Objective: The aim of this research is to compare the development of emergency medicine in USA, Canada and Saudi Arabia. It is further aimed to identify the sort of measurements and procedures those are followed in Saudi Arabia, USA and Canada. Method: The specific peer reviewed studies have been selected in this research by the help of different electronic databases including Science Direct, MEDLINE and CINAHL. The articles are included and excluded by the examination of the research quality, its significance with the research question and the publication year. Result: There are five themes that have been extracted from the research articles including the development of emergency medicine in Saudi Arabia and United States, development of emergency medicine in Saudi Arabia and Canada, healthcare procedure and measurements in USA, healthcare procedure and measurements in Canada and the healthcare procedure and measurements in Saudi Arabia. Conclusion: It can be concluded that there are several differences in the emergency medicine procedures of the three countries and they use different methods, which ensure in providing the quality care to the patients.


Major comments Recent studies, among which a significant number published by these authors, have demonstrated that the strong melt in Greenland post-1990 coincide with persistent summer blocking over the ice sheet (negative NAO index) resulting in the advection of warm air and relatively few clouds over the western ice sheet, both enhancing melt. Three all-important but quite distinct questions need to be addressed: 1) what part of that circulation anomaly can be explained by (decadal) natural variability; 2) how well is this natural variability represented in (global) climate models and 3) how


This paper aims to optimize real-time control for the degraded mode of a fault-tolerant power architecture but not the fault detection and isolation procedure itself. Such power architecture is dedicated to electric vehicles in which it performs the three following essential functions: traction, battery charging, and electric-grid assistance. For safety reasons, in the degraded mode, power control is limited to the traction mode. Thus, for a given torque, the proposed innovative strategy uses a novel current/voltage transform that leads to efficient real-time control of the torque. The key idea is to drive the current without a priori restrictions on its waveform, while minimizing Joule losses, i.e., the effective value of the current. It has been validated on a laboratory test bench. The studied system is based on a three-phase open-end-winding synchronous machine powered by an inverter with three full H-bridges. The last section of the paper analyzes the comparison between the classic sinusoidal current waveforms and the proposed sinusoidal current waveforms while operating on the two remaining motor phases. It results in a 14% increase of the torque produced by the permanent-magnet machine under test and a 14% decrease of the global system losses in traction mode. As a result, the new control strategy enhances traction performance in degraded mode and increases electric-vehicle autonomy in a postfailure condition.


At Isar 2 Nuclear Power Station, sample possibilities have been examined of improving the quality ofthe available operational measurements in order that they are harmonised with the process topology. Experience thereby accumulated so far shows that, in contrast to simulation, data validation is a suitable medium, inter alia, for the monitoring of thermal performance and for checking measured variables. Conformity of the structure of the model with the actual plant is thereby of crucial importance.


BACKGROUND
Breast cancer in Kazakhstan and its Kyzylorda oblast is the most prevalent cancer in women and features increasing trends of incidence. The aim of study was to reveal risk factors for breast cancer among women of Kyzylorda oblast of Kazakhstan.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
A hospital-based case-control study was conducted at Kyzylorda oblast Oncology Center, including 114 cases of breast cancer and 196 controls. Binary logistic regression analysis was performed.

RESULTS
Social and behavioral risk factors for breast cancer were evaluated, among which unfavorable living conditions, chronic stress, unilateral breastfeeding, breastfeeding less than 3 months and over 2 years, abortions, and hereditary predisposition were found to be related with increased breast cancer risk. Breastfeeding for 6-24 months was found to be protective.

CONCLUSIONS
The findings may have significant impact on activity planning aimed towards breast cancer reduction among women in Kazakhstan.


Factors affecting the ink removal efficiency at deinking plants are various. The RCF raw materials (ONP/OMG, age, ink type), process type (1/2 loop system), equipment (drum/batch pulper, flotation type), conditions (temperature, pH, energy), water management (microflotations) and chemistry (soap, surfactants, pH) all play their roles. The basic rule is that the better ink is detached from the fibres, the higher is the ink elimination efficiency at flotation stages. This means that the impact of different factors on the ink detachment is of great importance, when the plant efficiency and pulp quality are considered. The degree of ink detachment influences not only on the optical characteristics of the pulp,but also on the variable costs of RCF lines in the form of yield. If the ink is well separated (detached)from the fibres, the flotation selectivity on ink increases leading to lower fibre losses at a certain ERIC and brightness level. An extensive comparison of UPM-Kymmene RCF plants has been carried out by the company 's R&D department in 2000-2002. Totally of nine RCF lines were compared in terms of raw materials, ink removal efficiency and other typical deinking related properties such as yield, stickies and strength. Conclusions on the ink removal efficiency reported here are clear and as expected: The role of ONP/OMG -ratio on ink detachment and therefore the overall performance of RCF plants is important. A high OMG content provides a better ink detachment and removal as well as a lower sensitivity to ageing, which normally leads to problems in ink detachment. As a negative point, good ink removal obtained with high OMG content is often leading to a poor yield.


This article tests some received ideas on bureaucratic vulnerability to cutbacks, using data drawn from U.K central government departments over the period 1975-85. It looks at vulnerability at the level of programs, of groups within the bureaucracy, and of department, and tests three approaches to explaining vulnerability: party-political influences on political outcomes, the impact of prior history, and the influence of bureaucratic processes. Party-political influences and prior history seem to have low power in predicting vulnerability to cutbacks, but bureaucratic process influences have some predictive power for these data, particularly at the group and departmental levels of vulnerability.


Documents (final report and executive summary) providing recommendations to improve faculty culture, including issues related to: tenure, faculty collaborations, research and professorship status.


At present, our country should not abolish death penalty. It is necessary to exist the death penalty from the physical condition and the humanism background; While from the development trend, the death penalty of the our country cannot but die out ,but the course of the abolishing the death penalty is the restrict process.


Among different pulses, cowpea is considered as most important source of nutrition to human and livestock. Several insect pests cause major constraint in cowpea production. Among the pests, the legume pod borer, Maruca vitrata (Fabricius) is a serious threat which ultimately reduces the quality and quantity of the economic produce. Management of M. vitrata using insecticides is commonly followed. But, indiscriminate use of insecticides leads to unwanted repercussions in the environment. It prompted to turn the focus on eco friendly methods to manage this pest. Among various management methods, use of tolerant and/or resistant genotypes is the first line of defence against insect pests. In the light of this consideration, 280 cowpea genotypes were screened against M. vitrata during Rabi, 2020 and Kharif, 2021 seasons at Vallampadugai Village, Cuddalore district, Tamil Nadu state, India. The per cent flower and pod infestation were noted at different days after sowing. The results revealed that, minimum flower infestation was noted on IC-202800(6.60% and 5.00%) in both rabi and kharif. Maximum infestation in rabi and kharif was noted on IC-249141(76.66%) and IC-9883 (66.66%) respectively. Minimum and maximum per cent pod infestation was noted on IC-39870 (15.00% in rabi and 10.00% in kharif) and EC-161916(100% in rabi and 93.33% in kharif) in both seasons. Based on per cent pod damage, 30 genotypes were found highly resistant, with 52 moderately resistant, 81 susceptible genotypes and 38 highly susceptible genotypes in rabi season. In kharif, 18 genotypes were highly resistant and 86 genotypes have recorded moderately resistant in contrast to 13 genotypes secured highly susceptible ratings.


This paper outlines the critical role of employees' job satisfaction in the link between TQM and innovation performance. The discussion arises primarily based on the considerable controversy concerning this relationship that appears in the literature. As of interest to resolve this controversy, a research framework is developed in which job satisfaction acts as the mediator between TQM and firm's innovation performance. The empirical findings from a survey of 90 manufacturing SMEs in Greece confirmed that job satisfaction exerts a mediating effect on the relationship between TQM and innovation. A TQM approach which emphasizes mainly to "soft" issues such as continuous training, performance-based rewards, teamwork and empowerment is necessary to foster job satisfaction that is conducive to innovation. Furthermore, "hard" TQM elements such as process and quality management, and information analysis facilitate at a lesser degree firm's innovativeness only through job satisfaction.


Introduction The assignment of homework is seldom mandated by our institutions or departments, but is accepted as the status quo. A familiar anecdote involves a housewife who always cut a small section from the end of a ham before cooking. When asked why, she replied "because my mother always did it!" Follow up with her mother resulted in the same response. Further follow up revealed that grandma had cut the end off because her largest pan was too small to hold the whole ham! As was noted by England and Flately [5], homework has become one of those school traditions shrouded in antiquity – "we have always done it this way!"


Millimeter wave (mmW) communications have recently attracted considerable attention as a key element of next-generation (5G) wireless systems. Despite significant efforts in this domain, establishing and maintaining directional mmW links in a dynamic environment are still quite challenging, largely due to the search-time overhead of beam scanning, and the vulnerability of directional links to beam misalignment, blockage, and outages. In this paper, we propose SmartLink, a protocol that exploits the multi-cluster scattering phenomenon at mmW frequencies to establish a multi-directional link between a base station and a user. By exploiting multiple clusters, SmartLink enables fast initial access and link maintenance, along with sustained throughput. A search algorithm called multi-lobe beam search (MLBS) is used to discover multiple channel clusters by probing several directions simultaneously using carefully designed multilobe beam patterns. MLBS reduces the search time from linear to logarithmic with respect to the number of directions. We provide detailed analysis of the false alarm and misdetection probabilities for the designed beam patterns. Following cluster discovery, SmartLink divides antennas into sub-arrays to generate the optimal multi-lobe pattern with respect to cluster powers and blockage probabilities. Finally, extensive trace-driven simulations at 29 GHz frequency using phased-array antennas verify the efficiency of SmartLink.


