Rural microenterprise is undoubtedly very crucial and has a very high significance in spurring economic development. The importance of microfinance to entrepreneurial development made the Central Bank of Nigeria adopt it as the main source of financing entrepreneurship in Nigeria. Despite this, however, finance is still considered as one of the major hindrances to entrepreneurial development in Nigeria (Ubom, 2003). This study examined the role of microfinance banks in financing rural microenterprise development in Nigeria.The research designs adopted for the purpose of this study were the Survey and Explanatory Research Methods in which case both primary and secondary data were used for analysis purposes.  The analysis of data indicated that the microfinance banks are not adequately financing the rural entrepreneurs. There is a significant difference in the number of entrepreneurs who used the MFBs and those who do not.It is therefore being recommended that there is need for the Microfinance Banks (MFBs) to put more effort in financing the rural micro entrepreneurs. Their role needs to be felt in terms of structured framework for proper and acceptable repayment period and single digit interest rate. Also, all tiers of Government in Nigeria should also improve the existing security apparatus in the economy. The guarantee of having a secured investment and life is paramount to microfinance and banking business in any part of the world.Conclusively, a well structured microfinance institutional system in the country will lead to higher returns on equity, rural development, access to fund for the poor both in the rural and urban areas and will spur entrepreneurship in Nigeria.


A sense-based lexical knowledgebase is a core foundation for language engineering. Two important criteria must be satisfied when constructing a knowledgebase: linguistic felicity and data cohesion. In this paper, we discuss how data cohesion of the sense information collected using the Sinica Sense Management System (SSMS) can be achieved. SSMS manages both lexical entries and word senses, and has been designed and implemented by the Chinese Wordnet Team at Academia Sinica. SSMS contains all the basic information that can be merged with the future Chinese Wordnet. In addition to senses and meaning facets, SSMS also includes the following information: POS, example sentences, corresponding English synset(s) from Princeton WordNet, and lexical semantic relations, such as synonym/antonym and hypernym/hyponym. Moreover, the overarching structure of the system is managed by using a sense serial number, and an inter-entry structure is established by means of cross-references among synsets and homographs. SSMS is not only a versatile development tool and management system for a sense-based lexical knowledgebase. It can also serve as the database backend for both Chinese Wordnet and any sense-based applications for Chinese language processing.


The article considers theoretical and applied issues of the legal regulation of enforcing additional punishment for corruption-related offenses in Kazakhstan. Corruption in Kazakhstan has got widespread in society and government bodies. Nowadays, it is a threat to national security and causes significant damage to the social and economic development of the country. Reasons for the current situation in the sphere of anti-corruption measures include the insufficient scientific study of the problem, poor understanding of the nature and features of additional punishment, defects in the prescription of additional punishment, as well as objective and subjective obstacles to its enforcement.


Recent studies on increasing the thermal-hydrodynamic efficiency of solar air collectors have been carried out on the installation of barriers of various shapes on the surface of the absorber, and this method ensures a significant increase in the energy efficiency of the collector. The transfer of the air flow washing the surface of the absorber from a laminar flow state to an accelerated lumped air flow is carried out by installing obstacles. Installation of barriers is the main factor in increasing the heat transfer in solar air collectors and prolongs the time of air flow in the collector. The barrier solar air collector has a high local heat transfer coefficient, and the Nusselt number value is up to 3.5 times higher than that of the flat plate solar air collector. Also, this article presents the results of CFD modeling of the air flow in the solar air collector, the results of which can be used in the theoretical research of the solar air collector.


This paper presents an investigation of reverberant speech recognition using frond-ends based methods. A 2-channel dereverberation method is adopted to achieve robust dereverberation under different reverberant conditions. Also a 2-channel spectral enhancement method is used where the gain of each frequency bin is controlled by acoustic scene, which is detected based on the analysis of full-band coherent property. Deep Neural Network (DNN) is also presented as a feature extractor. The DNN based front-end allows a very flexible integration of meta-information. Bottle neck features is extracted in place of MFCC features used in HMM-GMM system. We evaluated our methods on the data provided by REVERB challenge. On simulated data, the DNN front-end yields more than 33% relative reduction in Word Error Rate (WER). Keywords—REVERB Challenge, deep neural networks, Dereverberation, speech recognition


Clustering algorithms are iterative and have complex data access patterns that result in many small random memory accesses. The performance of parallel implementations suffer from synchronous barriers for each iteration and skewed workloads. We rethink the parallelization of clustering for modern non-uniform memory architectures (NUMA) to maximizes independent, asynchronous computation. We eliminate many barriers, reduce remote memory accesses, and maximize cache reuse. We implement the 'Clustering NUMA Optimized Routines' (clusterNOR) extensible parallel framework that provides algorithmic building blocks. The system is generic, we demonstrate nine modern clustering algorithms that have simple implementations. clusterNOR includes (i) in-memory, (ii) semi-external memory, and (iii) distributed memory execution, enabling computation for varying memory and hardware budgets. For algorithms that rely on Euclidean distance, clusterNOR defines an updated Elkan's triangle inequality pruning algorithm that uses asymptotically less memory so that it works on billion-point data sets. clusterNOR extends and expands the scope of the 'knor' library for k-means clustering by generalizing underlying principles, providing a uniform programming interface and expanding the scope to hierarchical and linear algebraic classes of algorithms. The compound effect of our optimizations is an order of magnitude improvement in speed over other state-of-the-art solutions, such as Spark's MLlib and Apple's Turi.


"SURE, sure, I'm a church member, but what a laugh! I'm no more a Christian than this .... dog. Believe me, I've gone through all the motions. I prayed since before I could actually utter words, I memorized thecatechism and recited the creed. In fact, as a kid I always lived like a Christianof course, I had good reason to-if I didn't, my parents beat the hell out of me. Yeah! I was converted too. I must have been about eight or nine when some heap-big chiefscalp hunter preached 6re and brimstone in our church. He upset my tender psyche and scared me to the altar. Big deal! I've gone through the whole ...•. rigamarole, but it doesn't mean a .••.. thing." 1


Software-intensive systems are characterized by an increasing number of features implementing complex functionalities. In many domains, these new functionalities perform more and more safety-critical tasks. To argue about the safety of such systems, Safety Cases are a proven technique that allows a systematic argumentation. Safety Cases may contain complex arguments that can be decomposed corresponding to modular system artifacts. This paper illustrates how a model-based system design can be tightly integrated with safety case arguments, to demonstrate both how safety cases link safety-specific analysis techniques like FMEA or FTA to architectural elements to provide evidence for safety argumentation, as well as how safety cases can be directly applied to efficiently guide the construction of the system architecture w.r.t. the claims given in the safety case. We demonstrate how existing information about the system and toolassisted techniques (e.g. formal verification, statistical testing) can be integrated into a safety case for a convincing argument in a seamless model-based development environment.


The mining project Pascua Lama has attracted much attention for a variety of reasons. First and foremost, the location of the project is such that any type of environmental problems, whether it be contamination of the water or destruction of the masses of ice that lie in the project zone, could have detrimental affects on the entire valley and the 70,000 people who live there. However, there are many other important aspects of the project, such as the question of economic growth, the process of citizen participation in its evaluation, and the relations among the various actors involved and affected by the project. In the last month, I have had the opportunity to meet with and discuss the subject of Pascua Lama with three distinct groups that I chose, as I felt they were the most important actors involved: the mining company, ecologists, and, most importantly, the people of the valley. Though I have strong opinions about this project, I have attempted to be as fair as possible in presenting what I have observed. It should be noted that my investigation of the various themes I chose to focus upon was done in such a manner that, rather than reaching definite conclusions, I have asked questions and presented what I see as the different perspectives that exist on the subject. I hope that my investigation will, at the very least, be informative for those who are unfamiliar with Pascua Lama and bring consciousness to the fact that there exist many different points of view surrounding this project.


Two O-glucosides (I and II) have been isolated from buckwheat seeds by column chromatography on ion-exchange resins and cellulose powder. Hydrolysis with hydrochloric acid and β-glucosidase, and spectroscopic characterization revealed their structures to be o- and p-(β-glucopyranosyloxy) benzylamine. A salicylidene derivative of II was also prepared and characterized by spectral data. This is the first report of the occurrence of these two compounds in nature.


