It is analyzed that the impacts of soil moisture content on stability of landslide through direct shearing teats for unsatu- rated soil of various vegetation types of bare land and eucalyptus land,different soil moisture contents and different-depth unsat- urated soil The results show that the cohesion of unsaturated soil changes greatly,and the friction angle changes a little with soil moisture content It is also shown that vegetation hydrological action can decrease soil moisture content,improve shear strength of unsaturated soil,which therefore provides a basis that vegetation can improve stability of landslide,prevention and control of soil and water loss on slopes.


The Cave of Rouffignac (Dordogne, France) is a Paleolithic rock art site which contains numerous black drawings (mammoths, bison, rhinoceros, horses, ibexes . . .). Although no direct dating has been carried out to date, the artworks of this cave are generally connected with the Magdalenian Culture.


Abstract The submicron ion-exchange fibers (IEF) of polystyrene (PS) and styrene-isoprene-styrene block copolymer (SIS) blends (80/20, w/w) obtained by electrospinning technology were further sulfonated with sulfuric acid to produce strong acidic cation ion exchange fibers. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images showed that there were obvious increase in the diameters, scratches, cracks, and micro-pores on the rough IEF surface. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy analysis showed there were many sulfonated acid groups introduced onto the benzene wreath of styrene. The maximum adsorption capacity and the adsorption rate of copper ions were carried out and their removal rate determined by spectrophotometry. The results of the adsorption for copper ions showed that submicron IEF from PS/SIS blends with a high porosity (85%) and a high specific surface (760 m2/g) possess a rapid adsorption rate and a high ion adsorption amount (305.9 mmg/g). This high adsorption capacity suggests that the IEF can be efficiently applied to filter out toxic metal ions, and has excellent efficiency to remove copper ions from aqueous solution.


In the field of ship-borne PMSM, there exists the sea wave fluctuations, external disturbances thus model uncertainties are always challenging the control design of ship-borne permanent magnet synchronous motors (PMSMs). To deal with this problem, a super-twisting extended state observer (SESO) is used in this paper to observe state variables accurately. Moreover, to solve the phase delay problem in active disturbance rejection control (ADRC), Taylor's formula-based tracking differentiator (TTD) is applied in the proposed hybrid control strategy. With appropriate compensate of disturbance, denoted as super-twisting hybrid control, the controlled position signal can follow the reference with small tracking errors, also with improved dynamic performance. Simulation results show that the proposed super-twisting hybrid control has the better anti-disturbance and tracking performance compared with the traditional ADRC. Lastly, semi-physical experimental results further validate the effectiveness of the control strategy for ship-borne PMSMs.


Impulse purchase or impulse buying describes any purchase which a customer makes without making and planning in advance. This paper is an attempt to find out the factors that affect consumer impulse buying behavior at Reliance fresh in Jabalpur city. The impact of various variables like discount offer, various scheme, festival season etc on consumer impulse buying behavior was analyzed. The study is based on the primary data collected from Reliance fresh with the help of structured questionnaire. Data analysis has been done using SPSS software. The statistical analysis method employed in this study is Factor Analysis. After the analysis, it is found that since income of individual is increasing and more and more people are moving towards western culture, the purchasing power of the people has really gone up.


Abstract. The aim of this work is to provide a promising way to accelerate the structural design procedure and overcome the burden of meshing. The concept of Isogeometric Analysis (IGA) has appeared in recent years and has become a powerful means to eliminate gaps between Computer Aided Design (CAD) and Computer Aided Engineering (CAE), giving a higher fidelity geometric description and better convergence properties of the solution. The Boundary Element Method (BEM) with IGA offers a better, more seamless integration since it uses a boundary representation for the analysis. However, the computational efficiency of IGABEM may be compromised by the dense and unsymmetrical matrix appearing in the calculation, and this motivates the present work. This study introduces an 'a priori' model reduction method in IGABEM analysis aiming to enhance efficiency. The problem is treated as a state evolution process. It proceeds by approximating the problem solution using the most appropriate set of approximation functions, which depend on Karhunen-Loève decomposition. Secondly, the model is re-analysed using a reduced basis, using the Krylov subspaces generated by the governing equation residual for enriching the approximation basis. Finally, the IGABEM calculation combined the model reduction strategy is proposed, which provides accurate and fast re-solution of IGABEM problems compared with the traditional BEM solution. Moreover, the CPU time is drastically reduced. A simple numerical example illustrates the potential of this numerical technique.


Alkyl substituted phenylpiperazine derivatives are important intermediates of phenylpiperazine compounds.Thionyl chloride was dropped into diethanolamine at 10 ℃,and the resulting mixture was stirred at 10 ℃ for 1 h and at 60 ℃ for 5 h to afford β,β′-dichlorodiethylamine hydrochloride,which then reacted separately with 2-methylphenylamine,4-tert-butylphenylamine and 4-methylphenylamine at 130 ℃for 50 h to afford three monoalkyl substituted phenylpiperazine derivatives 2-methylphenylpiperazine,4-tert-butylphenylpiperazine and 4-methylphenylpiperazine in 78%,61% and 67% yield respectively.The synthesized compounds were identified by1HNMR,13CNMR and MS to be consistent with the proposed structures.


The highway engineering supervising system is provided with the discussion in details in its contents, features and the related problems.


An antenna apparatus includes an antenna block and a substrate. The antenna block has a base that is made of a substantially cuboid dielectric body, an upper-surface conductor formed on an upper surface of the base, first and second pad electrodes that are formed on both ends of a bottom surface of the base in a longitudinal direction of the base, respectively, and a lateral-surface conductor connecting the upper-surface conductor and the second pad electrode. The substrate has a region mounting the antenna block, a ground pattern provided around the mounting region, first and second lands that are provided within the mounting region so as to correspond to the positions of the first and second pad electrodes, a feed line that is connected to the first land, an impedance-adjusting pattern connecting the first land and the ground pattern, and a frequency-adjusting pattern connecting the second land and the ground pattern.


This paper discusses extraction of the anthoxanthin content from pueraria thomsonii benth L by using two different methods:altrosonic and reflux,and measures the mass percentage of the total anthoxanthin in pueraria thomsonii benth L.The results show that the rate of ultrasonic extraction is much higher than that of reflux,esp.,when ethonal is used as dissolvent.The optimal conditions under which the total anthoxanthin is extracted:95% ethonal,duration 25 min,temperature 5 ℃ and 3 operation times.


This paper initially presents a nontechnical overview of cryptocurrency, its history, and the technicalities of its usage as a means of exchange. Bitcoin's working methodology and mathematical baseline is further presented in more depth. For the remaining majority of the paper, recent cryptocurrency price data of Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tether, Dogecoin, and Binance coin was used to train a machine learning model of Feed Forward Neural Networks to predict future prices for each of the datasets. Further and in conclusion, the results are discussed, and the efficiency and accuracy of these models are evaluated.


To the Editor: —Anent the interesting historical account of Larrey, the famous surgeon and patriot, by Dr. King of New Orleans, published inThe Journal, September 29, and your editorial eulogizing the same surgeon, I would like to quote the following from "La Campagne de Russie, Memoires du General Comte de Segur, Aide-de-Camp de Napoleon," an eye witness and participant in the ill-fated invasion of and retreat from Russia. "In the furious engagement at Borodine, 20,000 wounded were picked up and carried about two leagues to the rear to the great abbey of Kolotshoc." Then the historian continues: "Le chirurgien en chef Larrey venait de prendre des aides dans tous les regiments. Les ambulances avaient rejoint; mais tout fut insuffisant. Il s'est plaint depuis, dans une relation imprimee, qu'aucune troupe ne liu eut ete laissee pour requerir les choses de premiere necessite dans les villages environnants." "The chief surgeon, Larrey,


Abstract Aim Nutritional demand after traumatic brain injury is increased due to hypermetabolic response. The present study was undertaken to assess nutritional status with anthropometric indices, factors associated, and their prognostic role following severe head injury (SHI). Method A total of 114 patients in age group 20 to 60 years, admitted within 24 hours of SHI, with Glasgow Coma Scale of 4 to 8, and with no serious systemic disorder were enrolled for the study. Of these, 67 were prospectively assessed weekly till 21 days for changes in mid arm circumference (MAC), mid arm muscle circumference (MAMC), and triceps skin fold thickness (TSF). They were studied in relation to other factors and outcome was assessed at 3 months. Results The percentage fall at 3 weeks for MAC, MAMC, and TSF were 14, 10, and 37%, respectively. The percentage of fall in MAMC was the earliest, and was significantly greater in patients with surgical intervention, tracheostomy, prolonged fever, delayed enteral feeding, and greater caloric deficit. Admission MAMC < 90% of standard was significantly associated with unfavorable outcome (odds ratio 5.9 [95% confidence interval 1.3–27.8], p = 0.01). Unfavorable outcome was significantly more frequent in patients who had at least 15% fall in MAC (85.7 vs. 41.9%, p = 0.03), or 10% fall in MAMC (68.8 vs. 38.2%, p = 0.04) at 2 weeks, compared with others. Fall in TSF had no significant association with outcome at 3 months. In multivariate analysis, MAMC fall had significant independent association with unfavorable outcome. Conclusion Bedside anthropometry (especially MAMC) is efficient in identifying patients with nutrition depletion with significant influence on outcome at 3 months.


Objective To explore the congition of the reprodutive health knowledge and needs of the reproductive health education among migrant women workers.Methods Totally 285 migrant women workers were surveyed by self-designed questionnaire.Results About 60% of women workers knew the female reprodutive physiology,52.8% knew how to prevent reproductive infection,the correct awareness rate on sexually transmitted disease is only 25.6%,75.6% knew the way of the spread of AIDS.The main acquire approaches is books,journals and newspapers.The respondents thought that healthy lectures and profession guidance were important and reliable sources of knowledge.They needs the following health-care knowledge such as treatment of female common diseases,the occupational protection on reproductive health,eugenics,scientific slimming and beauty.Conclusion The hospital and community health service center should go deep into factories,develop various forms of reproductive health education,to promote the health of migrant women workers.


