This volume of Journal of Physics: Conference Series contains a selection of papers presented at the 27th Summer School and International Symposium on the Physics of Ionized Gases – SPIG 2014, as General Invited Lectures, Topical Invited Lectures, Progress Reports and associated Workshop Lectures. The conference was held in Belgrade, Serbia, from 26-29 August 2014 at the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts. It was organized by the Institute of Physics Belgrade, University of Belgrade and Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, under the auspices of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Republic of Serbia. A rare virtue of a SPIG conference is that it covers a wide range of topics, bringing together leading scientists worldwide to present and discuss state-of-the art research and the most recent applications, thus stimulating a modern approach of interdisciplinary science. The Invited lectures and Contributed papers are related to the following research fields: 1. Atomic Collision Processes (Electron and Photon Interactions with Atomic Particles, Heavy Particle Collisions, Swarms and Transport Phenomena) 2. Particle and Laser Beam Interactions with Solids (Atomic Collisions in Solids, Sputtering and Deposition, Laser and Plasma Interaction with Surfaces) 3. Low Temperature Plasmas (Plasma Spectroscopy and other Diagnostic Methods, Gas Discharges, Plasma Applications and Devices) 4. General Plasmas (Fusion Plasmas, Astrophysical Plasmas and Collective Phenomena) Additionally, the 27th SPIG encompassed three workshops that are closely related to the scope of the conference: • The Workshop on Dissociative Electron Attachment (DEA) – Chaired by Prof. Nigel J Mason, OBE, The Open University, United Kingdom • The Workshop on X-ray Interaction with Biomolecules in Gas Phase (XiBiGP), Chaired by Dr. Christophe Nicolas, Synchrotron SOLEIL, France • The 3rd International Workshop on Non-Equilibrium Processes (NonEqProc) – Chaired by Prof. Zoran Lj. Petrović, Institute of Physics Belgrade, University of Belgrade, Serbia The Editors would like to thank the members of the Scientific and Advisory Committees of SPIG conference for their efforts in proposing the program of the conference and to the referees that have reviewed submitted papers, as well as the chairmen of the associated workshops for their efforts and help in organizing them and a selection of excellent invited talks. We particularly acknowledge the efforts of all the members of the Local Organizing Committee in the organization of the Conference. We are grateful to all sponsors of the conference: SOLEIL synchrotron, RoentDek Handels GmbH, Klett Publishing House Ltd, Springer (EPJD and EPJ TI), IOP Publishing (IOP Conference Series), DEA club, Austrian Cultural Forum Belgrade, Institut français de Serbie and Collegium Hungaricum Belgrade. Holding on to a long tradition is never easy and the only way to achieve that is to have a large number of people who appreciate the conference, so we would like to thank all the invited speakers and participants for taking part in the 27th SPIG conference. Editors of the issue: Dr Dragana Marić (Instutute of Physics Belgrade, University of Belgrade Dr Aleksandar R. Milosavljević (Instutute of Physics Belgrade, University of Belgrade) Prof Zoran Mijatović (Faculty of Sciences, University of Novi Sad)


Purpose
The communication link in the engineering of Internet of Vehicle (IOV) is more frequent than the communication link in the Mobile ad hoc Network (MANET). Therefore, the highly dynamic network routing reliability problem is a research hotspot to be solved.

Design/methodology/approach
The graph theory is used to model the MANET communication diagram on the highway and propose a new reliable routing method for internet of vehicles based on graph theory.

Findings
The expanded graph theory can help capture the evolution characteristics of the network topology and predetermine the reliable route to promote quality of service (QoS) in the routing process. The program can find the most reliable route from source to the destination from the MANET graph theory.

Originality/value
The good performance of the proposed method is verified and compared with the related algorithms of the literature.


The complex formation in Tongnanba area resulted in controlling difficulty of well bore deviation,low ROP,long drilling cycle and low drilling efficiency.After analysis of drilling difficulties in this area,a new drilling technique to increase drilling efficiency was proposed.The air or vertical drilling was adopted in upper formation;foam drilling or mist drilling in water layer;nitrogen injection drilling in Xujiahe gas bearing formation;combined drilling in marine formation.This new technique is the use of reference for the increase of drilling speed in this area.


The paper is the continuation of the subject of the "Real-Time Atmospheric Phenomena Simulation in FRS Engine" [3] publication. A real-time simplified atmospheric phenomena simulation and rendering system is presented with emphasis put on such phenomena as tornadoes and precipitation.


Regularization of seismic data is one of important technologies in seismic data.It improves bin properties,offset sorting,signal to noise ratio,and migration quality.This paper discussed two data regularization methods:bin flexing and fold-based amplitude weighting.Results show that bin flexing solves the problem of bin missing caused by uniform grid in poststack time migration processing,and fold-based amplitude weighting solve the problems of uneven amplitude and migrating arcing caused by fold disparity between contiguous blocks in prestack time migration processing.


Historically, multichip modules (MCMs) were large substrates-ceramic, thin film, laminate or some combination-with tens of bare die mounted with flip chip, TAB, or wire bond interconnect. While this high performance market became a reality for some products, the size in terms of volume and dollar value has never reached the great expectations of the marketplace. Instead, a new type of multichip package has evolved. This package typically features a few bare ICs on a relatively inexpensive substrate. While there are many applications, such as Japanese-made notebook computers and portable products that use such packages, the volumes are limited to niche applications. The questions facing the industry at present are what the future holds for multichip modules and what these future MCMs will look like. This presentation details the recent developments in the international marketplace and examines the trends for future MCMs. Factors encouraging the growth of the market as well as barriers to growth are analyzed. One vision of the future package calls for a new definition-multiple chips, both bare and packaged, together on a daughter card.


Electron beam melting (EBM) is one example of a 3D printing technology that has shown great promise and advantages in the fabrication of medical devices such as dental and orthopedic implants. However, these products require high surface quality control to meet the specifications; thus, post-processing, such as with machining processes, is required to improve surface quality. This paper investigates the influence of two-part orientations of Ti6Al4V EBM parts on the CNC machining (turning) process. The two possible EBM part orientations used in this work are across EBM layers (AL) and parallel to the EBM layer (PL). The effect of the EBM Ti6Al4V part orientations is examined on surface roughness, power consumption, chip morphology, tool flank wear, and surface morphology during the dry turning, while using uncoated carbide tools at different feed rates and cutting speeds. The results showed that the AL orientation had better surface quality control and integrity after machining than PL orientation. Using the same turning parameters, the difference between the roughness (Ra) value for AL (0.36 μm) and PL (0.79 μm) orientations is about 54%. Similarly, the power consumption in AL orientation differs by 19% from the power consumption in PL orientation. The chip thickness ratio has a difference of 23% between AL and PL orientations, and the flank wear shows a 40% difference between AL and PL orientations. It is found that, when EBM components are manufactured along across-layer (AL) orientations, the impact of part orientation during turning is minimized and machined surface integrity is improved.


FIELD: varnish-and-paint industry. SUBSTANCE: invention can be used when preparing protective labels, ornamental coatings, and printing inks. Pigment represents multiplayer structure. Central nontransparent, completely reflecting pigment layer is prepared from corrosion-resistant aluminum alloy supported by flexible thin polymer material sheet. It is consecutively bilaterally coated by layers of dielectric with refraction index 1.65 or less and semitransparent, partially reflecting layers. Central layer is deposited using physical vapor precipitation technique and subsequent layers by physically or chemically precipitating vapors. Pigment can by further coated by additional protective transparent layers. After that, pigment is reduced to desired size. According to another embodiment of invention, plate made from corrosion-resistant aluminum alloy is reduced to required dimensions and covered as described above. Resulting multiplayer pigment is then detached from support. In order to obtain coating, pigment is mixed with binding agent and liquid solvent, binder is emulsified or distributed, emulsion is deposited onto suitable support and solidified. EFFECT: increased corrosion resistance and imparted good optical characteristics. 15 cl, 2 dwg, 1 tbl


This paper investigates why children in low income countries often delay primary school enrollment, despite the prediction of human capital theory that schooling will begin at the earliest possible age. We explore several explanations for delayed enrollment, but focus on the hypothesis that delays are rational responses to early childhood malnutrition. We test these alternative hypotheses using recent data from Ghana. Our estimates, which address a number of previously ignored econometric issues, firmly support the hypothesis that early childhood malnutrition causes delayed enrollment. We find little or no support for alternative explanations based on borrowing constraints and the rationing of places in school. Copyright 1995 by MIT Press.


Earth surface processes and landforms are modified through the actions of many microorganisms, plants and animals. As organism-driven landform modifications are sometimes to the advantage of the organism, some of these landform features have become adaptive functional components of ecosystems, concurrently affecting and responding to ecological and evolutionary processes. These recent eco-evolutionary insights, focused on feedback among geomorphologic, ecological and evolutionary processes, are currently leading to the emergence of what has been called an 'evolutionary geomorphology', with explicit consideration of feedbacks among the evolution of organisms, ecosystem structure and function and landform organization at the Earth surface. Here we provide an overview in the form of a commentary of this emerging sub-discipline in geosciences and ask whether the use of the term 'evolutionary geomorphology' is appropriate or rather misleading.


