Aim: To assess the phytoremediation potential of Cyperus esculentus and Phyllanthus amarus in crude oil polluted soil and ascertain the enhancement of augmented microbes (fungi).
Study Design: The study employs experimental design, statistical analysis of the data and interpretation.
Place and Duration of Study: Rivers State University demonstration farmland in Nkpolu- Oroworukwo, Mile 3 Diobu area of Port Harcourt, was used for this study. The piece of land is situated at Longitude 4°48'18.50" N and Latitude 6ᵒ58'39.12" E measuring 5.4864 m x 5.1816 m with a total area of 28.4283 square meter. Phytoremediation process monitoring lasted for 240 days, analyses were carried out weekly at 30 days' interval.
Methodology: Seven (7) experimental plots (two Control (Unpolluted and polluted soil) and five polluted amended/treated plots) employing Randomized Block Design (each having dimensions: 100 x 50 x 30 cm LxBxH) were formed and mapped out on agricultural soil and left fallow for 6 days before contamination on the seventh day; after which it was allowed for 21 days for proper contamination and exposure to natural environmental factors (to mimic soil crude oil spill site); thereafter bioaugmenting organisms were applied. Baseline studies were carried out on the top soil  before and after contamination, major parameters monitored and assessed were Total Petroleum Hydrocarbon (TPH) uptake by plant roots and stem, Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon (PAHs) and TPH reduction in soil.  Other physicochemical analyzed in the soil of different plots were pH, Electrical Conductivity, Moisture Content, Total Nitrogen, Available Phosphorus, Potassium, Total Organic Carbon, Plant Height, Iron, Lead at regular intervals; days 1, 60, 90, 120, 150, 180, 210 & 240. Application of augmenting organisms was to enhance phytoremediation by test plant Cyperus esculentus (Cyp) and Phyllanthus amarus (Phy). The rate of phytoremediation was estimated from percentage (%) uptake of Total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) in plant roots and stem from day 1 -240; while percentage (%) reduction of TPH and PAHs in soil was estimated from day 1 to the residual at day 240.
Results: The test plants decreased significant amount of crude oil as revealed in TPH uptake in their roots and Stem.  Mean amount and percentage Total Petroleum Hydrocarbon (TPH) uptake by Cyperus esculentus roots and stem were; 152.33±50.34mg/kg, 12.57±4.16% and 201.13±8.80mg/kg, 13.27±0.58% respectively; while that of Phyllanthus amarus roots and stem were 141.50±35.62mg/kg, 11.68±2.94% and 174.44±19.98mg/kg, 11.51±1.32% respectively. Similar trend was observed in the control plots were TPH uptake by Cyperus esculentus roots and stem were; 24.2mg/kg, 2.00% and 20.01mg/kg, 1.32% respectively while in control plot of Phyllanthus amarus TPH uptake by roots and stem were 23.19mg/kg, 1.91% and 19.80mg/kg, 1.31% respectively. Comparatively, uptake of TPH was higher in plant stem than roots. From the initial TPH contamination value of  5503.00mg/kg , Total Petroleum Hydrocarbon Reduction and % Hydrocarbon Reduction in soil at 240 days in the different treatment plots in a decreasing order were as follows: PS+AN+MR+SMS+Phy (5470.9mg/kg; 99.43%) >PS+MR+SMS+Phy (5460.60mg/kg; 99.23%) >PS+AN+MR+Phy (5451.30mg/kg; 99.06%) >PS+MR+Cyp (5448.30mg/kg; 99.01%) >PS+AN+MR+Cyp (5440.00mg/kg; 98.86%) >PS+AN+Phy (5422.905mg/kg; 98.54%) >PS+Cyp (no amendment) (5380.90mg/kg; 97.78%). Comparative evaluation revealed higher reduction of PAHs in soil (plot) planted with Phyllanthus amarus. Highest PAHs reduction in soil was seen in PS+AN+MR+SMS+Phy (31.3mg/kg; 65.89%) while least was recorded in PS+ Cyp (no amendment) (23.4mg/kg, 49.26%).
Conclusion: it was observed that plots planted with Cyperus esculentus (TPH 5492.75±76.36mg/kg) showed higher reduction of TPH from soil than those planted with Phyllanthus amarus (TPH 5449.72±18.27mg/kg); while PAHs degradation/reduction in plots planted with Phyllantus amarus (PAHs 28.72±2.74mg/kg; 60.46±5.77%) was higher than plots planted with Cyperus esculentus (PAHs 25.77±2.12mg/kg, 54.24±4.47%).  More so, plots amended with augmentating microbes showed significant higher percentage reduction in hydrocarbon in the polluted soil than unamended polluted soil. It is therefore recommended that Cyperus esculentus is a suitable plant species for phytoremediation of crude oil contaminated soil with high TPH value while Phyllanthus amarus is the best option for phytoremediation of polluted soil with high PAHs value, in combination with augmenting microbes.


Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory disease, predominantly affecting the skin, being included in the group of Immune Mediated Inflammatory Diseases. Growing evidence from the last 10 years suggests that several systemic conditions like metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, psychological disorders or inflammatory bowel disease are prevalent in psoriasis patients. The linker might be the chronic secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines. In this current review, the scientific evidence that explains the relationship between psoriasis and the metabolic syndrome in particular will be addressed, as the metabolic syndrome comprises a group of risk factors for cardiovascular disease, thus offering an overall picture of the systemic involvement in psoriasis. An integrated approach, with an early detection and treatment of the components of the metabolic syndrome, are important steps in psoriasis management. Attention should be paid on influence of psoriasis treatment upon comorbidities and vice-versa.


BACKGROUND Medical elastic compression stockings (MECS) are currently classified according to the pressure they exert at the ankle at the point of its minimum girth (B level). Despite this classification, there are considerable differences between MECS belonging to the same compression class from the same manufacturers and between different manufacturers. This makes it difficult for the clinician to choose the most suitable MECS for the patient. The stiffness may be used to distinguish between MECS of different brands. OBJECTIVE To calculate the pressure and the stiffness at the B level in three categories of class II MECS from nine different brands. METHODS Nine different brands of class II MECS that were divided into three categories (flat-knitted custom-made, classic round-knitted ready-made, and modern (ultrathin) round-knitted ready-made) were tested. The tension of the textile of the MECS was measured with the Instron® tester. The pressures and stiffness at the B level were calculated. RESULTS The pressures exerted by flat-knitted custom-made MECS were higher than those exerted by the ready-made round-knitted MECS. Surprisingly, the former showed higher pressures than those published by the European Committee for Standardization. A wide range of stiffness was observed within the different brands and within the three different categories of MECS. CONCLUSION Despite their assignment to compression class II, all nine brands of MECS that were tested had widely ranging stiffness. This would indicate that the stiffness is an additional important characteristic for distinguishing between MECS from different brands, which should be taken into account by the clinician in selecting the most suitable MECS for the patient.


It is often assumed that low income earners accept their diminished lifestyles and have lower aspirations to own or purchase goods and services which are seen as luxury or nonessential. It is also assumed that low income earners should not be targeted by social marketers using digital technology due to the digital divide whereby digital literacy and access reduces with income. In an age where digital approaches provide the opportunity to reach large markets in a personalized manner, the need to discover ways to use digital for low income earners is important. This study reports the findings of a quasi-field experiment of 1241 low income Households in Australia as part of a digital social marketing program to reduce electricity consumption. The findings bust the myths about reduced material possessions and digital access by low income earners and provide rigorous evidence that a digital social marketing program can be effective for generating behaviour change and impact.;


Extensive reading is essential for improving fluency and there is a real need in the ELT classroom for contemporary, low-level reading material for younger learners. Kieran's karate Adventure is the story of a boy who overcomes the school bully and gains confidence through the discipline of Karate.


For high amplitudes of vibration loudspeakers are subject to nonlinear phenomena that are responsible for audible distortions such as intermodulation or harmonic distortion. The low-frequency model uses nonlinear lumped parameters and is only valid around the first mechanical resonance since it assumes a rigid body movement. In the present study a model of the electromechanical problem including the effects of diaphragm modal resonances using the state-space formalism is proposed. No approximation of the nonlinear behavior of the electrical parameters is necessary for the direct calculation of the vibration pattern. The model is developed for one degree of freedom (plane piston approximation) and then expanded to an n-degree-of-freedom system, allowing one to model mechanical resonances and geometrical nonlinearities of the system.


Increasing population pressure, natural climate variability and susceptibility to projected climate change impacts are placing ever-increasing strain on existing water infrastructure in Australia. This water infrastructure has generally focused on meeting urban water demand via a range of 'low-energy' approaches predominantly based on the capture and storage of surface runoff; however, this approach is proving to be no longer sufficient to satisfy the increasing urban water demand. Water service providers have been seeking to minimise supply risk through systems approaches such as demand management but more importantly through the implementation of a diverse range of energy-intensive climate-independent solutions. To date, water service providers have investigated numerous options and implemented a range of alternative water sources such as desalination, groundwater extraction, pipeline distributions and recycling schemes. These water sources, however, rely on technologies that are significantly more advanced and/or have much higher operational energy costs, and to date, many attempts to address emerging water supply problems in Australia have come at an increased economic and environmental cost. Detailed assessments and understanding of the 'water–energy nexus'—the interactive relationship between water and energy—are crucial precursors to enable the water sector to reduce its operational energy costs and facilitate the design of water and energy systems capable of realising any synergistic benefits. Under the current paradigm, in which energy supply and pricing issues are becoming increasingly important in the public sphere, having an improved understanding of this linkage will allow water service providers to be more aware of the energy impacts of key water infrastructure and be more responsive to future changes in the cost of their energy supplies. This discussion paper looks at options for securing Australia's urban water supply through addressing the water–energy nexus and current energy requirements and associated operational energy costs for a number of important water and wastewater treatment technologies. Additionally, a review of various water supply options currently implemented by water service providers is presented from an energy perspective. Finally, system management approaches as well as other alternative low- energy water supply or savings options are discussed. This paper was motivated by the Australian Federal Government climate change adaptation initiatives. The authors are members of the Australian Climate Change Adaptation Research Network for Settlements and Infrastructure (ACCARNSI), one of eight networks within the National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility (NCCARF).