The severe side effects of chemotherapy negatively affect quality of life and may limit the amount of life-saving drug delivered to patients with cancer. These adverse events can be difficult to manage and evidence-based guidelines are lacking. Insufficient supportive care can amplify common side effects, such as chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV), myelosuppression, alopecia, gastrointestinal effects and neuropathy. Therefore, it is important to recognize the most commonly dispensed chemotherapy agents and the side effects that accompany them. Community pharmacists, as easily accessible health care professionals, can provide valuable supportive care to help manage potentially debilitating side effects. However, a major limitation when managing side effects secondary to chemotherapy is the limited access to patient information in most community pharmacies. By allowing community pharmacists increased access to patient health records using technology, limitations experienced in practice can be averted and quality care provided. Introduction Hardships endured by cancer patients are often worsened by the severe side effects of chemotherapy. As health care professionals who are easily accessible to patients, community pharmacists can provide valuable supportive care to help manage potentially debilitating side effects in individuals undergoing chemotherapy. This is especially true when dispensing oral agents that do not require administration within an outpatient clinic. While the chemotherapy regimens are often determined by strict evidence-based guidelines, the supportive care offered to patients is not as well-controlled.1 Insufficient supportive care can amplify the side effects of chemotherapy endured by patients such as chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV), myelosuppression, alopecia, gastrointestinal effects and neuropathy. A major obstacle to pharmacist involvement in managing side effects secondary to chemotherapy is the lack of access to patient information in most community pharmacies. By increasing pharmacists' access to patient health records using technology, limitations experienced in practice can be minimized to improve the community pharmacist's ability to provide quality care. Most Common Oral Chemotherapy Side Effects Debilitating as the disease itself may be, the difficulties faced by patients with cancer are often compounded by the harsh side effects of CINV, diarrhea, constipation, neutropenia, anemia and neuropathy. Despite advances in antiemetic agents, CINV deters many cancer patients from completing otherwise beneficial treatment regimens, and thus remains a paramount concern when antineoplastic treatment is initiated. In addition to causing withdrawal from treatment, nausea and vomiting can have detrimental effects such as serious metabolic disorders, nutritional depletion and anorexia, deterioration of patients' physical and mental status, esophageal tears, fractures and wound dehiscence.z CINV has variable onset, ranging from anticipatory (prior to chemotherapy administration), acute (within 24 hours of initial chemotherapy administration) or delayed (occurring 24 hours to days following treatment).3 Methotrexate (Rhematrex®), temozolomide (Temodar®) and capecitabine (Xeloda®) are commonly dispensed oral chemotherapy agents associated with CINV. Figure 1 outlines an algorithm for the treatment of CINV in an acute care setting. Options for the non-pharmacological management of CINV, as seen in Table 1, include wearing loose-fitting clothing and eating small, frequent meals. Patients may consider eating toast, crackers, and yogurt; eating ice cubes before meals may also reduce symptoms of CINV. Patients should also drink water throughout chemotherapy to prevent dehydration. Simple hygiene in keeping the oral cavity clean can also help in the management of CINV. Eating before a session of chemotherapy and lying flat after meals are not recommended. Antiemetic agents are commonly prescribed to help treat CJNV pharmacologically.4 Table 2 lists several chemotherapy agents at various risk categories for CINV and further offers 40 THE PHARMACY AND WELLNESS REVIEW July 2012 Volume 3, Issue 2 Impact of Community Pharmacists on Management of Cancer Chemotherapy and the Resulting Side Effects Oncology Figure 1. Flowchart of CINV Management.19 .Ask cane-er patient with chemo-therapy whether h-e/she has high-risk factor of CINV 1. Educat-e patientand car~iversaboutnon p harmacologic i nterventioos regarding ONV before chemotherapy. 2. Ask cane-er p:atientwith chemotherapy wheth-er he/she has Cl NV. • Ask patient to rate Cl N:V using c:om mon terminal-ogy criteria for adwrse events


The etiological agent of African trypanosomiasis, Trypanosoma brucei, has been identified to possess an expanded and diverse group of heat shock proteins, that have been implicated in cytoprotection, differentiation, and subsequently progression and transmission of the disease. Heat shock protein 70 is a highly conserved and ubiquitous molecular chaperone that is important in maintaining protein homeostasis in the cell. Its function is regulated by a wide range of co-chaperones; and inhibition of these functions and interactions with co-chaperones are emerging as potential therapeutic targets for numerous diseases. This study sought to biochemically characterize the cytosolic Hsp70 and Hsp70.4 proteins and to investigate if they form a functional partnership with the Type I J-protein, Tbj2. The cytosolic localisation of the proteins was confirmed by accessing the TrypTag endogenous tagging microscopy database. Expression of TbHsp70 was shown to be heat inducible, whilst TbHsp70.4 was constitutively expressed. The basal ATPase activities of TbHsp70.4 and TbHsp70 were stimulated by Tbj2. It was further determined that Tbj2 forms a functional partnership with TbHsp70 and TbHsp70.4 as the J-protein was shown to stimulate the ability of both proteins to mediate the refolding of chemically denatured β-galactosidase. This study provides further insight into this important class of proteins which may contribute to the development of new therapeutic strategies to combat African Trypanosomiasis.


Population dynamics of perennial grasses in tallgrass prairie ecosystems are strongly influenced by vegetative outgrowth from their belowground bud banks. We examined the role of light and nitrogen...


We propose a novel algorithm to compute a Jordan basis (JB) for an arbitrarily given square matrix. The algorithm is based on the fact that a JB for a linear transformation f is obtained by extending a JB for the restriction of f to its range R(f). The main ingredient of the algorithm is singular value decomposition, and that ensures backward-stability of the algorithm. To enhance the practical utility, we also introduce an automatic mechanism into the algorithm such that it outputs all possible Jordan structures close to the exact one of the input matrix.


Many statistical data are imprecise due to factors such as measurement errors, computation errors, and lack of information. In such cases, data are better represented by intervals-or fuzzy sets-rather than by single numbers. Existing methods for analyzing interval-valued data include regressions in the metric space of intervals and symbolic data analysis, the latter being proposed in a more general setting. However, there has been a lack of literature on the parametric modeling and distribution-based inferences for interval-valued, and fuzzy-valued data. We propose a normal hierarchical model for random sets-in particular for random intervals. In addition, we develop a minimum contrast estimator (MCE) for the model parameters, which is both consistent and asymptotically normal. Simulation studies support our theoretical findings and show promising results. Finally, we successfully apply our model and MCE to a real data set.


The purpose of this study was to determine the criteria used by foundation directors in assessing the effectiveness of contribution programs in company sponsored foundations. Quinn and Rohrbaugh's Competing Values Approach of organizational effectiveness was used as the theoretical framework for the study. The Competing Values Approach is an integrative effectiveness model which clusters eight criteria of effectiveness into four theoretical models of organizational effectiveness.


The basic parameters of the pressure relief valve are the flow rate through the valve and the level of hydraulic fluid pressure. Both parameters are easy to measure in laboratory conditions but very often quite troublesome in common process conditions. That is why we are looking for additional approaches to substitute the direct flow rate and pressure measurement. One of them is acoustic emission measurement and consequent and convenient data processing. The intensity of acoustic emission generated by fluid power elements can be evaluated in various ways. The frequency range for consecutive evaluation, which is application dependent, can be established experimentally only. The paper discusses the possibilities of acoustic emission measurement and data processing in the frequency range above 25 kHz. The FFT analysis was performed for evaluation purposes and the CFD simulation in the Ansys CFX environment was carried out as well.


The article presents the material, devoted to the research of the factors influencing the deformation of legal consciousness of Russian citizens. The author analyzes the influence of various factors of internal and external environment, directly or indirectly influencing the state of consciousness of the Russians, and considers the prospects of development of the situation in the coming years.


We describe a QPSK (quaternary phase shift keyed) modulator operating at gigabit data transmission rates at a carrier frequency of 13 GHz. The modulator circuit can also be operated as a QPSK demodulator. A modulator-de-modulator pair operating in tandem showed clean eye diagrams of the recovered data trains on each port up to l.5 Gbit/s with corresponding error rates of less than 10−11. The circuit can be readily scaled to higher frequencies with a proportional increase in the information rate.


ZHANG Han,a literalist in Yunnan Province in Ming Dynasty,was born in a high official family,and got great success when he was young.He was famous for his excellent poems,when he was about twenty years old.After he passed the Province Examination of the state and got the Degree of Juren,he had taken part in the Empire Examination for seven times,and did not pass the examination.Then he came back to his homeland,Yongchang County in Yunnan Province.In hometown,he spent his whole life on writing po- ems and paopagate culture,and did great effect on the literature development of Yunnan Province.


The principle of adaptive frequency shift islanding detection method is analyzed. On this basis, adaptive frequency shift based on dq transformation which aim at three phase inverter grid-connecting system is presented, and the simulation by MATLAB is fulfilled. Verified by the simulation, this method can precisely detect the occurrence of islanding. At the same time, the superiority of the new method is verified.