Th e growth in virtual coverage, with the arrival of websites such as MonTh éâtre.qc.ca (2001), pieuvre.ca (2009), and La bible urbaine (2010), was likely a contributing factor to the demise of the four Montreal-based cultural weeklies in the course of a few years; all that remains of these is Voir , which, after seeing four of its six regional editions (Mauricie, Estrie, Saguenay, and GatineauOttawa) disappear, in January 2016 became a monthly magazine for the Montreal and Quebec City regions. Editor-in-Chief Simon Jodoin described its fi rst monthly print issue as "a little bit of resistance" against the cultural trend toward exclusively online coverage. Other than the price, there is little diff erence between Voir (a free publication) and Jeu, the only periodical dedicated to theatre in Quebec. Jeu underwent plastic surgery in 2014 to coincide with its 150th issue, a move clearly intended to attract a broader audience. To explain the makeover, Editor-in-Chief Christian Saint-Pierre declared that "the articles, without losing any of their rigour, are shorter than before," and that "the format of the magazine now refl ects, better than ever before, the dynamism of its content and the passion of those who make it." More beautiful than ever, Jeu is now branded, greeting its readers (as does Voir ) with an original photograph of an artist on the front cover and featuring an extremely rigid layout. Voir and Jeu also have in common the complete withdrawal of review coverage from their pages. Th is happened gradually at Voir over nearly a decade, while Jeu started to post reviews online in October 2011 and has been doing so exclusively since that 150th issue. Th is separation of feature articles (in the print version) and critiques of shows (on the web platform) certainly invites critical scrutiny; 2 only time will tell if such a strategy is eff ective. In the meantime, it's important to underline that until very recently Voir 's sections "Scène" and "Cinéma" (Stage and Screen) were well reported, as its editor, Philippe Couture, consistently applied critical rigour to productions and the complex relations that shape the milieu (Couture left Voir in August 2016, and it not clear yet what impact this will have on "Scène" and "Cinéma" coverage). As for Jeu , the shows are treated à la pièce . Th e quality of critiques varies with the large range of its collaborators; a few stand out, while many do not, getting the job done with no real signature—just like many of our institutional theatre companies. An inconsistent level of writing also characterizes Le Devoir , whose motto is "Libre de penser" (Free to think). Lately, with, for instance, its "Cahiers de la rentrée culturelle" (special sections for the opening of the cultural season), the leading intellectual daily seems to be suff ering from the same illness as Radio-Canada: the aunty-ization of some of its information. 3 I must add a caveat, however, that this trend did not apply to Alexandre Cadieux, who until early autumn 2016 wrote a very intelligent weekly column for Le Devoir , and continues to contribute articles about theatre to that publication. Le Journal de Montréal relies on an aviation specialist, Louise Bourbonnais, for its theatre reviews. Although she is slowly improving—which is certainly not always the case in such situations—her sometimes hilarious reviews land in the Le Journal de Québec too, setting the tone for the Québecor family. 4 In Quebec City, the respected critic Jean St-Hilaire retired in 2009 after nearly a quarter of a century at Le Soleil , which remains the main media outlet in the capital for comment on theatre activity; Geneviève Bouchard is its current principal critic. Th eatre in the Ottawa-Gatineau region, thanks to Le Droit —with Valérie Lessard in charge of the arts section—usually receives excellent treatment. Other newspapers owned by Capitales Médias 5 do not have a dedicated theatre section, which is somewhat to be expected, as many regions see only a small number of artistic productions. Most worrying is the constant deterioration of the attention some outlets give to theatre. Celebrity culture has also come to dominate La Presse, Quebec's leading newspaper in terms of readership. La Presse is also the only newspaper in Quebec, as of January 2016, to have stopped publishing a printed edition on weekdays. We see this happening to Radio-Canada as well. Th e corporation, blaming violent budget cuts during Stephen Harper's reign, 6 has butchered cultural content and increasingly off ers mind-numbing programs featuring minor stars hired to shine but not, it seems, to produce anything bright. Both La Presse and Radio-Canada, when not simply entertaining, are strong in delivering information but quite poor at casting light on artistic practices and processes. 7


This invention is directed to a method for producing a coating layer of a coating composition by introducing a catalyst as a second component into an atomized stream of a first component of the coating composition. This invention is also directed to a spray gun for producing such coating layer.


The preparations of some 4-pyridylimidazo[2,1-b]thiazole and -imidazo[5,1-b]thiazole derivatives are described. In some of the cyclizations to form the imidazothiazole ring systems, trifluoroacetic anhydride, the dehydration reagent employed, participated in the reaction leading to products bearing a trifluoromethyl or trifluoroacetyl substituent.


In this paper are made five conjectures about a type of pairs of primes respectively Fermat pseudoprimes which have the property to generate an infinity of primes respectively Fermat pseudoprimes via a recurrence formula that will be defined in this paper; we name the pairs with this property Coman pairs of primes respectively Coman pairs of pseudoprimes. Because it is easy to show that two given primes respectively pseudoprimes do not form such a pair and it is very difficult to prove that they form such a pair, the correct expression about two odd primes (or pseudoprimes) p, q, where p = 30*k + d and q = 30*h + d, where k, h are non-null positive integers and d has the values 1, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29, is that the pair (p,q) is not a Coman pair respectively that the pair (p,q) is a possible Coman pair of primes (or pseudoprimes).


Objectives:
 We investigated whether the proportion of intracerebral haemorrhage (ICH) due to cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA) differs between patients of Eastern and Western origin.

 Methods:
 This is a retrospective international cross-sectional study of consecutive first-ever spontaneous ICH patients (including patients with surgical intervention) admitted to one stroke centre in the United Kingdom (Western centre origin) and one in Japan (Eastern centre origin) during the same period. We classified spontaneous ICH into "CAA-related ICH" defined by the Edinburgh CT diagnostic criteria, and "other ICH". We used multivariable logistic regression analyses to assess the relationship between CAA-ICH and geographical location (Western or Eastern centre origin) or ethnicity (Western [reference], East Asian, or other) with adjustment for confounders.

 Results:
 Of 334 patients (median age, 71 years; male, 54%; Western centre origin, 58%), 15% were classified as CAA-ICH, and 85% were defined as other ICH. In multivariable logistic regression analysis, Eastern centre and ethnicity had a lower proportion of CAA-ICH (odds ratio [OR] vs Western centre origin 0.47, 95%CI 0.23-0.98; OR [vs. white] 0.41, 95%CI 0.20-0.97, respectively).The estimated incidence of CAA-related ICH in East Asian was similar to that in White populations, but the rate of other ICH was 2.5-fold higher in East Asian populations. Sensitivity analyses using the modified Boston criteria for diagnosis of CAA-related ICH showed similar results.

 Conclusions:
 The proportion CAA-ICH is lower in an Eastern compared to a Western population; this appears to be explained by a higher incidence of ICH due to hypertensive (deep perforator) arteriopathy in East Asian populations.


of the Thesis ............................................................................................. ix Introduction ................................................................................................................1 Materials and Methods ..............................................................................................6 Results .....................................................................................................................12 Discussion ...............................................................................................................15 Figures and Tables .................................................................................................20 References ........................................ .............................................................................28


The paper studies the Cauchy problem for impulsive transport equations. The solution of the equations is obtained by using the iterative method and the characteristic method. An example is given to illustrate our result.


To explore the effects of resveratrol on the levels of inflammatory cytokines and Toll‐like receptor‐4/ hypoxia‐inducible transcription factors‐1α (TLR4/HIF‐1α) signalling pathway in diabetes mellitus. C57BL/6 mice received intraperitoneal injection of streptozocin for constructing diabetic mice models. Human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) were treated with 50 µg/mL Gly‐LDL for inducing injury models. 10, 100 and 1000 mmol/L resveratrol were obtained and added into each group. Haematoxylin‐eosin (H&E) staining was used for histological evaluation. CCK8 assay was performed for determination of cell viability, and Transwell assay was implemented for detecting cell migration ability. Cell apoptosis was analysed using flow cytometry. The content of inflammatory factors including interleukin‐6 (IL‐6), tumour necrosis factor‐α (TNF‐α), vascular adhesion molecule‐1 (VCAM‐1) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) were measured by ELISA. GST pull‐down assay was employed for determining interactions between TLR4 and HIF‐1α. The protein expression of TLR4 and HIF‐1α was detected using Western blotting and immunohistochemistry, while relative mRNA expression was measured by RT‐qRCR. Resveratrol could reduce bodyweight and ameliorate endothelial injury of thoracic aorta in diabetic mice. Both in vivo and in vitro results revealed that the level of IL‐6, TNF‐α, VCAM‐1 and VEGF was significantly down‐regulated after being treated with resveratrol. Resveratrol inhibited the increase of MDA and ROS and increased the level of SOD in diabetic mice. Western blotting, IHC and RT‐qPCR results showed that the levels of TLR4 and HIF‐1α were significantly down‐regulated in resveratrol group. Overexpression of TLR4 or HIF‐1α could reverse the effect of resveratrol. GST pull‐down elucidated that there might be a close interaction between TLR4 and HIF‐1α. Resveratrol ameliorated endothelial injury of thoracic aorta in diabetic mice and Gly‐LDL‐induced HUVECs through inhibiting TLR4/HIF‐1α signalling pathway.


Synchronous MPSoCs are widespread today, but the evolution of technology into the deep submicron domain leads to increasingly complex timing closure problems. One natural solution to these is to resort to the globally asynchronous, locally synchronous (GALS) paradigm. This work proposes a novel architecture for clock generators to support GALS systems. The generator can drive individual modules of an MPSoC, e.g. NoC routers and processing modules. The main design objectives were low power and area overheads. This generator produces 16 distinct operating frequencies between 90 MHz and 1 GHz. It supports clock gating, glitchfree frequency switching and is robust to PVT variations.


For some time now, formal modelling has been touted by its supporters as a panacea for political science – or at least as a major step forward in the discipline's development. Certainly, it embodies a number of praiseworthy elements. Its insistence on starting with a parsimonious and precisely formulated set of assumptions cannot help but constrain slippery thinking, for example, and its rigorous working out of implications, while often demonstrating the obvious, occasionally leads to unanticipated and intriguing results. Moreover, the combination of precision and rigour holds forth the promise of generating relatively clear-cut tests of rival explanations, a major boon – if it proves true – in a discipline more inclined to abandon theories than to disconfirm them. How much better the analytical or formal orientation is, then, than the 'funnel of causality' approach of empiricists whose quest for the highest explained variance seldom produces more than a miscellaneous grab-bag of influences on the dependent phenomenon. Empirical work of that sort may have some limited utility in identifying possible causes, to be sure, but at some point the scholarly enterprise must move to the higher level of elaborating a clear logical structure among causal factors. Here, empirical success in accounting for observed phenomena cannot be the sole guide: the best theory is the one that provides the most accurate idea of what is actually going on in the real world, not the one with the best correlations.


Abstract : The objective of this research is to develop large scale optimization methods for optimization problems that arise in molecular chemistry. The main applications that are being targeted are problems whose solution is of direct and immediate interest to the Air Force, such as finding the structure of proteins and polymers. The primary optimization problem being considered is the large scale global optimization problem, via which protein structure can be determined. During this research period we have made major advances in the applicability of our methodology. The culmination of these advances has been our participation over the summer in the fourth CASP (Critical Assessment of Techniques for Protein Structure Prediction) competition, where we have attempted blind prediction of eight proteins of arbitrary complexity including mixed alpha helices and beta sheets, and of size ranging up to 242 amino acids. Enabling us to reach this stage have been advances in the past year in three key areas. The foremost of these is the ability to handle beta sheets in our algorithm, including the development of new biasing techniques. Second is improvements to the main portion of our global optimization method to enable it to better select the portions of the protein to work on in the small scale global optimizations. Third, in conjunction with our collaborators at Berkeley, is continued improvement of the ability of the energy function to accurately distinguish correct folds from misfolds, through the treatment of hydration.


