Abstrcat: Fabric image retrieval is of great value to the management of fabric image information in textile factories, but the diversity of fabric images makes it difficult to extract fabric image features during fabric retrieval. This paper proposes a fabric image feature extraction algorithm based on InceptionV3 transfer learning, which uses a pre-trained InceptionV3 neural network to perform transfer learning and fine-tune to extract fabric image features to build a feature database. The fabric retrieval experiment was carried out on the fabric image data set FID (Fabric Image Dataset). Experiments show that the algorithm can ameliorate the accuracy of fabric image feature extraction, with a retrieval accuracy of 84.5%. This feature extraction algorithm has practical application value.


hondrolysis is a devastating complication of surgery onany joint, resulting in the rapid and extensive de-struction of the articular cartilage. Associated with thisdestructionisanequallylargeinflammatoryresponsethatcausesadhesions in the lining of the involved joint. The inflammatoryresponse manifests as arthrofibrosis and is typically seen withinsix months after the operation. Management of this uniquecomplication is difficult because most patients are very youngand have active lifestyles. Chondrolysis causes more immediatesymptoms of pain and limited range of motion than does osteo-arthritis, which often takes years to become symptomatic.The exact cause of postoperative chondrolysis is un-known; however, several hypotheses have been entertained,such as the use of thermal treatment


Background: Optical coherence tomography (OCT) provides accurate measurement of coronary lumen diameter and fibrous cap thickness in vivo. Because OCT requires blood-free zone for imaging, low pressure (−0.5atm) proximal balloon occlusion (PBO) combined with distal flush (0.5–2ml/sec) from the tip of the catheter or bolus injection (2.5– 4ml/sec) of crystalloid fluid through the guiding catheter without PBO is performed during OCT imaging. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of PBO on the assessment of the lumen size and the fibrous cap thickness by OCT in patients. Methods: We performed OCT with and without PBO in 14 patients. The lumen diameter (LD), the lumen cross sectional area (CSA) and the minimal fibrous cap thickness (FCT) were compared between 40 lesion pairs. Presence of the calcified plaque in each lesion was also evaluated. In 5 patients, intracoronary pressure with and without PBO was compared using the pressure wire. Results: With PBO, intracoronary pressure was diminished from 75.5±29.5 to 19.8±2.9 mmHg (p Conclusion: The presence of proximal balloon occlusion influences lumen size and fibrous cap thickness assessed by OCT. The differences are further affected by the plaque morphology.


This paper describes an attempt to develop a standardized method of tablet coating; i.e., the application of well-defined procedures of precise quantities of liquids and solids to a definite weight or volume of tablets. Experiments presented show that the standardization of tablet coating is possible. The disintegration tests show that the tablets coated by the outlined processes disintegrate rapidly.


The synthesis of the Lewis acid-base adducts (i−C 3 H 7 ) 2 GaBr−HEC 2 H 5 (E=S, Se) is reported. The thermal treatment of these adducts to give isopropyl(ethylchalcogenolato) gallium bromides was demonstrated. All new compounds were characterized by physical methods ( 1 H NMR, 13 C NMR, and IR spectroscopy and DTA)


It is widely reported that deep generative models can classify out-of-distribution (OOD) samples as in-distribution with high confidence. In this work, we propose a hypothesis that this phenomenon is due to the reconstruction task, which can cause the generative model to focus too much on low-level features and not enough on semantic information. To address this issue, we introduce SR-OOD, an OOD detection framework that utilizes sample repairing to encourage the generative model to learn more than just an identity map. By focusing on semantics, our framework improves OOD detection performance without external data and label information. Our experimental results demonstrate the competitiveness of our approach in detecting OOD samples.


List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Introduction 1. Sentimental Education: Creating a Global Imaginary of Integration 2. Reader's Digest, Saturday review, and the Middlebrow Aesthetic of Commitment 3. How to Be an American Abroad: James Michener's The Voice of Asia and Postwar Mass Tourism 4. Family Ties as Political Obligation: Oscar Hammerstein II, South Pacific, and the Discourse of Adoption 5. Musicals and Modernization: The King and I 6. Asians in America: Flower Drum Song and Hawaii Conclusion Notes Index


There is a large number of water - image in Libai' s poesy. He described the splendid water and at the same time, infuses his life - taste of aesthetic meaning. Water - image of his poesy has very strong conformity force. Water with moon and mountain makes up compound image group. It constitutes a perfect aesthetic system.


In a mixed-model assembly line problem, two objectives has been proposed to decide the product scheduling. One is to minimize the work congestion and the other is keeping the consumption rate of each part. In JIT production system, the latter one is more important, so the goal chasing method (GC) has been prposed to achieve this goal. The difference of assembly time among each product was not cnsidered in any solution algorithms. Recently, the time based goal chasing method (TBGC) has been proposed in which the different assembly time among each product is considered. The good point of TBGC is able to consider the idle time contained in an assembly line. However, TBGC is only applied to a single work station problem. In this paper, TBGC is applied to an assembly line and numerical experiments are presented.


Trade association is a kind of popular social organization which is set up by the principal part of social economy spontaneously,serving for themselves.Seeking and maintaining the profit for its members is the core value of the trade association.System orientation is the necessary choice for the trade governance and the establishment of system is the basic guarantee for realizing the value of trade association.


Familial cold autoinflammatory syndrome (FCAS) is a subset of heritable autoinflammatory disorders wherein inflammatory symptoms aggravate upon exposure of the individual to subnormal temperature. In the past two decades, several mutations in various genes such as NLRP3, NLRP12, PLCG2 and NLRC4 have been identified that cause cold‐triggered inflammation. However, our understanding of the mechanisms by which cells perceive subnormal temperature, and what keeps the inflammation under check until exposure to low temperature, is very limited. We hypothesise that recognition of FCAS‐associated mutants as misfolded polypeptides by temperature‐sensitive HSC70 (HSPA8) chaperone determines the FCAS phenotype. At 37 °C, HSC70 would interact with the mutant proteins, keeping them almost inactive, and loss of interaction at low temperature due to a conformational change in HSC70 would lead to their activation. The proposed mechanism of low temperature sensing in the context of FCAS may have wider implications for HSC70 as a cold temperature sensor in various pathological conditions where symptoms get aggravated upon exposure to low temperature.


For nearly two decades now, through an extensive and ever-growing series of interventions in academia and beyond, Loïc Wacquant has been scrutinising and criticising what he views as the inextricable link between the ascendancy of neoliberalism and the rise of the penal state. As Loader and Sparks indicate in their contribution to this special issue, many feel that criminology has refined and expanded its intellectual resources thanks to inputs by a sociologist of Wacquant's stature. And with good reason, for he simultaneously breaches a host of boundaries which have long impaired scholarly engagement with crime and punishment. These are the boundaries between theoretical analysis and empirical research, between disparate empirical strands, between diverse disciplinary realms, and between science and politics. Wacquant's work combines sophisticated theoretical construction with an intrepid search for empirical evidence in both qualitative and quantitative sources, from urban and prison ethnographies to official crime and criminal justice statistics. Due not least to the multifariousness of his subject matter, Wacquant also brings together concepts, insights, and data from a variety of academic disciplines and sub-fields: from criminology and sociology to geography and anthropology, and from youth deviance, policing, and imprisonment to ethnoracial relations, the welfare system, and the economy. All this, finally, he does with a passionate and unrelenting commitment to the practice of democratic politics; that he strives to debunk social, scientific, and official myths such as those of the 'new law-and-order reason' (Wacquant, 2009a: 243–69) is because he wishes to alter the parameters of public discussion and thereby help redress poverty and inequality. And indeed, Wacquant's arguments appear to have percolated amongst journalists, policy-makers, practitioners, activists, unionists, interested citizens, and university students (see Wacquant, 2009b: 161–76). Interest in the work of Wacquant has intensified in recent months on the occasion of the publication of his two latest books, Punishing the Poor and Prisons of Poverty. In


Introduction: Conceptual design develops design candidates based on product requirements. Product requirements may be decided from customer needs, benchmarks of competing products, and other criteria. These requirements are then translated into measurable technical attributes that can be used to evaluate design candidates. Criteria must be considered to choose a best design. Designers need to identify corresponding alternatives of product concepts using criteria and their relative importance levels. However, mapping from product requirements into design candidates is a daunting task. There may be a number of feasible design options. As a result, an evaluation model is required for the effective solution selection. Traditional methods of the conceptual design evaluation include the expert rating, gray evaluation, quality function allocation, and fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) methods [5]. These methods have some shortcomings, such as the lack of an objective evaluation, complex analysis process, and hard to handle inaccurate information. This research proposes an efficient method for analyzing, prioritizing, and ranking design solutions. A multi-criteria decision-making method is proposed for the evaluation of design solutions to reduce the subjective preference of decision-makers and influence of uncertain factors in the decision-making. The FAHP analyzes factors that affect the competitiveness of products using a hierarchy of the design scheme evaluation. Using triangular fuzzy numbers instead of scales in the conventional analytic hierarchy process, the method can fully consider views of experts in various fields to reduce risks of product development. Three selected rehabilitation products are used as examples to verify feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed method. An improved design of the exoskeleton device is proposed for the upper extremity exercise rehabilitation.