Background The alkaline phosphatase-to-albumin ratio (APAR) has been demonstrated to be a promising non-invasive biomarker for predicting prognosis in certain diseases. However, the relationship between APAR and prognosis in non-dialysis chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients remains unclear. This study aims to identify the association between APAR and prognosis among CKD stages 1–4 in China. Methods Patients with CKD stages 1–4 were consecutively recruited from 39 clinical centers in China from 2011 to 2016. New occurrences of end-stage kidney disease (ESKD), major adverse cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events, and all-cause deaths were the outcome events of this study. Subdistribution hazard competing risk and Cox proportional hazards regression models were adopted. Results A total of 2,180 participants with baseline APAR values were included in the analysis. In the primary adjusted analyses, higher APAR level [per 1-standard deviation (SD) increase in natural logarithm transformed (ln-transformed) APAR] was associated with 33.5% higher risk for all-cause deaths [adjusted hazard ratio (HR) 1.335, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.068–1.670]. In addition, there was evidence for effect modification of the association between APAR and ESKD by baseline estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) (P interaction < 0.001). A higher APAR level (per 1-SD increase in ln-transformed APAR) was associated with a greater risk of ESKD among participants with eGFR ≥ 60 ml/min/1.73 m2 (adjusted SHR 1.880, 95% CI 1.260–2.810) but not in eGFR < 60 ml/min/1.73 m2. Conclusion Higher APAR levels in patients with CKD stages 1–4 seemed to be associated with an increased risk of all-cause death. Thus, APAR appears to be used in risk assessment for all-cause death among patients with CKD stages 1–4.


A 6-year-old boy presented with endocarditis of the tricuspid valve caused by penicillin resistant pneumococcus. He had no history of congenital cardiac disease. The likely portal of entry for the organism was the middle ear.


Advertising can be great. Great advertising, that is. Brands can live or die on the power of their advertising and the advertiser's role is to build better mousetraps. But why do we love certain brands - the one's that feel like ours - and passionately or indifferently reject the rest? What do our brands say about us? And why do we feel so compelled to use digital brands to say even more?

 Advertising has always been the hard sell and subtle hustle that piques our interest and gets us thinking, I WANT that - but in a world that now moves with binary speed, the Brand Game is taking ever-new and remarkable turns in its pursuit of better and faster mice.

 The Better Mousetrap gives readers an accessible, provocative and insightful glimpse into the brand and advertising strategies of some of the world's leading companies. From Google to the BBC, Apple to Nike, McDonalds to Cadbury, Simon Pont provides expert critique on how and why certain brands succeed in a world being redefined by digital media.


A novel result concerning Raman coupling schemes in the context of trapped ions is obtained. By means of an operator perturbative approach, it is shown that the complete time evolution of these systems (in the interaction picture) can be expressed, with a high degree of accuracy, as the product of two unitary evolutions. The first one describes the time evolution related to an effective coarse grained dynamics. The second is a suitable correction restoring the fine dynamics suppressed by the coarse graining performed to adiabatically eliminate the nonresonantly coupled atomic level.


The locality of Web pages within a Web site is initially determined by the designer's expectation. Web usage mining can discover the patterns in the navigational behaviour of Web visitors, in turn, improve Web site functionality and service designing by considering users' actual opinion. Conventional Web page clustering technique is often utilized to reveal the functional similarity of Web pages. However, high-dimensional computation problem will be incurred due to taking user transaction as dimension. In this paper, we propose a new Web page grouping approach based on a probabilistic latent semantic analysis (PLSA) model. An iterative algorithm based on maximum likelihood principle is employed to overcome the aforementioned computational shortcoming. The Web pages are classified into various groups according to user access patterns. Meanwhile, the semantic latent factors or tasks are characterized by extracting the content of "dominant" pages related to the factors. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach by conducting experiments on real world data sets.


This study aims to examine and investigate the effect of absorptive capacity on MSME's agility, the effect of knowledge stickiness on the agility of MSME's, and  identify the key factors forming absorptive capacity and knowledge stickiness in MSME's in Depok City. Testing the impact of MSME's agility on economic resilience. Data were collected through a survey method with MSME's in Depok City as the research population. The data analysis method using Partial Least Square (PLS). The study found that absorptive capacity had a significant negative effect on MSME's agility, and knowledge stickiness had a significant positive effect on MSME's agility. MSME's agility is influenced by these two variables by 94.5% and the rest is influenced by other factors.


1.
The Solitary Islands Marine Park (SIMP) in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, is located in a tropical-temperate biotone, with variable influence of the tropical East Australian Current (EAC) from inshore to offshore. Marine communities on the extensive, subtidal, rocky reefs are poorly described. As a result, the current Habitat Classification System (HCS) used as part of the process to determine the marine park zoning arrangements, which places all shallow reef (<25 m) in the same category, is unlikely to represent real biotic patterns.

2.
To evaluate the influence of five key factors (distance from shore, reef type, dominant benthos, latitude, and depth range) fish assemblages were widely surveyed, using 30-minute timed counts, at 68 sites across the extent of shallow reef within the park. Relationships between assemblage patterns and levels of the different factors were subsequently examined using multivariate analyses.

3.
Patterns of reef fish assemblages were most strongly correlated with distance from shore. Three distinct assemblages occurred on inshore ( 6 km) reefs. Differences in assemblage structure by reef type were also apparent on inshore and offshore reefs, but not on mid-shelf reefs. Correlations with the other factors were weak. The cross-shelf pattern was persistent over the scale of years.

4.
The results of the study provide strong support for incorporating distance-from-shore categories into a refined HCS. This will improve its ability to represent biological diversity as reflected by patterns of reef fish assemblages. Further research is required to determine the wider application of the HCS to other marine parks in NSW and to determine if it also, effectively, represents other components of biodiversity. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Let A be a C*-algebra with unit 1 and let S be the state space of A, i.e., S = {' 2 A : ' > 0,'(1) = 1}. For each a 2 A, the C*-algebra numerical range is defined by


One of the main constraints to corn production on a highly weathered acid soil is aluminum (Al) toxicity. High Al concentration in acid soils restricts root growth by inhibiting cell elongation and cell division. The objective of this study was to determine the effects of inorganic arid organic soil amendments on corn root growth and soil chemical properties A laboratory experiment was conducted using Bungor series soil (Typic Paleudult) surface sampled (0 - 20 cm) from Puchong farm. Aliquot of the soil (600 g) was treated with legume residues (1% w/w), chicken manure (1% w/w), GML (4 t had), gypsum (4 t ha-1) and control The treated soils were moistened at field capacity (0 25 kg H20 kg-1 soil) and allowed to react for 7 days. Corn seeds (Zea mays L.) were sown and after 5 days root length was measured The results showed that soils amended with GML or chicken manure gave relatively high root length compared to other treatments. The GML and chicken manure treatments increased soil pH and decreased both the soil exchangeable Al and Al-saturation Chicken manure had an additional ameliorative effect over lime in that it increased soil exchangeable Ca, Mg and K.


Based on the previous researches of outdoor recreation resource and visitor managements, this study explored the relationship between the tourists perception of crowding and their attitude toward resource and visitor management techniques. In particular, this study examined the impacts of crowding perception on the attitudes of rationing methods, entrance fee policy and copying behaviors among the Jeong-Do slow city tourists. Data were collected through the survey of 284 tourists who visited Jeongdo in Sinan County, South Korea. Results of this study indicated that the respondents mostly preferred reservation as the tourist rationing methods, which was followed by first?come first-served, and lottery. It also showed that the tourists were most likely to prefer early morning and late afternoon discounts and off season discount in terms of entrance fee policy. Furthermore, it was also found that the tourists who have higher level of crowding preception tended to more actively employ the coping behaviors. Practical implications and limitations of the study and future research directions were also discussed at the end.


Interactive media recognize the names of animals and plants showing various kinds of animals and plants. Presented in the form of images and text. The process of delivering to children early age assisted by mentor teachers or parents. This certainly requires to be able to attract the attention of children and tried to optimize the delivery of information in interactive media is to be well understood. Based on the these problems, the authors will design a teaching media to recognize the names of animals and plants that displays several images of animals and plants which also include with audio of animal sounds. and audio elements that combined in this media is expected to achieve the goal of designing the interactive media. The purpose of the interactive media design itself is how to how to make the delivery of information could be optimal and may increase the existence and independence of early childhood in recognizing about animals and plants through the interactive media. The design method of this interactive media using SWOT analysis. Strength (strength) from the interactive media that will be designed, weakness (weakness) from media recognize the names of animals and plants which is graphical, opportunity (opportunities) as seen from the data of observation, and Threat (threat) found from the data of observation results. The consideration is due to SWOT analysis is used to assess and re-assess (reevaluation) something that has existed and already decided previously with the goal of minimizing the risks that may arise. Design results of interactive media recognize the names of animals and plants are packed in a CD along with the design of the cover and the cover of the CD. Where information is packaged in the form of recognize names of animals and plants, and a quiz to guess the names of animals. keywords : interactive media, early childhood, Animals name, plants name


Fuzzy logic and fuzzy set theory can be interesting tools for engineers when solving image processing problems. They provide a mathematical model for approximate reasoning, which mimics human reasoning and therefore can be very powerfull. In this paper we review the basic concepts of fuzzy logic and fuzzy set theory, and use these tools for the construction of a filter for random impulse noise removal in image sequences. Experimental results and a comparative study demonstrate the excellent performance of the filter and hence the power of the used tools.


The design and development of a Flexible Riser System for use on the Balmoral field in the North Sea is described, including model basin tests, static and dynamic analyses, service life evaluation, and interface with the floating production vessel. The components of the riser system are described and the installation, operation, and maintenance procedures are discussed.


The levels of deposition of the waxy and cutin components of the cuticles of the mature leaves and developing fruits of the Merton Worcester and Cox's Orange Pippin varieties of apple over a period of 4 months are reported. The waxy materials on the leaves remain approximately constant at 20 μg./cm.2, and the cutin at about 100 μg./cm.2 of surface. The waxy and cutin deposits on the fruits increase markedly during the period of development, the wax and oil present on the surface and embedded within the cutin rising to 500 μg./cm.2 and the cutin to a little under 1000 μg./cm.2 of surface. Phenolic and acidic substances in the cuticles of the fruits are determined, and the possibility of their occurrence in surface deposits on the leaves is discussed.