OBJECTIVE
This research focuses on the potential ability of animated avatars (a digital representation of the user) and virtual agents (a digital representation of a coach, buddy, or teacher) to deliver computer-based interventions for adolescents' chronic weight management. An exploration of the acceptance and desire of teens to interact with avatars and virtual agents for self-management and behavioral modification was undertaken.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
The utilized approach was inspired by community-based participatory research. Data was collected from 2 phases: Phase 1) focus groups with teens, provider interviews, parent interviews; and Phase 2) mid-range prototype assessment by teens and providers.

RESULTS
Data from all stakeholder groups expressed great interest in avatars and virtual agents assisting self-management efforts. Adolescents felt the avatars and virtual agents could: 1) reinforce guidance and support, 2) fit within their lifestyle, and 3) help set future goals, particularly after witnessing the effect of their current behavior(s) on the projected physical appearance (external and internal organs) of avatars. Teens wanted 2 virtual characters: a virtual agent to act as a coach or teacher and an avatar (extension of themselves) to serve as a "buddy" for empathic support and guidance and as a surrogate for rewards. Preferred modalities for use include both mobile devices to accommodate access and desktop to accommodate preferences for maximum screen real estate to support virtualization of functions that are more contemplative and complex (e.g., goal setting). Adolescents expressed a desire for limited co-user access, which they could regulate. Data revealed certain barriers and facilitators that could affect adoption and use.

DISCUSSION
The current study extends the support of teens, parents, and providers for adding avatars or virtual agents to traditional computer-based interactions. Data supports the desire for a personal relationship with a virtual character in support of previous studies. The study provides a foundation for further work in the area of avatar-driven motivational interviewing.

CONCLUSIONS
This study provides evidence supporting the use of avatars and virtual agents, designed using participatory approaches, to be included in the continuum of care. Increased probability of engagement and long-term retention of overweight, obese adolescent users and suggests expanding current chronic care models toward more comprehensive, socio-technical representations.


This paper presents a new input device called digital foam designed to support natural sculpting operations similar to those used when sculpting clay. We have constructed two prototypes to test the concept of using a conductive foam input device to create 3D geometries and perform sculpting operations. The novel contributions of this paper include the realization that conductive foam sensors are accurate enough to allow fine grained control of position sensing and can be used to build foam based input devices. We have designed a novel foam sensor array by combining both conductive and non-conductive foam to allow interference free sensor readings to be recorded. We also constructed two novel input devices, one flat input device with one hundred sensors, and a second spherical design with twenty one sensors, both allowing user interactions by touching or squeezing the foam surface. We present the design idea, foam sensor theory, two prototype designs, and the initial application ideas used to explore the possible uses of digital foam.


Nitrogen balance was studied in 12 uremic patients given nitrogen intakes in varying formulations, either solely as amino acids or as keto acid and amino acid mixtures. It was shown that of the three formulas studied, the one that was most effective in promoting positive balance was the one having threonine as reference unit, with a relatively high tyrosine intake and lower methionine content, and histidine in the proportions found in human milk and in the egg pattern. Also, in all instances in which an amino acid formulation caused a deviation in nitrogen balance, the same effect was obtained with formulations containing keto acids. However, the effect with the keto acids was less pronounced.


With the development of the field of positive psychology, research on how positive concepts of human nature predict mental health has become widespread. A concept that explain positive mental health development is flourishing. This study examines the mediating role of forgiveness in the relationship between belongingness and flourishing among university students. A total of 381 university students (211 females and 170 males, Mage = 21.12 ± 2.23) participated in the study and completed the Flourishing Scale, General Belongingness Scale, Heartland Forgiveness Scale, and Personal Information Form. Hayes (2018) developed Model 4 within the SPSS macro PROCESS v4 to examine the mediating role of forgiveness between belongingness and flourishing. The results of the research model indicated a significant and positive link among belongingness, forgiveness, and flourishing. According to the research model, belongingness is predicted to flourish through the partial mediation of forgiveness. These findings indicate that belongingness improves university students' forgiveness, thereby enhancing their flourishing. In addition, belongingness helps university students flourish. In the Discussion and Conclusion section, explanations related to the research findings, limitations of the study, and suggestions for future research were provided.


Methyl acrylate is cony erted quantitatively to methyl α, β-dichloropropionate by chlorination at room temperature in the presence of 4 mol-% DMF as the catalyst.Methyl α, β-dichloropropionate is then methoxylated by reaction with an equimolar amount of Na-methylate in one hour without a catalyst at -20 to -35°C in mately 90% yield.Methyl α-chloro-β-methoxypropionate is let to react with an equimolar amount of potassiumcyanide at 30°C in a homogeneous solution. The yield is about 95%, but part of the produced α-cyano-β-methoxy propionate changes into poly-α-cyanoacrylate. Therefore, the true cyanation yield appears to be between 60 to 70%.Then crude methyl α-cyano-β-methoxypropionate is converted to methyl α-cyanoacrylate at rather high temperature, since the reaction involves the degradation of poly-α-cyanoacrylate. The reaction is carried out at 170250°C/39mmHg in a SO2 stream in the presence of 3 mole-% sulfuric acid and 100 g of DOP. Approximately 80% yield is attained.


We propose a novel Bayesian method to solve the maximization of a time-dependent expensive-to-evaluate oracle. We are interested in the decision that maximizes the oracle at a finite time horizon, when relatively few noisy evaluations can be performed before the horizon. Our recursive, two-step lookahead expected payoff ($\texttt{r2LEY}$) acquisition function makes nonmyopic decisions at every stage by maximizing the estimated expected value of the oracle at the horizon. $\texttt{r2LEY}$ circumvents the evaluation of the expensive multistep (more than two steps) lookahead acquisition function by recursively optimizing a two-step lookahead acquisition function at every stage; unbiased estimators of this latter function and its gradient are utilized for efficient optimization. $\texttt{r2LEY}$ is shown to exhibit natural exploration properties far from the time horizon, enabling accurate emulation of the oracle, which is exploited in the final decision made at the horizon. To demonstrate the utility of $\texttt{r2LEY}$, we compare it with time-dependent extensions of popular myopic acquisition functions via both synthetic and real-world datasets.


Classification of electroencephalograph (EEG) signals is the common theoretical background of various recognition tasks, such as EEG-based diagnosis of diseases, identification of sleep stages and the recognition tasks related to EEG-controlled spelling devices or web browsers. Projection-based classification of EEG is one of the state-of-the-art techniques to solve such tasks. In this paper, we propose (i) to utilize asymmetric loss linear regression for projection-based classification and (ii) to use genetic algorithm to select reference signals. We performed experiments on a publicly available EEG dataset. Our model aimed to classify patients according to a disease (alcoholism). The results show that both proposed techniques may increase accuracy.


A new type of high‐level robot command library is presented, which can be viewed as a marriage between simulation and control. The library commands contain simulations of the physical abilities of the robots as well as having the ability to control the physical machinery. The control of the machinery is performed by translating parameter information and then mapping the library commands to the robot controller commands. To demonstrate the use of the libraries, two robot programming languages have been analysed and new robot command libraries created for two types of machine. The robots selected were a Fanuc A600 and a Unimation PUMA robot. The paper also presents criteria that were used for assessing programming languages for use in programming and controlling robots. The paper shows how simulation can be incorporated into a high‐level robot command library (or object library) and how the command library can be used for the programming of industrial robots. The work has demonstated the advantages of including simulation within robot command libraries. The purpose of the research has not been to define another new robot command library, and the techniques presented here can be applied to other robot languages and high level robot command libraries.


This thesis introduces structures and main key technologies of high performance transient electromagnetic system of mine. Such system applies sectional transmitting coil with damping absorption circuit to shorten turn-off time, thus achieving linear falling edge of transmitter current; inspects the turn-off time and current falling edge to enrich essential data of primary field; uses programmable and variable receiving coil to provide different selection modes to solve influence of transient process; and also takes advantages of the pre-amplification and programmable amplification circuit and variable settings of sample period to solve the accurate collection problem for different period signals in secondary field. It provides detection layout and result of application examples proving good test effect and superior system performance.


In the Cell BE, the SPEs communicate over Element Interconnect Bus (EIB). The bandwidth utilization on EIB is reduced due to the congestion created by the simultaneous communications. We observed that the actual bandwidth obtained for inter-SPE communication is strongly influenced by the assignment of threads to SPEs (Thread-SPE affinity). The major contributions of this work are to help understanding the reasons of reduction in bandwidth utilization and develop strategies to build an effective thread SPE mapping schemes in order to optimize the applications that have the inherent inter thread communication. By default, the assignment scheme provided is somewhat random, which sometimes leads to poor affinities and sometimes to good ones. We studied some common communication patterns, for which we could identify a particular affinity that yields performance that is close to twice the average performance of the default affinity. We have observed a performance growth of around 10%-12% by using the above mentioned study in a communication intensive Monte Carlo particle simulation application. We expect that Image and Signal processing applications which follow a pipelined model of operation will be greatly benefited by the optimal Thread-SPE affinity. We also discuss the optimization of affinity on a Cell Blade. We then describe a communication model tool created based on the observations from [3], which aids in choosing a good affinity, given the communication pattern of the application.


