This paper summarizes an application-specific economic analysis of the conversion of discrete passive resistors and capacitors to passives that are embedded within a printed circuit board, i.e., integral substrates. In this study we assume that embedded resistors are printed or plated directly onto wiring layers (as opposed to requiring a dedicated layer), that bypass capacitors are embedded by dielectric substitution into existing reference plane layers, and that singulated non-bypass capacitors are embedded using dedicated layer pair addition. The model performs three basic analyses: 1) Board size analysis is used to determine board sizes, layer counts, and the number of boards that can be fabricated on a panel; 2) Panel fabrication cost modeling including a cost of ownership model is used to determine the impact of throughput changes associated with fabricating integral substrates; and 3) Assembly modeling is used to determine the cost of assembling all discrete components, and their associated inspection and rework. The combination of these three analyses has been used to evaluate size/cost tradeoffs for an example boards. Introduction The use of discrete passive components in electronic systems has continued to increase even as the degree of system integration has increased. To meet the increased demand for passive devices some passive devices are fabricated within ICs, however, designing passives into ICs limits the IC's flexibility for many uses. In addition, real estate on an IC is usually more expensive than real estate on a board. The increased demand for passives not only requires more passives to be purchased and assembled to the system, but also suggests that discrete passives will consume increasing amounts of board area and assembly time. The electronics assembly industry has responded to the challenge by developing higherspeed chip shooters, and the passive components industry has responded by producing smaller passive components. An alternative solution to the passive growth trend is integrating multiple passives together within a single package (networks or arrays of passives). This approach can reduce assembly costs, however, the unit cost of integrated passives remains high (generally higher than the discrete passive components they replace). Even with the use of small dimension passives and judicious insertion of network or array passive components, many applications still cannot meet performance and size requirements. Embedded passives (fabricated within integral substrates) were introduced to address these needs. Embedded passives are fabricated within substrates, and while embedded passives will never replace all passive components, they provide a potential advantage for many applications including: • Increased circuit density • Decreased product weight • Improved electrical properties, and possibly... • Cost reduction • Increased product quality • Improved reliability. Potentially the biggest single question about embedded passives is their cost, "...of all the inhibitors to achieving an acceptable market for integral substrates, the demonstration of cost savings is paramount". There is considerable controversy in technology circles as to whether applications fabricated using embedded passives will be able to compete economically with discrete passive technology. On the positive side, the use of embedded passives reduces assembly costs, shrinks the required board size, and negates the cost of purchasing and handling discrete passive components. However, these economic advantages must be traded off against the increased cost (per unit area) of boards fabricated with embedded passives (a situation that will not disappear over time), lower yield of layer pairs containing embedded passives, and decreased throughput during board fabrication. In this paper we present a model for assessing the application-specific economics of converting discrete passives to embedded passives. The next section outlines the model formulation followed by sample results generated using the model. Model Formulation The objective of the model discussed in this paper is to capture the economic impact of the following competing effects when embedded components are present in the board: • Decreased board area due to a reduction in the number of discrete passive components • Decreased wiring density requirements due to embedding passives • Increased wiring density requirements due to the decreased size of the board • Increased number of boards fabricated on a panel due to decreased board size • Increased board cost per unit area • Decreased board yield • Decreased board fabrication throughput • Decreased assembly costs • Increased overall assembly yield • Decreased assembly-level rework. Due to the opposing nature of many of the effects listed above, the overall economic impact of replacing discrete passives with embedded passives is not trivial to determine and, in general, results in application-specific guidelines instead of general rules of thumb. In fact the very nature of tradeoff analysis is one in which the greater the detail necessary to accurately model a system, the less general and more application-specific the result. Several authors, have addressed cost analysis for embedded passives and thus provide varying degrees of insight into the economic impact of converting discrete passives to embedded. The target of all these economic analyses is to determine the effective cost of converting selected discrete passive components to embedded components. The most common approach to economic analysis of embedded passives is to: 1) reduce the system cost by the purchase price and conversion costs (handling, storage and assembly) associated with the replaced discrete passives, 2) reduce the board size by the sum of the layout areas associated with the replaced discrete passives and determine the new number of boards on the panel, and 3) determine the new board cost based on a higher per unit area cost for the integral passive panel fabrication and the new number-up computed in step 2. The results of these three steps determine the new system cost. The effects included in this first-order approach are critical, however, the approach generally ignores several additional elements, most notably: possible decreases in throughput for integral substrate fabrication mean that board fabricators will have to charge higher profit margins on integral substrate to justify their production on lines that could otherwise be producing conventional boards; routing analysis of the board to determine not only what layers may be omitted, but what layers may have to be added to maintain sufficient wiring capacity as passives are embedded and the board is allowed to shrink; yield of both discrete passive components and the variation in board yield due to the embedding of passives; and potential reductions in rework costs (due to both assembly defects and intrinsic functional defects) associated with discrete passives. In the model presented here, we incorporate quantitative routing estimation and assess board fabrication throughput impacts for setting profit margins on board fabrication, effects that have not been included previously. The model used for analyzing embedded passives is outlined in Figure 1. The detailed formulations used in the model are documented elsewhere, qualitatively the model works in the following way: 1) Accumulate the area of footprints of discrete passives to be embedded. Determine the area occupied by each plated or printed embedded resistor on wiring layers. 2) Reduce board area by accumulated discrete passive area from 1) maintaining the aspect ratio of the original board. This step is optional, i.e., the board area may be fixed. 3) Plated or Printed Resistors: Perform routing analysis removing nets and vias associated with resistors that are embedded and accounting for area blocked by embedded resistors on wiring layers. Routing is assumed to be unaffected by discrete resistors embedded using Ohmega-Ply or similar approaches. Bypass Capacitors: All nets and vias associated with embedded bypass capacitors are removed from the routing problem. Singulated Capacitors: Assume embedded singulated capacitors do not affect routing analysis. Using these assumptions determine the relative change in routing resources due to embedding selected passives. 4) Using the layer requirements, the relative routing requirements for the integral substrate and either a fixed measure of the routing efficiency associated with the conventional board or a range of possible efficiencies determined under the assumption that the conventional version of the board did not include any more layer pairs than it needed to route the problem, compute the number of required layer pairs for the embedded passive implementation. 5) Determine the yield of layer pairs that include embedded passives. 6) Determine the trimming cost for embedded resistors. The necessity of trimming is determined by the resistor's tolerance. The application-specific cost per trim is determined by modeling the throughput of a laser trimming process. 7) Compute the number of boards per panel from the board size (number-up) and the effective panel fabrication costs from the layer and material requirements, yields, and resistor trimming costs. 8) Determine the relative board fabrication profit margin from layer pair throughput modeling (see discussion later in this section). 9) Accumulate assembly cost, test, rework, and board fabrication (with profit margin) to obtain total relative cost. The model generates two system costs, one with no discrete passives embedded and one with a mix of discrete and embedded passives (the specific mix is user defined). Because the analysis ignores all nonembeddable parts, all functional testing of the system, and other cost elements that are approximately equivalent for the embedded and conventional system, the significant result is the differ


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The present invention provides a wiring board and its manufacturing method. Circuit board (1000) includes a first rigid wiring board (10) having a receiving portion (S1), and storing the second rigid circuit board receiving portion (S1) in (20) and formed in the first rigid wiring board (10) rigid wiring board 2 and the second insulating layer (31) above (20). Here, the first conductor rigid wiring board (10) and the second conductor rigid wiring board (20) is electrically connected to each other. Second rigid wall surface of the wiring board (20) and a side surface portion receiving (S1) at least one having irregularities.


The three mono-energetic viscosity coefficients are investigated in Heliotron-J as a benchmarking of the analytically approximated formulas of the neoclassical viscosities. One purpose is to validate an analytical theory for the ripple-trapped/untrapped boundary layer in the velocity space even for configurations with arbitrary magnetic field Fourier spectra and large rotational transform per toroidal period. Therefore dependence of the non-diagonal coefficient, which determines spontaneous parallel flows such as the bootstrap current, on configurations, collisionality, and radial electric fields is investigated in detail.


The measurement of the intensity of a ray of light is a problem the solution of which has been repeatedly attempted, but with less satisfactory results than the endeavours to measure the other radiant forces. The problem is susceptible of two divisions—the absolute and the relative measurement of light. I. Given a luminous beam, we may require to express its intensity by some absolute term having reference to a standard obtained at some previous time, and capable of being reproduced with accuracy at any time and at any part of the globe. Possibly two such standards would be necessary, differing greatly in value, so that the space between them might be subdivided into a definite number of equal parts; or the same result might perhaps be obtained by the well-known device of varying the apparent intensity of the standard light by increasing and diminishing its distance from the instrument.


A four years old boy presents with suspect acute appendicitis and surgical removal was decided. The surgical diagnosis was acute appendicitis but the pathological diagnosis was Enterobius vermicularis infection in removed appendix. Appendicitis is rare in children < 5 years of age and is more difficult to diagnose in young children. The role of Enterobius vermicularis as a cause of acute appendicitis remains controversial. Enterobius infestation may be associated with acute appendicitis, chronic appendicitis, ruptured appendicitis, or without clinical symptoms 1. To the best of our knowledge, there are no studies of incidence of acute appendicitis due to Enterobius infection nor case report in Taiwan.