The invention concerns a method whereby an object class and/or an object having a given name (class 1) is derived by making a copy, preferably by serialization, of the whole tree (27a) of the object class or of the object, by storing in a disk D the copy of the tree and assigning a name (class D2) to the stored copy.


Efficiency of banking system leads to efficient allocation of scarce resources by the financial system of a country. Bank's efficiency is ascertained through different mechanisms. One of the mechanisms uses the aspect of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). Considerable literature exists on KPIs for non-financial organizations. However, for the financial sector, deliberation on KPIs is uncommon. This research paper endeavors to fill this gap especially for Pakistani Commercial Banks belonging to the private sector. A total of 25 Pakistani commercial banks are listed with the State Bank of Pakistan, out which five are owned and controlled by the Government of Pakistan. The remaining 20 belong to the private sector. Out of these 20, secondary data of top 10 private sector banks selected on the basis of asset size was analyzed for the five year period from 2011 to 2015. Statistical technique of Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was applied on 28 different financial ratios to uncover four categories of possible KPIs.


Although tremendous progress has been made in the past to get High resolution 3D cardiac MRI but still it is considered as area of concern in the medical image processing filed. The existing anisotropic 2D stack volumes are typical, and improving the resolution of these is strongly motivated by both visualization and analysis. The lack of suitable reconstruction techniques that handle non-rigid motion means that cardiac image enhancement is still often attained by simple interpolation. A novel approach is proposed in this paper which accurately precise the High resolution 3D cardiac MRI in easy way. We explore the use of examplebased super-resolution, to enable high fidelity patch-based reconstruction, using training data that does not need to be accurately aligned with the target data. By moving to a patch scale, we are able to exploit the data redundancy present in cardiac image sequences, without the need for registration. To do this, dictionaries of high-resolution and low-resolution patches are co-trained on high-resolution sequences, in order to enforce a common relationship between highand low-resolution patch representations. These dictionaries are then used to reconstruct from a low-resolution view of the same anatomy. We demonstrate marked improvements of the reconstruction algorithm over standard interpolation.


the articles analyses the platforms genesis and transformation against the background of globalization, as well as the changes in the sociopathogenic space of self-care. Depending on the socioeconomic and sociocultural conditions, the evolution of the sociopathogenic platform 1.0 transformations is shown, starting from early Christian help to the 1980s. This concept was realized at the level of public administration, practice, in the development of the education system, and in the design of scientific approaches to the theory of social work until the end of the 20th century


2010 WILEY-VCH Verlag Gm Effective control of the surface properties of devices becomes more and more important to ensure their prolonged performance, as the size of devices diminishes to the nanoscale. At the nanoscale interfacial properties can differ from the macroscopic properties including conductivity, electron affinity, surface potential, and reactivity. Here, we present a single-molecule sensor to detect molecular adsorption free energies in liquid under variable conditions. Utilizing atomic force microscopy (AFM), this approach provides nanoscale precision and excellent sensitivity to surface properties. This is demonstrated by the investigation of the aging of a diamond that was chemically modified to control its conductivity, surface potential, and wettability. Diamond exhibits extraordinary mechanical properties and is chemically inert as well as biocompatible. It is, therefore, suitable for biomedical applications such as cell growth support and as a refinement of medical indwelling devices. In addition to the exceptional material characteristics, hydrogenated diamond exhibits p-type surface conductivity, whereas oxidized diamond is insulating. These electronic properties have advanced the further development of diamond-based sensor devices, such as electrochemical sensors, biosensors, and ion-sensitive field effect transistors (ISFETs) in bioelectronics. The application of diamond-based devices that take advantage of the unique surface properties of diamond, be it in air, in aqueous solution, or even in blood, necessitates stable surface conditions and interfacial properties in order to ensure the long lasting functionality of the device. Only the limited chemical stability under physiological conditions has hampered the implementation of silicon and other semiconductive materials into similar devices. Implanted medical devices should stay intact for months or even years without the need for removal due to restricted biocompatibility and foreign body reactions. We utilize single-molecule force spectroscopy (SMFS) in order to determine the adsorption free energy of poly(allylamine) (PAAm) on diamond surfaces of different termination and different age (Fig. 1A). In contrast to macroscopic setups, which suffer from bubbles and cavitation effects hampering equilibration, our single-molecule approach allows for equilibration to be achieved on the experimental time scale. The forced desorption under equilibrium conditions is defined by a velocity-independent plateau of constant force over a separation defined by the polymer contour length and, thus, allows for a direct determination of the adsorption free energy per unit length from the area under the plateau curve (Fig. 1B). The distribution of plateau forces for Hand O-terminated diamond are given in Figure 1C. The general observed trend of measuring higher adsorption forces and therefore higher free energies on freshly prepared, hydrophobic diamond compared to hydrophilic diamond is reversed after two months and can be restored after new termination. These adsorption free energies on both kinds of terminations mirror the change of the contact angle, thus wettability (Fig. 1D). Moreover, there is a relation between the adsorption free energies and the surface energy of diamond, as revealed by contact-angle measurements with varying reference liquids on the same surfaces of different termination and age (Table 1). Higher surface energies correspond to lower adsorption free energies per monomer. We analyzed the time-dependent change of themeasured static contact angle on hydrogenated (black) and oxidized (blue) diamond in more detail over a time period of several hundred days (Fig. 2A). The aging effect on the wettability of both diamond surfaces starts immediately after the surface treatment and saturates after the first 50 days. Both surfaces were stored under vacuum, except for the time span of the SMFS measurements that were performed in electrolyte solution. The hydrophobicity of the H-terminated surface decreased nearly exponentially during half a year. 260 days after the initial termination of the substrate the termination was renewed, which resulted in a rise of the contact angle to almost the starting level followed by a similar exponential decay over time. This behavior is likewise observed for the O-terminated diamond but with opposite sign. After half a year, they approach the same value although the contact angle initially differed by more than 708. Surface potential scans of the patterned C H/C O surface over a period of nearly one year corroborate our findings. As depicted in Figure 2B, the decay of the surface potential difference is similar to that of the contact angles. The early surface-potential difference of 290mV is even inverted after 300 days of storage. Figure 2C illustrates the aging effect on the surface contact potential of both terminations. The sharp contrast of the dark C O and the bright C H regions is blurred with time. The final potential difference of 20mV barely reproduces the surface pattern. Considering the origin of this aging process, likewise observed in SMFS and contact-angle measurements, one can think of two possible mechanisms, which can act on both surfaces, namely (i) contaminations that cover the surface (such a molecule-thick adsorbate layer was previously verified on hydrogenated diamond) and (ii) a conversion of the artificial surface termination that has been predicted theoretically. Figure 3A shows a typical tapping-mode AFM image of an O-terminated diamond surface after 50 days. For all other images in Figure 3 possible persistent pollutants, which were still present


Sensornet nodes observe physical phenomena, yielding data labelled with their geographic position. Geographic context can be exploited in packet routing to minimise energy consumption, provided that the application does not need to route packets to uniquely identified nodes. The latter may be necessary for a minority of packets concerning system management and sensor tasking. We present a hybrid approach to packet routing for cellular sensornets. A geography-aware mechanism routes packets between cells, which is sufficient for the majority of packets. For the minority of packets which must be delivered to uniquely identified nodes, a geography-ignorant mechanism handles the final stages of packet delivery within the cell containing the destination node.


A glass with a honeycomb surface was prepared by a reverse micellar solution etching technology. The honeycomb surface might reduce the light reflection and increase the average transmittance of visible light by nearly 7%. The chemical etching technology is environment friendly for unuse of HF or fluosilicate. To compare the visible light transmittance of the coated glass, CeO2/TiO2 films were deposited on the honeycomb surface glass and raw glass by radio frequency magnetron sputtering. A series of optimization experiments were carried out to obtain a coated glass with high visible transmittance and high UV cut-off. The samples were characterized by UV-Vis spectrophotometer, SEM, XRD, and XPS. When the UV cut-off ratios were 99% for both the honeycomb surface glass and the raw glass, the average transmittance of visible light was 85% for the coated honeycomb surface glass, and only 79% for the coated raw glass prepared under the same coating conditions. In addition, the porous structure on the glass surface also improved the contact area between the film and the substrate. Therefore, the binding force between film and substrate was increased by about 2 times.


The need for far-sighted, intelligent preparedness in education is never greater than during an epidemic of narrow-minded Fascism, National Socialism, Communism, aggressive Nationalism, or any other 'fanaticism.' When governments admit their weakness by suppressing freedom of speech and of the press, and by regimenting the education of the young so that it reflects only state-approved opinions, the time has come for the alert educator to prepare for the intellectual revival that is bound to follow. If, besides, this educator lives in a country where democratic traditions are still predominant, his obligation toward the younger generation is even more binding; for he must devote his efforts not only toward the preservation of these sacred democratic rights within his own national boundaries but also toward the rebirth of international cooperation through mutual understanding. In the curriculum of our American high school there are ample opportunities to demonstrate to the younger generation the folly of isolated autarchy and the practical and ethical neeessity for international sympathy. As members of any national unit, we owe so much to other peoples that this very international indebtedness in the fields of science, art, music, literature, in fact in all categories of human and soeial endeavor, forms a part of every national development. Just as it is impossible to picture human society disintegrating into innumerable units living independently, hermit-like, in barren solitude, so is it impossible to imagine that artistic, intellectual, racial, religious, or any other kind of national isolation would promote anything but spiritual decadencea sort of nationalleueemia.