Little coordination exists among the various federal, state, and local initiatives for educational intervention programs for specially targeted populations. This paper discusses issues involved in the development of coordinated educational programs for disadvantaged pupils, with particular reference to Chapter 1 of the Education Consolidation and Improvement Act of 1981. It begins by briefly covering the notion of coordination as it has appeared in the literature. It then reviews the available evidence on the coordination of core curricular instruction with the curriculum and instruction offered in a variety of educational intervention programs. The second section of the paper presents an analysis of assumptions that have guided policymaking. It also points out some of the consequences of these assumptions, which are, in part, grounded in suspect beliefs about how children learn or fail to learn. The final section of the paper proposes some alternatives to current assumptions which influence policy. It argues for curricular congruence as a key to th,.. design of effective programs for alleviating school failure. The paper focuses primarily on reading education. A list of references is appeaded. (PS) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. *********************************************************************** THE COORDINATION AMONG REGULAR CLASSROOM READING PROGRAMS AND TARGETED SUPPORT PROGRAM'


In this paper, a novel antenna that operating in the low frequency band of the fifth generation mobile communication system (5G) is proposed. In this antenna the stripline is creatively used to excite a double "H" configuration slot-coupled patches. The cross polarization is less than -21 dB, the port isolation is less than -43 dB, and the measured impedance bandwidths for voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR) ≤2 are 13%. Meanwhile, the gain of antenna unit is 6.85 dB. In general, this antenna demonstrated high performance in both isolation characteristics and bandwidth characteristics. Introduction As a classical antenna form, much of the research on microstrip antenna has been done for its advantage of small size, low profile, light weight, easy conformal, simple integration, easy to mass production. However, microstrip antennas also have obvious shortcomings, such as low power capacity, narrow frequency band, cross polarization is not ideal, etc. Dual polarized microstrip antenna has attracted much attention because of its advantages of transceiver integration, frequency reuse and polarization agility [1]. The dual-polarized technology is diverse, the simplest method is to use square microstrip patch as radiation unit and make side feed at the vertical edge of patch by microstrip line. However, the drawback of this structure is that the parasitic radiation and dispersion effects are serious One of improved method is to use double slot coupling feed instead of side feed, and the concrete operation is to etch two orthogonal slots on the floor, located directly below the two symmetrical axes of the square patch. A. Adrian [2] adopts experimental methods to prove that the isolation of this structure is much lower than the actual requirements, so it is of little practical value. On the other hand, the narrow bandwidth is a conditional shortcoming of microstrip antenna. At present, the main methods to broaden bandwidth include multilayer structure, adding parasitic patch, slot coupling feeding method, and radiation patch added low dielectric constant thick dielectric plate. In order to extend bandwidth, a slot in a 'H' configuration is etched under the radiation patch. A new project that the slots are placed in a 'T' configuration under the patch, with one slot under the main body of the patch and the other along an edge reported in paper [3]. In this way, the port isolation and relative impedance bandwidth have been increased by a sacrifice of cross polarization. What's more, Steven Gao [4] and C.H.T Sao, Y, M. Hwang [5] proposed new antenna model which could improve the isolation, but the antenna structure were too complex. Double H-shape cross slots excited by microstrip line is preferred in most antenna papers for easy fabrication. However, a back cavity or a back ground is needed to suppress the back radiation. And thus increase the mutual coupling between antenna units. In this paper, a stripline feed dual-H slot coupled dual polarized double layer microstrip patch antenna with a center frequency of 3.5GHz is designed. Benefited from the stripline feed design, there is no any back cavity equipped, and the structure has advantages of compact architecture and high


Direct Imaging with DLP® Photoheads is becoming an established technology in productivity systems for PCB Lithography and similar applications. Scrolling technology is used to expose large areas and is enabling highest levels of productivity and efficiency, while maintaining full flexibility of direct imaging concepts. Specific features such as SPX (subpixelation) and PPC (pixel power control) technologies have further enhanced resolution of printed structures, as well as precision and uniformity of the exposure across the entire field. 3D print systems with photosensitive resins can conceptually be seen as an extension of 2D Direct Imaging systems into the third dimension. The scrolling technique then allows to enlarge the build area by freely multiplying the photohead's static build area with native pixel pitch in both, x and y dimensions. In addition, SPX technology in 3D print systems would enable 2 different advanced options. Either it offers improved (reduced) edge roughness of structures, by fine pitching the native pixel pitch. Or a larger native pixel pitch can be chosen, still providing the same fine pitched edge roughness and surface finish as a native system with proportionally smaller build area.


This study is an attempt to analyze the disputation between Karlstadt and Luther in Wittenberg in 1521-22, to look at the conflict from what point of view, and to examine the fundamental cause of the conflict. I first briefly introduced the historical background of Wittenberg in 1521-22, and then, looked at Karlstadt's On the Removal of Images (January 1522) and Luther's Eight Sermons at Wittenberg (March 1522) to identify key points of the debate. And I also reviewed the criticism on Luther appeared in Karlstadt's Whether We Should Go Slowly (November 1524), and the criticism on Karlstadt revealed in Luther's Against the Heavenly Prophets (1525). I finally asked why Luther turned to the conservative position in this debate, and suggested plausible answers. There have been various interpretations of what was the key cause of the conflict between the two. Several arguments have been made about the disagreement between the two: the claim that it was a strategic difference over the pace and method of reform, the claim that Luther emphasized justification but Karlstadt stressed regeneration, the claim that it came from the difference in the way of Christian spiritual formation. However, I have argued that Luther's shift to a conservative stance to conform to the position of the Saxony Elector in order to defend the cause of the Reformation was at the bottom of the debate. If Karlstadt was an idealist, Luther was a realist. If Karlstadt wanted to keep the principle, Luther tried to make political judgments. The debates between Luther and Karlstadt at the beginning of the Reformation will not only provide insight for Church reform today, but will also provide rich contents and evidences for reform.


Purpose – This study proposes a mobile learning model that employs digital libraries to support investigative learning activities. A student‐centered mobile learning activity with self‐guided exploration for physical ecology observation has been conducted to demonstrate the benefits of using digital libraries to support investigation‐based ecology learning activities.Design/methodology/approach – An investigation‐based mobile learning model is proposed and an experiment is designed to show the effectiveness of the learning model, in which the students are asked to answer a series of questions by observing the real‐world learning objects and searching for supplemental materials from a digital library.Findings – The instructional experiment conducted in an elementary school with 64 sixth grade students shows that the innovative approach is able to improve the learning achievement, learning effectiveness, as well as the learning attitudes of the students.Practical implications – The findings of this paper im...


Electric demand and renewable power are highly variable, and the solution of a planning model relies on capturing this variability. This paper proposes a hybrid multi-area method that effectively captures both the intraday and interday chronology of real data considering extreme values, using a limited number of representative days, and time points within each day. An optimization-based representative extraction method is proposed to improve intraday chronology capturing. It ensures higher precision in preserving data chronology and extreme values than hierarchical clustering methods. The proposed method is based on a piecewise linear demand and supply representation, which reduces approximation errors compared to the traditional piecewise constant formulation. Additionally, sequentially linked day blocks with identical representatives, created through a mapping process, are employed for interday chronology capturing. To evaluate the efficiency of the proposed method, a comprehensive expansion co-planning model is developed, including transmission lines, energy storage systems, and wind farms.


Abstract : This report investigates mode conversion from magnetostatic forward volume waves (MSFVW's) to magnetostatic backward volume waves (MSBVW's) through a region of bias-field discontinuity, and the prospects of monolithically implementing a nondispersive delay line on a given YIG-film strip by changing the magnitude and direction of the internal bias field within the delay line between the two microstrip transducers so that a portion of the delay would support MSFVW and the remainder of the delay line would support MSBVW. This configuration constitutes a monolithic implementation of a discrete forward wave-type delay line cascaded to a discrete backward wave-type delay line, with the requisite dispersion self-compensation achieved by matching the delay characteristics of the two delay lines. The principle objective was to establish if efficient mode conversion is possible over a wide bandwidth. The problem was attacked by performing theoretical and experimental studies simultaneously. The experimental study indicated that the presence of mode conversion only over a very narrow band. Initial theoretical results for mode conversion across a single boundary separating two regions with fixed bias-field angles were encouraging in that they showed that, for a small change of tilt angle across the boundary, efficient mode conversion is possible over a wide band.


Rebecca Swanson Gehrke is a Faculty Associate and Research Intern at Arizona State University. Formerly a Special Education teacher in Minnesota and Arizona, her research interest is the . preparation and retention of teachers in urban poor schools. most of the students are poor, two-thirds or more of the children fail to reach even the "basic" level of achievement on national tests. Urban schools are where most states face the greatest gap between their expectations for students and the reality in terms of resources, achievement, and teacher quality (Olson 2003). Many complex factors impact the improvement of schools in the country's most needy districts and the


A methodology for calibrating performance models for jointed plain concrete pavements (JPCP) is presented; it is based on statistical analysis of data from the Long-Term Pavement Performance (LTPP) database. The methodology provides calibration factors to pavements in four climatic regions (dry-freeze, dry-nonfreeze, wet-freeze, and wet-nonfreeze) for the JPCP performance models in HDM-4: joint faulting, transverse cracking, joint spalling, and roughness. The procedure allows calculation of global calibration factors, which does not affect significantly the quality of the prediction compared with the quality achieved through the use of regional factors.


The application of additive manufacturing technologies to the construction industry has a wide range of advantages from the economic, social and design flexibility point of view. However, most of up to date research studies have been performed using ordinary Portland cement (OPC)-based mortars and concretes. Therefore, the objective of this article is to explore the development of an eco-friendly earth composite reinforced with natural sisal fibers and chemically stabilized with a hydraulic binder. Analysis of the workability by shear vane tests was performed on fresh earth samples to find the optimum water content in sisal fiber-reinforced earth stabilized with OPC. Afterward, the effect of the addition of OPC on the hardening process was evaluated through shear vane and Vicat needle tests from 0 to 180 min after mixing. The results indicate that water content, fiber addition and OPC replacement have a strong influence on the shear yield strength. Furthermore, the presence of chemical stabilizers as OPC accelerates the hardening process allowing a faster layer-by-layer deposition. This low cost and eco-friendly preliminary earth-based composite can be used for 3D printing applications in the construction industry.


Anti-government protests in Romania have made international headlines, with over 400 people left injured following clashes between protesters and police on 10 August. Dennis Deletant writes that the protests are a symptom of a growing malaise in Romanian society fostered by the ruling Social Democrats that is estranging the citizen from the state.