Friedberg's Triad (i.e. Measure the brain, Preempt the pain, Emetic drugs abstain) was conceptualized as a pathway to opioid free anesthesia (OFA) and better outcomes. Prolonged emergence, postoperative pain and postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) are outcomes to be prevented. Prolonged emergence is often secondary to overmedication, the natural consequence to failure to directly measure anesthetic effect on the target organ, the brain. Direct measurement reveals a 100-fold inter-individual variation in propofol requirements to achieve the same numerical sedation level. Incremental propofol titration to BIS < 75 with baseline EMG sets the stage for hallucination-free, 2-5 minutes pre-stimulation (i.e. skin incision or multiple local anesthetic injections) 50 mg ketamine independent of body weight or age. Postoperative pain is a function of failed pre-stimulation NMDA receptor saturation leading to intra-operative nociception (pain). With spontaneous ventilation, real time EMG spikes as a secondary BISTM trend signal incipient arousal. Arousal precedes nociception. Arousal prevention with additional propofol prevents intra-operative arousal and nociception. Absence of EMG spike with stimulation is objective, reproducible prima facie evidence of NMDA receptor saturation and the beginning of opioid free, preemptive analgesia. Deep general anesthesia does not prevent nociception. PONV is a well-recognized opioid-related adverse drug effect. OFA eliminates PONV even without antiemetic administration in an Apfel-defined high risk population. Opioids do not prevent postoperative pain but increase PONV. There may be many reasons for anesthesiologists not electing to pursue OFA, not the least of which is fear of ketamine hallucinations, fear of postop pain or criticism of colleagues. This editorial may help overcome the first two fears and resistance to change. In places around the world, OFA patients have rejoiced, especially those who've previously experienced PONV or pain. I can understand the reluctance to change but not the reluctance to do better for patients.


With the explosively increasing demands on the network capacity, throughput and number of connected wireless devices, massive connectivity is an urgent problem for the next generation wireless communications. In this paper, we propose a grant-free access protocol for massive connectivity that utilizes a large number of antennas in a base station and is expected to be widely deployed in cellular networks. The scheme consists of a sparse structure in sparse code multiple access (SCMA) and receiver processing based on dictionary learning (DL). A large number of devices can transmit data without any scheduling process, which is attractive for resource utilization and transmission power efficiency. Through the design of transmission frames, DL can implement both channel estimation and data detection in SCMA system. The numerical results show that the proposed scheme has a promising bit error rate performance in massive connectivity scenarios of cellular networks.


We investigate the effect of polarization cross-coupling at polarization maintaining fiber connectors on the accuracy of interferometric fiber-optic current sensors and demonstrate an optical circuit that is immune to polarization cross-talk at connectors.


The lead article in the March–April 1987 issue of Interfaces (Vol. 17, No. 2, pp. 1–12) describes Jake Ulvila's Edelman Prize finalist analysis. Now for the story behind the story. What really happened?—Robert G. Chamberlain


This paper analyzes equity in health care utilizetion and out-of-pocket expenditure on health care in India using two rounds (52th round 1995-1996 and 60th round 2004-2005) of National Sample Survey data and data from a household survey carried out in 2007. The findings indicate that the average hospitalization rate has increased and the corresponding value of the concentration index has decreased over the last ten years. However, the health care payment structure is seen to be regressive for inpatient care, and more so for outpatient care. The main reason is the very high out-of-pocket payment on medicine and diagnostic tests even in government hospitals. High out-of-pocket payment has resulted in 34 percent poor households losing all their past savings, 30 percent of households borrowing with interest and 2 percent of households selling their assets. These findings indicate the urgent need for putting in place risk pooling mechanisms.


The goal of this study was to analyse the influence of the antecedents of patient experience, namely staff appearance, laboratory staff attitude, information clarity, staff responsiveness, laboratory ambience, phlebotomy process, laboratory technology, and report results, which furtherly generate customer delight and drive favourable intentions such as revisit intentions to the laboratory and willingness to share and post on social media. By extending earlier studies and using data from a leading private clinical laboratory service, this study suggests a new insight. A quantitative study with a survey is used with a cross-sectional data approach. The sample was taken purposively from customers who have had laboratory services at the laboratory, particularly from customers who have undergone the phlebotomy process. The 186 samples that complied with the criteria were examined using the PLS-SEM method. The findings demonstrated that the eight antecedents show a high probability of influencing the patient experience, with the phlebotomy process found as the predominant antecedent, followed by laboratory staff attitude and patient perception of laboratory technology. Further, this study found strong evidence that patient experience could generate customer delight, which drives the revisit intention and willingness to share and post positive things on social media. Openness is found to strengthen that process. The results of this study revealed that the higher the patient's experience through their journey, the higher the probability of delight could exist in the context of service provided in the private clinical laboratory. Thus, it is worth considering by the clinic management to develop a more effective business.


Previous studies of tri-n-butylborane–initiated graft copolymerization of methyl methacrylates with hydrated proteinous materials and proteins have focused on the number of grafted-poly (MMA) branches as well as the percent graft and graft efficiency. The number of branches in silk fibroin is 1.3, whereas the number in collagen, gelatin, ovalbumin and wool are 0.1, 0.04, 0.02 and 0.03, respectively. The number of grafted-PMMA branches in synthetic poly-L-peptides is approximately 10-fold less than that in gelatin, and decline, in the order poly-Ala > poly-Ser > poly-Pro > poly-Glu > poly-Lys. By contrast, poly-Gly, poly-Tyr and poly-Leu have no branches. The co-catalytic effect (the ratio of the number of polymer formed relative to that of control) of amino acids on tri-n-butylborane-initiated polymerization of MMA in the presence of water has been linearly correlated with their ionization potential (IPkoopman); |Aa HOMO (Highest Occupied Molecular Orbital)| (r2 = 0.6, outliers: Cys and His); Aa HOMO = [aHOMOaqua − aHOMOvacuum] calculated using the semiempirical AM1 method. Also, a significant exponential relationship between the number of branches of poly-L-polypeptides and the Aa HOMO of the corresponding amino acids has been observed (r2 = 0.9). A possible grafting site of protein (polypeptide) is discussed.


In the present work we report a simple 'dip-coating' process that imbues oleophobicity to various surfaces that inherently possess re-entrant texture, such as commercially available fabrics, as shown in the following figure. We also show that such dip-coated fabric surfaces exhibit, reversible, deformation-dependent, tunable wettability, including the capacity to switch their surface wetting properties (between super-repellent and super-wetting) against a wide range of polar and non-polar liquids.


The Australian sports landscape features a cultural divide reflected by a distinction in preference between Australian Rules and Rugby football. This cultural phenomenon is associated with a geographic division, known as the 'Barassi Line', which demarcates the divergent football preferences of South-Western and North-Eastern Australia. This article aims to assess the existence and strength of the Barassi Line, and discuss the implications of the results in terms of the current competitive environment. Television ratings for a sample of 2,297 AFL and NRL fixtures played between 2007 and 2011 are analysed to determine code specific interest at a region-by-region level. The traditional definition and boundaries of the Barassi Line remains valid, with both codes remaining strongly tied to their traditional heartlands for mass television viewership. There is little evidence from a television ratings perspective to support the view of AFL as a 'national' game, or that that the more sophisticated broadcast strategy adopted by the AFL during the period had yielded an increase in national reach.


Striking progress has been made recently in obtaining expressions for the sojourn time distribution function (STDF) of a job at a c-server, first-come, first-serve (FCFS) center in a closed, product-form queuing network. These results have more recently been extended, and expressions have been obtained for the joint distribution function (DF) of the sojourn times of a job at a sequence of single-server, FCFS centers lying on an "overtake-free" path. However, these formulas present considerable computational problems in the case of large, closed queuing networks. In this paper, asymptotic techniques developed by Mitra and McKenna for the calculation of the partition function of large, product-form closed queuing networks are applied to the sojourn time problem. Asymptotic expansions are obtained for the STDF of a job at c-server, FCFS center in closed, product-form queuing networks. Similar expansions are obtained for the joint DF of the sojourn times of a job at a sequence of single server, FCFS centers lying on an "overtake-free" path. In addition, integral expressions are obtained for the STDF of a job at a single server, FCPS center in a closed, product-form queuing network in which all the centers are load independent. These integral expressions also yield useful asymptotic expansions. Finally, integral expressions are also obtained for the joint DF of the sojourn times of a job at the centers of an "overtake-free" path in such a network.


The objective of Battle Management Language (BML) is to define an unambiguous language to describe a commander's intent, to be understood by both live forces and automated systems, for simulated and realworld operations. The resulting language is intended to be applicable not only to simulation systems, but also to operational command and control systems, and robotic systems. Within the last three years, multiple papers presented at the Simulation Interoperability Workshops (SIW) have dealt with the need for, and initial work in, Modeling & Simulation (M&S) to Command and Control (C2) Interoperability based on the use of unambiguous mission and task definitions. During the Spring 2004 SIW, a meeting of subject matter experts determined that a detailed evaluation of BML efforts at a Coalition level is necessary and subsequently drafted Terms of Reference (TOR) for a Simulation Interoperability Standards Organization (SISO) Study Group. The TOR for the Coalition BML (C-BML) Study Group was accepted by the SISO Standards Activity Committee and identifies the following tasks: • The Study Group shall conduct a Survey comprising as many international contributions applicable to the Coalition BML effort as possible. • The Study Group shall develop a plan for how these various efforts can contribute to a common Coalition BML specification within a methodological framework. • The Study Group shall formulate a set of Recommendations for a Coalition BML Product Development Group (PDG). The Coalition BML Study Group was subsequently formed in September 2004 to address these tasks. The Study Group has conducted a number of face-to-face and teleconference meetings through the year since the Fall 2004 SIW, involving a membership of over 100 persons from 11 different countries. This paper is an executive summary of the full Study Group Final Report. As the Study Group concludes, it recommends that a PDG be formed. The C-BML Study Group has worked closely with the Military Scenario Definition Language (MSDL) Study Group to coordinate both PDG proposals to ensure a consistent set of standards for initialization, tasking and reporting.