The occurrence of enzyme adaptation, known since the beginning ofthe century, has aroused increasing interest in the last fifteen years. Earlier 'explanations' were purely teleological until Yudkin (1938) put forward his 'mass-action' theory. According to this theory the adaptive enzyme is formed from a postulated precursor with which it is in equilibrium. Combination of the enzyme with any substance-its substrate or a drug-upsets the equilibrium and more enzyme is produced from the precursor until balance is restored. The theory has been criticized by Spiegelman (1946) and Spiegelman & Reiner (1947) on the grounds, for instance, that it isnot possible to predict either an exponential rate of adaptive enzyme formation, or competition between enzyme-forming systems. While these predictions are not directly deducible from the original theory they are certainly not in contradiction with it (see below). It is beyond the scope of this paper to deal in detail with these criticisms or with alternative theories that have been proposed (see, for example, Monod, 1947; Northrop, 1949). However, the theories of Hinshelwood (1946) and of Spiegelman (1946) require brief mention. Hinshelwood assumes a series of enzymes linked so that the end product of one reaction becomes the substrate for the next. Each enzyme catalyses its own formation according to the scheme


The properties of the limacon of Pascal in the Euclidean plane are well known. The aim of this paper is to obtain the curves in the hyperbolic plane having similar properties. That curves are named hyperbolic snails and defined as the circle pedal curves. It is shown that all of them are circular quartics, while some of them are even entirely circular.


The aggregation behavior of ionic liquids into micelle was studied.It was found that the micellization of ionic liquids was governed by its side-chain length, head structure and anion species, which could be promoted by increasing hydrophobicity, such as a long side-chain length, a hydrophobic anion or C_2-methylated head.The side-chain length played the most active role in comparison with head group and anion.The micellization of ionic liquids would be weakened with increasing temperature.


This present study aims to examine the relationship between accounting earnings, dividends, stock prices and stock returns for companies listed at the Tunisian stock exchange. Using panel data obtained from the annual reports and financial statements of 57 Tunisian companies over the period 2005-2015, we show the existence of an earning-dividend-return significant positive relation by applying four models developed from Easton and Harris (1991), Frino and Tibbits (1992) and Kothari and Zimmerman (1995).. The empirical results indicate a significant value relevance of accounting earnings and dividends reported by Tunisian companies under the standards generally accepted in Tunisia. Particularly, it appears from our main findings in regressions the relative explanatory power of above variables on stock market returns which clarifies the important proportions of variations of stock returns in Tunisia. The findings from the study also reveal that shareholders pay a special attention to the impact of dividend and dividend yield on stock returns. Moreover, investors should consider informative earnings numbers as investment criteria as well as many other factors for example interest rates and industry performance affecting stock returns when it comes to make investment decisions. Based on these results and due to the importance of accounting earnings in investment decisions we recommend that there is need for investors to carefully use financial advisory information that financial analysts provide to them in order to determine what the correct and comparable earnings per share (EPS) or dividend per share (DPS) of each company.


Abstract This paper proposes applications of the method of fundamental solutions (MFS) to exterior acoustic radiation and scattering problems. By using the two‐point function of fundamental solutions, the coefficients of influence matrices are easily determined. It is found that this method also pordoces irregular frequencies as well as the boundary element method does. The position of the irregular frequency depends on the source point location. To avoid this numerical instability, the mixed‐layer potential method is employed to deal with the problem. Based on the circulant properties and degenerate kernels, an analytical scheme in the discrete system of a cylinder is achieved to demonstrate the existence of irregular frequencies. Three numerical examples of uniform radiation, nonuniform radiation and scattering problems of a circular cylinder are examined and are compared with the results by using direct BEM.


Using biodegradable polymers instead of traditional plastics is one of the ultimate solutions to the environmental problems caused by disposal of plastic waste. Poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) is made by micro organisms from renewable biological origin and is fully biodegradable at the end of its life. However, there is no large commercial production of PHB products because of its high cost, pronounced brittleness and very low resistance to thermal degradation at processing temperatures. Recently developed nanocomposites consisting of a polymer and only a few percent of layered silicates as environmentally friendly nanofillers, often exhibit remarkably improved mechanical, thermal and other properties when compared to pure polymers and conventional composites. Furthermore, nanocomposites of some biodegradable polymers and layered silicates show improved biodegradability compared to pure polymers. The current investigation is focused on the preparation of nanocomposites of PHB with organically modified montmorillonite (OMMT), the effects of OMMT loading on the thermal stability of PHB and the determination of kinetic parameters and mechanism of the non-isothermal degradation of PHB/OMMT nanocomposites. PHB/OMMT nanocomposites with compositions 100/0, 100/1, 100/3, 100/5, 100/7 and 100/10 by weight were prepared by solution intercalation method. The non-isothermal TG analysis of PHB/OMMT nanocomposites was carried out over the temperature range 50-500°C at four heating rates (2, 5 ; 5 ; 10 and 20°C/min) in the nitrogen atmosphere. The onset decomposition temperatures (T°) and the temperatures at the maximal degradation rate (Tmax) of PHB/OMMT samples are significantly shifted towards higher values when compared to pure PHB and therefore the thermal stability is improved. For PHB/OMMT 100/5 sample the highest values of T° and Tmax were observed. The invariant kinetic parameters method (IKP) as well as the isoconversional methods (Flynn-Wall-Ozawa, Kissinger-Akahira-Sunose and Friedman) was used to determine the kinetic parameters, i.e. the activation energy (E) and the pre-exponential factor (A). The E values obtained from IKP method are in a good agreement with the values obtained by isoconversional methods. In the conversion range 0, 10≤ alpha≥ 0, 90 E values obtained are practically constant and therefore the investigated process is simple and can be described by a unique kinetic triplet, i.e. E, A and the conversion function, f(alpha). The values of E and A obtained by IKP method were used for numeric evaluation of f(alpha). The dependence of f(alpha) vs. alpha can not be fitted precisely by any ideal kinetic model but its shape suggests the true f(alpha) characteristic. Finally, the kinetic triplets for the non-isothermal degradation of each PHB/OMMT nanocomposite were obtained.


A bailad is "[...] a short narrative poem adapted for singing." George Lyman Kittredge. A bailad is "[...] a simple, spirited poem in short stanzas narrating some populär story." — Oxford English Dictionary. A bailad is "[...] any short traditional narrative poem sung in assemblies of people." William). Entwistle. "The bailad is a special narrative form within the larger context of folksong [...]."David C. Fowler. A bailad is "[...] a folksong that teils a story." David Buchan. The bailad "[...] is a genre of orally transmitted song that is defmed by [...] its narrative content [. ..].*Bengt Jonsson. Ballads are thus defined äs narrative folksongs both in populär parlance (viz. the defmition in the OED) and by scholars, only a selected few who are quoted here from a legion of possibilities. It should be noted, however, that S. B. Hustvedt offers the additional Statement that the termpopulär bailad " [ . . . ] may be taken to mean the sort of verse so named by Child, in whatever dialect it may happen to have been recorded." He could, of course, have substituted the word language for dialect. Between the comment quoted from Hustvedt immediately above and the generally accepted defmition of the word bailad äs it is seen in the quotations from Kittredge and others, there is a conflict which results from the accepted definitions of the words composing the definition. Modern scholars and the general public first agree that ballads are narrative folksongs (or folkverse) and then go on to treat all of the materials found in the editions of Francis James Child, Svend Grundtvig, and John Meier äs ballads, yet many of these poems cannot be proved to have been a product of the folk, to have been transmitted orally, to have been sung, or to teil a story. In brief, the definition of ballads äs narrative folksongs does not describe what scholars study. Scholars study the kind of verse which is included in the collections of Child, Grundtvig, and Meier, and this is not necessarily either folk in its transmission or origins, song, or narrative in its structure.


Background and Aims

The potential yield of grapevines is often inexpensively manipulated by altering the number of nodes retained per vine after pruning. In the context of Sauvignon Blanc in Marlborough New Zealand the influence of node number on grapevine performance is not well documented. To address this void a multi-year field study examined the effect of node number on Sauvignon Blanc grapevine growth and yield.

Methods and Results

A replicated field experiment was established by winter pruning the same grapevines to 24–72 nodes per vine (two, three, four, five or six 12-node canes per vine) over a 4-year period. Increasing the number of nodes resulted in a linear increase in vine yield in 2007. In subsequent years, the yield response decreased and from 2009 onwards, increasing the number of nodes beyond 36 per vine did not increase yield. Fewer nodes per vine were associated with greater vegetative growth and cane vigour. Pre-flowering shoot length, leaf number and shoot diameter along with end of season mean cane mass were greatest in vines with fewer nodes.

Conclusions

The dynamic interseasonal yield responses were caused by a combination of changes in bunches per vine and bunch mass, although the contribution of each yield component altered during the course of the experiment. Changes in cane vigour and bunches per shoot (fruitfulness) suggest that they are part of the mechanisms by which vines moderate yield over time in response to altered node number.

Significance of the Study

Increasing or reducing node number per vine does not result in sustained yield increases or reductions respectively. Grapegrowers should expect the level of yield compensation to change after the first year of a change in node number. Therefore, adjustment of nodes per vine and the selection of appropriate cane vigour at pruning should be considered carefully when setting the annual yield potential of Sauvignon Blanc grapevines.


Combining with the practical situation of automobile wheel hub casting process,this paper,from the alloy material selection,pressure parameters determination,casting size determination,heat treatment deformation control and physical index control,analyzes the metal mold casting process of automobile wheel hub,and sums up paths of the process optimization and ways to improve the mechanical performance of aluminum alloy wheel hub in the process of automobile wheel hub casting.


In recent years, smartphone usage has increased rapidly, especially in teenagers. The excessive screen time can lead to digital addiction which means people use technology to a point where they cannot stop, even though they recognize the negative consequences associated with it. In behavioral economics, there are two ways of classifying all decisions we make in life: rational and irrational. A rational decision would be one that gives us the most utility or satisfaction. Because humans are imperfect, we constantly make irrational decisions, such as using our phone too much even though we know that it is not the best use of our time. There is an explanation in behavioral economics behind this though. There are theories such as hyperbolic discounting and present bias that say humans value things more that are in the present time. I am recommending the use of an app in order to lower teens' screen time. This app would have numerous features such as goal setting, points/rewards, and a leaderboard that directly counteract this irrational behavior.


