How to arrange sales staff to visit offline stores reasonably is a critical task in the Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) industry. Based on the K-means and Dijkstra algorithms (K-D fusion algorithm), this paper proposed an algorithm to automatically allocate offline stores for sales staff and optimize the visiting path, thereby improving management efficiency. A new initial cluster center selection approach was proposed for the K-means algorithm to select its initial clustering center with the consideration of outlier points. The sales staff's visiting path to the store was planned by the Dijkstra algorithm. The performance of our K-D fusion algorithm was evaluated in terms of grouping rationality and path planning optimization. Experimental results show that our algorithm can comprehensively consider several factors such as the number of stores, store types, and geographical locations, and distribute the workload more evenly to all the sales staff. In addition, it can also optimize the visiting path for sales staff, which can effectively improve the efficiency of sales staff to visit offline stores.


Acquiring light field with larger angular resolution and higher spatial resolution in low cost is the goal of light field capture. Combining or modifying traditional optical cameras is a usual method for designing light field capture equipment, among which most models should deliberate trade-off between angular and spatial resolution, but augmenting coded aperture avoids this consideration by multiplexing information from different views. On the basis of coded aperture, this paper suggests an improved light field camera model that has double measurements and one mask. The two compressive measurements are respectively realized by a coded aperture and a random convolution CMOS imager, the latter is used as imaging sensor of the camera. The single mask design permits high light efficiency, which enables the sampling images to have high clarity. The double measurement design keeps more correlation information, which is conductive to enhancing the reconstructed light field. The higher clarity and more correlation of samplings mean higher quality of rebuilt light field, which also means higher resolution under condition of a lower PSNR requirement for rebuilt light field. Experimental results have verified advantage of the proposed design: compared with the representative mask-based light field camera models, the proposed model has the highest reconstruction quality and a higher light efficiency.


This thesis presents the first data-driven dependency parser for Romanian. The parser was trained and tuned using MaltParser, a language-independent parsergenerator framework. The Romanian Dependency Treebank, which represents the material used for training and evaluation of the parser, is also presented for the first time. The best parsing accuracy of 88.6% measured in Labeled Attachemnt Score is obtained using the Nivre arc-eager algorithm, together with a feature model specific for Romanian. The results are similar to those reported for other languages using the same system. The different types of errors produced by the parser are classified, leading to directions for improving the parsing accuracy and for future expansion of the treebank.


Accountability, a keyword in the development discourse, also takes centre stage in the practical politics of the development processes. Accountability requirements for funding, governance and recognition operate at multiple scales to ensure standards are complied with, funds are accounted for, corruption is minimised, and the impact government and other donor contributions have on the development process is maximised. However, for many intended beneficiaries, the demands of accountability procedures and the relationships they set in place create tension and can conflict with local accountability practices and governance; as is exemplified by the experiences of the Dhimurru Land Management Aboriginal Corporation in Northeast Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia. Dhimurru, an incorporated Aboriginal land and sea management organisation, was established by Yolngu land-owners, who have long-standing perspectives on accountability, self-determination, environmental protection and development that highlight the requirement and challenges of contextualising accountability in the context of local procedures and practices.


Abstract Predation on endangered species by nonnative red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) and the resulting controversy over red fox control efforts in California prompted our investigation of the introduction and range expansion of the red fox in California. Since the late-1800s, nonnative red foxes have been introduced into California by escaping from fur farms and fox hunters, through intentional releases by pet owners and fur-farm owners and translocations of previously introduced foxes. From 1990–1993 we conducted telephone interviews of wildlife professionals to obtain observations of nonnative red foxes outside the historical range of the native Sierra Nevada red fox (V. v. necator). Nonnative red foxes now occur throughout lowland areas of California including the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys, San Francisco Bay-Delta area, the southern California Coast Range and Coastal Plain and most major urban areas. Their range expansion over the last 100 y was the result of population growth from numerous points of introduction and exhibited by the exponential growth typical of invading species. Fox predation on endangered species and opposition to red fox management have been the two largest management issues associated with this range expansion.


