Looking at HCF, the most critical component on the turbine is the blade.At the present moment there is a need for a HCF criterion suitable for evaluation of stresses calculated with the Finite Element Method. Today there are some, such criterions e.g. Sines. However the criterion does not include important aspects such as the influence of; 'geometrical size', 'stressed volume' or 'stress gradient'.A better understanding of the HCF phenomena would give an increase in the design precision and an opportunity to increase the load on the blades.A proposal is made for a new theory for HCF assessment. The input required by the theory is roughly the Haigh-diagram for a smooth test specimen.The theory is a merger between the Sines criterion and the statistical approach made by Weibull. 3 basic assumptions are made; equivalent stresses are calculated according to Sines, 'the weakest link assumption' and finally that the fatigue limit for a smooth specimen has a statistical distribution.Comparing the proposal to classical HCF assessment with Haigh-diagram, the following factors are incorporated:1, stress concentration factor2, fatigue notch factor (or notch sensitivity factor)3, geometric volume dependence4, different Haigh-diagrams for push-pull, bending and torsionIf the factors are incorporated partially or fully remains to be shown. It is also possible to give a geometrical quantification of the so called 'stressed volume'.Qualitative and quantitative tests have been made. Looking at them, the theory looks promising. However, it has to be tested further to get acquainted with any shortcomings of the theory.Copyright © 1998 by ASME


This paper explains the relevance of situational simulations in the construction engineering and management process. Most of the traditional simulations in construction belong to the optimization category. In contrast with the optimization simulations, situational simulations are not based on the interrelationships and trade-off among measurable variables. Situational simulations require the evaluation and interpretation of relevant information to "solve the crisis or problem" and are appropriate for problems or situations that offer the rapid unfolding of events and the pressure for decision-making. Situational simulations are also known as crisis management simulations, strategic simulations, and roleplaying simulations. The construction engineering and management process is represented through three different models: the process model, the product model, and the information model. The process model represents the construction process, the product model symbolizes the physical facility that is being built, and the information model characterizes the data generated about the product and the process. A description of each model is presented in this paper in order to illustrate the conceptual framework needed to establish the foundation for situational simulations.


The purpose of this study was to apply column with PHC pile. The operated load on PHC pile are transferred to the concrete core from a steel beam through a contacted face between an in-filled concrete and the interior surface of a steel band plate. And a push-out test was performed to investigate the load transfer mechanism and the bond strength of band plate. The main parameters considered for this study included thickness of steel band plate, a welding quantity, interval of shear key. Test results were summarized to confirmed load transfer behavior between a concrete and steel band plate for each experimental parameter, using the analytical approach to verify experimental results.


The isothermal quenching above martensite point of surface layer was carried out.The center of carburized part turned into martensite first after isothermal quenching in temperature above martensite point of surface layer,subsequently,the surface layer turned into martensite and kept large residual compressive stress in the process of cooling.After the heat treatment the part's fatigue fracture is 2 to 4 times than common quenching.The heat treatment process has significant impact on improving life of part,saving material and obtaining good social economic benefits.


The production of seed potato ( Solanum tuberosum L.) plants coming from in vitro culture will ensure the rapid spread of promising varieties. The aim of this work was to determine the response of four Cuban varieties during minitubers formation in greenhouse from plants in vitro obtained. Plants of the varieties 'Yuya', 'Marinca', 'Grettel' and 'Ibis' with height between 6.5 and 7.0cm were used. These were planted at a distance of 10x10cm on a substrate composed of organic matter (100%). At 15 days of culture the number of live plants was quantified and the percentage of survival was calculated. Subsequently, the fresh and dry mass of the foliage and root system were determined every 15 days and up to 90 days of culture and the absolute and relative growth rate were calculated. At 75 days of culture the number, diameter, fresh and dry mass of the minitubers were quantified. The results showed high plant survival (> 96.5%). The absolute and relative growth rate in the time and the formation of minitubers were dependent on the variety. The highest number of minitubers per plant was obtained in the variety 'Ibis' while the largest number with seed size (2.9-4.5 cm in diameter) was obtained in the varieties 'Yuya' and Grettel. The results of the work provided important information to establish differential agronomic management for each variety to increase the number of seed size minitubers. Keywords: fresh mass, minitubers, potato, growth rate


Rocket assisted torpedo aerial trajectory is analyzed briefly, and math model of rocket assisted torpedo aerial trajectory is constructed, includes non-torpedo parachute trajectory and torpedo parachute trajectory. According to the model, trajectory is simulated, and several tactics polynomials are achieved. The method and the result provide an efficacious guarantee for the operational employment of rocket assisted torpedo.


Continuous multicomponent liquid chromatographic separations have been achieved by using a slowly rotating annular bed of sorbent material. Feed is continuously introduced at a stationary point at the top of the bed while eluent flows over the remainder of the annulus. The rotation of the sorbent bed coupled with the simultaneous elution chromatography causes the separated components of the feed streams to appear as helical bands, each of which has a characteristic, stationary exit point. The concept has been developed using continuous annular chromatography units ranging from 50 to 450 mm in diameter and operating between 7 and 1300 kPa. To illustrate size-exclusion chromatography on a continuous basis, the separation of a polysaccharide, Blue Dextran, and a much smaller molecule, CoCl/sub 2/, on Sephadex G15, was studied over a wide range of feed rates, feed concentrations, rotation rates, and eluent velocities. Plate theory, modified for application to continuous chromatography, provided an excellent means of modeling the experimental results.


In a previous paper 1 the literature on the pathologic changes of the adrenal glands in pemphigus was reviewed, and the findings in 6 cases seen at New York City Hospital were presented. Progressive severe destructive changes with subsequent cirrhosis were found in all cases, the acuteness and extent of the lesions corresponding to the duration and severity of the disease. Since that time I have been able to study the adrenal glands in another case of pemphigus, and the findings were so unusual that I shall now present them. REPORT OF CASE History .—A 34 year old Jewish woman was admitted to the hospital with a five to six months' history of generalized bullous lesions which had extended to the oral mucosa, producing severe pain, nausea and dysphagia. Intensive therapy with vitamin D (100,000 units a day) did not help, and despite the addition of penicillin, the patient


The Particle Flow Algorithms attempt to measure each particle in a hadronic jet individually, using the detector providing the best energy/momentum resolution. Therefore, the spatial segmentation of the calorimeter plays a crucial role. In this context, the CALICE Collaboration developed the Digital Hadron Calorimeter. The Digital Hadron Calorimeter uses Resistive Plate Chambers as active media and has a 1-bit resolution (digital) readout of 1 × 1 cm2 pads. The calorimeter was tested with steel and tungsten absorber structures, as well as with no absorber structure, at the Fermilab and CERN test beam facilities over several years. In addition to conventional calorimetric measurements, the Digital Hadron Calorimeter offers detailed measurements of event shapes, rigorous tests of simulation models and various tools for improved performance due to its very high spatial granularity. Here we report on the results from the analysis of pion and positron events. Results of comparisons with the Monte Carlo simulations are also discussed. The analysis demonstrates the unique utilization of detailed event topologies.


Professor Ronald Gillam, PhD holds the Raymond and Eloise Lillywhite Endowed Chair in Speech-Language Pathology at Utah State University, where he is also the Co-Director of the Interdisciplinary Doctoral Program in Neuroscience. His research, which has been funded by the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Department of Education, primarily concerns information processing, language assessment, and language intervention with school-age children with language disorders. Dr. Gillam has published three books, three norm-referenced tests, and more than 130 articles and book chapters. He has been an associate editor of the Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, the American Journal of Speechread more 


The aim of this study was to extend the safety limits of fast moving cars by the application, in a controlled way, of aerodynamic forces which increase as the square of a car's velocity and, if left uncontrolled, dramatically reduce car safety. This paper presents the methods, assumptions, and results of numerical and experimental investigations by modeling and simulation of the aerodynamic characteristics and dynamics of a small sports car equipped with movable aerodynamic elements operated by an electronic subsystem for data acquisition and aerodynamics active automatic control.


Semantic similarity has attracted great concern for a long time in artificial intelligence, psychology and cognitive science. In recent years the measures based on WordNet have shown its talents and attracted great concern. Many measures have been proposed. The paper contains a review of the state of art measures, including path based measures, information based measures, feature based measures and hybrid measures. The features, performance, advantages, disadvantages and related issues of different measures are discussed. Finally the area of future research is described..


The localization of light in flat-band lattices has been recently proposed and experimentally demonstrated in several configurations, assuming a classical description of light. Here, we study the problem of light localization in the quantum regime. We focus on quasi one-dimensional and two-dimensional lattices which exhibit a perfect flat-band inside their linear spectrum. Localized quantum states are constructed as eigenstates of the interaction Hamiltonian with a vanishing eigenvalue and a well defined total photon number. These are superpositions of Fock states with probability amplitudes given by positive as well as negative square roots of multinomial coefficients. The classical picture can be recovered by considering poissonian superpositions of localized quantum states with different total photon number. We also study the separability properties of flat band quantum states and apply them to the transmission of information via multi-core fibers, where these states allow for the total passive suppression of photon crosstalk and exhibit robustness against photon losses. At the end, we propose a novel on-chip setup for the experimental preparation of localized quantum states of light for any number of photons.


In this paper, the dust-retaining capability of 11 garden tree species in Chengyang District of Qingdao City was determined, and the micro-configuration of their leaf epidermis was observed. The results showed that there were great differences in the dust-retaining capability of test tree spices, with the maximum being 4 times or more of the minimum. Rainfall decreased the particulate density on leaf surface significantly, but the efficiency differed greatly with tree species. Different tree species had different leaf epidermal micro-configuration. The leaves of Fraxinus pennsylvanica and Pyracantha fortuneana had smooth surfaces, their cells and stomata arranged regularly, and thus, their dust-retaining capability was poor; while those of Platanus orientalis, Cercis chinensis, and Lagerstroemia indica had many tubercles or evident ridgelike rumple, and hence, their dust-retaining capability was stronger. The denser configuration and more obvious concave/convex of leaf epidermis were in favor of dust-retaining for trees.