Abstract 222 While the incidence of inhibitor formation against the infused coagulation factor is overall relatively low in factor IX-deficiency (1–4% of patients), 9–23% of patients with severe hemophilia B form inhibitors, which seriously complicates treatment. Factor IX (F.IX) inhibitors tend to be high titer and not effectively eliminated by immune tolerance induction protocols, and are often associated with serious anaphylactic reactions. Inhibitor formation and anaphylaxis is more typical for patients with F9 gene deletions or early stop codons. We sought to develop a novel approach to induction of antigen-specific immune tolerance that is safe, not based on immune suppression, and does not require knowledge of specific T cell epitopes. Chloroplast transgenic plants expressing human F.IX were generated. Because the plant cell provides bioencapsulation, the recombinant polypeptide is protected from acids and enzymes in the stomach and released in the gut. The hF.IX coding sequences were fused with the transmucosal carrier CTB. The fusion gene cassettes were expressed from the light-regulated psbA 5′ untranslated region/promoter in order to achieve hyper-expression. To prevent steric hindrance, a GPGP hinge was introduced between CTB and FIX. A furin cleavage site was also introduced in one of the constructs. Plasmid DNA was bombarded on nicotine-free tobacco leaves via a particle-mediated method using the gene gun, resulting in transgene integration into the chloroplast genome by homologous recombination. Transformed tissues were repeatedly cultured on selective media, and transplastomic plants were regenerated. Chloroplast transplastomic lines were examined by Southern blot analysis in order to confirm site-specific integration and to test for homoplasmic lines. Transplastomic lines of CTB-GPGP-hFIX (F1) and CTB-GPGP-Furin-hFIX (F2) had expression levels of up to 3.8% and 0.28% fusion protein, respectively, in the total soluble protein. Control and transplastomic plant materials (250 mg) were fed twice per week for 8 weeks by oral gavage to Hemophilia B mice, known to develop strong antibody responses against hF.IX (C3H/HeJ F9−/− mice with targeted F9 gene deletion). For the F2 material, this was equivalent to 2 μg of hF.IX per dose. After 4 weeks, animals received weekly infusions of hF.IX (Benefix) at 1 IU per dose for 4 weeks (1 IP followed by 3 IV doses). As expected, ≥80% of mice control groups had developed significant inhibitors at titers of 4–10 BU (average titers were 5.5 BU for wild-type material fed and 7 BU for unfed controls). In contrast, all F1 and F2 fed mice (n=15 and n=14, respectively) had undetectable or at most very low titer inhibitors (≤2 BU) and showed normal clearance of hF.IX. Some F2 fed mice (n=9) was subjected to 1 more month of weekly IV infusions of hF.IX. At the end of this experiment, inhibitor titers remained undetectable to low ( Disclosures: Daniell:Chlorogen Inc: Technical founder.


We study the Moyal commutators and their expectation values between vacuum states and non-vacuum states for noncommutative scalar field theory. For noncommutative $\phi^{\star4}$ scalar field theory, we derive its energy-momentum tensor from translation transformation and Lagrange field equation. We generalize the Heisenberg and quantum motion equations to the form of Moyal star-products for noncommutative $\phi^{\star4}$ scalar field theory for the case $\theta^{0i}=0$ of spacetime noncommutativity. Then we demonstrate the Poincar{\' e} translation invariance for noncommutative $\phi^{\star4}$ scalar field theory for the case $\theta^{0i}=0$ of spacetime noncommutativity.


Objective To evaluate the Isosorbide dinitrate、valsartan,enalapril combination therapy efficacy in pulmonary heart disease.Methods On the conventional treatment group based on the combined treatment of oral enalapril 5~10mg/d,valsartan 20~40mg/d,Isosorbide dinitrate 30~60mg/d,According to adjust blood pressure and tolerated dose.Two groups of patients before and after treatment operated CAPS score,and to observe the occurrence of adverse reactions in patients.Results Treatment group was higher than control group in the total effective rate and hospital time(P0.05).2 groups of adverse events was similar(P0.05).Conclusion Isosorbide dinitrate combination with Enalapril and valsartan has good curative effect for pulmonale decompensated period.


Title Enhancing Intracellular Delivery and Pharmacokinetics of Small and Hydrophobic Drugs Using Nanoparticles [an abstract of dissertation and a summary of dissertation review] Author(s) Saed, Amjad Yousef Abbasi Citation 北海道大学. 博士(薬科学) 甲第13334号 Issue Date 2018-09-25 Doc URL http://hdl.handle.net/2115/71874 Rights(URL) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ Type theses (doctoral abstract and summary of review) Additional Information There are other files related to this item in HUSCAP. Check the above URL. File Information Saed_Amjad_Yousef_Abbasi_abstract.pdf (論文内容の要旨)


This article analizes the current theoretical perspectives underlying educational proposals aimed at promoting the positive development of the people. Firstly we show the most important characteristics of the positive approach. Then, we focus on the positive concept of the inner and its relation to eudaimonia, self-care and emotional selfgovernance. Thirdly, with reference to the contributions of Positive Psychology and Prevention Science we examine the two points of view –hedonic and eudaemonic– from which different pedagogical approaches are based and focus towards education for the welfare, social-emotional development and educational character. We conclude that, despite the lack of practical knowledge about happiness and the art of living, a positive education oriented to the human construction processes must promote both emotional and social skills such as feelings and moral responsibilities for the optimal development of human being.


Objective:To explore the relevant problems of Autonomic nerve preserving extrended operation so that rising survival quality.Methods:To analyse and summarize the methods,caution items and therapeutic effects of Pelvic Autonomic Nerve Preservation(PANP)from anatomy and physiology of autonomic nerve system,operative methods and results combining with the progress made interior and overseas and our experience.Results:Compared with traditional extended radical operation, 136 patients underwent PANP have improved significantly in urinary and sexual function without improving the postoperational lo- cal recurrence rate and affecting the survival rate.Conclusions:The incidence of urinate and sexual effects were decreased re- markely under the premise of selecting operation indication rightly.And the rate of part relapse was not increased and the survival rate was decreaed.PANP is an optimized operation for rectal cancer patients of Dukes A,B,and C.The survival quality of rectal cancer patients was improved.


ABSTRACT This study investigated the possible effects of text messaging on the written work of Grade 11 English first additional language learners at a public high school in Pretoria. It had 41 participants – 38 Grade 11 EFAL learners (n = 38, M = 10, F = 28, mean age = 17.4 years) and 3 female Grade 11 EFAL teachers. It used three sampling techniques to select participants: opportunistic purposeful, voluntary, and convenience sampling techniques. Some text message features which the study detected in two written learner activities were: shortenings; contractions; g-clippings; letter homophones; number homophones; no full stops; incorrect capitalisation; spelling errors; and non-conventional spelling errors (textism spelling errors). One of the findings of the study is that text message features as a percentage of the word count in both learner activities had a lower prevalence in and, therefore, a less negative effect on the written work of the learners.


Irregular boundary lines can be characterized by fractal dimension, which provides important information for spatial analysis of complex geographical phenomena such as cities. However, it is difficult to calculate fractal dimension of boundaries systematically when image data are limited. An approximation estimation formula of boundary dimension based on square is widely applied in urban and ecological studies. But the boundary dimension is sometimes overestimated. This paper is devoted to developing a series of practicable formulae for boundary dimension estimation using ideas from fractals. A number of regular figures are employed as reference shapes, from which the corresponding geometric measure relations are constructed; from these measure relations, two sets of fractal dimension estimation formulae are derived for describing fractal-like boundaries. Correspondingly, a group of shape indexes can be defined. A finding is that different formulae have different merits and spheres of application, and the second set of boundary dimensions is a function of the shape indexes. Under condition of data shortage, these formulae can be utilized to estimate boundary dimension values rapidly. Moreover, the relationships between boundary dimension and shape indexes are instructive to understand the association and differences between characteristic scales and scaling. The formulae may be useful for the prefractal studies in geography, geomorphology, ecology, landscape science, and especially, urban science.