Power outages are very frequent in Egypt due to shortages of electricity generation. Previous work has explored the use of photovoltaics in specific residential sites in rural areas for providing the electricity needs of the residential complex [1]. However, the opportunity of employing building integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) and energy efficient building designs for meeting the energy needs of representative residential buildings in urban areas has not been previously investigated. This paper provides a study of the use of BIPV methods for residential sector retrofit in three major urban cities in Egypt. This study assesses the life cycle costs and energy efficiency impacts of harnessing solar energy for use in residential buildings. The paper draws upon and further develops other research done in the field by analyzing energy savings and impacts of BIPV in different demographic and geographical settings for a representative building model type in an urban setting. Two benchmark building performance simulation models were used that reflect the average energy consumption characteristics of air-conditioned residential apartments in Cairo, Alexandria, and Asyut [2]. This study provides a background of the current Egyptian energy sector and a complete design of a photovoltaic system in the three geographical regions. It also discusses the challenges facing solar energy use in Egypt and possible methods to finance investment in the solar technology on a community scale. Government policy recommendations are proposed to promote the integration of renewable energy technology in the residential sector.


Background: Natural disasters are extreme geographical fragmentations with a high severity which can have catastrophic economic, social, and environmental impacts. Damage to the infrastructure can severely impede economic activity. Iran is a country which is highly susceptible to natural disasters and because of the unpredictable nature of the disasters, it is essential to be prepared for them. Objectives: The present study aimed to investigate the status of disaster preparedness in the hospitals of Shiraz, Iran. Materials and Methods: The present descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted in nine government and six private hospitals of Shiraz, Iran. The study data were collected using a self-administered checklist through observation and interview. The checklist included 220 yes/no questions in 10 domains of emergency (30 questions), admission (24 questions), evacuation and transfer (30 questions), traffic (15 questions), communication (16 questions), security (17 questions), education (17 questions), support (28 questions), human workforce (21 questions), and leadership and management (22 items). Scores 0 and 1 were given to No and Yes choices, respectively. The validity and reliability of the checklist was confirmed in this study. Then, the data were analyzed through the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software (version 16). Results: Overall, the relative mean of disaster preparedness in the study hospitals was 62.3%. The highest and the lowest scores of the disaster preparedness were related to emergency and evacuation and transfer domains, respectively. Conclusion: Although the disaster preparedness in the study hospitals was good, they were not well prepared in some domains, such as evacuation and transfer, traffic, communication, and security; therefore, plans are needed to be developed in these regards.


Summary 1.A new series of compounds in which the pyridine and pyridine-1-oxide rings were substituted for a benzene ring of p -dimethylaminoazobenzene (DAB) were prepared and tested for ability to induce rat tumors. 2.The compounds tested were 4-methylpyridine-2-azo- p -dimethylaniline (4-Me-P2), 6-methylpyridine-2-azo- p -dimethylaniline (6-Me-P2), 4-methylpyridine-1-oxide-2-azo- p -dimethylaniline (4-Me-PO2), 6-methylpyridine-1-oxide-2-azo- p -dimethylaniline (6-Me-PO2), 2-methylpyridine-4-azo- p -dimethylaniline (2-Me-P4), pyridine-1-oxide-3-azo- p -dimethylaniline (PO3), 2-methylpyridine-1-oxide-4-azo- p -dimethylaniline (2-Me-PO4), 3-methylpyridine-1-oxide-4-azo- p -dimethylaniline (3-Me-PO4), and 2,6-dimethylpyridine-1-oxide-4-azo- p -dimethylaniline (2,6-diMe-PO4). 3.Over a period of 10 months9 administration of the test compounds, 4-Me-P2, 6-Me-P2, 4-Me-PO2, and 6-Me-PO2 were ineffective in tumor production. 2-Me-P4 was observed to be more effective than P4 and about equivalent to DAB. PO3 was observed to be less active than PO4 and about as active as DAB. 3-Me-PO4 seemed to be more active than DAB and about equal to m ′-Me-DAB. 2-Me-PO4 and 2,6-diMe-PO4 both appeared far more active than m ′-Me-DAB and both are more active than PO4, which was the most potent of the compounds previously tested.


Silica antireflective films were prepared on flat glass substrates by spraying method. By adding n-propanol, isopropanol, n-butyl alcohol and low vapor pressure solvent 1,3-butanediol to form gradient volatilization solvents, the "whitish" in color of coating was solved. Spray coating is a single side coating technology which is suitable for flat or weakly bent substrates. This method can be flexibly applied to single-side coating, double-side heterogeneous coating and rapid coating of large-scale components. The results show that the antireflection coating prepared by spraying method has good optical properties, the transmittance can reach 99.61%, the root mean square roughness is 1.22 nm and the uniformity of the coating was smooth. The spraying method has been successfully applied to the preparation of antireflection films on flat substrates.


The morphological characteristics of three isolates of Sclerotium rolfsii from Aburi (AB), East Legon (EL) and Legon campus (LC) were studied on PDA at an incubation temperature of 28oC. Radial growth of mycelia and the production of sclerotia were more pronounced in the East Legon (EL) and Legon campus (LC) isolates. When the red and white cormels of cocoyam (Xanthosoma sagittifolium) were inoculated with the various isolates of Sclerotium rolfsii, the white cormels were more resistant to infection by the fungus as compared to the red cormels. After cultivating the red and white types of cocoyam on soils inoculated with sclerotia of the three isolates, phenotypic development was more suppressed in the red type of cocoyam than the white type, whilst the yield of cormels was greater in the white type than the red type of cocoyam. The effects of ethanol and aqueous leaf extracts of plantain, cassava and cocoyam were studied as related to the physiology of the fungus, Sclerotium rolfsii on solid and liquid culture media amended with varying dilutions of the extracts. The studies made were in relation to the radial growth and vegetative growth of mycelia as well as sclerotia production. There were clearly differing responses produced by the three isolates of the fungus to the heat-sterilized phytotoxins present in the solid PDA and liquid PDB even though they all showed dose-dependent responses to the active compounds in the leaves. Clearly the ethanol and aqueous extracts of cocoyam proved to be very effective in the control of radial and vegetative growth of mycelia as well as sclerotia production. The Aburi (AB) isolate in both the solid and liquid media proved to be more responsive to the (iv) University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh


Herein, a one-pot approach to the synthesis of 2,4-dialkenylindoles by rhodium-catalyzed dual C–H alkenylation and decarboxylation of indole-3-carboxylic acids with alkenes is described. This protocol provided facile access to diverse 2,4-dialkenylindoles, which were found to exhibit intense fluorescence in the range of 472–530 nm with a quantum yield of up to 0.57 in CH2Cl2.


Become a better more effective teacher. Enjoy teaching more. Make your students speak English all the time in class. All this is possible if you change your teaching technique. Marianne explains her philosophy and the activties she uses in class. Most of them are very simple to implement and make a world of difference. SST (student speaking time) is a vital factor and you can improve the ration of SST(student speaking time) to TST (teacher speaking time). Tutorials in lab or computer rooms are explained.


Bilateral coronoid hyperplasia, a rare condition occurring primarily in males, is characterized by progressive, asymptomatic limitation of all mandibular movements which usually begins around the age of puberty. The condition is diagnosed on the basis of historical and radiographic findings and is treated by the surgical removal of the enlarged coronoid processes.


PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To couple a semiconductor element and a heat plate without requiring any independent coupling member by transmitting the heat generated from the element directly to the heat plate through the use of earth terminal or NC terminal in the leads of the element thereby enhancing the heat dissipation effect. SOLUTION: A heat dissipation unit for a semiconductor element in a motor driver comprises a printed circuit board 24 mounting a semiconductor element 20, a heat dissipation means 27, holes 26 made through the printed circuit board 24 and inserted with a heat dissipation lead terminal 23, and holes 28 made through the heat dissipation means 27. COPYRIGHT: (C)1996,JPO


In breast cancer detection it is essential to perform precise interventions to determine the diagnosis. Robotic systems actuated by MR safe pneumatic stepper motors could improve accuracy to target the tumor. The achievable accuracy or speed is limited due to long pneumatic tubes connecting the motors to the electromagnetic valves in the control room. This paper presents the design of two dual-speed stepper motors in order to solve this limitation. The linear motor measures 50x32x14 mm (excluding racks) and has step sizes 1.7 mm and 0.3 mm. The maximum speed under load is 20 mm/s, measured force is 24 N and positioning accuracy is 0.1 mm. The rotational motor measures O30x32 mm (excluding axles) and has step sizes 10° and 12.9°. Under load its maximum angular speed is 229 °/s or 38.2 RPM, maximum torque is 74 N mm and positioning accuracy is 1°. By operating the valves in a coordinated way high-speed and precise position control can be achieved. With these specifications the motors have high potential to actuate MR safe surgical robots.