This paper presents a detection method of driver's drowsiness with focus on analyzing individual differences in biological signals and performance data. We have studied biological signals of a driver to detect drowsiness during driving. Our former research suggested a method analyzing changes in indexes derived from biological signals, however the method needs to be configured for each driver because the relation between the indexes and the drowsiness depends on individuals. To analyze the indexes in consideration of the individual differences, neural networks was used in this paper. The learning function the networks was utilized to adapt to the differences. We conducted a experiment that 6 drivers drove a driving simulator to gather their pulse wave and steering data. As the result of learning and analyzing the indexes in neural networks, 98% of the highest ratio was shown in detection of driver's drowsiness. A method of detecting driver's drowsiness is a need for realization of safer traffic environment. The proposed method would contribute to prevent traffic accidents caused by human errors in a drowse.


of fluid-filled fractures by fluid buoyancy a of and water-filled crevasses Industrial hydro- fracturing utilises fluid-driven fractures to increase the permeability of rock formations; the effect of buoyancy on fracture pathways in this is typically neglected. Analytical approximations for the buoyant ascent rate facilitate quantitative estimates of buoyant effects. Such analysis exists for two-dimensional fractures, but real fractures are 3D. Here we present novel analysis to predict the buoyant ascent speed of 3D fractures containing a fixed-volume batch of fluid. We provide two estimates of the ascent rate: an upper limit applicable at early 18 time, and an asymptotic estimate (proportional to 𝑡 − 2 / 3 ) describing how the speed decays at late time. We infer and verify these predictions by comparison with numerical experiments across a range of scales and analogue experiments on liquid oil in solid gelatin. We find the ascent speed is a function of the fluid volume, density, viscosity and the elastic parameters of the host medium. Our approximate solutions can predict the ascent rate of fluid-driven fractures across a broad parameter space, including cases of water injection in shale and 24 magmatic dykes. Our results demonstrate that we compare our to numerical results in terms of the time-dependent height of the upper tip above the injection point. As the previous figures, we find the fracture must ascend by a length of more than 2 𝑎 (box shown is 3 𝑎 ) before buoyancy becomes the 403 dominant driver of propagation. After that time, the results show the predicted and simulated 404 heights are comparable. These comparisons show that our analytical approximations capture the leading-order fracture ascent speed across a broad parameter space. We further note that our analytical results for the extent and ascent speed provide a reliable means to forecast the required PyFrac domain size and simulation duration for a given set of parameters, such that 408 the numerical model converges and completes the intended simulation.


The rRPa contains BAT sympathetic premotor neurons controlling BAT sympathetic nerve activity (SNA) and BAT thermogenesis. We report here the contribution of a tonic activation of glycineA receptors in the rRPa at the inhibitory regulation of BAT SNA and BAT thermogenesis, as well as cardiovascular parameters, in urethane/chloralose anesthetized, artificially‐ventilated rats. Under warm conditions, nanoinjection of strychnine (STR) into the rRPa increased BAT SNA (peak: +495% of control), BAT temperature (TBAT, + 1.1 °C), expired CO2, (+ 0.4 %), core body temperature (TCORE, + 0.2 °C), mean arterial pressure (MAP, + 4 mmHg) and heart rate (HR, + 57 bpm). Glycine (GLY) injection into the rRPa evoked a potent, 74 % inhibition of cooling‐evoked BAT SNA, and reductions in TBAT (−0.2 °C), TCORE (−0.2 °C), expired CO2 (−0.2 %), MAP (−8 mmHg), and HR (−22 bpm), but did not reduce any of these parameters after STR nanoinjection into rRPa. Nanoinjection of STR into the rRPa had no effect on the ability of nanoinjection of GABA into the rRPa to inhibit BAT SNA (−86 % of the cold‐evoked BAT SNA), and expired CO2 (−0.4 %). Blockade of glutamate receptors with AP5/CNQX into rRPa markedly inhibited the STR‐evoked increases in BAT SNA (−56 %), TBAT (−0.4 °C), expired CO2 (−0.8 %), MAP (−8 mmHg) and HR (−34 bpm). Regarding the synaptic integration occurring at the BAT sympathetic premotor neurons in the rRPa, we conclude that a tonically‐active, glycinergic inhibitory input contributes to reductions in their discharge probabilities that compete with their excitatory inputs from the DMH and brainstem sites to determine the level of BAT thermogenesis and energy expenditure.


Books Reviewed: Recent Prize–Winning Books In History Richard S. Wortman, Scenarios of Power: Myth and Ceremony in Russian Monarchy: From Alexander II to the Abdication of Nicholas II. Bernard F. Reilly, The Kingdom of Leon–Castilla under King Alfonso VII, 1126–1157 James A. Percoco, A Passion for the Past: Creative Teaching of U.S. History Review Essay Mark E. Neely Jr., "Lincoln: Icon, Talisman, Touchstone" Barry Schwartz, Abraham Lincoln and the Forge of National Memory. Harry V. Jaffa, A New Birth of Freedom: Abraham Lincoln and the Coming of the Civil War. John Patrick Diggins, On Hallowed Ground: Abraham Lincoln and the Foundations of American History. Africa and the Middle East Choussef M. Choueiri, Arab Nationalism: A History. Sevket Pamuk, A Monetary History of the Ottoman Empire Owen White, Children of the French Empire: Miscegenation and Colonial Society in French West Africa 1895–1960 The Americas Kenneth R. Bowling and Donald R. KennonDavid Sloan (eds), Neither Separate Nor Equal: Congress in the 1790s. Stephen F. Cohen, Failed Crusade: America and the Tragedy of Post–Communist Russia. Charles C. Cole Jr., A Fragile Capital: Identity and the Early Years of Columbus, Ohio. Nancy F. Cott. (ed.), No Small Courage: A History of Women in the United States. Jane Dailey, Glenda Elizabeth Gilmore and Bryant Simon (eds), Jumpin' Jim Crow: Southern Politics from Civil War to Civil Rights. Lawrence H. Feldman (ed.), Lost Shores, Forgotten Peoples: Spanish Explorations of the South East Maya Lowlands. John Ferling, Setting the World Ablaze: Washington, Adams, and Jefferson, and the American Revolution. Webb Garrison, Mutiny in the Civil War. By Max Harris, Aztecs, Moors, and Christians: Festivals of Reconquest in Mexico and Spain. Keith P. Jacobi, Last Rites for the Tipu Maya: Genetic Structuring in a Colonial Cemetery. Richard L. Kiper, Major General John Alexander McClernand: Politician in Uniform. James W. Loewen, Lies Across America: What Our Historic Sites Get Wrong. Larissa Adler Lomnitz and Ana Melick, Chile's Political Culture and Parties: An Anthropological Explanation Forrest McDonald, States' Rights and the Union: Imperium in Imperio, 1776–1876 Diane McWhorter, Carry Me Home: Birmingham, Alabama: The Climactic Battle of the Civil Rights Revolution James Moorhead, World Without End: Mainstream American Protestant Visions of the Last Things, 1880–1925 Bruce Nelson, Divided We Stand: American Workers and the Struggle for Black Equality William R. Nester, "Haughty Conquerors": Amherst and the Great Indian Uprising of 1763 Gunther Peck, Reinventing Free Labor: Padrones and Immigrant Workers in the North American West, 1880–1930 Louis A. Pérez Jr., On Becoming Cuban: Identity, Nationality, and Culture Jon Roper, The American Presidents: Heroic Leadership From Kennedy to Clinton Margarete Sandelowski, Devices and Desires: Gender, Technology, and American Nursing David F. Schmitz, Henry L. Stimson: The First Wise Man S. S. Schweber, In the Shadow of the Bomb: Oppenheimer, Bethe, and the Moral Responsibility of the Scientist Birgitte Søland, Becoming Modern: Young Women and the Reconstruction of Womanhood in the 1920s Mark A. Stoler, Allies and Adversaries: The Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Grand Alliance, and U.S. Strategy in World War II Asia and the Pacific Sumit Guha, Environment and Ethnicity in India, 1200–1991. Victor S. Kaufman, Confronting Communism: U.S. and British Policies toward China. By Xin Zhang, Social Transformation in Modern China: The State and Local Elites in Henan, 1900–1937. John Aberth, From the Brink of the Apocalypse: Confronting Famine, War, Plague, and Death in the Later Middle Ages Bevin Alexander, How Hitler Could Have Won World War II: The Fatal Errors That Led to Nazi Defeat Stuart Andrews, The British Periodical Press and the French Revolution, 1789–99 Anthony Arthur, The Tailor–King: The Rise and Fall of the Anabaptist Kingdom of Münster Robert Asprey, The Rise of Napoleon Bonaparte Nigel Aston, Religion and Revolution in France, 1780–1804 Jan Bondeson, The London Monster: A Sanguinary Tale Marjorie Chibnall, The Normans Adam R. A. Claasen, Hitler's Northern War: The Luftwaffe's Ill–Fated Campaign, 1940–1945 Anthony Cross, Peter the Great through British Eyes: Perceptions and Representations of the Tsar Since 1698 Alexander De Grand, The Hunchback's Tailor: Giovanni Giolitti and Liberal Italy from the Challenge of Mass Politics to the Rise of Fascism, 1882–1922 Donald Denoon and Philippa Mein–Smith with Marivic Wyndham, A History of Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Edhem Eldem, Daniel Goffman, and Bruce Masters, The Ottoman City Between East and West: Aleppo, Izmir, and Istanbul G. R. Evans (ed.), The Medieval Theologians: An Introduction to Theology in the Medieval Period Richard J. Evans, Lying About History: History, Holocaust, and the David Irving Trial Christopher E. Forth, Zarathustra in Paris: The Nietzsche Vogue in France, 1891–1918 Richard A. Gabriel, Great Captains of Antiquity David M. Gitlitz and Linda Kay Davidson, The Pilgrimage Road to Santiago: The Complete Cultural Handbook Robert Justin Goldstein, The War for the Public Mind: Political Censorship in Nineteenth–Century Europe Thomas Harrison, Divinity and History: The Religion of Herodotus Europe Lewis Siegelbaum and Andrei Sokolov, Stalinism as a Way of Life: A Narrative in Documents Jerzy Kloczowski, A History of Polish Christianity David Clay Large, Berlin Elizabeth Makowski, Canon Law and Cloistered Women: "Periculoso" and Its Commentators John Mosier, The Myth of the Great War: A New Military History of World War I Ian Ousby, Occupation: The Ordeal of France Michael Rapport, Nationality and Citizenship in Revolutionary France: The Treatment of Foreigners 1789–1799. J. P. Riley, Napoleon and the World War of 1813: Lessons in Coalition Warfighting H. Sidky, The Greek Kingdom of Bactria: From Alexander to Eucratides the Great Angela K. Smith, The Second Battlefield: Women, Modernism, and the First World War David Starkey, Elizabeth: The Struggle for the Throne Raymond G. Stokes, Constructing Socialism: Technology and Change in East Germany, 1945–1990 Victoria E. Thompson, The Virtuous Marketplace: Women and Men, Money and Politics in Paris, 1830– 1870 Richard F. Wetzell, Inventing the Criminal: A History of German Criminology, 1880–1945 Bernd Widdig, Culture and Inflation in Weimar Germany Susan Zuccotti, Under His Very Windows: The Vatican and the Holocaust in Italy General, Comparative, Historiographical Anton Blok, Honour and Violence. Richard Hough, Naval Battles of the Twentieth Century. Brian Stock, After Augustine: The Meditative Reader and the Text. Jay Winter, Geoffrey Parker, and Mary R. Habeck (eds.), The Great War and the Twentieth Century.