A transformation table between physical bases including hidden color channels and symmetry bases for nonstrange six-quark systems is provided by using fractional parentage expansion method. By solving a coupled-channel equation, in the framework of the resonating group method (RGM), the effect of hidden color channels to all nonstrange six-quark systems is examined. It is shown that the overall effects from hidden color channels would reduce the energies of systems. For ΔΔ systems, the greatest decrease is about 20 MeV. Effects of hidden color on the masses of NN systems have been found to be about 1 MeV. However, we should emphasize that such a minor change for NN system is not negligible. We also give the most favorable hidden color channels for NN system.


The report provides a short-term management plan for the company. It presents a forecast budget cash and debt repayment analysis on the example of the subject company in the industry of advertising, market and public opinion research.


Existing primary deduplication techniques either use inline caching to exploit locality in primary workloads or use post-processing deduplication to avoid the negative impact on I/O performance. However, neither of them works well in the cloud servers running multiple services for the following two reasons: First, the temporal locality of duplicate data writes varies among primary storage workloads, which makes it challenging to efficiently allocate the inline cache space and achieve a good deduplication ratio. Second, the post-processing deduplication does not eliminate duplicate I/O operations that write to the same logical block address as it is performed after duplicate blocks have been written. A hybrid deduplication mechanism is promising to deal with these problems. Inline fingerprint caching is essential to achieving efficient hybrid deduplication. In this paper, we present a detailed analysis of the limitations of using existing caching algorithms in primary deduplication in the cloud. We reveal that existing caching algorithms either perform poorly or incur significant memory overhead in fingerprint cache management. To address this, we propose a novel fingerprint caching mechanism that estimates the temporal locality of duplicates in different data streams and prioritizes the cache allocation based on the estimation. We integrate the caching mechanism and build a hybrid deduplication system. Our experimental results show that the proposed mechanism provides significant improvement for both deduplication ratio and overhead reduction.


This article is a response to the debate opened by Marcia Moraes's interview with Peter McLaren, which was published in the April 2003 issue of JTE. As such, this article expands on the need for transformative educators to use Marxist political economy to analyze the role of education and schooling in capitalist societies. Specifically, the article provides an introduction to Marx's analysis of value production, argues that transformative educators need to take seriously the educational work of revolutionary organizations, and presents the analysis of value production of one such organization.


The guinea-pig yolk sac endoderm has been observed through scanning and transmission electron microscopy to correlate ultrastructure and function of the cell surface. Using ferritin, different stages of protein transfer have been traced and a secretory activity of the vitelline endoderm during the last third of pregnancy has been suggested.


This paper presents an educational research whose objective was to analyze the processes of reasoning in high school students, from a social scientific appro...


Objective:To explore the value of echo-tracking(ET) technology in evaluating vascular function of kidney transplant patients.Methods:Using ET technique,the carotid elastic index Ep,β,AC in 91 kidney transplant patients and 60 normal adults were calculated and analyzed.Results:Compared with normal adults,the carotid artery Ep,β,and AC of transplant patients were different.There was difference between kidney transplant patients with and without hypertension.Con-clusions:The carotid artery elasticity was decreased in kidney transplant patients,espespecially with hypertension,so that ET can be used to detect arterial elasticity early and may assess it quantitatively.


The method of maximum likelihood provides a versatile way to estimate and conduct inference about moderators of effect size in meta-analytic models. The metafor package for the open-source statistical software R offers easy access to this method. We discuss inferential choices that the meta-analyst must make, and advocate the general choice of random-effects methods. We demonstrate the use of the metafor package using data from two meta-analyses that address group processes. These demonstrations illustrate two contrasting approaches to meta-analytic inference: a priori random-effects inference and conditionally random inference. The examples show that these approaches typically lead to the same conclusions when applied correctly.


Objective This article aimed to review and integrate existing literature and related research concerning counseling and psychotherapy integration to support clinical practice and encourage more research topics in this field. Materials and methods Ariticles were obtained through online-databases and related textbooks for analysis, categorization and paraphrasing. Results Counseling and psychotherapy integration could be classify into 4 methods: 1) Theoretical integration is combination the theories of counseling and psychotherapy including concepts of human nature, process and techniques to be a unique theory. 2) Technical eclecticism is integrative the only evidence based techniques from different theories. 3) Assimilative integration involves grounding oneself in a core theory of counseling and psychotherapy but selectively incorporating of techniques from other theories which help to fulfill goals of the core theory and 4) Common factors are the core factors affecting changes in clients by not depending on any theory of counseling and psychotherapy. Conclusion The integrative or eclectic model of counseling and psychotherapy could be classified into 4 methods. Each had different degree of research support. Researcher can choose the interested method and find new research topics which can be applicable to Thai people.


A seven link biped robot model was chosen for gait stability optimization in climbing upstairs. Motions of the feet during a regular step were designed by the 3 rd order spline; motions of the hip were designed through acceleration analysis, and the locus of ZMP was obtained by computing the dynamic model. Thus the gait stability of the biped robot could be shown as a multi variable optimal problem in connection with the placement and the pose of the upper body of the robot. Finally, genetic algorithm (GA) was applied to get the optimal solution. The simulations of the biped robot climbing upstairs showed that the method work satisfactorily.


The main attention in the article is paid to the development of science-based geo-environmental mapping techniques for applications based on modern research methods.


How is one to understand the West's security policy in Europe after the end of the Cold War? The best way to gain such an understanding is, perhaps, to inquire how the West defines the threats of the times and how it imagines achieving security in those circumstances. If one consults the documents of NATO and other Western security institutions, one finds that the security environment is being consistently defined in terms of 'security challenges and risks'. The notion of 'security challenges and risks' serves primarily as NATO's reminder that threats to security persist in the post-Cold War world. The nature of these challenges is defined by risk. Risk is becoming the operative concept of Western security. Ulrich Beck's theory of reflexive modernity and risk society offers a means to conceptualise and understand the transformation of Western security policies. This article thus explores how a theory new to International Relations can illuminate NATO's redefinition of both the concept of security and its identity following the end of the Cold War. Beck's concept of risk is used as an analytical tool, as I change the original focus of his analysis while keeping his theory (mostly) intact. I seek neither to set out 'Beck's theory of International Relations' (IR), nor to establish a reflexive theory of IR in general or of security in particular.


Aim To study the effect of different-intensity exercise on neurotransmitters of gastrointestinal motility in rats.Methods 48 SD rats were randomly divided into 3 groups: control group,low-intensity exercise group,high-intensity exercise group.Each group as given different intensity exercises,the concentration of each group gastric emptying rate,intestinal advance rate,gastric and duodenal tissues tissue AchE,NOS positive area ratio were measured.Results The low-intensity exercise group rats′ emptying rate,intestinal advance rate,gastric and duodenal tissue organization by AchE were significantly higher than the control group(P0.05),but NOS showed no significant difference;the high-intensity exercise group rats,gastric emptying rate,the rate of promoting intestinal,gastric and duodenal tissues AchE and NOS were significantly lower than the control group and the low intensity exercise group(P0.05).Conclusion Low intensity exercise increases gastric emptying and intestinal propulsion,high-intensity exercise inhibits the gastric emptying and intestinal propulsion in rats,ACh and NO neurotransmitters play an important role.


Principle of Velayat-e- Faqih, Given its special importance in advancing Islamic goals And its support for the Islamization of society was a scene of sensitivity and conflict between Shiite scholars. This issue has made the jurists, in their various Jurisprudence works talk about this topic. Including comments about Velayat-e Faqih And by the opponents and supporters of the argument, there is a debate, is the Various dimensions of view of Allamah Mohammad Hosein Nayini (RA)One of the great jurists of the Constitutional Revolution. The present paper seeks to use the skinner's hermeneutic research method and with the requirements of its method, to research his opinions Which is sparse in his Jurisprudential bookks , and also based on historical backgrounds of that period. This article is about to answers the question of how far the domains of the Velayat -e- Faqih are in his view and what is his point of view is the level of the province's actions. Although the present research is not very hypothetical, But according to a priori studies and knowledge of Shiite scholars, the claim of this research is based on the accepted form of government in the absolute of the Velayat-e- faqih with Ayatollah Naiani


Abels and Gingerich present two main criticisms of this project. The first relates to the precision of the stratigraphic correlation that ties the Fifteenmile Creek (FC) fossil framework to the isotope records of the McCullough Peaks. This criticism was also one of Clyde's main criticisms and was addressed extensively in my response to his review. I will recapitulate here: I agree in that I also believe it is impossible to precisely correlate the isotope and fossil sections given available information. It was a mistake C631


Background and study aims: Biliary and pancreatic diseases are common in the elderly; however, few studies have addressed the occurrence of adverse events in elderly patients undergoing endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP). Our objective was to determine the incidence rates of specific adverse events in this group and calculate incidence rate ratios (IRRs) for selected comparison groups. Patients and methods: Bibliographical searches were conducted in Medline, EMBASE, and Cochrane library databases. The studies included documented the incidence of adverse events (perforation, pancreatitis, bleeding, cholangitis, cardiopulmonary adverse events, mortality) in patients aged ≥ 65 who underwent ERCP. Pooled incidence rates were calculated for each reported adverse event and IRRs were determined for available comparison groups. A parallel analysis was performed in patients aged ≥ 80 and ≥ 90. Results: Our literature search yielded 7429 articles, of which 69 studies met our inclusion criteria. Pooled incidence rates for adverse events (per 1000 ERCPs) in patients aged ≥ 65 were as follows: perforation 3.8 (95 %CI 1.8 – 7.0), pancreatitis 13.1 (95 %CI 11.0 – 15.5), bleeding 7.7 (95 %CI 5.7 – 10.1), cholangitis 16.1 (95 %CI 11.7 – 21.7), cardiopulmonary events 3.7 (95 %CI 1.5 – 7.6), and death 7.1 (95 %CI 5.2 – 9.4). Patients ≥ 65 had lower rates of pancreatitis (IRR 0.3, 95 %CI 0.3 – 0.4) compared with younger patients. Octogenarians had higher rates of death (IRR 2.4, 95 %CI 1.3 – 4.5) compared with younger patients, whereas nonagenarians had increased rates of bleeding (IRR 2.4, 95 %CI 1.1 – 5.2), cardiopulmonary events (IRR 3.7, 95 %CI 1.0 – 13.9), and death (IRR 3.8, 95 %CI 1.0 – 14.4). Conclusions ERCP appears to be safe in elderly patients, except in the very elderly who are at higher risk of some adverse events. These data on adverse event rates can help to inform clinical decision-making, the consent process, and comparative effectiveness analyses.