An examination is made of the effect of nutrient deficiency upon the formation of waxy and phenolic substances in the leaves. Nitrogen deficiency in Worcester Pearmain leaves leads to a reduced deposition of waxy materials, and nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium deficiency results in higher contents of phenolic compounds. The separation and nature of the waxy covering on leaves, the effect of environmental conditions on its formation, and its importance in relation to the application of crop protection chemicals are discussed.


William Bevis has argued that, whereas the classic American novel tells a story of "leaving," in which characters find growth and fulfillment away from the homes they grew up in, the typical Native American novel is based around "homing." In homing stories, the characters do not "find themselves" through independence but rather discover value and meaning by returning to their homes, pasts, and people.1 Although Bevis's notion provides insight into many Native American works, one novel calling for a somewhat different approach is Louise Erdrich's Tracks. Although notions of "leaving" and "homing" are central to Tracks, they operate in ways far more complex than Bevis's view suggests. Since the novel's 1988 publication, scholars have probed its depictions of characters losing, reclaiming, searching for, and finding home. Most have focused on the displacement and marginality the characters experience. Tracks has been described as "a novel entirely haunted by historical dispossession"2 in which the characters experience "dislocation from their heritage, their environment, and themselves."3 A number of scholars have argued that displacement is manifested in the novel thematically and in the disparate voices and multiple perspectives it employs as narrative strategies.4 This concern with displacement obscures the fact that the novel is about losing home and about finding it. As Tom Berninghausen has pointed out, Erdrich's characters are working toward "coming home in a social sense, being at home in the tribe's history, and returning to the particular landscape that is home."5 Lydia A. Schultz and E. Shelley Reid have disputed the suggestion that the novel's narrative discontinuities reflect chaos and dispossession in the lives of the Anishinaabe, arguing instead that they represent the multivocalic strategies of traditional Anishinaabe storytelling—that is, they reflect continuity


With the expansion of the production scale of the grade steel the automatic free-opening rate of the ladle will affect the smoothly running of production and quality of the slab.The quality of the products have been improved by analyzing the influential factors and adopting appropriate counter-measures.


Determination of volatile organic chemicals(VOCs) was conducted with self-made solid-phase extraction(SPME) devices coupled with GC and GC-MS,and the results were compared with those from conventional sample preparation methods such as solid phase extraction and direct sample injection.The operational conditions of SPME were optimized.The method developed had correlation coefficients of 0.968-0.991,detection limits of 0.3-2.3 μg/L,relative standard deviations less than 7% and recoveries ranging from 95% to 111%.The result showed that the SPME method was simple,fast,safe and accurate, and better than the other methods for comparison.


This article sketches the beginnings and central trends in the development of economic ties between Europe and regions outside Europe from 1450 to 1950. The focus is on the increasing diversity and volume of goods exchanged, and the reciprocal enrichment of material cultures between the continents. In this way, the article creates a vivid picture of the emergence of the global market and the beginnings of global competition. It also seeks to identify the central driving forces behind the successive periods of intensification of trade and interaction from the late Middle Ages to the modern period. Finally, this study describes the increasing interconnection of the economic regions of the Orient and the Occident, as well as the interdependence of the two.


In recent years the subject of statistical forecasting has been brought to a sharp focus as a major area of engineering management decision-making process by the growth of substantive literature and by the onset of sophisticated computers. The choice of the most suitable forecasting technique for a particular engineering application is by no means a simple decision. This study presents two statistical methods that fully make use of the available historical data — the Box-Jenkins stochastic method and the Holt-Winters smoothing method. The forecasts made by both the methods agree very well with the actual observations.


To acquire a better understanding of the early ignition phenomena in a 100 mm ignition simulator loaded with a packed propellant bed, a theoretical model of the ignition gas flow through the rigid porous medium was developed. Three pressure gauges were installed in the lateral side of the ignition simulator for post ignition measurement of the chamber pressure. The pseudo-propellant loaded into the chamber was similar in size to the standard 13/19 single-base cylindrical propellant. It was composed of a rigid ceramic composite with low thermal conductivity. It was assumed that the pseudo-propellant bed was rigid in contrast to the assumption of an elastic porous medium. The calculated pressure values were well verified by the experimental data at a low loading density of the pseudo-propellant bed of 0.18 g·cm-3. However, there was still error between the experimental and the calculated results in the early pressure peak position closest to the ignition primer when the loading density of the pseudo-propellant bed was increased to 0.73 and 1.06 g·cm-3. This error is attributed to the change in local permeability of the pseudo-propellant bed at high loading densities, which is assumed, for ease of modelling, to be constant in the model. These calculations may enable a better understanding of the physical processes of ignition gas flow in an ignition simulator loaded with a pseudo-propellant bed.


In a developing country such as Malaysia, studies of determinants which influence residential consumers of the Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) are limited. This paucity of studies was the catalyst for this study and its aim to investigate the factors affecting acceptance by Malaysian residential consumers of BESS as it relates to the Technology Acceptance Model Theory. A sample of 331 residential consumers indicated that consumer attitudes, social norms and self-efficacy, or the perception of behavioral control, had a positive and significant relationship with the intention to use BESS. Additionally, trust was a factor that had a significant effect on the consumers' perceptions of cost, benefits and anticipated effects. All these variables significantly affect consumer attitudes. These findings provide important insights into BESS and facilitate the development of policies and practices relating to BESS in developing countries such as Malaysia.


Abstract Pt nanoparticles are typically decorated as co‐catalyst on semiconductors to enhance the photocatalytic performance. Due to the low abundance and high cost of Pt, reaching a high activity with minimized co‐catalyst loadings is a key challenge in the field. We explore a dewetting‐dealloying strategy to fabricate on TiO2 nanotubes nanoporous Pt nanoparticles, aiming at improving the co‐catalyst mass activity for H2 generation. For this, we sputter first Pt‐Ni bi‐layers of controllable thickness (nm range) on highly ordered TiO2 nanotube arrays, and then induce dewetting‐alloying of the Pt‐Ni bi‐layers by a suitable annealing step in a reducing atmosphere: the thermal treatment causes the Pt and Ni films to agglomerate and at the same time mix with each other, forming on the TiO2 nanotube surface metal islands of a mixed PtNi composition. In a subsequent step we perform chemical dealloying of Ni that is selectively etched out from the bimetallic dewetted islands, leaving behind nanoporous Pt decorations. Under optimized conditions, the nanoporous Pt‐decorated TiO2 structures show a>6 times higher photocatalytic H2 generation activity compared to structures modified with a comparable loading of dewetted, non‐porous Pt. We ascribe this beneficial effect to the nanoporous nature of the dealloyed Pt co‐catalyst, which provides an increased surface‐to‐volume ratio and thus a more efficient electron transfer and a higher density of active sites at the co‐catalyst surface for H2 evolution.


Stark broadening theories and calculations can now be considered as mature. The fast computers allow to calculate a great number of atomic data needed for accurate spectroscopic diagnostics and modeling, such as for stellar atmospheres and envelopes, laboratory and technological plasmas, and laser equipments. Thus the access to these data via an on line database is essential. The STARK-B database is intended to meet this need. It contains calculated widths and shifts of isolated atomic lines due to electron and ion impacts. It is still under development and will be presented at the Conference.


1. Australia Bureau of Statistics. National Health Survey, 1995. Canberra: ABS, 1995. 2. Segal L, Day S, Chapman A, et al. Priority setting in osteoarthritis — report to the Population Health Division, Department of Health and Ageing. Melbourne: Monash University Health Economics Unit, 2002. 3. Edelson R, Burks RT, Bloebaum RD. Short-term effects of knee washout for osteoarthritis. Am J Sports Med 1995; 23: 345-349. 4. Baumgaertner MR, Cannon WD Jr, Vittori JM, et al. Arthroscopic debridement of the arthritic knee. Clin Orthop 1990; (253): 197-202. 5. Moseley JB, O'Malley K, Petersen NJ, et al. A controlled trial of arthroscopic surgery for osteoarthritis of the knee. N Engl J Med 2002; 347: 81-88. 6. Harwin SF. Arthroscopic debridement for osteoarthritis of the knee: predictors of patient satisfaction. Arthroscopy 1999; 15: 142-146. 7. Hunt S, Jazrawi L, Sherman O. Arthroscopic management of osteoarthritis of the knee. J Am Acad Orthop Surg 2002; 10: 356-363. 8. Chang RW, Falconer J, Stulberg SD, et al. A randomized, controlled trial of arthroscopic surgery versus closed-needle joint lavage for patients with osteoarthritis of the knee. Arthritis Rheum 1993; 36: 289-296. 9. Yang SS, Nisonson B. Arthroscopic surgery of the knee in the geriatric patient. Clin Orthop 1995; (316): 50-58. 10. Fond J, Rodin D, Ahmad S, Nirschl RP. Arthroscopic debridement for the treatment of osteoarthritis of the knee: 2and 5-year results. Arthroscopy 2002; 18: 829-834. 11. McLaren AC, Blokker CP, Fowler PJ, et al. Arthroscopic debridement of the knee for osteoarthrosis. Can J Surg 1991; 34: 595-598. 12. Bradley JD, Heilman DK, Katz BP, et al. Tidal irrigation as treatment for knee osteoarthritis: a sham-controlled, randomized, double-blinded evaluation. Arthritis Rheum 2002; 46: 100-108. 13. Dervin GF, Stiell IG, Rody K, Grabowski J. Effect of arthroscopic debridement for osteoarthritis of the knee on health-related quality of life. J Bone Joint Surg Am 2003; 85-A: 10-19. 14. Bhattacharyya T, Gale D, Dewire P, et al. The clinical importance of meniscal tears demonstrated by magnetic resonance imaging in osteoarthritis of the knee. J Bone Joint Surg Am 2003; 85-A: 4-9. 15. Solomon M, McLeod R. Surgery and the randomised controlled trial: past, present and future. Med J Aust 1998; 169: 380-383. 16. Wai EK, Kreder HJ, Williams JI. Arthroscopic debridement of the knee for osteoarthritis in patients fifty years of age or older: utilization and outcomes in the Province of Ontario. J Bone Joint Surg Am 2002; 84-A: 17-22. ❏


: Singapore had always tried to pursue a consistent policy with the United States, affirming that the strong United State presence "was vital to the stability and prosper of Asia", and at the same time, Singapore was very proactive in profoundly upgrading the strategic bilateral relations in all aspects. In a number of issues, however, Singapore implemented a highly independent and autonomous policy, asserting its own perspectives upon the American-style democracy, extremist Islam in the war against terrorism, and particularly refusing to become a "Major Non-NATO Ally" of the United States (U.S.)— favoring instead to be a "Major Security Partner", further than a friend yet not an ally, in the Singapore-U.S. relations. In foreign decisions pertaining to the United States, Singapore's neutral, non-aligned foreign policy with China as an impact factor was maintained with the ultimate objective of protecting the national interests and the survival of this small island nation.