The twelve selections in this issue continue the discussion in "Brain Drain and Brain Gain (I)" (Chinese Education and Society 33, no. 5 [September-October 2000] and "Overseas Studies" (Chinese Education and Society 31, no. 2 [March-April 1998]). The articles range from the very short, which provide some basic statistical data, to the fairly long, capped by Selections 11 and 12. The former consists primarily of a set of policy proposals intended to aid Shanghai's efforts to attract those studying and working overseas back to that metropolis, and the latter presents a series of reports on Shenzhen's successful efforts to attract Chinese students and scholars, who have studied abroad, back to that Special Economic Zone. The comparison between the efforts of Shanghai and Shenzhen, probably the two most active cities competing for this pool of top talent, is a particularly fascinating one.


Shale gas and oil are significant unconventional energy resources in the United States. Because of their low porosity and permeability, as well as the complex pore systems in organic rich shale formations, their petrophysical properties are not fully understood. Further, it is well known that wettability influences many aspects of reservoir characteristics, especially hydrocarbon storage and recovery; however, wettability of organic rich shale is an enigma. In this work, rock wettability of various shale formations, including Eagle Ford, Marcellus and Mancos, was studied using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) measurements. A special fluid injection device was developed to study the impact of injected fluids on the shale rock properties. The effect of various fluids was studied by monitoring the changes in NMR response caused by fluid injection. After injecting either water or oil into the shale cores, we observed amplitude increases in the T2 relaxation curve at T2 values much faster than those associated with the bulk fluids. The results provide a positive indication that the fluids were successfully injected into and incorporated into the rock. When water is injected, the amplitudes of the NMR signals representing fluids in the water-wet pores are expected to increase, while signals from 100% oil-wet pores should remain unaffected. Similarly, the amplitudes of the oil-wet pore signals increase when oil is injected. Also, NMR signals with relaxation times slower than several milliseconds are considered to be associated with relatively larger pores and micro-fractures. For Eagle Ford and Mancos shale samples, the experiments showed NMR signal amplitudes increase in the T2 range greater than a few milliseconds when oil and water were injected. This increase can be interpreted as having a mixed-wet condition in the relatively large pores and microfractures. In addition, the injection of oil in the Eagle Ford shale cores did not produce a signal amplitude increase within the relaxation time region below 1 ms; therefore, small pores in these Eagle Ford samples are likely water-wet. On the other hand, our study indicated that the small pores are mixed-wet in the Marcellus shale core samples, since a signal amplitude increase was observed after injecting both oil and water.


The situation of wetland was quite serious in China.The wetland area continually reduced and its quality kept on decreasing.The conflicts between wetland conservation and utilization had never ended up all the time.The investment on wetland conservation was insufficient.Therefore,the establishment of the compensation institution on wetland ecological benefit is quite necessary.Wetland compensation has 2 folds.In one way,it requests those who do harm to the wetland pay for their behaviors.In another way,it provides compensation to those whose traditional interest being derived from wetland use are affected by wetland conservation and those who do favor to wetland conservation.To establish the wetland ecological benefit compensation institution,some fundamental principles should be affirmed firstly,and then the institution should be designed to comprise the following contents,such as,the main body of compensation,the objects,the establishment of compensation fund and its administration system,compensation forms,the implementation process and monitoring management,and so on.


Polycaprolactone/sodium alginate composite filaments and their resulted 3D printed structures were able to adsorb heavy metals from aquatic copper sulphate solutions.


The invention relates to encapsulation and assembling interconnection methods of micro-electronic and optoelectronic devices, in particular to a room temperature ultrasonic soldering method for area array encapsulated electronic components. The method comprises the following steps of: (1) preparing an area array encapsulated device; (2) preparing a corresponding pad; (3) aligning the area array encapsulated device with the position of the pad; (4) applying certain supersonic vibration and longitudinal pressure on the area array encapsulated device by using a transverse vibration ultrasonic vibrator, so that the solder lug boss generates high-frequency friction with the corresponding pad surface, gradually falls down, and forms metallurgical connection with the pad of the base plate. The invention has the advantages that the tangential vibration ultrasonic waves are utilized at room temperature to connect the area array encapsulated device with the solder alloy solder joint, thereby preventing the soldered structure from undergoing the process of the reheating cycle, eliminating the formation of the heat stress, inhibiting the nucleation and grain growth of the intermetallic compounds and enhancing the reliability and the electrical performance of the joints. The method also has the advantages of simple procedure, high speed, no soldering flux, no need of strict surface cleaning, and the like.


Land use is an important field in the global environment change. This paper, taking Luocun town of NanHai District of Foshan city as an example, with the help of GIS technology, mathematics model and landscape-ecology theory, analyses the landscape pattern's changes of land-use from different region scales and different levels(the whole luocun Town and every village in luocun Town). The study shows that the fragmentation level increased. The edge degree and the PD are increased, and the landscape contagion indexes increased, but the LPI decreased. It suggests that the fragment degree and the separate degree are increased constantly. The landscape evenness index is increased, which suggests that the area of land-use patch class approach to equality. The change of the landscape pattern takes on district diversity, in the mainly, which can be cured up two different area (the eastern area and the western area). The villages in the east have a high land-use index all the time, and they have a low extent during 1987-2002; but the villages in the west have a high extent during1987-2002, the landscape diversity index and landscape evenness index are increased, the land-use develop to the diversity and at the same time, the land-use develop to the evenness, also.


Gold is normally present in human and animal tissues in only minute proportions. The the element has no known natural biological function, although some algae are able to absorb considerable quantities of gold from solution and there is one plant species known to concentrate the metal. Many gold compounds are highly toxic to animals, especially chloroauric acid and its salts, largely because of their oxidising ability. Nevertheless, gold and its compounds have a long history of medical application (1). In this century, a few gold compounds have been used very successfully in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (2). In the last year, a new compound has been approved for general use in this field (3), and another new material shows promise as an anti-tumour agent (4). As might be expected for drugs containing a heavy metallic element which has no natural function, there are some side effects, notably skin rashes, diarrhoea and nephrosis, and some patients cannot tolerate this form of treatment (5, 6). Those who can, however, may well experience actual remission of the disease. Very little is known about the way in which the goldcontaining drugs act. This is partly because the origin of rheumatoid arthritis is itself not understood, but also because the biological chemistry of gold has been little studied. Indeed, despite intensive work over the Iast few years, even the precise details of the molecular structures of the established drugs themselves remain obscure; if attempts were being made to introduce them today as new drugs, it is unlikely that their use would be sanctioned. The purpose of this article is to give a survey of the types of compounds presently employed in medicine, of the distribution of gold in the body which results from their use, and of some relevant chemistry. Emphasis is placed on results obtained in the last few years; other reviews give good coverage of earlier work (7, 8).


AbstractCarboplatin was encapsulated in reverse phase evaporation vesicles (REV) consisting of hydrogenated egg phosphatidylcholine and cholesterol (HEPC:CH) in a molar ratio of 1 : 0.25. Both antitumor effects, influence on hematopoiesis and cytokine levels were measured in mice after i.p. or i.v. injection in comparison to the free drug. In the syngeneic murine P 388 leukemia and the Meth A sarcoma liposomal encapsulation resulted in a loss of antitumor activity. On contrary, in 3/6 breast carcinomas xenografted to nude mice CPL had a superior tumor inhibiting effect compared to free carboplatin, which could be further improved by using the combination of free and liposomal drug. As reported earlier CPL induced a five- or tenfold, at least 30 days lasting increase in peripheral white blood cells after only one single i.v. or i.p. injection, respectively. A second administration in a 7–10 weeks distance was able to a repeated stimulation. The colony forming activity and the percentage of cells in S-phase...