Drug testing in the workplace, carried out in the context of a welldesigned, comprehensive program of drug education and employee assistance, is an essential element in industry efforts to defeat employee drug abuse, increase efficiency, and ensure workplace safety. In the hands of drug-testing professionals, the technology is virtually errorfree. That's one view. Drug testing in the workplace, although probably strictly legal because it is not being imposed by a government body, is a repugnant invasion of privacy in theory and an exercise in personal humiliation in practice. Because anyone can set up a drug-testing laboratory, the reliability of testing can vary enormously, and the price of sloppy procedures is the potential destruction of an innocent individual's career. That's another view. Take your pick. Speakers staked out both positions at a symposium on the technical, legal, and ethical issues of drug testing in the workplace sponsored by the Division of Professional Relations. The symposium got ...


Chapter 6 explores the symbolic factors that al-Qaeda and ISIS use to sustain the attention of their followers. It begins by analyzing the strategies that proto-states rely on to build their credibility, particularly in relation to their militant efforts, their media operations, and their community-building activities. It then examines the groups' patterned approaches for enhancing audience involvement in their various multimodal media products. Finally, it reveals how the proto-states adapt their media products in response to on-the-ground actions, both of their own and their enemies' making. The chapter concludes with the observation that despite the identified patterns of building credibility, audience involvement, and adaptability, the proto-states' choices vary based on the identity of the proto-state group, the media product type, the subject matter of the content, the presentational form of that content, the target audience, the media channels, and the situational context.


The First Years of The Institute for the Research of Texts and their History The idea for the founding of the Institute for the Research of Texts and their History (IRHT) originated with the historian, Felix Grat, archivist paleographer and former member of the Ecole Francaise in Rome, later elected to the National Assembly. As early as 1937, two years before the creation of CNRS, he succeeded in convincing Jean Perrin, Nobel Prize winner in physics and then Under Secretary of State for Science and Research under Prime Minister Leon Blum, of the importance of a project whose goal was nothing less than to assure the conservation of the written memory of human thought. This resulted in the foundation of the first laboratory for research in a domain other than the exact sciences. To be sure, for this classical scholar, the first priority to be carried out was the transmission of those works that had first seen the light of day in manuscript form, in particular the great writers of Ancient Rome. Right from the beginning however F. Grat laid out an ambitious program with his plan for an Arabic section (a goal that he took particularly to heart for reasons that were as scientific as they were political), as well as Greek, French, Celtic sections and so on. Being himself particularly keen on all the progress accomplished in photography, F. Grat wanted a huge library that would collect photographs of all written manuscripts spread throughout the world in diverse languages in order to make them accessible to researchers and to facilitate research. With the help of Jeanne Vieillard, who was first place in the class of 1924 at the Ecole des chartes, Felix Grat opened the new institute located at first in the Bibliotheque Nationale. He sent out his assistants throughout Europe to photograph the manuscripts. However, war was threatening and once it broke out, the patriotic F. Grat enlisted in an auxiliary corps, while the IRHT withdrew to Laval He was one of the first officers to fail at the head of his troops at the very beginning of the German offensive. Jeanne Vieillard took over the direction of the IRHT. Specialized sections were founded one after another, going even beyond the limits of the program planned by Felix Grat. At the end of 1940, the IRHT relocated to the National Archives and, in 1960, was transferred to a building constructed by CNRS on the Quai Anatole-France in Paris. Then followed twenty years of accumulating first rate documentation on each author, each text, each manuscript and in all the disciplines bordering on textual history. This was an institute ahead of its time due to its organization, specialization, technical nature and feeling for multidisciplinary research. IRHT was admired by users from all countries. The staff, well supervised by the archivists paleographers, was constantly growing and so were the programs. Already collections were established that would consolidate the international status of this laboratory which under Jean Glenisson, successor to Jeanne Vielliard, was to enjoy renewed momentum.


The report documents the data preparation phase of ARRB project 324 (multivariate model of traffic speed on two lane roads). The task of preparing the data base was to transform data that were captured on 16 mm films, video tapes and written onto forms into one integrated record. A combination of seven manual processes and 13 computer processes was planned and implemented to prepare the comprehensive data base required for the project. The computerised processes served mainly for calculations of several variables, for matching and merging records and for detection of errors in the records. Manual processes were used to retrieve data from 16 mm films and video tapes and to match records of the same vehicle in cases where the computer failed to do so. The combinations of computer and manual processes for matching records of the same vehicle proved to be very successful. Based on the experience in data collection and preparation of the data base it is recommended that adequate instrumentation (ie radar cameras) be used in future projects of similar requirements of data. It was estimated that only 20 per cent of the manual work used for preparing the data base for this project would have been required if more advanced instrumentation had been used (a).


The adsorption of Ni(II) ions on SiC powder in NiSO4 solution has been measured as part of the codeposition of solid particles with a metal. The influences of SiC concentration in suspension, of the initial nickel ion concentration and pH of the bath, and of the sort, particle size and preliminary preparation of the SiC have been determined.Some facts indicating that both Ni(II) and H+ ions adsorption processes coexist on SiC and compete with each other have been established. Application of the Freundlich and Langmuir isotherms to the system studied has been tested and the effect of temperature on a change of adsorption determined.


Perceptron learning is discussed in the context of so-called scoring systems used for assessing creditworthiness as stipulated in the Basel II central banks capital accord of the G10-states. The solution of a related ranking problem using a generalized version of the pocket algorithm is described. A correctness proof of the algorithm is given. It is argued that the results obtained may be exploited to compute associated probabilities using a logistic activation function and maximum likelihood methods. Some preliminary experimental results are exhibited.


Bi2O2Se is emerging as a high mobility functional material for optoelectronics, but its fundamental optical properties remain less well studied. Here, ultrafast photocarrier dynamics in single crystal Bi2O2Se is investigated by pump fluence-dependent, broadband ultrafast spectroscopy. Our results reveal that bimolecular recombination plays an important role in the photocarrier relaxation process, and a room-temperature bimolecular recombination constant of (1.29 ± 0.42) × 10−9 cm−3 s−1 is obtained for Bi2O2Se. Such a level of the recombination constant combined with a high mobility (∼1006 cm2 V−1 s−1 at 200 K for Bi2O2Se) suggests that Bi2O2Se can be a promising material for photovoltaic applications.Bi2O2Se is emerging as a high mobility functional material for optoelectronics, but its fundamental optical properties remain less well studied. Here, ultrafast photocarrier dynamics in single crystal Bi2O2Se is investigated by pump fluence-dependent, broadband ultrafast spectroscopy. Our results reveal that bimolecular recombination plays an important role in the photocarrier relaxation process, and a room-temperature bimolecular recombination constant of (1.29 ± 0.42) × 10−9 cm−3 s−1 is obtained for Bi2O2Se. Such a level of the recombination constant combined with a high mobility (∼1006 cm2 V−1 s−1 at 200 K for Bi2O2Se) suggests that Bi2O2Se can be a promising material for photovoltaic applications.


In this paper we define a new type of connexive logics which we call Boolean connexive logics. In such logics negation, conjunction and disjunction behave in the classical, Boolean way. We determine these logics through application of the relating semantics. In the final section we present a tableau approach to the discussed logics.


In this paper, we study a quadratic stabilizability problem via switched observer for uncertain continuous‐time switched linear systems in the sense that the subsystem's matrices are represented as a polytopic linear combination of vertex matrices. Firstly, sufficient conditions for polytopic uncertain continuous‐time switched linear systems to be quadratically stabilizable via state feedback are summarized. Next, sufficient conditions for polytopic uncertain switched linear systems to be quadratically stabilizable via switched observer are given under the assumption that output matrices of subsystems have no uncertainties. Further, a numerical example is also investigated.


In this paper we have theoretically investigated the propagation properties of a transverse and weak acoustic wave in a crystal of molecular magnets which is subject to a strong resonant magnetic field. The results have shown that due to quantum interference the strong magnetic field can effectually reduce the absorption of the weak acoustic wave under appropriate conditions. During the study of the acoustic-wave propagation in molecular magnets the propagation equation for the amplitude of the transverse acoustic wave which include the nonlinear term has been derived and the corresponding accurate analytical solutions of dark and bright solitary waves have been obtained. Meanwhile direct simulations have shown that the initial acoustic-wave pulse could evolve into breathers and propagate in the molecular magnets.


Objective:To assess the effect of zidovudine on productive HIV infection of the brain. Design:To correlate the incidence of HIV-specific neuropathology with zidovudine therapy. Patients:We examined 192 AIDS cases neuropathologically; 97 had never been treated with zidovudine, 72 had received zidovudine for over 3 months and until death, 23 had their treatment terminated more than 1 month before death. Results:The incidence of HIV encephalitis/HIV leukoencephalopathy (HIVE/HIVL) and of multinucleated giant cells (MGC) was significantly lower in patients who had received zidovudine than in those who had never received zidovudine. The yearly incidence of HIVE/HIVL increased between 1982 and 1987 probably because of improved survival, and decreased between 1987 and 1990 although the percentage of patients treated with zidovudine increased. Since 1991 the incidence of HIVE/HIVL and of MCC increased slightly. The percentage of patients treated with zidovudine until death decreased and that of patients whose treatment was terminated increased concomitantly. In 1989 and 1990, most patients whose treatment was terminated had MGC and HIVE/HIVL. In 1991 and 1992 this incidence decreased markedly, coinciding with the introduction of dideoxyinosine therapy. Conclusion:Zidovudine treatment significantly reduces the occurence of productive HIV infection of the brain in AIDS. Discontinuing zidovudine therapy may favour the occurrence of HIV encephalitis. Substitution therapy with dideoxyinosine also appears to protect against HIV-specific brain pathology.


