. We develop a general Bayesian semiparametric change-point model in which separate groups of structural parameters (for example, location and dispersion parameters) can each follow a separate multiple change-point process, driven by time-dependent transition matrices among the latent regimes. The distribution of the observations within regimes is unknown and given by a Dirichlet process mixture prior. The properties of the proposed model are studied theoretically through the analysis of inter-arrival times and of the number of change-points in a given time interval. The prior-posterior analysis by Markov chain Monte Carlo techniques is developed on a forward-backward algorithm for sampling the various regime indicators. Analysis with simulated data under various scenarios and an application to short-term interest rates are used to show the generality and usefulness of the proposed model.


The Google Earth (GE) and Geographical Information System (GIS) based software are widely used for assessment of land use. GE software provides free images in high resolution that give some prospects of recent land use land cover. The GIS is used as a tool to find out the impact of developmental activities around the cities. The present study demonstrates the applicability of GE software for assessment of land use around highly populous business centre of Lucknow city using ArcGIS v 9.3 software and High Resolution Google Earth's Quickbird satellite data. The study has been carried out in 12 km radius around Hazratganj Square at Lucknow city. The total study area covered about 71585.29 acres (289.70 km2) land that is classified into residential, offices, park, water body, green land, and rail/road and open land. The findings explore the different land use, which include residential (53.53%), offices (8.6%), parks/playgrounds (2.46%), green patch (10.52%), river/water bodies (17.48%), rail/road (1.53%), open land (3.37%) and agricultural land (2.52%). The results reveal that the residential area has been growing rapidly. These results can boost the planners and policy maker's knowledge to attain and sustain future urban development.


The effects of different methods of applying procymidone, either alone or combined, were evaluated for control of white rot (caused by Sclerotium cepivorum Berk.) in onions at 2 sites in Victoria.Field trials at Colac showed that seed treatments combined with sprays to the soil surface gave the most effective control of white rot, reducing disease from 78 to 16% and increasing yields from 5.7 to 14.6 t/ha in brown onions. Sprays applied to the soil surface at 2.5 kg a.i./ha had no effect on emergence and reduced disease incidence from 65.3 to 21.7%. Seed treatment at 25 g procymidone/kg seed delayed the onset of disease by 80 days and reduced disease incidence by 30%. The same treatment also reduced plant emergence by more than 27% and, therefore, did not increase yields. Dispersible granules (5 or 10%; at 2.5 kg procymidone/ha) were as effective as the soil sprays at sowing. Stem base sprays applied 11 and 19 weeks after sowing reduced disease incidence slightly but did not increase yields. Procymidone applied with bands of fertiliser 2 or 5 cm below the seed was not effective. Two formulations of procymidone, Sumisclex 500 (50% a.i.) and 275 Flocol (27.5% a.i.), were equally effective in controlling white rot. At Lang Lang, root-dips of 14-week-old seedlings in 5 g procymidone/L reduced white rot in transplanted white globe onions. Procymidone concentrations of 0.05-50 g a.i./L applied for periods ranging from 2 s to 30 min had no effect on plant establishment in a glasshouse.


We recently studied a patient who meets criteria for autistic disorder and has a 2q37 deletion. Molecular cytogenetic studies were carried out using DNA isolated from 22 different 2q37 mapped BACs to more precisely define the extent of the chromosome deletion. We also analyzed 2q37 mapped polymorphic markers. In addition DNA sequences of BACs in the deletion region were scanned to identify microsatellite repeats. We describe four new polymorphic microsatellite repeat markers in the 2q37.3 region. These markers enabled us to determine the parental origin of the deletion in our patient. DNA from 8–13 unrelated individuals was used to determine heterozygosity estimates for these markers. We review four genes deleted in our patient – genes whose known functions and sites of expression in the brain and/or bone make them candidates for involvement in autism and/or the osteodystrophy observed in patients with 2q37.3 deletions.


Histological and ultrastructural findings obtained upon examination of a liver biopsy specimen from a 2 year old girl with primary ornithine transcarbamylase (OTC) deficiency are presented. The OTC activity in the hepatic tissue of the patient was 7% that of the normal level. Light microscopic observation showed diffusely swollen hepatocytes with pale or empty cytoplasm due to accumulation of glycogen. Neither fat degeneration nor necrosis was evident. Electron microscopy revealed strikingly abnormal hepatocyte mitochondria, which showed marked polymorphism with elongation and enlargement, ring or dumbbell shaped configurations, and irregular distribution and shortening of the cristae. Mitochondria showing degenerative alterations such as swelling and rarefaction, which have been reported in cases of Reye's syndrome, were present, but their number was very small. Other organelles showed no remarkable change. It is suggested that the mitochondrial changes seen in OTC deficiency are essentially different from those in Reye's syndrome, which otherwise is clinically and biochemibcally very similar to OTC deficiency. Acta Pathol Jpn 39: 451 456, 1989.


In this article, the method of resonant tunneling through a double-pair potential barrier to induce spin-polarized current in the 2D-electron gas (2DEG) of a high-electron-mobility-transistor (HEMT) heterostructure is discussed. The effect of electrical barriers which can be conveniently established by applying electrical voltage to the ferromagnetic gates of the HEMT device. The electrical potential could be utilized here to control not only the spin current, but also the charge current. The pre-requisite is symmetrical magnetic potential (Ay) must first be established along the 2DEG x-axis by magnetizing the ferromagnetic gates accordingly. Subsequent application of asymmetrical electric potential turns on spin current, while symmetrical potential turns off spin current. However, charge current persists even in the absence of spin current. Increasing the strength of the symmetrical electric potential switches off both charge and spin current.


Abstract - The application field of the pulse power is very wide. Recently, Pulse power technologies take a large place in several applications. Then, many civil and military applications proceed. Marx generator is widely used in high voltage applications. Marx generator is widely used in high voltage applications, such as eletromagnetic wave and power lasers. This paper, we described about the high voltage pulse generator. A compact size high voltage pulse generator with nanosecnd rise time has been fabricated and investigated experimentally. The marx generator has 2 stages. Each stage was constructed one charging capacitor, two electrodes and one charging resistor. A inductance structure is used in order to improve the switching performances fo the whole generator. The experiments of rise time in pure gas and mixtures of gases were described. We tested the Marx generator at different insulation gas. the results show that the dielectric strength of the N 2 -SF 6 mixture was significantly increased compared with pure nitrogen gas. The experimental results show that the rise time characteristics of the Marx generator can be controlled through varying insulation gas.Key Words : Pulse power, Compact size, Marx generator, Insulation gas, Pure gas*준 회 원 : 인하대학교 전기공학과 통합과정** 시니어회원 : 인하대학교 전기공학과 교수*** 비 회 원 : 국방과학연구소 책임연구원† 교신저자, 준회원: 인하대학교 전기공학과 석사과정E-mail : firstname.lastname@example.com 접수일자 : 2010년 5월 4일 최종완료 : 2010년 8월 30일


A soft porous material [Zn(L)2(OH)2]n·Guest (where L is 4-(1H-naphtho[2,3-d]imidazol-1-yl)benzoate, and Guest is water or methanol) exhibits the strongest ever observed negative area compressibility (NAC), an extremely rare property, as at hydrostatic pressure most materials shrink in all directions and few expand in one direction. This is the first NAC reported in metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), and its magnitude, clearly visible and by far the highest of all known materials, can be reversibly tuned by exchanging guests adsorbed from hydrostatic fluids. This counterintuitive strong NAC of [Zn(L)2(OH)2]n·Guest arises from the interplay of flexible [-Zn-O(H)-]n helices with layers of [-Zn-L-]4 quadrangular puckered rings comprising large channel voids. The compression of helices and flattening of puckered rings combine to give a giant piezo-mechanical response, applicable in ultrasensitive sensors and actuators. The extrinsic NAC response to different hydrostatic fluids is due to varied host-guest interactions affecting the mechanical strain within the range permitted by exceptionally high flexibility of the framework.


This study aims to observe the determination of the beginning of the Hijri month in the implementation of Islamic holidays and contribute to modern society. The implementation of this research uses phenomenological methods and scientific approach methods, where both methods will combine several conjunction theories that occur with the results of observations. The Ministry of Religion of the Republic of Indonesia made observations with several criteria used from observations in 1970 with the height of the new moon 2°, the elongation distance between the moon and the sun reaching 3° is the distance between the moon and the sun. The age of the sun and moon when it reaches 8 hours from ijtima. The results found are that for now, with light pollution, the new moon, an object, cannot reach a height of < 2° because the parameter in determining the image of the crescent moon is the object in the form of a thin and dim line. It is concluded that the observation of the new moon with a height of < 2° could not observe, either by using tools or with the naked eye. So science is the solution to understand the theory and implementation of determining the beginning of the Hijri month.


Audio augmented reality systems overlay the physical world with a virtual audio space. Today's smartphones provide enough processing power to create the impression of virtual sound sources being located in the real world. To achieve this, information about the user's location and orientation is necessary which requires additional hardware. In a real-world installation, however, we observed that instead of turning their head to localize sounds, users tend to turn their entire body. Therefore, we suggest to simply measure orientation of the user's body - or even just the mobile device she is holding - to generate the spatial audio. To verify this approach, we present two studies: Our first study in examines the user's head, body, and mobile device orientation when moving through an audio augmented reality system in a lab setting. Our second study analyzes the user experience in a real-world installation when using head, body, or device orientation to control the audio spatialization. We found that when navigating close to sound sources head tracking is necessary, but that it can potentially be replaced by device tracking in larger or more explorative usage scenarios. These findings help reduce the technical complexity of mobile audio augmented reality systems (MAARS), and enable their wider dissemination as mobile software-only apps.