The dual-tree complex wavelet transform is considered a relatively recent improvement for the discrete wavelet transform. In this paper, the applicability of such transform in the problem of speech enhancement is evaluated. For this purpose, a nonthreshold scheme is proposed. Two filters, one for the imaginary part and other for the real part of complex wavelet coefficients were designed. These two real filters were then averaged to obtain the final filter. A uniform noise reduction was performed for all wavelet scales. Simulation results show that, together, nonthresholding scheme and dual-tree complex wavelet transform obtained consistently results.


Poisonings during childhood account for 0.3-0.4% of consultations in the emergency pediatric services and constitute a pathology that must be born in mind, because of its frequency, its consumption of resources, its repercussion on the surrounding milieu and the possibility of its prevention. With respect to its epidemiology, the first cause of pediatric poisoning are medicines, with paracetamol outstanding as the most frequent cause of poisoning. In the second place in order of frequency we find products of household use, although their importance in pediatric toxicology rests basically on the fact that some of these products, such as cosmetics, can result in accidental ingestion, almost exclusively involving children.


making music and Enriching Lives fills an important niche in the very large world of books about music. It's unlike any other instructional book in the way it addresses comprehensive, across-the-board issues that affect all teachers, students, and musicians. In this book, you will find specifics not only about how to teach music, but also about how to motivate and inspire students of any age.Words: making music, music and you, music making, music only youAuthor: Blanchard, Bonnie Publisher: Indiana University Press Illustration: N Language: ENG Title: Making Music and Enriching Lives Pages: 00000 (Encrypted PDF) On Sale: 2007-09-01 SKU-13/ISBN: 9780253219176 Category: Music : Instruction & Study General


The electronic structures of zinc blende GaN (001)(1×1) surface are studied by employing an ab initio 'mixed basis + norm conserving non local pseudopotential' method.Atomic partial densities of states,charge density distributions,and surface band structures are calculated and analyzed on both Ga terminated surface and N terminated surface.The results show that the properties on Ga terminated (001) surface is more stable than those on the N terminated.Both Ga and N terminated (1×1) surfaces are metallic.The properties of atoms in a sub surface atomic layer are also discussed.


A radioecological model was developed to estimate thyroid exposures of the population of Belarus subsequent to the Chernobyl accident. The input of the model consists of an extensive data set of the Cs-activity per unit area deposited during the Chernobyl accident, rainfall data for different regions of Belarus, the I/Cs ratio in the deposit and the start of the grazing period in Belarus in April/May 1986. The output of the model is the age-dependent thyroid exposure due to the intake of I with fresh milk. Age-dependent average thyroid doses were assessed for the selected regions of Belarus. The maximum values of thyroid dose were estimated for the inhabitants of the Gomel oblast where the highest deposition was observed among the regions considered in this paper. The lowest doses were estimated for the Vitebsk oblast with the lowest level of depositions. The mean exposures for Grodno oblast and Minsk oblast and for Mogilev oblast and Brest oblast are very similar. The results were compared with estimations of the thyroid exposure that are based on Imeasurements in human thyroids; the results are in good agreement. The model may be used to assess thyroid exposures in Belarus for areas, where no I-measurements are available.


Sport may teach people how to win gracefully, but it may also teach them how to win at any cost, even if this involves violence or cheating. To understand the complex relationship between modern sport and other aspects of society, it is necessary to strip away our preconceptions of how sport ought to operate and to examine, in as detached a manner as possible, the way in which sport really operates. Particular issues examined include: Sport, health and public policy; child abuse and sex abuse in sport; conflicts in the role of club medical staff in professional football; doping in sport; sports medicine and the development of performance enhancing drugs; and a case study of cycling and the 1998 Tour de France. Interview transcripts, case studies and press cuttings are used to ground theory into reality. Students and lecturers should find this a useful resource.


Objective:To observe the efficacy of MEBO in treating wounds after resection of thrombotic external hemorrhoids and excision of old anal fissure.MEBO gauze was packed in the wounds after operation and was removed after 24 hours.Then MEBO was applied 2 times a day,until the wounds healed.Result:48 cases were treated with MEBO after operation.There was no pain and no bleeding in the wounds.No wound infection and stricture of anus happened.Wound healing time was short and the curative rate was high.Conclusion:MEBO is a good remedy for treating external hemorrhoids and old anal fissure after operation.


Effect of acidic deposition caused by the combustion of fossil fuel on surface waters has become significant in the United States and European countries since 1960s. On the other hand, the surface water acidification due to atmospheric pollutants has not yet been observed in Japan. For the long-term prediction of acidic deposition effect in Japan, an appropriate predictive method is neccessary. Comparison of acidified rivers and lakes in the United States and Europe, and surface waters in Japan, shows that the pH level of precipitation is higher and the acid neutralizing capacity (ANC) of watershed soil is larger in Japan than in these countries. Therefore, the acidic deposition effect in Japan should be predicted using a numerical model which takes into account the ANC of the watershed reasonably. From a viewpoint of reliability and applicability, four previous models: ETD, MAGIC, Birkenes and ILWAS are noted. However, these models may need verifications or modifications on their runoff components and mineral weathering submodels in their applications to Japanese watersheds, where geomorphological and geological conditions are different from those in the United States and Europe.


Using DFT calculations, we present a thorough study of the quantum size effects on the stability of freestanding metal atom wires. Our systems include Na, Ag, Au, In, Ga and Pb atom wires, i.e. $s$, $sd$, and $sp$ electron prototypes. We found that the total energy always oscillates with the wire length, which clearly indicates the existence of preferred lengths. Increasing the length, the s-system exhibits even-odd oscillations following a $a/x +b/x^2$ decay law in the stability, which can be attributed to electron band filling and quantum confinement along the wire. The $sd$-system exhibits a similar oscillation pattern, even in the presence of $sd$ hybridization. In $sp$-system, the energy oscillations are beyond the simple even-odd nature, likely due to unpaired p orbitals and the corresponding nontrival band filling. Our findings clearly demonstrate that electronic contribution is quite critical to the stability of freestanding wires, and this stability may be important even when wires are deposited on substrates or strained. This study sheds light on the underlying formation mechanism of metal atom wires.


This dissertation presents a detailed investigation of the use of rotating slant-hole (RSH) collimators in single-photon emission-computed tomography(SPECT). We propose RSH SPECT as an alternative imaging technique, which may have advantages over more traditional SPECT techniques, in certain imaging applications. The basic imaging properties of RSH collimators are derived. This includes the derivation of expressions for the size and location of the common volume of view and the geometric resolution and efficiency. In addition, we derive an analytical expression for the geometric response and transfer functions of RSH collimators. The theoretical expressions for the aforementioned imaging characteristics are verified via Monte Carlo simulations and phantom experiments. Next, we present the development of a three-dimensional (3-D) analytic reconstruction algorithm for RSH SPECT. This includes the derivation of both a backprojection of the filtered projections and a filtering of the simple backprojections (BpjF) algorithm. The relationship between the derived 3-D RSH reconstruction filter and a number of other reconstruction filters is discussed. In addition, the implementation of the BpjF reconstruction algorithm is described and its performance is demonstrated via simulations and phantom experiments. We have also implemented an iterative ordered-subsets expectation-maximization (OS-EM) reconstruction algorithm for RSH SPECT. A detailed description of the development of the projector/backprojector employed by the OS-EM algorithm is provided. Simulation and phantom experiments are again used to demonstrate the performance of the projector/backprojector and the iterative OS-EM reconstruction algorithm. Rotating slant-hole SPECT has potential applications in cardiac and breast imaging. Thus, we demonstrate the feasibility, advantages, and disadvantages of using RSH SPECT via a comparison with conventional SPECT in a cardiac and breast imaging phantom experiment. In conclusion, we summarize the results presented and discuss their implications on the current and future state of RSH SPECT research.


A new hybrid excitation permanent machine-doubly fed hybrid excitation permanent magnet synchronous machine without rotor winding is presented. The structure, mathematic model and operation principle of the machine are introduced. It is shown that excitation regulation can be realized by changing the current of stator control winding. The field control performance in the generator and motor operation state is studied by theoretic calculation and experiment. Not only the machine has the advantages of brushless, high power density and efficiency, but also voltage regulation for generator and field weakening control for motor can be achieved.


A surgical instrument includes a transducer configured to produce vibrations along a longitudinal axis at a predetermined frequency. The transducer includes a first end and a second end. A first resonator portion includes a first end coupled to the first end of the transducer. The first resonator includes a second end adapted to receive a first ultrasonic transmission waveguide. A second resonator portion includes a first end coupled to the second end of the transducer. The second resonator includes a second end adapted to receive a second ultrasonic transmission waveguide.


A fall prevention device is provided to prevent the falling of workers, construction members like tools and concrete slag and waste members. A fall prevention device is composed of a plurality of handrail bars(16) which are installed horizontally and vertically, horizontal and vertical connecting bars(10,10') installed in the square frame type, horizontal and vertical fastening portions(22,24) assembled to the horizontal and vertical connecting bars, a fixing member(20) having a ring and a pair of support legs(28), a support plate(14) for controlling the interval between the horizontal and vertical connecting bars, a pressurizing device for pressurizing the fixing member with an adhesive bolt(12), a locking member having a knob and a push plate, and a safety net(40).