Nurse rostering is a difficult search problem with many constraints. In the literature, a number of approaches have been investigated including penalty function methods to tackle these constraints within genetic algorithm frameworks. In this paper, we investigate an extension of a previously proposed stochastic ranking method, which has demonstrated superior performance to other constraint handling techniques when tested against a set of constrained optimisation benchmark problems. An initial experiment on nurse rostering problems demonstrates that the stochastic ranking method is better in finding feasible solutions but fails to obtain good results with regard to the objective function. To improve the performance of the algorithm, we hybridise it with a recently proposed simulated annealing hyper-heuristic within a local search and genetic algorithm framework. The hybrid algorithm shows significant improvement over both the genetic algorithm with stochastic ranking and the simulated annealing hyper-heuristic alone. The hybrid algorithm also considerably outperforms the methods in the literature which have the previously best known results.


These three books are actually Workshop proceedings and hence are collections of articles. All of the articles are about Games that do not involve luck; however, there is still a great deal of variety within this field. Rather than review them book-by-book, I will review them topic-by-topic. We divide the books into three broad topics: (a) Combinatorial Games, (b) non-combinatorial games that people do not usually play, and (c) real games.


This study aimed to determine the effects of integrating classroom music instruction in the development of spatial skills of kindergarten pupils. In the Philippines, musiceducation encounters many problems, too. There are difficulties related to the fullimplementation of the Music Law or the Republic Act 4723. There are issues onthe quality of music teachers and trainings. There is shortage of music materialsand assessment, and budget for music activities and many others (Borromeo, 2015).This study used a quasi-experimental design and employed the pretest-posttest nonequivalentgroup design. Four spatial tasks were used to assess the spatial skills of the respondents. Mann Whitney U test and Wilcoxon Signed Ranks test were specifically used in analyzing the data. The findings of this study revealed that the baseline characteristics of the control and the experimental groups were comparable in four spatial tasks: jigsaw puzzle solving task, block building task, short term memory picture task, and children's mental transformation task CMTT. The control and experimental groups showed significant differences in their pretest-posttest scores in jigsaw puzzle solving task and in CMTT.There were 52 Kindergarten participants for this study from Laguna BelAir Science School (LBASS). The control group is composed of 27 and 25 for the experimental group. Moreover, the experimental group showed one significant difference in block building task. The two groups did not show significant difference in short term memory picture task. The experimental group demonstrated improvement in four spatial tasks as well as the control group except in block building task. The improvement manifested by the control and experimental group was found to be insignificant in four spatial tasks when gain scores between the two groups are considered. It was concluded that integrating classroom music was deemed to be effective in the development of  spatial skills in terms of enhancing the problem-solving abilities of kindergarten pupils as revealed by significant improvement of the experimental group in jigsaw puzzle solving task, block building task, and CMTT.


A solution consisting of a combination of two toll-like receptor (T LR) ligands: Pam2CSK4 acetate (Pam2), a synthetic diacylated lipopeptide (LP) that is an agonist of T LR2 and T LR6 (T LR2/6) and the T LR9 agonist oligodeoxynucleotide (ODN) M362, which contains unmethylated CpG-based dinucleotides, with potential immunostimulating activity. Upon administration via inhalation of the PUL-042 solution, the components in PUL-042 bind to and activate T LRs on lung epithelial cells. T his induces the epithelial cells to produce peptides and reactive oxygen species (ROS) against pathogens, including bacteria, fungi and viruses, that are present in the lungs. M362, through binding of the CpG motifs to T LR9 and subsequent T LR9-mediated signaling, initiates the innate immune system and activates macrophages, natural killer (NK) cells, B-cells, and plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs), stimulates interferon-alpha (IFN-a) production and induces a T -helper 1 cells (T h1)-mediated immune response. Pam2CSK4, through T LR2/6, activates the production of T -helper 2 cells (T h2), leading to the production of T h2-specific cytokines. Altogether, this protects against and kills the pathogens present in the lungs and prevents pulmonary infection. T LRs play fundamental roles in both pathogen recognition and the activation of innate immunity. Qeios · Definition, February 8, 2020


Interactions between the Ca2+release channel of skeletal muscle sarcoplasmic reticulum (ryanodine receptor or RyR1) and the loop linking domains II and III (II-III loop) of the skeletal muscle l-type Ca2+ channel (dihydropyridine receptor or DHPR) are critical for excitation-contraction coupling in skeletal muscle. The DHPR II-III loop was fused to glutathione S-transferase- or His-peptide and used as a protein affinity column for 35S-labeledin vitro translated fragments from the N-terminal three-fourths of RyR1. RyR1 residues Leu922–Asp1112 bound specifically to the DHPR II-III loop column, but the corresponding fragment from the cardiac ryanodine receptor (RyR2) did not. The use of chimeras between RyR1 and RyR2 localized the interaction to 37 amino acids, Arg1076–Asp1112, in RyR1. The RyR1 922–1112 fragment did not bind to the cardiac DHPR II-III loop but did bind to the skeletal muscle Na+ channel II-III loop. The skeletal DHPR II-III loop double mutant K677E/K682E lost most of its capacity to interact with RyR1, suggesting that two positively charged residues are important in the interaction between RyR and DHPR.


Studies were carried out to artificially breed an optimized solar tunnel dryer using genetic algorithms (GAs). The energy harnessed by the dryer was simulated in Visual Basic Script (Microsoft Visual Basic Script 2010TM) and the model was used to optimize the dryer by executing the Goal GA. The optimized dryer was developed and tested for energy harnessing against an existing solar tunnel dryer. The results of the analysis showed an 18–113% increase in plenum chamber temperature for the two dryers. Further, a two-way analysis of variance demonstrated the existence of a highly significant difference between plenum chamber temperatures for the two dryers (F=16.37, F crit, 0.99=2.89). Furthermore, regression analysis and Student's t-test established the performance of the optimized dryer to be superior to that of the existing dryer. Finally, this study showed the effectiveness of Goal GA in artificial breeding of an optimized solar tunnel dryer.


Although it is the largest neighbour of both Australia and New Zealand, relatively little is known in the local small business research community about the status and issues confronting micro and small-sized enterprises in Indonesia. There are more than 56 million micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) operating in Indonesia. More than a million new firms commence trading each year, but the country continues to rank quite poorly on global comparisons about the ease of business formation. This paper discusses some of the attempts by government to reduce both the number and cost of registration steps in recent years, with a special focus on reforms in Jakarta. A key tool has been the development of so-called one-stop shops, with either a satu atap (one roof) or satu pintu (one door) approach. In a nation with highly devolved political and administrative structures, though, successfully implementing these reforms can be difficult.


In the conditions of the special operation, sanctions oppression, and information war, which has been waged against Russia by Western countries constantly since 1945, but with particular intensity since 2014 and especially in the current situation, the goals of awareness-raising work at the higher educational institution are being utterly concretized. This is not only the development of sought-after cross-professional competencies like innovation, creativity, communication, and solidarity, but also, and perhaps, most importantly, the formation of a holistic worldview of young people, i.e. a worldview based on the values of patriotism, morality, legal awareness, healthy lifestyle, family values, and on reliable knowledge of the processes that occur in society, their causes and understanding. This situation required a rethinking of many components of the very process of awareness-raising in universities and higher educational institutions of the country and the management of this process. On the recommendation of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation, lectures, aimed at clarifying the realities in a changing world and the threats in the field of information security, were held in all higher educational institutions of the country in March-April 2022.


ELL conjugation in Escherichia coli permits the oriented transfer of a specific linear array of genetic determinants from an Hfr, or male, donor cell to an F-, or female, recipient cell (WOLLMAN and JACOB 1955). The sequence of marker, transfer may vary from one Hfr type to another; moreover, any single Hfr type is capable of transferring only a fractional part of its entire genetic complement to recipient cells at high frequency. For example, six different Hfr types have been reported by JACOB and WOLLMAN (1957), each of which transfers a different chromosomal segment at high frequency. The discovery of this variety of Hfr types led JACOB and WOLLMAN to propose that the genetic markers of the original F+ strain which gave rise to the Hfr males are disposed on a closed circle (Figure 1 ) . The chromosome of any single Hfr type can then be described by breaking the circle at one point and designating as "origin" the free end which first penetrates the Fduring conjugation. The details of mating type determination and the role of the sex factor, F, in this process have been described elsewhere (WOLLMAN and JACOB 1958a; ADELBERG and BURNS 1960).


Photodynamic therapy(PDT) is used in the management of neoplastic and nonmalignant diseases.Preclinilal studies indicate that PDT can induce local microenvironmental changes to facilitate formation of antitumor adaptive immune response;PDT also triggers rapid infiltration of the diverse populations of immune cells to the tumor site,induce complement cascade and produce cytokines/chemokines,eventually the anti-tumour adaptive immunity will be promoted.PDT could produce the cancer vaccine.In recent years,many preclinical studies have indicated that the therapeutic outcome of PDT can be improved by combination with immunotherapy.


Purpose: To investigate the role of L-ascorbic acid (LAA) on the survival and its association with nitric oxide (NO) production against hydrogen peroxide-induced oxidative stress in trabecular meshwork (TM) cells. Methods: Primarily cultured human TM cells were exposed to hydrogen peroxide; 10, 100 µM for 2 days, or 1 mM single exposure with or without co-exposure of LAA. Cellular survival and nitrite production were assessed with MTT and Griess assays, respectively. Flow cytometry using annexin/PI double staining was performed to evaluate apoptosis. Results: Hydrogen peroxide decreased cellular survival significantly in a dose-dependent manner accompanied with decreased NO production. However cellular survival and NO production were increased significantly with co-exposure of LAA. Cellular survival and NO were highly correlated. Flow cytometric analysis revealed that LAA inhibited hydrogen peroxide-induced apoptosis. Conclusions: LAA demonstrated a cytoprotective effect against the hydrogen peroxide-induced oxidative stress accompanied with increased NO production. The cytoprotective effect of LAA may be mediated by preserving NO in TM cells.