The detonation of a helium shell on top of a carbon-oxygen white dwarf has been argued as a potential explosion mechanism for type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia). The ash produced during helium shell burning can lead to light curves and spectra that are inconsistent with normal SNe Ia, but may be viable for some objects showing a light curve bump within the days following explosion. We present a series of radiative transfer models designed to mimic predictions from double detonation explosion models. We consider a range of core and shell masses, and systematically explore multiple post-explosion compositions for the helium shell. We find that a variety of luminosities and timescales for early light curve bumps result from those models with shells containing 56Ni, 52Fe, or 48Cr. Comparing our models to SNe Ia with light curve bumps, we find that these models can reproduce the shapes of almost all of the bumps observed, but only those objects with red colours around maximum light (B − V & 1) are well matched throughout their evolution. Consistent with previous works, we also show that those models in which the shell does not contain iron-group elements provide good agreement with normal SNe Ia of different luminosities from shortly after explosion up to maximum light. While our models do not amount to positive evidence in favour of the double detonation scenario, we show that provided the helium shell ash does not contain iron-group elements, it may be viable for a wide range of normal SNe Ia.


Introduction: There are many techniques to correct the hallux deformity. Most of them include metatarsal and/or phalanx osteotomies. Akin osteotomy of the proximal phalanx is used to correct the distal articular set angle or the interphalangeal angle. However, indications for distal phalanx osteotomy remain unpublished. The aim of this study is to prove the benefit of performing an osteotomy on the distal phalanx in some cases to correct hallux deformities. Methods. We report 9 cases in which osteotomy of the distal phalanx was performed to correct the hallux deformity. Radiographic measurements were performed on standing dorsoplantar radiographs to analyze the distal articular set angle, interphalangeal obliquity, interphalangeal angle, and metatarsophalangeal angles. The cases are described. The surgical technique was performed by minimal incision surgery using fluoroscopy. The clinical results were evaluated by the VAS and the AOFAS forefoot scale. The mean follow-up was 92 months. Result: The clinical results for all the patients were excellent, pain was relieved and deformities were corrected. The DASA, interphalgeal obliquity, interphalangeal angle and F2-metatarsophalangeal angle where rectified. The patients where highly satisfied with both the aesthetic and functional results. Only three cases have been performed within the last two years, and long-term results remain to be evaluated. However, over a 10-year follow-up, the correction made in the remaining five cases has persisted. Conclusion: Correction of a Hallux Valgus deformity can be achieved with an osteotomy of the proximal phalanx. In cases with valgus deviation in the distal phalanx, a corrective osteotomy of F2 alone or associated with osteotomy of the proximal phalanx should be considered.


Paupathy (1992) defines education as the development in knowledge, skill, ability or character by teaching, training, study or experience. Computers and other technologies address these components, by increasing knowledge, using skills, and providing experience and training that will help them throughout their life. In former President Clinton's State of the Union address, he stated that we must bring the power of the information age into all of our schools (1996). His statement indicates the importance of computers and technology in the classroom and society. As technology continues to advance, educators are going to be forced to keep and integrate this advancing technology into their classrooms. Some benefits to teachers of using computers and technology are: they increase variety of classroom instruction, it is a great source of communication, a source of information and resources, are productive and motivational, and is an alternate teaching method to name a few. Technology increases variety in the classroom by, allowing the teacher to break away from daily lectures and use tools such as PowerPoint to interest students. Computers are a great source of communication in which they allow teachers to communicate with other teachers and students by email or electronic bulletin boards. Electronic bulletin boards are an excellent way for teachers to answer a student's question that may be too shy to ask in class. They also serve as a way to post assignments. The Internet in particular is a great source of information and resources. A teacher can research any topic on the web to gather information for a lesson. Technology can be used as an alternate teaching method. One example is having students break into groups and do web searches for information on a particular subject then report to the class. Computers and technology also allow rural areas to be in contact with the global community. This introduces the teacher and students to the issues and problems that are influencing the world around us. Computers also help teachers with organization and, according to Layfield and Scanlon (1998), have been proven to improve their general attitude towards teaching. A final benefit to teachers is that the Internet's information is available at all times. Students also benefit from computers and technology. Several benefits are group collaboration, a place to exchange information, paced learning, access to world resources, and computer skills. According to McLoughlin and Oliver (1998), group collaboration at computers encourages students to share ideas in ways that support cognitive and thinking processes. McLoughlin and Oliver (1998) also found that group work with computers increases problem solving capabilities and higher-order thinking, and development of writing skills and literary uses of language. Electronic bulletin boards serve as a great way for students to exchange information ranging from text, graphics, or audio clips. These bulletin boards also can allow the students to communicate with their teacher after school hours. Internet courses allow students to pace their learning. All students learn at different levels and speeds, and the Internet can allow students to learn at their own pace. The Internet gives students access to investigate worldwide problems and issues. Computers and the Internet provide students with an unlimited resource that is available at all times for curricula and classroom activities. Technology and computers teach students the most common applications such as, word processing, spreadsheets, and basic computer skills that "are important for all educated members of society to acquire." (Robertson, Calder, Fung, Jones, and O'Shea, 1997). Students learn by doing, and using the Internet or computers to complete a class assignment is teaching them not only the class assignment but also computer skills that will be important for them to have to survive in society. …


Facial aging can degrade the face recognition performance dramatically. Traditional face recognition studies focus on dealing with pose, illumination, and expression (PIE) changes. Considering a large span of age difference, the influence of facial aging could be very significant compared to the PIE variations. How big the aging influence could be? What is the relation between recognition accuracy and age intervals? Can soft biometrics be used to improve the face recognition performance under age variations? In this paper we address all these issues. First, we investigate the face recognition performance degradation with respect to age intervals between the probe and gallery images on a very large database which contains about 55,000 face images of more than 13,000 individuals. Second, we study if soft biometric traits, e.g., race, gender, height, and weight, could be used to improve the cross-age face recognition accuracies, and how useful each of them could be.


The grain-filling rate (GFR) plays an important role in determining grain yield. An F2 population of wheat was developed from a cross between the 2 wheat cultivars, Ksu106 (heat-tolerant) and Yecora Rojo (heat-sensitive). The parents and 205 F 2 plants were planted on the 20 th of January during the winter season of 2009 to evaluate heat tolerance during the grain-filling period. The sowing date in the present investigation represents the heat stress conditions in Saudi Arabia. Bulked – segregant analyses (BSA) was used in conjunction with simple sequence repeats (SSR) analysis to find markers linked to genes of heat tolerance. Composite interval mapping was used for mapping quantitative trait loci (QTL). The results reveal that 12 SSR markers: Wmc24, Wmc168, Wmc326, Xgwm30, Xgwm456, Wmc25, Wmc44, Wmc94, Wmc161, Wmc273, Wmc327 and Xgwm566 were linked to GFR by QTLs analysis of the F 2  population. The results show that regression analysis for the relationship between the 12 markers and the phenotypes of F 2 individuals were highly significant. The results demonstrate that SSR markers combined with bulked segregant analysis could be used to identify molecular markers linked to the grain filling rate as an indicator for heat tolerance in wheat. Keywords: Grain filling rate, QTL analysis, SSR marker, wheat


1H 0323+342 is a γ-ray-loud narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy (NLS1). The variability mechanism of γ-ray-loud NLS1s remains unclear. We have observed 1H 0323+342 photometrically from 2006 to 2010 with a total of 41 nights of observations in order to constrain the variability mechanism. Intraday variabilities (IDVs) are detected on four nights. When considering the nights with time spans > 2 hours, the duty cycle is 28.3%. The average variability amplitude is 10.8% for IDVs and possibly variable nights. In the color–magnitude diagram, there are bluer-when-brighter chromatic trends for intraday and long-term timescales, which could be explained by the shock-in-jet model, and also could possibly be due to two distinct components or an accretion disk model.


Piperine is a pungent alkaloid found in many species of the genus Piper. The structure of this molecule somewhat resembles that of capsaicin, another culinary alkaloid, and the best known of the vanilloid receptor-1 (TRPV1) agonists. Recent studies have demonstrated that piperine can modulate gastrointestinal transit and may even have a gastroprotective effect (Szolcsanyi & Bartho 2001). We describe here our efforts to characterise the effects of piperine at human TRPV1 using electrophysiological methods.


Many presidential observers argue that the modern White House is the site of more-or-less permanent campaigning. In a recent POQ piece, Murray and Howard (2002) [Public Opinion Quarterly 66:527–558] explore one indicator of the "permanent campaign," the extent to which Presidents Carter, Reagan, G.H.W. Bush, and Clinton commissioned independent opinion polls and focus groups to assist in policymaking and political maneuvering. Murray and Howard suggest that while a sophisticated polling operation has been institutionalized in the White House, there is substantial variation in how much a president uses this operation. In this article, we model presidential polling expenditures over time using monthly figures. We find that presidents do not vary significantly in the average amount spent per month on polls. There are, however, two recurring patterns of variation within presidential administrations: Presidents tend to spend significantly more on internal polling during the most intense months of a presidential reelection campaign; and polling expenditures increase over the course of each presidential term. These findings suggest that there are common forces (e.g., elections, natural decline in support) that have driven all presidents since Ford to poll.


For certain postulated severe accident conditions such as a loss of piping integrity and a loss of heat sink in connection with liquid-metal fast breeder reactor safety analysis, the process of decay heat removal can lead to coolant boiling. For such low-heat-flux/low-flow conditions, a dryout or critical heat flux criterion is required in order to assess the potential for fuel pin failure and melting. Computer codes and full-scale experimental data are not available to completely address this problem at this time. Based on the interpretation of available experimental data and new analyses, it is concluded that a typical subassembly can be safely cooled (avoid dryout) under natural convection conditions for heat fluxes below about 8 to 10% of the average nominal power; i.e., decay heat power levels can be safely accommodated in the natural convective regime. Furthermore, since this coolability limit is predicted to be rather insensitive to the subcooling value, it follows that the safety case relative to decay heat removal for an intact core geometry also becomes essentially independent of detailed accident conditions such as the potential for temporary stagnated flow or inlet flow reversal conditions.