within the cage, are both considerably longer than those of 1.371(6) and 1.362(11) A for the bonds opposite to them in the benzene rings. The restriction, caused by the caged structure, on the ability of the C-P-C angle in (II) to approach the tetrahedral angle is dramatically underlined by a comparison of its mean value (100.5(1) ° ) with that of 106.0 ° in MeaP=O. This limitation on the adoption of sp 3 hybridization at P leads to an increase in the s character of the P=O bond, as evidenced by its shortness in (II) (1.446(3)/k), compared to that of 1.479/k in Me3P=O. At the same time, the increase in the s character of the P-C bonds on going from (I) to (II) is significantly less than that observed in Me3P and Me3P=O. Thus the mean P-C length of 1.827(4) in (II) lies between that of 1.813 in Me3P=O and the range of values 1.841-1.846 /~ observed for (I) and Me3P. Considerable distortion is necessary in the trigonal angles at C(1), C(2) and C(7) in (II) to enable the achievement of the C-P-C angle of 100.5(1)°. The mean value for internal P -C-C angles, within the P(CC)3P cage, of 117.4(2) ° is much smaller than that for the external angles of 122.6(2) °. As in (I), the C-C bonds within the P(CC)3P cage, C(1)-C(2) and C(7)C(7)', have lengths of 1.400(4) and 1.395(6) respectively, which are both considerably longer than those of 1.363(5) and 1.372(8)/~, for the opposite bonds in the benzene rings, namely C(4)-C(5) and C(9)-C(9)'. This work was carried out within the technology programme of the Ministry for research and technology of the Federal Republic of Germany. The calculations were carried out on the GMBF PDP-10 computer. We are indebted to Dr K. Weinberg of the Union Carbide Corporation, Tarrytown, New York for supplying the compounds, Professor R. Schmutzler for his support and Frau A. Borkenstein for her assistance throughout this work.


World Stroke Day is now a major global phenomenon. From humble beginnings, marking the formation of the World Stroke Organization on October 29 2006, it has grown to embrace a concept of stroke in a holistic fashion. This is again in evidence in 2012, with the reinforcement of the 1 in 6 campaign, which began in 2010. A unique focus for 2012 will also be on care providers and champions of stroke. Care providers are the unsung heroes of stroke: often bearing the brunt without complaint and with lives sometimes completely altered by the unexpected intrusion of a sometimes-catastrophic event. They play an important role within the WSO and because of their high levels of motivation they are often very effective champions. The plight of carers is relatively understudied, although we do have evidence of the stresses associated with long-term care and its financial impost. Champions of stroke can draw attention to their plight, as well as other important messages concerning prevention, acute management and rehabilitation. The WSD event has also grown in stature over the last six years, and provides a platform for stroke awareness around the globe. Wonderful examples include last year's finalists, Brazil, Israel and Mongolia. It seems appropriate that Brazil were the eventual winners of the WSD gold award, given that this month is the WSC in Brasilia, Brazil. Another exciting initiative to be announced at the congress is the new symbol 'stroke solidarity string' linking stroke awareness activities and programs around the world. Also, at this month's congress in Brasilia, Stephen Davis will assume the presidency of the WSO succeeding Bo Norrving. Bo has been an outstanding President, and has consolidated the WSO unequivocally as the lead organization for stroke globally. His calm and inclusive style has endeared him to all those in the stroke community as well as providing inspiration for the organization as a whole, and his work with the WHO and United Nations represents one of the most important linkages that we have. Bo will continue in this role as a liaison thus ensuring longevity of these crucial links. In assuming the Presidency Stephen Davis is superbly equipped to the lead the WSO into its next era. His international standing in research an advocacy is admired universally; the WSO is in very good hands.


We have determined metabolic parameters for androstenedione (A) in chronically catheterized late gestation (day 130) sheep fetuses. The MCR (MCRA) was 3210 +/- 229 (SEM, n = 12) ml/min, the fetal arterial whole blood concentration of A [A] was 65 +/- 5 pg/ml, and the blood production rate (PRA) was 204 +/- 20 ng/min. Pulsatile administration of ACTH in amounts that raised fetal arterial plasma cortisol concentrations by 5- to 7-fold increased [A] to 154 +/- 20 pg/ml and PRA to 471 +/- 31 ng/min with no change in MCRA. In the presence of metopirone to block fetal adrenal cortisol output, ACTH treatment still provoked elevations in [A] (to 198 +/- 23 pg/ml) and PRA (539 +/- 158 ng/min), without altering MCRA. The major radiolabeled product in blood of infused [3H]A was [3H]testosterone; smaller amounts of phenolic steroids were formed. Extensive metabolism of [3H]A occurred in whole blood in vitro. The major product was [3H]testosterone; the 17-oxidoreductase activity was associated with the red blood cells. Umbilical vein [A] was greater than umbilical artery [A]; ACTH treatment increased [A] in both vessels. Concomitant metopirone abolished the arteriovenous difference by eliminating the ACTH-induced increase in venous [A], although arterial [A] rose significantly. The venous [A] and the arteriovenous gradient were restored with exogenous glucocorticoid treatment to the fetus. Collagenase-dispersed fetal adrenal cells secreted A. Adrenal cells from fetuses pretreated with ACTH in vivo had higher basal and ACTH-induced output of A in vitro than cells from fetuses pretreated with saline in vivo. We conclude that the MCRA in fetal sheep is extremely high, in part due to conversion of A to testosterone in fetal blood. The elevated PRA after ACTH plus metopirone and the lack of an umbilical arteriovenous gradient of [A] in this, but not other groups of fetuses, suggests a source of A production independent of the cortisol-induced changes in the placenta. Direct evidence is provided for fetal adrenal secretion of A which is enhanced by ACTH pretreatment of the fetus in vivo and for the utilization of circulating A in the fetus as a precursor for estrogen in both fetal and maternal compartments.