Objective To evaluate the clinic value of real-time three-dimensional echocardiography (RT-3DE) in percutaneous closure atrial septal defect(ASD). Methods RT-3DE,trans-thorax echocardiography (TTE) and transesophageal echocardiography(TEE) was used to measure the sizes, shapes and sites of ASD and space between ASD and mitral valve, tricuapid valve in 57 ASD patients before and after closure opration, and measure the position, shapes, of occluder, and discovered residual-shunt in post-operation. Results RT-3DE showed that most secundum ASDs were approximately ellipse. Three were significant difference measurement between RE-3DE and TTE in maximal diameter of ASD(P0.05), the distance of defect edge to annulus of mitral valve (P0.01)and to annulus of tricuspid valve (P0.05). RT-3DE can display clearly residual-shunt and occluder device affected the activity of valves. Conclusion RT-3DE may accurately measure the sites,sizes, shapes of ASD and display clearly anatomic relationship adjacent to ASD, and has important clinic value in selection of occluder divice, guiding intervention ASD and evaluation of theraputic effect.


Editor's foreword List of colour plates List of maps Donnchadh O Corrain: Prehistoric and early Christian Ireland Katharine Simms: The Norman invasion and the Gaelic recovery Nicholas Canny: Early modern Ireland, c. 1500-1700 R.F. Foster: Ascendancy and union David Fitzpatrick: Ireland since 1870 Declan Kiberd: Irish literature and Irish history further reading chronology


Dengue Fever (DF) is an infectious disease caused by dengue virus (DENV) infection which is transmitted by Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquito bite. There are approximately 50 million DENV cases annually in the world with 500 thousand cases hospitalized. Incidence rate of DENV infection is increasing in Indonesia every year. Specific antiviral that can inhibit or mitigate the progression of the disease have been investigated for many decades. However, until now, management of DENV patients is only supportive. Specific antiviral drug to DENV is not available yet. The objective of this study is to determine antiviral activity of Ceiba pentandra and Eugenia uniflora leaf extract against DENV replication in Huh7it-1 cell line. Study design was an experimental study with a Focus assay and MTT assay to determine the effectivity and toxicity, respectively. Ceiba pentandra leaf extract showed IC50, CC50 and SI of 15.49 µg/ml, 81.1 µg/ml and 5.23. In other hand, E. uniflora revealed IC50, CC50, and SI of 19.83 µg/ml, 134.42 µg/ml and 6.78. We concluded that C. pentandra and E. uniflora leaf extract have potential as antiviral drug to DENV. Further studies are needed to explore the substance of C. pentandra and E. uniflora leaf extract that have antiviral activities to DENV.Dengue Fever (DF) is an infectious disease caused by dengue virus (DENV) infection which is transmitted by Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquito bite. There are approximately 50 million DENV cases annually in the world with 500 thousand cases hospitalized. Incidence rate of DENV infection is increasing in Indonesia every year. Specific antiviral that can inhibit or mitigate the progression of the disease have been investigated for many decades. However, until now, management of DENV patients is only supportive. Specific antiviral drug to DENV is not available yet. The objective of this study is to determine antiviral activity of Ceiba pentandra and Eugenia uniflora leaf extract against DENV replication in Huh7it-1 cell line. Study design was an experimental study with a Focus assay and MTT assay to determine the effectivity and toxicity, respectively. Ceiba pentandra leaf extract showed IC50, CC50 and SI of 15.49 µg/ml, 81.1 µg/ml and 5.23. In other hand, E. uniflora revealed IC50, CC50, and SI of 1...


The total conductivity is one important designing parameter of the heat exchanger. In case of the heat exchanger of ellipse spiral ophidian coils, the conventional calculation formula suffers from the failure to meet the designing requirements in terms of the theoretical magnitude of the total thermal transferring coefficient. The paper proposes the functional calculation formula for the total conductivity of the new style strengthened heat exchanger, based on thermodynamic experimental data. And the test results indicate that the calculation magnitude can meet the designing requirements.


A method for determination of the contents of three kinds of rubber additives such as trithiocyanuric acid,N,N′-1,3-phenylene bismaleimide and 2,2′-dithiobisbenzanilide,is established based on high-performance liquid chromatography.FL2200 high-performance liquid chromatography with ultimate XB-C18 as column is used to analyze the contents of rubber additives.The standard peak shape and good separation are obtained.There are good linear relationships in a certain concentration range of these three substances.The content is 98.14%-99.73% and the average of recoveries is 94.1%-101.5%.The high-performance liquid chromatography method for determination of the contents of three kinds of rubber additives is simple and accurate.The determination results can be used as the basis for better control of its content and purity,which is helpful to improve the quality of rubber products.


PURPOSE: A wind tunnel of a road structure having a tunnel and an underpass and a construction method thereof are provided to construct a structurally stable wind tunnel slab by uniting a precast pre-stressed girder with a precast concrete panel. CONSTITUTION: A wind tunnel of a road structure having a tunnel and an underpass comprises a pair of supports(30), a wind tunnel slab(10), and a partition wall. The supports are inward protruded from both inner sides of a road structure. The wind tunnel slab comprises multiple precast PSC girders(40) and one or more precast concrete panels(50). Both sides of the wind tunnel slab are supported to the supports. The partition wall divides the wind tunnel into an air supply wind tunnel and an air exhaust wind tunnel by blocking the gap between the wind tunnel slab and the ceiling of the road structure.


The paper outlines a portrait of Stanislav Rosovetsky, a broad-based philologist who worked all his life in the field of Slavic studies, a scientist who operated an almost full range of philological tools and skillfully combined classical methods with the modern concepts. The research is focused on the linguistic heritage of an encyclopedically educated researcher, whose scientific interests included the development of professional methodology, aspects of studying the language of folklore, linguistics, historical lexicology, stylistics, history of Ukrainian literary language, terminological issues, methodological studies, mediaeval scholars. etc. The significance of his textbook "Ukrainian folklore in theoretical light", which became the culmination of many years of activity of the professor of Kyiv National Taras Shevchenko University, is considered from the linguistic point of view. There, the author describes the multifaceted links between folklore and linguistics; emphasis is placed on the impersonality of traditional folklore – because this aspect brings it closer to the language. The focus is also on folklorists' understanding of new theories and research methods developed by linguists, which enriches the theory of the science of folklore. In addition, the application of methods of linguistic stylistics to the folklore language material is substantiated. The importance of borderline studies of folklore with dialectology is emphasized. Linguistic aspects of the fundamental work "Taras Shevchenko and Folklore" are outlined in the paper. The work of T. Shevchenko, not only a genius poet, linguist, founder of the new Ukrainian literary language, but also a bearer of traditional folklore occupied a special place in the scientific work of S. Rosovetsky. The emphasis on the linguistic and stylistic specifics of the embodiment of folklore methods of text organization in Shevchenko's works – repetitions, psychological parallelisms, "Slavic negative parallelisms", "reservatio mentalis", etc. – is especially emphasized. The importance of differentiating Shevchenko's folklore recordings made from memory and "voice" was also given a mention. The importance of the conclusions of the section «Language of the "Word... "», devoted to linguistic issues, and especially dialectological, in S. Rosovetsky's monograph «"A Word about Igor's Regiment" in Relations with Folklore» is observed.


The density of valence states for fluorite-type crystals is calculated on the basis of tight-binding (TB) and OPW methods. More precisely energy values of valence bands determined by the TB method at high-symmetry points Γ, X, L are reported. A comparison is made with other theoretical estimates and experimental data.

[Russian Text Ignored].


In this paper, I investigate some of the causes of city formation in spatial economies. A model is proposed in which an intermediate differentiated input shared by more than one industry is the cause of the formation of diversified cities. The desire of both the traded-good and the local-good industries to employ a variety of inputs from the intermediate industry provides the reason for the agglomeration of the three industries. In addition, the paper contains a comparative-statics analysis of the model in an open and a closed-city framework. It is demonstrated that the larger the city, the more variety of intermediate inputs the city can provide and the more specialized it is in the production of the traded-good. Moreover, the model suggests that different industrial structures will result in different city Sizes.


This is a study of the lithic artefacts from three sites in the Meghalaya region of north east India, Saw Mer, Makbil Bisik and Bibra Gre. Ashraf identifies tool types, and plots their frequency and distribution, and their ecological settings to produce a model for cultural development at the sites.


At the beginning of each semester, subjects scheduling is always carried out by the curriculum representatives and academic staff. There were several problems that must be avoided in subjects scheduling, these problems were the schedule of teachers who teach one subject at the same time are scheduled in different classes, teachers who teach more than one subject are scheduled in the same class at the same time, teachers who are lack of scheduled for teaching. In the subject of graph theory, there is a concept of graph coloring, one of which is vertex coloring. In vertex coloring, there is a Welch-Powell Algorithm application which produces a color for each vertex. In subject scheduling, it is assumed that the vertex is the subject and the teacher, while the edge is the class. In vertex coloring, graph vertices are colored so that there's no two neighboring vertices have the same color. The aim of this research was to arrange a lesson schedule so that problems do not occur such as clashes between teachers, subjects, and teaching hours. The method used in arranging this lesson schedule used the Welch-Powell Algorithm. The results obtained were using the Welch-Powell Algorithm to produce a lesson schedule every day where if there are two classes that have the same subject, they can meet the same day requirements but come in different hours and get a lesson schedule that has no clash between teachers, subjects, and teaching hours.


We have considered the industrial process automation engineer problems of classic multiple-track control circuits organization and solving of these problems by means of fuzzy logic control instruments. Realization results of various automatic control systems configurations and these systems comparative analysis are given. As follows from transient process comparative analysis it is illustrated that in case of fuzzy logic control system the process is received with better control criterion than single-loop and cascade control systems. The efficiency of using fuzzy controllers is shown by the example of system integration of condensation level fuzzy regulation in vertical tubular evaporator of distillation unit for high-density polyethylene generation installing.