Sulfamethoxazole (SMX), a hormone-mediated rodent-specific nongenotoxic carcinogen, was administered to CB6F1 mice carrying a human prototype c-Ha-ras gene (Tg-rasH2) at doses of 0, 25, 100 or 400 mg/kg/day and to the wild-type mice at a dose of 400 mg/kg/day in feed for 26 weeks to evaluate the carcinogenicity and to validate the Tg-rasH2 model. N-Methyl-N-nitrosourea was administered at an intraperitoneal dose of 75 mg/kg to Tg-rasH2 as a positive control and the experimental system was confirmed to be valid. Histopathological examination revealed adenomas of the lung and Harderian gland and hemangiosarcoma of the spleen at low frequencies in the Tg-rasH2 treated with SMX; however, no statistically significant differences were observed either in the onset or prevalence rates of these neoplasms compared with that in the control group. Between the wild-type mice and Tg-rasH2, the onset rate and prevalence of the neoplasms were not significantly different, but the neoplasms tended to be more frequent in Tg-rasH2 mice showing a sensitivity to tumorigenicity. Follicular epithelial cell hyperplasia was observed in the thyroid gland in the groups of Tg-rasH2 given 100 mg/kg SMX or more, but no neoplastic lesion was observed. SMX was judged to be negative for carcinogenic potential in Tg-rasH2 in the present study.


This paper describes and discusses strategies for screening microsatellites for use in plant genetic research and illustrates how a subset of useful microsatellites can be optimised for implementation on breeding and research using a range of techniques. Beginning with the initial screening of microsatellites for potential polymorphisms in a core set of potential parental lines, through to scaling up for mapping or breeding purposes, we present a time- and cost-effective approach to microsatellite analysis in wheat lines of interest. Each stage of this process benefits from a fresh examination of the techniques applied in order to increase the efficiency with which key markers can be identified and implemented. For the primary screening we use primers without modification to prime PCRs in the presence of f-dNTP (fluorescently labelled nucleotide) to provide the basis for high resolution screening for polymorphisms. As markers are defined for use in a breeding program, the focus changes to a smaller set of primer pairs that will be used to screen large numbers of DNA samples either from the analysis of progeny from a cross or the routine checking of cultivar identity in the industry. We then examine appropriate analysis platforms and refinement of PCR primers and conditions in order to identify procedures that can be implemented widely, not just in specialised well-equipped laboratories. In many cases we are able to use lower cost agarose analysis for identified polymorphisms. Where this is not feasable we examine primers for potential redesign to optimise their application either by altering the sequence of the primer itself, based on available sequence information, or by adding tails to the primers. The latter is shown to alter the 'stutter' pattern that is commonly observed with wheat microsatellites so that a single band is prominent and thus allows size polymorphisms to be more readily scored. The addition of a generic 5′ tail also provides a method of using a generic fluorescent primer that can be applied to multiple tagged markers in a costeffective fashion. The potential of alternative analytical systems and further refinement of primers to show plus/minus reactions with wheat lines in order to produce simple tests for use in breeding programs are also discussed.


Smartphones, the devices we carry everywhere with us, are being heavily tracked and have undoubtedly become a major threat to our privacy. As " Tracking the trackers " has become a necessity, various static and dynamic analysis tools have been developed in the past. However, today, we still lack suitable tools to detect, measure and compare the ongoing tracking across mobile OSs. To this end, we propose MobileAppScrutinator, based on a simple yet efficient dynamic analysis approach, that works on both Android and iOS (the two most popular OSs today). To demonstrate the current trend in tracking, we select 140 most representative Apps available on both Android and iOS AppStores and test them with MobileAppScrutinator. In fact, choosing the same set of apps on both Android and iOS also enables us to compare the ongoing tracking on these two OSs. Finally, we also discuss the effectiveness of privacy safeguards available on Android and iOS. We show that neither Android nor iOS privacy safeguards in their present state are completely satisfying.


The recently implemented algorithm for calculating the leading relativistic corrections for D states of an atom with an arbitrary number of electrons is used to perform calculations of the lowest eleven Rydberg states of lithium. The corrections are obtained as expectation values of the corresponding relativistic operators with the non-relativistic wave functions expanded in terms of all-electron explicitly correlated Gaussian (ECG) functions. The wave functions are generated using the standard variational method and the finite-nuclear-mass (FNM) approach. The non-linear parameters of the ECGs are variationally optimised using a algorithm that employs the analytical energy gradient determined with respect to these parameters. Infinite-nuclear-mass calculations are also performed. The calculated FNM state energies for Li and Li are used to calculate isotopic shifts of the inter-state transition energies. The calculated interstate transitions are in good agreement with the high-quality experimental results. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT


Abstract Despite the lack of cooperation in other issue areas, EU–Russia migration cooperation has been fruitful to the present. The internal security driven EU migration policy towards third countries has so far led to the conclusion of readmission and visa facilitation agreements as policy outputs in Russia. This article looks at the patterns of policy convergence between the EU and Russia in light of the Common Space of Freedom, Security and Justice in the fields of irregular and regular migration. It claims that Russia's leverage vis-à-vis the Union shaped the migration policy output, in which the visa facilitation regime was introduced as an incentive to readmission. Finally, it stresses the role of Russia in shaping the EU external dimension towards Eastern European countries, once the readmission–visa facilitation nexus has been institutionalised to all the countries in the area.


We distinguished the four OXA-type carbapenemase subgroup alleles present in 120 strains of Acinetobacter baumannii by using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and investigated the distributions of the OXA subgroups in clinically isolated samples. Amplification of the OXA genes blaOXA-23, blaOXA-24, blaOXA-51, and blaOXA-58 was performed by multiplex PCR. Antibiotics susceptibility test was conducted for determine the sensitivity of the A. baumannii to clinical common used antibiotics by Kirby-Bauer method. Results revealed that 46 (51.69%) of the samples were positive for only the blaOXA51 gene and 41 (46.07%) were positive for both the blaOXA51 and blaOXA58 genes in the 89 isolates of A. baumannii. Among these, 45 were carbapenem-resistant and 44 carbapenem-sensitive. Strains containing either blaOXA51 or blaOXA58 showed resistance or sensitivity to carbapenems, respectively. A. baumannii isolated from intensive care units showed significantly higher resistance rate to Cefepime, Piperacillin-tazobactam, Amikacin, Ceftazidime, Cefotaxime, Sulfamethoxazole-trimethoprim, and Gentamicin than those isolated from other departments (P < 0.05). In conclusion, we found that the presence of blaOXA-51 and blaOXA-58 appears to convey a mechanism of resistance or sensitivity to carbapenems, respectively, in A. baumannii clinical isolates.


50 manic-depressive patients with rapid cycles received lithium for more than 1 year, during depression they received antidepressant drugs. Response was poor in 36, partial in 6, and good in 8. 21 of the poor responders were persuaded to endure depression without antidepressants; anxiolytics were allowed, 15 stabilized after the end of the untreated depression or after a few milder, shorter episodes; 4 improved partially; 2 were unchanged. 15 other rapid cycle patients started on lithium and stopped antidepressants at the same time. Response was good in 13, partial in 1, and poor in 1. Patients with a course of depression-hypomania (or mania)-free interval also responded poorly to prophylactic lithium when the depression was treated with antidepressants. They responded well when antidepressants were withdrawn. Antidepressants often cause or accentuate a switch from depression to hypomania or mania, and temporary refractoriness to lithium of the hypomania or mania. In this way lithium fails to prevent depression.


The link between habitual short sleep and obesity is critically examined from a sleep perspective. Sleep estimates are confounded by 'time in bed', naps; the normal distribution of sleep duration. Wide categorizations of 'short sleep', with claims that <7 h sleep is associated with obesity and morbidity, stem from generalizations from 5 h sleepers (<8% of adults) and acute restriction studies involving unendurable sleepiness. Statistically significant epidemiological findings are of questionable clinical concern, even for 5 h sleepers, as any weight gains accumulate slowly over years; easily redressed by e.g. short exercise exposures, contrasting with huge accumulations of 'lost' sleep. Little evidence supports 'more sleep', alone, as an effective treatment for obesity. Impaired sleep quality and quantity are surrogates for many physical and psychological disorders, as can be obesity. Advocating more sleep, in these respects, could invoke unwarranted use of sleep aids including hypnotics. Inadequate sleep in obese children is usually symptomatic of problems not overcome by increasing sleep alone. Interestingly, neuropeptides regulating interactions between sleep, locomotion and energy balance in normal weight individuals, are an avenue for investigation in some obese short sleepers. The real danger of inadequate sleep lies with excessive daytime sleepiness, not obesity.


The frequency of workers adopting different behaviours often depends on thresholds. If too few workers are foraging, for example, then those workers with relatively low foraging thresholds begin to collect food. The regulation of colony phenotype is controlled by frequency-dependent feedback among worker threshold values. I show that, for a given average threshold value among workers, variability in thresholds influences the frequency of workers that adopt a particular behaviour. This conclusion applies whenever the tendency of a developmental unit to adopt a particular phenotype depends on the frequency of other units with that phenotype. Social insects are unusual, however, because the distribution of thresholds among developmental units (workers) depends on the number of times the queen has mated.