Laryngo‐tracheo‐bronchial disease in childhood granulomatosis with polyangiitis may acutely present with endobronchial small vessel vasculitis without airway stenosis. Treatment should not be delayed in the presence of haemoptysis as it may indicate acute pulmonary capillaritis which can lead to fatal respiratory failure from diffuse alveolar haemorrhage.


Triphosphorylated 5'-end fragments about 100 nucleotides long were prepared from purified nuclear pre-mRNA using a modified hydroxyapatite method /1/. These fragments as well as fragments of total pre-mRNA of the same size were polyadenylated in vitro by ATP:RNA adenyltransferase and used as templates for the synthesis of [32P] cDNA by reverse transcriptase in the presence of an oligo(dT) primer. The use of cDNA transcribed from the triphosphorylated 5'-end fragments of pre-mRNA (5'-cDNA) and from the total pre-mRNA fragments allows one to calculate the complexity of the 5'-end fraction pre-mRNA and to detect these sequences in polysomal mRNA. Sequences adjacent to 5'-phosphorylated ends of pre-mRNA represent a specific class of sequences with a complexity of about 200 kb. It was also found that about 25% of total pre-mRNA and about a half of sequences adjacent to triphosphorylated 5'-ends are present in polysomal mRNA. A high homology between triphosphorylated 5'-end fragments of pre-mRNA and mRNA sequences may be explained in terms of splicing. Less than 30% of 5'-cDNA hybridized to moderately repetitive DNA while most of them are represented by unique DNA sequences. About 15% of 5'-cDNA contained oligo(dA) sequences originated from oligo(U) in pre-mRNA from which it was transcribed.


In this study analysis of the effect of energy deposition and subsequent release from the vibrational modes of N2 is done using an efficient numerical code for shockwave boundary layer interaction (SWBLI) that was developed earlier. Non-thermal surface plasma actuation using Lorentz force is evaluated further for effective shockwave induced boundary layer separation control within supersonic inlets using this modified numerical scheme. A significant part of the electrical power from the power supply is deposited in the vibrational modes of N2, 5 which may be released as heat over many molecular collisions. A time dependent computational 2D Navier-Stokes solver including the equation of state and parametric vibrational relaxation of N2 for shockwave boundary layer interaction is developed. To replicate the experiments done at large boundary layer thickness, the code is divided in time independent and time dependent regimes to significantly reduce computation time. Further, time and space dependent force and volumetric heating are included to account for effects of plasma actuation. Computational results show that vibrational mode excitation and subsequent energy release due to vibration-translation (VT) relaxation have a very low impact on the performance of plasma actuation due to high relaxation times, low residence time of excited species in the test section and small size of recirculation bubble at high actuation currents.


This interpretive case study describes five norms of the school culture that facilitated a teacher's (the second author) adoption and learning of a constructivist approach to physical education. The second author used a movement approach initially based on Every Child a Winner. The first author conducted field observations at the elementary school across 3 years and formal interviews and numerous informal interviews each day of field work with teachers, principals, staff, and children. The five norms or set of norms were (a) the set of norms defining the school philosophy, (b) teacher learning, (c) teacher participatory power and responsibility, (d) continual school improvement, and (e) the tendency "to feel that we can do anything." The paper describes how the norms influenced the physical educator and the physical educators' role in creating and maintaining the norms.


Astrometric observations of Phoebe, the faint ninth satellite of Saturn, with a visual magnitude of 16.5, were performed during four successive oppositions in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008. A total of 1173 new observed positions of Phoebe, representing more than 50 per cent of the observational data now available, were obtained during 30 nights of observation involving six missions and three telescopes. A comparison of our observed positions with the JPL Phoebe ephemeris shows the high quality of our observations, which have an accuracy of about 100 mas. Moreover, our observations appear to be consistent with this ephemeris within only about 50 mas.