A systematic of the signature inversion & Signature reversal phenomena in oddodd nuclei in rare earth region are presented. It is mainly observed in high j-orbitals. These are the systematic of (h11/2p x i13/2n) orbitals. We have analyzed in total 41 cases (Experimental data have been collected from http://www.nndc.bnl.gov/chart/)in rare earths region (Z=61 to Z=75). For these configuration bands, the even spin members should lie lower in energy. However revert behaviors is observed up to certain spin called signature inversion. The point of Inversion is mentioned in the systematic shown in table. The point is shifted towards lower spin as we move towards higher isotopes. These features like signature dependence, signature inversion and signature reversal are well explained by twoquasiparticle rotor model (TQPRM). Goel et al have developed TQPRM for even-even and odd-odd nuclei. The model well explained the signature dependence and signature inversion in 152Eu, 156Tb and 160Ho of odd-odd nuclei. The signature reversal observed in 170Yb of even-even nuclei was also well explained by TQPRM model. The odd-even staggering in rotational band is due to the residual interaction. The Newby shift for the K=0 band and decoupling parameter for K=1/2 band are basically responsible for such behavior. The K=0 and K=1 bands are staggered band. This staggering is transmitted to higher K values by Coriolis coupling or by PPC (particle-particle coupling). Availability of large experimental data of odd-odd nuclei helps to do the further work in this region. We are in process not only to explain this feature but also shifting in the point of inversion as mass number increases. In future we will present systematic by TQPRM calculations.


A present invention relates to mohair inserting apparatus capable mohair inserted and fixed simultaneously during extrusion of Madoto frame. And A mohair supply unit for supplying a mohair on the side of Madoto frame during extrusion, the adhesive supply unit for applying processing adhesive mohair supplied, the adhesive is coated processed mohair window and a insertion jig unit for fixing is inserted into the side of the door frame. .The


Based on the enumeration of environment legislation in Taiyuan,the writer thinks that there are problems existing:formalism is very serious and neglecting attention and research to entity content and realistic question.In this view,the writer suggests we should consummate from five aspects as follows:change the idea of environmental legislation,definite the goal of environmental legislation,speed up the cleaning of environmental legislation,regulate the procedure of environmental legislation and ensure the implementation of environmental legislation,to explore a legislative pattern spreading through legislation in Taiyuan.


Demographic Behaviour and the Modernization Process: A Cross-Sectional Study of Fertility Determinants in Slovakia 1930. In 1930, the population of Slovakia was in the middle of a demographic transition. Various models of fertility behaviour were common, and so were families with high and low numbers of children. This paper looks at the causes of differences in fertility by comparing the level of fertility with economic, social and cultural indicators in 81 districts of Slovakia. The results show that several social and economic factors had a strong relationship with fertility: illiteracy, infant mortality, the proportion of dependence on agriculture and other factors, most of which can be described as measures of the modernization of society. Ethnic and religious structures of the population were less important factors. Also the relationship of fertility with marriage age and the proportion of married was surprisingly weak. The paper discusses possible explanations for the relationship between fertility and indicators, i.e. mechanisms underlying these relations, but the available data do not allow sufficient verification. Instead of finding causal relations, it is possible to show the proxies of general modernization, which would be most effective in estimating the level of fertility. The level of education, which best reflects the change in economic conditions as well as change in values and attitudes of people – both necessary for fertility decline, proved to be such an indicator. Sociológia 2012, Vol. 44 (No. 3: 255-290)


Fundamental study was carried out in order to make use of coal ash as a ground material in large quantities. A series of examination were done by using three kinds of coal ash produced from boilers of which the combustion system differs each other. The properties of coal ash and the characteristics of solidification and stabilization in the solidified coal ash by steam treatment were examined. The main results obtained were as follows:(1) A solid state reaction takes place between coal ash and CaO at the boiler temperature, generating a large amount of hydraulic substances. The morphology of each particle and the content of amorphous materials in coal ash differ depending upon chemical composition, temperature and pressure in the production atmosphere.(2) As coal ash, particles becomes denser or amorphous materials become larger in quantity, the compressive strength of the solidified coal ash becomes higher.(3) The solidified coal ash satisfies a safty standard in leaching by treating it with a saturation steam of proper condition.


By many accounts the world is more democratic today than ever before. This is usually understood to mean that more countries observe the popularly accepted procedural norms of nation-based democratic practice, such as regular elections, parliamentary control of the executive, and the ability to organize politically, free from coercion by the state or forces within civil society. From a low of just nine democracies by this definition in 1943, the number had increased almost tenfold by 2010 to 87. But as more and more of the world has embraced electoral democracy, public satisfaction with its workings in the countries with the longest experience of it has plummeted. American research reveals the starkest shift, from a 73 per cent approval rating of government in 1958 to just 19 per cent by 2015. Other western countries report more modest increases in 'dissatisfied democrats' but the trends are clear. The targets of public dissatisfaction are many, including political parties, the behaviour of specific politicians, the media, and the rather meagre openings for public input. Yet at the same time, public involvement in existing political opportunities – elections, political party membership, social movements – has declined precipitously. For a variety of pundits and political scientists, this increasing public disdain for and seeming indifference to politics, combined with the rising electoral support for populist anti-system parties from across the political spectrum, is indicative of a broader crisis in western electoral democracy. But just what the crisis is or what is causing it is less clear. The failure to come to grips with the present democratic deficit in conventional public and academic discourse is not accidental but rooted in a fundamental misunderstanding of what democracy is and how it works. The most basic issue with western electoral democracies is that they are not – and never have been – terribly democratic, a problem that was masked for a time by the postwar economic boom. Political scientists and media commentators tend to miss this because they mistake ideal-type processes and institutions for democracy. But the achievement of what we call democracy – what we have dubbed here 'actually existing democracy' – was not merely about securing certain processes or institutions. It involved a broad social struggle to install a kind of relationship amongst people for their own self-governance. It was and remains a struggle because those who would prefer privilege and/or property to be the basis of governing decisions have resisted these attempts. To understand how and why our democracy works as it does, to develop a better explanation of its origins and reproduction, we need to examine the concrete struggles to gain and give shape to actually existing democracy, specifically in advanced capitalist countries.


To solve the problems in EMC(electromagnetic compatibility)test of IMUIT(integrated merging unit and intelligent terminal)equipment,the authors analyze the characteristics of the fast transient impulses,such as electrical fast transient/burst(EFT/B),surge, and electro-static discharge(ESD),and propose the following antiinterference methods to enhance EMC for IMUIT equipment. The AC filter circuit,digital output filter circuit, and LED filter circuit are modified with capacitors,magnetic bead or transient voltage suppressor(TVS)to enhance the interference suppression. The inter-coupling among different circuits can be reduced by optimizing the wiring and layout of PCB and keeping reliable grounding. Test results show that the proposed methods for suppressing electromagnetic interference in the hardware system design of IMUIT equipment are effective.


This paper first introduces the broadband multimedia communication satellite idea and the concept of channel assignment. It briefly reviews the history of channel assignment research and mathematically formulates the problem. Classical and neural network methods are applied to the solution of the problem. Simulations of both methods show that neural network method is better in dealing with real world channel assignment problem as that encountered in our satellite system. Finally is the conclusion on how to improve performance and other satellite channel assignment related issues.


Few regions of the world struggle with the question of relevance and marginalization more often than Sub-Saharan Africa. Like the continent itself,


Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of motives for volunteerism and organizational culture on organizational commitment (OC) and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) in Indian work context. Design/methodology/approach – The data were collected from 248 middle and senior managers of a public sector organization in India. The self and other reported questionnaires were used to collect the data. Findings – Results of hierarchical regression analysis have shown that personal development dimension of volunteerism was found to be the positive predictor of OC and OCB both. However, career enhancement, empathy and community concern dimensions of volunteerism had mixed effects on both the criterion variables. Furthermore, culture had not shown a significant impact on OCB; however, it had a positive influence on affective and continuance commitment. Moreover, demographic variables (age, education and tenure) had strong impact on OC than OCB. Practical implications – OC and OCB are ...


Morphology, nest structure and phylogenetic relationships of the Microcerotennes termites in Thailand were examined. Termites were divided into four groups using the morphological measurements (head and mandible size) of the soldier caste. Of these, three were morphologically distinct and identified as M. annandalei, M. minutus and M. paracelebensis. The remaining morphospecies was morphologically similar to M. crassus but built three different types of nests, namely epigeal conical, epigeal domed and arboreal rounded nests. Phylogenetic analyses of 46 colonies of Microcerotennes using the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase II (COII) gene suggested that the morphospecies was split into three distinct lineages. One of these, the lineage classified as M. crassus built both epigeal domed and arboreal nests, indicating plasticity of nesting behavior. The remaining two distinct lineages, both of which constructed epigeal conical nests, were considered to be two distinct species.