Spectral image reconstruction is an important task in snapshot compressed imaging. This paper aims to propose a new end-to-end framework with iterative capabilities similar to a deep unfolding network to improve reconstruction accuracy, independent of optimization conditions, and to reduce the number of parameters. A novel framework called the reversible-prior-based method is proposed. Inspired by the reversibility of the optical path, the reversible-prior-based framework projects the reconstructions back into the measurement space, and then the residuals between the projected data and the real measurements are fed into the network for iteration. The reconstruction subnet in the network then learns the mapping of the residuals to the true values to improve reconstruction accuracy. In addition, a novel spectral-spatial transformer is proposed to account for the global correlation of spectral data in both spatial and spectral dimensions while balancing network depth and computational complexity, in response to the shortcomings of existing transformer-based denoising modules that ignore spatial texture features or learn local spatial features at the expense of global spatial features. Extensive experiments show that our SST-ReversibleNet significantly outperforms state-of-the-art methods on simulated and real HSI datasets, while requiring lower computational and storage costs. https://github.com/caizeyu1992/SST


Abstract Using theoretical principles, the components of drag (friction D F, pressure D PR and wave D W) of a single-seat kayak were analysed. The purpose was to examine the effect of changes in wetted surface area due to changes in kayaker's weight and the relative contribution of D F, D PR and D W to the total passive drag as function of velocity. The total passive drag values were based on experimental data collected in a single-seat kayak. Three different kayaker simulated weights were tested – 65, 75 and 85 kg. D F was the drag component that contributed the greatest percentage (between 60 and 68% at 5.56 m/s the top velocity tested) to the total passive drag for all the velocities tested and simulated weights. D W was the most affected by the increase in kayaker's simulated weight, mainly when comparing 65/75 to 85 kg. Results support the importance of a kayak design selection that minimises the kayak's drag for the individual weight of the kayaker. Also, the results suggest that the path for better hydrodynamic kayak performance should seek changes that can reduce D F, D PR and D W with D F offering the most potential to reduce passive drag.


Abstract. Askary M, Talebi SM, Amini F, Bangan ADB. 2016. Effects of stress on foliar trichomes plasticity in Mentha piperita. Nusantara Bioscience 8: 32-38. Mentha piperita is considered as the most economically important aromatic as well as medicinal herb of Labiatae family. This medicinal herb has traditionally been used to treat a variety of digestive complaints. In the present study, effects of twenty treatments of salt and nanoparticles of Iron oxide were examined on the leaf trichomes morphology of M. piperita samples. In total twenty solutions, combinations of four salt concentrations with five iron oxide nanoparticles concentrations were used for the treatments. Different kinds of glandular and non-glandular trichomes were found in the studied plant samples. Glandular trichomes were seen in the shapes of peltate, short-stalked capitate and non-stalked and non-glandular ones were unbranched and had one to seven cells. The obtained results showed that the kind and abundant of trichomes differed between the studied treatments. Statistical analyses showed significant positive correlations between salt concentrations with trichomes density. While, negative significant correlations have occurred between concentrations of nanoparticle of iron oxide with some kinds of trichomes.


This paper presents a numerical and experimental verification of an approximate but efficient integral equation technique for the scattering by apertures in conducting planes with finite thicknesses. The approach is based on a perturbation method and modified Green's functions that take into account the finite metallization thickness. The computational effort and time needed for solving the problem are the same as in zero-thickness case. When compared to full-wave cavity treatment of thick apertures, the method is (depending on the number of unknowns) at least an order of magnitude faster. The method can be applied even to apertures of arbitrary shapes where computing the cavity's Green's functions is a difficult task. The results of simulations using the new approach show good agreement when compared to both results from full-wave cavity approach and measurements.


Islam commands work as worship to seek sustenance from God in order to meet their needs. Work to obtain sustenance halalan thayiban included in jihad fi sabilillah whose value is equal to implement the pillars of Islam. Working in the view of Islam is not just a work or work carelessly. But there are values that must be considered and practiced by every Muslim who works. These values is ihsan (good), jiddiyah (integrity), and itqan (professional). The professionalism of the Prophet Muhammad in business clung to his nature and the nature of his virtues which Siddiq, amanah, fathanah and istiqamah . Siddiq properties are trustworthy and honest. Fathonah nature is to be smart. The nature of amanah is to carry out the tasks assigned and tablig are capable of doing good communication and constancy is firm stance and not easily discouraged. Professionals equated with Itqan. Itqan means doing at the best possible quality. Work professionally (Itqan) means devoting the best minds, the best focus, the best coordination, the best spirit and the best raw materials that are expected to produce the best as well. The best quality we have to do in all aspects of life, including in business. Prophet has declared the importance of quality in the work and serve. Business is the process of selling the works, products and services. The quality of our work will determine the reciprocation of our business. For that build professional attitude in business is very important in order to get the best results.


The present study is both a review regarding the newest methodologies of application of antibacterial agents on textile supports, natural and chemical, and an antithesis focusing on the comparison between well known antibacterial agents, ranging from synthetic organic compounds such as thriclosan, chitosan, quaternary ammonium compounds, polybiguanides, N-halamines, to metals such as silver. Different methodologies of application, their evaluation, as well as their advantages are presented. Regarding the antimicrobial products, the review is dealing with antibiotics and antimicrobial peptides, on one side, and natural extracts as colorants, on the other side. The immobilization of known compounds from the peptabiotic class of peptides has been recently investigated through their covalent bonding to the cellulosic and previously grafted cellulosic substrates. The number of bio-functional textiles with antimicrobial activity has increased considerably in the last decades. Subsequently, technologies of the application of the antimicrobial agents need to adapt to the medical and hygienic textiles requirements, and not only. Antimicrobial textiles with nontoxic bioactive compounds used in the bio-medical field for the purpose of addressing hygiene in clinical and sensitive environments by minimizing the conditions for microbial colonization of textiles, are presented and investigated. Natural dyes are nontoxic, biodegradable and do not cause pollution and waste water issues, and may show antimicrobial properties. Antimicrobials based on naturally-derived products have been increasingly studied, such as green walnut shells, gallnut, citrus fruit, henna, pomegranate, raspberry extract dyes applied on cellulosic, proteinic and synthetic fibers supports. The review emphasizes the idea that alternative antimicrobial agents represent a suitable substitute for classic antibiotics and demonstrates potentially broad applications in medical textiles, being entitled as sustainable methodologies. The best antimicrobial technologies for textiles should minimize potential risks while providing durable functionality and associated benefits.


Nuclear fragment yield data has been analyzed using the Landau free energy description to investigate the critical phenomena in the fragmentation of quasiprojectile in the reactions 78,86Kr+58,64Ni at beam energy of 35 MeV/nucleon. The data on mirror nuclei yield ratio for A=3 and 7 showed an exponential dependence on the isospin asymmetry of the quasiprojectile as predicted by the Landau free energy approach. The slope parameter, obtained from linear fit to the plots of the logarithm of mirror nuclei yield ratios as a function of isospin asymmetry of the fragmenting source provided a reasonable estimate of the nuclear symmetry energy, and showed a systematic decrease with increasing excitation energy of the quasiprojectile.


PURPOSES : The objective of this study is to evaluate the early adhesive characteristic of asphalt emulsions, including polymer-modified emulsions, for chip seals using the surface energy concept, the bitumen bond strength (BBS) test, and the Vialit test. METHODS : Two general methods, the BBS test and Vialit test, were applied to investigate the bond strength and the aggregate loss, respectively. A new theory, the surface free energy (SFE) theory, was used to evaluate the adhesive characteristic between the emulsion and the aggregate. Based on the theory, the contact angles were measured, and then the surface energy components were calculated. Using those components, the work of adhesion (Wa) was calculated for each emulsion. To ensure reliable results, all the tests were performed under the same conditions, i.e., at for 240 minutes of curing time. For the materials, three emulsions (CRS-2, CRS-2L, and CRS-2P) and one aggregate type (granite) were employed. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS : Under the same conditions, the modified emulsions showed better adhesive characteristics and curing behaviors than the unmodified emulsions. In addition, there was no significant difference between the various modified emulsions. One of the important findings is that the analysis by Wa presents more sensitive results than other methods. The results of the Wa showed that the CRS-2P emulsion has the best adhesive characteristics. Consequently, the use of modified emulsions for chip seals could prevent aggregate loss and allow open traffic earlier.


Although the inclusion of protective factors in risk assessment is believed to improve prediction, most risk assessment tools emphasize risk factors. In response, the Structured Assessment of Protective Factors for violence risk (SAPROF) has been developed, which focuses exclusively on protective factors and is used in conjunction with a structured risk assessment tool. It has received increasing attention from both researchers and forensic mental health practitioners, and additional versions have been developed for use with adolescents (SAPROF-YV) and sex offenders (SAPROF-SO). To assess their psychometric performance, we conducted a meta-analysis of validation studies. Our final sample included 39 articles with 5,434 subjects from 16 countries. Overall, the SAPROF(-YV/-SO) showed good interrater reliability and moderate-to-good predictive performance for the absence of recidivism and institutional misconduct. All three instruments exhibited incremental validity when used in conjunction with a risk-focused assessment tool. Our meta-analysis additionally showed that changes on the SAPROF are associated with decreased violent and general recidivism after controlling for baseline risk. We also uncovered several shortcomings in current research with the SAPROF(-YV/-SO). Studies did not report calibration indices and most studies were retrospective and limited to male offenders. The present findings provide support for the relevance of protective factors in risk assessment, but future research should focus on their hypothesized role in treatment and risk management. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).


The disordered Bose-Hubbard model is studied numerically within the Bogoliubov approximation. First, the spatially varying condensate wave function in the presence of disorder is found by solving a nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation. Using the Bogoliubov approximation to find the excitations above this condensate, we calculate the condensate fraction, superfluid density, and density of states for a two-dimensional disordered system. These results are compared with experiments done with $^{4}\mathrm{He}$ adsorbed in porous media.


