mill. The main difficulty is to maintain a constant pulp flow due to of several disturbances during pulp dilution with fresh water from concentrated pulp. With the aim of resolving this problem a system using two final control elements is proposed. The control contains an algorithm based in the model due the rules used for split controller output signal. The real result was taken from a prototype assembly installed at Familia Sanéela S.A. located in Medellin.


The concept of business sustainability has received considerable attention from both practitioners and academicians in recent times and the concerns related to environmental protection have brought changes in consumer demands and behaviors (Mendleson and Polonsky, 1995; Ottman, 1992). In that context the supply-side of the tourism industry is making effort to adopt sustainable practices (Griffin and Delacey, 2003; Zimmer et al., 1994;) and, gradually, going green is believed to be an effective competitive frame in the hospitality industry (Han et al., 2009; Manaktola and Jauhari, 2007; Wolfe and Shanklin, 2001). As a result, a critical challenge for hotels is to gain a better understanding of current and potential customers ! desire and intention for green consumption (Han et al., 2009). Within that scenario, attempts have been made in investigating tourists ! perceptions of environmentally responsible practices implemented by tourism businesses (Andereck, 2009), in examining how responsible purchasing might influence tourism product purchasing (Chafe, 2007) and in exploring relationships between consumers ! sustainable purchasing practices and their related attitudes towards purchasing a tourist product (Pereira et al., 2012). Despite some research efforts have been focused in examining different sustainable practices such as recycling programs, architectural design and construction sensitive to both the local culture and environment, alternative energy usage (Griffin and Delacey, 2003; Mehta et al., 2002), the topic of food sustainability remains largely unexplored in hospitality, although the phenomenon seems to be highly relevant considering the experiential nature of the services and the products offered in the industry. This study aims to address this omission. In fact, food can play a vital role in delivering green services to customers (Jang et al., 2011). Generally the term green is alternatively known as eco-friendly, environmentally friendly or sustainable (Han et al, 2009; Pizam, 2009; Laroche et al, 2001) and, especially in the restaurant industry, the term green food has come to mean organic, local and sustainable food (LaVecchia, 2008), even though an accepted and organizational definition is currently missing (Jang et al., 2011). However, following LaVecchia (2008), it is safe to assume that the concept of green food embedded three main elements: organic farming, locally grown and environmental sustainability. Organic farming, as described in the EU regulation on organic production, entails ! significant restrictions in the use of fertilizers and pesticides which may have detrimental effects on the environment of result in the presence of residues in agricultural produce" (Roddy et al., 1994). In addition, according to the definition given by Hu et al. (2010), organic agriculture prohibits the use of toxic synthetic pesticides and fertilizers, irradiation, sewage sludge and genetic engineering. Despite no generally agreed or widely adopted definition, the locally grown food is seen to be produced and consumed within a particular geographical area, reducing the amount of pollution associated with transportation primarily by fossil fuels (Hu et al., 2010). Moreover, environmental sustainable food supports the long-term maintenance of ecosystems and agriculture for future generations (Hu et al., 2010) and it does not cause significant environmental damage (Jones et al., 2004). Starting from the previously mentioned all-embracing definition, this study aims to explore the impact of green food on consumers ! purchase attitudes toward a hotel stay and on consumers ! behavioural intentions (i.e.: intention to visit, intention to offer positive recommendations to others and willingness to pay a premium), focusing on an Italian perspective where the food is a relevant and worldwide famous culture! s element.


Practical Dermatology of the Genital Region , written by Professor G. W. Korting of Mainz, Germany, and translated into a fluid, modern style of English by those venerable elder dermatologic statespersons, the Curths, William ("Willie") and Helen Ollendorff, is a wonderful little (180-page) guide to what can go wrong dermatologically with the male and female genitalia. In the preface, Professor Korting acknowledges the photographer, Gunther Faber, and well he should. There are more than 200 illustrations in color and all are technically exquisite, leaving nothing to the imagination and making long, wordy explanations unnecessary. In a similar way, the text is descriptive; the penis edematous secondary to contact dermatitis is referred to as resembling "the clapper of a bell." Of course, Practical Dermatology of the Genital Region is not without flaws. There is an occasional unreferenced statement that seems, to this reader, to be at least controversial. For example, on page