To improve the efficiency of surface reconstruction of scattered points,a method of surface reconstruction from high-density 3D scatter point cloud is proposed.This method first sets a uniform mesh and deforms each cell of the mesh by fitting the vertex of each cell to the nearest of the input points,then constructs triangles according to the pattern of the vertexes' state in each cell.It works fast with little memory.A case study is done to demonstrate the feasibility of this method.


This special issue includes six articles that cover a variety of issues about the topic of soil and water conservation in agricultural systems, including the following: a bibliometric analysis of soil and water conservation in the Loess Region of China; regarding croplands, one study evaluated the influence of vegetation covers on topsoil moisture and the effect of physiographic conditions on sediment yield in Spanish vineyards; another study evaluated the influence of plant age on soil water depletion in alfalfa pastures in the Tibet Autonomous Region; in a Chinese forest plantation, the effect of plant age and species on soil bulk density and pH was evaluated, and the most suitable afforestation species and stand age recommended to harvest maximum benefits were determined; regarding water pollution, a study evaluated soil water dynamics during two fallow years and three barley crop seasons in Spain and estimated the effect of the applied fertilizer (slurries or minerals) on nitrate leaching; and finally, another study identified the key information, including heavy metals, for water conservation in the border areas of the Syr Darya River in Kazakhstan. The proper use of soil and water resources is necessary to ensure the future well-being of humans and of the environment.


In this paper, we review on classes of materials that can be used as hard templates to fabricate nanostructured thin film materials. The hard templates discussed are anodized aluminum oxide (AAO), block copolymer (BC) self-assembly films, and mesoporous thin films (MTFs), with emphasis on MTFs since it has not been reviewed for the application as templates while the first two materials have been reviewed previously by others. Each one of the three classes of templates has advantages and drawbacks. Considering the pore dimensions available by each one of them, the three templates are complementary to one another. Some of the features of MTFs appear to be advantageous over the other types of templates. All and all, these three appear to have complementing features to cover the various aspects required for templates to synthesize nanostructured thin films.


Gravier et al. proved [S. Gravier, M. Mollard, Ch. Payan, On the existence of three-dimensional tiling in the Lee metric, European J. Combin. 19 (1998) 567–572] that there is no tiling of the three-dimensional space R 3 with Lee spheres of radius at least 2. In particular, this verifies the Golomb–Welch conjecture for n = 3. Špacapan, [S. Špacapan, Non-existence of face-to-face four-dimensional tiling in the Lee metric, European J. Combin. 28 (2007) 127–133], using a computer-based proof, showed that the statement is true for R 4 as well. In this paper we introduce a new method that will allow us not only to provide a short proof for the four-dimensional case but also to extend the result to R 5 . In addition, we provide a new proof for the three-dimensional case, just to show the power of our method, although the original one is moreelegant.Themainingredientofourproofisthenon-existence of the perfect Lee 2-error correcting code over Z of block size n = 3 , 4 , 5 .


!! ABSTRACT ! According to strong immanent realism, proposed for instance by David M. Armstrong, universals are concrete, located in their instances. E.J. Lowe and Douglas Ehring have presented arguments to the effect that strong immanent realism is incoherent. Cody Gilmore has defended strong immanent realism against the charge of incoherence. Gilmore's argument has thus far remained unanswered. We argue that Gilmore's response to the charge of incoherence is an ad hoc move without support independent of strong immanent realism itself. We conclude that strong immanent realism remains under the threat of incoherence posed by Lowe and Ehring. !


Abstract— Various peptides of Gly, Ala, Phe, Tyr, and Trp have been irradiated with U.V. light in the solid state or in frozen aqueous solution. The radicals produced were studied by E.P.R. spectroscopy at low temperature and at room temperature. Radicals seem to occur preferentially on Gly or Ala when in the C‐terminal position and there is evidence for a photosensitization of these amino acids by aromatic amino acids.


We present a multi-stratum resources optimization architecture for cloud-based radio over fiber networks with software defined networking. The overall feasibility and efficiency of the proposed architecture are experimentally verified on our testbed.


Automatic person clustering, which groups photos based on the individuals appearing in a photo collection, is a key component to facilitate photo management and sharing. Traditionally, person clusters are basically built by detecting faces and matching facial features. But these facial clusters can perform poorly when there are large pose variations and occlusions, which are not uncommon in consumer photos. In this paper, we propose an approach that employs contextual information to complement facial information in order to significantly improve the performance of person clustering. The proposed system is able to detect human skin, hair and clothing regions and extract features robustly. By matching the features, high-precision contextual clusters are obtained which can automatically link together multiple face clusters of the same person for efficient annotation. Promising results on family photo collections demonstrated the effectiveness of our approach.


Renal failure (RF) is characterized by the loss of the ability of the kidneys to excrete wastes, concentrate urine, conserve electrolytes, and maintain fluid balance. Acute kidney injury can be a life-threatening illness, with a mortality of between 50% and 80% (3). ESRD occurs in the late stages of chronic kidney disease and is associated with an irreversible loss of kidney function. Renal replacement therapy (RRT) replaces kidney function in patients with both types of renal failure. There are 2 possible alternatives to treat chronic RF: organ transplantation or, more commonly, dialysis. However, the natural secretion of kidney hormones, which influences blood pressure, cannot be achieved with dialysis treatment modalities. Over 2 million people worldwide currently receive treatment with dialysis or a kidney transplant to stay alive, yet this number may represent only 10% of people who actually need treatment to live (4). Of the 2 million people who receive treatment for kidney failure, the majority are treated in only 5 countries: the United States, Japan, Germany, Brazil, and Italy. These 5 countries represent only 12% of the world population. Only 20% are treated in approximately 100 developing countries that make up over 50% of the world population (4). In medicine, hemodialysis (HD) is the process of removing blood from a patient, purifying the blood through an artificial kidney (dialyzer), and then returning it to the patient's bloodstream. On the basis of the developments of Willem Kolff and Nils Alwall in the 1940s, the dialyzer membrane systems have undergone multiple development cycles and are now the basis of an effective, reliable, and cost-effective treatment approach. In the early days of dialysis, large and unwieldy plate dialyzers made of cellulose membranes were used. Until the 1970s, cellulosic membranes were used exclusively and represented the majority of membranes used in hemodialysis worldwide (5). DOI: 10.5301/ijao.5000603


This piece of research addresses an interdisciplinary challenging issue concerned with dynamical evaluation of e-Learning systems' performance. More precisely, it presents an interdisciplinary work integrating neuronal, psychology, cognitive, and computer sciences into educational environment. That's in order to introduce systematic analysis and dynamical evaluation of the adopted study for e-learners' time response (equivalently convergence time) phenomenon. Specifically, this work concentrates on dynamical evaluation of one measuring parameter fore-learning performance namely: time response. In other words, e-learner's response time has been adopted as an appropriate candidate learning parameter applicable for reaching optimal analysis and evaluation of e-learning systems performance. Herein, that time considered as period of time requested in order to reach correctly a pre-assigned (desired) output answer which determined by an e-learner while examined via Multiple Choice Questions (MCQ). At the macro-level, the paper proposed e-learner's response time affected mostly by two basic extrinsic and intrinsic educational factors. Firstly, that associated to effectiveness of e-learning environment such as communication signal to noise ratio, and learning rate value. Secondly, that tightly coupled with gain factor candidates' brain function and structure (synapses, axons, and dendrites).Such as the number of dynamically contributing neurons, and the gain factor of neuronal response function. Consequently, Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) simulation has been adopted for realistic evaluation of timely dependent candidate's response till reaching desired correct output solution for any arbitrary MCQ exam. After successful timely updating of dynamical state pattern (synaptic weight vector), pre-assigned (desired) correct response is accomplished in accordance with coincidence learning modeling. The presented simulation has been developed towards quantified analysis of the highly specialized neurons' role performed to select correct answers to MCQ. Furthermore, the time response parameter considers individual differences of learners' brain role (considering various number of neurons), while performing selectivity (MCQ) processes. Finally, after running of suggested realistic simulation programs, some interesting conclusive results introduced. © 2014 Elixir All rights reserved ARTICLE INF O Articl e h istory: Received: 20 March 2014; Received in revised form: 25 April 2014; Accepted: 5 May 2014;


The study of literature has traditionally focused on the literary work, and sometimes its author, rather than on the response that works evoked in their readers. The arrival of the computer in the study of literature has not really changed that – perhaps unsurprisingly, as reader response has never been systematically recorded. The fact that readers have begun to document their reading and reading response on websites is therefore very fortunate (Gruzd and Rehberg Sedo, 2012, Maryl, 2008: 390406). Booksellers' sites such as Amazon and review sites such as Goodreads, as well as weblogs, forums and general-purpose social media sites provide access to first-hand reading reports. Though most research on these sites focusses on (behavior of) users (Nakamura, 2013: 238-243, Thomas and Round, 2016: 239-253), we are beginning to see them being used in literary research (Finn, 2011) . This paper presents the Online Dutch Book Response (ODBR) database, that was designed to facilitate research into book response. At present, the database holds reviews and other response items from an online bookseller as well as from four Dutchlanguage mass review sites, including, where available, the information about books, reviewers and sites necessary to put the reviews into context. To show one type of research that the database supports, the paper displays a clustering of reviews by genre, based on frequently used words. I discuss the clustering and what it suggests for further research.