This paper explores a low standby power 10T (LP10T) SRAM cell with high read stability and write-ability (RSNM/WSNM/WM). The proposed LP10T SRAM cell uses a strong cross-coupled structure consisting standard inverter with a stacked transistor and Schmitt-trigger inverter with a double-length pull-up transistor. This along with the read path separated from true internal storage nodes eliminates the read-disturbance. Furthermore, it performs its write operation in pseudo differential form through write bitline and control signal with a write-assist technique. To estimate the proposed LP10T SRAM cell's performance, it is compared with some state-of-the-art SRAM cells using HSPICE in 16-nm CMOS predictive technology model at 0.7 V supply voltage under harsh manufacturing process, voltage, and temperature variations. The proposed SRAM cell offers 4.65X/1.57X/1.46X improvement in RSNM/WSNM/WM and 4.40X/1.69X narrower spread in RSNM/WM compared to the conventional 6T SRAM cell. Furthermore, it shows 1.26X/1.08X/1.01X higher RSNM/WSNM/WM and 1.71X/1.25X tighter/wider spread in RSNM/WM compared to the best studied SRAM cells. The proposed SRAM cell indicates 74.48%/1.41% higher/lower read/write delay compared to the 6T SRAM cell. Moreover, it exhibits the third-(second-) best read (write) dynamic power, consuming 29.69% (26.87%) lower than the 6T SRAM cell. The leakage power is minimized by the proposed design, which is 37.35% and 12.08% lower than that of the 6T and best studied cells, respectively. Nonetheless, the proposed LP10T SRAM cell occupies 1.313X higher area compared to the 6T SRAM cell.


This study examined information literacy instruction in Canadian business schools, conducted to identify successful outcomes, as well as opportunities to increase the scope and magnitude of instructional outcomes. Three business schools and their supporting libraries participated in the study, which included analysis of policy documents and interviews with students, librarians, teaching faculty, and administrators. In addition, the SAILS test was administered to business students at all 3 institutions. Critical factors in the learning environments at each school were analyzed, and instructional outcomes were identified. One striking finding was the lack of coherence between the perspectives of students about their information literacy skills and learning, and the perspectives of the librarians and faculty members who teach them.


This study focuses on investigating the collapse possibilities of the generalized emergent Vaidya spacetime within the framework of $f(\bar{R}, \bar{T})$ gravity, specifically in the setting of K-essence theory. The Dirac-Born-Infeld type non-standard Lagrangian is used in this work to determine the emergent metric $\bar{G}_{\mu\nu}$, which is not conformally equal to the usual gravitational metric. Here, we employ the function $f(\bar{R}, \bar{T})$ to represent the additive character of the emergent Ricci scalar ($\bar{R}$) and trace of the emergent energy-momentum tensor ($\bar{T}$). In our analysis, it can be shown that certain selections of $f(\bar{R}, \bar{T})$ can lead to the presence of a naked singularity resulting from gravitational collapse. Additionally, alternative choices of $f(\bar{R}, \bar{T})$ were found to yield an accelerating universe primarily governed by dark energy. In addition, the investigation revealed the existence of both positive and negative masses, which can be understood as a gravitational dipole. It is also found that the K-essence theory has the potential to serve as both a dark energy framework and a simple gravitational theory at the same time, allowing for the investigation of a wide range of cosmological phenomena.


This study aimed to determine the various motivations of students in participating in school organizations. These school organizations play an important role in fostering educational success and include intra-curricular and extracurricular activities. The school organizations discussed in this article were student council (known as Organisasi Siswa Intra Sekolah or OSIS) and extracurricular activities. This study consisted of a literature review. Based on the results, students' motivation in participating in school organizations can be categorized into two types, namely internal and external motivation. Internal motivation is that which comes from within the individual, and external motivation is an influence that comes from outside the individual. The motivation of students may affect their activeness in participating in organizations and their daily activities.
Keywords: student participation, motivation, school organization


A new ternary vanadate KMnVO4 was prepared by a solid-state reaction and was shown to be a new type of ordered oxygen-deficient perovskite ABO3 - δ with δ = 1/3. Its formula can be rewritten as (K2,Mn)[Mn,V2]O8□1. An ordered distribution of potassium and manganese atoms in the A site and of vanadium and manganese atoms in the B site is observed. The manganese atoms are in distorted octahedral and tetrahedral sites, whereas all of the vanadium atoms form VO43- tetrahedra. This oxide contains four different types of high-spin Mn2+ ions in equal number. Magnetic susceptibility and specific heat measurements as well as spin dimer analysis show that substantial antiferromagnetic spin-exchange interactions occur primarily among three of the four different types of Mn2+ ions, and the fourth Mn2+ ion remains paramagnetic down to 2 K.


This article examines two performances, Othello in Kathakali and The Magic Hour, concentrating the analysis around two different choices made around a single action: the killing of Desdemona. While Desdemona is killed in the Kathakali Othello, in The Magic Hour
 this does not occur. The argument in this article differs from a critique that suggests Othello in Kathakali, created by Sadanam Balakrishnan and performed by the International Center for Kathakali in New Delhi, fails to nuance the inherent misogyny in the original Shakespearean text
 while improvising on its own conventions. A sustained counter argument is presented, which suggests that the design of the performance has enough new elements, fresh codes and reinvented conventions to address the political/racial theme of the story, and that any misogyny inherently lies not
 in the creator's intentions, but rather in the Shakespearean text itself. The Magic Hour, on the other hand, negotiates the misogyny in the Shakespearean text more directly and, by choosing not to kill Desdemona, transforms the murder sequence into a scene of liberation, of moksham.


Toughened glass insulators installed in overhead lines play a key role in maintaining the reliability and safety of power systems. The singular properties of toughened glass make this material particularly suitable for this application on account of its excellent dielectric properties, high mechanical strength and easiness of inspection. If the glass was damaged, it would shatter completely leaving the remaining part of the insulator, called "stub", still providing mechanical connection and being easily detectable from the ground by a visual inspection. In this paper, the mechanical reliability of toughened glass insulators is investigated through the analyses of experimental data obtained from laboratory tests. First, the mechanical strength of the toughened glass in insulators and the relationship between its failing load and the geometry of the insulator are investigated by means of a novel analytical approach. Afterwards, the risk of mechanical failure of glass insulators and stubs, with the shell broken off, is analysed. The results show the mechanical reliability of glass insulators for different string configurations and for large and complex systems deployed in 220 kV and 400 kV transmission lines. Finally, the effect of the shattering rate on the reliability is studied under the most adverse conditions.


This volume is the first book describing the new concept of "Mixed Reality" which is a kind of virtual reality in a broader sense. Published as the proceedings of the first International Symposium on Mixed Reality and written by an interdisciplinary group of experts from all over the world in both industry and academia, this book provides an in-depth look at the current state of mixed reality technology and the scope of its use in entertainment and interactive arts, as well as in engineering and medical applications.Because of the inherent interdisciplinary applications of the mixed reality technology, this book will be useful for computer scientists in computer graphics, computer vision, human computer interaction, and multimedia technologies, and for people involved in cinema/movie, architecture/civil engineering, medical informatics, and interactive entertainment.


This guide will provide resources and assistance to students minoring and/or taking classes in the Race and Ethnic Studies program.


We describe a case of bilateral exudative retinal detachment associated with prodromal symptoms simulating the presentation of acute Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease that was eventually diagnosed as acute lymphoblastic leukemia. A 42-year-old man presented with sudden visual loss in both eyes for two weeks. He complained of intermittent headache, neck stiffness and tinnitus for a month. His best-corrected visual acuities were 20/200 in both eyes. Fluorescein angiography, optical coherence topography and indocyanine green angiography featured bilateral serous retinal detachments. A clinical diagnosis of incomplete type Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease was considered. However, complete blood cell count showed a marked increase in the number of white blood cells and bone marrow examination revealed precursor B cell lymphoblastic leukemia. The patient started on induction chemotherapy. A week later, his best-corrected visual acuities were 20/25 and the serous retinal detachments were nearly absorbed in both eyes. Bilateral exudative retinal detachment associated with neurologic and auditory abnormalities may be a presenting sign of acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Clinicians should be aware of the possibility of leukemia in such patients.


Transmission of compressed video over packet lossy networks is a challenge task due to the well-known error propagation problem, which may substantially degrade the transmitted video quality. In this paper, we propose an error-resilient coding scheme for the newest coding standard H.264 by using intact long-term reference frames. Specifically, two reference frames are available for inter-coding, one is the immediate past frame marked as short-term reference frame, and the other is an older and error-free one marked as long-term reference frame. To mitigate error propagation, a number of macroblocks (MBs) in each inter-frame are selected to be predicted from the long-term reference frame. Compared to the widely used MB intra-refresh, the proposed scheme is equally robust but more coding efficient. Numerical simulation results verify the validity of our scheme.


A computer program for simulating the braking and directional response of heavy vehicles has been developed for the Federal Highway Administration as a tool for investigation of the effects of increased truck size and weight. Designated as the "Truck and Tractor-Trailer Dynamic Response Simulation - T3DRS:V1," the program is capable of simulating trucks, tractor-semitrailers, doubles and triples combinations. Modeling for the vehicle components has been adapted from earlier simulations produced under sponsorship of the Motor Vehicle Manufacturers Association. The T3DRS:V1 version consolidated all vehicle combinations into one program with improved input/output format, a new closed-loop path-following steering option, optional side-to-side differences on all paired components, a simplified tandem axle suspension model, and more versatility in the choice of output information. The program has been validated against analytical models, predecessor simulation programs and vehicle test data acquired separately by the Texas Transportation Institute and the Highway Safety Research Institute. The simulation program has achieved operational status on FHWA computer facilities and a training seminar was held to introduce users to the program.