WHEN the Labour Party won the General Election in 1997 one of its key priorities was education.An important part of its election manifesto, it led to David Blunkett, the former Education Minister, producing the Green Paper, The Learning Age.Mr Blunkett spelled out the rationale for making lifelong learning a priority. He said: "Investment in human capital will be the foundation of success in the knowledge-based, global economy of the 21st century. That is why the Government has put learning at the heart of its ambition."Learning helps make us a civilised society, promotes active citizenship, strengthens the family and subsequently, the nation."In the past decade or so, much has been made of the knowledge era and learning for life.But, what exactly is the knowledge era and why is it important? Theorists such as Holbeche (1999) and Tofler, Ohmae and Handy (1997) espouse that we have moved from the industrial era and the resource-based view of the firm to the knowledge and information era and the knowledge-based view of the firm.Pedler, Burgoyne and Boydell (1997) add that the key feature of the 21st century will not be manufacture (production with the hands) but mentofacture (production with the mind).As such, there will be an economic and competitive advantage to organisations and societies who put the creation, sharing and exploitation of knowledge at the top of their strategic agenda.This challenges all individuals to continuously reinforce their knowledge through learning and, essentially, learning how to learn throughout their lives.What is lifelong learning?The European Commission Report on Lifelong Learning (2001) defined it as "all purposeful learning activity undertaken on an ongoing basis, with the aim of improving knowledge, skills and competence."Fundamentally, it involves continuous learning from the cradle to the grave, engaging in formal learning (via college or university), informal learning (experiential learning on the job) and also learning in personal, social and professional capacity. Lifelong learning is also known as continuing education.According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, there is evidence of a macroeconomic relationship between educational attainment and a growth in productivity.OECD studies have found that education directly contributes to up to a quarter of output growth.In essence, education (and training) helps to lift the productivity of individuals and economies.Individuals engaging in continuous, lifelong learning and education:* increase productivity and organisational performance* are more creative and innovative* are more career resilient* enjoy greater employability and job satisfaction* are able to help the organisation adapt better to innovation and change* are able to use their intellectual capital to help the organisation learn better and faster than competitors and therefore gain and sustain competitive advantage. …


Regression-type algorithms are widely used for system modeling and characterization. There are applications where such characterizations are to be performed "on-line" to support control mechanisms and other decisions. In embedded autonomous systems robustness considerations ask for techniques, which, in addition to reflecting the actual state of the system and its environment, can continuously provide immediate signal processing results even in case of abrupt changes and/or temporal shortage of computational power and/or loss of some data. With other words in such situations the actual processing should be continued to insure appropriate performance. Consequently there is a need for robust techniques called "anytime" algorithms, which can provide Varkonyi-Koczy, A.R., T. Kovacshazy, O. Takacs, and Cs. Benedecsik, "Anytime Evaluation of Regression-Type Algorithms." International Journal of Advanced Computational Intelligence, Vol. 5, No. 1, pp. 2-7, Feb. 2001. short response time and be very flexible with respect to the available input information and computational power. The paper presents some considerations concerning such flexibility in the case of regression-type algorithms.


The proposed article analyzes the problem of the formation of social competence in children of primary school age. In the process of studying the theoretical material on this issue, we clarified the concept, social competence, identified the psychological and pedagogical conditions for the formation of social competence among younger schoolchildren, where the program for the implementation of conditions was followed.


In 1943 The Alloy Engineering Company was founded to supply quality alloy fabrications for high-temperature industrial applications. The company has continuously grown over the years and is now recognized as the industry's premier designer and fabricator of engineered high-temperature, corrosion-resistant alloy components. Indicative of Alloy Engineering's strategic growth philosophy, a series of acquisitions during the past year have enhanced the company's ability to quickly respond to customer needs. "Our two most recent acquisitions—TEI/Rolock and Walmil—underscore our long-standing commitment to customer service and satisfaction," notes Alloy Engineering president Louis Petonovich. "We are focused on supplying a variety of high-temperature, corrosion-resistant products that increase customer productivity and dramatically reduce operating and maintenance costs." Alloy Engineering has built its reputation on designing and fabricating application-engineered products including pickling hooks, hydrogen annealing equipment, radiant tubes, atmosphere generators and ammonia dissociators, fans, muffles, rotary retorts, and ASME code vessels. "Our engineering team analyzes and evaluates the many factors influencing long-term component performance in a hostile, high-temperature or corrosive industrial environment," explains Mr. Petonovich. "With a thorough understanding of these factors, their interaction, and the effect of high temperatures on material performance and life, we can assure customers of an optimal solution that meets the requirements of their unique application while achieving the lowest cost per hour of operation. "Thanks to our state-of-the-art CAD capability, which provides powerful 3-D functionality through solid modeling, we can quickly respond with a design solution that allows for fast and accurate generation of drawings and graphics. In addition, each member of our nationwide network of sales consultants is an accomplished engineer, as well as an innovative designer. Collectively, our engineering staff and sales consultants offer a wealth of application experience, insight, and knowledge that is unmatched in the industry." Since 1943, The Alloy Engineering Company has pioneered the design and manufacture of a wide range of alloy products for high-temperature furnace and corrosive applications throughout the automotive, aerospace, petrochemical, pulp & paper, primary metals, and general manufacturing industries.


GTI's Computer Graphics Div. has announced a five-model family of realtime computer image generators, the Poly 250, 500,500e, 2000, and 2000e, for solid modeling and dynamic visual simulation. All models display graphics objects as polyhedral surfaces with color shading, clipping, occulting, and perspective transformations performed automatically. User-programmable 4 x 4 matrix transformations provide real-time scaling, translation, and rotation for each object. The Poly 250 displays up to 250 flatshaded polygons of average four sides. At reduced frame rates, up to 2000 polygons can be processed. The standard single-channel configuration (multichannel version of each model is optional) is $57,322. The Poly 500 displays up to 500 flatshaded polygons of average four sides. At reduced frame rates, up to 2000 polygons can be processed. The singlechannel configuration is $75,813. The 500e, which includes antialiasing, multilevel transparency, and fog and haze capabilities, is $181,881.


Governments have paid great attention to the results of happiness research. In many countries, the object of government policy is no longer taken to be development in terms of raising GNP. Their focus has shifted to a National Index of Happiness. This paper analyses whether such an aggregate Happiness Index is a better guide to development than GNP or other indices of development. We argue that when the National Happiness Index becomes the official goal of policy, it will be distorted by political interests. The respondents to surveys will resort to strategically answering the questions posed. Even more importantly, the government in power will manipulate the Index in order to further its own interests. As a result, the National Happiness Index will lose its informational quality and will no longer serve as a measure of true happiness in the process of economic development.


The invention discloses a robot for arranging and loading iron rods for an injection molding machine. The robot includes a fixture and a mechanical arm for driving the fixture to move and rotate, wherein the mechanical arm includes a moving rod connected with the fixture and a lifting rod perpendicularly connected with the moving rod, the moving rod moves up and down along the lifting rod under the effect of a first cylinder and a chain, the moving rod is driven a second cylinder to move left and right, and the fixture can clamp the iron rods automatically. According to the robot for arranging and loading iron rods for the injection molding machine, the fixture is an electromagnetic material sucking device which can quickly sucks the iron rods, and the angle of the fixture can be automatically adjusted, so that the robot can be used for loading the iron rods with multiple thickness degrees.


The hydrocracking of distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS) corn oil over bimetallic carbide catalysts was explored for green diesel production. A catalyst composed of nickel–tungsten (Ni–W) carbide supported on Al-SBA-15 was designed based on the ability of nickel to adsorb and activate hydrogen and the potential of tungsten for hydrogenation reactions. Four different Ni–W ratios (1:9, 1:1, 2:1, and 9:1) were prepared by the impregnation method to study the effect of metal ratio on the catalyst structure, activity, and selectivity. Catalyst activity was evaluated in a fixed bed reactor at 400 °C and 650 psi (4.48 MPa) with a hydrogen flow rate of 30 mL min–1 and DDGS corn oil flow rate of 0.08 mL min–1. The catalysts showed significant differences in activity and selectivity, with the catalyst having a Ni–W ratio of 9:1 achieving 100% conversion of corn oil and 100% selectivity to diesel for 2 days. Results indicate that by minimizing metal alloy formation and enhancement of the metal dispersion le...


Classroom teaching is a huge system.To improve classroom teaching efficiency,teachers must do well in controlling teaching aim,teaching content,teacher's teaching condition and students' study condition.


With the development of economic and social conditions in Africa,African education is constantly improving.However,the imbalance of education development in Africa has seriously affected primary and secondary teachers' career choice,resulting in the large number of teachers' frequent migration.This migrating trend reveals some characteristics,such as teachers' choice of a neighboring country,more males than females,and most of them at the age of thirty to fifty.And there are also some factors that influence this trend among which are material and spiritual needs of self-realization,globalization,and unstable political situation,national policies for teacher mobility and so on.


Increasing levels of human activity in mountainous areas have high potential to inhibit animal movement across and among valleys. We examined how wolves respond to roads, trails, and other developments. We recorded the movements of two wolf packs for two winters by following their tracks in the snow and simultaneously recording positions with a hand-held global positioning system. We then used matched case-controlled logistic regression to compare habitat covariates of wolf paths (cases) to multiple paired random locations (controls). This analysis emphasized the differences within pairs of cases and controls, rather than differences in their overall distribution, making it useful to assess fine-scale habitat selection and path data. Both packs selected low elevations, shallow slopes, and southwest aspects. They selected areas within 25 m of roads, trails, and the railway line and more strongly selected low-use roads and trails compared to high-use roads and trails. One pack strongly avoided distances bet...


Drug abuse is a very heartbreaking and worrying problem and humanitarian issue. Drugs have infected all ages, from the lower class to the upper class, from children to the elderly, and from the uneducated to the educated, and even the victims continue to fall. This paper aims to reveal the Qur'anic efforts and find alternative solutions that will be able to reduce the rate of circulation and find ways to prevent drug abuse in the Qur'an. This paper, including the type of library research, uses a thematic approach (Tafsir Maudu'i). A method that directs the view of a particular theme and then seeks the view of the Qur'an on that theme by collecting, understanding, and analyzing verses that talk about the theme under study. The research results and findings from this study, among others, are: first, strengthening the foundation of religion; second, fostering the Qur'anic generation; third, growing noble character; fourth, providing advice in a civilized manner; fifth, calling on goodness and preventing evil; sixth, praying that all matters will be expanded; seventh, continuously in obedience; and eighth, hastening to give advice about religion. Furthermore, this research is still far from perfect. Further research is needed with a more varied and comprehensive approach. So that the prevention of drug abuse can be more controlled.