The present study was designed to examine the effect of dietary supplementation of zinc nanoparticles on mineral balance, tissue minerals status and immune response in guinea pigs. Depending upon the source of Zn, 30 weaned male guinea pigs were randomly allocated to five different groups having 6 animals in each group in CRD. Animals under group T1 (control) were fed with basal diet with inorganic Zn (ZnSO4), whereas, animals were fed with organic Zn (Zn methionine) in group T2, commercial zinc nanoparticle in group T3 and two other zinc nanoparticles prepared in our laboratory in groups T4 and T5, respectively. They were supplemented with 20 mg Zn/kg feed on dry matter basis for 90 days. Results revealed that intake and balance of nitrogen and minerals (calcium, phosphorus, Zn and Cu) was not affected (P>0.05) by supplementation zinc nanoparticles. The level of Zn in liver and testes was significantly higher (P<0.05) in the zinc supplemented groups, when compared to that of control group, however, the mean values of Cu, Fe and Mn were comparable (P>0.05) among different groups, irrespective of the source of Zn. The mean antibody titre was significantly (P<0.05) higher in the commercial nanoparticle supplemented group as compared to other groups. As evidenced in our study spanning 90 days of trial, zinc nanoparticles can be safely supplemented up to 20 ppm level in the diet of guinea pigs.


Objective:  Airway cyclooxygenase‐2 (COX‐2) is induced by cytokine‐mediated inflammation such as occurs in asthma. However, the role of COX‐2 in the pathophysiology of asthma is not fully understood.


Transformation of plants with exogenous proteinase inhibitor genes represents an attractive strategy for the biological control of insect pests. However, such a strategy necessitates a thorough characterization of endogenous proteinases. which represent potential target enzymes for the exogenous inhibitors produced. In the present study. changes in general endoproteolytic activity were monitored during sprouting of potato (Solanum tuberosum L. cv. Kennebec) tuber. Quantitative data obtained using standard procedures showed that an increase in cysteine proteinase (EC 3.4.22) activity occurs during sprouting. This increased activity results from the gradual appearance of new cysteine proteinase forms, as demonstrated by the use of class-specific proteinase activity gels. While only one cysteine proteinase form was present during early sprouting, at least six new active forms of the same class were shown to appear gradually after the mature tuber was sown, suggesting the involvement of a complex cysteine proteolytic system in the last stages of tuber protein breakdown. Interestingly, oryzacystatins I and II. two cysteine proleinase inhibitors potentially useful for insect control, had no effect on any tuber proteinase delected. Similar results were obtained with leaf, stem and stolon proteinases. This apparent absence of direct interference supports the potential of oryzacystatin genes for production of insect-tolerant transgenie potato plants.


Cash is the instrument due to which corruption exists. Cash anonymity, impossibility to identify its source, and nontraceability of cash transactions are the reasons why beneficiaries of corruption depend directly on the presence and circulation of cash. If there were no cash available, it would be much more difficult to get involved in corruption transactions, because of the possibility to reconstruct every transaction, including its beneficiaries, revealing thus their interests. Decreasing the high share of cash in financial flows can help eradicate corruption at least partially.


The Taishu Group is a folded, Eocene–Lower Miocene, thick sedimentary package exposed widely on Tsushima Island between the Japan Sea and East China Sea. This location makes the strata important to understand tectonics and paleo‐environments in the Far East, but the timing of the folding is controversial. We studied the styles of brittle deformations of the strata. It was found that flextural‐slip folds were dominant. Mesoscale faults were classified into two groups: NE–SW trending reverse faults and NW–SE trending strike‐slip faults. Members of both the groups showed movements largely perpendicular to the fold axes. The latter group consisted of sinistral and dextral faults. Accordingly, we interpreted that they were transfer faults activated during the folding. Consequently, mesoscale faults and flexural‐slip faults evidence the map‐scale plane strain of the Taishu Group in the plane perpendicular to the NE‐trending fold axes. There were few transpressional deformations in the group. This is inconsistent with the transpression hypothesis for explaining the simultaneous folding and Japan Sea opening. Another hypothesis in which the folds in Tsushima are regarded as an onshore part of the Taiwan‐Shinji fold belt is inconsistent with the timing of folding suggested by mining geologists to be consistent with and contemporaneous with this deformation. On the other hand, we found that dolerite dikes and sills were involved in the folding. Therefore, we conclude that the folding began during the late Early Miocene time and climaxed during the ore mineralization at around 15 Ma. We suggest that the folding in Tsushima was the easternmost manifestation of the compressional regime around the Yellow Sea and East China Sea in the Early to early Middle Miocene, and that the compression was brought about by the arrival of the Philippine Sea plate to initiate buoyant subduction under Kyushu.


Background: There is a lack of Iranian studies on marital satisfaction, which is one of the important factors in the stability of marriage. Therefore, the present study aimed to evaluate the effects of sociodemographic variables on marital satisfaction. Methods: This analytical and cross-sectional study was conducted on 770 married people from Gonabad City, Northeast of Iran. The simple random sampling method was used. Also, the ENRICH marital satisfaction scale was used to measure marital satisfaction as a dependent variable. A cut-off score of 100 was considered for the scale, with higher scores indicating satisfaction. Moreover, the logistic regression model was used to examine the effects of the variables on marital satisfaction. Results: The Mean±SD age of the participants was 39.2±10.6 years. Most of the participants (75%) were categorized as satisfied, with a Mean±SD score of 113.9±26.8. Besides, both univariate and multiple regression analyses showed a strong significant relationship between economic status and marital satisfaction, ie, a better economic status increased the odds of marital satisfaction. After controlling other investigated variables, the logistic regression model showed that men are about two times more likely than women to be satisfied with their marriage (adjusted odds ratio=1.82). Conclusion: The present findings showed that family income and gender positively influence marital satisfaction. Accordingly, marital satisfaction and family solidarity could be enhanced by the provision of legal and social rules to ensure the equal right of men and women, as well as attempts to improve the economic status of the families.


The article discusses the documentary RiP!: A Remix Manifesto (Brett Gaylor, 2009), which attempts to investigate the evolution and fairness of copyright in the digital age. The documentary starts with an investigation of Gaylor's favourite musical artist, Girl Talk, aka Gregg Gillis. By day Gillis is a biomedical engineer, but by night he swaps his lab coat for street clothes and performs at clubs. There's no problem with that - plenty of musicians have day jobs. The problem here is that Girl Talk's music is almost entirely made up of re-cut and reordered samples of other artists' music. Girl Talk has not sought permission to use these samples, nor has he paid any royalties for their use, and this means he is breaking copyright law. As Gaylor states in the opening narration, 'The fact that the law makes my favourite artist a criminal - well, that's exactly why I need to make this film.' The four points of a remixer's manifesto for the new media generation are highlighted: 1. Culture always builds on the past. 2. The past always tries to control the future. 3. Our future is becoming less free. 4. To build free societies you must limit the control of the past.


Teucrium polium is a dwarf sub-shrub usually 30–60 cm high with many branches, which is fairly distributed throughout Iran, with its flowering being season mainly from April to July. The plant was collected during its flowering season in Baghmalek region in the North-East of Khuzestan province, Iran. After the identification of the genus, species and variety of the plant, the dried whole plant (flowers, fruits and the leaves) was steam distilled with different methods. The isolated essential oil was dried over anhydrous sodium sulphate and stored at 4–6 °C. Analysis of the essential oil was carried out by GC-MS technique. At least 10 major components were identified (3-carene/α-pinene, β-phellandrene, limonene, germacrene, β-bourbonene, β-caryophylene, (-muurolene, γ-elemene, spathulenol, β-eudesmol) (totally 97.02%). Also, successive TLC and column chromatography of the essential oil resulted in the separation of four fractions. Based upon 1H NMR, IR and mass spectra, the fractions with Rf0.12 and 0.93 were determined as guaiol and a mixture of α-pinene, β-phellandrene and limonene, respectively.


In this paper, a claw pole permanent magnet machine is studied using a 3D scalar potential formulation. First, the discretisation of Maxwell's equations using Whitney's elements is presented. Especially, the method to take the winding current distribution into account by means of source fields is detailed. Then, a numerical model of the studied machine is presented. Simulation results (inductance, EMF, torque) are discussed by comparison with experimental ones.


The vapor phase absorption spectra of dimethylsulfide, dimethylselenide, and dimethyltelluride are reported for the 40 000–80 000 cm−1 vacuum ultraviolet spectral region. Three Rydberg series for each compound were assigned which converge on the ionization potentials of 8.706 ± 0.010, 8.400 ± 0.010, and 7.926 ± 0.010 eV for dimethylsulfide, dimethylselenide, and dimethyltelluride, respectively. These ionization potentials and corresponding Rydberg series members are assigned as originating from the central atom valence p orbital, which is perpendicular to the plane of the molecule. A correlation of the ionization potentials calculated for these molecules to ionization potentials of corresponding rare gases is presented. The term values of Rydberg members of the dimethyl chalcogens are also correlated to the term values of allowed atomic Rydberg series in the rare gases, thus atomic nomenclature is used in the assignment of the molecular Rydberg series. Higher energy absorptions in the spectra of dimethyls...


Introduction. This work characterized manual milking in a farm located in the North of Antioquia, aiming to implement, via a risk analysis, best practices to manage cattle and obtain milk with hygienic quality. Materials and Methods. A survey was applied and an observation was made in 10 visits to the farm, in order to make a flow chart. The critical contamination points in which samples to establish the Colony Forming Units (CFU) were defined, and so were the temperature and the time lapse between the beginning and the end of the milking. The samples were analyzed with Bactoscan®. The statistic analysis was made by the use of SPSS 15.0, through comparing means. A regression analysis was made in order to examine the correlation between temperature and time with CFUs. Results. There was a difference between two points of the milking (p<0,05). Those points were the canteen in the milking site and the canteen in the tank at the end of the milking. There was a positive association between the time CFUs and the time necessary for the milk to reach the cold chain (p<0,05). Temperature in the milking stayed within the optimal range for mesophiles. The CFU account in the tank was below the limit stipulated by the national regulations for the milk bonus in the raw milk system to pay producers. There was no correlation between CFUs and the presence-absence of rain (p<0,05). Conclusion. This is a clean milk production system with best hygienic practices. The principal risky point that must be controlled is the time between the beginning of the milking and the moment in which milk is refrigerated in the tank.