Opening and closing of the larynx are determined by the intrinsic and extrinsic muscles acting on the elastic forces in the tongue, pharynx, larynx, and trachea. The pharynx is opened or closed by two mechanisms: (1) Contractions of the cricothyroid and of the intrinsic muscles of the larynx open and close the vocal cords. (2) The false cords, ventricle, and true cords accordion open or close in a bellows mechanism. We conclude that the posterior cricoarytenoid opens the laryngeal airway. The cricothyroid together with the posterior cricoarytenoid accentuates this opening. The larynx is also opened by the geniohyoid, mylohyoid, sternothyroid, and middle constrictor. The thyrohyoid, cricothyroid, sternohyoid, and inferior constrictor close the laryngeal airway. Abnormalities in the soft tissues of the neck or of the innervation of the larynx, pharynx, and neck muscles may severely interfere with patency of the laryngeal airway. This occurs in such conditions as vocal cord paralysis, sleep apnea, multiple sclerosis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, spastic dysphonia, mandibular fractures or hypodevelopment, and cerebrovascular disease.


Neurons of the cerebral cortex are generated during brain development from different types of neural stem and progenitor cells (NSPC), which form a pseudostratified epithelium lining the lateral ventricles of the embryonic brain. Genotoxic stresses, such as ionizing radiation, have highly deleterious effects on the developing brain related to the high sensitivity of NSPC. Elucidation of the cellular and molecular mechanisms involved depends on the characterization of the DNA damage response of these particular types of cells, which requires an accurate method to determine NSPC progression through the cell cycle in the damaged tissue. Here is shown a method based on successive intraperitoneal injections of EdU and BrdU in pregnant mice and further detection of these two thymidine analogues in coronal sections of the embryonic brain. EdU and BrdU are both incorporated in DNA of replicating cells during S phase and are detected by two different techniques (azide or a specific antibody, respectively), which facilitate their simultaneous detection. EdU and BrdU staining are then determined for each NSPC nucleus in function of its distance from the ventricular margin in a standard region of the dorsal telencephalon. Thus this dual labeling technique allows distinguishing cells that progressed through the cell cycle from those that have activated a cell cycle checkpoint leading to cell cycle arrest in response to DNA damage. An example of experiment is presented, in which EdU was injected before irradiation and BrdU immediately after and analyzes performed within the 4 hr following irradiation. This protocol provides an accurate analysis of the acute DNA damage response of NSPC in function of the phase of the cell cycle at which they have been irradiated. This method is easily transposable to many other systems in order to determine the impact of a particular treatment on cell cycle progression in living tissues.


We have examined the subcellular distribution of alpha s, the alpha subunit of the heterotrimeric G protein Gs, by using immunofluorescence microscopy. In transiently transfected HEK293 cells, wild-type alpha s localizes to the plasma membrane. However, a mutationally activated alpha s (alpha sR201C) is diffusely distributed throughout the cytoplasm. Similarly, cholera toxin activation of alpha s causes it to redistribute from the plasma membrane to cytoplasm in stably transfected cells. In HEK293 cells stably transfected with alpha s and the beta 2-adrenergic receptor (beta-AR), stimulation of the beta-AR by the agonist isoproterenol also causes a translocation of alpha s from the plasma membrane to cytoplasm. Replacing the agonist with antagonist allows alpha s to return to the plasma membrane, demonstrating the reversibility of alpha s translocation. Receptor-activated alpha s does not colocalize with internalized beta-AR at endosomes. Incubation of cells in hypertonic sucrose to inhibit clathrin-coated pit-mediated endocytosis of agonist-activated beta-AR failed to block agonist-stimulated redistribution of alpha s. These findings demonstrate that activated alpha s reversibly undergoes a translocation from the plasma membrane to cytoplasm and begin to address the relationship between regulated trafficking of a seven-transmembrane receptor and its cognate G protein.


Chronic pancreatitis is a progressive inflammatory disorder of the pancreas, which often develops as a result of genetic predisposition. Some of the most frequently identified risk factors affect the serine protease inhibitor Kazal type 1 (SPINK1) gene, which encodes a trypsin inhibitor responsible for protecting the pancreas from premature trypsinogen activation. Recent genetic and functional studies indicated that promoter variants in the SPINK1 gene might contribute to disease risk in carriers. Here, we investigated the functional effects of 17 SPINK1 promoter variants using luciferase reporter gene expression assay in four different cell lines, including three pancreatic acinar cell lines (rat AR42J with or without dexamethasone-induced differentiation and mouse 266-6) and human embryonic kidney 293T cells. We found that most variants caused relatively small changes in promoter activity. Surprisingly, however, we observed significant variations in the effects of the promoter variants in the different cell lines. Only four variants exhibited consistently reduced promoter activity in all acinar cell lines, confirming previous reports that variants c.-108G>T, c.-142T>C, and c.-147A>G are risk factors for chronic pancreatitis and identifying c.-52G>T as a novel risk variant. In contrast, variant c.-215G>A, which is linked with the disease-associated splice-site mutation c.194 + 2T>C, caused increased promoter activity, which may mitigate the overall effect of the pathogenic haplotype. Our study lends further support to the notion that sequence evaluation of the SPINK1 promoter region in patients with chronic pancreatitis is justified as part of the etiological investigation.


Interventions in highly insecure and fragile contexts are always confronted with the latent risk of not being able to implement the program as intended. Despite its high policy relevance, little is known about the impacts of program disruption or cancellation on beneficiaries. This study uses the unplanned cancellation of the South Sudan Youth Business Start-Up Grant Program to assess the socioeconomic, behavioral, and psychological consequences of a program that fails to be implemented as intended. Originally planned as a randomized trial, the Youth Startup Business Grant Program consisted of an unconditional cash grant combined with a business and life skills training targeting the youth in South Sudan. Due to the intensification of violence in the country, the disbursement of the grant was terminated in late 2016 before most of the intended beneficiaries had accessed the grant. The study uses survey data from face-to-face interviews and experimental data from lotteries, trust games, and a list experiment to assess the consequences of the cancellation in a comprehensive form. The empirical analysis employs instrumental variable regressions to control for individual characteristics that might have made it more likely to access the grant before disbursement was frozen. The results show that participants who received the originally planned treatment displayed significant improvements in their consumption, savings, and psychological well-being. However, participants who vainly expected to receive the cash grant showed reduced levels of consumption and women among this subgroup also experienced strong reductions in their trust level. In addition, the study finds some evidence that these women were less likely to migrate.


EEG signal processing is one of the hottest areas of research in digital signal processing applications and biomedical research. Analysis of EEG signals provides a crucial tool for diagnosis of neurobiological diseases. The problem of EEG signal classification into different sleep stages is primarily a pattern recognition problem using extracted features. Many methods of feature extraction have been applied to extract the relevant characteristics from a given EEG data. The EEG data was collected from publicly available source. The data consists of different age male & female recordings for a whole night of 8 hrs. The feature extraction was done by computing the Discrete Wavelet Transform and ANN using BP algorithm.The wavelet transform coefficients compress the number of data points into few features. The Approximation & Detailed coefficients obtained from Sub-band coding method provide important features of the EEG signals. In this project we have applied optimization techniques to reduce the computation complexity of the network without affecting the accuracy of the classification. Classification of the EEG data using neural network provides robust and improved Performance


The determination of the value of θ13, which turned out to be considerably larger than the expected, opened the way to the measurement of the CP violating phase δCP in the leptonic sector. We consider the following experimental setup: a 800 MeV proton beam hits a target at a single site, creating ν̄μ via μ decay at rest; the electron antineutrinos produced by oscillations interact via IBD in two large liquid scintillators or water Cherenkov detectors. Studying the oscillation probability at different baselines it is possible to measure δCP with good precision (5-15 degrees in 12 years). We present several possible locations for this experiment in east Asia, each using accelerators or detectors already planned or under construction. No degeneracy is present between δCP and π−δCP.


Paternalism is a subject par excellence for such an autoethnographic analysis because 'authors use their own experiences in the culture reflexively to bend back on self and look more deeply at self-other interactions'. In this chapter, the author argues that, despite the absence of any awareness of doing research, his experience as a development fieldworker nevertheless created important and useful knowledge. However, this unawareness also implies an autoethnography that is retrospective. L. Anderson, though, developed the idea of an 'analytic autoethnography' which rests on three main pillars: the researcher must be a full member of the group or setting that is being studied; s/he should be present in her/his publications. Lastly, s/he should work within an analytic research agenda in order to improve theoretical understandings of wider social phenomena.


Context: Oral cancer is the 8th most common cancer in the world. An important feature of carcinogenesis is angiogenesis. Endoglin is a powerful marker of neovascularization in solid malignancies. This study was done to ascertain its role as an indicator of metastasis and prognosis. Aim: This study aimed to evaluate and compare the expression of endoglin (CD105) in metastatic primary tumor, lymph node of the metastasized tumor, nonmetastatic primary tumor and in normal buccal mucosa immunohistochemically. Settings and Design: The total sample size comprised 45 formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue blocks, n = 10 metastasized primary tumor, n = 10 lymph nodes of metastasized primary tumor, n = 20 nonmetastasized oral squamous cell carcinoma and n = 5 normal buccal mucosa were studied. Subjects and Methods: Immunohistochemistry for endoglin was performed and microvessel density (MVD) was determined by hot spot method. Microvessel density was compared between the groups. Statistical Analysis: Statistical analysis was used using one-way ANOVA. P < 0.05 was statistically significant. Results: Endoglin expression in metastatic cases (0.68 + 0.10) was higher than nonmetastatic cases (0.45 + 0.20) and the difference was statistically significant (P = 0.002). Conclusion: This study shows that presence of endoglin determines the metastatic potential of the tumor and its prognosis, thus, could be considered as a potential target of therapy.