Performance testing is an important step in the development of any vehicle model. Generally, full-scale field tests are conducted to collect the dynamic response characteristics for evaluating the vehicle performance. However, with increases in computational power and the accuracy of simulation models, virtual testing can be extensively used as an alternative to the time consuming and costly full-scale tests, especially for severe maneuvers. Validation of the simulation results is critical for the acceptance of such simulation models. In this paper, a methodology for validating the vertical dynamic performance of a virtual vehicle has been discussed. The dynamic performance of a multi-wheeled combat vehicle model specially developed using a multi-body dynamics code was validated against the measured data obtained on the U.S. Army Aberdeen Test Center's (ATC) test courses. The multi-wheeled combat vehicle variant computer simulation model was developed in TruckSim, a vehicle dynamic simulation software developed by the Mechanical Simulation Corporation. Prior to validating the model, the vehicle weights, dimensions, tires and suspension characteristics were measured and referenced in the specially developed computer simulation model. The data for the tire and suspension characteristics were acquired from the respective leading manufacturers in the form of look-up tables. The predictions of the vehicle vertical dynamics on different road profiles at various vehicle speeds were compared with the field test results. The time domain data for the vertical acceleration at the vehicle center of gravity, pitching, vehicle speed and the suspension/damper displacement were compared to analyze the feasibility of using the computer simulation models to predict the vertical dynamic performance of the vehicle. Based on the results it was found that the particular combat vehicle computer simulation model is capable of predicting the vertical dynamic performance characteristics.Copyright © 2005 by ASME


Brazil has a large fleet of vehicles running daily along urban roads and highways, which requires the use of some computational solution to assist in control and management. In this work we developed an application to detect and recognize real-time licenseplates with various application possibilities. The methodology developed in this work has three main stages: plate detection, character segmentation and recognition. For the detection step we used the YOLO library, which makes use of machine learning techniques to detect objects in real time. YOLO was trained using a dataset with plate images in different environments. In the segmentation stage, the individual characters contained in the plate were separated, using image processing methods. In the last stage, character recognition was performed using two convolutional neural networks, obtaining a hit rate of 83.33%.


This article introduces the background of the formation of the "positioning and dual system"talent training mode and several ways to practice it, summarizes the characteristic and the merits and puts forward some problems to attend to when practicing it.


BACKGROUND: Residency training is associated with a significant degree of burnout in single institution studies. OBJECTIVE: To assess the rate of burnout in a national sample of obstetrics and gynecology residents. METHODS: A web link to a 50-item, online, nonobligatory survey was distributed to all Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education–accredited obstetrics and gynecology residents through program coordinators and directors. The survey was open for responses from March 11, 2014 to June 5, 2014. RESULTS: Of 892 who responded to the survey, 790 (88.6%) were valid for analysis. Of 790, 26% were noted to have high burnout. Residents with burnout also had higher rates of depression and anxiety (P<.001). There were no statistically significant differences in burnout between men and women, single compared with married, university compared with nonuniversity programs, and size of programs (more than 20 compared with 20 or fewer residents). Burnout rates were not associated with either the number of children or year of training. However, burnout rates were higher for residents who worked more than 70 hours/week. Residents with burnout felt there was a lack of "strong support" by the faculty (P=.001) and fellow residents (P=.006), that faculty were not committed to teaching (P<.001), perceived a greater emphasis on "service over education" (P<.001), and were less satisfied with the hospital's benefits and facilities (P=.023). Furthermore, as frequency of poor clinical outcomes increased, the severity of the depression also increased (P=.021). CONCLUSION: Nationally, about 25% of obstetrics and gynecology residents have high burnout. It is important to recognize factors associated with burnout in residents, so we may institute changes to better accommodate our future physicians and assure patient safety.


Lung Tuberculosis (Lung TBC) is a infection disease that need family's role is very important to its prevention. The objective of this research is to analyze the relation between knowledge level and attitude with prevention behavior of to the spreading of lung tuberculosis (lung TBC) in the family in Work Region Public Health Center in North region of Kediri Town The design used in this research was correlational. The samples were 25 respondents and taken by Simple random Sampling. The independent variable the relation between knowledge level and attitude and the dependent variable was behavior. Data were collected by questionnaire, then analyzed using Double Regression Test with the meaning level a  so Ho was accepted, thus there is no relation between attitude and behavior. The conclusion of this research is that there is no relation between knowledge level and attitute with prevention behaviour of to the spreading of lung tuberculosis (lung TBC) in the family in Work Region Public Health Center in North region of Kediri Town


These lenses are worn for various reasons—to alleviate certain eye conditions, to overcome some occupational problems, and for cosmetic effects.


A biological macromolecule experiences a small degree of alignment in a dilute aqueous liquid crystal. The alignment is large enough to render reduced dipolar couplings readily observable and yet small enough to preserve qualities of high-resolution solution-state NMR spectra. Residual dipolar couplings are abundant and informative probes about the macromolecular structure, conformational changes and dynamics to explore the molecular mechanism of life. The description of the weak alignment and the interpretation of residual dipolar couplings within the theoretical framework are the prime objectives of this review. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Concepts Magn Reson Part A 23A: 22–37, 2004


One of the main constraint in total hip arthroplasty (THA) is to optimize the position of the acetabular implant in order to avoid postoperative instability. The best orientation of the cup has been studied by several authors in order to avoid it, but for most of them, they don't take into account the dynamic behavior of the pelvis during daily activities. This dynamic acts on the orientation of the acetabulum and therefore, not taking into account this behavior can lead to postoperative instability of the implant in some positions (sitting, standing or supine position). To assess the dynamic of the pelvis and the effects on the acetabular orientation, a rapid, accurate and easy new method has been developed. A functional parameter representing the pelvic flexion is first measured in different position (sitting, standing and supine position). Then, a software allowing us to assess the behavior of an acetabular implant in these positions is used. A study on twenty healthy patients has been carried out and shows that taking into account this method during THA planning might be very crucial to improve postoperative results.


In 1999 began the boom of Ecuadorian emigration in Spain. In these passed years, the Ecuadorian colony has consolidated as the second one in importance, af...


In this paper, a point-to-point non-coherent multiple-inp ut multiple-output channel withMT transmit antennas andMR receive antennas is considered. For a communication system using a training-based channel estimation scheme, we obtain an analytical express ion for an upper bound on the outage probability. Using this expression, we show that the optimu m number of active transmit antennas topt to minimize the outage bound depends on the signal to noise ra tio (SNR), multiplexing gain, coherence time and the number of receive antennas. Our results give ins ights on the behavior of topt with respect to these parameters. Specifically, we show that, in the high SNR regime, as the multiplexing gain increases, the value oftopt decreases when MT > MR. However, this behavior does not happen in the moderate SNR regimeor whenMT ≤ MR. We also compute the achievable finite-SNR diversity multip lexing tradeoff of these channels. Index Terms Training signals, Channel estimation, Outage probability , Diversity-Multiplexing Tradeoff Nandita Lavanis is with the Dept. of ECE, SSN College of Engineering, Chenn ai. Devendra Jalihal, Arun Pachai Kannu and Srikrishna Bhashyam are with the Dept. of Electrical Engineering, IIT Ma dras, Chennai, India. This work was done while the first author was a PhD student at IIT Madras. e-mail: nandita.lavanis@ gmail.com, {dj,arunpachai,skrishna }@ee.iitm.ac.in


Phenylketonuria (PKU) is an autosomal recessive disease resulting from a deficiency of the enzyme phenylalanine hydroxylase (PAH). Hyperphenylalaninemias (HPA) due to PAH deficiency are accompanied by a wide variety of clinical, biochemical, and molecular features. To identify and characterize pathogenic variants in the PAH gene and establish a correlation between genotype and biochemical phenotype in patients with PKU from state of Pará in the North Region of Brazil.


Telling lies is an objective action.It means say something false in conscious or unconscious.As an internal unconscious reflection,it happens commonly among pre-school children.This article starts from how to define children's lies,and then analysis different types of lies,and its harm.In order to explore children's inner thinking,and gives suggestions.


The evidence of a relationship between environmental noise exposure and mental health-related quality of life (HQoL) is inconsistent. Several studies have shown an association between noise annoyance and mental HQoL. This has been interpreted in terms of a mediation effect of annoyance on mental health. The reversed hypothesis that individuals with poor mental health have low resources to cope with noise and thus are more annoyed is also discussed. For aircraft noise at Frankfurt Airport, both hypotheses that annoyance mediates the impact of noise exposure on mental HQoL and that mental HQoL contributes to the prediction of annoyance were analysed using longitudinal data of the NORAH study (Noise-related annoyance, cognition, and health). Results of SEM and OLS regressions indicate that annoyance mediates the effect of aircraft sound exposure on mental HQoL. During two years of measurement after the opening of a new runway this mediation effect is stronger for higher aircraft sound levels. The analyses also revealed a reciprocal association between noise annoyance and mental HQoL. In addition to annoyance, the change in noise exposure since 2011 affects mental HQoL.


• TCGA gene signatures are present in high grade case of rare histology. • Early stage high grade cases of rare histology cluster from advanced stages. signatures Background. It is unclear whether the transcriptional subtypes of high grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSOC) apply to high grade clear cell (HGCCOC) or high grade endometrioid ovarian cancer (HGEOC). We aim to delineate transcriptional pro fi les of HGCCOCs and HGEOCs. Methods. We used Agilent microarrays to determine gene expression pro fi les of 276 well annotated ovarian cancers(OCs)including37HGCCOCs and 66HGEOCs. We excluded low grade OCs asthese are known to bedis- tinct molecular entities. We applied the prespeci fi ed TCGA and CLOVAR gene signatures using consensus non-negative matrix factorization (NMF). Results. We con fi rm the presence of four TCGA transcriptional subtypes and their signi fi cant prognostic relevance (p b 0.001) across all three histological subtypes (HGSOC, HGCCOC and HGEOCs). However, we also dem- onstrate that 22/37 (59%) HGCCOCs and 30/67 (45%) HGEOCs form 2 additional separate clusters with distinct gene signatures. Importantly, of the HGCCOC and HGEOCs that clustered separately 62% and 65% were early stage(FIGOI/II),respectively.These fi ndingwerecon fi rmedusingthereducedCLOVARgenesetforclassi fi cation where most early stage HGCCOCs and HGEOCs formed a distinct cluster of their own. When restricting the anal- ysis to the four TCGA signatures (ssGSEA or NMF with CLOVAR genes) most early stage HGCCOCs and HGEOC were assigned to the differentiated subtype. Conclusions. Using transcriptional pro fi ling the current study suggests that HGCCOCs and HGEOCs of ad-vancedstagegrouptogetherwithHGSOCs.However,HGCCOCsandHGEOCsofearlydiseasestagesmayhavedis- tinct transcriptional signatures similar to those seen in their low grade counterparts.