Objective: to identify, through problem-posing pedagogy, generating themes in health which help participants of the Rosary of Men become more aware and self-reflective about the importance of disease prevention and health promotion. Methods: we used Paulo Freire's problem-posing pedagogy as a 'guiding method'. This study was conductec in the city of Passos-MG, with men who participated in the so-called 'Rosary of Men'. The sample was a non-probability accidental sample of 240 men. The study project was approved by the Research Ethics Committee, Opinion No 349/12. Data collection was carried out in the first half of September 2012, through a semistructured interview. Results: participants' age range was 23-77 years. Most of them were white, married, professionally active, and had elementary school education. Conclusion: The most frequently cited theme in Category I Sexual status/reproductive tract was prostate cancer; in Category IIHealth problems the themes most often mentioned were hypertension, diabetes and alcoholism; and in Category III Health care, the theme most frequently reported was healthy nutrition. Descriptors: Men's Health; Health Education; Community Health Nursing. RESUMO Objetivo: identificar, por meio da Pedagogia da Problematização, temas geradores em saúde que promovam informação e sensibilização dos participantes do Terço dos Homens para a importância da promoção da saúde e prevenção de agravos. Metodologia: o método norteador foi a Pedagogia da Problematização de Paulo Freire, e o local da pesquisa a cidade de Passos-MG, no chamado Terço dos Homens. A amostra foi a não probabilística do tipo acidental e conseguiu um total de 240 participantes. O projeto foi aprovado pelo Comitê de Ética em Pesquisa, Processo no 349/12, realizou-se a coleta de dados na primeira quinzena de setembro de 2012, por uma entrevista semiestruturada. Resultados: a faixa etária foi dos 23 aos 77 anos, a maioria de raça branca, casados, profissionalmente ativos, nível de escolaridade o ensino fundamental. Conclusão: em relação aos temas geradores na Categoria ICondição sexual/aparelho reprodutor o câncer de próstata foi o tema mais citado; Categoria IIAgravos de saúde, hipertensão, diabetes e alcoolismo; na Categoria IIICuidado em saúde, a alimentação saudável. Descritores: Saúde do Homem; Educação em Saúde; Enfermagem em Saúde Comunitária. RESUMEN Objetivo: Identificar, a través de la Pedagogía de la Problematización, temas generadores que promuevanuna mayor comprensión y sensibilización de los participantes del Rosario de los Hombres sobre la importancia de la promoción de la salud y prevención de agravios. Métodos: se utilizó como método de guía la Pedagogía de la Problematización de Paulo Freire. Este estudio se condujo en la ciudad de Passos-MG, en el llamado "Rosario de los Hombres". Se tomó una muestra de tipo no probabilística accidental. 240 hombres participaron del estudio. El proyecto de investigación fue aprobado por el Comité de Ética en Investigación, opinión No 349/12. Los datos fueron colectados en la primera quincena de septiembre de 2012, por medio de entrevistas semiestructuradas. Resultados: La mayoría de los hombres tenía edad entre 23 y 77 años, color blanco, estaba casado, era profesionalmente activo, y tenía nivel de educación elemental. Conclusión: en cuanto a los temas generadores, se encontró que: en la Categoría I Condición sexual/tracto reproductivo, el cáncer de próstata fue el tema más mencionado; en la Categoría II Agravios de salud, la hipertensión, la diabetes y el alcoholismo fueron los temas más destacados; por fin, en la Categoría III Cuidado de la salud, la alimentación saludable fue el tema más citado por los participantes del estudio. Descriptores: Salud del hombre; Educación en Salud; Enfermería en Salud Comunitaria. Nurses, PhD Professor, Center for Biomedical and Health Sciences, Higher Education Foundation of Passos/University of the State of Minas Gerais. Passos (MG), Brazil. E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com; firstname.lastname@example.com: email@example.com; Biophysician, PhD Professor, Center for Biomedical and Health Sciences, Higher Education Foundation of Passos/University of the State of Minas Gerais. Passos (MG), Brazil. E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com; Student, Nursing Undergraduate Course, Higher Education Foundation of Passos-MG/University of the State of Minas Gerais. Scientific Initiation Scholarship holder, Research Support Foundation/FAPEMIG. Passos (MG), Brazil. E-mail: email@example.com; firstname.lastname@example.com ORIGINAL ARTICLE Nascimento E, Piantino CB, Rossi VEC. Rosary of men: a strategy to encourage... English/Portuguese J Nurs UFPE on line., Recife, 8(Suppl. 3):4065-70, Nov., 2014 4066 ISSN: 1981-8963 DOI: 10.5205/reuol.5353-44734-1-RV.0811supl201405 In 2007 the Ministry of Health launched the Brazilian Comprehensive Health Care Policy for Men, which aims to achieve the participation of the male population in health care programs, thus promoting men's health and preventing diseases. A priority age range for this policy is 25-59 years. An international study on men's health has highlighted: (a) Men generally have more severe and chronic health problems and die more often than women from leading causes of death; (b) There is a construction between masculinity and commitment to men's health; (c) Both the construction of masculinity and its implications in health should be seen from the relational gender perspective; (d) The development of aggressive skills by men; (e) Due to the central importance of work to men's sense of identity as a provider, problems related to unemployment may also compromise a male's well-being and contribute to an increase in youth suicide rates. In societies in which power, success and strength are assigned to males, men might distance themselves from characteristics associated with the feminine, such as sensitivity, care, dependency and fragility. These culturally-assigned differences can make men more prone to diseases, injuries and deaths. Men usually enter the health care system through specialized care. As a consequence, they have worse morbidity due to delayed health care. Moreover, this represent higher costs to the Unified Healthcare System. It is necessary to strengthen and qualify primary care, in order to ensure health promotion and the prevention of avoidable health problems. One of the main challenges of the Brazilian comprehensive healthcare policy for men is to motivate the male population to fight for and exercise their social right to health. This policy aims to help men become protagonists of their own demands, consolidating their citizenship rights. According to this policy, to achieve this goal it is important to use a joint work approach with other governmental actions and the 'organized society', especially those which work at public places of sociability proper to men, such as businesses, trade unions, soccer fields, bus stations, subways, barracks, schools, etc. This study is part of a research project focusing on extension and is conducted with the participation of scientific initiation scholarship holders of the Foundation for Research Support of the State of Minas Gerais (FAPEMIG) and of the Brazilian National Council Scientific and Technological Research (CNPq). By visiting the "Rosary of Men', a place where there is a higher concentration of men, we aimed at identifying and raising issues for further research and development of educational activities directed toward the prevention of health problems in men. ● To identify, through problem-posing pedagogy, generating themes in health, which help participants of the Rosary of Men become more aware and self-reflective about the importance of disease prevention and health promotion. ● To raise generating themes. ● To group and organize these generating themes. ● To establish an agenda for educational activities. ● To develop the educational planning program for this project. This study is an extension project with a focus on research. Initially, in the phase named by the researchers as Phase I, we raised/identified generating themes. Phase II is an extension phase. It is in progress in 2014, through the implementation of educational meetings. We used Paulo Freire's problem-posing pedagogy as a 'guiding method' for this study. According to Bueno, the problem-posing pedagogy is an active, dialogical and critical method, which seeks to understand how the persons being researched see/understand reality, so that, once they become aware of their possibilities, they become 'creators of culture' and transformers of their own reality. The practical development of Freire's method has two phases (with their respective sub-phases) for processing study data: a) Survey of the thematic universe: the description and interpretation of the student(s) situation, and identification of their prior knowledge and skills, and learning needs. To organize the analysis of the 'thematic universe', the following sub-phases are used: a.1) Survey of the generating themes; OBJECTIVES METHODS INTRODUCTION Nascimento E, Piantino CB, Rossi VEC. Rosary of men: a strategy to encourage... English/Portuguese J Nurs UFPE on line., Recife, 8(Suppl. 3):4065-70, Nov., 2014 4067 ISSN: 1981-8963 DOI: 10.5205/reuol.5353-44734-1-RV.0811supl201405 a.2) Organization of the collected data; a.3) Selection and coding of the recorded/produced words and sentences; a.4) Summary of selected words and sentences. In this study, the themes were grouped according to similarity of meaning and frequency, because each respondent could suggest more than one theme. b) Development of educational activities According to Paulo Freire, this should be implemented as follows: b.1) the teaching planning is carried out taking all raised themes into consideration; b.2) Development of critical education; b.3) Process evaluation: the proper approach of the actions proposed and implemented is evidenced in the speeche


Abstract : The U.S. Army Defense Ammunition Center and School (USADACS), Evaluation Division (SMCAC-DEV), was tasked by the Project Manager for Ammunition Logistics (PM-AMMOLOG), AMCPM AL, Picatinny Arsenal, NJ to conduct MIL-STD-1660 test on the pallet adapter and top lift assembly for 40mm containers on metal pallets. This report contains the procedures, results, and recommendations from the MIL-STD-1660 test that was conducted. As a result of testing the pallet adapter and top lift assembly, recommendations were made to strengthen the top lift assembly and stacking lugs.


To provide a method and system for measuring displacement errors of between two overlay periodic structure or interlaced periodic structure (13, 15). Overlay periodic structure or interlaced periodic structure is illuminated by the incident light from the light source (101), detects the diffracted light of the incident light by overlaying the periodic structure or interlaced periodic structures at the detector (123, 125) to generate an output signal. Deviation between the overlay periodic structure or interlaced periodic structure, it is possible to determine from the output signal. .FIELD 10a


The collapsed buildings due to Izmit, Turkey earthquake that occurred on 17 August 1999 were detected from post-event aerial photographs using the shadow analysis and the perceptual grouping procedure. The selected area of study is a part of the city of Golcuk, which is one of the urban areas most strongly hit by the earthquake. The area contains a total of 282 buildings, of which 79 are collapsed and 203 are un-collapsed. First, the Canny edge detector was applied to detect the edges between the cast shadows and the surroundings. Second, the output edge image was converted into vector line segments through a raster-to-vector conversion process. These line segments were then grouped together using a two-level hierarchical perceptual grouping procedure. The boundaries of the buildings were available and stored in a GIS as vector polygons. Therefore, after the perceptual grouping procedure, the damage conditions of the buildings were assessed on a building-by-building basis by measuring the aggreement between the detected line segments and the vector building boundaries. The results obtained is satisfactory. The overall accuracy was found to be 72.6%. Of the total 79 collapsed buildings, 63 were detected correctly by the proposed approach, giving 79.7% producer's accuracy.


We use reinforcement learning to target the task of designing ribonucleic acid (RNA) sequences that fold into target multi-dimensional structures, which has broad applications in biology. Although we do not successfully solve the complete task, we demonstrate that it is possible to train an agent that gains some level of 'intuition' about the problem.


This article explores the (continuing) experience of loss, asking how we come to know loss as the losing event itself becomes more distant and the lost begins to fade in the memory. Following an earlier article about the death of his father 3 years ago, the author tells further stories about his father and draws from encounters in his counseling practice. He works with the Deleuzian concept of stammering , as he attempts to find words that take lines of flight and that do justice to the aporetic.


Abstract Torsional effects may significantly modify the seismic response of asymmetric buildings. This is due to the influence of several complex and difficult parameters to apprehend. The present paper deals with the influence of the input parameters on the seismic response of an asymmetric structure. Thus, several nonlinear dynamic analyses are performed in order to evaluate the effects of torsion on the seismic response of an asymmetric structure and shown their preponderances. The importance of the uncertain characteristics of the input seismic motion on the structural damage and the sensitivity of the response to the input parameters are assessed by a probabilistic analysis. The influence of these parameters is quantified through the use of partial correlation coefficient (PCC). The response in terms of roof displacement is calculated and used to construct fragility curves in order to quantify the probability of different damage levels according to the input motion.


The component of cracking gasoline (200℃) is analysed by GC/MS GC. Thedistillate is performed on an experiment in catalytic polymerization. Based on the distri-bution of component and the result of polymerization experment, the comprehensive uti-lization plan including petroleum resin manufacture is recommended.