Selected pesticides widely used worldwide to control key pests on cotton plants were evaluated for integration with the Trichogramma chilonis (Ishii). Chlorantraniliprole showed a mean emergence of approximately 79˗˗82 and 87˗˗91% at both 6.25x and 9.4x doses when host eggs (Sitotroga cerealella Olivier) were treated at larval and pupal stage of parasitoids, respectively. Helicoverpa armigera NucleoPolyhedroses Virus (HaNPV) revealed mean emergence ranging from 80 to 84% at both 12.5x and 6.25x doses in the pupal stage treatment. Spiromesifen demonstrated mean emergence approximately ranging from 82.35 to 88.55% at 5x, x, and 0.5x doses in both the egg and pupal stage treatments, and in addition at 8.3X dose in the pupal stage treatment. Spiromesifen led to mean emergence of 88.20 and 79.52% at 2x and 5x doses, respectively, when parasitoid was treated at larval stage. When individual T. chilonis females were exposed to the previously treated host eggs (S. cerealella), chlorantraniliprole resulted in mean parasitism ranging from 17.88 to 20.88 parasitized host eggs at both 5x and 3.13x doses, while spiromesifen led to mean parasitism of 7.20 parasitized host eggs at 10.4x dose and showed significant effect on parasitism by parasitoid. The results indicated that the pesticides tested against emergence exhibited no significant toxic effects on the parasitoid.


T H E cellular slime mold Dictyostehm discoideum is an ideal eukaryotic organism with which to study the control of gene activity and development at the levels of both synthesis and translation of messenger RNA.


._________________________________________ Acknowledgments__ _ ______________________________ Introduction.______________________________________ Description, of the problem_______________________ Review of the literature._--_-----_______________ Scope of the investigation________________________ Laboratory apparatus and techniques of measurement-__ Laboratory equipment.__________________________ The laboratory flume__________________________ Simulation of rainfall__________________________ Discharge measurements.________________________ Depth measurements.___________________________ Surf ace-velocity measurements. __________________ Other measurements.___________________________ Field sites and description of measurements.___________ General location.._______________________________ Geology and soils.______________________________ Vegetation.,_ __________________________________ Topography__ --__-----_______________________ Artificial rainfall__--------_____-______________ Runoff measurements,__________________________ Sediment samples_______________________________ Surface-velocity measurements__________________ Flow pattern of overland flow-_-_--____-_________ Depth measurements.___________________________ Page Al 1 1 1 2 3 4 4 4 5 6 6 6 6 7 7 8 9 10 10 12 12 12 13 13 Page Analysis of results and discussion. ______-_____--____-_ A14 General__ _ _________________---__-------__--14 Laboratory tests with uniform flow.______________ 15 Laboratory tests with artificial rain _______________ 19 Field investigation of overland flow.______________ 25 Comparison of field results to laboratory data______ 28 Probabilistic approach to overland flow and the shape of hillslopes. _________-_-_-___-_-_--_-__-__-----_--31 Hydraulic changes downslope___-_______-_-____-31 Application to the shape of hillslope profiles_______34 Erosion and sediment transport___________-__-__---36 Rills and dynamic equilibrium________-______--36 Erosion and laminar flow--___------------------42 Summary of findings.____-_______-__-__-----------_44 References. __________-_--__-_------__-___---------45 Summary of data: A, Vegetation type and relative density of cover at field sites..___________._ _____ _48 B, Example of data from measurements of surface velocity, Pole Creek Site 3________-___ 50 C, Example of data from depth measurements, Pole Creek Site 3__________._____ 51 D, Summary of laboratory data for uniform flow 52 E, Summary of laboratory data for artificial rainfall 53 F, Summary of field data for overland flow sites.___ 66


Based on the fundamental division according to pressure height in the mould cavity, polymer injection moulding processes are systematized and grouped into high- and low-pressure processes. After a detailed description and elaboration of high pressure processes of injection moulding (Polimeri No. 2/2001), there follows, the group of low-pressure processes: structural foam moulding, injection moulding processes with gas and liquid, a series of processes with product surface decoration in mould, and other possibilities of low pressure use during injection moulding (Polimeri No. 3/2002). This paper discusses the advantages of low-pressure injection moulding, sequential injection moulding with valve gates, intrusion procedures and injection-compression moulding.


The paper proposes a technique to locate the source of forced oscillations in power systems. The only requirement is the availability of bus frequency measurements as obtained, for example, from phasor measurement units. The proposed technique is model-agnostic, optimization-free, non-confidential, and independent from the source and the frequency of the forced oscillations. Accuracy and robustness with respect to noise are demonstrated through two examples based on the IEEE 14-bus and New England 39-bus systems, as well as a case study based on a 1,479-bus dynamic model of the all-island Irish transmission system.


One of the important stages in the creation of the scientific and technical foundations for the calculation, design and manufacturing technology of the lowest heat-conductivity thermal protection from screen-vacuum thermal insulation (SVTI) is the development of a process for achieving the optimal vacuum P0 ≤ 10−3 Pa in the SVTI layers, since at this pressure, thermal conductivity (λeff) through the SVTI is carried out only due to the radiant (λrad) and contact-conductive (λ k, k) components. It is proposed to obtain such a pressure in thermal insulation by using cushioning material in it, which was previously degassed in a separate vacuum chamber at 370−380 K for 12 h in order to remove water molecules from its structure and then replace them with nitrogen molecules. These molecules have 3−4 times less heat of adsorption; therefore they are pumped out faster. As a result, it becomes possible to accelerate (by ∼20 h) to achieve optimal vacuum in thermal insulation, as well as 11% lower effective thermal conductivity [equal to (14.1−14.3)⋅10−5 W/(m⋅K)]. The analysis carried out (according to the developed methodology) showed that the achieved optimal effective thermal conductivity of thermal insulation in a cryocontainers is determined by 33% of radiant thermal conductivity [4.7⋅10−5 W/(m⋅K)] and 67% of the contact-conductive component [9.4⋅10−5 W/(m⋅K)].


The field emission characteristics of a field emitter array (FEA) with a new resistive layer structure both before and after annealing processes was measured. The gate voltage for emission current of 10 nA per tip increased from 70 to 93 V. The drastic changes in the field emission characteristics of a Mo-tip FEA with PH3-doped a-Si:H after a vacuum packaging process is attributed to the increase in the resistivity of the resistive layer. From the results of elastic recoil detection, secondary ion mass spectrometry, Raman spectroscopy, the increase in the resistivity of PH3-doped hydrogenated amorphous silicon is assumed to be related to the evolution of hydrogen in the thin film. Taken into consideration the fact that the hydrogen evolution occurs at 300–400 °C, the increase in the resistivity of PH3-doped a-Si:H is inevitable if typical frit glass would be used for the hermetic sealing. The resistive layer material with a constant resistivity through all the processes in the field emission display would...


This study developed a new design of a low cost potentiostat circuit device. This device is an alternative electrochemical instrument applied for monitoring heavy metal ion in environmental water. It was developed to alleviate the cost burden of equipment procurement and due to the requirement for in-situ application since the existing commercialize devices are bulky and expensive. The main component of the device consist of electronics configuration of operational amplifier. The device was first modelled and simulated to acquire the design parameters and performance. The potential control algorithm was developed on open-source microcontroller platform. A dummy cell was used to validate the capabilities of the device.


The objective for this study was to determine the dispensing cost in community pharmacies. This was a pilot cross-sectional study of 10 community pharmacies on Penang Island. A 17-item self-administered questionnaire was developed and consisted of questions on the type of pharmacy license, pharmacist salary, non-pharmacist salaries, pharmacy area size, dispensing area size, overhead and capital resources. The costs for dispensing prescriptions were calculated, and descriptive statistics were used to compare the dispensing costs with the type of pharmacy license, weekly trading hours and availability of the pharmacist's personal office. We found that dispensing costs in a community pharmacy average MYR 0.41 per minute or MYR 3.17 per prescription. The major cost drivers in the pharmacy dispensing costs were salaries and rent. This study provides an empirical basis for a proper reimbursement structure for pharmacy dispensing services in Malaysia.


Author(s): Caldwell, Christy; Hubble, Ann | Abstract: As a small university library, our research support efforts are focused on Early Career Researchers (ECRs) including graduate students. Many of our campus Electronic Theses a Dissertations (ETDs) have supplemental files which we examined to determine what support our graduate students need. A majority of the files had significant preservation and usability issues, and basic data best practices were not being followed. Based upon this review, we created an ETD supplemental file guide, and partnered with the Graduate Division to communicate this guide to students. In this poster, we will share our supplemental file discoveries, our approach, and resources.


Modern life which is characterized by globalization makes the flow of human movement from one place to another easier, more effective, and efficient. The world is becoming smaller and it is easier to enter any area in the corner of the earth. Likewise, the choices that arise for humans to live, work, do business, study, travel and so on. Of all regions on this earth, not all of them are inhabited by Muslim-majority communities, but more non-Muslim-majority communities. So this study aims to see the status and understanding of the prophet's hadith about the prohibition of living in non-Muslim communities in the present context. This paper is the result of a literature study, which is the result of tracking several literatures related to the themes discussed. The method used in this paper is a qualitative research method that is descriptive and interpretive through a historical approach. The results of the study conclude that this hadith is ahad and is valid and can be used as evidence. The understanding of this hadith contains a prohibition for Muslims to live in non-Muslim countries due to war between Muslims and non-Muslim countries, great difficulties that cause a Muslim to be unable to fulfill his obligations, and affect a lifestyle that causes a Muslim to have no difference with other people. non-muslim. This prohibition does not apply if the non-Muslim country is safe, there is no difficulty in worshiping and fulfilling obligations as a Muslim, and can show the identity and lifestyle of a Muslim.


The bachelor thesis deals with the ADHD syndrome as a risk factor in development of behavioural and emotional disorders. Work consists of theoretical and empirical part. Theoretical part describes syndrome ADHD, its characteristics, signs, diagnostics and treatment options. It also focuses on behavioural disorders, their development, focus groups, advisory system and system of institutional and protective education. Empirical part consists of research, which used quantitative and qualitative methods. Quantitative part finds out frequency of occurrence of the ADHD syndrome among clients with behavioural disorders and qualitative part aims at identifying views of experts who work with clients with ADHD syndrome and behavioural disorders.