The invention discloses a location tool used for an elevator and belongs to the field of elevator installation equipment. The tool is designed for the purpose of solving the problem that a guide shoe mounting base plate and a safety tongs fixing plate of a lower beam of an existing elevator are low in installation precision. The location tool used for the elevator comprises a first mounting plate, a second mounting plate and a third mounting plate, wherein the second mounting plate is connected with the first mounting plate, the third mounting plate is arranged at one side of the first mounting plate, and first location holes are formed in the first mounting plate and used for being aligned with lower beam mounting holes of the elevator so that the location can be achieved; second location holes are formed in the second mounting plate and used for being aligned with connecting holes in a guide shoe mounting base plate of the elevator so that the location can be achieved; location pins extends out of the third mounting plate and are used for being matched with location pin holes in a safety tongs fixing plate of the elevator so that the location can be achieved. By means of the location tool used for the elevator, the guide shoe mounting base plate and the safety tongs fixing plate can be located and installed to the lower beam reliably, and the installation accuracy is high.


A practical handbook for organisations and institutions challenging corporal punishment of children Aims of this handbook The handbook provides basic information about corporal punishment of children – its definition, how common it is, why it is a fundamental breach of children's human rights, how children feel about it and progress towards ending it. The handbook aims to help organisations and institutions develop campaigns to challenge all corporal punishment of children through public education and legal reform. Campaigns often meet strong resistance and a key section provides answers to arguments that are commonly raised in defence of corporal punishment.


With the aim of constructing a model for predicting the next speaker and the start of the next utterance in multi-party meetings, we focus on the timing structure of the eye contact between the speaker, the listener, and the next speaker: who looks at whom first, who looks away first, and when the eye contact happens. We analyze the differences in the timing structure for the listener and next speaker in turn-changing and turn-keeping. The results of analysis show that the listeners in turn-keeping tend to look at the speaker more often first before the speaker looks at the listeners than the next speaker in turn-changing looks at the speaker first before the speaker looks at the next speaker when the eye contact with the speaker happens. The listeners in turn-keeping tend to look away from the speaker more often later after the speaker looks away from the listener than listeners and the next speaker in turn-changing looks away from the speaker later when the eye contact with the speaker happens. In addition, the interval between the end of eye contact, the end of the speaker's utterance, and the start of next speaker's utterance is different between the listener in turn-keeping, the listener in turn-changing, and the next speaker in turn-changing.


In line with Swedens climate goals, aiming to achieve 49% renewable energy production until 2020, expansion of wind power is an important growth sector. The wind power production is estimated to be ...


Pleural effusion is an unusual presentation of cryptococcal infection in the acquired immune deficiency syndrome. Previous investigators have established the diagnosis of cryptococcal pleural disease by culturing pleural fluid, bronchial washings, and extrapulmonary sources. We report the first case of cryptococcal pleural effusion proved by closed pleural biopsy. Pleural biopsy may be an effective and rapid method of determining the etiology of pleural effusion in the acquired immune deficiency syndrome.


With the improvement of GPU(Graphic Processing Unit) performance,GPU is increasingly applied in the computing-concentrated data operation.According to the parallelism and programmability of CUDA,the acceleration for JPEG compression is addressed in this paper.Based on analysis of the GPGPU(General Purpose GPU) structure,an optimal algorithm is also proposed.Finally,the speeding-up factor,no less than 20,is concluded in experiment.


Despite the success of the Back to Sleep campaign in the United States, sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) remains one of the most prevalent causes of infant mortality, with 2,162 reported cases of SIDS in 2003 in the U.S. alone [Hoyert et al., 2006]. Recent neuropathological studies have implicated the serotonin (5-HT) system in the etiology of SIDS. Panigrahy et al. [2000] demonstrated that SIDS infants displayed decreased 5-HT receptor binding in areas of the medulla important for carbon dioxide chemoreception. Ozawa and Okado [2002] demonstrated reduced expression of 5-HT receptor 1A (HTR1A) in medullary regions responsible for cardiorespiratory control among SIDS cases relative to controls. Paterson et al. [2006] subsequently reported discrepancies between several 5-HT system components in SIDS cases versus controls, including an increased density and number of serotonergic neurons in the medulla of SIDS cases, specifically in areas important for homeostatic control. Another body of recent research has focused on determining the genetic profile of the infant at increased risk for SIDS. Japanese SIDS cases were shown to have higher incidence of the long (L) allele in the promoter region of the serotonin transporter gene (SLC6A4) compared to controls [Narita et al., 2001] and these results were confirmed in AfricanAmerican and Caucasian SIDS cases [Weese-Mayer et al., 2003a]. Additional variations in genes involved in 5-HT function and development have been associated with SIDS, including a functional variable number tandem repeat polymorphism in intron 2 of SLC6A4 [Weese-Mayer et al., 2003b], single base pair polymorphisms in exons 2 and 3 of PHOX2B [Rand et al., 2006a], and an intron 2 deletion polymorphism in FEV [Rand et al., 2007]. These findings suggest a genetic link between dysfunction/dysregulation of the ANS, the serotonergic network, and the etiology of SIDS, and support the neuropathological evidence of 5-HT system involvement in the pathogenesis of SIDS. The HTR1A receptor is key to the autonomic response to homeostatic stress and is densely distributed in medullary regions pertinent to cardiorespiratory regulation [Thor et al., 1992]. Stimulation of the HTR1A receptor in these regions has been found to: (1) reduce the ventilatory response to hypercarbia, (2) cause fragmented sleep characterizedby adecrease in body temperature, heart rate, body movements, and rapid eye movements, and (3) diminish the normal cardiovascular response brought on by acute psychological and inflammatory stress [Messier et al., 2004; Darnall et al., 2005; Nalivaiko et al., 2005; Taylor et al., 2005]. Correspondingly, decreased HTR1A and 2A immunoreactivity in various nuclei of the medulla oblongata has been observed in SIDS cases compared to controls [Ozawa and Okado, 2002]. More recently, HTR1A receptor binding density was found to be significantly reduced in multiple medullary nuclei of SIDS cases, especially in male infants [Paterson et al., 2006]. Based on these studies, theHTR1A gene seemed


This chapter uses Platonist theological categories to analyse the pursuit of financial gain as an aim of high merit in its own right. This pursuit is a powerful governing principle within global capitalism and its consumer societies. This governing principle is 'Mammon' and it often functions as a unifying centre of common worship in the prevailing global economic order. The manner in which Mammon subverts real value, real people, real immanence and real transcendence are key features of how it operates. The argument of this chapter is that abstract numerical fictions and merely manipulative instrumental power are intrinsic to Mammon; here shadows of reality are taken as sociologically and materially real. This chapter argues that the metaphysical and doxological assumptions of modernity need to be questioned if the lifeworld that revolves around Mammon is to be critiqued. In this context, Platonist theology has something significant to offer as a first-order subversion of the 'reality' of Mammon and hence of the 'necessities' of the prevailing norms of the global economic order.


FIELD: information technology. SUBSTANCE: server computer has memory; a processor, user space in memory, which includes an abstraction module for controlling bandwidth consumption by limiting frame transfer rate based on client functionality and type of 3D graphics application. The memory and processor receive information on loss of a device associated with user space and, upon receiving said information, initiates a procedure for deleting or repeating client connection. EFFECT: high stability of remote operation with graphics applications by controlling frame transfer rate and progressive text rendering. 22 cl, 6 dwg


Malnutrition in patients with advanced cancer and gastrointestinal failure (ACGIF) is inevitable. This is a prospective study of a cohort of patients with ACGIF who were treated by home parenteral nutrition (HPN). Included were all patients with ACGIF treated with HPN since January 2003. Data concerning the primary disease, demographics, functional capacity, and PN-related complications were obtained. 125 patients, age's 60±12.9 years, were included. Seven (6%) had KPS<50. Median survival was 3.2 months. Cumulative survival was 0.95, 0.50, 0.25, and 0.09 at two weeks, three and six months, and one year after initiation of HPN, respectively. Multivariate analysis revealed higher mortality associated with male gender (HR 1.48 95% CI 1.03-2.14; p<0.05), albumin level<2.5 gr% (HR 1.73 95% CI 1.18-2.54 p<0.05), and low functional capacity (KPS<50) (HR 2.63 95% CI 1.21-5.74; p<0.05). Survival was not associated with age or BMI. More than 50% of patients survived more than three months, and more than 95% survived longer than two weeks. We cautiously suggest that HPN has prolonged survival and prevented starvation-related manifestations. The decision to initiate HTPN must be reached based on individual considerations, taking into account patient's preferences.