From temperature cracks, shrinkage cracks and other aspects the reasons caused the cracks in floor slab casted with premixed concrete on site as well as their features are introduced; at the time corresponding prevention measures are proposed.


Many patients with carcinoma of the breast develop osteolytic bone metastases which may be accompanied by hypercalcwmia, and when this work was originally begun very little was known about the mechanisms by means of which tumours may induce resorption of bone. We therefore set ourselves four objectives: (1) To adapt and develop an in vitro bioassay which could be used to measure the osteolytic capacity of human breast tumours. (2) To examine the relationship between the in vitro osteolytic activity of the tumours and the incidence of bone metastases and hypercalcTmia in the patients. (3) To identify some or all of the substances produced by tumour tissue which might be responsible for osteolysis. (4) To examine the action of possible inhibitors of the action or synthesis of any osteolysins identified.


Summary. Mutual contacts and platelet‐expressed fibrinogen seem to be required for the stimulation of neutrophils by activated platelets. The β2‐integrins CDllb/CD18 and CDllc/CD18 are potential receptors for fibrinogen on neutrophils. In order to investigate whether binding of fibrinogen to these integrins is involved, monoclonal antibodies (MoAbs) and Gly‐Pro‐Arg‐Pro (GPRP) peptide that inhibits fibrinogen binding to CDllc/CD18 were checked for their effects on the interaction of activated platelets and neutrophils. The luminol‐amplified chemilumi‐nescence (CL) as a measure for the oxidative burst of neutrophils was recorded simultaneously to the platelet aggregation in mixed cell suspensions. The adhesion of platelets and neutrophils was determined microscopically. The thromboxane A2 mimetic U46619 was used as a potent platelet agonist but that does not stimulate neutrophils. Stimulation of the platelets with U46619‐induced platelet aggregation and a strong CL of neutrophils. The platelet‐induced activation of neutrophils required added fibrinogen which fibronectin or thrombospondin could not substitute for. Cytochalasin D (Cyto D) that blocks actin polymerization totally abrogated the platelet‐induced CI of neutrophils. The MoAb OKM1 against CDllb, which blocks fibrinogen binding to CDllb/CD18 as well as the MoAbs I0T16 and IOT18 directed against CDlla and CD18, respectively, had no effect. In contrast, the MoAb LeuM5 which inhibits the binding of fibrinogen to CDllc/CD18 revealed a strong inhibition. Furthermore, GPRP peptide which CDllc/CD18 recognizes on the Aa‐chain of fibrinogen also strongly inhibited the platelet‐induced CL of neutrophils, whereas control peptides such as Gly‐His‐Arg‐Pro (GHRP) or Gly‐Pro‐Gly‐Gly (GPGG) had no effect. In contrast to the platelet‐induced CL of neutrophils, Cyto D, MoAb against CD11c and GPRP peptide did not inhibit the CL induced by FMLP and PAF in pure neutrophil suspensions. They also did not affect U46619‐induced platelet aggregation. The adhesion of platelets and neutrophils was neither dependent on added fibrinogen nor inhibited by Cyto D, MoAb against CD1 lc and the GPRP‐peptide. Therefore fibrinogen and actin polymerization seem not to be required for the adhesion of neutrophils to platelets. However, the activation of neutrophils depends on the interaction of CDllc/CD18 with the Aa‐chain of platelet‐expressed fibrinogen and the contractile system of neutrophils.


Many research projects in the life sciences require the shipment of biosamples which *must* remain frozen. We describe the design, construction, testing, and use of an economical and reusable insulated "super-box" which, in conjunction with reusable phase-change--material "cold packs", reliably maintains a volume of about 38~liters (sufficient to hold 34 standard $13.4 \times 13.4 \times 5.2$~cm cryoboxes) below $-15^\degree$C for about 3.5~days, and below $-5^\degree$C for about 4.5~days. The entire system is readily constructed from commercially-available materials at a cost of under US\$500. In contrast to systems using dry ice (frozen CO$_2$) during shipment, the super-box and cold packs do not require special handling during shipment and are not considered "dangerous cargo" by commercial shippers.


Introduction Continuous flow pumps are commonly used to support patients with acute cardiogenic shock and are increasingly used for chronic support in heart failure patients. In the past, pulsatile long-term left ventricular assist devices (LVADs), such as the Novacor and HeartMate-I, provided adequate cardiac support yet they were subject to complications including eventual device failure and infections. With improvements in technology and migration towards axial or continuous flow devices, device miniaturization has become possible, thereby leading to improved anatomical fitting, less vibration and driving noise, and more efficient power consumption. Furthermore, device durability, anti-thrombogenicity, and physiological adaptation to continuous flow pumps appear to be clinically feasible not only for bridge-to-transplant but also for extended longer-term support, namely "destination therapy."1,2 In cases of severe biventricular heart failure, right heart support may be required in addition to left hear...


Alexander TH, Collins LB. A comparison of transcranial Doppler and transesophageal echocardiography (with conscious sedation) in the detection of rightto-left cardiac shunts. 2009;33:147–149 Allen E (see Whitson BA et al) 2009;33:145–146 Amankwah KS, Langford S, Prieto PA, Costanza MJ, Gahtan V. Symptomatic arteriovenous fistula in a renal transplant. 2009;33:143–144 Ascher E (see Marks N et al) 2009;33:9–12 Atnip RG (see Wilson SR) 2009;33:23–25 Ayoub K (see Downing MC et al) 2009;33:69–74


In this study,real time quantitative PCR method was performed to understand the effects of four kinds of Chinese herbal compounds,including AH,CD,Ⅳ and APS on the expression of heat shock protein 70 in the liver and brain tissues of Crucian carp.A total of 60 fishes were divided into 5 groups and fed on diet with 3% Chinese herbal compounds of body weight.After feeding for 30 days continuously,the expression of HSP 70 in the liver and brain tissues was investigated both under the optimum temperature(18℃) and heat shock temperature(28℃) for an hour.The results indicated that the expression of HSP 70 in control group increased in varying degree during the heat shock stress,and it was significantly higher in the liver than that of brain tissues both under the normal condition or heat shock stress.Of four experimental groups,the content of HSP 70 mRNA was found to increase in AH,IV and APS groups while decrease in CD group after heat shock stress,significantly decreasing in the liver tissues.In addition,AH Chinese herb,with the main function of replenishing blood and Qi,could greatly enhance the expression of HSP 70 in the liver of Crucian carp by 4.86 folds and 3.43 folds compared to control group under 18℃ and 28℃,respectively.In conclusion,AH compound was found to promote high-level expression of HSP 70 gene in Crucian carp,to be helpful to resist heat shock and could be applied as an effective anti-heat stress drug.


Functional electrical stimulation (FES) is a rehabilitative technique where low level electrical voltages and currents are applied to an individual in order to improve or restore function lost to injury or disease. In its broadest definition, FES includes electrical stimulation technologies that, for example, are aimed at restoration of a sense of hearing for the deaf, vision for the blind, or suppression of seizures in epilepsy or tremors for people with Parkinson's disease. Most FES devices and systems are known then as "neuroprostheses" because through electrical stimulation they artificially modulate the excitability of neural tissue in order to restore function. While sometimes used synonymously with FES, the term functional neuromuscular stimulation (FNS) is most commonly used to describe only those FES technologies that are applied to the neuromuscular system in order to improve quality of life for people disabled by stroke, spinal cord injury, or other neurological conditions that result in impaired motor function (e.g., the abilities to move or breathe). Another technology closely related to FES is that of therapeutic electrical stimulation (TES), wherein electrical stimulation is applied to provide healing or recovery of tissues (e.g., muscle conditioning and strengthening, wound healing). As will be seen, some FES and FNS technologies concurrently provide or rely upon such therapeutic effects in order to successfully restore lost function. For illustrative purposes, much of this article is centered on FNS and related TES devices and technologies.

Keywords:

functional electrical stimulation;
FES;
therapeutic electrical stimulation;
TES


Now-a-days urine dipstick test is needed to determine the presence of myoglobin in urine and to quantify myoglobin level in urine sophisticated spectrophotometer method is performed. This paper proposes a soft computation based novel regression model that can determine the presence of myoglobin and also can estimate myoglobin level in urine from urine image. Performance analysis of several regression model shows that multivariate nonlinear Hougen regression model provides best fit between estimated myoglobin values with image data. We find that the residuals are near in baseline and the adjusted coefficient of determination (R2) is 0.97 which is very significant. Root mean square error (RMSE) is 19.5 out of 51 urine image samples with 10 error degrees of freedom.


The people of Aceh are known for adherence to religion and uphold the culture and customs. Before Islam came to Aceh, Hindu and Buddhist influence is rooted in the traditions and beliefs of Acehnese society. Therefore, even though Islam has flourished and developed in Aceh, there are some cultures and traditional beliefs which is still preserved by the people of Aceh. It is strongly associated with the teachings of Ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jama'ah which is the only school of theology of the people of Aceh. The existence of those cultures and traditional beliefs leaded Islamic culture as a newcomer must be in harmony with. Consequently, there was a process of influencing each others. It formed a traditional Islam i.e., the Islam that has been acculturated to the culture and beliefs before. One of those traditional cultures which has been practiced in Aceh is rah ulei. This research aims at studying the cultural acculturation in Aceh i.e. rah ulei from the Islamic perspective. The data was obtained through interviews and observations, then analyzed by descriptive analysis method. The results show that there are some traditions and cultures of Aceh which acculturated with foreign culture, including rah ulei. Meanwhile, according to the Islamic perspective, worshiping grave or asking divine spirits for something but God is violating Islamic theology.