To evaluate the corrosion resistance of Ni\|P amorphous alloy, three Ni\|19P amorphous alloy ribbons with different heat treatments were made by rapid solidfication technique. The amorphous structure of the Ni\|19P ribbons was confirmed by X\|ray diffraction test. The corrosion tests that include weight loss test and electrochemical test were conducted in 1mol/L HCl. 316 stainless steel and pure Ni were used as comparison. The results show that the Ni\|19P amorphous alloy has better corrosion resistance than 316 stainless steel and pure Ni in 1mol/L HCl. Furthermore, lowering a little bit of the heating temperature and the quenching temperature in the heat treatment the corrosion resistance of the amorphous alloy is better.


Korean railroad terms presently in use are based on those of Japanese techniques, while Korea's adopted TGV system is based on European and French technical terms. Should this reasoning be taken for granted, the authors' research may have to be directed to cover some area in the way of structuring the thesaurus of TGV terms and those existing. It is impossible to collect and rearrange all existing and TGV terms. Its difficulty should be doubled to handle those terms relating to TGV projects currently progressing. It is purposed in this paper to attempt to categorize the existing and TGV terms in the light of "search and retrieve" that are cardinal in the way of thesaurus.


This paper deals with two new species of Eutrichosiphum Essig et Kuwana fromChina. All the measurements in descriptions are in mm. The type specimens are keptin the Institute of Zoology, Academia Sinica. Eutrichosiphum menglunense, sp. nov. (figs. 1--8) This species is closely related to E. vandergooti Ray Chaudhuri, but differs there-from by head and prothorax with spinules over dorsum (without in vandergooti), bybody with setae 2.1--2.7 times as long as width of 3rd antennal segment (2.9--3.4 inlatter), by 3rd antennal segment with setae 3.5 times as long as width of the segment(2.8--2.9 in latter). This new species is readily distinguished from E. pasaniae (Oka-jima) by rostrum with segment Ⅳ + Ⅴ 2.5 times as long as 2nd segment of hind tarsus(1.9--2.1 in pasaniae) and with 4th segment 5 times as long as 5th one (3.8--4.2 inlatter). This species may be distinguished from E. pseudopasaniae Szelegiewicz by 8thabdominal segment with dorsal setae 1.7 times as long as width of 3rd antennal seg-ment (3.3 in pseudopasaniae) and by tergum dark brown (yellowish brown with Ushaped dark brown blotches in latter). Syntypes: 10 apterous viviparous females, 1 nymph and 2 larvae. April 27, 1964,Menglun, Yunnan, by Zhang Bao-lin, on Castanopsis sp. Eutrichosiphum sclerophyllum, sp. nov. (figs. 9--15) This species resembles closely E. pasaniae (Okajima), and yet it is distiinguishedfrom the latter by the following characters in apterous viviparous female: (1) Rostrumreaching hind coxa (middle of body, in pasaniae), with segment Ⅳ+Ⅴ 1.7 times aslong as 2nd segment of hind tarsus (1.9--2.1, in latter), segment Ⅳ+Ⅴ with 12--14setae. (2) Length of 3rd--5th antennal segments in proportion 100: 39: 25 + 36 (100:39: 39 + 52, in latter). (3) Body length 2.7 (1.7, in latter), cornicle 0.97 (0.42 inlatter). Syntypes: 8 apterous viviparous females, May 4, 1975, Hangzhou Botanical Gar-den, Zhejiang, Zhong Tie-sen and Zhang Guang-xue, on Castanopsis sclerophylla.


Parameters of technique to prepare vanadium pentoxide by calcination from ammonium metavanadate were optimized using central composite design of response surface methodology. A quadratic equation model for decomposition rate was built and effects of main factors and their corresponding relationships were obtained. The results of the statistical analysis show that the decomposition rate of ammonium metavanadate is significantly affected by calcination temperature and calcination time. The optimized calcination conditions are as follows: calcination temperature 669.71 K, calcination time 35.9 min and sample mass 4.25 g. The decomposition rate of ammonium metavanadate is 99.71%,which coincides well with experimental value of 99.27% under the optimized conditions, suggesting that regressive equation fits the decomposition rates perfectly. XRD reveals that it is feasible to prepare the V2O5 by calcination from ammonium metavanadate using response surface methodology.


Emotion plays a significant role in human perception and decision making whereas, prosodic features plays a crucial role in recognizing the emotion from speech utterance. This paper introduces the speech emotion corpus recorded in the provincial languages of Pakistan: Urdu, Balochi, Pashto Sindhi and Punjabi having four different emotions (Anger, Happiness, Neutral and Sad). The objective of this paper is to analyze the impact of prosodic feature (pitch) on learning classifiers (adaboostM1, classification via regression, decision stump, J48) in comparison with other prosodic features (intensity and formant) in term of classification accuracy using speech emotion corpus recorded in the provincial languages of Pakistan. Experimental framework evaluated four different classifiers with the possible combinations of prosodic features with and without pitch. An experimental study shows that the prosodic feature (pitch) plays a vital role in providing the significant classification accuracy as compared to prosodic features excluding pitch. The classification accuracy for formant and intensity either individually or with any combination excluding pitch are found to be approximately 20%. Whereas, pitch gives classification accuracy of around 40%.


As to the influence of code length on pattern matching algorithms in feature-based virus detection,this paper proposed two modified precise multi-pattern matching algorithms,NAC_BM and NWM_QS,by combing the feature-based adaptive classification notion based on code length.The advanced algorithms increased the skip distance,decreased the matching number by introducing the prefix character piece of text window,thus improved the matching efficiency.The experimental results show that the novel algorithms are better than the original ones in execution time and speed.


A taxonomic treatment of the Boraginales of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil, is presented. Twenty-one species in five genera and two families have been recorded: Cordiaceae, with two genera (Cordia (seven species) and Varronia (four)) and Heliotropiaceae, with three genera (Euploca (five), Heliotropium (two) and Myriopus (three)). Cordia oncocalyx and Euploca paradoxa represents new occurrence records for the flora of Rio Grande do Norte, the latter being found for the first time also in the littoral vegetation. Keys to the families and respective genera and species, descriptions and illustrations, as well as distribution and habitat data are included.


▼ Litter size reduction during lactation is a good model for childhood obesity since it induces overnutrition and programming for obesity at adulthood. Adult o ff spring develop higher fat mass content, hyperinsulinemia and insulin resistance, hypertension, lower HDL cholesterol, hyperphagia


Background: Reduced physical activity can cause obesity and metabolic syndrome, leading to fibrosis in cardiac muscles and premature cardiac aging. Physical activity, along with herbal supplements, can have a synergistic effect on preventing cardiac muscle proteolysis. Objectives: In this study, the effects of curcumin and resistance training were assessed on cardiac muscle atrophy in obese rats. Methods: Twenty-four male Sprague rats were categorized into four groups, including the placebo, resistance training, curcumin, and resistance training + curcumin. Resistance training was performed three times a week with three sets in each session, repeated five times for eight weeks. During this time, 150 mg/kg curcumin was administered through gavage. Twenty-four hours after finishing resistance training, surgery was performed on the cardiac muscle, and gene expressions of PGC1-α, FOXO1, Murf-1, Atrogin, Collagen1, and Collagen 3 were assessed with real-time PCR. Results: The expression of PGC1-α and FOXO1 genes in both resistance training and resistance training+curcumin groups significantly increased and decreased, respectively, compared to the control group (P = 0.001). The MuRF1 expression in the curcumin+resistance training group decreased significantly (P = 0.013) compared to the placebo and curcumin groups. The expression of collagen type 1 and type 2 in all the three treatment groups had significant decreases compared to the placebo group (P < 0.05). Conclusions: Considering the results of this study, resistance training and curcumin supplement each alone can prevent cardiac muscle atrophy. However, the simultaneous use of curcumin supplement and resistance training can lead to synergistic effects.


State-of-the-art cathodes for solid acid fuel cells (SAFCs) based on the crystalline electrolyte CsH 2 PO 4 (CDP) are comprised of a proton-conducting CDP network coated by a vapor-deposited nanostructured catalyst. Pd-rich (85 at%Pd) Pt-Pd oxygen reduction catalysts vapor-deposited on CDP display both extraordinary activity for oxygen reduction and poor stability in cathodes for SAFCs operating at 250 ◦ C. Similar catalysts with lower Pd content (57 at%Pd) are less active and more stable. Using X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS), we find that these catalysts are structurally similar and that structural variations are insufficient to explain the observed differences in activity. XAS and solid-state and solution nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) also show that additional water-soluble chemical species are present in the Pd-rich electrode after fuel cell operation. We attribute the presence of these species to the reactivity of the Pd-rich catalyst with CsH 2 PO 4 and suggest that these products are the cause of the observed deactivation.


Abstract : In previous laboratory experiments subjects who spent more time reading and answering difficult instructional items relative to their own time on easy items, made fewer posttest errors. The first 17 sets of The Analysis of Behavior were used as experimental materials. The same materials were used in the present experiment. Eleven measures of the student's performance during learning were obtained. Seven of these measures were based on the time spent on individual instructional items and components of this total frame time. Four measures were of the student's observation of instructional items. Measures were obtained separately for question material and for program answers which followed each question. It proved possible to make statistically significant predictions of the number of posttest errors from two measures of the student's observation of instructional item question material. Values of each measure were substituted for response time measures in calculating an index value according to procedures of earlier experiments. Findings suggested that more observing of difficult items and, perhaps, less of easy was associated with superior learning. (Author)


Relief and quaternary deposition of the Pechora, Kama, and Vychegda rivers interfluve were described on the basis of geologic survey data. The boundary of Moscow glaciation is drawn further south than it was earlier accepted - along the strip of the end-moraine relief crossing the interfluve. The supposition is grounded, that the southern part of the lacustrine-glacial plain in the upper reach of the Pechora river was formed during the late stage of Moscow glaciation.


The essay poses the question, 'What can a biographical approach tell us about the nature of early African nationalism in South Africa?' After briefly tracing the conditions under which African nationalist organisations emerged in South Africa, it focuses on two elements of the social makeup of the nationalist movement, class and gender. It argues that the term 'elite' to define the class which assumed leadership of the African National Congress can be misleading in its connotations. On the latter, it argues strongly that our understanding has been stunted by stereotypes, and that a biographical approach can assist in appreciating the complexities of African middle class life, the gendered nature of nationalist politics and the intellectual role that women played in the early years of the nationalist movement in South Africa.