A direct-conversion receiver for a 2.4-GHz sensor network is described. The receiver is designed to operate in a Bluetooth system where slight changes are made in the radio parameters to meet the low power requirement. The receiver includes an LNA, downconversion mixers, a 90-degree phase shift circuit, analog filters, a 1-bit analog-to-digital converter, and a received signal strength indicator (RSSI). The receiver consumes 4.1 mA from a 1.2-V power supply and it achieves 43-dB voltage gain, 25-dB noise figure, -22-dBm IIP3, and +11-dBm IIP2.


By using the microcontroller ATmega8, a new speed control system of the E-bike is introduced, the hardware structure and the software design are also given. It has been improved in the test that the system is low cost but with high reliability, it is an applied control system of the brushless DC motor.


This paper presents field tests about the energy saving rate by appling the energy storage device for urban transit system. The tests are performed to know how much energy are saved, on cases that the energy storage device is on/off.


Abstract. The external area-to-volume ratio of the ammonite shell has been held to be related to morphology but never evaluated quantitatively. A dimensionless ratio, the Vogel number, was computed for large samples of Devonian to Cretaceous ammonites with a new method based on the ADA-model. The estimated ratios range from 2.4 to 3.4. The highest values are exhibited by uncoiled serpenticone ammonites, lowering in the sequence serpenticone-oxycone-spherocone. It is shown that the area-to-volume relationships are controlled by the involution (degree of overlapping) and the relative width of whorl section. The typical evolutionary trends serpenticone–spherocone and/or serpenticone–oxycone, broadly documented through the history of the Ammonoidea, could have been driven, at least in part, by the lowering of the area-to-volume ratio.


The program to calculate the cost of transportation of cargoes is developed by the motor transportation enterprise. Influence of significant working factors on transportation cost is investigated.


The invention relates to multi-layer inductors, which, for example, in Low Temperature Cofired Ceramics / LTCC (sintered at a low temperature ceramic) or copper-clad blank organic printed circuit boards embedded, as well as a film body, which enables the production of the embedded component by co-firing. It is disclosed as a dielectric cover, which is arranged either from the material of the circuit substrate or from a compatible with the material of the circuit carrier dielectric material, the miniaturization of modules by embedding of such passive components to the circuit board and providing surface gained for the assembly may advantageously influence to other components. For this, the cover on the magnetic ceramic sheets are laminated. In monolithic ceramic multilayer construction, the dielectric and magnetic printed circuit board parts are mechanically decoupled by spacer holding sacrificial materials, so that the sintering is possible even when the composite materials unmatched.


The development of an Au-WSi2-Ge ohmic contact on GaAs for highly stable devices is reported. Coplanar interelectrode material migration is minimized by a technology leading to oxygen-poor GaAs surfaces.


Occupational safety and illness surveillance has made a great effort to spread a "safety culture" to all workplaces and a great deal of progress has been made in finding solutions that guarantee safer working conditions.This paper analyses occupational injury data in order to identify specific risk groups and factors that in turn could be further analyzed to define prevention measures. A technique based on rule induction is put forward as a non-parametric alternative tool for analyzing occupational injury data which specifically uses the Classification And Regression Tree (CART) approach. Application of this technique to relevant work-related injury data collected in Italy has been encouraging. Data referring to 156 cases of injury in the period 2000–2002 were analyzed and lead to the factors that most affect work-related injuries being identified. According to the literature, up to the time of writing computer-intensive non-parametric modeling procedures have never been used to analyze occupational injuries. The aim of this paper is to use a real world application to illustrate the advantages and flexibility of applying a typical non-parametric epidemiological tool, such as CART, to an occupational injury study. This application can provide more informative, flexible, and attractive models identifying potential risk areas in support of decision-making in safety management.


Objective To investigate the immunological mechanisms in recurrent aphthous ulcers(RAU).Methods The levels of T lymphocytes sub-groups in peripheral blood in 270 RAU patients(RAU group)and 44 healthy controls(control group)were tested with flow cytometry.Results The levels of CD+3T,CD+4T lymphocytes in peripheral blood and CD+4/CD+8of RAU group were lower than those in control group,the level of CD+8T lymphocytes was higher than that in control group,all P0.001.Conclusions RAU is closely related to imbalanced T lymphocytes sub-groups.


It is found that two different celebrate models, the Korteweg de-Vrise (KdV) equation and the Boussinesq equation, are linked to a same model equation but with different nonlocalities. The model equation is called the Alice-Bob KdV (ABKdV) equation which was derived from the usual KdV equation via the so-called consistent correlated bang (CCB) companied by the shifted parity (SP) and delayed time reversal (DTR). The same model can be called as the Alice-Bob Boussinesq (ABB) system if the nonlocality is changed as only one of SP and DTR. For the ABB systems, with help of the bilinear approach and recasting the multi-soliton solutions of the usual Boussinesq equation to an equivalent novel form, the multi-soliton solutions with even numbers and the head on interactions are obtained. However, the multi-soliton solutions with odd numbers and the multi-soliton solutions with even numbers but with pursuant interactions are prohibited. For the ABKdV equation, the multi-soliton solutions exhibit many more structures because an arbitrary odd function of $x+t$ can be introduced as background waves of the usual KdV equation.


The purpose of the present study was to identify performance indicators that may discriminate between games a soccer team won, drew and lost. A second aim was to identify those variables that best predict success for the team. The sample comprised of 46 matches played by a League One soccer team during the 2012-2013 domestic season. Offensive and defensive game-related statistics were gathered Match location was also considered. A Kruskal Wallis test and binary logistic regression were used to identify those indicators associated with success (wins). The Kruskal Wallis test identified significant differences in the number of passes, percentage of successful passes and passes made in the opposition half Significantly more passes and passes in the opposition half were made when the team lost compared to when they won and drew games (P<0.05). A significantly lower percentage of successful passes were completed when the team drew (P<0.05). The results of the binary logistic regression concluded that the team should perform fewer passes and dribbles but complete more successful passes and shots to be successful. The results indicate that for the team to be successful they should implement a direct style of play.


[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] After 12 years of war, a debate is emerging over the ability of the Army's noncommissioned officer (NCO) corps to adapt to the changing operational environment (OE). The future will require adept NCOs armed with increased knowledge and new skills. Developing this NCO of the future can only occur by transforming how the Army educates NCOs today. This article will briefly discuss the projected OE and identify the cognitive abilities needed to equip the NCO corps for 2020 and beyond. The case to revise the Noncommissioned Officer Education System (NCOES) is analyzed using an educational model, against current Army concepts, frameworks, and strategies. The analysis shows a clear need for improved education and development processes and a transformation to the new NCO professional development system--NCO 2020. Preparing for the Projected Operational Environment The big question is--How will the Army prepare NCOs to lead America's sons and daughters in volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) environments? (1) The fiscal constraints caused by the Nation's soaring debt and the shared responsibility of the Army to support these constraints add to the challenges of VUCA environments. The Army must meet these challenges, continue to defend the Nation, and remain the world's premier land force while becoming smaller, more flexible, and more adaptive. Recently, Lt. Gen. Keith Walker, deputy commanding general, Futures/director, Army Capabilities Integration Center, U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, painted a complex picture of the projected OE. He described it as driven by the competition for wealth, resources, political authority, influence, sovereignty, identity, and legitimacy, where unexpected opportunists will emerge from conflict in a complex environment. The complex environment is shaped by multiple actors, asymmetric threats, and chaotic conditions. It is technologically driven in an information age where adversaries have the ability to communicate and adjust their planning cycles at the speed of Twitter. (2) The proliferation of technology will degrade soldiers' previous advantages over our adversaries in communication and weapons. This will place a premium on shorter equipment life cycles as the Army investments in research and development to stay ahead of our enemies. Our land force's ability to build combat power over several months, or sometimes years, may be eroded as irrational actors learn from our success over the last two decades. The Army will need to invest wisely in its soldiers and NCOs to overcome these challenges. The proposition in the historical adage "the pen is mightier than the sword" is not an argument for a reduction in training or tactical proficiency. (3) Rather, it is an argument to increase tactical proficiency by training critical, agile, flexible, and creatively thinking NCOs who are able to operate under the Army's mission command philosophy. The Army must change its current Industrial Age developmental construct. The current system is satisfied with simply training and achieving the lower levels of cognition--knowledge, understanding, and application. (4) The new era will require a blended-learning process that infuses rigor into the NCOES. It is essential for the new system to produce NCOs instilled with the cognitive ability to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate. (5) Getting There The Army must evolve the current NCOES into an integrated NCO professional development system--NCO 2020. To achieve this change, the NCO corps must use a deliberate, data-driven, analytical process to examine the current NCO development model. The foundation and guideposts for the new system are the Army Leader Development Strategy, The U.S. Army Learning Concept 2015 (ALC 2015), and the Army learning model. (6) The result must be a system capable of developing an NCO corps ready to execute missions in support of national security requirements in 2020 and beyond. …


The hinged lid (20) is deployed in two stages to prevent the speech transmission voice is dispersed and that noise occurs when transmits and receives speech voice. The hinged lid (20) combined with a main body (10) of the mobile phone comprises: an upper flap (22); a lower flap (25) attached to an inner side of the upper flap (22); an inner flap (28) combined with a guide rib (23) and a slide groove (26) to extend in sliding outwards, the inner flap (28) being guided slidingly by the guide rib (23) and the slide groove (26); the guide rib (23) being formed in an inner wall of the upper flap (22); the slide groove (26) being formed on both sides around the lower flap (25); a projection holder provided on an upper side of the slide groove (26); grooves of upper and lower mounting (29a, 29b) fixedly fitted into the fixing projection; and a guide projection (30) formed on both sides of the front end of the inner flap (28) to fit into the slide groove (26) of the lower flap (25) and to be guided.