As more and more devices are equipped with multiple network interfaces, the multihomed technology is becoming an important technology that can provide more reliable connection against the network failure and higher data transmission rate. Concurrent Multipath Transfer (CMT), which is based on SCTP, is devised for multihomed networks. CMT can transmit data over all paths to maximize the data transmission speed. One of the main concerns of CMT is the receiver buffer blocking issue, especially in multihomed wireless mobile networks. Receiver buffer blocking is mainly caused by lost data. In this paper, we propose mobile CMT (mCMT) over wireless networks to deal with the receiver buffer blocking caused by error loss and handoff loss. mCMT has the features of (i) path-oriented multistreaming, (ii) MIH-assisted handoff mechanism, in which MIH denotes Media Independent Handover and (iii) association resume. Path-oriented multistreaming can reduce the receiver buffer blocking caused by error loss. MIH-assisted a handoff can reduce the amount of packet loss during a handoff, which may lead to receiver buffer blocking. Moreover, mCMT introduces the concept of association resume to recover the disconnected association. Simulation results show that mCMT can reduce the effect of the receiver buffer blocking effectively for devices that have smaller buffer size.


Statistical volume elements (SVEs) are used to homogenize fracture strength of rock, based on the microcrack statistics of a real-world Yuen-Long marble sample. The small size of SVEs enables maintaining inhomogeneities in fracture properties with lower computational cost compared to methods that explicitly model microcracks at macroscale. Maintaining inhomogeneity is important to capture realistic fracture patterns in rock as a quasi-brittle material. Uniaxial tensile, uniaxial compressive, and shear strengths are derived for arbitrary angle for loading and orientation of a single crack by using the linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM) method and incorporating frictional effects. Mesoscopic fracture strength fields are generated for different strengths and angle of loading by traversing the spatial domain with circular SVEs. Increasing the SVE size smoothens the spatial inhomogeneity and angular anisotropy of homogenized strengths. Spatial and angular covariance functions of the random fields are obtained to demonstrate how fracture strength varies in space and by changing the angle of loading. Two isotropic and anisotropic rock domains are studied and shown to have very different single- and two-point statistics. Macroscopic fracture simulations by an asynchronous spacetime discontinuous Galerkin (aSDG) method demonstrate that most macroscopic cracks for the anisotropic domain are aligned with the weakest strength planes.


The effects of retinoic acid (RA) on the proliferation of acute myeloblastic leukemia (AML) cells were studied. AML samples were divided into three groups. Namely, RA stimulated blast colony formation by AML samples in group A and inhibited that by the samples in group B, regardless of added growth factors. For the samples in group C, RA inhibited the colonies formed by granulocyte colony‐stimulating factor (G‐CSF) but stimulated those by granulocyte macrophage CSF (GM‐CSF). To investigate the mechanism involved, the effects of RA on growth factor receptors on AML cells were examined by flow cytometry using fluorolabeled ligands. For the samples in groups A and B, RA affected neither G‐CSF receptor (GR) nor GM‐CSF receptor (GMR). For the samples in group C, exposure to 10−7 MRA for 1 day clearly increased GMR, but did not affect GR. This finding supports the hypothesis that the increase of GMR is one of the causes of the stimulative effects of RA on cells cultured with GM‐CSF in group C.


Greater endeavors and institutions are facilitating their facts into the cloud, maintaining in thoughts the cease intention to reduce the IT guide fee and enhance the statistics dependability. Be that as it is able to, confronting the various cloud dealers and similarly their heterogeneous valuing approaches, customers may well be confounded with which cloud(s) are appropriate for putting away their records and what facilitating method is less costly. The general commercial enterprise as regular is that customers often placed their facts right into a solitary cloud and after that simply agree with to right fortune. In view of entire examination of various reducing aspect cloud merchants, this paper proposes a novel facts facilitating plan which incorporates key capacities fancied. The first is selecting some reasonable mists and a proper repetition device to keep statistics with minimized fiscal cost and ensured accessibility. The second one is placing off a move technique to re-deliver records as according to the kinds of facts get to instance and valuing of mists. We assess the execution of allure utilizing each complies with driven reproductions and version trials. The effects display that contrasted and the primary current plans, allure spares round 20% of money related cost in addition to suggests sound flexibility to statistics and cost alterations.


Identifying genetic markers linked to disease resistance in plants is an important goal in marker-assisted selection. Using a candidate-gene approach, we have previously developed genetic markers in cacao (Theobroma cacao L.) for two families of genes involved in disease resistance: non-TIR-NBS-LRR (Toll/Interleukin-1 Receptor-nucleotide binding site-leucine rich repeat) resistance gene homologues and WRKY transcription factor genes; however, we failed to isolate TIR-NBS-LRR genes. Using a novel algorithm to design degenerate primers, we have now isolated TIR-NBS-LRR loci as determined by DNA sequence comparison. These loci have been developed as genetic markers using capillary array electrophoresis (CAE) and single-strand conformational polymorphism (SSCP) analysis. We have mapped three distinct TIR-NBS-LRR loci in an F2 population of cacao and demonstrated that one is located on linkage group 3 and the other two on linkage group 5.


Riboswitches are untranslated regions of messenger RNA, which adopt alternate structures depending on the binding of specific metabolites. Such conformational switching regulates the expression of proteins involved in the biosynthesis of riboswitch substrates. Here, we present the 2.9 angstrom–resolution crystal structure of the eukaryotic Arabidopsis thaliana thiamine pyrophosphate (TPP)–specific riboswitch in complex with its natural ligand. The riboswitch specifically recognizes the TPP via conserved residues located within two highly distorted parallel "sensor" helices. The structure provides the basis for understanding the reorganization of the riboswitch fold upon TPP binding and explains the mechanism of resistance to the antibiotic pyrithiamine.


The effects of radiation damage in two silicon p - i - n photodiodes fabricated from high resistivity material have been studied. The devices have been irradiated by 1 MeV neutrons to three different fluences up to . Current, capacitance and charge measurements were performed prior to irradiation and soon after. Our results indicate that the damage has degraded the charge-collection efficiency, that the devices have undergone type inversion from n-type to apparent p-type at fluences as low as , and that the substrate material has become somewhat `relaxation-like' after irradiation. It is suggested here that irradiated silicon is relaxation material.


The real estate industry is traditionally a slow-moving asset class. The recent hype around real estate technology or 'PropTech' stands in stark contrast to this traditional view on real estate. It has been argued by PropTech entrepreneurs, tech evangelists and scholars that this 'digital disruption' of the industry leads to a digitalised global real estate mar- ket. These claims coincide with observations made in other markets that went through a process of digitalisation. Data-driven markets are often characterised by a winner-takes-all competition between firms that o er platform business models centrally focused on providing digital services for users, who 'pay' in providing more user data.

In this paper, we investigate whether PropTech is actually turning real estate into a data-driven market. The quantitative findings from an analysis of more than 7,000 PropTech firms reveal that such trends are at work in PropTech. PropTech is indeed an increasingly important, global phenomenon, with data analytics technologies at the core of the network of property technologies. In this core sector, most acquisitions between PropTech firms occurred.

The findings presented here are important for users and owners of real estate. In order to bene t from the efficiency gains associated with the digitalisation of the market, they need to become aware of the business value of data they are generating in buying, renting, or managing real estate.


In this paper we would like to introduce some of the best practices of using semantic markup and its significance in the success of web applications. Search engines are one of the best ways to reach potential customers and are some of the main indicators of web sites' fruitfulness. We will introduce the most important semantic vocabularies which are used by Google and Yahoo. Afterwards, we will explain the process of semantic markup implementation and its significance for search engines and other semantic markup consumers. We will describe techniques for slow conceiving RDFa markup to our web application for collecting Call for papers (CFP) announcements. Keywords—Call for papers, Google, RDFa, semantic markup, semantic web, Yahoo.


Enhancers harbor binding motifs that recruit transcription factors (TFs) for gene activation. While cooperative binding of TFs at enhancers is known to be critical for transcriptional activation of a handful of developmental enhancers, the extent TF cooperativity genome-wide is unknown. Here, we couple high-resolution nuclease footprinting with single-molecule methylation profiling to characterize TF cooperativity at active enhancers in the Drosophila genome. Enrichment of short MNase-protected DNA segments indicates that the majority of enhancers harbor two or more TF binding sites, and we uncover protected fragments that correspond to co-bound sites in thousands of enhancers. We integrate MNase-seq, methylation accessibility profiling, and CUT&RUN chromatin profiling as a comprehensive strategy to characterize co-binding of the Trithorax-like (TRL) DNA binding protein and multiple other TFs and identify states where an enhancer is bound by no TF, by either single factor, by multiple factors, or where binding sites are occluded by nucleosomes. From the analysis of co-binding, we find that cooperativity dominates TF binding in vivo at a majority of active enhancers. TF cooperativity can occur without apparent protein-protein interactions and provides a mechanism to effectively clear nucleosomes and promote enhancer function.


Fatty acid hydroperoxides (HPOs) are amphiphilic molecules naturally
produced by plants in stressed conditions and involved in plant immunity
as signalling molecules. Although some studies report their potential
use as exogenous biocontrol agents for plant protection, evaluation of
their efficiency in planta is lacking and no information is available
about their mechanism of action. In this work, the potential of two HPO
forms, 13-HPOD and 13-HPOT, as plant defence elicitors and the
underlying mechanism of action are investigated. Both HPOs trigger
Arabidopsis innate immunity. They increase plant resistance to the
pathogenic fungi Botrytis cinerea and activate early immunity-related
defence responses, like ROS production. As our previous study has
suggested that HPOs are able to interact with the plant plasma membrane
(PPM) lipid fraction, we have further investigated the effects of HPOs
on biomimetic PPM structure using complementary biophysics tools.
Results show that HPO insertion into PPM impacts its global structure
without solubilizing it. 13-HPOT, with an additional double bond
compared to 13-HPOD, exerts a higher effect by fluidifying and reducing
the thickness of the bilayer. Correlation between biological assays and
biophysical analysis suggests that lipid amphiphilic elicitors that
directly act on membrane lipids might trigger early plant defence
events.