Non-cash payments such as payment cards as well as Internet and mobile banking are more efficient ways to complete transactions compared to cash. As such, the Malaysian government and the central bank, Bank Negara Malaysia, have embarked on a mission to bring Malaysia closer to becoming a cashless economy, which is in line with the country's vision of becoming a developed nation by 2020. This research note aims to give a structured overview of the non-cash payment options, discuss the relevant policies that have been implemented since 2010, and the challenges that the country will face in adopting non-cash payment methods. The paper finds that the infrastructure which the government has been investing in to promote such payment methods that reflect the aims of the Financial Sector Blueprint 2011–2020 has met some level of success, but demand for non-cash payment instruments is lagging. To increase adoption, the central bank has to implement programmes to overcome the mindset of consumers, increase their trust towards non-cash payments and reduce their stickiness towards cash.


This minireview gives a brief overview on the polymerization of higher aldehydes, discusses current applications of certain polyaldehydes, and points toward potential future applications of these interesting materials. Although it was discovered long ago that several aldehydes can be polymerized, the application potential of these polymers was largely overlooked. This is somewhat surprising as many polyaldehydes show interesting properties such as fast and complete depolymerization triggered by chemical or thermal stimuli. Such stimuli-responsive polymers can be useful materials in many applications in for example nanotechnology or drug delivery. By incorporating polyaldehydes into functional block copolymers even more versatile materials can be created. The increasing number of recent research examples demonstrates the growing interest in polyaldehydes as smart materials and their potential for novel applications. Copyright © 2012 Society of Chemical Industry


While numerous tools are available to better incorporate equity into population health actions, they are limited mainly by their lack of adaptation to professional practices and organizational realities. A study was conducted in Québec to identify and understand, from the perspective of future users, conditions that would facilitate use of a tool (Reflex-ISS) targeted at supporting collaborative action to improve consideration of social inequalities in health (SIH) within population health actions. Concept mapping and focus groups were implemented as complementary methods for investigating the conditions. Significant results that emerged were strong participant interest in the tool and the need for resources to better take SIH into account. The conditions for use that were identified referred to the tool itself (user-friendliness and literacy) and to resources for appropriating the tool, competency development, as well as the role and responsibilities of organizations and policies in promoting use of the tool in daily activities and more fundamentally in acting against SIH in general. Models for organizational innovation give an idea of the dimensions that need to be considered to strengthen the integration of equity into organizations and to support the changes in practice that result from using the tool. They provide a reminder that a health equity tool cannot be the cornerstone of an organizational strategy to fight against SIH; rather, it must be incorporated as part of a systemic strategy of professional and organizational development.


Contributions to the annual SIGCHI Proceedings cover the full spectrum of computer-human interaction -- from collaborative work to user interface management, hypertext and hypermedia systems, simulated neural networks, educational software engineering, usability engineering and testing, and much more! ACM SIGCHI provides an international, interdisciplinary forum for the exchange of ideas about the field of human-computer interaction (HCI).


The possibility to have results very quickly after, or even during, the collection of electromagnetic data would be important, not only for quality check purposes, but also for adjusting the location of the proposed flight lines during an airborne time-domain acquisition. This kind of readiness could have a large impact in terms of optimization of the Value of Information of the measurements to be acquired. In addition, the importance of having fast tools for retrieving resistivity models from airborne time-domain data is demonstrated by the fact that Conductivity-Depth Imaging methodologies are still the standard in mineral exploration. In fact, they are extremely computationally efficient, and, at the same time, they preserve a very high lateral resolution. For these reasons, they are often preferred to inversion strategies even if the latter approaches are generally more accurate in terms of proper reconstruction of the depth of the targets and of reliable retrieval of true resistivity values of the subsurface. In this research, we discuss a novel approach, based on neural network techniques, capable of retrieving resistivity models with a quality comparable with the inversion strategy, but in a fraction of the time. We demonstrate the advantages of the proposed novel approach on synthetic and field datasets.


The purpose of the study is to examine the effect of isolated and combined strength and endurance training on strength endurance of Kho Kho players. To achieve the purpose of this study, sixty men kho kho players studying in various colleges affiliated to Acharya Nagarjuna University, Nagarjuna Nagar, Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, India during the academic year 2014-2015 was selected as subjects. The subjects were selected in the age group of 18 to 22 years and they were randomly assigned into four equal groups of 15 each. Experimental group-I performed strength training, experimental group-II performed endurance training, experimental group-III performed combined strength and endurance training and group-IV was acted as control. The strength endurance was selected as dependent variable. The research design of the study was random group design. The data collected from the experimental and control groups on selected dependent variable was statistically analyzed by paired 't' test to find out the significant differences if any between the pre and post test. Further, percentage of changes was calculated to find out the chances in selected dependent variables due to the impact of experimental treatment. In order to nullify the initial mean differences the data collected from the four groups prior to and post experimentation on selected dependent variables were statistically analyzed to find out the significant difference if any, by applying the analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). Since, four groups were involved, whenever the obtained 'F' ratio value in the adjusted post test mean was found to be significant, the Scheffe's test was applied as post hoc test to determine the paired mean differences, if any. The result of the study reveals that due to the effect of isolated and combined strength and endurance training the strength endurance of the subjects is significantly improved. The result of the study also produced 11.91% of improvement due to strength training, 20.76% of improvement due to endurance training and 25.79% of improvement due to combined training.


^ --Term Subsumption Systems (TSS) form a knowledge representation scheme in AI that can express the defining characteristics of concepts through a formal language that has a well-defined semantics and incorporates a reasoning mechanism that can deduce whether one concept subsumes another. However, TSS have very limited ability to deal with the issue of uncertainty in knowledge bases. The objective of this research is to address issues in combining approximate reasoning with term subsumption systems. To do this we have extended an existing AI architecture (CLASP), that is built on the top of a term subsumption system (LOOM), in the following ways. First, the assertional component of LOOM has been extended for asserting and representing uncertain propositions. Second, we have extended the pattern matcher of CLASP for plausible rule-based inferences. Third, an approximate reasoning model has been added to facilitate various kinds of approximate reasoning. And finally, the issue of inconsistency in truth values due to inheritance is addressed using justification of those values. This architecture enhances the reasoning capabilities of expert systems by providing support for reasoning under uncertainty using knowledge captured in TSS. Also, as definitional knowledge is explicit and separate from heuristic knowledge for plausible inferences, the maintainability of expert systems could be improved.


The Siamese fighting fish, of which Betta splendens is representative, is gaining popularity as judged by increasing export values and demands for novel types worldwide, especially the ornamental ones. However, relatively little is known about the bettas scientifically. In this review we cover what is known about the desired morphology and pigments, genetics, aquaculture, diseases and feeds involved in breeding bettas. We also propose breeding the bettas for domestic enjoyment and export by exploiting current knowledge of gene technology and molecular developmental biology in addition to the use hitherto of only classical genetics. Other aspects of fish culture such as feeds, disease prevention and water quality should also be scientifically studied and improved upon. Because of dwindling and worsening habitats in Thailand, more studies on biodiversity and work towards species conservation of the wild types are needed.


The thermal sensor system presented in this paper is based on the mechanical bending due to the incident IR radiation. A diffraction grating is embedded under each pixel to facilitate optical readout. Typically the first diffraction order is used to monitor the sub-micron mechanical displacement with sub-nanometer precision. In this work; two different optical readout systems based on diffraction gratings are analyzed. First setup employs a conventional 4f optical system. In this one-to-one imaging system, collimated light is propagated through a lens, filtered with an aperture and then imaged onto a CCD by a second lens. Second system is more compact to improve image quality and to reduce noise. This is achieved by using an off-axis converging laser beam illumination that forms the Fourier plane near the imaging lens. This approach has important advantages such as reducing number of optical components and minimizing the optical path. The system was optimized considering parameters such as laser converging angle, laser beam size at MEMS chip, and magnification of the imaging system.


The growing complexity of integrated circuits and increasing component density place higher requirements for raw material and clean room standards, which demand significant amounts of energy. In spite of these developments, semiconductor facilities managed to reduce their energy intensity measured per product unit. At the same time, the impact of increasing circuit integration on upstream life cycle stages, such as chemical manufacturing, is not clear. Due to a lack of data, most of the existing LCA studies do not include chemical-related processes into their system boundaries, which leads to an incomplete picture of semiconductor environmental aspects. The increasing material purity requirements may contribute to shifting the centre of manufacturing-related environmental impacts from circuit fabrication to raw material production stages. This article points to insufficient knowledge of environmental issues related to ultra-pure chemical manufacturing. The problem is illustrated by an example of energy demands for the silicon chain and wet chemicals. The paper discusses the feasibility of using material price as a proxy for production energy intensity and proposes a framework for collecting process related energy data. The author suggests that by mapping the patterns of chemical usage and focusing on high-grade materials consumed in large volumes it is possible to reduce data collection efforts and improve the existing energy estimates.


PURPOSE
To compare four known pharmacokinetic models for their ability to describe dynamic contrast material-enhanced magnetic resonance (MR) imaging of carotid atherosclerotic plaques, to determine reproducibility, and to validate the results with histologic findings.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
The study was approved by the institutional medical ethics committee. Written informed consent was obtained from all patients. Forty-five patients with 30%-99% carotid stenosis underwent dynamic contrast-enhanced MR imaging. Plaque enhancement was measured at 16 time points at approximately 25-second image intervals by using a gadolinium-based contrast material. Pharmacokinetic parameters (volume transfer constant, K(trans); extracellular extravascular volume fraction, v(e); and blood plasma fraction, v(p)) were determined by fitting a two-compartment model to plaque and blood gadolinium concentration curves. The relative fit errors and parameter uncertainties were determined to find the most suitable model. Sixteen patients underwent imaging twice to determine reproducibility. Carotid endarterectomy specimens from 16 patients who were scheduled for surgery were collected for histologic validation. Parameter uncertainties were compared with the Wilcoxon signed rank test. Reproducibility was assessed by using the coefficient of variation. Correlation with histologic findings was evaluated with the Pearson correlation coefficient.