In times of perpetual budget cuts, project fundraising can be a difficult feat for many mechanical engineering technology departments. This is especially true for smaller departments. In fact, it is a problem that has plagued the department of Engineering Technology and Industrial Studies (ETIS) at Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) for many years. Recently, however, the faculty of the ETIS department at MTSU has been able to overcome this difficulty through a series of five carefully prepared and executed steps that MTSU has entitled "DREAM." The five steps that will be discussed in this paper are as follows: 1. Do well in one prestigious, national competition. 2. Request additional funding after success. 3. Establish relationships with industry. 4. Additional projects. 5. Make the most of the learning experience. This paper was written to document the experiences of the ETIS department at MTSU with the hopes of giving other mechanical engineering technology departments additional insight into fundraising techniques. The beauty of the DREAM plan is that it makes fundraising much easier because industries are usually willing to support successful teams that do well in national competitions. The DREAM plan has greatly enhanced the learning experience of the students at MTSU in several ways. First, it gives them hands-on experience that will benefit them in the real world. Next, it allows them to apply knowledge from classroom lectures and labs to an actual project from the first sketch to the competition. Finally, it gives them valuable contacts with potential future employers. These are opportunities that MTSU's students might not be able to experience otherwise. With internal funding in such short supply, perhaps other departments could benefit from the DREAM plan as well.Copyright © 2004 by ASME


"Draw-a-picture Technique" is an effective method to explore the students' thinking and conception of Educational phenomena,which is on the basis of projective techniques,content analysis of visual image and focus group methodology.And this method used has made up for the deficiencies of traditional research methods from the perspective of the student.This paper mainly from the formation,basic principle,the operation process and the application in the current foreign education field four aspects introduces this method.


patient at home (36% improvement in stim-on/meds-off at enrollment visit). During the study, the patient continued the home medication regimen and took 1 pill of fast-acting oral levodopa/benserazide 100/25 mg on 2 occasions. Levodopa improved parkinsonian symptoms by 5 points on the MDSUPDRS part III score, without adverse events (i.e., dyskinesias). No adverse events or complaints by the patient were reported. The Ethical Committee approved the study, and all patients gave written informed consent. Our results prove the feasibility of prolonged recordings (up to 24 hours) in freely moving, chronically stimulated patients. They further corroborate the hypothesis that oscillations in the β-frequency range might be used as a levodoparelated biomarker for adaptive DBS paradigms, as they are present during active stimulation and years after surgery. We also provide for the first time preliminary evidence that interhemispheric subthalamic coupling changes between wakefulness and sleep can be monitored and possibly serve as an additional behavior-specific biomarker. These findings pave the way for testing different adaptive stimulation paradigms for STN-DBS and prompt a more accurate definition of symptom-related and behavior-specific biomarkers in PD.


The history of the Azores archipelago, from its discovery and settlement in the first half of the 15th century through the present, is marked by the social and economic impacts produced by earthquakes, mainly the high-intensity ones. Information that has been compiled leads to the conclusion that in this period, 33 earthquakes with intensity equal to or greater than VII have affected the Azores, which caused approximately 6,300 deaths and widespread destruction on some islands of the archipelago, principally S. Miguel, Terceira, Graciosa, Faial, S. Jorge and Pico Islands. The accommodation of strain resulting from the dynamics of the Azores triple junction (ATJ) plate boundary and volcanism, which also occurs in the region, are the main factors responsible for the intense seismic activity in this archipelago. This work reviews the scientific issues of the known earthquakes that have severely interfered with the lives of the Azorean people throughout their history, which we call large earthquakes.


Background  Supervision and feedback are essential factors that contribute to the learning environment in the context of workplace learning and their frequency and quality can be improved. Assessment is a powerful tool with which to influence students' learning and supervisors' teaching and thus the learning environment.


The paper introduces the air-braking system's composition,functions of each part,and technical development and design points of main components of JZ-7 locomotive.It also makes summary comparison of diesel locomotive made by Dalian Locomotive and Rolling Stock Co.,Ltd.which adopts JZ-7 air-braking system.


Large woody debris (LWD) performs key functions in undisturbed streams that drain lowland forested watersheds, including dissipation of flow energy, stabilization of bedforms and channel banks, entrapment of sediment, and formation of pools. These functions vary between individual channels, however, depending on the size and morphology of the stream, which in turn depend on climate, watershed size, valley slope, geologic substrate, and relative inputs of water and sediment. Loss of LWD will alter channel form and processes, yielding greater sediment fluxes, more rapid bank erosion and incision, and loss of heterogeneity in bed morphology. Just as LWD is ubiquitous in undisturbed lowland streams of the Pacific Northwest, it is significantly depleted in urbanized systems where it is lost through washout, downcutting, and direct removal. Given the dramatic changes in runoff processes and sediment delivery that typify urban watersheds, we doubt that simple reintroduction of LWD will fully restore the lost functions of urban streams. Instead, projects that replace LWD may be best suited to recover a more limited set of rehabilitation goals; they are also necessary components of more comprehensive restoration efforts in once-forested lowland landscapes. Project designs range from the visually pleasing to the hydraulically engineered, but most approaches nonetheless fail rapidly in a dynamic stream environment. Stable configurations of LWD are best recognized through the careful observation of form and riverine context in natural systems, where years of varying water and sediment discharges have obliterated all but the most stable arrangements.


The study aims at consideration of gender-delineation in Bapsi Sidhwa's IceCandy Man in the perspective of Judith Butler's deconstructive approach of gender-performativity. All of her four novels Cracking India, The Crow Eaters, The Pakistani Bride and American Brat may present a different approach of gender but here the focus of the present paper is to investigate and interrogate gender binaries in the selected novel. Sidhwa like most of other diaspora female English writers, her works yield and highlight issues, brawls and conflicts of gender in Pakistani patriarchal society particularly at the time of the partition of the subcontinent. The gender representation of focused characters in Sidhwa's novel struggles to break that gender-matrix. This blurring of normative of gender binarism which is social and cultural constructs; it makes gender as fluid subject to their actions and performances. The research is an attempt to remove the misconception that genderidentity is subject to sex-status of characters. From Butlerian perspective of gender-performativity, it is contended to explore that how the constraints of binaries are shattered down. The paper may offer an alternative conceptualization to the already existing notion of gender and it might depict how these gender binaries become unstable and indeterminate.


Parkinson's disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative movement disorder where motor dysfunction gradually increases. PD-specific dopaminergic drugs can ameliorate symptoms, but neurologists also strongly recommend physiotherapy combined with regular exercise. As there is no known cure for PD, traditional rehabilitation programs eventually tire and bore patients to the point of losing interest and dropping out of those programs just because of the predictability and repeatability of the exercises. This can be avoided with the help of current technology, character-based, interactive 3D games promote physical training in a nonlinear fashion, and can provide experiences that change each time the game is played. Such "exergames" (a combination of the words "exercise" and "game") challenge patients into performing exercises of varying complexity in a playful and interactive environment. In this work we present a Unity3D-based platform hosting two exergames tailored to PD patients with mild to moderate symptoms. The platform employs Microsoft Kinect, an affordable off-the-shelf motion capture sensor that can be easily installed in both home and clinical settings. Platform navigation and gameplay rely on a collection of gestures specifically developed for this purpose and are based upon training programs tailored to PD. These gestures employ purposeful, large-amplitude movements intended to improve postural stability and reflexes and increase upper and lower limb mobility. When the patient's movements, as detected by Kinect, "match" a preprogrammed gesture, an onscreen 3D cartoon avatar responds according to the game context at hand. In addition, ingame decision-making aims at improving cognitive reaction.


This paper describes the analysis of steel reel shaft as drive shaft in a process of umbilical spooling of wire rope. There is a need to investigate shaft behaviour in the conditions of increasing workload. The aim is to investigate avoiding possible redesign or enabling redesign with minimal costs. Stress analysis has been carried out by using finite element analysis (FEA) and results are compared with the analytically calculated values. Finite element analysis has been carried out using maximum stress criteria and the area of potential failure is found. The main objective of this paper is to find balance in results between "design by rule" and "design by analysis". Design by rule provides rules on how to design a steel reel shaft using analytical equations and other strict rules from design elements. Design by analysis provides rules on using numerical analysis, typically finite element analysis to design a steel reel shaft. The steel reel shaft has been geometrically modelled using SolidWorks. To check all stresses, linear static analysis is done using DSS Simulation and Ansys.


Excavation in rock induces the unloading of stress in excavation-disturbed zones and can cause the structural plane to reach shear failure due to the unloading of normal stress. Unloading normal stress tests of a regular sawtooth structural plane were conducted in this study to investigate the influence of the unloading velocities (v) and asperity angles (θ) on mechanical properties and the stability of the structural plane. The average value of normal displacement (Du1) and the shear displacement of unloading (Dsu) gradually increases with an increase in θ and Du1 accounts for 59.70%, 31.81%, and 18.60% of the height of a single asperity under different θ. However, Du2, Ds, and the unloading capacity (Δσn) gradually decreased. Moreover, Ds account for 24.52%, 11.61%, and 7.4% of the length of a single asperity, respectively. With an increase in θ and v, three-dimensional (3D) morphology parameters and normal deformation energy (Un) decreased gradually, indicating that the damage degree of the structural plane increases. The analysis of the evolution of the gap width of the structural plane at the initial point, unloading point, and instability point indicates that the greater the θ or the smaller the v, the lower would be the likelihood for the structural plane to be damaged. Concurrently, its instability is more sudden and the impact tendency is stronger.


OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the quality of the infectious diseases reporting via network in Beijing hospitals and to filtrate factors that affect the reporting quality.

METHODS
We collected 5536 infectious disease cases randomly and investigated 52 medical treatment organizations. Information was collected by field questionnaire survey, interview and gathering routine reporting data for analyzing the quality.

RESULTS
The result showed that the timeliness of the 52 medical treatment organizations was 94.18%, the consistency was 80.84%, the completeness was 88.47%, and the misreport was 13.73%. The reporting quality of the second level hospitals was higher than that of the first level hospitals, township health centers and the third level hospitals. The reporting quality of urban hospitals was higher than that of the suburb hospitals. The reporting quality of outpatient and inpatient departments was higher than that of the laboratory. The laboratory was the primary part of underreporting.

CONCLUSION
Strengthening guidance, training and paying attention to each weak portion would certainly ameliorate the quality of infectious diseases reporting via network.


In 1992, Ontario's Stratford Festival celebrated its fortieth season. To mark the anniversary, costumes and props from the Festival's early years were displayed in the theaters, an exhibition of the work of founding designer Tanya Moiseiwitsch was shown, backstage tours were extended to include the Festival's enormous costume warehouse, and eleven productions-including five of Shakespeare's plays-were presented. A sense of the occasion was in part the reason for distributing the Shakespeare productions among directors with longstanding and prestigious connections to the Festival: Michael Langham, artistic director from 1956 to 1967 (Measure for Measure); David William, current artistic director (The Tempest); Marti Maraden, current artistic director of the Young Company (Love's Labor's Lost and The Two Gentlemen of Verona); and Richard Monette, artistic director designate (Romeo and Juliet). As a Shakespearean season, the Stratford Festival's fortieth was an elegant and satisfying one. It was also an intellectually stimulating one; the allusion to the Clarence Thomas-Anita Hill case in the Measure for Measure program suggests why: the productions of Shakespeare, though not daring, concerned themselves with representing power and the "art" thereof, politics. Michael Langham's Measure for Measure opened with a glimpse of misery-six-or-so poor, thin people carrying the pale, emaciated corpses of kin who had suffered miserably in dying. They, the living and the dead, like the shadowy prisoners in the dark recesses beneath the Festival Theatre's upper stage, who shuffled and murmured as Claudio appealed to Isabella to let him live (3.1.119-38),' represented Vienna at large, a city in which, until the ducal entry at the end, action took the form of intimate conversations behind the closed doors of bawdy houses, prisons, convents, and political back rooms. As Duke Vincentio looked on, the poor carrying their dead crossed the stage once again at the start of the second half. He clearly shared their suffering; indeed, their suffering was the primary cause of his scheme. The staging enforced this connection: as the Duke asserted that lechery was "too general a vice, and severity must cure it," and Lucio replied with the quip that it will not be extirpated "till eating and drinking be put down" (3.2.98-101), two people with corpses entered from the vomitoria, started up onto the stage, stopped, and exited as they had entered. In the face of such widespread misery, caused apparently by sexually transmitted disease, Lucio's glib, self-serving humor seemed totally inadequate, and both Isabella's chastity and the Duke's resignation of his power to one as severe as Angelo seemed not unreasonable options. The set, music, and stylization of Measure for Measure together conspired to deepen the dark atmosphere. Desmond Heeley pointed out that the rule guiding his design for this production was "an immense amount of black, a little bit of colour, brown perhaps, but everything is dark, dark, dark."2 Before a word was spoken, the mood was established by the black tiles on the floor, black metal grilles across the back of the stage, a metal desk, a black sofa, a group of men in black and gray; there were little


The LHeC aims at the generation of hadron-lepton collisions with center of mass energies in the TeV scale and luminosities of the order of 10–10 cm sec by taking advantage of the existing LHC 7 TeV proton ring and adding a high energy electron accelerator. This paper presents technical considerations and potential parameter choices for such a machine and outlines some of the challenges arising when an electron storage ring based option, constructed within the existing infrastructure of the LHC, is chosen.


Before implementing a new therapy, we should ascertain the benefits and risks of the therapy and assure ourselves that the resources consumed during the intervention will not be exorbitant. In the hierarchy of research designs, the results of randomized controlled trials, especially if systematically reviewed, are considered the highest level of evidence. We suggest a three-step approach to using an article from the medical literature to guide your patient care. We recommend that readers ask whether the study can provide valid results, review the results, and consider how the results can be applied to patient care. Given the time constraints of busy surgical practices and surgical training programs, applying this analysis to every relevant article will be challenging. However, the basis of this process is essentially what we all do many times each week when making decisions about whether and how to treat patients. Making this process explicit with guidelines to assess the strength of the available evidence can serve to improve patient care. It also allow us to defend therapeutic interventions based on available evidence and not anecdote. In the hierarchy of research designs, the results of randomized controlled trials are considered the highest level of evidence [1]. Randomization is the only method for controlling for known and unknown prognostic factors between two comparison groups [1, 2]. Lack of randomization predisposes a study to potentially important imbalances in baseline characteristics between two study groups. The role of nonrandomized (observational) studies in evaluating treatments is an area of continued debate: deliberate choice of the treatment for each patient implies that observed outcomes may be caused by differences among people being given the two treatments rather than the treatments alone. Unrecognized confounding factors can interfere with attempts to correct for identified differences between groups. There has been considerable debate about whether the results of nonrandomized studies are consistent with the results of randomized controlled trials [3, 4]. Nonrandomized studies, or observational studies, have been reported to overestimate or underestimate treatment effects [3, 4]. These considerations have supported a hierarchy of evidence, with randomized controlled trials at the top, controlled observational studies in the middle, and uncontrolled studies and opinion at the bottom. Approach to Appraising Surgical Interventions Most surgical interventions have inherent benefits and associated risks. Before implementing a new therapy, we should ascertain the benefits and risks of the therapy, and assure ourselves that the resources consumed in the intervention will not be exorbitant. We suggest a three-step approach to using an article from the medical literature to guide your patient care (Table 1). We recommend that you ask whether the study can provide valid results; if so, review the results and then consider how the results can be applied to your patient care. Validity: Did Experimental and Control Groups Begin the study with a Similar Prognosis? Were Patients Randomized? During the early 1980s surgeons performed extracranial-intracranial bypass fueled largely by nonrandomized studies reporting favorable results with this novel surgery. However, a subsequent large randomized trial demonstrated that surgery increased adverse outcomes during the immediate postsurgical period [5]. Surgical treatment studies attempt to determine the impact of an intervention on events such as reoperations, infections, and death—occurrences we call the trial s target outcomes or target events. Patients age, the underlying severity of their fracture, the presence of co-morbid conditions, health habits, and a host of other factors typically determine the frequency with which a trial s target outcome occurs (prognostic factors). If prognostic factors are unbalanced between a trial s treatment and control groups, Concepts in this article have been taken, in part, from: Guyatt GH, Rennie D, editors, American Medical Association: User s Guides to the Medical Literature: A Manual for Evidence-Based Clinical Practice, 2nd edition Chicago, American Medical Association Press, 2001.. Correspondence to: Mohit Bhandari, M.D., M.Sc., Hamilton Health Sciences General Site, 7 North Wing, Suite 727, 237 Barton Street East, Hamilton, ON, L8L 2X2, Canada, e-mail: email@example.com World J. Surg. 29, 570–575 (2005) DOI: 10.1007/s00268-005-7915-9


The writer uses a new index called;Surplus-expectation coefficient to measure the gap covered 2000 to 2005 in economic development of districts in Jiangsu.By this means,the paper point out that the main power sustaining the non-equilibrium development of districts in Jiangsu comes from investment not efficiency and the degree on income diversity of employees with economic development answers for "Simon kuznets inverted U curve".


We present a set of linear, second order, unconditionally energy stable schemes for the Allen-Cahn model with a nonlocal constraint for crystal growth that conserves the mass of each phase. Solvability conditions are established for the linear systems resulting from the linear schemes. Convergence rates are verified numerically. Dynamics obtained using the nonlocal Allen-Cahn model are compared with the one obtained using the classic Allen-Cahn model as well as the Cahn-Hilliard model, demonstrating slower dynamics than that of the Allen-Cahn model but faster dynamics than that of the Cahn-Hillard model. Thus, the nonlocal Allen-Cahn model can be an alternative to the Cahn-Hilliard model in simulating crystal growth. Two Benchmark examples are presented to illustrate the prediction made with the nonlocal Allen-Cahn model in comparison to those made with the Allen-Cahn model and the Cahn- Hillard model.


In the present study we tried to figure out a relationship between Major Depression (after DSM-IV criteria) and thyreoid diseases, especially autoimmune thyreoiditis.For fourteen month we examined 100 patients: 50 with the diagnosis Major Depression (main group) and 50 healthy blood donors (control group) from the department of transfusion medicine of the Georg-August-University Gottingen.All patients underwent a complete thyroid evaluation including thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), free T3 (fT3), free T4 (fT4), antithyroid peroxidase antibodies (aTPO) and thyreoglobulin antibodies (aTG).The presence of psychiatric disorders in the main group was assessed by means of the M.I.N.I. (Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview, German version 5.0.0), SDS (Self-Rating Depression Scale) and HAMD (Hamilton Depression Scale).In this study we found no association between depression and antithyroid antibodies. It s quite possible, that the small study-population is a reason for this result.To sum it up, we observed, that patients with depression showed nearly twice the number of pathological thyroid hormones compared with the control group. The study seems to suggest that patients of the main group had more often hyperthyroidism or hypothyroidism than in the control group. As well we found in the older main group (aged 40-79 years) a statistical significant increase of blood thyroid hormones.