In this paper, we studied prepubescent boys (N = 75; 11.3 years ± 2 months) divided into three groups: two experimental groups and age-paired, non-systematically physically engaged controls (N = 25). Th e experimental groups consisted of 27 basketball players, and of 23 dinghy sailors. Th e pulmonary function was established measuring the large airway variables (inspiratory-vital-capacity, forced-vital-capacity, one-secondforced-expiratory-volume) and small airway variables (peak-expiratory-fl ow, and maximal-expiratory-fl ow aft er 50% and 75% exhalation). All variables were measured in absolute values and then presented and compared in relative values predicted for age and stature. Using the simple originally constructed questionnaire, passive smoking status was observed, and the subjects were additionally sub-sampled as passive smokers, or non-exposed to passive smoking. Th e multivariateanalysis-of-the-variance (MANOVA) showed signifi cant dominance (p < 0.05) of the experimental groups in the large airways variables and small airways variables, for the NS exclusively. No signifi cant MANOVA diff erences were found between the basketball players and sailors, and between the non-exposed to passive smoking and passive smoking in any of the studied groups. Th e results of the present study indicate a positive infl uence of the systematic physical exercising on the pulmonary function, with no diff erential eff ects of the two-year basketball and dinghy sailing sports training on the pulmonary function.


We study the approximate conserved quantity of the weakly nonholonomic mechanical-electrical system. By means of the Lagrange—Maxwell equation, the Noether equality of the weakly nonholonomic mechanical-electrical system is obtained. The multiple powers-series expansion of the parameter of the generators of infinitesimal transformations and the gauge function is put into a generalized Noether identity. Using the Noether theorem, we obtain an approximate conserved quantity. An example is provided to prove the existence of the approximate conserved quantity.


MAP methods are continually being refined and expanded. In these concluding remarks I would like to touch on some of those developments, and then briefly to mention some steps that might be taken by an organisation that wants to explore this field further.


We discuss the scaling properties of a scalar model for fracture: The random fuse network with randomly distributed breaking thresholds. We present the current-voltage breaking characteristics for the system and we discuss its universal scaling behaviour. We consider then the distribution of local currents in the network and its moments: This distribution has multifractal properties just before the system breaks fully apart, whereas it exhibits constant gap scaling at the maximum of the breaking characteristics, that is at the end of the disorder controlled regime when the catastrophic regime sets in. All the presented results appear to be universal with respect to different distributions of quenched disorder in the thresholds and other models for fracture.


Nano Fluid Based Minimum quantity lubrication (NFBMQL) has proved to be a sustainable approach that can update minimum quantity lubrication (MQL) for the application of cutting fluid in the metal cutting operation. Addition of nanoparticles within the reducing fluid might also improve the cooling and lubricating properties of the base fluid. Present work offers with the experimental investigation of the effect of the addition of graphene nanoparticles inside the cutting fluid under MQL on machinability characteristics inclusive of surface roughness, flank wear, cutting area temperature and machining time. Response surface technique (RSM) was applied to the experimental layout. Cutting speed, feed rate and depth of cut had been taken as machining parameters. Regression analyses changed into employed to estimate flank wear, surface roughness, machining time and cutting area temperature. ANOVA became implemented to look at the influence of cutting parameters on cutting temperature, flank wear, machining time and surface roughness. Results confirmed that of graphene nanoparticles performed an extended position in reducing flank put on of cutting tool even at the higher significance of cutting speed and feed rate which has an enormous ability to improving the productivity of machining. Minimum surface roughness became also acquired at better; in the end, the optimization of output responses became executed which will offer the levels of quality cutting conditions.


This thesis investigates the physical mechanisms responsible for four-wave mixing (FWM) in semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs), and their application to quantum-well spectroscopy and all-optical signal processing. A microscopic theory of polarization-resolved FWM is developed, and the corresponding polarization selection rules are derived. It is then shown how these results can be used to study basic carrier dynamics in semiconductor active layers. Finally, a wavelength conversion device and a new class of all-optical logic gates, based on FWM in SOAs, are presented and characterized.

The first part of the thesis is devoted to several experimental and theoretical investigations of carrier transport dynamics in multiquantum-well SOAs, and of their relation to the FWM nonlinearity of these devices. A polarization-resolved FWM configuration is used to study interwell carrier transport in a SOA consisting of alternating pairs of tensile and compressively strained quantum wells. A similar structure with interwell coupling provided by resonant tunneling is then investigated theoretically; it is shown how FWM can be used to excite coherent electric-dipole oscillations in this device, leading to efficient generation of TeraHertz radiation. Finally, a novel wavelength-resolved FWM technique is demonstrated to directly study the capture of carriers in quantum wells.

The second part of the thesis focuses on the application of FWM to all-optical signal processing for WDM communication systems. A wavelength conversion device based on FWM in a long (1.5 mm) SOA is developed, and used to demonstrate error-free conversion of 10 Gbit/sec data over a record 30 nm wavelength span. Other configurations for wavelength conversion by FWM are then proposed and demonstrated, including: a dual-pump configuration for polarization insensitive operation; a self-pumped FWM converter, based on a fiber-Bragg-grating coupled diode laser; and a device based on injection-locked FWM in this same laser, characterized by a large resonance peak in its conversion efficiency. Finally, the last chapter is devoted to a novel class of all-optical logic gates, based on FWM, designed to operate on bytes of information encoded in wavelength ("byte-wide WDM").


Universities, particularly large ones, often operate as autonomously as towns, with their own police departments, residential neighborhoods, public transit, and power plants. Universities and towns also address similar issues such as future land use, housing development; public services such as utilities, parks, recreational facilities and libraries; public safety; and transportation, transit and parking. There are areas where towns and universities are different such as a university's focus on education, research, and learning facilities. There is also a difference in the primary planning tool with campus master plan versus the comprehensive plan for towns. This paper examined four campus master plans to determine whether a need exists to establish basic guidelines for campus master plans, to ensure they address the complex requirements of large campuses. The examination looked at both the uniformity and completeness of the four master plans. The results of the examination showed a wide variety of documents. The master plans lacked uniformity in basic areas such as implementation guidance, a summary of existing conditions, or even an executive summary. Additionally there were a number of core planning criteria that were incomplete (planning in land use, housing, and public safety). The conclusion of this evaluation is these plans are interesting and even insightful, but generally lack some basic areas of good planning. In particular there is a need for land use analysis for current or future growth management, inclusion of public safety planning, and a more complete explanation of methodology and data analysis.


The contributions of self-monitoring and gender to preadolescent friendship expectations were explored in a sample of 200 fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students. Chum pairs were identified on the basis of mutuality and stability in order to examine relationships between dyads in friendship expectations. Goals of the study were essentially exploratory because of the limited data base on self-monitoring in children. Girls had higher levels of self-monitoring and were more likely to be part of a chum pair. Younger students were more likely to expect overt expressions of friendship. The relationship predicted between dyads in their level of self-monitoring, as found in adult friendships, was not present in preadolescents. Certain trends in the friendship expectations of high and low self-monitors were suggestive of the conceptual understanding of the self-monitoring construct.


MOLECULAR INTERACTIONS OF POLYCYSTIC OVARIAN SYNDROME (PCOS) WITH METABOLIC SYNDROME AND NON-ALCOHOLIC FATTY LIVER DISEASE (NAFLD) Thuy Phuong T. Tran, MS George Mason University, 2013 Thesis Director: Dr. Ancha Baranova Obesity is a common factor involved in both polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Obesity causes NAFLD and aggravates hirsutism and menstrual disorder in polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). Recent findings suggest that women with PCOS may be at risk for developing NAFLD and conversely, NAFLD patients may be a risk for PCOS. To assess the literature for associations between PCOS and NAFLD at molecular level, we performed a systematic review of peer-reviewed articles related to PCOS and NAFLD. Articles were summarized and grouped according to different sections defining interactions of PCOS with metabolic syndrome and NAFLD as well as common risk factors, pathogenic pathways and treatment options. Based on the association of PCOS and other metabolic abnormalities, such as insulin resistance, hyperandrogenism, obesity and NAFLD, the PCOS candidate genes have been proposed. Closer scrutiny of these genes placed most of their proteins at the crossroads of three highly interrelated conditions: metabolic syndrome, obesity and NAFLD. This made us to postulate that PCOS is, in fact, the ovarian manifestation of metabolic syndrome, similarly to NAFLD that is currently recognized as the hepatic manifestation of metabolic syndrome. PCOS and NAFLD conditions may co-exist and may respond to similar therapeutic strategies. In order to untangle the complex relationship between PCOS and NAFLD experimentally, we analyzed serum biomarkers of apoptosis, select adipokines and mRNA profile in the visceral adipose tissue of obese patients. Two clinical cohorts were compared: one with both PCOS and NAFLD that have not yet progressed to NASH according to their liver biopsies (N=12) and another, a BMI-matched non-PCOS nonNASH NAFLD control cohort (N=12). The total serum levels of apoptotic biomarker M30 were significantly elevated in PCOS patients with liver steatosis as compared to non-PCOS NAFLD controls (P < 0.02), pointing that androgen-dependent proapoptotic PCOS environment may directly contribute to NAFLD progression in these patients. Similarly, hyperandrogenism may explain an observed PCOS-specific decrease (P < 0.04) in adipose LDLR mRNA expression that may be connected to the proneness of PCOS patients with concomitant liver disease to progress to NASH. The levels of mRNA encoding angiogenesis-associated GSK-3B interacting protein Ninein were significantly increased in PCOS adipose (P < 0.007). In entire NAFLD cohort, the levels of the Resistin were positively correlated with expression levels of LDLR and prothrombin time. In regards to all these parameters, the studies of larger cohorts of PCOS patients are needed, including subgroups without any histological sign of liver disease and those without an excess of androgens.


Aquaponics involves the simultaneous production of plants and fish and it is increasingly being used with a self-consumption purpose. However, there are uncertainties and little information about the economic sustainability of small-scale self-managed aquaponic systems. The objective of this study was to obtain economic information about these systems, including the level of commoditization of food production as a measure of their autonomy. For this purpose, two small-scale aquaponic systems (SAS) based on FAO models were self-constructed using cheap and easy-to-obtain materials and monitored for a year. A total of 62 kg of tilapia and 352 kg of 22 different vegetables and fruits were produced, with an average net agricultural added value of 151.3 €. Results showed positive accounting profit but negative economic profit when labor costs were included. The degree of commoditization was around 44%, which allows a certain autonomy, thanks to the use of family labor force.