A novel reflective image intensifier based on the twisted nematic electro‐optic effect is described. The device can be read out with intense actinic radiation without need for an optical blocking layer. Images of very high resolution and excellent tonal range can be obtained at voltage levels as low as 1.6 Vrms.


Abstract Cleavage of two types of secondary structure-forming substrates by their cognate hammerhead ribozymes were studied by measuring their kinetic parameters. A substrate with a self-complementary structure (GGUCCUAGGA, CL-3) was slowly cleaved by a two-stranded ribozyme. An isomer having no complementary sequence (GGUCGUAGCA, CL-3N) was cleaved more than 10 times faster than the self-complementary substrate. A newly designed ribozyme which contained a stable loop and stem cleaved the self-complementary decamer 40 times faster than the two-stranded ribozyme. A 15 mer which derived from a ras mRNA was found to have an intermolecular base pairs and was used to design more efficient ribozymes. Gel mobility shift assay was employed to investigate the binding properties of substrates to ribozymes. Investigations of the thermodynamic stability of the ribozyme-substrate complex are essential in the design of ribozymes that efficiently cleave RNA. #This paper is dedicated to Professor Y. Mizuno on the occasio...


To the Editor.— In the article by Matsuoka et al 1 in the April 1991 issue of theArchives, the conclusion is made that racial epidermal pigmentation has overall negligible effects on vitamin D nutritional status. This study involved measuring vitamin D production after a single dose of suberythema UV-B was given to the skin over the whole body of 31 young adults of different races. With all due respect to these authors, I would suggest that this conclusion, based just on this little study, is quite an extrapolation. Regarding this subject, I would recommend looking to nature itself for the result of an "extremely thorough study," namely one that may have taken a few thousand years to become manifest. 2 The reality is that in the most recent Ice Age in northern Eurasia light skin did evolve simply because it was needed to increase vitamin D production in the


Abstract Pyrolysis and gas chromatography has been applied to several phases of polymer analysis. Qualitative finger-printing conditions have been defined so that a large number (> 150) of polymers can be identified using essentially singular pyrolysis and Chromatograph conditions. Quantitative analytical schemes have been devised for ester types in cellulosics, and for styrene content in SBR vulcanizates. Finally, the technique has been applied to elucidation of polymer microstructure, where it is useful for differentiating blends from true copolymers of ethylene and propylene, and for indicating major differences in stereoregularity in polypropylene.


The current study investigates the validity and reliability of the Organisational Description Questionnaire (ODQ) (Bass & Avolio 1993; 1994). The ODQ scale operationalises two organisational constructs, 'Transformational leadership culture' and 'Transactional leadership culture'. The current findings suggest that the transformational scale is consistently reliable and theoretical comprehensive. On the other hand, the transactional scale consists of a one-factor solution which subsumes three lower-order factors. Implications for future development are discussed.


As two major targets in the course of economic development, both economic growth and income distribution are also the impetus to push the constant and stable economic development. Through reviewing China's structural evolution of economic growth and income distribution in 20 years, this paper comes to the conclusion that although China has brought about a quick economic growth, the social unstable factors resulted from the unfair income distribution has also become more intense. Combining the theory about the economic growth and income distribution in the western development economics and the substantial analyzing consequences, according to China's actuality, it criticizes the opinions of "taking the growth as the main trend", and believes that for realizing a dynamic coordination development in economic growth and income distribution, while adjusting the gap of income distribution with fiscal and tax measures, the power institutions, monopolies and education system should also be reformed in order to seek the ways of "treating a disease by looking into both its root cause and symptoms".


This paper presents a fault location method based on the equivalent line parameter model under dynamic conditions.The distribution regularities of line parameter estimations are analyzed.The line parameter values are corrected in the reference value by combining the online estimation of line parameters with real-time parameter correction.The method is able to correct the effects of surroundings and system dynamic conditions on the line parameters in real-time,thereby significantly improves the fault location accuracy.PSCAD/EMTDC software is used to simulate various conditions in order to verify the proposed method and to give comparative analysis for several existing methods in the literature.Simulation results show that: comparing with a variety of algorithms in existing literatures under dynamic conditions,this method has a higher fault location accuracy and the location results are stable and reliable;in addition,it is not sensitive to transition resistance,fault type and fault location,etc.


In recent years, European countries have been trying to cultivate electrical scooters (e-scooters) as an alternative form of micro-mobility. The purchase and maintenance costs of private e-scooters are expensive so cities have been collaborating with companies to construct an e-scooter rental network. This paper aims to interpret the usage patterns of e-scooters and suggest optimal station locations for charging and parking. The dataset depicts a three-month time period (August, September, and May of the year 2020/2021) of 26,374 trips, in which there were no pandemic limitations. The results are based on two main features: the initial–final position of the e-scooter (the total distance is unknown) and the travel time. Most e-scooter rides refer to leisure trips but there is a portion of users that ride e-scooters for casual trips or commutes to and from work. Here, an electrical scooter network that covers the demand of the city of Thessaloniki is suggested. The implementation plan indicates three stages of construction up to the completion of the network. The construction operation is responsible for the creation and development of a sustainable network by adding approximately 20 stations at every stage. The capacity of the stations fluctuates between 3 and 20 parking spaces, which should accommodate e-scooters and preserve free spaces for potential riders. According to the characteristics of the city of Thessaloniki, its coverage requires the construction of 67 carefully distributed stations.


Objective To examine the effects of α3 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor(nAChR) gene silence on the expression of β-secretase protein.Methods Neuroblastoma(SH-SY5Y) cells were transfected with small interference RNAs(siRNAs) that target specifically towards α3 nAChR.Real-time PCR and Western-blotting were used to detect whether the expression plasmid ofα3 nAChR siRNA had already transfected SH-SY5Y stably.Western-blotting was used to identify the protein expression changes of BACE1 and BACE2 which are two subtypes of β-secretase.Results Compared to controls and negative controls,SH-SY5Y cells transfected with siRNA expressed decreasing levels of α3 nAChR mRNA and protein;BACE1 was increased and BACE2 was decreased on the level of protein.Conclusions On account of reducing BACE1 and increasing BACE2 protein levels,α3 nAChR reduces the concentration of Aβ,which indicates α3 nAChR may play a significant neuroprotective role.


While the mechanisms underlying the development of drug‐induced liver injury are not clear, there is evidence to suggest that tumor necrosis factor‐α (TNF‐α) plays an important role in drug‐ or drug metabolite‐induced immune responses. We hypothesized that polymorphisms in the TNF‐α gene are associated with anti‐tuberculosis drug (ATD)‐induced hepatitis.


A IMONIA concentration in saliva has been suggested as one of the controlling factors in natural immunity to dental caries. Although the am-, monia concentration has been thoroughly investigated,1-4 in no case has it been reported as high as the 50 mg. per cent claimed by Kesel5 to be necessary for the inhibition of the growth of lactobacillus acidophilus. Ludwick and Fosdick6 investigated the ammonia content of dental brushings to determine whether the ammonia concentration on the tooth itself was related to dental caries. No difference was found in the ammonia concentration on the tooth surfaces of caries-active or caries-immune persons. Kesel5 measured the ammonia produced by broth cultures of caries-immune salivas over an 8 day period and found that the caries-immune broths had an inhibitory effect on the growth of lactobacillus acidophilus which he attributed to the high ammonia content. In a previous report7 we found the ammonia producing ability of saliva reached a maximum in 24 to 48 hours and in no case did the amount produced equal 50 mg. per cent. As the salivas of a limited number of individuals formed the basis of this observation, it was decided to extend the investigation to a larger group and to include a study of the relation of the amount of salivary urease to the lactobacillus count and the effect of glucose on the activity of salivary urease.


This paper summarizes the developments in humanoid robotics by Team AcYut of Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani. This paper is submitted as a prerequisite for participation in TeenSize Humanoid Soccer League, RoboCup 2017 to be held in Nagoya, Japan. All robots have been developed exclusively by the team. This paper describes the hardware design of our humanoids and the underlying software in its autonomous nature.


Labour activists have called for greater international co-ordination among trade unions in response to the assault on organized labour by global capital, but such co-ordination faces many hurdles. Under what conditions can unions overcome those barriers and co-ordinate effectively to achieve campaign goals? I examine this question through a comparison of European-level international solidarity with Portuguese, Greek and English affiliates of the International Dockworkers Council involved in labour disputes. The divergent outcomes of otherwise similar cases reveal the critical role of politics and strategy at different scales and sites of union organization in determining the successful exercise of labour internationalism.


Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in hemodialysis patients is mainly associated with insufficient precautionary measures. Compared with the general population, the prevalence of HCV infection is high among hemodialysis patients. HCV infection in these patients is typically associated with increased morbidity and mortality; however, the early detection of HCV may retard disease progression and reduce morbidity and mortality. In this study, we sought to estimate the seroprevalence of HCV infection among patients undergoing hemodialysis in a tertiary care hospital in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, South India. This was a prospective, observational, cross-sectional study that included 82 hemodialysis patients. Blood samples were collected from each patient, and the serum was separated for detection of the presence of HCV antibodies, HCV core antigen, and HCV RNA using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, enzyme immunoassay, and polymerase chain reaction, respectively. Relevant socio-demographic, clinical, and laboratory information was also obtained. Among samples collected from the 82 patients, seven were found to be positive for HCV antibodies, whereas nine and eleven samples were found to be positive for HCV core antigen and HCV RNA, respectively. Long durations of renal failure and hemodialysis were identified as being positively associated with HCV infection in these hemodialysis patients, and a statistically significant reduction in hemoglobin levels and an increase in creatinine levels were detected among the HCV-positive patients. The overall seroprevalence of HCV infection in hemodialysis patients was found to be 13.4%. Given that high rate false-negative reactions were detected using ELISA and EIA, screening of HCV RNA during the early stages of HCV infection can contribute to preventing its nosocomial spread in these patients. Moreover, it is imperative that stringent universal precautionary measures are implemented in all health care settings and hemodialysis units to minimize the risk of HCV transmission.