RESULTS
The mean relative fit uncertainty (±standard error) for K(trans) was 10% ± 1 with the Patlak model, which was significantly lower than that with the Tofts (20% ± 1), extended Tofts (33% ± 3), and extended graphical (29% ± 3) models (P < .001). The relative uncertainty for v(p) was 20% ± 2 with the Patlak model and was significantly higher with the extended Tofts (46% ± 9) and extended graphical (35% ± 5) models (P < .001). The reproducibility (coefficient of variation) for the Patlak model was 16% for K(trans) and 26% for v(p). Significant positive correlations were found between K(trans) and the endothelial microvessel content determined on histologic slices (Pearson ρ = 0.72, P = .005).

CONCLUSION
The Patlak model is most suited for describing carotid plaque enhancement. Correlation with histologic findings validated K(trans) as an indicator of plaque microvasculature, and the reproducibility of K(trans) was good.


An algorithm, based on the wavelet scalogram energy, for automatically detecting events in force-extension AFM force spectroscopy experiments is introduced. The events to be detected are characterized by a discontinuity in the signal. It is shown how the wavelet scalogram energy has different decay rates at different points depending on the degree of regularity of the signal, showing faster decay rates at regular points and slower rates at singular points (jumps). It is shown that these differences produce peaks in the scalogram energy plot at the event points. Finally, the algorithm is illustrated in a tether analysis experiment by using it for the detection of events in the AFM force-extension curves susceptible to being considered tethers.


The effect of various factors on dye decolorization activity of crude laccase enzyme from repeated-batch culture of Funalia trogii ATCC 200800 to obtain rapid and high decolorization activity against Reactive Black 5 and Reactive Blue 171 dyes was investigated. All conditions used were important for dye decolorizing activity of this crude laccase enzyme. The optimum pH of decolorization was tested at 30 °C and it was around 3.0. This activity was highly reduced at pH 4.5-6.0. On the other hand, the optimum temperature for rapid and high decolorization was 50 °C. Importantly, the decolorization rate of crude laccase at pH 4.5 and pH 6.0 increased with the rise in temperature from 30 °C to 50 °C. Therefore, high decolorization could be obtained at pH 4.5 and even pH 6.0 by selecting the proper temperature for these pH values. Enzyme amount also affected the dye decolorization positively. This crude laccase could also decolorize the mixed dyes (Reactive Black 5 and Reactive Blue 171) and synthetic wastewaters. Native polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis showed the responsibility of the laccase enzyme in decolorization. Rapid and high textile dye decolorization through the selection of appropriate conditions could facilitate the development of more economical and environmentally friendly processes.


The utilization of wind energy driven induction generators finds nowadays great interest. The present paper aimed at improving the performance of the induction generators at the different expected wind speeds employing control techniques from the rotor side. A set of two converters in the rotor circuit has been adjusted to inject a voltage such that the generator runs at the speed which allows the wind turbine to extract the maximum power from the wind, and at the same time to deliver the electrical power to the network at unity power factor. The double-fed induction generator has been modelled at steady-state conditions using frequency domain equivalent circuit. The performance characteristics of both double-fed induction generator (DFIG) and single-fed induction generator (SFIG) have been computed. The computed performance characteristics have revealed that the DFIG has superior performance characteristics as compared with the SFIG. The output active power of the generator has been clearly increased by double-feeding especially at wind speeds far from the base speed. Also, the DFIG nearly does not consume reactive power when compared with SFIG. Although the output power of the generator is clearly increased by doubly feeding it, the stator and rotor currents still within their rated values. Keywords: Wind Energy, Double-fed Induction Generator, Optimization


Severe erosion in the lower cone and in the upper dipleg of second stage cyclones have been observed in commercial cyclones. The main objective of this study is to shed light on the mechanism by which this erosion takes place, and how different design and operating parameters affect the erosion. Experimental data on how parameters such as the cyclone length-to diameter ratio (L/D), inlet solids loading and gas outlet velocity affect second stage cyclone erosion are presented. The outlet gas velocity was varied by changing the size of the vortex tube diameter. The effect of a vortex stabilizer on cyclone cone erosion is also discussed.


In order to control the distribution characteristics of the far-field ring-shaped array, we introduce a new light source to produce adjustable far-field distribution by the method of weight function superposition. It has been shown that, by changing the parameters of the light source, one can obtain far-field with various distribution, including distribution with decrease in spectral intensity of specified rings, distribution with disappearances of specified rings, distribution with different spectral intensity of part of lobes in the continuous rings, distribution with part of the lobes in specified rings disappearing and distribution with some lobes in specified rings being stronger. These results will produce some novel far-field distributions which may provide a new idea for further study concerning about the manipulations of far-field array distribution.


THE RISK SHARING IN THE ISLAMIC INSURANCE The Islamic Insurance reflects one of the many sides of the Islamic finance Successes. It reflects the modern developed concept of social solidarity which is basically built upon consideration of Public interest as a supreme objective that has the priority over the pursuit of mere profitable objectives. And this latter aim is characterized- As the case with most of the Islamic finance frameworks-   by being grounded on a number of basis and roles; the most notable one is the Risk sharing concept which aims at maintaining balance and parity in the Islamic finance relationships. In this context, we shall tackle in this article the concept of Islamic insurance and clarify the difference between it and the commercial insurance system. We shall also underline the whereabouts of the Risk sharing perspective in the Islamic Finance which stands out clearly when the Insurance Company invest the clients' money which is usually represented in insurance payments (sums) or in the surplus achieved by Insurance fund after discounting all maturities. This relationship represents a partnership between insurance company by its work, and the contributors by their money.


This paper discusses traditional solutions for carbon neutral construction in arctic conditions. We consider that vernacular architecture forms an important source of knowledge to resource-wise, energy-efficient and sustainable ways to organize human dwellings and settlements. The key tasks of our research were to (1) identify the factors of traditional arctic construction that have an impact to sustainability and carbon-neutrality of arctic building and to (2) develop and assess a type building for arctic districts (Finland), based on traditional solutions, that fulfills the functional prerequisites for modern living comfort and energy requirements. The study is based on literature, fieldwork and Life Cycle Assessment calculations for the theoretical case. The life cycle assessment includes greenhouse gas emissions and carbon storage in timber and bio-based materials. Energy usage follows the principles of carbon neutrality. Wooden products used in the construction store biogenic carbon from the product stage to the building demolition stage. The case study calculations showed that operational energy demand could be fulfilled with the use of solar PV, solar collectors, ground source energy and district-scale wind energy supply. Results show that the biogenic carbon content is more than enough to offset the emissions from building materials and renewable energy technologies needed for operating the building. The research was funded by the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs.


This study examines the impact of microfinance on gender based income generating activities of the Khushhalli Bank Ltd client's in urban zone of district Quetta during year 2011. The Primary data was collected through structured questionnaire from 80 clients (60 beneficiaries and 20 non-beneficiaries) by adopting cross sectional experimental design. In order to analyze the collected data the t-tests were applied. The results show that the microfinance has a positive impact on both male as well female beneficiaries as compare to non-beneficiaries in term of increase in business performance. It has non-significant impact on average sale revenue of both male as well as female micro-entrepreneurs. Whereas it has a significant impact on average net profit, average fixed assets as well as average net worth of the male but having non-significant impact on female established micro-entrepreneurs. Comparison of gender based business performance reveals that the microenterprises operated by male are able to generate better revenue and net income performance also the same results are obtained in case of enhancement in fixed assets as well as net worth. So we may confidently say that male clients are able in utilizing the microfinance services more effectively as compared to female.


The paper addresses the problem of designing distributed observers for discrete linear time-invariant (LTI) systems with distributed sensor nodes subjected to bounded measurement noise. A solution is proposed in terms of a distributed LTI Luenberger observer, thus departing from common linear time-varying solutions rooted in consensus-based distributed estimation techniques, and dispensing with the need for the exchange of covariance matrices. It is shown, under the conditions of collective observability, strong connectivity of the sensor communication network, and invertibility of the state transition matrix, that the resulting observer yields ultimate boundedness of the estimation error. A design example is given where the asymptotic performance of the proposed observer is shown to be similar to that obtained using a time-varying distributed Kalman filtering approach.


This article presents, for the first time, the efficacy and curing depth analysis of photo-thermal dual polymerization in metal (Fe) polymer composites for 3D printing of a three-component (A/B/M) system based on the proposed mechanism of our group, in which the co initiators A and B are Irgacure-369 and charge–transfer complexes (CTC), respectively, and the monomer M is filled by Fe. Our formulas show the depth of curing (Zc) is an increasing function of the light intensity, but a decreasing function of the Fe and photoinitiator concentrations. Zc is enhanced by the additive [B], which produces extra thermal radical for polymerization under high temperature. The heat (or temperature) increase in the system has two components: (i) due to the light absorption of Fe filler and (ii) heat released from the exothermic photopolymerization of the monomer. The heat is transported to the additive (or co-initiator) [B] to produce extra radicals and enhance the monomer conversion function (CF). The Fe filler leads to a temperature increase but also limits the light penetration, leading to lower CF and Zc, which could be overcome by the additive initiator [B] in thick polymers. Optimal Fe for maximal CF and Zc are explored theoretically. Measured data are analyzed based on our derived formulas.