Using new, specially designed ultrafiltration devices and an enzyme immunoassay technique, the authors determined the effect of carbon dioxide tension on the fractional binding of lidocaine to human plasma proteins. Identical samples of serum at therapeutic (2,2 i~g.ml -I ) and toxic (6.8 p.g'ml -~ ) lidocaine concentrations were tonometered at 37 ~ C to C02 tensions between 0.13 and 10.7 kPa (1,0 to 80.5 mmHg). The fraction of unbound lidocaine increased linearly with increasing pCOz (r = 0.93, p < 0.001). These changes help to explain the increased central nervous system toxicity of lidocaine associated with hypercarbia.


The beginnings of collage may be a distinctly 20 century phenomenon, as prior to this period, the evolutionary changes in the forms and presentations of art and architecture may not have appeared so radically different as to seem to collide when juxtaposed or layered. The birth of the cinematic arts coincides with the explosion of the multitudinous stylistic preoccupations of the early 20 century, which alongside intense social and political changes, led to a re-visioning of the city. The new modern styles of both art and architecture contrasted remarkably with previous historicist modes, whether hung side by side in a gallery, or adjacently situated in an urban environment. Architectural spaces in the films of the early 20 century appropriated this changing language. Film itself was very much a 20 century art form that contrasted quite sharply with previous live forms of entertainment. For various reasons, some purely artistic and some largely technical, cinema adopted collage-like means of construction in its representations of the architectural and urban spaces in film.


Both a real time optical interferometric experiment and a numerical simulation of two-dimension non-steady state model were employed to study the growth process of aqueous NaClO-3 crystals. The parameters such as solution concentration distribution, crystal dimensions, growth rate and velocity field were obtained by both experiment and numerical simulation. The influence of earth gravity during crystal growth process was analyzed. A reasonable theory model corresponding to the present experiment is advanced. The thickness of concentration boundary layer was investigated especially. The results from the experiment and numerical simulation match well.


Multimode fiber interferometer signals caused by laser optical frequency scanning have been investigated for different lengths of parabolic- and step-index multimode fibers with different excitation conditions. Fiber Bragg grating interrogator based on tunable light source was utilized in the experiments. Experimental results match qualitatively with theoretical dependences: parabolic-index core profile leads to significant decrease of interferometer sensitivity to laser frequency changes in comparison with step-index profile, while the sensitivity increases with the increase of multimode fiber length and with the number of excited modes. The use of widely-tuned scanning laser of the FBG interrogator enables to exclude the necessity of using long fibers that simplifies the experiments.


We investigate the effect of nuclear spins on the phase shift and polarisation rotation of photons scattered off a quantum dot-cavity system. We show that as the phase shift depends strongly on the resonance energy of an electronic transition in the quantum dot, it can provide a sensitive probe of the quantum state of nuclear spins that broaden this transition energy. By including the electron-nuclear spin coupling at a Hamiltonian level within an extended input-output formalism, we show how a photon scattering event acts as a nuclear spin measurement, which when rapidly applied leads to an inhibition of the nuclear spin dynamics via the quantum Zeno effect, and a corresponding stabilisation of the optical resonance. We show how such an effect manifests in the intensity autocorrelation $g^{(2)}(\tau)$ of scattered photons, whose long-time bunching behaviour changes from quadratic decay for low photon scattering rates (weak laser intensities), to ever slower exponential decay for increasing laser intensities as optical measurements impede the nuclear spin evolution.


[1] A study of the uncertainties in infrared (IR) and microwave (MW) sea surface temperature (SST) retrievals by satellite is described here. The availability of both infrared (VIRS) and microwave (TMI) sensors on the Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission (TRMM) provided an opportunity to perform this detailed SST intercomparison from two distinct but colocated sensors. Infrared retrievals provide good spatial resolution, but they are limited to clear-sky conditions. Microwave observations provide supplemental SST information in cloudy areas, but they are subject to other limitations such as poor spatial resolution and possible wind biases. One year of colocated VIRS and TMI SSTs are analyzed here, together with other colocated ancillary data sets including surface winds and water vapor, and potential sources of error are presented. The analysis shows some residual IR SST's dependence on atmospheric water vapor, despite corrective terms in the algorithm, with biases of a few tenths of a degree. The inclusion of a water vapor term in the IR algorithm reduces these biases. The results also show a higher uncertainty in MW SST retrievals for winds greater than 12 m/s, and a warm bias of MW SSTs of the order of 1°C within 50–100 km from land. Other potential sources of uncertainties discussed in the paper are undetected clouds, choice of IR SST algorithm, diurnal warming of the skin layer, and satellite maneuvers. The results of this intercomparison are valuable for the development of a future generation of a blended IR/MW SST data set, which combines the strengths of each observational method.


Purpose of the study is threefold; firstly, to report from Quran and Hadith the evidence of female education, particularly higher education; secondly, to investigate the problems faced by female higher education students; and lastly, to study the impact of these problems on their academic achievement. It is a descriptive study employing qualitative-quantitative approach. Qualitative part includes evidence from Quran and Hadith highlighting female (higher) education followed by the quantitative part containing purposefully administered survey on female higher education students. In this survey, the problems faced by the female students (according to their own perception) at an institute of higher education are carefully recorded along with their academic achievement in the form of grade point averages (GPAs). A questionnaire based on the work of Demise and coworkers (n.d) has adapted. After experts' review it was modified accordingly. This questionnaire was administered to a convenient sample of 104 female students from various departments of an institute of higher education. Although nonparametric statistic (Spearman rho and Kruskal-Wallis) was suitable to the type of data the researchers had after the questionnaire survey; nevertheless, parametric statistic (Pearson r and ANOVA) was also calculated and presented (using SPSS) to have a comparative look on the two different types of statistics. The discourse concluded with highlighting Islamic perspective on female (higher) education, recording the female students' perception on the problems faced by them, and confirming that these problems had no impact on their academic achievement. However, the researchers were apprehensive of the fact that the sample is very small; therefore, recommending the survey on an increased sample size for future researchers. Similarly, an investigation at more institutes of higher education would also be interesting as an extension to this study.


Due to the increasing penetration of distributed energy in the distribution network and the opening of the electricity selling side in the power reform, it becomes more and more important to give full play to the flexibility of the demand side resources. Taking typical demand-side resources such as electric vehicles (EV), air conditioners (AC) a as examples, this paper takes into account the physical characteristics of the equipment and the influence of human and environmental factors, and uses the extreme energy scenario method to establish a universal virtual battery (VB) model to describe the flexibility of its resources. A set of standard parameters is used to quantify its schedulability flexibility. These resources optimize their own electricity consumption plan according to the change of TOU electricity price, reduce the electricity cost, and achieve the function of peak clipping and valley filling. At the same time, it hides the specific electricity consumption information of consumers, which protects the commercial privacy of users in the process of participating in the electricity market transaction and the operation of the power system to a certain extent.


Keratoconus is (or should be), clinically, a well known condition of the cornea. Cline et al1 define keratoconus as: "a developmental or dystrophic deformity of the cornea in which it becomes coneshaped due to a thinning and stretching of the tissue in its central area. It usually manifests itself during puberty, is usually bilateral and is more common in women than men". A clinical description of keratoconus might include the following: a noninflammatory, bilateral, asymmetric progressive ectasia of the cornea associated with thinning, protrusion and distortion of the cornea2-4. Clinical signs of keratoconus include: Vogt's striae, Fleischer's ring, corneal thinning, corneal scarring, increased visibility of corneal nerves, characteristic topographical changes, protrusion and rupture/folding in the area of Descemet's membrane5-7. Keratoconus has a prevalence of between 50 and 230 people per 100 000 of the population depending on the criteria used to diagnose the condition8. Aspects of keratoconus that are perhaps not clear are the clinical characteristics of the condition that are common to a particular keratoconic population of patients. For instance: what is the prevalence of Vogt's striae in that clinic population? In how many patients is it not possible to get any reliable measurements of refractive state, keratometric or topographical data? How many patients present with corneal scarring? What are the locations of the cones? The answers to the above questions are not obvious. The aim of this investigation was to conduct a purely clinical appraisal of the prevalence of the characteristic signs and some symptoms that occur in a population of keratoconic patients attending a particular contact lens clinic in the Johannesburg area. Method


Purpose: This study is to find out the meaning and the essence of clinical nurses" interpersonal conflict. Methods: The participants of this research are 7 nurses who work in general hospitals in Seoul. The data were collected from November 1, 2011 until April 30, 2012, and it has been done by in-depth interview. The results were analyzed by Colazzi"s phenomenological method. Results: In this study, 5 categories were extracted: "Conflict due to demanding human relations", "Conflict due to rigid organizational culture", Conflict due to limitation of professional nursing", "Conflict due to pressure of unconditional sacrifice", "Conflict due to deficit of therapeutic self environment". Conclusion: Nurses felt their interpersonal conflicts have deepened. They struggled with conflict and became mature. Finally, nurses overcame the difficulty of interpersonal relations.