Thesis titled "Application of Image Processing and Pattern Recognition in Forensic Ballistics" submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Forensic Science by Ranjeet Kumar Nigam.


The End of Life Care Strategy has helped to shift some deaths out of hospital among people in England with respiratory disease, research in the open access journal BMC Medicine has shown. However, it found that patients who had multiple diseases or lived in a deprived area were more likely to die in hospital than those who did not.1

Most people prefer to die at home rather than in hospital. In 2004 the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence published …


Tokamak means toroidal chamber with magnetic coils that uses controlled thermonuclear fusion for power generation. Amount of power generated is proportional to the plasma confinement. However due to unprecedented reasons, plasma disruptions occur leading to the sudden collapse of the plasma. Hence it is necessary to identify the causes for plasma disruption and predict the same so that it can be controlled. Considerable research is done to understand plasma disruptions in Tokamak machines. This paper provides an extensive literature survey on the various techniques used for modeling, predicting the disruptions and studying the impact of disruptions on the in vessel components.


The many kinds of implements used to treat range- and pasturelands mechanically include mouldboard plows, listers, disc plows, rippers, motor patrols or road graders, the Holt trencher, the Kansas furrower (picks up a slice of sod and places it downslope), the Iowa furrower (lifts a slice of sod and pushes soil under it to make a furrow 6 to 8 inches deep), and the Model B contour furrower developed by the U.S. Forest Service. Large trenches designed primarily for flood control require larger implements, such as the "Pocatello plow" (Querna, 1938) or bulldozers (Bailey and Copeland, 1961).


The All Russian Research Institute of Fruit Crop Breeding is one of the main suppliers of new apple varieties meeting the up-to-date production requirements. Commercial and biological characteristics of 6 new apple varieties developed at the All Russian Research Institute of Fruit Crop Breeding and included in the State Register of breeding achievements admitted for use for the last years are given. Two winter maturing varieties (Aleksandr Boiko and Vavilovskoye) are both triploids and immune to scab. Vavilovskoye has nice-looking fruit with high marketable and consumer qualities and they can be stored in a cold atmosphere till the second decade of March. Winter maturing triploid variety Patriot is characterized by high and regular productivity. Summer maturing triploid variety Osipovskoye has dessert fruit. Two columnar varieties Priokskoye and Poezia are characterized by early fruit-bearing, good productivity and high marketable and consumer fruit quality.


The CRISPR/Cas system, comprised of clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats along with their associated (Cas) proteins, protects bacteria and archaea from viral predation and invading nucleic acids. While the mechanism of action for this acquired immunity is currently under investigation, the response of Cas protein expression to phage infection has yet to be elucidated. In this study, we employed shotgun proteomics to measure the global proteome expression in a model system for studying the CRISPR/Cas response: infection of S. thermophilus DGCC7710 with phage 2972. Host and viral proteins were simultaneously measured following inoculation at two different multiplicities of infection and across various time points using two-dimensional liquid chromatography tandem mass spectroscopy. Thirty-seven out of forty predicted


Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are ubiquitous in our everyday lives as well as in educational contexts, much more so after the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. The use of ICTs in education, e.g., virtual laboratories, is of great importance to support the teaching of chemistry. Given the difficulties secondary school students encounter in understanding organic chemistry topics, this research aimed at investigating whether the use of a software program could improve teaching and promote student learning of content related to organic compounds. To this end, the data were collected by means of a pre- and a post-intervention questionnaire. The study was conducted at a public secondary school in Itacoatiara, AM, Brazil, with 3rd-year (final year) students. The software programs IrYdium Chemistry Lab, LAPEQ-USP (Laboratory of Research in Chemistry Teaching and Educational Technologies, University of São Paulo), and Simulations for Chemistry were employed to introduce the participating students to a chemistry lab and to simulate lab practices involving chromatography experiments. The analysis of the collected data suggests that the use of virtual labs promoted the participants' motivation to learn organic chemistry as well as ability to integrate concepts taught in the classroom to aspects of their everyday lives. The participating students also reported that they would like to use other virtual lab programs to study chemistry, thus constituting new ways of learning beyond the classroom.


We study stress-loading mechanisms for the California faults used in rupture forecasts. Stress accumulation drives earthquakes, and that accumulation mechanism governs recurrence. Most moment release in California occurs because of relative motion between the Pacific plate and the Sierra Nevada block; we calculate relative motion directions at fault centers and compare with fault displacement directions. Dot products between these vectors reveal that some displacement directions are poorly aligned with plate motions. We displace a 3D finite-element model according to relative motions and resolve stress tensors onto defined fault surfaces, which reveal that poorly aligned faults receive no tectonic loading. Because these faults are known to be active, we search for other loading mechanisms. We find that nearly all faults with no tectonic loading show increase in stress caused by slip on the San Andreas fault, according to an elastic dislocation model. Globally, faults that receive a sudden stress change respond with triggered earthquakes that obey an Omori law rate decay with time. We therefore term this class of faults as "aftershock faults." These faults release ∼4% of the moment release in California, have ∼0.1%–5% probability of M 6.7 earthquakes in 30 yr, and have a 0.001%–1% 30 yr M 7.7 probability range.


Objective To explore effect of Phycobiliprotein on the total antioxidant capacity(T-AOC) and malondialdehyde(MDA) in vivo of Drosophila melanogaster.Methods The two test groups were respectively fed with culture media contained different dose(0.25%,0.50% and 1.00%) of P1 which was phycobiliprotein of Arthrospira platensis from alkaline lakes in the Ordos Plateau,and P2 which was phycobiliprotein of Arthrospira platensis from Chad lake.Culture media of control group was general culture media.T-AOC and MDA were detected in Drosophila melanogaster.Results T-AOC activity in male Drosophila melanogaster of P1,P2 groups was higher than that of control group(P0.05) and T-AOC in female Drosophila melanogaster was improved in P1,P2 groups,but there was no significant difference between P1,P2 groups and control group.MDA in male and female Drosophila melanogaster in P1,P2 groups were all decreased compared with the control group(P0.05).Conclusions Phycobiliprotein has the effects of enhancing activity of T-AOC in male Drosophila melanogaster and lowering content of MDA in vivo Drosophila melanogaster.There is no difference of effect of phycobiliprotein from different production region on T-AOC and MDA in vivo of Drosophila melanogaster.


The objective of this study was to evaluate the growth and the survival of Steindachneridion scriptum larvae with four food types (Prochilodus lineatus larvae, Artemia sp., fish flour and dry diet with 40% of crude protein) and three photoperiods (24:0 - 24 light:dark, 14:10 and 0:24). Significant differences were not found for survival and cannibalism among treatments. Best growth and survival were achieved when larvae were reared with 14 hours of light per day, joining high survival with good growth. S. scriptum larvae fed with fish larvae presented the best growth but Artemia sp. can be used as an alternative food


The mechanical harvesting of corn has always been a problem for the development of the corn industry. In the present investigation, a tangential flow–transverse axial flow threshing test system was designed based on the 4YL-4/5 harvester. The structure design was modular, and the threshing drum and other key parts could be changed, or the technical parameters could be adjusted according to the needs. Thus, the system becomes suitable to carry out the threshing test of various grains. In this paper, two kinds of systems, a cylindrical plate-tooth mixed row threshing drum and a full cylindrical threshing drum, were designed. Using the same materials and technical conditions, a comparative experiment of the corn grain harvest was carried out to explore the mechanical–technical conditions and methods to reduce the grain breakage rate of corn's direct harvest.The results showed that the threshing ability and adaptability of the cylinder with a plate-tooth mixed arrangement structure were higher than those of the full cylinder arrangement structure. It was also found that for a higher moisture content (above 28%) of the maize ear, the grain breakage rate met the national standard. On the other hand, the cylinder with a plate-tooth threshing drum can support a wider range of moisture contents and drum peripheral velocities than the full cylinder threshing drum. Within the range of all tested moisture contents and drum peripheral velocities, the minimum grain breakage rate of the full cylinder tooth drum was 3.7%, and the minimum grain breakage rate of the cylinder with the plate-tooth threshing drum was 1.5%, which means a reduction of 59.5% of the breakage rate was achieved.


[1] The recent installation of permanent, three-element hydrophone arrays in the Indian Ocean offshore Diego Garcia and Cape Leeuwin, Australia, provides an opportunity to study hydroacoustic sources in more detail than previously possible. We developed and applied methods for coherent processing of the array data, for automated association of signals detected at more than one array, and for source location using only direct arrivals and using signals reflected from coastlines and other bathymetric features. During the 286-day study, 4725 hydroacoustic events were defined and located in the Indian and Southern oceans. Events fall into two classes: tectonic earthquakes and ice-related noise. The tectonic earthquakes consist of mid-ocean ridge, trench, and intraplate earthquakes. Mid-ocean ridge earthquakes are the most common tectonic events and often occur in clusters along transform offsets. Hydroacoustic signal levels for earthquakes in a standard catalog suggest that the hydroacoustic processing threshold for ridge events is one magnitude below the seismic network. Fewer earthquakes are observed along the Java Trench than expected because the large bathymetric relief of the source region complicates coupling between seismic and hydroacoustic signals, leading to divergent signal characteristics at different stations. We located 1843 events along the Antarctic coast resulting from various ice noises, most likely thermal fracturing and ice ridge forming events. Reflectors of signals from earthquakes are observed along coastlines, the mid-Indian Ocean and Ninety East ridges, and other bathymetric features. Reflected signals are used as synthetic stations to reduce location uncertainty and to enable event location with a single station.