As the demand for energy rises, Populus species are increasingly grown as bioenergy crops. Meanwhile, due to global change, predictions indicate that summer droughts will increase in frequency and intensity over Europe. This study was carried out to evaluate the adaptation to drought in Populus, at different levels: genetic, genomics and physiology. Forests trees such as poplar are very important ecologically and economically but the Populus genus is known to be drought sensitive. Consequently, it is essential to understand drought response and tolerance for those trees. Two populations of poplar were used for this study, a mapping population (Family 331) and a natural population of Populus nigra. The F2 mapping population obtained from a cross of Populus deltoides and Populus trichocarpa, showed differences in stomatal conductance and carbon isotope composition in both clones and the F2 progeny. It was also used to discover QTL related to water use efficiency highlighting interesting areas of the genome. Combining QTL discovery and microarray analysis of the two clones in response to drought, a list of candidate genes was defined for water use efficiency. The natural population of Populus nigra consisting of 500 genotypes of wild black poplar showed variation in numerous physiological measurements such as leaf development and carbon isotope discrimination in well-watered conditions depending on their latitude of origin. The drier genotypes (from Spain and South France) had the smallest leaf area which could be linked to an adaptation to drought. Physiological measurements of extreme genotypes in leaf size of this population revealed differences in response to water depending on their latitude of origin. Stomatal conductance rapidly decreased and water use efficiency improved for Spanish genotypes after a slow and moderate drought stress. Direct comparisons between the transcriptome of extreme genotypes from Spain and North Italy in well watered and drought conditions provided an insight into the genomic pathways induced during water deficit. Six candidate genes were selecting for further analysis using real-time PCR: two stomatal development genes (ERECTA and SPEECHLESS), two ABA related genes (ATHVA22A and CCD1), a second messenger (IP3) and a NAC transcription factor (RD26)


In this paper being presented the correlation of Fisher Information Matrix(FIM) and Controllability Gramian(CG) based on estimation-theoretic and information-theoretic explanations. Resource-economic use of information is of primary concern in issues of control under communication constraints. We need to emphasize more on informational aspect which has got direct relation with uncertainties in terms of Shannon Entropy and Mutual Information(MI). Disturbances due to communication channel-induced noises and limited bandwidth are causing the information packet-loss and delays resulting in degradation of control performance. CG is a measure of control performance and Fisher Information (FI)is a measure of accuracy of estimation (which needs to be done in uncertainties caused by packet-loss and delays of the network).


Coal has been mined from Boone County, WV for over 100 years. Mountaintop removal mining (MTR) has increased dramatically since the 1970's and may account for ?30 per cent of West Virginia's coal. For people who live nearby, airborne particulate matter (PM) may present a health hazard. Our hypothesis was that deaths from lung and bronchus cancer (LBC) increased significantly in Boone County, WV between1950-1969 and 2006-2012, the increase was not related to mining occupation and could not be completely accounted for by smoking cigarettes. Cause of death data were collected and stratified by gender, occupation and age and corrected for age. We compared LBC deaths pre- and post-MTR in (male) miners and non-miners, and (female) homemakers and non-homemakers. A statistically significant difference in LBC mortality for all ages and both genders between the periods 1950-1969 and 2006-2012 was found. The AADR for LBC was significantly higher in 10 counties with the most total acres under open permit in WV than in counties without MTR. The smoking-corrected OR for LBC in MTRmined counties was 1.39 (95% C.I. 1.37, 1.41). There was no association between coal mining occupation and LBC AADR. However, homemakers had a significantly higher rate of LBC deaths during 2006-2012 than non-homemakers. Therefore a factor or factor(s) was present in the home environment that increased LBC deaths. Since MTR became prevalent in the 1980's and LBC has a latency period of 19-45 years, exposure to PM could have played a role, with synergy between smoking and environmental exposure.


The study examines the relationship of the price of gold to five factors: the U.S. GDP, Consumer Price Index, U.S. dollar index, S&P 500, and LIBOR, for a period of 10 years, from December 2001 to December 2011. When the values of each precedent were perturbed from the base value, it was found that U.S. GDP has the highest impact on the price of gold. It was also found that the price of gold has a positive relationship with U.S. GDP, CPI, U.S. dollar index and the S&P 500 and a negative relationship with LIBOR. The U.S. GDP shows the highest nonlinear rank correlation, whereas the LIBOR shows the lowest nonlinear rank correlation. It is also proven that it is important to perform sensitivity analysis after a simulation to ascertain if any interactions exist in the model and whether the effects of certain variables still hold in the presence of such interactions.


Objective: To evaluate the experience of the Kuwait Cancer Control Center in the diagnosis and management of patients with cervical lymph node metastasis from an unknown primary site. Methods: We have undertaken a retrospective study of 24 patients for the years 1979–1994. All cases were pathologically confirmed; a primary tumor was not detected in any of these cases despite extensive diagnostic procedures. There were 24 patients, 9 Kuwaitis and 15 non-Kuwaitis, 20 males and 4 females (5:1). Their ages ranged from 10 to 83 years with a median of 55.5 years. Results: Twenty patients presented with a neck mass. The supraclavicular lymph node was the site in 9 cases; 9 had multinodal metastases, 3 in the upper third of the neck, 2 at the submental-submaxillary level and 1 in the middle third. The local stage of nodal involvement was 6 N1, 8 N2 and 9 N3. The pathological diagnosis was squamous cell carcinoma in 14 cases, adenocarcinoma in 6 cases, 1 undifferentiated case and unknown in 2 cases. Sixteen cases were graded as poorly differentiated. Radiotherapy was used for 9 patients, 4 were treated with chemotherapy, 2 were treated with surgery, 2 were treated with surgery followed by radiotherapy and 2 with chemotherapy and radiotherapy. The median survival was 6 months for the whole group. Conclusion: We concluded that, in patients with metastatic carcinoma to the cervical lymph nodes from an unknown primary, supraclavicular localization and male gender were high risk factors. The prognosis in these cases was disastrous because of late diagnosis, and therapy was only palliative.


We introduce a qualitative conjecture, in the spirit of Campana, to the effect that certain subsets of rational points on a variety over a number field, or a Deligne-Mumford stack over a ring of S-integers, cannot be Zariski dense. The conjecture interpolates, in a way that we make precise, between Lang's conjecture for rational points on varieties of general type over number fields, and the conjecture of Lang and Vojta that asserts that S-integral points on a variety of logarithmic general type are not Zariski-dense. We show our conjecture follows from Vojta's conjecture. Assuming our conjecture, we prove the following theorem: Fix a number field K, a finite set S of places of K containing the infinite places, and a positive integer g. Then there is an integer m_0 such that, for any m > m_0, no principally polarized abelian variety A/K of dimension g with semistable reduction outside of S has full level-m structure.


The chloralkali industry is one of the largest single electricity consumers in the world, and electricity costs can account for about sixty per cent of the running costs of a modern plant. This article, which is based in part upon a paper given at the Third London International Chlorine Symposium, organised by the Society of Chemical Industry, the Chlorine Institute and the Royal Society of Chemistry, which was held in London during June, considers the use in membrane cells of noble metal coated cathodes developed by Johnson Matthey and indicates some of the savings that can result. These coated cathodes, which are being evaluated by a number of chloralkali plant manufacturers, appear to act in a catalytic manner to reduce the cathodic hydrogen overpotential and thus the energy consumption.


AIM: To investigate the effect of morphine on rat pheochromocytoma (PC12) proliferation and its mechanism. METHODS: Cell viability was determined with MTT colorimetry, and cell cycle was measured by flow cytometry. RT-PCR and immunocytochemistry were used to examine the gene transcripts and protein expressions of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA). RESULTS: The inhibitory effect of 10 µmol/L morphine was showed on PC12 cell proliferation. The number of cells in G1 phase increased and the number of cells in S phase decreased. The expression of PCNA mRNA became lower from 24 h (P<0.05), and significantly lower in 48 and 72 h (P<0.01) than that in control group. Immunocytochemistry analysis showed PCNA protein expression was also decreased after treatment with morphine (P<0.05). Furthermore, the down-regulation of morphine on PCNA was reversed by naloxone. CONCLUSION: Morphine decreases PCNA mRNA and protein expression by µ receptor and restrains PC12 cell proliferation.


Paper bases on the principles of the coupling inductor and the quasi-resonant converts to illustrate the planar integration of the resonant inductor and the filter inductor, then the decreasing in the volume and height can be achieved, and the technical support for the power electronic integration can be provided. Paper takes the buck ZCS QRC for example to illustrate the specific planar integration , through comparing the forward coupling with the backward coupling, the soft switching can be achieved when the coupling is loose coupling. The simulated results of the circuit and the flux line are also included in this paper


Introduction: Extensive agriculture activities in the upstream area causes pollutants flow to the downstream area and contaminate the drinking water resources. Methods: Water samples were collected from 27 sampling points of Bertam River in Cameron Highlands, during wet season in September 2017 for physicochemical properties and heavy metals analyses. Potential health risk was calculated based on the heavy metals concentration detected. Results: The pH value of the river ranged from neutral to slightly acidic (6.15-7.01). The overall mean level of turbidity (109.94 ± 160.73 NTU), DO (7.86 ± 0.71 mg/L), E. coli (5191.00 ± 14937.42 CFU/100 mL), and NH3-N (0.85 ± 0.54 mg/L) were exceeded the National Standard for Drinking Water Quality (NSDWQ) (Ministry of Health Malaysia). The concentration of heavy metals were in the following order; Fe>Al>Cu>Zn>Pb>Cd. The overall mean concentration of Cd (0.015 ± 0.007 mg/L), Fe (0.442 ± 0.191 mg/L) and Pb (0.021 ± 0.005 mg/L) were exceeded the national standard (NSDWQ). The non-carcinogenic health risk for adult and children from daily water consumption was within an acceptable risk. There is a potential cancer risk through Cd exposure in the drinking water where the risk higher among children (4.92 x 10-3), followed by adult male (3.06 x 10-3) and adult female (2.98 x 10-3). Conclusion: Significant heavy metals contamination and health risk through water consumption were observed in the highland river watershed, possibly due to the anthropogenic activities.