Such mosaics as remain in the apse of St. Sophia in Constantinople were uncovered by the late Thomas Whittemore between 1935 and 1939. They comprise a colossal figure of the Virgin enthroned in the conch of the apse, the archangel Gabriel on the south side of the soffit of the bema arch, tiny fragments of the archangel Michael on the north side, the beginning and end of a commemorative inscription of the emperors Michael III and Basil I, and a rich floral border. The war, followed by Mr. Whittemore's death, has prevented the completion of a report on these mosaics, which were, however, made known through the publication of several photographs and the exhibition of a copy in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Speculation has already been aroused as to the date of the mosaics in the apse, and has ranged from the early 8th to the 14th century — a curious reflection on how little we know about Byzantine aft. The view most widely held is that the mosaics belong to the 9th century in agreement with the opinion expressed by Mr. Whittemore and his collaborators that they were made by the painter Lazarus soon after the restoration of image worship in 843.* It is this assertion that I should like to discuss in the light of documentary evidence. The mosaics which are visible today were not covered over until about the end of the 17th century. Around 1675, they were decribed and sketched, not altogether accurately, by the French traveller Grelot. At that


The SK-N-BE(2c) is an I-type neuroblastoma that develops a strong pacing electrical response over time. This response is likely the result of a developing interconnected network, such that the regular pacemaker-like firing of individual cells becomes synchronous over time forming a multi unit spikes signal (MUS). Immuno-fluorescence was used to show the presence of pre and postsynaptic markers, suggesting that MUS are the result of networking. Hence this cell line could prove as a useful model for synaptic dopaminergic pacing cell systems


Abstract. In article the directions of internationalization of education in the Republic of Kazakhstan, which havetheir own features, are considered. Progress of the al-Farabi Kazakh national university that has completely adoptededucational programs, conforming to the international standards is noted. The university shows positive dynamics inthe sphere of expansion of the international cooperation, the academic mobility, and development of social partnershipthat caused advance of al-Farabi KazNU in a world rating and its occurrence in top-300 best universities of the world.Prospects of development of the academic mobility promoting further successful inclusion of al-Farabi KazNU inglobal scientific and educational space are outlined.According to the State program of development and functioning of languages and the project «Trinity of Languages»,the Kazakh language surely raises the positions in communicative and language space of the republic, and in education.Besides, teaching in English is developed promptly at schools and higher education institutions of Kazakhstan; Russian,despite reduction of volume of its use, keeps an important role in the sphere of the higher education that causes languagefeatures of internationalization of education in the republic.


Private Property Rights Act of 1993 - Provides that no regulation promulgated by an executive agency shall become effective until the Attorney General certifies that the agency is in compliance with Executive Order 12630 or similar procedures to assess the potential for the taking of private property in the course of Federal regulatory activity, with the goal of minimizing such where possible. Limits judicial review of actions under this Act to whether such certification has occurred. Permits such review only in the same forum and at the same time as the pertinent regulation is subject to review.


Building on a retrospective assessment of the experiences with the Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS) processes in nine conflict-affected countries, Bosnia-Herzegovina (BIH), Burundi, Cambodia, Chad, Georgia, Nepal, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, and Sri Lanka, this report discusses how the causes and consequences of violent conflict can best be addressed within a country's poverty reduction program. The report identifies the main conflict factors that have affected the nine countries in the sample; examines how the PRS teams took these factors into account in developing their strategies for growth and poverty reduction; and attempts to draw lessons based on the findings. The analysis does not assess resource allocation, budget or implementation because of uneven data between the nine cases which represent a broad range of stages in the PRS preparation and implementation process. The report underlines the need for the PRS to capture and respond to the specific characteristics of the country situation. This would require focused, but not necessarily exhaustive, analysis of the situation to capture key characteristics of the country context, including the specific economic and social factors that affect conflict in the country. Furthermore, as conflict-affected countries are often characterized by great volatility and quickly changing situations, and their governments often face serious capacity constraints, the PRS should be nimble and flexible both in process and content. As the country becomes more stable and gains better capacity, later PRS iterations can incorporate more complex analysis and be more comprehensive. Finally, the report acknowledges that a PRS in conflict affected countries carries certain specific risks. The more carefully the process takes conflict factors into account and the more realistically the PRS content reflects the specific country context, the better the potential risks can be managed.


The utility model relates to a filter with composite filter element, its characterized in that: including a shell that is the tube -shape, a shell upper end fixedly connected with compound water valve, the top of compound water valve is equipped with a water inlet and a delivery port that links to each other with outside water pipe side by side, there is a first filter core that is the tube -shape along vertical holding in the shell, first filter core endotheca is equipped with a second filter core, first filter core and second filter core are fixed respectively in the shell bottom, still include a both ends open -ended water purification pipe, water purification pipe one end with the delivery port is linked together, the other end stretch into to in the second filter core, still outwards extend respectively water purification pipe both sides has a baffle, the baffle blocks respectively to be located the outside of first filter core. The utility model has the advantages of through first filter core and second filter core form the double filtration, and the filter effect is good.


Accurate and interpretable data are essential in guiding our approach to the covid-19 pandemic. Basic epidemiological principles are currently being flouted.1 Mostly, as in your article,2 case numbers are being reported. This number needs to be converted to a proportion, using the population size as the denominator. Otherwise, how can we tell which countries are …


We developed a virtual counseling system which can deliver brief alcohol health interventions via a 3D anthropomorphic speech-enabled interface a new field for spoken dialog interactions with intelligent virtual agents in the health domain. We present our spoken dialog system design and its evaluation. We developed our dialog system based on Markov decision processes (MDP) framework and optimized it by using reinforcement learning (RL) algorithms with data we collected from real user interactions. The system begins to learn optimal dialog strategies for initiative selection and for the type of confirmations that it uses during the interaction. We compared the unoptimized system with the optimized system in terms of objective measures (e.g. task completion) and subjective measures (e.g. ease of use, future intention to use the system) and obtained positive results.


As companies seek to increase sales, build brand loyalty and stay ahead of the competition, a delicate balance must exist between the money spent and labor exerted for such efforts, and the profit gained from them. This consideration is especially critical in the food and beverage (F&B) industry, driven by a commodity-based pricing structure that can literally change with the weather, where lowest cost often wins.


Concerned with potential liability for any infringing uses by their users, the Online Service Provider (OSP) industry successfully lobbied Congress to exempt OSPs from copyright liability under certain conditions through the "safe harbor" provisions found in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Qualified OSPs receive safe harbor from copyright infringement liability if they fulfill certain criteria. Absent safe harbor, OSPs could be held secondarily liable for infringing activities of their users even absent actual knowledge of any infringement. Accordingly, if (or more accurately when) those users copy, perform, display, republish, or adapt works in ways violative of copyright, OSPs are shielded from liability altogether. This is in stark contrast to the strict liability nature of copyright infringement that applies generally in all cases. In fact, courts only consider mental state, if at all, when the court calculates damages. The ordinary range of statutory damages is $750–$30,000 per infringement. However, a court can increase the amount for willful infringement to $150,000 or decrease it to $200 in the case of innocent infringement; that is, in cases where the user neither knew nor had reason to know her use was infringing. Due to the strict liability nature of copyright and importance of mental state in the court's discretionary determination of the amount of damages due, it is critical for copyright users and OSPs alike to be


Introduction
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is the most prevalent respiratory problem in the world. Patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection have a higher prevalence of smoking and recurrent lung infections and are at higher risk of COPD.

Objective
To determine the prevalence of COPD in HIV-diagnosed patients referred to an infectious diseases hospital.

Method
Individuals with HIV infection without previous or ongoing antiretroviral treatment, with chronic respiratory symptoms, with or without a history of exposure for the development of COPD were included. Pre- and post-bronchodilation spirometry, high-resolution computed tomography, viral load determination and CD4 count were carried out. Spirometry measurements were compared with Wilcoxon's test.

Results
Sixty-six HIV-diagnosed patients, with a mean age of 31.5 years were included; 64 were males and two females. The prevalence of COPD was 7.6 %. The group with obstruction had a lower CD4 count (27.3 versus 225.9) and higher viral load (165,000 versus 57,722), in comparison with the group without obstruction. A positive correlation was observed between lower viral load and higher forced expiratory volume in 1 second/forced vital capacity ratio.

Conclusion
HIV-positive patients with a lower CD4 count and a higher viral load show a decrease in spirometry values.


Aim of the study: This study aimed to evaluate the effect of hyperbaric oxygen therapy on success rate of implants used to retain mandibular overdentures and possibility of osteonecrosis of the jaw in Bisphosphonate treated osteoporotic patients. Materials and methods: Eight systemic free patients were selected as control group (CG) and eight osteoporotic patients treating with Bisphosphonate drugs orally more than two years were selected as study group (SG). For both groups, patients received mandibular implant retained overdentures with locator anchors following two stage surgical protocol. Patients of study group were received Hyperbaric oxygen thereby (HBO) after the first stage surgery, while those of control group were not received (HBO). Peri-implant marginal bone height and density were evaluated at six months (T6), twelve months (T12) after insertion using Cone Beam Computed Tomography (CBCT). Results: No failure of dental implants were recorded with 100% cumulative survival rates for both groups. Both groups showed increase in bone density and decrease in marginal bone height through a period of one year follow-up. However, the group that received HBO therapy showed less marginal bone loss and more increase in bone density than the control group. Conclusion: Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is valuable and effective treatment for osteoporotic treated Bisphosphonate patients receiving implant retained mandibular overdentures as it eliminate the possibility of Bisphosphonate associated osteonecrosis of the jaw (BONJ), reduces bone loss and increase bone density around dental implant resulting in normal survival rate.