Aim: The quest for unveiling the potentials of underutilized tropical starches as nanoparticle disintegrants in drug delivery system was the focus of this research work. Place of Study: The analyses were carried out in the laboratory of Chemistry Department, University of Medical Sciences, Ondo, Nigeria. Methodology: Native starch of jack bean (Cavanalia ensiformis) was impregnated with iron (II, III) oxide via co-precipitation method, using glutaraldehyde as a crosslinker. The native starch and iron oxide starch nanoparticles were evaluated for swelling properties, FTIR patterns, morphologies and XRD patterns. Results: The swelling powers of the native starch and the magnetic starch nanoparticles were affected altered between pH 2 and 12. O–H stretching appeared at 3242 cm and 3265.1 cm; C–H stretching at 2926.7 cm -1 and 2926.0 cm -1 and C–O stretching at 1077.2 cm -1 and 1077.2 cm -1 absorption bands for native starch and starch nanoparticles respectively. C–O–C stretching of glycosidic bonds was observed at 1148 cm -1 for both samples. The native starch had non-uniform shapes, appearing as a mix of oval, spherical and polygonal shapes while non-uniform rock-like granules with evidences of strata were obtained for starch nanoparticles. X-ray diffraction peaks of 24.04, 18.32 and 33.95 2θ were obtained for native starch while 24.00, 18.24 and 57.36 2θ for starch nanoparticles. The crystallinity indexes of the native starch and starch nanoparticles were 81.01% and 87.30% respectively. The same trend was obtained for their crystallite sizes. Conclusion: The magnetic starch nanoparticles studied could be possible source of disintegrants for drug formulations and delivery. They could as well be applied in water treatment technology. Original Research Article Oladebeye; IRJPAC, 21(3): 17-24, 2020; Article no.IRJPAC.54999 18


A monolithic gas sensor array fabricated in industrial CMOS technology combined with post-CMOS micromachining is presented. The device comprises an array of three metal-oxide-coated micro-hotplates with integrated MOS transistor heaters and the needed driving and signal-conditioning circuitry. Three digital PID controllers enable individual temperature regulation for each hotplate. The operating temperature of the SnO2 metal-oxide sensors may amount up to 350degC. A serial interface and the temperature control units have been implemented digitally. Emphasis was put on designing a modular system with the required analog circuitry reduced to a minimum. With its small overall size of 5.5times4.5<!-- Character "\" changed to \ -->\ mm2, its digital interface and its good hotplate thermal efficiency of 6degC/mW, the system represents a significant development on the way to low-cost mobile gas sensor systems. The limit of detection at constant temperatures has been assessed to be below 1 ppm for CO and approximately 100 ppm for CH4. The mainly digital implementation with a maximum sampling rate of 9.3 kHz for all three sensors offers the advantage to apply a power-saving mode and temperature modulation techniques to enhance the analyte discrimination capability


The delineation of blood vessels on medical images is an essential step in the computer aided diagnosis of the vessels' diseases. In this paper, it will be examined four different image processing methods in order to detect the vascular map in X-ray cerebral or cardiac angiograms.


Abstract : The report presents experimental results on the behavior of two geologic materials, Solenhofen limestone and Westerly granite, to multiaxial stress, loading and unloading at constant strain rates. From these tests the unloading paths from various stress states were determined. The tests provide data for checking present material models to be used in shock calculations involving geologic materials. (Author)


The paper analyzes the results of an associative experiment conducted with second-year students (SibADI, Omsk) in the fall of 2020 with the aim of assessing the experience of the mass introduction of distance learning technologies, assessing the receptive reactions of students, identifying the degree of emotional comfort of learning during a pandemic, the difficulties they had to be faced, their sources and the degree of recurrence. The results of the study became the basis for the development of methodological recommendations in order to increase the degree of effectiveness of the educational process in a distance format.
The introduction reveals the essence of the concept of distance education, its goals and objectives at different stages in different countries. A number of advantages provided by the distance learning format and its relevance in the modern world are highlighted.
The results of the experiment showed that not all students are psychologically ready for a sharp transition to distance learning. The wide public resonance aroused increased interest in researching the problems that have arisen in this educational sphere.
The associative experiment took place in two stages. The first question was aimed at identifying the preferences of the form of education of full-time students. The question was: What form of education do you prefer full-time or distance learning? The responses ratio was 70:30. Seventy percent of the surveyed respondents preferred full-time education, the rest distance learning. In the second part, they were invited to take part in an associative experiment to reconstruct a fragment of the national linguistic picture of the world in a certain historical period. Through an associative experiment, we were able to identify and analyze the psychoemotional assessment of the components and their frequency within the modified concept of distance education; practical recommendations of a didactic nature were proposed for reducing negative connotations and removing psychological barriers in the process of distance learning.