Universities under the direct affiliation of the Ministry of Education(MOE),as a byword of high-level universities in our country,were not directly succeeded from national universities in the period of the Republic of China,but developed from key universities after the foundation of the PRC.The distribution of universities under the direct affiliation of the MOE continued the imbalance stationing in the late Qing Dynasty on the whole,but changed the flat structure in the Republic of China into the pyramid structure nowadays.In order to appease the competitive strength of the college entrance examination in different regions,eliminate the negative effects which aroused by the enrollment localization,promote the equalization process of educational resources and public services,ensure the equity of education and the college entrance examination,it suggests that universities under the direct affiliation of the MOE should be distributed in every province and region.


The Chinese later period grottos are mainly distributed in the south,and the documents about them in the north are deficient.The Qianfeyan(thousand-Buddha crags)Grotto,located in Jingxing County of Hebei Province,is the provincial level key cultural relic preservation.The grotto could date back to Yuan Hu the third(in 1080) of the Northern Song Dynasty.Its peak was in the mid and late Ming Dynasty.The extant josses should be built in the Ming Dynasty.The grotto has mainly reflected local populace's belief in the Ming Dynasty.


Abstract: China has been involving itself in the international efforts to solve the Sudanese Darfur problem since 2004. In this process, China has adopted three approaches to finding ways out of the crisis: multilateral cooperation, bilateral coordination, and the involvement of Chinese enterprises in Sudan. These approaches are interactive and mutually promoted in a consistent and effective frame. Multilateral activities in the UN provide more opportunities for China to assist in shaping the contents of the resolutions related to Darfur. China also pays attention to conducting cooperation with relevant regional organizations in this process. On the basis of its multilateral approach, the bilateral coordination on key issues between China and the US and, China and Sudan exert a significant impact on solving the problem. Chinese enterprises in Sudan also play a mixed role in the whole process through their economic influences there.


Composition for sulfur concrete, sulfur containing gas and fuel oil, characterized in that it further comprises a proppant spent and regenerated in the form of granular aluminosilicate granules of size 0.2-2 mm and a polymeric additive - shredded secondary waste PET in the following ratio, wt.%:


INTRODUCTION: High-resolution magnetic resonance imaging (μMRI) based micro-finite-element (μFE) modeling at peripheral sites is emerging as an attractive means to assess short-term alterations in bone's mechanical competence caused by disease or in response to intervention [1, 2]. In this approach, subject-specific bone's 3D micro-architecture derived from in-vivo μMRI is taken as input to a finite-element model. Ordinarily, bone tissue is assumed to have a constant elastic modulus (~15 GPa) because μMRI-based in-vivo measures of bone mineralization are not yet available. As a consequence, μMRI-based μFE analysis is not sensitive to possible changes in bone-mineral density (BMD) observed in patient populations such as those with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) following renal transplantation (RTxp) [3]. On the other hand, BMD alone correlates poorly with fracture risk [4, 5], which is markedly greater in ESRD than in general population [6, 7]. The purpose of this study is to examine the feasibility of generating μMRI-based μFE models with subject-specific tissue modulus by incorporating peripheral quantitative computed tomography (pQCT)-derived cortical and trabecular bone BMD measures, thereby making the approach suitable for capturing the temporal variations in bone's mechanical competence resulting from simultaneous structural and material alterations. Towards this goal, we computed the cortical and trabecular bone stiffness of the distal tibia in RTxp recipients as part of an ongoing longitudinal study via a μMRI-based μFE modeling with subject-specific tissue modulus and compared the results to those obtained when a constant tissue modulus is assumed.


Smart antenna is a current research focus.Basic principle of beam forming is introduced.The existing beam forming algorithms are classified and their performances are compared in accordance with the bind algorithm and non blind algorithm.The adaptive beamforming algorithm based on wavelet transform and wavelet package is compared.Multi resolution signal based on wavelet transform and beam forming algorithm based on wavelets neural network is analyzed.The prospect of the wavelet transform in optimal basis selection and the conjoint analysis with blind adaptive algorithm are looked forward.


The title of this address is already too ambitious, but even so I propose to interpret it liberally by taking discrimination to include acuity and memory. My aim is not to attempt the impossible task of giving a connected account of the subject, but to discuss some of the high-lights in this long neglected but now rapidly developing field. My theme may seem odd for one whose main interest over many years has been in the physiology of reproduction. The study of reproduction, however, leads into unexpected by-ways. Years ago, experiments on freezing spermatozoa by my colleagues Dr Audrey Smith and DrC Polge led to remarkable advances in low temperature biology. More recently, work by my colleague Miss H M Bruce has focused attention on the importance of olfactory stimuli in reproduction and has aroused our interest in the chemical senses generally, an interest much increased by the writings of Kalmus & Hubbard (1960), Kalmus (1962) and Richter (1942). Almost all vertebrates can see, hear, smell and taste to a greater or less extent, but there is wide variation in the degree to which animals of different groups rely on the different senses to assess their environment and their food, and in the extent to which their lives are influenced by different sensory stimuli. Of the four special senses, we are concerned here with the two which depend on chemical stimuli, smelling and tasting, in distinction to seeing and hearing which depend


Advances and developments in computing systems and innovative technologies are fast growing towards more complex, heterogeneous, dynamically scalable, ubiquitous, autonomic, connected and trustworthy computing systems. The aim of the 2015 International Workshop on Future Computing System Technologies and Applications (FiSTA-2015) is to provide a venue for scientific interaction of grand challenging researches, and development areas for future infrastructure/platforms of complex network computing system technologies, innovations, and applications. We are looking forward to your active participation in this event.


Pandan Wangi (Pandanus amaryllifolius Roxb) in the surrounding community is often processed as a sourceof cooking/cake ingredients because of its fragrant aroma, therefore the leaves are often used as a foodingredient, but the community does not know much about the potential of this fragrant pandan which canactually be used. as one of the drugs is antibacterial. The purpose of this study was to determine the activityof pandan leaf extract against Stpahylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli bacteria. The method used in thisstudy was well diffusion with invitro test, so that MIC was obtained with a concentration of 15%, namely4.98 mm with weak antibacterial activity, while in comparison with Cefadroxil monohydrate 2.5%, namely28.06 mm with very strong antibacterial activity.


The cubic spline - filter for the signal discrete values approximation is considered. The filter coefficients are determined on the basis of a frequency criterion. The frequency characteristics of a cubic spline - filter and a series of parabolic spline - filters are presented. Errors of approximation of the discrete values of harmonic signal are determinated. The error of approximation of discrete values of the Gaussian signal by considered filters are analyzed. Areas of approximating spline - filters application for on - line signal processing are described.


A multi-method analysis approach is proposed to investigate whether corroborating evidence can be found to obtain some possible insights on whether intermittent interventions might increase sustained attention for a repetitive task. The proposed approach involves analysis from diverse aspects including signal detection, anomaly detection, reaction time, and workload. A small-scale experiment was conducted, in which the primary task was a low-to-moderate fidelity repetitive passport screening task, and the intermittent intervention task was an auditory task of simple calculations. Among nearly two hundred passport images, some contained incorrect information within the images, whereas some contained anomalies, such as star shapes, shown outside of the images. Results showed that the treatment group, who received intermittent interventions, showed higher sensitivity on detection errors, higher anomaly detection, without substantial differences on reaction times and workload. Results show promise on adapting the proposed approach to investigate sustained attention when developing systems for training beginners.


Dear Editor-in-Chief The article entitled "Comparing Mental Health of School-Age Children with and without Epilepsy" published in summer 2016 (1) was very interesting and focused on a valuable subject, which indicates the researchers' scrutiny. We would, therefore, like to express our gratitude to the authors for selecting this subject and to the Iranian Journal of Child Neurology as well


Automatic population density estimation is a significant study area in intelligent video monitoring. Traditional methods need design features manually, which are hard to keep pace with the current state of big data. At the same time, with the outbreak of artificial intelligence methods such as deep learning, the application of deep learning to video monitoring is also an irresistible trend. Therefore, according to the disadvantage of traditional manual feature extraction and the deficiency of single-layer convolutional neural network(CNN), a multilayer convolutional neural network(MCNN) is raised. In this article, head size changes caused by various reasons, such as penetration effect, will not affect the characteristics of CNN learning pictures. That is to say, even if we do not know the perspective of the input map, we can accurately detect the population density on the basis of adaptive kernel. The characteristic graphs of each layer are integrated to obtain the population density map. experiments reveals that this network structure can attain more accurate population estimation.


There has been limited knowledge on worker's exposure to chemicals used in the automotive industries. The purpose of this study is to assess chemical risk and to determine the adequacy of the existing control measures to reduce chemical exposure. A cross sectional survey was conducted in a factory involving installation and servicing of automotive air conditioner units. Qualitative exposure assessment was carried out following the Malaysian Chemical Health Risk Assessment Manual (CHRA). There were 180 employees, 156 workers worked in the production line, which constitutes six work units Tube fin pressed, Brazing, Welding, Final assembly, Piping and Kit II. From the chemical risk evaluation for each work unit, 26 chemical compounds were used. Most of the chemicals were irritants (eye and skin) and some were asphyxiants and sensitizers. Based on the work assignment, 93 out of 180 (51.67%) of the workers were exposed to chemicals. The highest numbers of workers exposed to chemicals were from the Brazing section (22.22%) while the Final Assembly section was the lowest (1.67%). Health survey among the workers showed occurrence of eye irritation, skin irritation, and respiratory irritation, symptoms usually associated with chemical exposure. Using a risk rating matrix, several work process were identified as having 'significant risk'. For these areas, the workers are at risk of adverse health effects since chemical exposure is not adequately controlled. This study recommends corrective actions be taken in order to control the level of exposure and to provide a safe work environment for workers.