In this study, high-efficiency solar cells are presented with the use of low-cost industrially available technologies. This results in the so-called ZEBRA concept: a litho-free process in which standard 156 × 156 mm2 monocrystalline n-type Cz-Si wafers are processed into high-efficiency interdigitated back-contact solar cells. In our first attempt, we obtained energy conversion efficiencies of more than 20% on 239 cm2 area. With the help of a 3-D simulation of the device, a further improvement to more than 21.5% was determined. We indentify the open-circuit voltage and the large serial resistance as the main losses impeding from reaching the simulated efficiency. The cell results after an extensive optimization are presented in this study, focusing on the improvement of the fill factor of the cells. The optimized solar cells show an improvement in the energy conversion efficiency up to 21%. Furthermore, the simple metallization and the module interconnection design of the ZEBRA cells allow for a bifacial application. Indoor and outdoor I - V measurements on a bifacial one-cell-module show an enhancement in the total generated power of more than 12% as compared with a monofacial module.


Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are an important class of compounds ubiquitous in both the living and working environment. Since they are proven carcinogens and/or mutagens, the development of highly sensitive analytical methods for their determination is among the most demanding tasks in environmental analysis nowadays. A simple electrochemical biosensor (DNA/GCE), based on a glassy carbon electrode (GCE) and low molecular weight double-stranded DNA from salmon sperm immobilized onto the electrode surface, was used in this study for the development of a differential pulse voltammetric method for sensitive determination of a representative of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons – anthracene. The spontaneous accumulation of anthracene into the DNA structure (intercalation between the double-stranded DNA base pairs) was used to increase the sensitivity of the determination. The influence of pH on electrochemical behavior of anthracene was investigated at the bare GCE in buffered ethanolic–aqueous solutions. The optimal medium found was ethanol – 0.04 mol l–1 Britton-Robinson buffer pH 5.0 (1:1, v/v), which was also used for the subsequent determination of anthracene at the DNA/GCE, with an analyte accumulation time of 5 min. The limit of quantification (LQ) of anthracene at the bare GCE was 2.2 ??????mol l–1, while the LQ of 0.15 ??????mol l–1 was reached at the DNA/GCE. Moreover, the applicability of the newly developed sensitive voltammetric method was successfully verified on model samples of gravel and sand, with the added/found recoveries of 98 % and 96 %, respectively.


never better illustrated than at the present time. Methods of taxation that once seemed adequate are now being subjected to searching analysis, and sources of additional revenue are being examined, with a view to possible improvement in the fisca.l position of government. The growth of the public debt and the continued increase that is expected will further test the adequacy of the various tax bases and schedules adopted by Federal, state, and local governments.&dquo;


Orthodontic fixed appliances are used to correct dental malocclusions by optimizing tooth movement and associated bone remodelling. Currently, orthodontic archwires made of shape memory alloys (SMAs) are widely used to initiate these treatments. We conduct experiments on SMA wires in pseudo in-vivo conditions, complementary to ISO standards, to assess the influence of temperature and humidity and to highlight their expected mechanical behaviour for clinical use. For this, an in-house built measurement device was developed to carry out experiments at controlled temperatures (21°C and 35°C) and in dry or wet conditions (artificial saliva). The dental arch was reproduced by 3D printing. The results show that the temperature has a major influence on the delivered forces whereas wet or dry conditions seem to have less impact. Also, we emphasize that at 35°C (in mouth conditions), in wet or dry conditions, SMAs superelasticity is only effective for displacements up to about 3 mm when an entire dental arch is considered.


In this study, the authors examined the relationship between engagement in social interaction with peers and stereotypic behavior. Three children with autism with relatively high rates of stereotypic behavior and low rates of social engagement with peers participated in the study. Two typically developing peers learned to direct social initiations to each participant during structured play activities, which increased the frequency of peer social engagement for the children with autism. Collateral decreases in stereotypic behavior occurred for all three participants when the peer-mediated intervention was implemented, and the results generalized to a proximal play setting. Conditional probability analyses further documented this inverse relationship between social and stereotypic behavior. Simultaneous (i.e., motor and oral/vocal) and motor stereotypic behaviors were the most directly affected by the increase in social engagement. Social validity ratings documented the social importance of the changes in both social engagement and stereotypic behavior for the children with autism.


Secondary chronic open-angle glaucoma associated with pseudoexfoliation (PEX) syndrome accounts for approximately 25% of all glaucomas and represents the most common identifiable cause of glaucoma overall. Selective laser trabeculoplasty (SLT) is effective in reducing intraocular pressure (IOP) in glaucomatous patients and has the advantage of preserving surrounding structures. We report here SLT treatment of a 82 year old female with a secondary developed open-angle pseudoexfoliation glaucoma allergic to all anti glaucoma eye drops especially those which contain bensalconium chloridum as preservative. Since patient was allergic also to methyl-cellulose, we performed SLT with water as a mediator. Patient had PEX syndrome for 10 years, immature cataracts on both eyes, and best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) 0.7 on the right and 0.2 on the left eye. We have monitored intraocular pressure (IOP), the changes in the visual field and optic nerve. Preoperative IOP was 28 mmHg on the right and 30 mmHg on the left eye. The follow up period was 24 months with time points for measured parameters every 3 months. After 18 months IOP remained in the normal values (average 17 mmHg) on the right eye, but on the left eye it increased up to 28 mmHg. SLT re-treatment was carried out on the left eye and the IOP stabilized again on the values between 16-18mmHg. There were no significant change in the visual field and optic nerve configuration before and after SLT (C/D value for right eye: 0.3-0.4; C/D left eye: 0.5). Based on this case report, SLT seems to be very effective treatment for maintaining regular IOP in patient with PEX who is allergic to all types of medications.


The climate system comprises multiple components, primarily the atmosphere, ocean and cryosphere, each incorporating physical processes that interact across scales. To help understand the behaviour of this complex system, and evaluate climate model simulations, researchers typically take a reductionist approach, focusing on individual climate processes and studying their relationships with weather and climate in different regions. While more holistic approaches, such as climate networks, have been developed to explicitly address the complexity of the climate, here we argue for the use of a new approach that accounts for multiple cross‐scale process interactions, framed with respect to specific climate outcomes of societal importance. We introduce and explore the concept of "climate process chains" (CPCs), describing their potential application using examples determined for southern Africa. Building on related theoretical concepts, and through reviewing literature on climate processes and teleconnections to southern Africa, we identify candidate CPCs for two outcomes of societal interest; a regional‐scale drought and local‐scale heavy rainfall. Focusing on such outcomes means that CPC investigations have more relevance to climate risk management contexts, as well as providing a constraint on the exploration of climate uncertainties for a region. We argue that CPCs may help to articulate relationships amongst regionally relevant climate processes across temporal and spatial scales, and discuss their potential utility in climate research, including in the evaluation of climate models and their simulations.


Members of the Kunibidji community are the traditional owners of the lands and seas around Maningrida, a remote community in Northern Australia. Most of the 200 members of the Kunibidji Community speak Ndjebbana as their first language. This study reports on the complexities of transforming technology to provide Kunibidji children with access to digital texts at home. The printed Ndjebbana texts that were kept at school were transformed to Ndjebbana talking books displayed on touch screen computers in the children's homes. Some results of the children's interaction around these touch screens are presented as well as some quantitative results of the computer viewing in the homes. The processes of rejecting technological determinism, upholding linguistic human rights of speakers of minority languages and viewing technology as practice rather than a set of artefacts are discussed in this paper. The results of this study hightlight the need for speakers of minority Indigenous Australian languages to have access to texts in their threatened languages on technologies at home.


Subduction occurs at the boundaries of tectonic plates, when one plate is forced below another. This process is responsible for the creation of the world's great mountain ranges. This thesis examines a 100 million year old subduction boundary in New Zealand to try to better understand what happens when subduction ends.
This thesis examined stacking patterns of sedimentary rocks in Marlborough, which revealed that as subduction shut-down in New Zealand, the land surface experienced kilometre scale changes in elevation and volcanic eruptions. These changes where the result of the tearing-off of part of the tectonic plate as subduction ended.


The key steps of a transfer of two-dimensional (2D) materials are the delamination of the as-grown material from a growth substrate and the lamination of the 2D material on a target substrate. In state-of-the-art transfer experiments, these steps remain very challenging, and transfer variations often result in unreliable 2D material properties. Here, it is demonstrated that interfacial water can insert between graphene and its growth substrate despite the hydrophobic behavior of graphene. It is understood that interfacial water is essential for an electrochemistry-based graphene delamination from a Pt surface. Additionally, the lamination of graphene to a target wafer is hindered by intercalation effects, which can even result in graphene delamination from the target wafer. For circumvention of these issues, a direct, support-free graphene transfer process is demonstrated, which relies on the formation of interfacial water between graphene and its growth surface, while avoiding water intercalation between graphene and the target wafer by using hydrophobic silane layers on the target wafer. The proposed direct graphene transfer also avoids polymer contamination (no temporary support layer) and eliminates the need for etching of the catalyst metal. Therefore, recycling of the growth template becomes feasible. The proposed transfer process might even open the door for the suggested atomic-scale interlocking-toy-brick-based stacking of different 2D materials, which will enable a more reliable fabrication of van der Waals heterostructure-based devices and applications.