Abstract This paper introduces the theory of the lexical bar. It reports research studies conducted in England and Australia. A semantic barrier exists in the English lexicon that emerges from socio-historical factors and is reinforced by the socio-occupational orderings of contemporary society. This barrier separates the lexes of conservative peripheral social dialects from the lexes of dominant central dialects. It serves to produce differential attainment rates in education and to reproduce a social class-based division of labour in English-speaking societies. (Language and thought; language and knowledge; language and education; diachronic linguistics and the sociology of language; the lexes of social dialects; semantic field theory; measures of semantic complexity; the priority of words in meaning; history of English.)


Businessman is an modern sign in modern commercial socialty and it is the mixture of modern economy and classic Ru theory .This article searched for the curlture source of classic Ru theory and gave a new explain for Modern Ru Businessmans management inspirit,and made them more fit for modern socialty.


This paper reports the result of a study undertaken with a view to documenting responses of leaf epidermal parameters of three economically important species of the family Asteraceae: Aspilia africana, Chromolaena odorata and Vernonia amygdalina from Nigeria to seasonal water stress. Obtained quantitative data showed a significant decrease (p < 0.05) in stomata density and index on the abaxial surface in Chromolaena odorata in dry conditions. The increased stomata densities and indices on the adaxial surfaces in Aspilia africana and Vernonia amygdalina in the wet season suggest that CO2 was more taken up. The reduction in stomata size (on both leaf surfaces in the three taxa) in the dry season indicated species' adaptations to dry conditions and reduction in stomatal conductance. Turgescent guard cell in the three species in the wet season indicated stomatal opening, which could, though, be a hormonal response to water availability since transpiration needed to be activated. The ability of Aspilia africana to reduce water loss and defend against herbivores greatly increased in plants that developed in dry conditions by possessing more multicellular trichomes in comparison to wet conditions, while in Vernonia amygdalina, the number increased during the wet season. Water stress had little or no effect on the micro-morphology of anticlinal walls and the shapes and arrangements of the epidermal cells in the three species. This study revealed that investigations into leaf epidermal micro-morphology might be a useful tool to elucidate the multiple mechanisms underlying leaf epidermal structure function in response to water availability.


Nanostructured Bi2Se3 and Sn0.5·Bi2Se3 were successfully synthesized by hydrothermal coreduction from SnCl2-H2O and the oxides of Bi and Se. The products were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD),transmission electron microscopy (TEM),and field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM). Bi2Se3 powders obtained at 180°C and 150°C consist of hexagonal flakes of 50-150 nm in side length and nanorods of 30-100 nm in diameter and more than 1 μm in length. The product obtained at 120°C is composed of thin...


In order to improve the efficiency of weapon target assignment problem, a hybrid genetic algorithm is proposed to solve the weapon target assignment problem. In view of the deficiency of genetic algorithm in local search ability, a hybrid genetic algorithm for weapon target assignment problem is constructed by combining the hill climbing algorithm with strong local search ability. The results show that the hybrid genetic algorithm has faster convergence speed, better distribution result and better application value compared with the traditional optimization algorithm.


In response to the great recession of 2008, the UK government used a temporary value-added tax rate reduction as its main stimulus policy. From 1 December 2008 to 31 December 2009, the standard-rate of value-added tax was reduced from 17.5 to 15 percent while the existing zero-rate did not change. I use the universe of VAT returns between 2002q1 to 2010q4 to compare changes in sales growth for standard-rated traders to that of zero-rated traders (difference-in-differences). I find an insignificant small impact on sales growth once I allow for heterogeneous effects of the recession either by a) relying solely on post-recession observations or b) controlling for two-digit sector specific recession impacts. Subject to full pass through of the rate cut to consumer prices, a zero effect on sales growth is reflective of a proportionate increase in sales quantity (unit elasticity).