Compressive strength of concrete is an important parameter in concrete design. Accurate prediction of compressive strength of concrete can lower costs and save time. Therefore, thecompressive strength of concrete prediction performance of artificial intelligence methods (adaptive neuro fuzzy inference system, random forest, linear regression, classification and regression tree, support vector regression, k-nearest neighbour and extreme learning machine) are compared in this study using six different multinational datasets. The performance of these methods is evaluated using the correlation coefficient, root mean square error, mean absolute error, and mean absolute percentage error criteria. Comparative results show that the adaptive neuro fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) is more successful in all datasets.


Findings are given from the experimental observation of the vacuum breakdown of carbon-nanotube (CNT) field emitters on a Si tip. The CNTs were grown on the apex of a Si microtip by microwave plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition. The electrical contact of the CNT-Si junction was shown to be of ohmic type. A fine tungsten microprobe in combination with a scanning electron microscopy (SEM) system was employed for both the field emission and the contact conductivity measurements. This arrangement allows to precisely measure the characteristics of individual CNT and to in situ inspect the morphology of the CNT emitters on Si tips before and after vacuum breakdown events. An upper limit in emission current density of ∼103 A/m2 from the CNT emitters was recorded before a vacuum breakdown event is initiated. Clear evidence was found to show that the vacuum breakdown of the CNTs results in melting of the Si tip. These findings enhance the understanding of the failure mechanism of CNT emitters. It also has im...


Objective To analyze the cause of reoperation for thyroid cancer and how to choose appropriate operation for differentiated thyroid cancer.Methods Data of 62 cases of thyroid cancer undertaken reoperation were analyzed retrospectively.Results Causes for reoperation were as follows:residue of the tumor locally as the inappropriate initial operation;local recurrence and rervical lymph node metastasis;finding of tumor involvement of the contralateral thyroid or cervical lymph node.Conclusion As only a few cases of thyroid cancer can be diagnosed correctly before operation,most cases underwent excision of isthus should be taken.As for the local recurrence and cervical lymph node metastasis,reoperation must be done undoubtedly,isthus should be taken.


China's field crops such as cotton, wheat, and tomato have been produced on a large scale, but their cultivation process still adopts more traditional manual fertilization methods, which makes the use of chemical fertilizers in China high and causes waste of fertilizer resources and ecological environmental damage. To address the above problems, a hybrid optimization of genetic algorithms and particle swarm optimization (GA–PSO) is used to optimize the initial weights of the backpropagation (BP) neural network, and a hybrid optimization-based BP neural network PID controller is designed to realize the accurate control of fertilizer flow in the integrated water and fertilizer precision fertilization control system for field crops. At the same time, the STM32 microcontroller-based precision fertilizer application control system for integrated water and fertilizer application of large field crops was developed and the performance of the controller was verified experimentally. The results show that the controller has an average maximum overshoot of 5.1% and an average adjustment time of 68.99 s, which is better than the PID and PID control algorithms based on BP neural network (BP–PID) controllers; among them, the hybrid optimization of PID control algorithm based on BP neural network by particle swarm optimization and genetic algorithm(GA–PSO–BP–PID) controller has the best-integrated control performance when the fertilizer application flow rate is 0.6m3/h.


Superior vena cava syndrome (SVCS) often occurs in advanced malignant disease. SVCS is recognized as an oncologic emergency. It encompasses the set of symptoms resulting from obstruction of superior vena cava (SVC): edema of the head and neck and upper part of the chest, cyanosis and thoracic and neck vein distention. The most common malignant cause of SVCS is lung cancer. Management of the SVC syndrome associated with malignant disease includes both treatment of the cancer and relief of the symptoms of obstruction. We reviewed the etiology, patophysiology, clinical evaluation and therapeutic modalities including chemotherapy, radiotherapy and supportive care.


The intention of this thesis is to identify and describe the differences between the desired interests of various entities in institutional education of children and youth and its real dispositions. For this chosen problem is due to the nature of problem used qualitative theory method. For the purposes of the research, was an important indicator a quality of the data, which were obtained by interviews with employees in selected centres. Analysis and interpretation of the data was carried out by the method of analytical story. Part of the results of this thesis is theoretical model of relations developed between categories which interpretation gives a factual view of problem.


This paper proposes a transmission scheme which applies random linear network coding (RLNC) over compute-and-forward (CF), called RLNC/CF, in multi-source multi-relay networks. Instead of solving the full rank failure at relays, this paper compensates for this overhead to increase the possibility of successfully decoding computed messages at the destination. The concept of the overlapped generations is applied with a proposed computing and storing strategy. This paper provides a compensation based on the estimation of the channel state information (CSI) of the previous generation and a compensation based on the learning data of CSI. By comparing to an orthogonal channel transmission scheme, a performance trade-off is considered. An expression for estimated performances of RLNC/CF in function of the probabilities of the parameters related to CSI is provided to help for the decision of selecting transmission scheme. From the numerical result, RLNC/CF scheme works better than a conventional CF transmission scheme in reducing the transmission latency.


The effect of vinasse application was assessed on physical properties and dehydrogenases activity in Entic Dystropept and Fluventic Haplustoll of Valle del Cauca, Colombia. To meet the requirements of K+ in sweet corn (Zea mays L.) six treatments were used (T1 = 100% of K+ as vinasse; T2 = 100% of K+ with KCl; T3 = 50% of K+ as vinasse and KCl; T4 = 75% of K+ with vinasse and 25% of K+ as KCl; T5 = absolute control without plants; T6 = control plus plants) arranged in a completely randomized design with five replications. In Dystropept Entic bulk density decreased and consequently the total porosity increased, while the opposite happened in Haplustoll Fluventic. The dehydrogenase activity was significantly higher (P <0.05) in the Dystropept Entic than in Haplustoll Fluventic presenting low values. The results showed that the changes that are generated as a result of the application of vinasse are different for each type of soil.


The change of the concentration of trace gases in a natural environment depends on both chemical and meteorological conditions. To quantify the contribution of meteorological processes, such as transport and dispersion, chemical and meteorological processes must be assessed separately. In June 1996 the Schauinsland Ozone Precursor Experiment (SLOPE) was carried out to investigate the behavior of ozone and its precursors as a function of time in a valley between Freiburg in the Rhine Valley and Schauinsland in the Black Forest [Volz-Thomas et al., this issue]. The main purpose of this contribution is to calculate the influence of transport and dispersion on the change of the concentration of airborne pollutants in a propagating air mass. Therefore (1) an inert tracer, SF 6 , was released, and (2) meteorological measurements were performed to investigate the valley wind regimes and the evolution of the mixed layer. Here are the main results of the experiment: Clear-sky conditions caused upvalley winds to be generated in the various valleys in the morning. These upvalley winds led to the transport of polluted air and SF 6 from Freiburg through the Zarten Basin and the side valley (Grosses Tal) up to the Schauinsland hill. The propagation through the Grosses Tal took 90 ± 5 min, which gives a propagation rate of approximately 1.3 m s -1 . The dilution factor for SF 6 between the entrance and the outlet of the valley was approximately 9. This dilution factor could not only be explained by the continuous growth of the boundary layer during the propagation time of the tracer from the entrance to the outlet of the valley, but additionally by flow splitting and mountain venting [Fiedler et al., this issue].


A new synthesis of orthogonally protected diaminoglutaric acid containing peptides using the Ugi four component condensation is presented. To demonstrate that this method is useful to replace cystine by diaminoglutaric acid in biologically interesting peptides, we built up two cyclic somatostatin analogues deriving from Sandostatin and from TT‐232. A photolytically cleavable amine derivative of the nitroveratryl type is used for the Ugi four component condensation. Because of a racemic build up of the new stereocentre of the diaminoglutaric acid, and racemization of the isonitrile component, four diastereomeric peptides resulted that were separated by HPLC. The stereochemistry of the cyclopeptides could be easily and unambiguously assigned by chiral gas chromatography and a reference sample of enantiomerically pure (2S,4S)‐diaminoglutaric acid. Copyright © 2001 European Peptide Society and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Drip fertigation is regarded as a precise and efficient method of supplying water and nutrients to tree crops.
Despite its widespread use in a range of agricultural industries, there is limited research into the distribution
of water and solutes after fertigation and irrigation events. Here, we compare Electrical Resistivity Imaging
(ERI) with dye tracer patterns and soil nitrate distribution in a commercial apple orchard in southern
Tasmania. Fertigated calcium nitrate was applied with dye tracer through pressure compensated drippers
along the treeline of the orchard row. This was followed by a single irrigation event the next day via in-line
drippers, split into high and low treatments over the fertigated area. Two dimensional ERI was conducted
over a 16 meter length of crop row, immediately before and at four occasions post fertigation. ERI was
shown to be a potentially useful tool for mapping infiltration of irrigation and nitrate, as changes in resistivity
appeared to be correlated with infiltration, although the contribution to the change in resistivity from
irrigation as opposed to the solute content of the fertigation could not be determined. Dye analysis indicated
infiltration of water resulted from preferential flow processes whereas infiltration of the nitrate indicated it
was absorbed by organic matter within the A1 horizon.


Cancer treatment by ultrashort pulse high electric field is one of new biological applications. This work focuses on difference of effects caused at applying the pulse to different types of cells for realizing cancer treatment via ultrashort pulse electric field. In this study, by employing HeLa S3 of a cancer cell and budding yeast of a eukaryotic cell as samples, difference of effects given to each cell via the pulse was investigated. As a result, it was found that yeast cells are difficult to cause cell death compared to HeLa cells under the condition that the energy supplying to cells is equal.


This paper studies action-based reinforcement learning in finite perfectioninformation games. Restrictions on the valuation updating rule that guarantee that the play eventually converges to a subgame-perfect Nash equilibrium (SPNE) are identified. These conditions are mild enough to contain interesting and plausible learning behavior. We provide two examples of such updating rule that suggest that the extent of knowledge and rationality assumptions needed to support a SPNE outcome in finite perfect-information games may be minimal.