ABSTRACT Education appears to bear responsibility on the one hand to do justice to society's need for reproduction and continuation, and on the other to do justice to the individual's capacity for and need to express resistance, critique and political action. How we navigate this problem is tied to how we understand justice. 'Plastic justice' is the suggestion that questions concerning justice and education might find a materialist expression instead of the usual transcendental ideals of justice. In this perspective, 'justice' appears not as an (un)achievable ideal but as a philosophical void that allows us to identify and react to injustice. An example of this is the void that allows for social selection – in the form of admissions or exams – that must be kept open if we wish to avoid encouraging social conformism and reproduction.


We propose a compact, CPWG-fed, single layer UWB-ring-slot y]1|S. ^Borieantenna for X-band phased array applications. Superb EM-characteristics are obtained for the whole designed frequency band: 1) nearly perfect linear phase, 2) small phase delay, 3) negligible phase dispersion characteristics, nearly constant group delay, (deviation is of sub-nanosecond level), 4) UWB impedance bandwidth, 5) in-band flat, balanced and constant power delivery, 6) nearly constant and repeatable radiation patterns in array plane, 8) over 90% of efficiency, 9) simple and compact, 10) symmetrical fed-and-excited radiator with "uni-directional" radiation pattern, and11) with smallest-form-factor. Other excellent UWB antenna-related characteristics obtained with this design will also be reported.


Single Si etching profile by Cl2 and a mixture of Cl2 and CHF3 are discussed in terms of experimentation and simulation. A microprobe Auger analysis of a trench side wall has proven that the bombardment of obliquely impinging ions to a side wall leads to both concave and tailed features. In the case of a mixture of Cl2 and CHF3, the polymer film produced by CHF3 protects the side wall from species impinging from an inclined direction. Furthermore, the difference in the polymer sputtering rate, resulting from subsequently impinging ions between the tailed part and the flat bottom regions improves the tailed part to the rectangular bottom. A profile simulation supports the idea that obliquely impinging species, polymer deposition and sputtering of a polymer are important factors in determining the single Si etching profile.


In this paper, we present a reliable method for three-dimensional object reconstruction based on multi-camera sensor arrays. Camera arrays are an efficient strategy for high-performance imaging and view interpolation. However, challenges can be present such as data size, real-time processing, and the need for automatic calibration. We analyze several methods for three-dimensional object digitalization using camera arrays. This analysis will help us to compare different algorithms and combine several 3D reconstruction methods in a different, efficient and quick way. Experimental results are presented using real and synthetic laboratory objects in terms of objective metrics for 3D reconstruction accuracy. The robustness of these methods for real applications is discussed.


The advancement in digital technologies drives industries to change their core businesses which present number of challenges. One of them is transformation of manufacturing industries towards servi ...


Success in information systems project implementations remains an elusive goal for many organizations. One factor contributing to project outcomes is the skills employed by the IT project manager. This study develops a literature based model which seeks to describe the link between IT project managers skills and IT project success. Specifically, IT project managers skills are categorized as business competence, technical competence and relationship competence. The research model proposes that the IT project manager's use of these skills (both level and type of skill) results in different project outcomes. Project success is assessed by way of different perceptual measures as reported by the project manager. Pretest results are favorable and indicate an opportunity to advance our understanding of IT project implementation success factors and the role that IT project management skills play in that outcome. Selection of a pilot site is underway so that phase two of this three phase research program can continue.


Many oil and gas fields or traps developed in the frontal area of Longmen Mountains thrust belt by hydrocarbon exploration,and they mainly locate in Anxian transfer zones and Guanxian transfer zones.By analyzing the sedimentary and tectonic characters of the transfer zones,the control effects of the transfer zones on hydrocarbon accumulation were studied.The results show that the two special areas have favorable terrestrial clastic reservoirs and some preferred structural traps,such as pop-up traps in shallow-middle depth and some duplex traps in deep.The transfer zones have profitable hydrocarbon exploration.


Toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN) is a severe, potentially fatal, predominantly drug-induced disease characterized by extensive damage of stratified squamous epithelium followed by loss of its integrity. To date over 100 medications related to TEN manifestation have been described. Methods of treatment are still a matter of great controversy due to inability to perform double-blind, placebo-controlled studies. In the paper the case of a 26-year-old man with TEN involving 100% of the body surface area, transferred to a specialist department after 7 days' duration of disease, is described. The causative factor was difficult to establish. Combined treatment with high doses of glucocorticosteroids, cyclosporin A and plasmapheresis were administered. Despite the severe state of the patient at admission, therapeutic success was achieved due to administration of combined treatment. In our opinion, crucial for therapeutic success is early administration of aggressive systemic treatment whose activity includes the greatest possible number of elements involved in the pathogenesis of this potentially lethal disease.


The main focus of the present study is to examine the impact of top management support, organizational structure, and customer integration on the intention to adopt specific technology management and adoption of e-supply chain technology. Additionally, mediating impact of intention to specific technology between top management support, organizational structure, customer integration and adoption of new technology is assessed as well. The data is collected from the employees of commercial banks of Indonesia. The data collection technique adopted was stratified random sampling. The collected data was analyzed through PLS-SEM using PLS 3.2.1. The findings of the study revealed that all of the proposed direct as well, and mediating hypothesis is accepted. The findings of the study are important for the practitioners of the banking sector to adopt strategy by which they can adopt new technology. Moreover, this study fills the gap of limited studies related to technology in the supply chain perspective of the banking sector.


formed the business models of organizations—they are reshaping existing social landscapes, creating new social shapes that affect the forms and communication structures within these environments inside and out. Imagine a place you could go where accessing information was more like moving about a city, where browsing was more like wandering down a street: a place of fleeting imagery, fragments of conversations, and chance encounters [8]... The Sushi Project is an attempt to create that environment. Sushi was developed as a way of sharing information between people in small groups and networks within the Royal College of Art. Based on the idea of a notice or bulletin board, the system extended its original use by exploring the possibilities of networked screens to represent relationships between public and private, and real and virtual, drawing on ideas of both montage and the narrative of "the city." Sushi represents a small-scale community and all the associated interactions that take place in such an interpersonal space. The Sushi Project explores the very nature of the computing medium itself—how a system can be represented, how the system appears to people using it, ways people can interact with the system, and what qualities it suggests [6]. Our notion of place has changed with network infrastructures: We are moving toward an increasingly fluid way of communicating, working, playing, traveling, and being, with greater mobility and personal freedom [5]. Now we call a person, not a geographical location. This means that conversations—in fact, interactions of any kind—can take place potentially anywhere [4]. Historically, architecture was the social and cultural mediator of society's stories. Buildings—cathedrals, for example—were representations of power and knowledge; they were communication spaces in their own right [3]. Now, postmodern theory tells us that the medium is the message [7], the world is simulacra [2], leading to a fascination with the image—or at least the


The article is devoted to the analysis of a sarcastic evaluation of a person, which leads to their discrediting in media texts. Sarcastic evaluation is considered in terms of linguistic praxeology: the language and compositional means of nomination, description, and actions are analyzed. In a media text, these means interact with the means of expressing the category of deviance and forming semantic nodes. The category of deviance can manifest itself, on the one hand, in exuberance or the absurd, while on the other, in simplification or insufficiency of the sign revelation. Also, specific sarcastic speech techniques are identified. They are based on the discrepancy of referent and illocutionary meanings in the person's speech portrait. The study of Russian media discourse about Swedish eco-activist Greta Thunberg revealed the active use of linguistic means expressing sarcastic evaluation to demonstrate the opposing viewpoint in relation to the transmitted semantic position of "Other". When the media represents Greta in the totality of her disadvantages, this enters into a polemic against those who support the ideas of this person. With the help of sarcasm, the media shows the absurdness and failure of these ideas. In this case, a sarcastic evaluation becomes an instrument of discrediting not only the person him/herself, but also his/her views and associates. Linguistic means of sarcastic evaluation are widely represented in discrediting media texts. The most important of them are means such as absurdity, hyperbole, alogism, simplification, etc .