Active disease resistance in plants relies on highly sensitive and specific surveillance systems that enable recognition and restriction of growth of invading pathogens. Numerous resistance ( R ) genes have been characterized from various plant species that provide typical gene-for-gene-based resistance to a variety of different pathogens that carry the matching avirulence ( Avr ) genes. Because an Avr gene product is not beneficial for the pathogen in the presence of the matching R gene, the primary function of Avr gene products is expected to be associated with virulence rather than with avirulence (Chapter 1). Indeed, evidence is accumulating that Avr genes encode effector proteins that condition establishment of a compatible interaction between a pathogen and a susceptible host, either by interacting with host-encoded virulence targets to suppress (basal) defence responses or by interfering with activities of pathogenesis-related (PR) proteins or other induced defence responses. Thus, losing an avirulence determinant, in order to overcome R gene-mediated resistance, might carry a virulence penalty for the pathogen. On the introgressed region in tomato plants carrying the Cf-4 locus (MM-Cf4 plants), five homologues of Cladosporium fulvum resistance gene Cf-9 ( Hcr9-4 s) are present. In Chapter 2, we demonstrated that homologue Hcr9-4E confers a similar level of resistance to C. fulvum as homologue Hcr9-4D , which represents the Cf-4 gene, through recognition of a novel avirulence determinant, designated AVR4E. The Avr4E gene encodes a cysteine-rich protein of 121 amino acids that is secreted into the apoplastic space of tomato as a mature protein of 101 amino acids (Chapter 2). The genomic Avr4E sequence of C. fulvum race 5 confers avirulence (after transformation) to strains of C. fulvum that are normally virulent on plants carrying Hcr9-4E , indicating that AVR4E is a genuine a race-specific avirulence determinant. Strains of C. fulvum evade Hcr9-4E- mediated resistance either by lack of Avr4E gene expression or by production of a stable AVR4E mutant protein that is elicitor-inactive and carries two amino acid substitutions, Phe 62 Leu and Met 73 Thr. Moreover, we demonstrated by site-directed mutagenesis that the single amino acid substitution Phe 62 Leu in AVR4E is sufficient to evade Hcr9-4E- mediated resistance (Chapter 2).Strains of C. fulvum that produce race-specific elicitor AVR4 induce a hypersensitive response (HR) leading to resistance in tomato plants carrying the Cf-4 resistance gene. In Chapter 3, the mechanism of AVR4 perception by Cf-4 plants is examined by performing binding studies with 125 I-AVR4 on microsomal membranes fractions (MFs) of MM-Cf0 (susceptible) and MM-Cf4 (resistant) tomato plants and non-host plant species. We identified an AVR4-high affinity-binding site (HABS) ( K D = 0.05 nM) that exhibited all the characteristics expected for ligand-receptor interactions, such as saturability, reversibility and specificity. Surprisingly, the AVR4-HABS present in MFs appeared to originate from fungi present on partially infected tomato plants rather than from the tomato plant itself. This fungus-derived, AVR4-specific HABS is heat- and proteinase K-resistant, suggesting that it might be a non- proteinaceous component. Affinity cross-linking demonstrated that AVR4 specifically binds to a component of about 75 kDa of fungal origin, a phenomenon that is possibly related to the intrinsic function of AVR4 for C. fulvum . As no AVR4-specific HABS could be detected in MFs of tomato plants that were grown under contained conditions, the mechanism of perception of AVR4 by MM-Cf4 plants appears to be different from that found for several other fungus-derived peptides and elicitors, including AVR9, for which a HABS has been identified in MFs of several plant species.The AVR4 protein of C. fulvum contains 8 cysteine residues, all of which are involved in disulfide bonds. Assignment of the disulfide bond pattern of AVR4 was partly achieved by a biological analysis using potato virus-X (PVX)-mediated expression of AVR4 disulfide bond mutants in plants carrying Cf-4 , and subsequently confirmed and completed by partial chemical reduction of AVR4, followed by mass mapping (Chapter 4). The four disulfide bonds present in AVR4 were identified as Cys 11 -Cys 41 , Cys 21 -Cys 27 , Cys 35 -Cys 80 and Cys 57 -Cys 72 . The disulfide bond pattern and the spacing of the cysteine residues were subsequently used to carry out a motif-based search, which revealed that AVR4 contains a chitin-binding domain that is also present in chitin-binding proteins of invertebrates (inv ChBD). Three disulfide bonds in AVR4 are conserved amongst members of the inv ChBD family and these bonds are required for conformational stability of AVR4 (Chapter 4). In natural strains of C. fulvum disruption of two of these three conserved disulfide bonds, i.e. between Cys 11 -Cys 41 and Cys 35 -Cys 80 , results in lack of AVR4 recognition by Cf-4 plants. However, all four disulfide bond mutants of AVR4 retained the ability to bind to chitin in vitro. Moreover, when bound to chitin, these disulfide bond mutants of AVR4 are less sensitive to proteolytic breakdown. Thus, while evasion of Cf-4- mediated resistance by C. fulvum appears to result from instability and protease sensitivity of AVR4 mutant proteins present in the apoplast of tomato, AVR4 mutants retained their putative intrinsic role in protecting the cell wall of C. fulvum against plant chitinases.AVR4 does not require binding to chitin to induce Cf-4- mediated plant defence responses. In Chapter 5, we analyzed whether domains responsible for necrosis-inducing activity (NIA) and chitin-binding ability within AVR4 can be distinguished. Therefore, we performed a peptide scan (PEPSCAN) analysis using polyclonal antibodies raised against native AVR4 to identify antigenic domains containing putatively solvent-exposed residues that might condition NIA of AVR4. This antibody-affinity analysis identified one major (Cys 41 -Cys 57 ) and two minor antigenic domains in AVR4 (Ile 17 -Asn 31 and Gln 62 -Asn 76 ). Selective alanine substitutions were performed on all, except for Cys, Pro and Gly, residues present in the major antigenic domain of AVR4, as this domain exhibits the highest affinity for AVR4 polyclonal antibodies. Moreover, to determine which residues in AVR4 are important for chitin binding, all aromatic residues and two additional residues present in conserved domains of the anticipated chitin-binding domain(s) were individually substituted by alanine. We showed that replacement of single amino acids in the major antigenic domain of AVR4 does not affect its NIA (Chapter 5). Substitution of aromatic residues Tyr 38 and Trp 63 by Ala, however, reduced the NIA of AVR4. However, these AVR4 mutant proteins appeared to be unstable, suggesting that Tyr 38 and Trp 63 contribute to conformational stability rather than to NIA of AVR4. In this study, no individual amino acid residues could be identified that are essential for binding of AVR4 to chitin, suggesting that multiple rather than single amino acid residues contribute to chitin-binding ability.It would be beneficial for C. fulvum to evade induction of plant defense responses by modifying the Avr gene products in such way that their avirulence but not their virulence functions are lost (Chapter 6). For most single AVRs, however, no pronounced role in virulence of C. fulvum could be assigned, possibly due to the fact that other proteins compensated for their intrinsic functions, suggesting that AVRs are redundant.