Cost assessment and the estimation of the impact of injuries on health care systems provide a nationwide and compact epidemiologic marker. This permits international comparisons when results are reported as a percentage of the Gross National Product (GNP) of each country. The aim of this study was to estimate the cost of childhood injuries in France on the basis of data derived from a nationwide survey performed by the national health insurance system (NHIS).


Digital table signboard is a collection of LEDs (Light Emitting Diode) arranged tightly with certain patterns so as to produce the appearance of light that can make certain writing that can be used as information media. Digital media as one solution to an announcement or information that can change without changing the hardware. Setting a digital desk nameplate by using a PC connection (personal computer), the disadvantage is that it is too much trouble when you want to replace text or text on a digital desk nameplate, so you need a solution to facilitate the programming of text on a digital desk nameplate. One solution is to use Bluetooth as a wireless connection. By using Bluetooth communication can be used as a data transfer media on digital devices. The android operating system is found on Smartphones that apply practical principles in every application that has facilitated Bluetooth as a data transfer media. Therefore the digital table nameplate problem that is currently experiencing problems in its settings, then by utilizing Bluetooth communication contained in an Android-based smartphone system design is needed, the end result is designing an Arduino-based digital desk nameplate using Android control.


We study the problem of joint power and channel resource allocation for orthogonal multiple access relay (MAR) systems in order to maximize the achievable rate region. Four relaying strategies are considered; namely, regenerative decode-and-forward (RDF), nonregenerative decode-and-forward (NDF), amplify-and-forward (AF), and compress-and-forward (CF). For RDF and NDF we show that the problem can be formulated as a quasiconvex problem, while for AF and CF we show that the problem can be made quasiconvex if the signal-to-noise ratios of the direct channels are at least -3dB. Therefore, efficient algorithms can be used to obtain the jointly optimal power and channel resource allocation. Furthermore, we show that the convex subproblems in those algorithms admit a closed-form solution. Our numerical results show that the joint allocation of power and the channel resource achieves significantly larger achievable rate regions than those achieved by power allocation alone with fixed channel resource allocation. We also demonstrate that assigning different relaying strategies to different users together with the joint allocation of power and the channel resources can further enlarge the achievable rate region.


In this research study, it was aimed to examine failures and inabilities of eleventh grade students about quadratic equations and functions. For this purpose, these students were asked ten open-ended questions. The analysis of the answers given by the students to these questions indicated that a significant part of these students had failures and inabilities about quadratic equations and functions. The students were often unable to decide what to do in relation to the mathematical operations and made some arithmetical mistakes.


We sincerely thank Jesse Nippert, Jia Hu and Leander Anderegg for their intense study of our manuscript and their constructive feedback. We clearly understand that we have to simplify some of the dense writing and figures to convey our findings more clearly. The referees made several detailed suggestions for this, along which we will organise the revisions. We will self-critically check for simplifications of jargon and clarity in our arguments.


objective To investigate the allele frequencies of nine short tandem repeats(STR) divided into three groups(groupⅠ:CSF1PO, TPOX, TH01; groupⅡ:F13Ao1, FESFPS, vWA;groupⅢ:D16S539, D7S820, D13S317) in population of Han nationality in Henan province.Methods DNA extracted with Chelex100 from anti-coagulative blood sample was amplified with multiplex PCR. The PCR product was analyzed with the denatured polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and silver-stain. After getting the allele frequencies, the heterozygosity (H), polymorphism information content(PIC), discrimination probability(DP) and exclusion power(PE) were calculated.Results All the nine allele frequencies were obtained and the frequencies agreed with Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium,and H and PIC of nine loci were high. The DP was 0.9972,0.9980 and 0.9996 respectively in three groups,the accumulated DP of three groups was 0.999999997, while the PE were 0.8565,0.8826 and 0.9343 respectively,and accumulated DP of three groups was 0.9989 Conclusion The nine STR loci prossesses high heterozygosity and are useful genetic marker,and can be used in personal identification and paternity test.


SummaryP ROGNOSIS OF SYSTOLIC LEFT VENTRICULARDYSFUNCTION Background: Our current knowledge on theprognosis of systolic left ventricular dysfunctionhas been obtained through multicentric trialsperformed at third level health care institutions,which usually include patients based on strictinclusion criteria. Objective: To establish in sys-tolic left ventricular dysfunction patients, evalu-ated at a community hospital, a risk profile foradverse cardiovascular events and to know theirsurvival. Methods: Prospective study with 4 yearsfollow-up. Inclusion criteria: a) Symptomatic pa-tients with systolic left ventricular dysfunction, b)any NYHA functional class or etiology, c) ejec-tion fraction < 40%. Exclusion criteria: a) As-ymptomatic patients, b) acute coronary syndromein the last 6 weeks, c) ventricular dysfunction sec-ondary to pulmonary arterial hypertension, d)severe systemic illness or neoplasms causingdisability < 6 months. Statistics: Student's t test,Chi-square, Yates and Mantel-Haenszel. Unvari-ant and multivariant logistic regression analysis.Cox and Kaplan-Meier method. Significance wasset at p < 0.05. Results: From January 1997 toJanuary 2001, 110 patients were studied, 61%men and 39% women, their age were 61 ± 13.1years. Ischemic etiology in 46% and 54%, 68%in III/IV NYHA class and 32% in I/II NYHA class.Basal left ventricular ejection fraction was 28 ±6.9%. Patients were followed for 30.11 ± 18.7months, with 26% of global mortality. Through lin-eal, logistic and multivariate regression analysis,


Four new cases of Munchausen syndrome are described and compared to prior reports in the literature. Remarkable is the high frequency of childhood histories which include rejecting or sadistic parents, exposure to death or chronic illness and institutional placement. It is proposed that the symptoms comprising the syndrome are a defense against psychosis or infantile anxiety and are precipitated by either real or threatened separations from ambivalently regarded object relations. Hospitalization allows gratification of dependency wishes while the pseudologia and malingering serve to deny the feelings of impotence.


In a plasma processing chamber, the combination of VUV (vacuum ultra-violet) flux and electric fields (either due to plasma non-uniformity or electron shading) across structures on a wafer can induce photoconduction currents in insulating dielectrics. These currents can either flow through the bulk of the dielectrics or along the surface. In this paper we report the results of our experiments on studying VUV induced surface currents. These currents, if they are large enough, would modify surface charging and hence are important to understanding, predicting and controlling plasma charging damage.


A description of small amplitude oscillations around a stationary state in nuclear matter is formulated in the context of the relativistic Vlasov equation. We obtain a set of stationary linear modes of excitation satisfying orthogonality and completeness relations. For longitudinal modes it is explicitly shown that the system, which is made up of relativistic particles in interaction with an external scalar meson field, behaves like a system of fermions very weakly coupled to the scalar meson field, even if the coupling constant is large.


Scleredema is characterized by diffuse shiny, symmetrical, non pitting and woody induration of skin. It usually begins on back, sides of neck and spreads to face, shoulders, arms, thorax and becomes generalized. The hands, feet and genetalia are usually spared [2]. There is no sharp demarcation between normal and abnormal skin. Wrinkling occurs when the skin is compressed between the thumb and index finger, indicating that the epidermis is spared. Disease reaches its peak in 1-2 weeks, may continue to spread for 2-3 months in some instances. History of diverse infections, from a few days to 6 weeks prior to onset is observed in 65-90% of cases [3]. Common infections are influenza, tonsillins pharyngitis, measles, mumps, scarlet fever, impetigo or cellulitis, prior streptococcal infections [3]. We report a case of scleredema confirmed by special stains in a male child.


Abstract Repatriation (returning home after having lived abroad) can be psychologically distressing. We theorized and found evidence that feeling nostalgic about a host culture contributes to repatriation success. We tested a sample of over 700 international teachers who worked in the United States (host culture) and then returned to their home countries. As hypothesized, nostalgia for the host culture was positively associated with repatriates' self-continuity (a sense of connection between one's past and present selves). Self-continuity, in turn, mediated the positive relation between host-culture nostalgia and psychological adjustment (self-esteem, approach motivation, job satisfaction). The findings have implications for the literatures on (a) multicultural experience and repatriation, and (b) the emotion of nostalgia and its relation to psychological adjustment.


We reported the preparation of carbon nanotubes adhering BaTiO3 nanoparticles (BT@CNTs) via chemical vapor deposition (CVD). Scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscope and Raman spectroscopy were carried out in order to confirm the successful adhesion. Dielectric properties of the PVDF-HFP composites filled by BT@CNTs were also studied. With the content of BT@CNTs increasing, the dielectric constant of composites remarkably increased, but the loss tangent gradually decreased. At 10 vol%, the dielectric constant of the PVDF-HFP/BT@CNTs composite was significantly increased to 27.7 at 50 Hz, which was 3 times and 65% higher than that of the pure PVDF-HFP and PVDF-HFP/BT composite, respectively. The loss tangent of the PVDF-HFP/BT@CNTs composite was lower even than that of pure PVDF-HFP. These attractive features of the PVDF-HFP/BT@CNTs composites suggested that the method proposed herein was a new approach to develop high performance composites, especially those with high dielectric constant and low dielectric loss.


Recently, there is an increasing interest in the deployment of femto access points (FAPs), which are short-range low-power home base-stations, over a macro cellular network to improve the total network capacity. Due to the random deployment of FAPs, an analytical understanding of such two-tier networks via stochastic geometry is essential for network operators to fully exploit the potential of femtocells. In this paper, we propose a two-tier network model that captures the geometries of macrocells and femtocells realistically. The success probabilities in spectrum sharing and unsharing for both tiers in the uplink and downlink are derived. Finally, the downlink performance of such two-tier network is discussed numerically.