Ruthenium(II)-acetonitrile complexes having pentadentate tris(2-pyridylmethyl)amine (tpa) derivatives with coordinated amide CO groups were prepared and characterized by various spectroscopic methods. electrochemical measurements, and DFT calculations. The acetonitrile ligand was indicated to tightly bind to the ruthenium(II) center in an η 1 -N fashion. The Mulliken charge distribution, obtained by a calculation, indicated that the ruthenium(II)-nitrile bond is more covalent than other coordination bonds of the tpa moiety. The redox potentials of Ru centers and the chemical shifts of methyl groups of the acetonitrile ligands exhibited a linear relationship, indicating that electron density of the Ru center controls that of the acetonitrile ligand. Those complexes showed fluxional behavior in CD 3 CN solutions to exhibit one mode of thermal motion; it also altered the symmetry of the complexes.


Biocomposite films containing graphene oxide (GO), poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA), and chitosan (CS) were prepared using the casting/evaporation technique. These as-prepared films were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, Thermogravimetrical analysis, and Scanning electron microscopy. Results showed that these three component films could be well mixed in certain conditions and the GO sheets were well dispersed. The better performances such as the water resistance, thermal stability, and mechanical properties have been improved. Meanwhile, good antibacterial activity and anti-biofilm formation activity of the prepared chitosan/PVA/GO films were exhibited against Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1. The resulting bio-composite films with combination of chitosan, PVA and GO advantages have desirable properties and should be suitable for food and medical packaging applications. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.


The Feed Materials Production Center has implemented a monitoring program which includes over 300 wells and piezometers to assess the impact of its operations on the ground water. Large volumes of monitoring data are being collected in support of a Remedial Investigation and Feasibility Study, a Resource Conservation and Recovery Act ground water quality assessment program, and an underground storage tank investigation. This program aims to establish background or upgradient ground water constituent concentrations, identify the presence and amount of contamination, determine the migration rate and extent of any contamination found, develop and calibrate hydrological and solute transport models, and track the progress of cleanup activities. This paper addresses the methodologies used for evaluation of the data generated by this program. A discussion will be provided on the decision making process utilized for selecting the appropriate statistical procedures, and the progress made in analysis of the ground water data. (MHB)


for models of cerebral dominance. In T. A. Pliner and Z. Kramer (Eds.), Communication and affect: Language and thought New York: Academic Press, 1973. Nolan, K. A., & Caramazza, A. Modality-independent impairments in word processing in a deep dyslexic patient. Brain and Language, 1982, 16, 237-264. Searleman, A. A review of right hemisphere linguistic capabilities. Psychological Bulletin, 1977, 84, 504-528. Smith, A. Dominant and nondominant hemispherectomy. In M. Kinsbourne and W. L. Smith (Eds.), Hemisphere disconnection and cerebral function. Springfield, 111., 1974. Sparks, R. W., Goodglass, H., & Nickel, B. Right versus left hemisphere lesion effects in dichotic listening. Proceedings, 78th Annual Convention, American Psychological Association, 1970. Sternberg, S. The discovery of processing stages: Extensions of Donders' method. In W. G. Koster (Ed.) Attention and performance II. Amsterdam: North-Holland, 1969. Weisenburg, T., & McBride, V. E. Aphasia: A clinical and psychological study. New York: Commonwealth Fund, 1935. Wickens, D. D. Encoding categories of words: An empirical approach to meaning. Psychological Review, 1970, 77. 1-15. Zajonc, R. B. Feeling and thinking: Preferences need no inferences. American Psychologist, 1980, 35, 151-175.


An x‐ray photoemission microscope is described that is designed for x‐ray absorption imaging and spectroscopy with 1‐μm spatial resolution. The energy resolution of x‐ray absorption near‐edge structures microspectroscopy is determined only by the bandpass of the monochromator, and not by the photoemission microscope detector.


Since their discovery about 100 years ago, bacterial endotoxins have been among the most widely studied of all bacterial components. The interest in endotoxin is based, in large part, on the diversity of biological responses which this molecule elicits both in vitro and in vivo. A second major reason for this interest is that the biologically active moiety of endotoxin, the lipopolysaccharide (LPS), has been identified and biochemically characterized for a variety of enteric organisms. Further, the toxic principle of LPS, lipid A, has been defined and synthesized. Thus, it appears that many of the mysteries still surrounding the mode of action of this unique bacterial constituent will soon be resolved at the molecular level. Most


This article describes how to decide the reasonable stocks in the enterprise inventory management. According to the stochastic stock model, it uses queuing theory to determine the optimal stock and discusses how to decide the queuing model in details. It also adopts the classical stochastic inventory theory to determine the safety stock and combines the queuing theory with inventory theory well to make the stock get the optimal control.


While the frontier was coming to a close in Washington State in the late nineteenth century, Chinese immigration was in full swing. For more than 130 years, rumors of a massacre of Chinese at China Point in the 1870s or 1880s have lingered in the collective memory of residents of the Cle Elum and Roslyn region of the Central Cascades. This work examines available primary sources to determine the validity of the claim. Furthermore, it scrutinizes previous historical works, as well as testimonies left by men claiming to know the truth.


This paper expounds some factors influencing concrete strength, and puts forward some measures for guaranteeing concrete strength and controlling concrete strength in the construction.


Abstract Novel 1-aryl-substituted 8-methoxynaphthalenes were conveniently prepared by using Suzuki–Miyaura cross-coupling as a key reaction. Chemical transformations of the coupled products gave a variety of biaryls bearing various functional groups. The optical behavior of the separated enantiomers of these derivatives was also investigated by HPLC analysis. The optical resolution and determination of absolute configuration of novel binaphtyl derivative were also described. These new compounds may have some potential as mono- or bidentate ligands for metal-catalyzed chemical transformations including asymmetric induction.


AbstractThe rivet-fastened rectangular hollow flange channel beam (RHFCB) is a new cold-formed steel section and is considered to be a substitute for welded hollow flange channel beams. This monosy...


We consider the power of randomization in finite learning when a bounded number of mind changes are allowed. We show that in the ~m+2_3 range ( ~~+a _2, 1] the capability type of probabilistic as well as pluralistic FIN-type (also PFIN-type) learners is defined by the sequence


Iron(III) carboxylate based Metal Organic Frameworks (MOFs) / porous coordination polymers (PCPs) have sparked a high interest owing to their high structural diversity and tunable porosity, excellent stability, tailored functionality...


We present the first search for the standard model Higgs boson (H) produced with large transverse momentum (pT) via gluon fusion and decaying to a bottom quark-antiquark pair (bb̄). The search is performed using a data set of pp collisions at √ s = 13 TeV collected with the CMS experiment at the LHC, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb−1. A highly Lorentz-boosted Higgs boson decaying to bb̄ is reconstructed as a single, large radius jet and is identified using jet substructure and dedicated b tagging techniques. The method is validated with the first observation of the Z→ bb̄ process in the single-jet topology, with a local significance of 1.5 standard deviations (0.7 expected). Presented at EPS-HEP2017 EPS Conference on High Energy Physics Inclusive search for boosted Higgs bosons using H→ bb decays with the CMS experiment Caterina Vernieri∗† Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Batavia, IL, USA, E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com We present the first search for the standard model Higgs boson (H) produced with large transverse momentum (pT) via gluon fusion and decaying to a bottom quark-antiquark pair (bb). The search is performed using a data set of pp collisions at √ s = 13 TeV collected with the CMS experiment at the LHC, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb−1. A highly Lorentz-boosted Higgs boson decaying to bb is reconstructed as a single, large radius jet and is identified using jet substructure and dedicated b tagging techniques. The method is validated with the first observation of the Z→ bb process in the single-jet topology, with a local significance of 5.1 standard deviations (5.8 expected). The European Physical Society Conference on High Energy Physics 5-12 July, 2017 Venice ∗Speaker. †on behalf of the CMS Collaboration c © Copyright owned by the author(s) under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). https://pos.sissa.it/ ggF H→ bb Caterina Vernieri


Development and investigation of the high-silica composite materials based on liquid glass binder were carried out. The effect of modifying functional additives on mechanical properties and biological resistance of the composite materials was determined. It is shown that all the proposed compositions are resistant to fungi and compositions, modified fluorine-containing additives possess fungicidal properties.


Analytical results obtained for the transient kinetics of nucleation enable one to interpret N ( g _ d , t ), the accumulated number concentration of clusters at the instrumentally detectable size, g _ d . The new results enable one to extract kinetic and thermodynamic parameters of nucleation from experimentally measured cluster concentrations and to test nucleation theories experimentally. An approach to estimate the mean time to form the first nucleated cluster in a given sample is also presented.


A very high-quality Human Resource Information System elevates the entire workforce, from the operational level workers to the strategic level of the organization. Today, organization is said to have more demand in the market if it is more competitive and volatile in terms of getting accustomed to technology that is at its peak. IT in business today plays a very important part in the growth of the organization as it has confined the core functionality of growth; and thereby, obtaining a better customer satisfaction and an extended and long lasting customer relationship and bonding. This will also lead to a consistent and a proactive customer bonding. The various applications in IT serves the company in terms of protection and security of the company's confidential data and content security, enhanced data backup, and also the need for the qualified users to access these critical information of the business. The major concerns of the Information System Managers are the establishment of strong alignment between the business of the organization and the Information Technology targeting the customer relationship. Hence, for managing and using the information which is a delicate task, it is better to instil latest software and IT tools to manage the task and reduce the chances of error or redundancy. This confer a better customer relationship with the business This paper analyses on various key factors affecting or enhancing the alignment between the business world and the Information Technology today for better relationship with the customers. Also, it explores how the objectives, mission and plan of Information Technology is aligned and balanced with the objectives, mission and plan of the business today. The application of various tools like application software at different areas and departments of the organization helps in the advancement and efficiency of various activities within the department. Therefore, the technology here acts as a tool that depicts its behaviour depending on the size of the organization. Moving from manual Information system to an automated one with the help of a user-friendly tool gives a prospect to rationalize the business process and advance the course of action to cut cost. The technology today enables the data repository of Information System (IS) for strategic decision making like talent analysis of a person. The impact of the implementation of these IS tools helps in achieving the relational, operational or even transformational objectives. According to Joseph W. Weiss and Don Anderson (2004), as the value of IT increases from low to high, the operational resources of the business transforms to strategic resources, and as the value still goes higher, the strategic resources are transformed to strategic weapons. Therefore, the level of IT/Business integration is rated higher proportionally from poor to extraordinary. This transformation will witness a major impact in the rating of customer relationship and customer satisfaction.