This is a speech about exit strategies. It is just talking about exit strategies—the Federal Reserve has thought extensively about this. There has been a lot of tremendous work by the staff at the Board and around the system on these issues. I think the first thing is that the Fed is thinking hard about these issues. The second thing is that for the liquidity programs, I think there is a clear exit mode, and I think that these programs—if financial markets continue to improve—we will probably see these programs sort of tapering off and eventually being discontinued. So, for those, there is a very clear sort of exit scenario. For the asset purchase program, I think it is not as clear, and probably the best option is just to plan to sell some of the assets when the time comes, but that will put upward pressure on interest rates. So that is always a controversial element of any monetary policy.


Exploitation and research of compositive product,i.e.Corrosion Inhibitor,was carried out by the mixing of the main component of corrosion inhibitor with surfactants,chelate,organic amine and liquid of prefabrication,then the optimal proportion was found out in order to build the best matching systems.The models among the anti-corrosive capacity of the inhibitor and operation conditions were established by polynary quadratic regression. The optimum operation conditions obtained by non-linear programming(NLP) are the following: the amount of the surfactants,chelate,organic amine and the liquid of prefabrication is 0.112 6,0.010 2,0.213 9 and 0.357 2 respectively.The verified experiment showed that the products under the optimum operation conditions had the better water-soluble capablity,slower corrosion rate and higher anti-corrosive capacity(up to over 99%).


Electrons moving in inhomogeneous magnetic fields, which are slowly varying, behave like beads on a string. Because of this a converging magnetic funnel (MF) can be used to reduce an electron image in a way which is physically very different from a conventional lens. We analyze and numerically simulate the trajectories of electrons in a realizable MF. We show that such magnetic configurations are generally capable of projecting and reducing several cm2 images with features in the 0.1 μ range. Distortions are <10−6, there is good depth of focus (≥1 μm), and spot sizes (≤20 nm) are achievable.


Objective:To study the changes of permeability of blood-brain barrier(BBB)which directly cause brain edema after brain injury.It is very important to explain the development of brain edema.Methods:Eighty-four Wistar rats were randomly divided into control group(n=12)and brain injury group.The rats in brain injury group were divided into six subgroups according to different observation time points after brain injury,n=12.In each subgroup there were nine rats.Rat models with acute regional contusion and laceration of the brain were established by Feeney's impact with a free fall weight.The water content of the brain tissue was measured on six random rats of each group,The Evanse blue(EB)content was observed on the other six rats of each group.Results:It was found that BBB opened at 30 min and reached its peak between 24~72 hours,and the peak lasted till 168 hours after brain injury.Conclusion:The water content and EB content in brain tissue changed in different pace and the BBB was disrupted before the formation of brain edema.So the treatment of brain injury should begin earlier and last 168h at least.


This work is to predict the shape and collapse of the molten layer surrounding the keyhole filled with vapor and droplets during drilling or high power density beam welding process. Investigating collapse of the liquid layer is essentially required for an understanding of pore formation in keyhole welding. The collapse of the keyhole is similar to transition between the slug and annular two‐phase flows encountered in fluid flow field. In this study, quasi‐steady, averaged one‐dimensional models widely used in two‐phase flow areas thus are provided. The core region filled with vapor and entrained droplets is treated as a homogeneous fluid. In the absence of friction and gravitational forces and energy absorption, the shape and transport variables in the keyhole subject to a supersonic flow at the base are found to be divided into four regions for different liquid entrainments. The effects of vapor compressibility, surface tension, and distinct transport properties between vapor and liquid layer on transpor...


Citation: Long Term Remission of Hyper IgE Syndrome after Treatment with Cyclosporine-a: Clinic and Immunological Correlations. J Allergy Disord Ther 5: 009. Abstract Hyper IgE syndrome is characterized by recurrent staphylococcal abscess, sinopulmonary infection, severe eczema and extremely high level of IgE. Recent work revealed a broader array of clinical features with defects in immune regulations. Management of these patients is very difficult because the pathophysiology of the immunodeficiency has not been completely elucidated. We examined the effect of a small dose of Cyclosporin-A (CSA) on the clinical course, and the excessive production of IgE and other immunologic param-eters and infection in patients with Hyper IgE (HIE) syndrome. Three patients, two females and one male, two were brother and sister; their ages were between 10 months and three years. All three patients were suffering from severe eczema, recurrent sinopulmonary infection, lung and skin abscesses, chronically and failure to thrive since the first few weeks of their lives. Their serum IgE was more than 10 times upper normal for age. Measurement of serum IgE, Cytokine IL-4, and IFN-γ and serum immunoglobulins measure before and after treatment, in addition, skin score of dermatitis and the number of infection, were evaluated before and after treatment with CSA. Following treatment with CSA, 2-4 mg/kg per day in 2 divided doses, after standard treatment failed. There was a dramatic and sus-tained clinical improvement, especially dermatitis, associated with marked drop in serum IgE (P<0.0001), IL-4 (P<0.0001), and IFN-γ (P<0.001). There was no significant change in serum levels of IgG, IgA and IgM. The results of our study indicate that immune imbalance in HIE syndrome can be modulated by CSA that leads to marked drop on IgE and IL-4 synthesis and clinical remission. This treatment needs to be repeated in a larger number of patients.


An analytical model is presented for sound radiation from a semi-infinite unflanged annular duct. The duct carries a jet which issues into a uniform mean flow while an inner cylindrical centre body extends downstream from the duct exit. This geometrical arrangement forms an idealized representation of a turbofan exhaust where noise propagates along the annular bypass duct, refracts through the external bypass stream and radiates to the far field. The instability wave of the vortex sheet and its interaction with the acoustic field are accounted for in an exact way in the current solution. Efficient numerical procedures are presented for evaluating near-field and far-field solutions, and these are used as the basis for a parametric study to illustrate the effect of varying the hub–tip ratio, and the ratio of jet velocity to external flow velocity. Since the 'Kutta' condition can be turned on and off in the current solution, this capability is used to assess the effect of vortex shedding on noise radiation. Far-field directivity patterns are presented for single modes and also for a multi-mode 'broadband' source model in which all cut-on modes are assumed to be present with equal modal power. Good agreement is found between analytical solutions and experimental data. Near-field pressure maps of the acoustic and instability portions of the solution are generated for selected tones.


In this paper, we introduce the concept of triad. Using this notion, we study, revisit, discover and rediscover some basic properties of ludics from a very general point of view.


Objective To evaluate the effects of transplant adductor brevis and gracilis to correct scissors gait in spastic cerebral palsy. Methods From July 2000 to December 2004, 73 patients with scissors gait of spastic cerebral palsy were treated with transplantation of adductor brevis and gracilis, 47 were males and 26 were females, with the average of 12.06 years old. According to Ashworth's standard, the muscle tension was evaluated before surgery. 12 cases were in degree Ⅰ, 38 cases were in degreeⅡ, 18 cases in degree Ⅲ and 5 cases in degree Ⅳ. The end of adductor brevis was cut off and sutured with tensor fasciae latae through the tunnel under the skin, the end of gracilis was cut off and transplanted to the lateral condylus of femur through the back of the knee. Some certain surgery completed at the same time, the semitendious and biceops muscle was transplanted to the front of the knee(37 cases) and extended(13 cases), the soft tissue was released in hip joint(55 cases), the gastrocnemius cut off (32 cases), the Achilles's tendon extended(30 cases) and tibialis anterior lateral transplantation (31 cases), only peroneus longus lateral transplantation (8 cases). After operation the lower limbs was fixed with plaster cast for 6 weeks, then the plaster cast was removedassociating with functional exercise. The orthopaedic results were evaluated on the function of hip, knee, foot-malleoious and the gait, then classified four grades. Results All patients were followed up an average of 24.4 months. The scissors gait was corrected completely, 61 cases were excellent, 10 cases were good, 2 cases were fair. The majority symptom of whem was the knee flexure, but can be relieved by medicine. There were significant differences compared pre-operation with post-operation in four groups, and also between degree Ⅳ group and degree Ⅰand Ⅱgroup(P 0.05). Conclusion 1)The scissors gait can be corrected by the transplantation of the adductor brevis and gracilis, and get satisfactory results in the spastic cerebral palsy. 2)It is necessary that designing a comprehensive operation project and completing surgery at one time to correct other limb's deformity, which will benefit to get a normal and satisfactory gait training. 3)It is essential to combine the functional training with improvement of the intelligence quotient and instruct them in the right way.


Decision tree is a convenient and practical method for data mining. In this paper, some economic targets are selected suitably as decision attribute based on data analysis in stock market. An improved ID3 algorithm is applied to extract earnings rules in stock market. The algorithm presented in this paper is implemented with C language program. Simulating results show not only the obtained meaningful decision rules in stock market, but also the experience rules that are not necessarily correct.


Problems and use prospects «disulfide oils» (DSO) Tengiz GPR are considered. Physical and chemical methods identify all three components taken of DSO: dimetil-, metiletil - and dietildisulfids. The basic directions of application DSO and its components are resulted.


Abstract Acclimation of Arenicola marina to high salinity increases the O2 affinity of the etythrocruorin in the blood compared to that in low-salinity acclimated animals; at pH 7.4 and 20°C, the O2 tensions required for half-saruration (P50) are 2.1 and 3.3 mm Hg at water salinities of 32.3 and 10.2 ‰, respectively. Acclimation salinity, however, does not appear to e~ert a consistent influence on the Bohr effect (Δlog P50/ΔpH) or the buffer capacity of the blood, although the buffer reserve is higher in low- than in high-salinity acclimated animals. The influence of temperature on the O2 affinity of the blood is small (the apparent heat of oxygenation approximates -5 to -6 kcal · mole-1, compared to -10 to -14 kcal · mole-1 in vertebrate hemoglobin) and appears to be independent of salinity. Acclimating batches of Arenicola to 6 and 18°C, however, produced no evidence for thermo-acclimatory changes in blood O2 affinity. Curiously a specific effect of CO2 (i.e. one which is not related to concomitant pH c...