Gaucher disease is a lysosomal storage disorder caused by a deficiency of the
 enzyme glucocerebrosidase and characterized by the presence of pathological
 macrophages laden with glucosylceramide. Hepatosplenomegaly is a common
 manifestation of Gaucher disease, but symptomatic portal hypertension is
 rarely seen. The study included 20 untreated adult patients with Gaucher
 disease (non-neuronopathic type 1) diagnosed with the presence of Gaucher
 cells in the bone marrow, and 20 healthy subjects as controls. The
 examination of patients included color Doppler ultrasonography (pulsed
 Doppler mode), resistive index (RI) and Doppler perfusion index (DPI) using a
 Toshiba Xario ultrasound machine and a convex array probe PVT-375AX (1.9-6
 MHz) with the objective of analyzing portal hemodynamics. Results showed that
 all patients had enlarged liver and spleen, and their average sizes were
 significantly larger than those in the healthy controls (liver: 17.04
 vs.14.02 cm; spleen: 22.2 vs. 10.74 cm). DPI values were significantly
 different between patients and controls (0.15 vs. 0.21). Considering DPI
 <0.15 indicates arterial liver hypoperfusion and hypoxia, it can be concluded
 that a number of patients had a problem with liver oxygenation, which may be
 linked to the high angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) levels obtained in the
 patients (339.42 U/L), 10 times greater than in control subjects. Since ACE
 is a potent vasoconstrictor produced by spleen macrophages in Gaucher
 disease, we can suppose that elevated ACE is associated with effects on the
 blood vessels of the liver and spleen. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike
 Srbije, br. 175056]


It has been interesting to work with the other teachers on the project. We talk about texts that we are using. Sometimes I think that sixth graders can't get text that is that difficult but they do. We are asking students to have very adult discussions, to read texts that we know are above their level. We know we are going to get a lot of "I don't understand this." In our project meetings, we discuss what we do to make that accessible to that Student who reads at second-grade level. My goal with Paideia is that every kid in this room feels as comfortable participating as Abby does. She is one of my lowest readers but she is comfortable attacking text that she doesn't know yet. (Janice, interview with researcher, January 2012)With her colleagues in the Paideia project, Janice had been developing ways to nurture academic connections with her students. As she noted, one of their central challenges was to engage students with difficult texts and complex ideas. Creating active, purposeful learning experiences has long been a hallmark of good middle level education. This We Believe (2010) affirms this commitment: "an effective middle grades curriculum must be challenging, exploratory, integrative, and relevant, from both the student's and the teacher's perspective" (Association for Middle Level Education, p. 17). This commitment to purposeful learning was central to the adoption of Common Core State Standards, now underway in 46 states. To better address these standards, Janice and seven other teachers in an urban middle school proposed a collaborative professional development initiative.As a focus for their collaboration, teachers selected the Paideia Learning Cycle as their primary vehicle for improving instruction. First proposed by Adler (1982) more than 30 years ago, the Paideia approach has evolved into a sophisticated learning cycle. In Thinking like a Seminar, Billings and Roberts (2012) noted that this cycle features1. multiple close readings of a text that is rich in ideas, relevant to the curriculum, and open to interpretation;2. formal discussion of the ideas embedded in the text; and finally;3. planning, drafting, revising, and editing student essays in response to the text (p. 68-69).A central aspect of the learning cycle is the Paideia Seminar, defined by the National Paideia Center as "a collaborative, intellectual dia- logue facilitated with open ended questions about a text" (Billings & Roberts, 2006, p. 1). Studies have shown that the Paideia approach has been well received by students and parents (Heipp & Huffman, 1994; Wheelock, 1994) and improves students' writing (Chesser, Gellatly & Hale, 1997; Waldrip, Marks, & Estes, 1993).When their proposal was funded, researchers recognized an opportunity to explore the dynamics of curriculum development and examine students' and teachers' perspectives on their experiences. The resulting case study, reported here, drew upon data from observations, work samples, and interviews to learn more about how teachers collaborated to create shared seminars and how students responded.Perspectives on Encouraging Reasoning Development Through SeminarsNurturing deep thinking is a fundamental goal of the Common Core Standards. All aspects of the curriculum emphasize learning for understanding through increasingly complex texts. Hiebert and Mesmer (2013) conducted an analysis of this emphasis on text complexity. They described the extent to which the standards emphasize a "text complexity staircase" (p. 44). Steps of this staircase are clearly defined quantitatively by "Lexile-to-grade ranges" that stretch previously established norms (p. 45). For example, text complexity for Grades 6-8 has traditionally been a Lexile range of 860-1010. Common Standards now define this range as 9551155. Hiebert and Mesmer concluded that while standards suggest that text complexity should also be assessed with teachers' judgments based on their understanding of the students and classroom contexts, these qualitative dimensions of complexity are defined so vaguely that Lexile scores may be given primary weight. …


This research work proposes two variants of Multi-verse optimization (MVO) for optimal design of two stage CMOS opamp circuit. MVO is a nature-inspired global optimization algorithm, which uses the mathematical modelling of multi-verse (many universes) theory. Exploitation capability of MVO algorithm is enhanced by Brownian movement and cross-entropy (CE) in the two proposed versions of MVO namely MVO-BR and MVO-CE. Also, other popular metaheuristic optimization algorithms like differential evolution (DE), particle swarm optimization (PSO) and artificial bee colony (ABC) are applied to the selected design problem for verifying the validity of the proposed MVO based algorithms. Performance of the base MVO and the two enhanced versions are rigorously tested for optimality, robustness and convergence on the design of two stage opamp circuit. To compare the effectiveness of various algorithms, a new performance metric called "overall figure of merit" is applied along with existing metrics. By comparing the numerical results, it is demonstrated that the proposed MVO-CE algorithm provides high-quality design of two-stage opamp reliably with faster convergence than other algorithms.


Materials with high magnetoelectric coupling are attractive for use in engineered multiferroic heterostructures with applications such as ultra-low power magnetic sensors, parametric inductors, and non-volatile random-access memory devices. Iron–cobalt alloys exhibit both high magnetostriction and high saturation magnetization that are required for achieving significantly higher magnetoelectric coupling. We report on sputter-deposited (Fe0.5Co0.5)1−xHfx (x = 0 – 0.14) alloy thin films and the beneficial influence of Hafnium alloying on the magnetic and magnetostrictive properties. We found that co-sputtering Hf results in the realization of the peening mechanism that drives film stress from highly tensile to slightly compressive. Scanning electron microscopy and x-ray diffraction along with vibrating sample magnetometry show reduction in coercivity with Hf alloying that is correlated with reduced grain size and low film stress. We demonstrate a crossover from tensile to compressive stress at x ∼ 0.09 while maintaining a high magnetostriction of 50 ppm and a low coercive field of 1.1 Oe. These characteristics appear to be related to the amorphous nature of the film at higher Hf alloying.


This paper addresses the hypothesis that during seizures, changes in the dynamics of [Ca] transients caused by saturation of intracellular calcium removal or buffering systems can result in observed alterations of seizure dynamics. Using large neural network models of single compartment neurons, we show how changing [Ca] and effects on calcium-mediated afterhyperpolarization may influence the spatiotemporal characteristics of seizure patterns. Such changes in [Ca] may also be important contributions to seizure termination. These studies can provide insights into the understanding of mechanisms of the dynamic changes seen in seizures in humans.


The numerical model of top coal drawing in gently inclined seam is built based on PFC2d software. By comparing with the theory of drawn-body movement law, it can be obtained that the shape of top coal drawn-body accords with the theory of random medium movement. The research results show that the form of the shape equation of top coal drawn-body is uniform while the top coal caving angle is different. On the other hand, with the difference of top coal caving angle and drawing height, the shape of top coal drawn-body is differential at the meso scale, which depends on the parameters of the shape equation of top coal drawn-body.


Nineteen discrete proteins contained in normal human pancreatic juice were separated by two‐dimensional isoelectric focusing/SDS gel electrophoresis. Enzyme or proenzyme activity was assigned to 15 of these proteins. Analysis of pancreatic juice obtained from a patient with pancreatic cancer showed a number of additional proteins not observed in pancreatic juice obtained from normals.


One of the main reasons for the notoriously low efficiency (about 153) of the industry dominant crystalline silicon solar cells (c-Si) is spectral mismatch, i.e., the wavelength range in which the solar cell has the highest efficiency (500 900 nm) is much narrower than the available solar spectrum (270 2500 nm). This results in about 603 of the incident solar irradiation becoming ineffective in generating electron-hole pairs and thus electricity. Better utilization of the incident solar radiation on the solar cell can therefore result in higher efficiencies. Such an improvement of solar cell efficiency not only results in reduced cost per kWh of electricity, but can also increase the fiscal benefits for solar cell manufacturers because of added value and lesser payback time. Thus, by impacting both the consumer and manufacture circles, endeavors to improve solar cell efficiency can result in better impregnation of solar energy into the current energy market. Spectral conversion is one such route towards improving solar cell efficiency by means of which solar radiation in the region of lesser solar cell efficiency can be converted to the region of higher efficiency. In this research, rare-earth materials (RE) , which exhibit photoluminescent behavior in the desired spectral range have been incorporated into amorphous silicon nitride films (a-SiNx:H, which are used universally as Anti-Reflective Coatings (ARC) on c-Si solar cells) , thus increasing the functionality of these thin films. Deposition of such RE doped a-SiNx:H films has been done by magnetron sputtering of rare earth metals in conjunction with Expanding Thermal Plasma (ETP) resulting in knowledge on the working of such a composite system. Photoluminescence measurements of the RE doped a-SiNx:H films gave promising insights into their spectral conversion potential, wherein conversion of light from the 270 400 nm region (where the response of the solar cell is poor) to the 485 720 nm region (where efficiency of the solar cell is higher) has been observed. The photoluminescent behavior can be tailored to further minimize the spectral mismatch, by modification of the host lattice composition. Spatially resolved ion flux measurements were performed in the ETP reactor as prelude to the rare-earth sputtering approach. As reported in an earlier work, an interesting plasma property was discovered by these measurements a local increase in ion flux in the Ar/NH3/SiH4 plasma boundary region. The characteristics of this peak have been studied as part of this thesis, as it is important for the process control of thin film deposition for solar cell applications. It has been hypothised that this local ion peak is caused by the formation of silicon containing clusters in the background region, which could be attracted by thermophoretic or electrostatic force, thus reducing the local ion peak. By the introduction of a cold surface in the reactor, a reduction of 803 in the magnitude of the ion peak has been observed. However, by applying a positive bias in the background region, a reduction in the ion peak to an extent of 253 has been observed. These results support the cluster formation hypothesis in the plasma boundary region and provide future directions for elimination of this peak. 3 Table of


Abstract Olfactory receptors (ORs), responsible for the sense of smell, play an essential role in physiological processes (even outside the nasal epithelium) and cancer. In breast cancer, however, the expression and role of ORs remain understudied. We examined the significance of ORs transcript abundance in breast cancer metastasis to different tissues including the brain, bone, and lung. While we found 20 OR genes to be differentially expressed in different metastasis versus primary tumor, OR5B21 displayed high relation with all metastases. Knockdown of OR5B21 significantly decreased the invasion and migration of breast cancer cells in culture as well as metastasis to different organs including the brain, in vivo. On the other hand, overexpression of OR5B21 in the primary cells had the opposite effect. Mechanistically, OR5B21 was associated with epithelial to mesenchymal transition through STAT3/NFkB/CEBPβ signaling pathway. We propose OR5B21 (and potentially other ORs) as a novel oncogene contributing to breast cancer metastasis, and as a potential target for therapy.