This work studies the acoustical field generated by a point source after reflection or transmission by a plane interface. There are two classical approaches to calculate such transient Green's functions, using either a Laplace or a Fourier transform over time. However, the second approach involves numerical integrations that are difficult to carry out because of singularities of the integrand. It is shown that it is possible to avoid this difficulty using an excitation in the form of a temporal Lorentz function of variable width, introducing several judicious variable changes and finally deforming the integration path in the complex plane. By developing the expression of the transmission/reflection coefficient into Taylor's series around suitable points, it is even possible to carry out a piecewise integration analytically, therefore resulting in an approximate expression of the acoustical field as a function of space and time. Since this expression turns out to be in a closed form, it can be evaluated fast and even be manipulated later on.


It is known by the experience gained from the gravitational wave detector prototypes that the interferometric output signal will be corrupted by a significant amount of non-Gaussian noise, a large part of it being essentially composed of long-term sinusoids with a slowly varying envelope ~such as violin resonances in the suspensions, or main power harmonics! and short-term ringdown noise ~which may emanate from servo control systems, electronics in a nonlinear state, etc. !. Since non-Gaussian noise components make the detection and estimation of the gravitational wave signature more difficult, a denoising algorithm based on adaptive filtering techniques ~LMS methods! is proposed to separate and extract them from the stationary and Gaussian background noise. The strength of the method is that it does not require any precise model on the observed data: the signals are distinguished on the basis of their autocorrelation time. We believe that the robustness and simplicity of this method make it useful for data preparation and for the understanding of the first interferometric data. We present the detailed structure of the algorithm and its application to both simulated data and real data from the LIGO 40 m prototype.


Purpose of Review:This article discusses the specific neurologic issues that arise in patients with rheumatic diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, and Sjo¨gren syndrome. Diagnosis and management are discussed. Recent Findings:Advances include advanced imaging, serologic and CSF markers, and targeted immune-modulating therapies. The use of these modalities are discussed in detail. Summary:Rheumatic disorders are quite common and can result in disabling but many times treatable neurologic sequelae. The key is early diagnosis and management. Awareness of the common presentations and current modalities of diagnosis and treatment is critical to improved outcomes.