Value engineering is one of the suitable ways to identify opportunities for improvement in the design and implementation of construction projects. This is possible by using value engineering techniques to form a systematic, creative professionals as a team and in a short time with a view to examine various aspects of the project and finally the capacity to improve the quality, reduce costs and decrease time to be recognized. In this paper, first by library studies, a list of construction project evaluation criteria was prepared. Then, through the study of documents and files related to the control Project (MSP) of Venus Tower in Mashhad (as a case study), criteria were collected.  Then, CBS (cost breakdown structure) of the project is prepared with the aim of focusing on high costs and regard to the potentials for improvement and the cost of each package and percent distribution of costs were allocated to CBS.  According to the percent distribution, value engineering; studies about the greatest potential cost-saving options that had been observed. Then the suggestions for meeting the needs of exploit were proposed by using the technique of brainstorming to generate ideas and approved or rejected options which were based on public reasoning. Finally, items set as the final outcome of the workshop taking into account the explanations provided for each proposal are presented to impose in designs. This paper presents the results of applied value engineering to reduce costs and increase efficiency during the lifetime of the project.


Purpose: Ultrasound contrast agents (UCA's) based on gas-filled microbubbles encapsulated by an amphiphilic shell are well established as safe and effective echo-enhancers in diagnostic imaging. In view of an alternative application of UCA's, we investigated the use of targeted microbubbles as radiation sensors for external beam radiation therapy. As radiation induces permanent changes in the microbubble's physico-chemical properties, a robust measure of these changes can provide a direct or indirect estimate of the applied radiation dose. For instance, by analyzing the ultrasonic dispersion characteristics of microbubble distributions before and after radiation treatment, an estimate of the radiation dose at the location of the irradiated volume can be made. To increase the radiation sensitivity of microbubbles, polymerizable diacetylene molecules can be incorporated into the shell. This study focuses on characterizing the acoustic response and quantifying the chemical modifications as a function of radiation dose. Methods: Lipid/diacetylene microbubbles were irradiated with a 6 MV photon beam using dose levels in the range of 0–150 Gy. The acoustic response of the microbubbles was monitored by ultrasonic through-transmission measurements in the range of 500 kHz to 20 MHz, thereby providing the dispersion relations of the phase velocity, attenuation and nonlinear coefficient. In addition, the radiation-induced chemical modifications were quantified using UV-VIS spectroscopy. Results: UV-VIS spectroscopy measurements indicate that ionizing radiation induces the polymerization of diacetylenes incorporated in the microbubble shell. The polymer yield strongly depends on the shell composition and the radiation-dose. The acoustic response is inherently related to the visco-elastic properties of the shell and is strongly influenced by the shell composition and the physico-chemical changes in the environment. Conclusion: Diacetylene-containing microbubbles are polymerizable under influence of ionizing radiation and are a promising design concept within the development of a novel non-invasive in-vivo radiation dosimeter for external beam radiation therapy. This work was funded by the Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO).


Because of the good performance of convolutional neural network (CNN), it has been extensively used in many fields, such as image, speech, text, etc. However, it is easily affected by hyperparameters. How to effectively configure hyperparameters at a reasonable time to improve the performance of CNNs has always been a complex problem. To solve this problem, this paper proposes a method to automatically optimize CNN hyperparameters based on the local autonomous competitive harmony search (LACHS) algorithm. To avoid the influence of complicated parameter adjustment of LACHS algorithm on its performance, a parameter dynamic adjustment strategy is adopted, which makes the pitch adjustment probability PAR and step factor BW dynamically adjust according to the actual situation. To strengthen the fine search of neighborhood space and reduce the possibility of falling into local optima for a long time, an autonomous decision-making search strategy based on the optimal state is designed. To help the algorithm jump out of the local fitting situation, this paper proposes a local competition mechanism to make the new sound competes with the worst harmonic progression of local selection. In addition, an evaluation function is proposed, which integrates the training times and recognition accuracy. To achieve the purpose of saving the calculation cost without affecting the search result, it makes the training time for each model depending on the learning rate and batch size. In order to prove the feasibility of LACHS algorithm in configuring CNN superparameters, the classification of the Fashion-MNIST dataset and CIFAR10 dataset is tested. The comparison is made between CNN based on empirical configuration and CNN based on classical algorithms to optimize hyperparameters automatically. The results show that the performance of CNN based on the LACHS algorithm has been improved effectively, so this algorithm has certain advantages in hyperparametric optimization. In addition, this paper applies the LACHS algorithm to expression recognition. Experiments show that the performance of CNN optimized based on the LACHS algorithm is better than that of the same type of artificially designed CNN. Therefore, the method proposed in this paper is feasible in practical application.


The structures of the acetone inclusion compounds of
2,2′-bis(2,7-dichloro-9-hydroxy-9-fluorenyl)biphenyl (compound 1) and
2,2′-bis(2,7-di-tert-butyl-9-hydroxy-9-fluorenyl)biphenyl
(compound 2), with host∶guest ratios of 1∶2 and 1∶1,
respectively, have been elucidated. Compound 2 desolvates at
175 °C, whereas compound 1 is much less stable and desolvates at
80 °C. Compound 1 desolvates in a single deceleratory step
following a three dimensional diffusion kinetic model. The desolvation of
compound 2 follows the first-order kinetic model. The activation energies
of desolvation have been evaluated.


The synthesis, in silico molecular docking, and in vitro urease inhibition studies of a novel series of benzothiazole derivatives are reported. The title compounds in the two series, namely, 2‐({5‐[(benzothiazol‐2‐ylthio)methyl]‐1,3,4‐oxadiazol‐2‐yl}thio)‐1‐(4‐substituted‐phenyl)ethan‐1‐one and 2‐(benzothiazol‐2‐ylthio)‐1‐(4‐substituted‐phenyl)ethan‐1‐one oxime, were synthesized by the reaction of benzo[d]thiazole‐2‐thiol with different kinds of intermediates in several steps using both conventional and microwave techniques. All compounds were found to have an excellent degree of urease‐inhibitory potential ranging between 16.16 ± 0.54 and 105.32 ± 2.10 µM when compared with the standard inhibitor acetohydroxamic acid with IC50 = 320.70 ± 4.24 µM. The structure–activity relationship was established in detail. The binding interactions of the compounds with the enzyme were confirmed through molecular docking. Further, 100 ‐ns molecular dynamics simulations were performed to investigate the stability and structural perturbations experienced by the most potent compound over the urease active site.


Field cage studies were conducted in Reunion Island in order to determine the optimal age for mating in the local wild #Ceratitis capitata# and #Ceratitis rosa# strains. A standard methodology, as defined during the second Research Coordination Meeting, was used during these studies. In #C. capitata#, we recorded a higher proportion of 9 days-old (45 %), then 7 days-old males in the observed pairs. We also observed a higher proportion of 9 days-old females in the formed pairs (58%), followed by 7 days-old females (34%). Female choice did't seem to be much afiected by its age : 9 or 7 days-old females showed a slight preference for 9 days-old males, followed by 7 days-old males. The relative proportion of the various ages confirm that, in the conditions of our experiment, males require a shorter maturation period before they are able to mate successully. In our climatic conditions, the higher number of pairs was collected in the morning at 8 and 9.00 a.m. With #C. rosa#, a first experiment with individuals of the same ages as #C. capitata# (3, 5, 7 and 9 days) gave negative results. A second experiment was done using flies of 11, 13, 15 and 17 days. We recorded a higher proportion of 13 days-old males (37 %,), then 17 days-old (25%), 15 days-old (20 %) and 11 days-old (18%) in the formed pairs. For females, we recorded a higher proportion of 15 days-old (35%) and 13 days-old (33 %) individuals. Females of the fist three age classes showed the same preference for 15 days-old males. In this species, the great majority of the pairs was observed at the end of the afternoon, at 6.30 and 7.00 p.m. These results will be helpful for video recordings of the mating behaviour that are currently in progress. (Resume d'auteur)


Eileen Arnold is not one to shy away from pursuing a passion, so when she discovered the field of systems engineering, it didn't matter that the timing wasn't exactly perfect. When is it ever perfect, and why should that hold anyone back?


This year's Rabbit Awareness Week (RAW) campaign will take place as a virtual festival from 10 to 23 August, and veterinary practices are now able to download free packs from the RAW website (www.rabbitawarenessweek.co.uk/download-a-raw-pack-for-vets) to help vets engage with rabbit owners online.

These packs include …


The results of experimental investigations of metal nanoparticles produce on the basis of the electrical exploding conductors effect for medical using are presented. Experimental equipment is designed. Analysis of copper nanoparticles biological activity was was carried out. Simplified model for calculating the current integral is shown.


Three types of representational surfactants,which included cationic surfactant CTAB and FS-134,neutral surfactant PEG and anionic surfactant FS-62,were chosen in our research.Based on which the effects of different surfactant combination on the dispersity of(Ni-P)-MoS2 composite plating were investigated.The results showed that the cooperation of cationic surfactant and neutral surfactant contributed to the dispersing of nano-MoS2 and enhanced the quality of(Ni-P)-MoS2 composite coating.


Abstract While a large body of literature on pejorative language has emerged recently, derogatory communication is a broader phenomenon that need not constitutively involve the use of words. This paper delineates the class of non-verbal pejoratives (NVPs) and sketches an account of the derogatory power of a subset of NVPs, namely those whose effectiveness crucially relies on iconicity. Along the way, I point out some ways in which iconic NVPs differ from wholly arbitrary NVPs and ritualized threat signals in the animal kingdom, such as the wolf's snarl, which do not threaten or demean targets by virtue of any kind of iconographic depiction. An iconic portrayal such as a racist caricature disparages its target by inviting recipients to entertain an unflattering image of the target. "Blackface" performers in the nineteenth-century, for example, promulgated an unflattering image of African-Americans by means of make-up, costumes, and vocal impersonations.