This chapter presents a list of headings of the physical doctrines that are held by the philosophers in Aetius Book II. The headings include: "On the cosmos","On the shape of the cosmos","On the movement of the cosmos","From where do the stars obtain their illumination","On the illuminations of the moon", and "On the eclipse of the moon". The headings are presented in Greek with English translations.Keywords: Aetius Book II; cosmos


The Sinkhorn algorithm is the most popular method for solving the entropy minimization problem called the Schr\"odinger problem: in the non-degenerate cases, the latter admits a unique solution towards which the algorithm converges linearly. Here, motivated by recent applications of the Schr\"odinger problem with respect to structured stochastic processes (such as increasing ones), we study the Sinkhorn algorithm in degenerate cases where it might happen that no solution exist at all. We show that in this case, the algorithm ultimately alternates between two limit points. Moreover, these limit points can be used to compute the solution of a relaxed version of the Schr\"odinger problem, which appears as the $\Gamma$-limit of a problem where the marginal constraints are replaced by asymptotically large marginal penalizations, exactly in the spirit of the so-called unbalanced optimal transport. Finally, our work focuses on the support of the solution of the relaxed problem, giving its typical shape and designing a procedure to compute it quickly. We showcase promising numerical applications related to a model used in cell biology.


Introduction The aim of this study was to evaluate and compare the clinical efficacy of propofol deep sedation (PDS) for elderly patients underwent EUS with or without fine needle aspiration (FNA) procedure in a teaching hospital in Thailand. Methods We undertook a retrospective review of the sedation service records of patients who underwent EUS procedures from December 2006 and September 2009. All patients were classified into two groups according to the type of procedure. In group A, EUS was only done for diagnosis. In group B, EUS with FNA was done. The primary outcome variable of the study was overall complication rate. The secondary outcome variables were sedation and procedure-related complications during and immediately after the procedure and haemodynamic parameters. Results PDS was provided for 513 patients. After matching age, gender, weight and ASA physical status, there were 47 patients in group A, and 40 patients in group B. There were no significantly differences in age, gender, weight, ASA physical status, mean sedative agents used, and indications of endoscopy between the two groups. However, duration of procedure in group B was significantly longer than in group A. All patients in both groups were concluded with the successful completion of the procedure. There were no significant differences in overall complication rate, sedation and procedure-related complications as well as haemodynamic parameters among the two groups. All complications were easily treated, with no adverse sequelae. Conclusion PDS for EUS with or without FNA procedure in elderly patients by trained anaesthetic personnel with appropriate monitoring was relatively safe and effective. Complications in both groups were comparable. Serious complications were rare in our population. Competing interests None declared.


Aim: The aim of this research is to recognize the currency using image processing techniques. In this research novel shape based feature extraction method is proposed and the accuracy is compared with (Oriented FAST and Rotated BRIEF) ORB algorithm. Materials and Methods: The performance of the proposed system has been evaluated using a challenging dataset Github with a wide variety of conditions. The research includes two groups. Total sample size of 40 is taken for analysis. The Sample size was calculated using clinical.com by keeping alpha error-threshold by 0.05, 95 % confidence interval, power 80 % for control group (Shape based feature extraction $\mathrm{N}=20$) and study group (ORB algorithm $\mathrm{N}=20$). The analysis shows that the Shape based feature extraction method has an accuracy of 97.48 % and the accuracy of ORB algorithm is 89.85 %. The sensitivity of the Shape based feature extraction method is 97.20 % and the sensitivity of the ORB algorithm is 88.81 %. Significance value is 0.000 (p ¡ 0.05, 2-tailed). Conclusion: In this work it is found that the novel shape based feature extraction method performs significantly better than ORB algorithm in terms of accuracy and sensitivity.


Aluminum matrix composites strengthened with graphene sheets (Al-Gr) were fabricated by the combination of powder metallurgy and rolling methods. The morphologies and structures of Al-Gr powders as ball-milled were studied for different time. The effects of the graphene sheets content on the microstructures, density and wear property of the composites were also investigated. It is indicated that the graphene sheets are gradually dispersed into the aluminum matrix with increasing the ball-milling time and a uniform dispersion is achieved after ball-milling for 24 h. And no obvious agglomeration of graphene is observed in as-sintered and as-rolled composites for the contents of graphene sheets up to 1.0 wt.%. The coordinated deformation of multilayer graphene sheets occurs with the deformation of the surface grains during rolling, which may cause a significant reduction in the number of layers of graphene sheets. With increasing the graphene sheets contents, the density of the Al-Gr composites shows an decrease. The maximal hardness of Al-Gr composites were 89.3 ± 3.2 HV at 0.7 wt.% of graphene content, showing 39.5% increments over pure aluminum. The coefficient of friction and wear rate in Al-Gr composites are significantly reduced compared with those in the matrix.


In this paper, we address the issue of syntagmatic expressions from a computational lexical semantic perspective. From a representational viewpoint, we argue for a hybrid approach combining linguistic and conceptual paradigms, in order to account for the continuum we find in natural languages from free combining words to frozen expressions. In particular, we focus on the place of lexical and semantic restricted co-occurrences. From a processing viewpoint, we show how to generate/analyze syntagmatic expressions by using an efficient constraintbased processor, well fitted for a knowledge-driven approach.


A new approach for transient simulation of lossy transmission lines terminated in arbitrary nonlinear elements is presented. The approach is based on convolution simulation. By making use of the Pade approximations of each line's characteristic admittance function and exponential propagation function, the authors derive a recursive convolution formulation, which greatly reduces the computation used to perform convolutions. They analyze the errors introduced by Pade approximations and develop a scheme to determine the necessary order for an approximation. The approach was implemented in the stepwise equivalent conductance MOS timing simulator, SWEC, and, therefore, no Newton-Raphson iteration was needed to simulate lossy lines with nonlinear terminals. The simulation results of SWEC were compared with the results of SPICE3.e; SWEC, which gives accurate results, can be one to two orders-of-magnitude faster.<<ETX>>


High-field switching characteristics have been investigated in the spin-coated thin films of vinylidene fluoride/trifluoroethylene copolymers containing 52, 65, 73 mol% of the former. The switching times of three copolymers are identical af fields from 150 to 500 MV/m, following an exponential dependence on the reciprocal field. The observed fastest switching time is 100 nsec which is shorter than the dielectric relaxation time associated with crystalline dipole motions. The result indicates that total reorientation of crystalline dipoles occurs faster than the correlation time of their natural fluctuations.


The Farrud lithofacies represent the main reservoir rock of the Ghani oil field and Western Concession Eleven of the Sirte basin, Libya. Eight microfacies are recognized in the Farrud lithofacies in the Ghani field area: (1) bryozoan-bioclastic (shallow, warm, normal marine shelf deposits); (2) micrite (suggesting quiet, low-energy conditions such as may have existed in a well-protected lagoon); (3) dasycladacean (very shallow, normal marine environment); (4) bioclastic (very shallow, normal marine environment with moderate to vigorous energy); (5) mgal (very shallow, normal marine environment in a shelf lagoon); (6) pelletal-skeletal (deposition within slightly agitated waters of a sheltered lagoon with restricted circulation); (7) dolomicrite (fenestrate structures indicating a high intertidal environment of deposition); and (8) anhydrite (supratidal environment). The Paleocene suite of the Farrud lithofacies generally shows a prograding, regressive sequence of three facies: (1) supratidal facies, characterized by nonfossiliferous anhydrite, dolomite, and dolomitic pelletal carbonate mudstone; (2) intertidal to very shallow subtidal facies, characterized by fossiliferous, pelletal, carbonate mudstone and skeletal calcarenite; and (3) subtidal facies, characterized by a skeletal, pelletal, carbonate mudstone. Source rocks were primarily organic-rich shales overlying the Farrud reservoir rock. Porosity and permeability were developed in part by such processes as dolomitization, leaching, and fracturingmore » in the two progradational, regressive carbonate facies. Hydrocarbons were trapped by a supratidal, anhydrite cap rock.« less


A new Mesozoic isochron chart of the northwestern Pacific Ocean has been completed by utilizing all the currently available data from 357 cruises. Our chart provides the first whole view of the Mesozoic magnetic anomaly lineations in the northwestern Pacific Ocean and yields essential information for understanding the problems of the Mesozoic magnetostratigraphic time scale and the evolutional history of the Pacific plate. The Mesozoic magnetostratigraphic time scale must be recalibrated using not only the Hawaiian lineation set but also other Mesozoic lineation sets. The lack of lineation M0 in the lineation sets other than the Hawaiian lineation set indicates that a reorganization of the ridges except the Pacific-Farallon ridge occurred between chrons M1 and M0 (nearly 120 Ma). The eruption rate of the Shatsky hotspot seems to be comparable to that of the Reunion hotspot at their initial stage. The growth of the Pacific plate began in a small triangular region at about 190 Ma.


Obstruction of the digestive tract in newborns and infants is often characterized by vomiting, stool retention (meconium), abdominal bloating, visible increased peristalsis in the first hours of the disease. However, these symptoms are nonspecific and may be observed not only in surgical but also in somatic, therapeutic diseases: sepsis, otitis media, pneumonia, intestinal infections. Associated complications, often a combination of several malformations of the digestive tract, heart and, finally, late admission of the child to the surgical hospital significantly complicate the clinical diagnosis of congenital, acquired, functional and organic disorders of gastrointestinal tract patency.


A class of second-derivative two-step methods, S(2), with order 5 and depending on two parameters – which are used to adapt the stability region while minimizing the truncation error coefficient – is constructed. An analysis of two subclasses of S(2)–A(0) stable methods and methods with finite stability interval - with their stability and accuracy properties is presented. Numerical examples are also included.