Tolfenamic acid (N-(2-methyl-3-chlorophenyl)-anthranilic acid) was administered in two different dosages (3 × 100 mg and 3 × 200 mg) to 33 patients with rheumatoid arthritis, and compared with acetosalicyl (3 × 1 000 mg) and placebo in a double-blind trial. In relation to the control period tolfenamic acid 3 × 200 mg was found to have a good and statistically significant effect on pain and joint tenderness, whereas the effect on the duration of morning stiffness, joint swelling and grip strength was not statistically significant The side-effects were insignificant. Tolfenamic acid appears to be a useful addition to the range of drugs suitable for the symptomatic treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.


PURPOSE: Nonsyndromic craniosynostosis can be associated with developmental delay, hearing and visual impair-ment, and craniofacial asymmetries. Despite its relatively high prevalence, the pathophysiology remains poorly understood. We previously identified proteins differentially expressed in patent and fused cranial sutures by comparing their respec-tive proteomes. Here, we analyze these proteins using immunohistochemistry. METHODS: Fused and patent suture samples were obtained from 5 craniosynostotic patients (age, 3–12 months) undergo-ing cranial vault reconstruction at a single academic medical center. Protein was extracted from samples and interrogated using mass spectrometry. Differential protein expression was determined using the maximum likelihood-based G-test with q value cutoffs of 0.5 after correction for multiple hypothesis testing. Immunolocalization of lead protein candidates was performed in patent and fused sutures. RESULTS: Proteins differentially expressed in patent versus fused sutures included the proinflammatory mediator FMOD and multiple collagen proteins including Col6A1. Maximum likelihood-based G-test suggested that Col6A1 and FMOD are highly expressed in patent sutures compared with fused. Immunohistochemical staining of sutures demonstrated Col6A1 up-regulation in patent sutures (A) compared with fused (B). CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that Col6A1 may aid in the regulation of suture patency. Previous reports linking Col6A1 with the RANK-RANKL osteoclast activation path-way in rheumatoid arthritis suggest a link between osteoclast and inflammatory signaling inactivation and premature cranial suture fusion. These preliminary findings may have consider-able therapeutic implications, although additional validation studies are required. PURPOSE: Evaluating resident skill acquisition is chal-lenging, particularly for surgical specialties. The required ACGME Next Accreditation System documentation increases evaluation burden to individual training programs. In 2013, we developed the Operative Entrustability Assessment (OEA) to facilitate compliance with ACGME-mandated changes and to document resident operative performance at point of care. This web-based tool allows real-time and transparent operative skill evaluation. The aim of this study was to evaluate the construct validity of OEA, as reflected by associations with clinical pro-cess


Recently, in Nepal, penetration of the internet has increased making every internet user a potential buyer of growing online shopping trend but the question arises of what motivates the consumer to buy online and how it has been adopted currently. This research aims to analyze the perception of Nepalese consumers toward online shopping with Extended Technology Acceptance Model (TAM2) as framework for examining various factors that influence shopping online. Responses of 460 participants were recorded for this study. A quantitative research approach was used and the collected data were analyzed by CB-SEM method using SPSS and AMOS. The research result shows that perceived ease of use has positive influence on perceived usefulness; perceived enjoyment and perceived cost have significant positive influence on attitude toward online shopping whereas perceived risk has negative influence on it. Moreover, behaviour intention to shop online is positively influenced by perceived usefulness, subjective norms, and attitude toward online shopping. This research supports that when consumers enjoy online shopping and find products at the right cost then they are motivated to shop online whereas risks associated with online shopping demotivate it. And, people's behaviour to shop online is influenced by social influence, perceived usefulness, and attitude toward online shopping.


Economic evaluation of parallel bridge designs must include respective maintenance costs. Only those maintenance costs are of interest which are different for steel and concrete bridges. The paper presents the latest British interim standard BD 36/88 as a feasible model for comparing road bridges with respect to maintenance costs. Numerical examples are also presented. For the covering abstract of the conference see IRRD 847585.


A stereoselective synthesis of benzylated catechin trimer under intermolecular condensasion is achieved using equimolar amount of dimeric catechin nucleophile and monomeric catechin electrophile catalyzed by AgOTf or AgBF4. The coupled product can be transformed into procyanidin C2 by a known procedure. Proanthocyanidins are known as condensed or noncondensed hydrolysable tannins. These condensed tannins can be found in the vegetables kingdom. In particular, they exist in grape seeds and skins and red wines. Many biological activities, mainly a powerful free-radical scavenging activity, have been reported for flavonoids, and their investigation is increasingly important. Tannin extracts from plants give various types of polyphenols. Because their identification as well as purification is extremely difficult, further studies of proanthocyanidins remains. Recently, to obtain procyanidin oligomers in pure state, synthetic efforts were devoted. There are several reports about condensation studies for procyanidin trimers such as procyanidin C2 (1) using catechin and/or epicatechin nucleophile and electrophile under Lewis acids. However, excess amount of nucleophile was needed for oligomerization control. Thus we have pursued equimolar condensation of nucleophile and electrophile to construct the skeleton of procyanidin oligomers using various types of Lewis acids. We have already reported a stereoselective synthesis of catechin and/or epicatechin dimers from equimolar amount of catechin nucleophile and electrophile using Yb(OTf)3 as a Lewis acid. 4 In this communication, we would like to describe the stereoselective synthesis of the protected catechin trimer using equimolar amount of dimeric catechin nucleophile 2 and monomeric catechin electrophile 3 (Figure 1). Figure 1. The structure of procyanidin C2 (1). We chose octabenzylated catechin dimer 2 as a nucleophile and compound 3 as an electrophile prepared by us before. Equimolar condensation of 2 with 3 was examined using transition metal Lewis acids and Yb(OTf)3 in CH2Cl2 (Table 1). We paid attention to silver Lewis acid because condensation can be performed under neutral conditions. Ferreira and co-workers reported that using AgBF4 as the thiophilic Lewis acid offered advantages to control the level of oligomeration in the procyanidin B1-B4 and C2 synthesis. As shown in Table 1, AgBF4 and AgOTf gave 4 in excellent yield. However, Yb(OTf)3, which gave good results for dimer condensation, afforded low yield. Due to the bulkiness of Yb(OTf)3, it seemed to be difficult for dimeric nucleophile 2, which is more bulky than monomeric nucleophile, to attack C-4 position of electrophile 3 (Scheme 1, Table 1). In the case of Cu(OTf)2, the yield was low although starting materials were consumed within 3h. Scheme 1. Lewis acid catalyzed equimolar condensation between nucleophile 2 and electrophile 3. In order to confirm the stereochemistry at C-4 position, compound 4 was transformed into known compound 5. Hydrolysis of the acetate of 4 using NaOMe under reflux did not give 5. Thus diol 4 was acetylated using Ac2O in pyridine to give triacetate and subsequent DIBALH reduction afforded 5. 6 The H and C NMR spectral data of 5 were identical with those of the reported values. This result indicated that electrophile 3 reacted with nucleophile 2 at C-4 position in a stereoselective manner to afford 3,4-trans trimer 4. Triol 5 can be transformed into procyanidin C2 (1) by a known procedure (Scheme 2). The synthesis of various types of procyanidin oligomers using equimloar condensation of nucleophile and electrophile in the presence of Lewis acid are currently underway.


This paper introduces an intrinsic symmetric, positive or positive semi‐definite matrix that contains the essential data for characterizing the change of a measure of stress as a function of self‐equilibrating load states. The concept is important in the theory of structures because it isolates intrinsic characteristics of a structure's sensitivity to design changes irrespective of externally applied load cases. It is computationally important because it provides alternative and sometimes more efficient procedures for calculating design sensitivities than the conventional approach. The intrinsic sensitivity matrix leads to a necessary and sufficient basis for determining force redundancy and identifying elements whose removal will reduce an indeterminate structure to a determinate one. It leads to theorems relating changes in sizing variables to changes in element stresses. Its use offers to reduce calculations when there are many more loadings than elements and when a sequence of changes to the design re...


Abstract The author studies the rotating Boussinesq equations describing the motion of a viscous incompressible stratified fluid in a rotating system which is relevant, e.g., a Lagrangian and Eulerian analysis of a geophysical fluid flow. This article focuses on the initial boundary value problem to the rotating Boussinesq equations. The equations are derived from conservation laws in continuum physics followed by the formulation of the problem as initial value problem on Hilbert spaces. By using Faedo-Galerkin approximation and semigroup technique, existence and uniqueness of solutions are proved. Additionally, the manuscript outlines how Lyapunov functions can be used to assess energy stability criteria. The author also addresses singular problems for which the equation has parabolic structure (rotating Boussinesq equations for the atmosphere and ocean) and the singular limit is hyperbolic (quasi-geostrophic equations for the atmosphere and ocean) in the asymptotic limit of small Rossby number. In particular, this approach gives as a corollary a constructive proof of the well-posedness of the problem of quasi-geostrophic potential vorticity equations governing modons or Rossby solitons.