Twenty-five gypsy moth, Lymnntria dispar (L.) (Lepidoptera:Lymantriidae), egg masses were sampled at ca. 10-day intervals from 11 February 1980 to initial field eclosion in May 1980. Samples were dehaired and classified as nonfertile, fertile, or parasitized, and fertile eggs were reared under constant conditions (24.5°C, 45% relative humidity [RH], 14-h photoperiod) until hatching was complete. Number hatched, duration of hatch, days to initial, median, and final hatch, and percent hatch were recorded. A degree-day (°D) accumulation model based on a modified sine wave approximation to temperatures recorded at a weather station ca. 2 km south of the study site fit the data well. A threshold of 3°C produced a model predicting egg mass eclosion at 282 ± 29°D(x ± Sx), with 95% confidence limits of 277 and 287 °D. Validation studies of the model against field eclosion of egg masses at the study site in 1980 and 1981 resulted in an excellent fit, but initial eclosion on the study site in 1982 occurred earlier than expected.


Frank Benson's masterpiece paintings of turn-of-the-century American society, New England's ports and country, and wildlife and sporting subjects, are among the most popular American works of art. His sparkling plein air painting of young women in white dresses are widely reproduced and his etchings and sporting paintings are generally considered to be some of America's best. This first full-scale monograph on Benson's entire career, summarizes his progress from his early promise as a young art student at the Academie Julian in Paris to his leading role as a teacher, portraitist, and painter in Boston and New England. Benson is particularly acclaimed for his splendid outdoor, sun-dappled portraits of members of his family, often in settings on the Maine coastline, as well as for his later, archetypal works of wildfowl, fishing, and hunting.


Active noise control (ANC) creates a set of silent points at the location of error microphones. As a byproduct, a zone of quiet is created surrounding the silent points. Unfortunately, the extension of the created quite zone is small. Moreover, a large part of the quiet zone is occupied by the error microphones. Recently, a number of researchers have independently proposed to displace error microphones and move them outside the desired quite zones. This idea involves in the modification of ANC adaptive algorithms. This paper looks at available techniques that aims at the displacement of error microphones in ANC systems and conducts a comparison discussion about them.


Open-roof greenhouses provide a natural environment for plant growth when the outdoor weather is suitable and an artificial environment when it is too hot or cold. Opening the roof over the plants increases light intensity, which can help to control the growth habit, flowering, and crop timing. It also reduces electricity costs because expensive fan cooling is not needed.Individual papers from this publication


We aim to explain the correlation among IL‐18 gene polymorphism, its protein expression and LEDVT in the Chinese Han population.


AbstractPhotosynthetic wastewater treatment of secondary animal wastewater was investigated using two microalgae (Chlorella vulgaris and Euglena gracilis) under both control and CO2-enriched conditions. The addition of CO2 to the microalgae culture contributed to foster nutrient uptake for C. vulgaris, but E. gracilis culture was not affected much. E. gracilis culture under CO2 injected condition showed the highest cell density and C. vulgaris showed the highest specific growth rate in the CO2 enrichment experiment. C. vulgaris cells were 15-times smaller than those of E. gracilis. The noticeably distinguishable sizes affected the separation processes. E. gracilis possessed better filterability and dewaterability. The CO2 injection greatly enhanced biomass protein production in both algae, but reduced lipid and carbohydrate fraction. By adding CO2, lipid profile of C. vulgaris has changed greatly, as opposed to E. gracilis that has remained pretty much the same way.


Carici-Genistetea lobelii Klein 1972 corresponds to cyrno-sardinian oromediterranean cushion scrub and related grasslands. In France, this class is only present in Corsica and the syntaxonomic scheme is debated among phytosociologists. The aim of this paper is to highlight the main plant associations of Carici-Genistetea lobelii Klein 1972 and to define the diagnostic species for each phytosociological unit. We compiled 519 vegetation plots and we applied EuropeanVegetationChecklist expert system for the classes of European vegetation to retain only vegetation plots belonging to Carici-Genistetea lobelii. We obtained a dataset with 189 vegetation plots and we classified them with Modified TWINSPAN classification. Our analyses recognized 6 plant associations and 3 sub-associations already described in the literature; and to describe a new alliance corresponding to the supra-mediterranean vegetations (Genistion salzmannii), a new association (Brimeuro fastigiatae-Juniperetum nanae) and its sub-association (alnetosum suaveolentis). For each of them, we identified diagnostic, constant and dominant species and produced their distribution map. Formal definitions were then written for each phytosociological unit (from subassociation to class) and grouped in an expert system to automatically classify the vegetations of Carici-Genistetea lobelii.


Abstract submitted as part of session: Cultural Ecosystem Services for social-ecological resilience and transformation Spiritual linkages between people and nature are usually studied in rural and "traditional" contexts. Here we illustrate how cultural values embedded in religious belief systems are ascribed to urban trees in Bangalore, India. In this rapidly developing IT-hub of South East Asia, sacred trees are not only commonly found throughout the city, but the values and religious practices associated with them remain respected and provide the only efficient protection of urban tree cover in the city formerly known as the Garden City.submitted as part of session: Cultural Ecosystem Services for social-ecological resilience and transformation Spiritual linkages between people and nature are usually studied in rural and "traditional" contexts. Here we illustrate how cultural values embedded in religious belief systems are ascribed to urban trees in Bangalore, India. In this rapidly developing IT-hub of South East Asia, sacred trees are not only commonly found throughout the city, but the values and religious practices associated with them remain respected and provide the only efficient protection of urban tree cover in the city formerly known as the Garden City. A survey of sacred trees in 3+3 sites in older and more recently developed parts of Bangalore revealed that sacred trees provide pockets of protected green cover in the highly urbanized landscape. Sacred trees were generally large and native to south India. Most of them (92%) belonged to a few species that are known as sacred in an Indian context (e.g. Ficus religiousa or Azadirachta indica), but location at a temple site or religious practices can ascribe protection also to other species. We also found that certain trees have heritage value, as remnant village symbols or meeting places, or as associated with childhood memories, in particular in the old parts of Bangalore. Two-thirds of the trees were managed by a temple trust, whereas the last third were managed informally by the people who come to the tree for worship. In Bangalore, the respect and protection of certain trees is upheld by religious formal governance structures but also by informal expressions of religious practices. Other studies have shown that urban tree protection engages environmental activism in Bangalore. The cultural values associated with certain trees are explicit in the society and appears respected also by people of different religious beliefs. Few studies have covered cultural values associated with urban trees, in particular across (and within) different belief systems and social-ecological contexts. More research is needed to better understand how appreciation of cultural ecosystem services can motivate, and catalyze change towards, urban ecosystem stewardship.


The invention discloses a method for treating N,N-dimethyl-1,3-propane diamine waste liquor. The method comprises the following steps: adding fatty acids with the mass of m1 into a reaction kettle, slowly stirring, heating to the temperature of 100-110 DEG C, slowly dripping DMAPA waste liquor with the mass of m2 and the concentration of wt%, raising the temperature in the reaction kettle to the temperature of 115-125 DEG C after the dripping operation is finished, collecting the secondary waste liquor after the reaction is finished, and detecting the content of residual DMAPA in the secondary waste liquor. The treatment method is easy to operate, any equipment does not need to be increased, distillation and purification or secondary rectification and other operations are not needed, the content of DMAPA in the treated secondary wastewater is less than or equal to 0.5 percent, the emission standard is met, and the overall efficiency is obvious.


Introduction: The family of erbium laser which has two different wavelengths including Er:YAG laser (2940 nm) and Er,Cr:YSGG laser (2780 nm) is an effective device for cutting dental hard tissue due to their high absorption in water and hydroxyapatite that makes them suitable for cavity preparation. Cavity preparation using laser has some advantages such as reduced pain and vibration during the procedure and providing patient's comfort which is the key factor in pediatric dentistry. Materials and methods: The purpose of the present study is to compare and evaluate the effect bond prep mode and cutting mode of Er,Cr:YSGG Laser on shear bond strength of glass ionomer (GI) cement and resin modified glass ionomer (RMGI) filling materials applied on flattened buccal and lingual surface on forty-eight freshly extracted caries-free human primary molars divided into 2 groups and each group is subdivided into 2 subgroups each according to the mode of preparation: group 1: bond prep mode Er,Cr:YSGG laser; group 2: Er,Cr:YSGG cutting mode. The samples will be subjected to universal testing machine. Results: The mean (SD) values for shear bond strength of Bond prep and cutting modes regardless of restorative material were 22.9 (5.3) and 20.7 (5.2), respectively. There was no statistically significant difference between the two preparation modes. There was no statistically significant difference between Bond prep and cutting modes whether using GI (P-value = 0.433, Effect size = 0.014) or with RMGI (P-value = 0.051, Effect size = 0.085). Comparison between the two restorative materials revealed that GI showed statistically significantly lower mean shear bond strength than RMGI whether using Bond prep mode (P-value <0.001, Effect size = 0.345) or cutting mode (P-value = 0.001, Effect size = 0.226). Conclusion: Er,Cr:YSGG laser have adverse effect on the adhesion of RMGI and GI, bond prep mode is better than cutting mode and RMGI is preferred than GI clinically.


As for tank shell construction of large capacity, wind power lift-up method is adopted for its simpleness, maneuverability and economy. Take V=5000 m3 tank for an example, further elaboration shall be made for the fan selectivity, the seal of tank shell and the limit equipment, etc.