While the construction market in the 19 Euroconstruct countries is facing a considerable decline in 2012, the Austrian construction market is growing slightly. Throughout the forecast horizon, the construction outlook for Austria is positive, although the growth rates will be well below 1 percent. The market moves into two different directions: while the building segment (residential and non-residential) is a driver of growth, the civil engineering sector will decline over the next few years. The Euroconstruct Country Report for Austria gives in-depth information on the Austrian construction market until 2014. It covers in detail the housing market, the non-residential sector and civil engineering (new and renovation, respectively). Additionally, essential background information and an overview of the macroeconomic situation are provided.


The study examined factors influencing the adoption of cassava post-harvest processing technology among farmers in Abia North, Abia state, Nigeria. One hundred and fifty (150) farmers were randomly selected from five Local Government Areas of the state. Data analysis involved descriptive statistics and adoption model using logit regression. The results showed that majority of the famers were male who are still productive, married with large household sizes. Most of the farmers adopted cassava processing technologies and utilized the garri product. The results also indicated that income level of the farmer, number of processing equipment, household size and years of experience in farming business positively influenced the adoption of post-harvest processing technology among households in the study area and were each significant at 5 percent.  The study call for policies aimed at increased awareness programmes and subsidies on processing machines to increase their adoption. Keywords : Cassava, Adoption, Utilization, Post-Harvest Technology, Abia State


Ad-hoc scalar implicature in adults and children Alex Stiller Noah D. Goodman Michael C. Frank firstname.lastname@example.com Symbolic Systems Program Stanford University email@example.com Department of Psychology Stanford University email@example.com Department of Psychology Stanford University Abstract Linguistic communication relies on pragmatic implicatures such as the inference that if "some students passed the test," not all did. Yet young children perform poorly on tests of implicature, especially scalar implicatures using "some" and "all," until quite late in development. We investigate the ori- gins of scalar implicature using tasks in which the scale arises from real-world context rather than conventional contrasts be- tween lexical items. Experiment 1 shows that these ad-hoc implicatures are easy for preschool children, suggesting that children have an early competence at pragmatic inference, and that failures in standard scalar implicature tasks are due in- stead to problems contrasting lexical items. Experiments 2 and 3 compare a Gricean, counterfactual account of implica- ture with a linguistic alternatives account and find that neither predicts effects of contextual informativeness. We conclude that an account of pragmatic implicature must integrate world knowledge, linguistic structure, and social reasoning. Keywords: Scalar implicature; pragmatics; language acquisi- tion. Introduction Sometimes the absence of a description says just as much as its presence. A professor who says "some students passed the test" implies that some students failed—if all had passed, a cooperative speaker would have made the stronger statement "all students passed." Scalar implicature refers to the conver- sational shorthand of using weak terms to imply the negation of stronger ones that lie along the same "scale." In this pa- per we investigate the origins of scalar implicature, and the nature of scales, by investigating a spectrum of tasks that are logically equivalent to conventional scalar implicature but in which the scale arises (or fails to arise) from the real-world context rather than the lexical items—ad-hoc implicatures. Implicatures surface in a variety of contexts beyond the case of quantifiers, including modal operators such as "might" and "must" (Noveck, 2001), inclusive and exclusive disjunction (Braine & Rumain, 1981), and numerals (Barner & Bachrach, 2010). A wide variety of theoretical frameworks have been proposed to explain implicature, with the two most influential being (1) Gricean approaches that we will collec- tively call the counterfactual theories (Grice, 1975; Levinson, 2000) and (2) views based on grammatically computed lin- guistic alternatives (Fox, 2007; Chierchia, Fox, & Spector, Grice (1975) offers two maxims from which scalar im- plicatures are meant to follow: make your contribution as informative as is required, and do not make your contribu- tion more informative than is required. From these it fol- lows that any alternative statement which is more informative than the spoken statement must be false—because the speaker could have said that statement had it been true. Under this Figure 1: Example stimuli from our ad-hoc scalar implicature task. The utterance "My friend has glasses" receives different interpretations when the context given to the listener is Row 1 versus Row 2. Each has a similar logical structure to the conventional some-not-all implicature (top). analysis, the relevant scale arises from the logical structure of the possible statements that could have, counterfactually, been uttered. Although neo-Gricean accounts have modified some parts of this basic inferential mechanism, the general predictions remain (Levinson, 2000). In response to appar- ent over-prediction of implicatures by the counterfactual the- ory, the linguistic-alternatives theory claims that implicatures arise by a process in which a statement is strengthened by negating the alternative statements—where the alternatives, and hence scales, derive from the lexical and grammatical structure of language; importantly, more complex statements are not taken to be alternatives (Fox, 2007; Chierchia et al., Consider the three situations shown schematically in Fig- ure 1. At the top, the word "all" is logically stronger than the word "some", though some applies whenever all does. There is thus a natural scale of informativeness set up by the conventional semantic content of the words. In contrast, the feature words "glasses" and "top hat" have no conventional ordering, but in the context of the three faces in the middle row ("scales" condition), top hat is similarly stronger than glasses, though glasses applies to any object that top hat does. If a speaker says "the one with glasses" we may draw the im- plicature that she means the middle face (an intuition which we test in Experiment 1)—the situation itself seems to set up


A tetramethylene sulfone based electrolyte was used in rechargeable Li-O(2) batteries for the first time. Without a catalyst, superior battery performances were successfully obtained, and desired lithium peroxide (Li(2)O(2)) dominates the discharge product.


Sir, Hearing aid is a lifelong companion and precious valuable partner to those with hearing loss. Here, I am sharing some of my experiences of wearing "in the canal hearing aids" for the past 15 years. Initially, the sounds heard would be loud and used to cause pain in the ear if I wore it in outside environment. Now, I am adjusted to it. I observed that the natural ability to recognize the direction of sound is lost after wearing the hearing aids for few months, which sometimes caused difficulty in understanding group discussions. Also, I have observed that after regular continuous wearing of hearing aids for 1 or 2 months, the natural ability of unaided hearing is significantly lost.


This thesis aims to study the correlation between Lao-tzu's view of nature and the aesthetic consciousness of Korean dance and hence to look at...


Aero-structural coupling methods suitable for aeroelastic simulation involving large time steps are presented. Two methods are introduced and applied which are based on the extrapolation of the aerodynamic state and the structural state, both using gradient information from the equations and from the previous time steps, respectively. A new method is proposed based on the prognostication from a time-analysis of the time traces. Comparison of the methods with existing methods for several twodimensional and three-dimensional cases show the supriority of the current schemes.


This report documents a large scale joint research project with the aim of improving the efficiency of ship operations and management by providing a methodology and technology that can quantify the emission and fuel usage penalty due to bio-fouling on ship hull. This can be obtained through better understanding of turbulent boundary layer flows over rough surfaces that cause skin friction drag. Here six different institutions from four countries (Australia, Denmark, Indonesia, and UK) that consist of universities, a passenger ship company, a manufacturer of anti-fouling coatings, and the Indonesian Classification Society are formed. They represent three fields, namely: academic, industrial, and an independent party that supports policy makers. Each of them has different objectives and interests that are interconnected. The research collaboration uses an in-situ laser-based measurement technique of the water flow over the hull of an operating ship combined with under-water image-based surface scanning techniques. The shipboard experiments are accompanied by detailed laboratory experiments to provide further validation. This paper will discuss the importance and challenges of managing such collaboration and the significance of satisfying individual objectives from each three fields in order to achieve the overarching aim.


Vascular leak and inflammation are associated with arrhythmic heart diseases such as atrial fibrillation (AF) and myocardial infarction (MI). AF is the most common form of arrhythmia, where the atria beat irregularly and rapidly. AF and other arrhythmias are a common complication following acute MI [1]. Despite its high prevalence and poor outcomes, the mechanism underlying AF is not well understood and treatment protocols for post-MI AF are limited. AF patients have elevated levels of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF-A; 90-580 pg/ml), which promotes vascular leak and edema We investigated the structural underpinnings of AF using a novel approach we developed called indirect correlative light and electron microscopy (iCLEM). By exploiting structural landmarks identifiable via both light and electron microscopy, we were able to correlate transmission electron microscopy (TEM) –derived cardiac myocyte ultrastructure with molecular organization, assessed using sub-diffraction confocal imaging (sDCI) and stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy (STORM). Using this approach, we recently demonstrated that the vascular leak-inducing cytokine vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF; 90-580 pg/ml – levels found in AF patients) induces acute remodeling (30-60 minutes) of sodium channel (NaV1.5) –rich intercalated disk (ID) nanodomains, disrupting their ultrastructure and prompting translocation of NaV1.5 from these sites. This in turn disrupted atrial impulse propagation (high speed optical mapping) and promoted atrial arrhythmias (electrocardiography). Here, we tested the hypotheses that i) similar acute


Cigarette smoking is a critical variable that affects health and survival. In earlier works the authors used nationally-representative [U.S.] data to show that cause-of-death patterns varied by smoking status and that multiple causes of death were more frequently associated with smokers than non-smokers. In addition smoking patterns vary by age and sex. The present work extends previous analysis by estimating the mortality risks of different smoking statuses by underlying and multiple causes of death within categories of age and sex. Data from the 1986 National Mortality Followback Survey are related to data from the 1985 and 1987 National Health Interview Survey supplements to assess the mortality risks. We find that smoking is associated with higher mortality risks for all population categories studied that the risks differ by smoking category and demographic group and that the risks also vary according to whether underlying-cause or multiple-cause patterns of death are examined. (EXCERPT)