Recently, solar energy has been gaining attention as one of the best promising renewable energy sources. Accurate PV power prediction models can solve the impact on the power system due to the non-linearity and randomness of PV power generation and play a crucial role in the operation and scheduling of power plants. This paper proposes a novel machine learning network framework to predict short-term PV power in a time-series manner. The combination of nonlinear auto-regressive neural networks with exogenous input (NARX), long short term memory (LSTM) neural network, and light gradient boosting machine (LightGBM) prediction model (NARX-LSTM-LightGBM) was constructed based on the combined modal decomposition. Specifically, this paper uses a dataset that includes ambient temperature, irradiance, inverter temperature, module temperature, etc. Firstly, the feature variables with high correlation effects on PV power were selected by Pearson correlation analysis. Furthermore, the PV power is decomposed into a new feature matrix by (EMD), (EEMD) and (CEEMDAN), i.e., the combination decomposition (CD), which deeply explores the intrinsic connection of PV power historical series information and reduces the non-smoothness of PV power. Finally, preliminary PV power prediction values and error correction vector are obtained by NARX prediction. Both are embedded into the NARX-LSTM-LightGBM model pair for PV power prediction, and then the error inverse method is used for weighted optimization to improve the accuracy of the PV power prediction. The experiments were conducted with the measured data from Andre Agassi College, USA, and the root mean square error (RMSE), mean absolute error (MAE), and mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) of the model under different weather conditions were lower than 1.665 kw, 0.892 kw and 0.211, respectively, which are better than the prediction results of other models and proved the effectiveness of the model.


Excellence in communication continues to be important for professional success in engineering. However, the norms associated with communication competence have shifted to include communicating with technology, impacts of the global market and social context on communication, and mutual respect and appreciation for disciplinary and cultural differences. These subtle shifts demand that we reimagine our approach to communication instruction to prepare engineers who can communicate in the global workplace across a diverse, international audience. Our purpose is to show how communication in the disciplines (CID) can be the avenue for preparing engineers for global participation and citizenship. We use the concept of metaphor to show how current CID work emphasizes communication as a tool to serve professional goals. We offer the metaphor of voice for (re)imagining a broader approach to CID that will prepare students for communication in


In this paper we investigate the survival probability, n, in high-dimensional statistical physical models, where n denotes the probability that the model survives up to time n. We prove that if the r-point functions scale to those of the canonical measure of super-Brownian motion, and if certain self-repellence and total-population tail-bound conditions are satised, then n n ! 2=(AV ), where A is the asymptotic expected number of particles alive at timen, andV is the vertex factor of the model. Our results apply to spread-out lattice trees above 8 dimensions, spread-out oriented percolation above 4 + 1 dimensions, and the spread-out contact process above 4 + 1 dimensions. In the case of oriented percolation, this reproves a result by the rst author, den Hollander, and Slade (which was proved using heavy lace expansion arguments), at the cost of losing explicit error estimates. We further derive several consequences of our result involving the scaling limit of the number of particles alive at time proportional to n. Our proofs are based on simple weak convergence arguments.


Intrusion detection systems that make use of artificial intelligence techniques in order to improve effectiveness have been actively pursued in the last decade. Neural networks and Support Vector Machines have been also extensively applied to this task. However, their complexity to learn new attacks has become very expensive, making them inviable for a real time retraining. In this research, we introduce a new pattern classifier named Optimum-Path Forest (OPF) to this task, which has demonstrated to be similar to the state-of-the-art pattern recognition techniques, but extremely more efficient for training patterns. Experiments on public datasets showed that OPF classifier may be a suitable tool to detect intrusions on computer networks, as well as allow the algorithm to learn new attacks faster than the other techniques.


Leucosomes of two types: anatectic ones and those formed under the effect of K-rich fluid, were studied in migmatites of the K-rich Priozersksaya zone of the Northern Ladoga region. When aluminiferous gneisses are partially melted at temperatures up to 800-850 °С melt of granitic composition, similar to that of early generations of leucosomes, is formed. For the presumed РТ parameters of rock metamorphism: Т = 750-800 °С, Р = 4.5-5.5 kbar, the proportion of melt would be at least 10-15 w/w % of the initial protolith mass. A rise in water content from 0.5 w/w % to 2.5 w/w % results in a nearly 4-fold increase in the melt volume under the same РТ parameters of ultrametamorphism. The composition and structural characteristics of later generation leucosomes suggest there was a multiple genesis (anatexis-metasomatosis), where K-rich fluid played a significant role in the evolution of the matter. The fluid could originate from potassic porphyraceous granite plutons, which are widespread in the region.