1012 and S12C are wrought low-carbon (carbon = 0.10–0.15%) non-alloy steels that are used in the as rolled, annealed, normalized, or cold worked condition. These steels are characterized by low strength, high ductility, excellent cold formability, and excellent weldability. They are widely used for lightly stressed parts where cold formability is the primary requisite. 1012 and S12C are less expensive than 1008 and can be used when the requirements for cold forming are less exacting. 1012 and S12C may also be used in the carburized or carbonitrided, and subsequently quench hardened and tempered, condition for parts requiring a hard, wear-resistant surface, but with little need for increased mechanical properties in the core. This datasheet provides information on composition, physical properties, hardness, elasticity, and tensile properties. It also includes information on corrosion resistance as well as casting, forming, heat treating, machining, and joining. Filing Code: CS-233. Producer or source: Data Survey.


By reverse engineering the different projected prepayment curves submitted by several banks to Bloomberg, the authors were able to develop a model with six parameters, representative of these projections. Some of the parameters in our model must have different interpretations across banks. Mortgage servicing rights and interest only securities are the most affected securities by prepayments, and the model shows that there is a need for further research to refine projections of prepayments. The main users of this reverse-engineered prepayment model will be investors and servicers of mortgage-backed securities. The model could be uploaded on Bloomberg and be interactive, in order to allow different parties to enter their own assumptions and obtain their own prepayment projections.


This paper focuses on the limits of measurement of the sound insulation of building façades at low frequencies. Three standard methods are compared mainly for the position of the equipment. In particular, the positions proposed by the international standard ISO 140-5 and the national standards ASTM E 966 (USA) and JIS A1430 (Japan) are considered. The limits of measurement of the sound pressure level in front of the façade are investigated. Different placements of the external source and receiver are considered. Moreover, different placements of the receiver inside small rooms are compared by focusing on corner vs. center room position. The uncertainties of room averaged sound pressure levels measured according to different standards are discussed. The problems of measurement of the reverberation time in small rooms and of sound insulation in irregular shaped rooms are introduced because these measurements present several critical challenges. Finally, suggestions to improve the future version of the ISO 140-5 are reported.


In a bid to develop technologies that serve grower needs for economic management of pests and diseases of hot pepper (scotch bonnet) while protecting public health and the environment, a study to assess the potential of cover cropping and/or less-risk pesticide usage in the management of pests and diseases of hot pepper was conducted for two consecutive seasons in Uganda. A split-plot randomized complete block design with three replications was used with cropping system (main plots) and pesticide treatment (sub-plots) as the factors. There were two cropping systems: the hot pepper + cowpea system vs. a hot pepper monocrop and five pesticide treatment options: (i) prophylactic treatment of plots at transplanting with granular carbofuran; (ii) weekly sprays of a neem-based formulation; (iii) combination of the prophylactic carbofuran treatment and neem; (iv) sulphur sprays at 10-day intervals (season 2 only); and (v) the untreated control. Data were collected on population dynamics of aphids, whiteflies, thrips, mites, nematodes and on plant performance parameters of branching and fruit weight. Results indicated that the hot pepper + cowpea system greatly lowered infestations of aphids and nematodes on hot pepper, but did not decrease thrips and whiteflies; and brought about a yield penalty on hot pepper. Prophylactic applications of carbofuran and/or sprays of a neem-based formulation lowered populations of aphids and whiteflies on hot pepper to varying extents; and increased yield of pepper.


Background: Tumor cells are not only in a state of exuberant metabolism, but also inseparable from the surrounding microenvironment for the occurrence and development of tumors. By means of metabonomics technology, the metabolic profiles of re-ascites after chemotherapy in ovarian cancer ascites microenvironment were compared, and new tumor markers were screened for the treatment and prognosis of ovarian cancer.Methods: Thirty-seven cases of ovarian cancer were selected, of which 12 cases had ovarian cancer tissues, ascites supernatant and precipitated cells. By using UHPLC-Q-TOF MS/MS and combined with HMDB database, differential metabolites are identified and then differential pathways are enriched. Results: The results revealed that 10 differential metabolites were screened between chemotherapy and no-chemotherapy groups, and 9 differential metabolites were found in chemotherapy-sensitive and chemotherapy-resistant groups, in the ascites of ovarian cancer. Among the 19 differential metabolites, 9 metabolites combined with serum CA125 were analyzed by receiver operating characteristic analyses, which showed more the predictive value of diagnosis of malignancy. Among them, Tow differential metabolites (2/9) were correlated with the expression of CA125, five differential metabolite (5/9) related enzyme genes were statistically significant in overall survival and progression free survival (PFS) analysis. Four differential metabolites (4/9) were correlated with the expression of uric acid, creatinine, γ-GGT and ALP in serum. Conclusions: The results suggest that differential metabolites are mainly involved in PPAR signal pathway, steroid biosynthesis, fatty acid metabolism, secondary bile acid biosynthesis and so on. Lipid metabolites of ovarian cancer ascites cells may promote fatty acid oxidation by activating AMPK, promote lipid synthesis through mTOR/PPAR, provide energy for cancer cells, inhibit apoptosis and promote metastasis. Thus targeted lipid metabolism signal transduction axis can inhibit ovarian cancer metastasis and drug resistance.


An evaluation on using absorbent materials to control aviation fuel spills was conducted. A literature search was made to determine what materials would be applicable. Three materials were chosen. Evaluations were made on a laboratory scale, a slightly expanded scale on actual pavement, and a full-scale field demonstration under controlled conditions. It was determined that only one of the materials was feasible for the rapid containment of small (10 to 100 gallon) fuel spills. It is recommended that a full-scale evaluation of this product be conducted at an Air Force base.


In this paper, theoretical limits on estimation of respiration rates via pulse-based ultra-wideband (UWB) signals are studied in the presence of prior information about respiration related signal parameters. First, a generalized Cramer-Rao lower bound (G-CRLB) expression is derived, and then simplified versions of the bound are obtained for sinusoidal displacement functions. In addition to the derivation of the theoretical limits, a two-step suboptimal estimator based on matched filter (correlation) processing and maximum a posteriori probability (MAP) estimation is proposed. It is shown that the proposed estimator performs very closely to the theoretical limits under certain conditions. Simulation results are presented to investigate the theoretical results.


The objective of this paper is to explore the peer reviewed literature on green supply chain practices and its performance evaluation with the intention of characterizing the research methodologies used in these areas of research. As indicated by the literature already published there seems to be certain set of methodologies which have mostly been used and that too frequently. Accordingly, there is a need to do a more detailed study that can pinpoint particular research methodologies that are usually used in research related to green supply chain practices and its performance. This paper attempts to achieve the aim by using a keyword search for identifying papers related to green supply chain practices and its performance. Finally the methodologies used are summarized in order of their usage in order to characterize the research methodologies used in linking green supply chain practices and its performance. This will help newer research work to flow in the right direction without reinventing the wheel and also it will act as a ready reference for newer research work to practicing


The design of miniaturized hemodialysis devices, such as wearable artificial kidneys, requires regeneration of the dialysate stream to remove uremic toxins from water. Adsorption has the potential to capture such molecules, but conventional adsorbents have low urea/water selectivity. In this work, we performed a comprehensive computational study of 560 porous crystalline adsorbents comprising mainly covalent organic frameworks (COFs), as well as some siliceous zeolites, metal organic frameworks (MOFs) and graphitic materials. An initial screening using Widom insertion method assessed the excess chemical potential at infinite dilution for water and urea at 310 K, providing information on the strength and selectivity of urea adsorption. From such analysis it was observed that urea adsorption and urea/water selectivity increased strongly with fluorine content in COFs, while other compositional or structural parameters did not correlate with material performance. Two COFs, namely COF-F6 and Tf-DHzDPr were explored further through Molecular Dynamics simulations. The results agree with those of the Widom method and allow to identify the urea binding sites, the contribution of electrostatic and van der Waals interactions, and the position of preferential urea-urea and urea-framework interactions. This study paves the way for a well-informed experimental campaign and accelerates the development of novel sorbents for urea removal, ultimately advancing on the path to achieve wearable artificial kidneys.


WIL2-NS and TK6 are two distinct human lymphoblast cell lines derived from a single male donor. WIL2-NS cells are significantly more resistant to the cytotoxic effects of X-irradiation but considerably more sensitive to induced mutation. In an effort to determine the mechanistic basis for these differences, we analyzed the physical structures of thymidine kinase (tk)-deficient mutants isolated after X-ray treatment of tk heterozygotes derived from TK6 and the more mutable WIL2-NS. Southern analysis showed that while 84% of TK6-derived mutants had arisen by loss of heterozygosity (LOH), all 106 mutants from WIL2-NS derivatives arose with LOH at tk and all but one showed LOH at other linked loci on chromosome 17. We adapted a fluorescence in situ hybridization technique to distinguish between LOH due to deletion, which results in retention of only one tk allele, and LOH due to a mechanism involving the homologous chromosome (e.g., recombination), which results in the retention of two alleles. Among the LOH mutants derived that were analyzed in this way, 9 of 26 from WIL2-NS and 11 of 17 from TK6 cell lines arose by deletion. The remaining mutants retained two copies of the tk gene and thus arose by a mechanism involving the homologous allele. Since many of these mutants arising by a homologous mechanism retained partial heterozygosity of chromosome 17, they must have arisen by recombination or gene conversion, and not chromosome loss and reduplication. Finally, the recombinational capacities of WIL2-NS and TK6 were compared in transfection assays with plasmid recombination substrates. Intermolecular recombination frequencies were greater in WIL2-NS than in TK6. These data are consistent with a model suggesting that a recombinational repair system is functioning at a higher level in WIL2-NS than in TK6; the greater mutability of the tk locus in WIL2-NS results from more frequent inter- and intramolecular recombination events.