[Objective]Observe the positive result of liquid cultivation for mycoplasma in three condition: clear,slightly turbid and turbid,in order to provide the evidence for elevating the diagnostic of clinically genitourinary tract mycoplasma infection in laboratory.[Methods] We used the cultivation and the morphology methods to detect mycoplama,bacterium and fungi in 320 specimens.[Results] In 114 positive of liquid cultivation,the clear liquid specimens were 61,in which,59 specimens grew mycoplasma on agar medium and the detection rate was 41%.37 specimens grew mycoplasma on agar medium.The detection rate was 97%.The slightly turbid liquid were 18 that all grew mycoplasma on agar medium,and the turbid liquid specimens were 35 which 7 specimens grew mycoplasma on agar medium and the detection rate was 20%.[Conclusion] Comparing the results of commercially liquid cultivation method with the result of agar cultivation method,there is not an ideal uniformity.So we suggest we should add agar medium method to identify the mycoplasma when we only use liquid kit method to identify the mycoplasma.


A New method was devised for the estimation of the mycelial weight in rice-koji. In this method, the content of glucosamine in koji was used for the calculation of mycelial weight. The content of glucosamine in the mycelia of Aspergillus oryzae, koji, and rice was determined by a colorimetry after hydrolysis of these materials with sulfuric acid and purification of glucosamine fraction with a Dowex 50 W column. And the values of glucosamine were 114.5 mg/g in mycelia, 3.03 in the koji for amazake,* 1.34 in the koji for sake, and 0.0 in rice. The mycelial contents calculated from these data were 2.6% dry weight in amazake-koji and 1.2% in sake-koji.


This research discusses the political empowerment movement of women in Mulia Sari Village, Banyuasin, South Sumatra through collective action to improve welfare which refers to the principles of Islamic economics through the establishment of Syariah Mulia Sari, all-round savings and loan cooperatives. The methodology in this study is guided by the principles of qualitative-descriptive research using two theoretical approaches, namely the women's movement and collective action as well as the empowerment and agency theory approach. The results of this study concluded that sharia savings and loan cooperatives in Mulia Sari not only function as an implementation of the empowerment movement for rural women, but also the presence of sharia business savings and loans cooperatives is also able to change village economic development that is more woman-friendly and gender-equitable


A Physics-Informed Dynamic Graph Neural Network (PIDGeuN) is presented to accurately, efficiently and robustly predict the nonlinear transient dynamics of microgrids in the presence of disturbances. The graph-based architecture of PIDGeuN provides a natural representation of the microgrid topology. Using only the state information that is practically measurable, PIDGeuN employs a time delay embedding formulation to fully reproduce the system dynamics, avoiding the dependency of conventional methods on internal dynamic states such as controllers. Based on a judiciously designed message passing mechanism, the PIDGeuN incorporates two physics-informed techniques to improve its prediction performance, including a physics-data-infusion approach to determining the inter-dependencies between buses, and a loss term to respect the known physical law of the power system, i.e., the Kirchhoff's law, to ensure the feasibility of the model prediction. Extensive tests show that PIDGeuN can provide accurate and robust prediction of transient dynamics for nonlinear microgrids over a long-term time period. Therefore, the PIDGeuN offers a potent tool for the modeling of large scale networked microgrids (NMs), with potential applications to predictive or preventive control in real time applications for the stable and resilient operations of NMs.


This paper describes an application of the recently proposed Modified Method of Fundamental Solutions (MMFS) to potential flow problems. The solution in two dimensional Cartesian coordinates is represented in terms of the double layer fundamental solution of the Laplace equation. The collocation is used for determination of the expansion coefficients. This novel method does not require a fictitious boundary unlike the conventional Method of Fundamental Solutions (MFS). The source and collocation points thus coincide on the physical boundary of the system. The desingularised value of the fundamental solution is in case of the coincidence of the collocation and source points determined from the respective integral equations logic. The values of the derivatives of the double layer fundamental solution in the coordinate directions, as required in potential flow calculations, are calculated indirectly from the considerations of the constant potential field. A numerical example of potential flow around the two dimensional circular region is shown. The results with the MMFS are compared with the results of the classical single layer MFS with an artificial boundary, and the analytical solution. It is shown that the MMFS gives better accuracy of the velocity components as compared with the classical MFS.


In this work, we demonstrate dispersion engineering of silicon nitride waveguide resonators with atomic layer deposition (ALD). We conducted theoretical and experimental analyses on the waveguide dispersion with air cladding, hafnium oxide (HfO2) cladding, and aluminum oxide (Al2O3) cladding. By employing ALD HfO2 as the cladding layer, the dispersion of waveguide can be tuned to a finer degree in the normal regime at a wavelength of 1550 nm. On the other hand, using ALD Al2O3 cladding provides the waveguide dispersion that spans regimes in normal, near-zero, and anomalous dispersion.


The infrared spectrum of boron trifluoride and water co-condensed in a nitrogen matrix at ca. 20 K has been recorded. A number of bands of a proposed 1:1 BF3⋯H2O electron donor–acceptor complex of Cs symmetry have been assigned. These assignments have been confirmed by a series of ab initio molecular-orbital calculations of the wavenumbers and intensities of the fundamental bands of the complex, using the GAUSSIAN-76 and GAUSSIAN-80 computer program packages and the 4-31G basis set. The spectra have been interpreted in terms of current theories of donor–acceptor complexes.


This study examines the potential spillover effects of the Mexican drug war and its associated violence on the fiscal realities of the U.S. border counties. Specifically, we study descriptively the data from the Rio Grande Valley (RGV) counties of the state of Texas, placing it within the broader context of all Texas counties, and find initial evidence of possible 'silver lining' spilling over from Mexican drug violence to the U.S. border counties' fiscal positions. Housing activities increase and property tax reliance decreases in RGV counties relative to other Texas counties (both border and non-border). We anticipate that the findings and the suggestive evidence advanced by this study will motivate additional research efforts that can be potentially value-relevant in the policy responses from relevant U.S. authorities.


The question addressed here is whether, and to what extent, social class origin has an impact on earnings among people with similar educational credentials and similar occupational positions. It is argued that earnings advantages of those originating in the upper or upper-middle classes are likely to be found primarily among those who choose education and occupations in the sector of their origin, and in occupations in which the criteria for measuring work performance are unclear. These assumptions are tested out on data on a selection of upper-level educational and occupational groups from the Norwegian censuses of 1980 and 1990. The analyses document that those who have experienced social mobility tend to get the lowest earnings, but the pattern of earnings inequality varies with educational and occupational group. Those originating in the cultural sector gain the greatest earnings advantages there, whereas the highest earnings among managers and business executives are found among those who originate in the business environment.


This article was conducted with two soybean varieties and three nitrogen levels to study the effect of nitrogen levels on the nitrogen content of soybean plant,the results showed that there were differences between two varieties towards to nitrogen levels,the protein content of Heinong48 was higher than that of Heinong44,and the changes of nitrogen content in different parts exhibited the same trends:seedleavestemstalk. Total nitrogen content exhibited highest in N50 treatment. The protein content of N50 was higher than that of N100 and N0,and that of N0 was the lowest,as protein synthesis was restrained by N100. Nitrogen demanded of Heinong48 was higher than that of Heinong44,and increasing nitrogen fertilizer could increase nitrogen content and protein content in soybean plant.


This paper describes a three-phase optimization model for the transportation of multiple petroleum products using pipelines, where the aim is to ensure that all depots are able to fulfill their demand for each petroleum product while minimizing costs. The first phase involves solving a mixed integer programming model for making resource allocation plans, which minimizes the number of products transported for each time period. The second phase uses the output from the first phase as the input to a quadratic mixed integer programming model to create a scheduling plan, which minimizes pumping costs by selecting the optimal pumping configuration and flow rate. We employ dynamic programming to increase the efficiency of the algorithm, which enables a commercial linear programming solver to solve problem instances of practical size. Finally, the third phase post-processes the solution from the second phase to minimize mixture cost using dynamic programming. This research was conducted on behalf of a prominent petroleum company in mainland China, resulting in annual savings exceeding 1 million Yuan.


Caves are common roosts used by bats as permanent places for the settlement of stable colonies because caves are minimally affected by environmental conditions. Although Venezuela is a cave-rich country, with almost 700 caves formally described in the 2006 speleological inventory, these are still unknown in terms of their whole biological composition. Particular groups of animals have been described for some of these caves, but a list of culturable proteobacteria found inside any cave in the country has never been reported. During an inventory of bats in a small cave within a recreational park, we decided to perform a first look at the diversity of its bacteria and determine whether some of them have been reported as present in other caves, other environments, or even bats. Identification of bacteria was possible by amplifying and sequencing 16S rRNA genes from cultivated samples. Twenty-three clonal samples of bacteria from Cueva Las Escaleras (Pregonero, Táchira state, Venezuela) were obtained and analyzed. All but one sample belonged to the phylum Proteobacteria, and most of them have been reported to be potentially pathogenic to humans. From these identified bacteria, some (Achromobacter denitrificans, Proteus mirabilis, and Microvirgula aerodenitrificans) showed resistance to five widely used antibiotics. These results are important, as some bacteria found inside this cave may contaminate the water that flows from the cave and runs to the stream that crosses the park, forming ponds that surround lunch places. We detected a potential threat for public health at local and regional scales because many visitors use this water for drinking and washing hands and faces, and the cave itself is used for urination, defecation, and sexual activities.


A long term controlled study of histoplasmin production by 4 isolates of Histoplasma capsulatum showed a wide variation in time required for skin test antigen production. There appeared to be no specific time for harvesting cultures of H. capsulatum to produce an histoplasmin that would give a standard skin test on homologously infected guinea pigs. Concurrent chemical studies on the culture filtrates indicated, however, that skin test activity may be related to chemical changes in the medium. These studies indicated a close relationship between increasing skin test potency and increasing total protein with decreasing total carbohydrate.