The bilateral filter can remove Gaussian noise while preserving edges of the objects in an image. However the bilateral filter can not remove impulsive noise due to its edge preservation property. Therefore some robust bilateral filters have been proposed in order to also deal with impulsive noise. To make the bilateral filter more robust, this paper proposes a trilateral filter which incorporates a third weighting function based on the rank order information of pixel values into the bilateral filter. The effectiveness of the proposed method is verified in comparison with other conventional methods in experiments using the natural digital images corrupted by mixed Gaussian and impulsive noise.


This paper demonstrates the singularity avoidance of three dimensional planar redundant manipulators. It discusses how to make the planar manipulators more maneuverable by adding extra degrees of freedom to them. The manipulability and the parameter of singularity indexes have been calculated for three different degrees of freedom three dimensional planar redundant manipulators to show the effectiveness of the proposed method for singularity avoidance.


Consistent with an example embodiment, an integrated circuit device (IC) is assembled on a package substrate and encapsulated in a molding compound. There is a semiconductor die having a circuit pattern with contact pads. A package substrate having bump pad landings corresponding to the contact pads of the circuit pattern, has an interposer layer sandwiched between them. The interposer layer includes randomly distributed mutually isolated conductive columns of spherical particles embedded in an elastomeric material, wherein the interposer layer is subjected to a compressive force from pressure exerted upon an underside surface of the semiconductor die. The compressive force deforms the interposer layer causing the conductive columns of spherical particles to electrically connect the contact pads of the circuit pattern with the corresponding bump pad landings of the package substrate. The compressive force may be obtained from forces generated by thermal expansion properties of the molding compound and package substrate, metal clips or combinations, thereof.


Based on the theory of passive suspension feasibility design area and the engineering practice, this article takes a non-linear outer characteristic as the reference,which is structured by the suspension shock absorber's open-up damping coefficient, full-open damping coefficient and the smoothness-to-safety ratio. According to the non-linear characteristic, this article puts forward some principle methods and applied engineering conclusions to the sedan/min car shock absorber suspension design and reverse engineering focusing on the soft spring and light damping. The article discusses the way of the software and hardware quality control to reduce friction and noise as well.


The most detailed observables in theoretical studies of chemical reactions are the quantum state-to-state reaction probabilities determined as the modulus squared of the scattering matrix (S matrix) elements. Quantum mechanical methodology for S matrix calculation is well developed, especially in the level of Born-Oppenheimer approximation used for separating the nuclear dynamics from electronic motions. One of such numerical methods adopts boundary value Bloch operator in setting up the basis set representation of Schrodinger equation for the nuclear dynamical solution in the continuum region of energy (scattering energy) such as in the log derivative Kohn variational principle (Y-KVP) method of Manolopoulos and Wyatt. It has virtues of "totally energy-independent and real-valued basis functions/intermediate integrals" up to the point just before the final complex-valued S matrix evaluation. Since one must investigate the scattering solutions for many energies in the general practice of scattering problem, these properties substantially increase the computational efficiency than otherwise. However, when applied for general reactive multi-arrangement scattering on non-orthogonal coordinate system (e.g., the well-known collinear H2+H reactive scattering), it turns out to be inevitable to adopt wasteful redundant basis sets, each of which suitable for entrance and exit channels (at least, in the primitive direct product basis set description), and the subsequent cumbersome exchange-type integrations between the functions defined on different coordinate systems are unavoidable (about half of the integrals are of this type for the above example). Such formal inefficiency in the YKVP method can be avoided in the S-matrix version of Kohn variational principle (S-KVP) method by replacing the real-valued and energy-independent continuum-type basis functions with complex-valued and energy-dependent ones. However, it accompanies adverse effects, i.e., making a small rectangular part of Hamiltonian matrix to be complexvalued and energy-dependent. This work was motivated by noting that a delta function is included in the definition of conventional Bloch operator, consequently, it becomes a surface operator in multi-dimensional problem. By changing the effective region of the Bloch operator from surface to volume, we might hope to remove such unfavorable features of the Y-KVP method in a different way, and we intend to pursue this idea further. In the long run, no redundant basis sets are needed and all basis functions are real-valued and energy-independent, subsequently most of the intermediate integrals are real-valued and energy-independent except Nopen (the number of open channels) integrals which are complex-valued and energydependent in the present approach. All such features add up to suggest better performance over both of the Y-KVP and S-KVP methods, at least formally. Unfortunately, a small rectangular Bloch-operator-related matrix becomes complexvalued (though it can be evaluated from energy-independent intermediate integrals) just like in the S-KVP method. Perhaps, more importantly, it is a pity that this method is not benefited from the variational property, thus the calculated numerical S matrix is not guaranteed to be symmetric, unlike in the Y-KVP and S-KVP methods, as a result, it might be suffered from unstable features. Now we detail the derivation of the present approach. Scattering wave function ψ is chosen to satisfy the usual Smatrix boundary condition in the asymptotic region as a linear combination of incoming (I) and outgoing (O) waves with S matrix as the expansion coefficient,


India has pushed its goal of achieving sustainable development by making Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) spend mandatory for a particular category of companies as per the Companies Act, 2013. The social mandate has attached more importance to the implementation of CSR and the future of CSR depends on the attitudes of Management students who are future managers. The Orientation of these future managers will determine the practical implementation of CSR activities. Present paper is aimed at studying Orientation of management Students towards CSR and finding differences in Orientation of management students Marketing stream and Finance stream towards CSR. The study was conducted on a sample of 600 students of Master of Business Administration (MBA) program selected for the study in two groups of 300 students each of marketing stream and Finance stream. The findings indicate that Orientation of total group of management students is highest towards the Legal component. The results showed statistically significant differences in Orientation of management students of marketing stream and Finance stream towards CSR in regard to Economic, Ethical and Discretionary components. Orientation of marketing stream of management students is highest towards the economic component and finance stream of management students have shown highest orientation towards the legal component.


This article addresses the two related issues of near-death experience and life-threatening illness with a view to helping survivors and helping professionals appreciate how to make sense of the experience whilst considering future living and future service provision. The article is based on two related research studies, citing literature from different disciplines of nursing, women's health, spirituality and near death. This research was undertaken in the light of these experiences affecting so many aspects of life and living. The need to "dialogue with death" (Easwaran, 2008: Foreword) and life-threatening illness is the key message as opposed to shunning what is not readily understood and appreciated


Diets consisting of leaves of cotton and/or water were insufficient to promote the complete development and survival of Podisus nigrispinus (Dallas) to the adult stage. However, nymphs fed leaves lived longer than those provided with only water. Addition of Alabama argillacea (Huebner) larvae to the diet of P. nigrispinus added a substantial increment to the survival during the nymphal stage. The addition of cotton leaves to the diet of P. nigrispinus nymphs promoted an increase in the weight of newly eclosed adults, independent of predator sex. In addition, diets supplemented with cotton leaves promoted an increase in the duration of the oviposition period, the number of egg clutches per female, and the number of eggs per female. No effects were noted on either the duration of the pre-oviposition period, the number of eggs of the first clutch, the number of eggs per clutch, the interval between egg clutches, or sex ratio. Feeding on plant material by P. nigrispinus is a potentially positive attribute in biological control against cotton leafworm.


It is known that the radiation emitted by the accretion disk of supermassive black hole can heat up the surrounding gas in the protogalaxy. If the gas particles are in hydrostatic equilibrium during the galaxy formation and the cooling of the protogalaxy is mainly driven by the gas expansion, the correlation between the supermassive black hole mass MBH and velocity dispersion can naturally arise. Also, ve more related scaling relations can be obtained, which all agrees with empirical ts from observational data. Therefore, this modied energy-driven model may provide a clear picture on how the properties of a galactic supermassive black holes are connected with the kinetic properties of a galaxy.


By the programmable controller signal instruction, the related data which reflects the elevator current running status is transmitted to the upper computer. Then the MSComm controls of VB will read the data which has been transmitted to serial port form the PLC. In the simulant elevator the actual elevator running status would be demonstrated based on the data processed by the computer. The information exchange between the computer and PLC is realized based on RS-485 and the RS-232 correspondence agreement.


With the purpose of presenting a scientific, reasonable and feasible method to evaluate the performance of listed commercial banks, this thesis takes the current 16 listed commercial banks in China as study objects, selects their data up to 2011 and studies the performance evaluation system for listed commercial banks. First of all, based on principles of comprehensiveness and representativeness, this study builds a set of index system using cluster analysis and multiple correlation coefficient method. Secondly, analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and entropy method are used to identify the weight coefficient. Last, this paper ranks and assesses the operating performance for these commercial banks, using the improved TOPSIS method to calculate the comprehensive scores for each bank. Keywords-commercial banks; operating performance; comprehensive evaluation; improved TOPSIS method; cluster analysis