We implement a video codec with a decompression scheme based on image inpainting using different kinds of diffusion models. The arising PDEs are solved by an efficient multigrid solver in case of linear homogeneous diffusion and by a multilevel scheme applying inexact lagged diffusivity in case of nonlinear isotropic and anisotropic diffusion. We consider real world and medical data sets, and show that it is possible to decompress more than 25 frames per second (fps) of size 320 × 240 on a PlayStation— 3.


The bull whipping phenomenon in the deployment process of a large parachute was analyzed.Based on its character,the dynamic model of the whole process was built in five stages.At first,the basic model and restriction model were built respectively.Through their combination,the dynamic model of multibody systems of every stage was built.Then by connecting the dynamic model of five stages,the dynamic model of the entirely deployment process was accomplished.Through analyzing the results of simulation,the canopy displacement and shape,the velocity of top segment canopy,departure distance and tensile force distributing of canopy and lines when forming the bull whipping phenomenon are educed,some important and character data of the bull whipping phenomenon are summarized.The conclusion can provide reference for the engineering design department to designing,improving and using the large parachute.


The detrimental environmental impacts of fossil fuels are increasing due to the growing global energy consumption. Thus, energy recovery from waste materials will inevitably become the dominant option in the future with population growth and the reduction in fossil resources. A model for the production of Bio-methanol was developed using Aspen Plus and design of experiment and optimization were carried out using Design Expert software. Factors selected for the design of experiment were the gasification temperature, gasification pressure and steam / biomass ratio with their values ranging from 500 – 800oC, 1 - 3 bar and 0.5 - 2.5 respectively. The effects of interaction between the variables and the response were studied using the Box-Behnken design. The developed model was validated using the yield of bio-methanol from experimental data in literature. The model gave bio-methanol yield as 4.54% while the bio-methanol yield from experimental data obtained was 5.93%. The results from Response surface methodology (RSM) gave the quadratic model as best fit for the production of bio-methanol. The coefficient of determination for bio-methanol yield was found to be 0.9435. The optimum gasification conditions were found to be; temperature of 800oC, pressure of 1 bar and steam / feed ratio of 0.5 and these gave rise to the maximum bio-methanol yield of 86.32%. High temperature, low gasification agent (steam/feed ratio) and low pressure favours optimum bio-methanol yield.


The auriculo-condylar syndrome is an autosomal dominant disease characterized by malformed ears, abnormal temporomandibular joint and condyle and mandible hypoplasia. It is considered a syndrome of the first and second pharyngeal arches. With only a few clinical cases reported in the literature, the gene that causes ACS is not known. Recent studies from our group mapped the first locus associated to the syndrome, 1p21.1-q23.3 (ACS1 family), while in the second family studied by us (ACS2), there was no evidence of linkage with this region, suggesting genetic heterogeneity of this disease. Our main objective in this study was to identify the gene responsible for ACS1 and map the locus associated to ACS2. In the study of ACS1, given the large extent of the candidate region, with approximately 1004 genes, we used an alternative approach: transcriptome analysis during chondrogenic differentiation of stem cells of a patient and a control for screening and subsequent sequencing of candidate genes. The two genes selected through this strategy were sequenced in ACS1 patients, however, not pathogenic mutation was identified. Therefore, it is very unlikely that mutations in these genes are causative of ACS1. In the family with ACS2, through linkage study using SNP microarray and microsatellite markers, we mapped the second locus associated to ACS. Additional studies are being conducted in order to identify the alleles causing ACS1 and ACS2. These results will not only contribute to a better genetic counseling for families with ACS but they will also contribute to the understanding of the embryonic development of the structures affected in this syndrome.


In order to improve the holistic safety of system,the inherent safety of human is the most principal thing.On the basis of considering the harmonious alternating function in system elements and between element and system environment,the system safety degree model is set up,the inherent safety human is defined and the construction ways are made clear.After making sure the appraise items of inherent safety human and setting up the BP nerve network forecast model, the MATLAB is used to do the program computation of test data and the expected output data matches well with the simulation data,providing a useful method for the constituting of inherent safety human and safety degree assessment.