For laser welding in shipbuilding industry, gap bridging capability is one of the most important characteristics to achieve the high productivity and good weld quality. Recently, laser-GMA hybrid welding process is regarded as a distinctive method to overcome the tight gap tolerance with improving the productivity. In this study, the influence of process parameters on the bead formation was experimentally analyzed and the relationship between the process parameters and geometric imperfections was investigated. It was revealed that undercut, excessive weld metal, excessive penetration and incompletely filled groove were the major geometric imperfections. The optimized wire feeding and arc pressure were necessary to ensure the gap bridging ability. The approach to select the process parameters was conducted for butt welding with up to 2㎜ joint gap, in which the sound weld beads were generated without changing the welding speed.


Fluids adsorbed in 3D wedges are shown to exhibit two types of continuous interfacial unbinding corresponding to critical and tricritical filling, respectively. Analytic solution of an effective interfacial model based on the transfer-matrix formalism allows us to obtain the asymptotic probability distribution functions for the interfacial height when criticality and tricriticality are approached. Generalised random-walk arguments show that, for systems with short-ranged forces, the critical singularities at these transitions are related to 2D complete and critical wetting with random-bond disorder, respectively.


ADP ribosylation factors (Arfs) are members of a family of Ras-related GTPases that regulate a wide variety of intracellular signaling pathways, including the regulation of membrane traffic and organelle morphology. Arfs perform these functions through interactions with Arf-specific guanine nucleotide exchange factors (GEFs), GTPase activating proteins (GAPs), and effectors. Signaling phosphatidylinositides, most commonly phosphatidylinositol (4,5)-bisphosphate (PI(4,5)P(2)) or phosphatidylinositol (3,4,5)-trisphosphate (PI(3,4,5)P(3)), have been shown previously to regulate the activities of a number of these regulators and effectors of Arf. The ability of Arf itself to bind these same phosphatidylinositides also has been reported previously, though without much structural detail. We investigated the ability of human Arf1.GDP (Arf1.GDP) to bind myo-inositol (1,4,5)-trisphosphate (I(1,4,5)P(3)), the soluble headgroup for PI(4,5)P(2), and a short acyl-chain soluble PI(4,5)P(2) analogue using heteronuclear single quantum coherence (HSQC)-based NMR techniques. A patch of positive electrostatic potential on the surface of Arf1.GDP is identified as being directly involved in ligand binding, but structural and stability changes extending to the N-terminal helix and nucleotide-binding site of Arf1 are also documented. The identified binding site and the resultant structural changes are discussed in terms of a possible influence of phosphatidylinositides on the binding of Arf1 to Arf1-GEF and subsequent nucleotide release.


Owing to the dense internal organization of high-strength concrete, water vapor generated within the concrete cannot be easily discharged to the outside. The increased internal vapor pressure leads to a phenomenon known as spalling. This study investigated the use of fire-protection covering methods for preventing the spalling of high-strength concrete in order to inhibit temperature transmission to concrete structure by covering the material and to minimize the increase in cross-section. The fire-protection covering methods considered included fireproof plaster boards, high-performance fireproof plaster boards, and a composite covering method (fireproof plaster board + intumescent coating system). Among these, the high-performance fireproof plaster board exhibited 20∼40 % higher fire protection performance compared to the regular fireproof plaster board. If the composite covering material is exposed to high-temperature fires, especially above 500°C, a 4 mm-thick intumescent coating system extends up to at least 50 mm, thereby blocking most of the heat transferred inside the board and suppressing the temperature increase within the concrete. The above-mentioned mechanism leads to more than 40 % decrease in the coating thickness. The restrictive application of this method could reinforce fire protection performance on finishing parts of gypsum board in existing buildings.


Periodontal disorders are among the most widespread chronic illnesses globally which impact the tooth-supporting tissues and have a multitude of ramifications for one's quality of life. The purpose of periodontal diagnostic methods is to offer meaningful information to clinicians about the type, location, and severity of periodontal disease so that disease monitoring and therapy may be established. Due to a lack of proper molecular diagnostic tools, their early detection is still difficult. Proteomics, the promising new "omics", has become an important complementary tool to genomics providing novel information and greater insight into biology. The value of multidimensional peptide resolving approaches in the characterisation of complicated proteomes cannot be overstated and thus can very much be used as diagnostic biomarkers in periodontal world. Since proteomics is considered more intricate and complicated than genomics, the sound and rich facts of proteins concerned in periodontitis can be applied in the analysis, avoidance and management of periodontal diseases. Despite several novel protein markers being recently enlisted by discovery proteomics through various methods such as Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA), immunoassays with Mass Spectroscopy (MS), Protein Topography and Migration Analysis platform (ProtoMap), Matrix Assisted Laser Desorption (MALDI) etc., their routine diagnostic application is hampered by the lack of validation platforms that can rapidly, accurately and simultaneous quantify multiple proteins in large populations. Furthermore, saliva contains a non invasively collected store of clinically relevant biomarkers, which, if properly employed, might aid in early illness detection and monitoring. Hence, in this context, this review aims to discuss the unravelling field of proteomics in brief and the scientific sphere of its development from laboratory to clinical practice and its implications in the field of periodontology.


— The use of electronic devices such as smartphones has become a part of daily activities, it also led to the growing number of smartphones users as well as brands emerged. Smartphones can help humans, but it also can endanger the environment and living things, because electronic waste contains hazardous materials that can harm the environment. The implementation of green computing in IT companies can be one of the solutions for facing the electronic waste that keeps growing and one of the IT companies that already implemented it was Apple. By using Structural Equation Modeling – Partial Least Square (SEM-PLS) method, this study aims to examine whether there is a positive influence of environmental friendliness created in the implementation of green computing to green satisfaction, green perceived quality, and green trust. The results showed that there is an influence given by the friendliness of the environment from the implementation of green computing on green satisfaction, green perceived quality and green trust with the highest correlation value, environmental friendliness towards green trust with a value of 0.644 which can be a consideration for IT companies.


In this study, modelling and simulation of synchro and synchro-to-digital converter (SDC) are presented. This study is useful to estimate the shaft position and speed of induction motor using SDC through a synchro. The SDC uses scott-T circuit to convert three signals of synchro into two signals format. The position information of synchro shaft is present in peak amplitudes of scott-T outputs. A demodulator circuit is designed to extract the peak amplitude levels. The quadrant in which the shaft angle falls is determined by quadrant detector. On the basis of the peak amplitude levels and quadrant information, the synchro shaft angle is computed. This method provides shaft position and speed in digital form. The reuse of quadrant detector in the evaluation of shaft speed shows the effectiveness of the proposed scheme.


To explore the predictive efficacy of fragmented red blood cells (FRC) and fragmented red blood cells percentage(FRC%) with regarding for the prognosis of septic patients, along with comparing with routine coagulation parameters. A prospective study was conducted. A total of 101 patients with sepsis who met the requirements admitted to the Intensive Care Department of the Third Xiangya Hospital of Central South University from June 1, 2022 to January 10, 2023 were selected as the research objects, they were divided into survival group and death group according to the 30-day prognosis. The clinical data and laboratory indexes such as FRCs, FRC% and Platelet (PLT) were compared between the survival group and the death group. Univariate logistic regression analysis was used first, then multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to analyze the factors affecting the prognosis. Receiver operator characteristic curve (ROC curve) was drawn to evaluate the predictive value of each parameter in the regression model for the prognosis of sepsis. The results showed that the levels of FRCs, FRC%, prothrombin time (PT), activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT) and D-dimer in death group were significantly higher than those in survival group, and PLT in death group were significantly lower than those in survival group (Z or t values were -3.712,-3.793,-2.119,-2.007,-2.209,all P<0.05). FRCs or FRC% and PLT could be independent predictors of 30-day mortality. The area under the ROC curve (AUC) of PLT for predicting 30-day death in sepsis patients was 0.727 (95%CI 0.629-0.811, P<0.01), when the optimal threshold was 137 ×109/L, the sensitivity was 83.87% and the specificity was 57.14%. The AUC of FRCs for predicting 30-day death in sepsis patients was was 0.732 (95%CI 0.635-0.815, P<0.01), when the optimal threshold was 10.1×109/L, the sensitivity was 77.42%, and the specificity was 67.14%. The AUC of FRC% for predicting 30-day death in sepsis patients was 0.737 (95%CI 0.640-0.820, P<0.01), When the optimal threshold was 0.34%, the sensitivity was 77.42%, and the specificity was 65.71%. In conclusion,PLT, FRCs and FRC% have great application value in the prognosis of sepsis. When the PLT, FRCs and FRC% of sepsis patients are more than 137 ×109/L, 10.1×109/L and 0.34% respectively, it is necessary to take necessary and reasonable clinical intervention measures as soon as possible.


OBJECTIVE
To describe current research in child and adolescent injury prevention by pediatric and public health investigators for comparison with national recommendations and agendas.

DATA SOURCES
Abstracts submitted to the 1998 annual meetings of the Pediatric Academic Societies/Ambulatory Pediatrics Association and the American Public Health Association on injury or violence in children or adolescents.

STUDY SELECTION
All abstracts of projects that addressed primarily injury or violence prevention involving children or adolescents.

DATA EXTRACTION
For 123 abstracts, 2 coauthors extracted and classified age of the population, type of injury, study design, sizes of the sample and denominator, and type of outcome.

RESULTS
Adolescents were the most frequent (49%) age group included. The investigations were concerned most with injuries caused by violence (33%), followed by motor vehicle trauma (14%) and burns (7%). Descriptive surveillance (38%), surveys (32%), and case series (13%) comprised the overwhelming majority of methods used. The studies primarily sought to identify risk factors for injury (32%), describe the victims (20%), or measure knowledge and/or practice (26%). Nine studies (7%) sought to measure the effect of interventions in some way, and only 2 focused primarily on methodology development.

CONCLUSIONS
Injury prevention research projects presented at the 1998 Pediatric Academic Societies and American Public Health Association meetings were proportionate to the frequencies of injury by age and by external cause in the United States. However, in comparison with recommendations for agendas of national injury prevention research, more research is needed to improve injury prevention methods and to evaluate interventions.