The aim of the investigation was to determine the optimal dates and morphological parameters of inoculated CT-26 tumors for evaluating the effectiveness of anti-cancer therapy. This was undertaken on the basis of morphological and morphometric investigations of the tumor growth dynamics by identifying the daily structural changes which were occurring. Materials and Methods. The features of morphological changes in experimental tumors growth were evaluated on Balb/c mice using the mouse colon CT-26 adenocarcinoma inoculated onto the external side of mouse ear auricles (n=20). The inoculation dose in all cases was 2·105 cells. The animals were removed by cervical dislocation on days 4, 8, 11, 17–19 or 20–22 after the inoculation. Each group consisted of four animals. The excised tumor was exposed to macroscopic and histological investigation. The specimens were stained by hematoxylin and eosin and picro-fuchsin using the Van-Gieson method. There were examined the quantitative composition of the cells the areas of the stroma and tumor parenchyma, the volume of the vascular bed, the area of necrosis and the presence of hemodynamic disruptions, the mitotic activity of the tumor cells. Results. The study of the features of morphological changes in experimental tumors growth showed that tumor growth is determined not only by the mitotic activity of the cells, but also by the degree of the vascular bed development and its capacity for performing its required functional load to the full. It was found that tumor angiogenesis is a fluctuating process which is, to a certain degree, connected with the state of the tumor cells. The formation of the vascular bed in the form of sinusoidal capillaries begins on day 4 after inoculation and it increases continuously until day 11. Between days 17–19 after inoculation there is a decrease in the proportion of vessels in the tumor tissue, but by days 20–22 this has increased again with the formation not only of sinusoidal capillaries, but also of vessels of larger diameters (to 200 μm). The manifestations of spontaneous tumor regration are characterized by the occurrence of cells with irreversible damage to their nuclei and cytoplasm with a parallel decrease in their mitotic activity, and by the appearance of mosaically located areas of spontaneous necrosis. Spontaneous regression is also reflected in the observation of hemodynamic and hemorheologic disorders — plethora (hyperemia), stasis, the sludge-phenomenon and diapedetic hemorrhage. Here there is a connection between the severity of the changes associated with spontaneous regression and the relationship of the tumor volume to the degree of the vascular bed development. When the tumor is small and the vascular network is well-developed, as is seen on day 11, spontaneous regression is revealed only by irreversible cell changes in a small number of tumor cells, while, by contrast, the bigger tumor size with a small number of vessels, as is registered on days 17–19, is characterized by a considerably greater number of dead cells (85%). The tumors of larger sizes observed on days 20–22 after inoculation, despite their more developed network of blood vessels, are characterized by a high level of spontaneous regression, which leads us to the conclusion that there is a mismatch between the level of angiogenesis in relation to the needs of the proliferating parenchymal elements. Conclusion. The development of this carcinoma is characterized by two parallel processes: the formation of the tumor as a morphological substrate and the development of spontaneous regressive changes within it. The state of the tumor cells and the degree of development of spontaneous regressive changes depend on both the size of the tumor and on the level of development and functioning of the vascular network. These findings suggest that when using CT-26 tumors inoculated into mouse ears for evaluating the effectiveness of anti-cancer therapy periods of greater than 11 days should be avoided, as from this time there are evident manifestations of spontaneous pathomorphism in the tumor.


The annellation of the benzothiazines (1a–c) with DMAD affords the corresponding pyrrolo[2,1-c][1,4]benzothiazines (5a–c) rather than pyrido[2,1-c][1,4]benzothiazines. Such structural assignments are based on spectroscopic and X-ray evidence


Abstract Earlier work has shown that the strength and growth of defects in elastomers is greatly affected by microstructure and mechanical constraint. Current work is focused on ionomeric materials which behave as elastomers under certain conditions of temperature, hydration, and mechanical constraint. These materials are typically characterized by large strains to failure. The present paper will deal with two aspects of their response that is important to design. The first is the creation of nonlinear constitutive equations that are appropriate for the description of their response in commercial codes. And the second is the development of strength concepts that are appropriate for the description of failure of such materials. Finally, the relationship of the material response and failure criteria to complexity of active stress states will be discussed.


We propose optimizations for the IEEE floating-point fused multiply-add operation by considering multiple exclusive parallel computation paths in the implementation. For the proposed design we can show a significant performance improvement over conventional implementations. Considering a variable latency implementation allows for further reduction of the average latency.


Disclosed is a method and a system for settling a user-configured individually alerting message by a registered in a telecommunication network telecommunication terminal proposed, wherein the telecommunications network comprises a core network and an access network, wherein the telecommunications terminal comprises an alarm application, wherein the telecommunications network has an associated alerting application processing entity, wherein the alert software is operable in a first, activated operating state and in a second, deactivated operating state, wherein the alerting message is generated only in the first operating state of the alarm application, the method comprising the steps of: - in a first process step there is a sufficient for the preparation of a radio link radio signal transmission situation between the telecommunication terminal and the access network, - in a following step, the first method the second process step, the first operating state of the alarm application is activated, - in a subsequent second process step, third step, an activation information from the telecommunications terminal is transmitted to the associated alerting application processing entity, - in a subsequent third method step, the fourth step, the generation of the alarm message by the associated alerting application processing instance in the event triggered that between the access network and the telecommunication terminal calculated present radio signal transmission situation for the preparation of a radio link between the access network and the telecommunications terminal during a predetermined or was time interval insufficient.


This paper assesses the temporal stability of trip generation, distribution, and assignment process at a state or provincial level. The assignment used data from a test study area that included the...


Summary Here we report for the first time the presence of the exotic leafcutter bee Megachile (Eutricharaea) concinna in South America, based on specimens collected in the northeast part of Buenos Aires province, Argentina. We believe that M. concinna accidentally entered the country probably together with the introduction of M. rotundata to different regions of the country for commercial purposes since the 1970's. A diagnosis, illustrations, flowers records, and nesting data are given.


During the COVID‐19 global pandemic, pobladora women in Valparaiso were crucial in the organisation of their communities and the ollas comunes (common pots). Many observers linked these new ollas comunes to the ones that existed during the Pinochet dictatorship, in this manner citing a politics of gendered memory and local feminist history that allowed them to re‐organise in record time. The article explores this comparison, using women's narratives on ollas comunes in the past and the present in order to critically assess their similarities and differences. Additionally, it analyses how, and why, pobladora popular feminist memory regarding food insecurity resistance strategies and ollas comunes is transferred between generations. This article uses interviews done with popular‐sector and feminist women in the Chilean port city of Valparaiso during 2020 and 2021, as part of the project, 'Women's Solidarity Networks Take on COVID‐19: the case of Valparaíso, Chile'.


A growing challenge Unemployment is a growing challenge that has not received the level of attention required to address it. Over the past two years the number of people signing-on the Live Register has increased by 145%. The INOU believes it is not possible to address the crisis facing the public finances without also addressing the unemployment crisis. The costs of unemployment are not just borne by the State but by local communities and unemployed people themselves and their families. Ireland has had to address the problem of unemployment before and there is a lot of expertise at local, national and European levels that should be harnessed to produce innovative and constructive solutions. It is now crucial that the State at all levels plays its' part in supporting unemployed people to address the issues facing them particularly the loss of income and securing future employment.


The consumption of mineral resources has grown dramatically during the 20th century. This massive increase has caused the problems of resources exhaustion and environmental pollution during the past twenty years. As a result, the necessity of resources recycling rises year by year.In this paper, 1) definition and signification of resources recycling, 2) history of mineral consumption and perspective of resources supply, 3) relation between social system and resources recycling, 4) examples of machines for resources recycling are outlined.


The synthesis of Bi-modified TiO2 thin films, with different Bi contents, is reported. The obtained materials were characterized by energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Raman spectroscopy (RS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), photoluminescence (PL), and diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), in order to obtain information on their chemical composition, vibrational features, and optical properties, respectively. Compositional characterization reveals that the bismuth content can be varied in an easy way from 0.5 to 25.4 at. %. Raman results show that the starting material corresponds to the anatase phase of crystalline TiO2, and Bi addition promotes the formation of bismuth titanates, Bi2Ti2O7 at Bi contents of 10.4 at. % and the Bi4Ti3O12 at Bi contents of 21.5 and 25.4 at. %. Optical measurements reveal that the band gap narrows from 3.3 eV to values as low as 2.7 eV. The photocatalytic activity was tested in the degradation reaction of the Malachite Green carbinol base dye (MG) as a model molecule under simulated sunlight, where the most relevant result is that photocatalytic formulations containing bismuth showed higher catalytic activity than pure TiO2. The higher photocatalytic activity of MG degradation of 67% reached by the photocatalytic formulation of 21.5 at. % of bismuth is attributed to the presence of the crystalline phase perovskite-type bismuth titanate, Bi4Ti3O12.


The characteristics of the leaching and transformation of Cu in vertical orientation is studied under the condition of the equivalent of the average annual precipitation in Taigu county,Shanxi.In the process,we used soil column leaching indoor simulation method and took calcareous cinnamon soil as the test soil.The results showed that: in the 0-20 cm soil layer,the migration and transformation of Cu is varying in degrees.After leaching,exchangeable copper,organically bound copper and remnant copper have decreased.Carbonate bound copper and oxide bound copper have increased.Available copper has increased.The content of organic matter in soil directly help organically bound copper and remnant copper available copper transforming into others,and thus increase the effectiveness of copper elements.The study provides a scientific basis in the effective use of copper in the soil and the control of copper pollution.


Transcriptional regulation is critical for the human immunodeficiency virus 1 (HIV-1) life cycle and is the only step at which the virus amplifies the content of its genetic information. Numerous known and still unknown transcriptional factors, both host and viral, regulate HIV-1 gene expression and latency. This article is a comprehensive review of transcription factors involved in HIV-1 gene expression and presents the significant implications of nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) and the HIV-1 transactivator of transcription (Tat) protein. We include recent findings on chromatin remodeling toward HIV transcription and its therapeutic implication is also discussed. The current status of small-molecular-weight compounds that affect HIV transcription is also described.


We, the Editor and Publisher of Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, have retracted the following article: Nabih I. Elkhouly, Nasser K. Abdelaal, Ayman E. Solyman, Osama A. Elkelani, Bahi F. Elbasueny & Alaa F. Elhalaby (2022) A new technique for uterine incision closure at the time of caesarean section: does it make a difference?, Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology,  42:3, 416–423,  DOI:  10.1080/01443615.2021.1910636 Since publication, significant concerns have been raised about the validity of the statistical analysis and reported results in the article. When approached for an explanation, the authors fully cooperated with the investigation and provided responses to our queries. However, they did not sufficiently address the concerns raised and they were unable to provide their original data for review. As the study includes inaccuracies in the statistical analysis and the journal has been unable to assess the raw data, we are therefore retracting the article. The authors do not agree with the retraction. We have been informed in our decision-making by our policy on publishing ethics and integrity and the COPE guidelines. The retracted article will remain online to maintain the scholarly record, but it will be digitally watermarked on each page as 'Retracted'.