Drugs are chemical substances of low molecular weights that require to travel from the site of administration to the site of action. For safety and effective permeability, drugs are required to exhibit ideal absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion and toxicity (ADMET) properties. Given the Simplified Molecular Input Line Entry System (SMILES) representation of drugs, we aim to predict their ADMET properties. By feeding molecular descriptors (as global features) to traditional machine learning models, we show that ADMET properties of drug molecules can be predicted with an accuracy competitive with the state-of-the-art deep learning models. We demonstrate that the proposed approach with only 31 molecular descriptors beats the state-of-the-art for 3 datasets. Moreover, it stands the second best for 2 other datasets, where none of the best provides a statistically significant improvement. We also demonstrate that two-dimensional descriptors can better represent absorption, distribution and excretion properties than the fingerprints widely used in the literature. However, they fail to distinguish metabolism and toxicity properties.


The Asian tiger mosquito is a widely spread invasive and vectar species native From tropical South-East Asia. For the last decades, the species has colonized temperate regions of the northern hemisphere. This outstanding acclimation to temperate climates is notably attributed to its capacity of egg winter survival through dia pause. Our aim in this study is to demonstrate why the diapause is a necessary process to survive the mild winter of southern France. Firstly we investigated the ability of Aedes albopictus to overwinter was investigated by exposing eggs ta winter environment from November 2012 to mid-March 2013. Diapause-induced temperate eggs, Non-diapause-induced temperate eggs, and tropical eggs unable of dia pause were studied. Egg batches were kept outside during the winter, sheltered from rainfall and predation. They were brought back and kept in the laboratory and every fortnight for 2 months were stimulated to hatch. In the temperate strain egg survival rate was not significantly improved by diapause, but was higher than in the tropical strain. Activation ofthe diapause process did not change wing sile or shape in the temperate strain. The essential function of the diapause is to avoid precocious egg hatching during mild periods of winter. Secondly, these data were integrated ta a rainfall- and temperature-driven abundance model to improve overwintering simulations. The generated simulations were correlated to recorded field data and were used as the reference model for Ae. albopictus dynamics. ln arder to demonstrate the importance of the dia pause for mosquito abundance, a simulation knocking·out the diapause ability was campared to the reference mode!. ft resulted in the continued hatching of mosquito eggs up to December instead of October, with host seeking females active up ta the beginning of December. Mosquito population did nat become extinct thraugh time but persisted at a very low density, and with a 3 months delay of the beginning of the population density increase. We conclude that diapause tremendously increases the survival ability of Ae. albopictus in the French Mediterranean area. These results are discussed in terms of control strategies and in terms of history of invasive mosquito species' establishment in Europe. (Texte integral)


Cancer is today a major healthcare problem worldwide. There are many forms of cancer, which is a genetic disease, believed to result from a multistep process with genetic and epigenetic changes accumulating over time. Breast cancer is one of the most common forms of cancer in women, while it is much more rare in men. Male breast cancer (MBC) exhibits both similarities and differences with female breast cancer (FBC). However, in contrast to FBC, MBC is poorly characterized on the molecular level. Multiple global profiling studies of FBC have been performed on the genetic and epigenetic levels, while only a few genetic studies have been performed on MBC.
The aim of the research presented in this thesis was to study MBC on the genomic, transcriptomic and epigenomic levels, in an attempt to reveal some of the mechanisms of tumorigenesis in MBC, and to provide a detailed molecular landscape of the disease, allowing comparisons with FBC. The various studies were carried out using high-resolution microarrays and immunohistochemistry on a well-annotated cohort of MBC patients from whom 83 fresh frozen and 220 formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded samples were available.
It was found that MBC is heterogeneous on a genomic, transciptomic and epigenetic level, consisting of various kinds of tumors, each of which exhibits its own aberrations, as is the case in FBC. Male and female breast cancer tumors had a similar appearance on a global level, but when studied in greater detail, many genetic and epigenetic differences were revealed. Furthermore, the landscapes of candidate drivers in male and female breast cancer appear to show considerable differences. Attempts were made to subclassify the fresh frozen MBC tumors with regard to copy number, and levels of mRNA and DNA methylation. Two stable subgroups were consistently identified, showing differences in the biological features of the tumors, where one of the subgroups seemed to consist of a number of more aggressive MBC tumors. The subgroups from the three datasets analyzed were significantly associated with each other, however, they differed from the known subgroups of FBC. As such, they may constitute two novel subgroups of breast cancer, occurring exclusively in men. This indicates that breast cancer in men may require different management and treatment strategies from those used in women with breast cancer.


Accurate numerical modelling of the effective dissolution rate of aqueous CO2 solutions is important for analysis of long-term storage efficiency and risk assessments. Theoretical and field studies showed the possibility of switching from a diffusion-controlled mode of dissolution to a natural convection mode which is much more efficient for accelerating the dissolution mechanism. However, most of the previous investigations have been restricted to two-dimensional cross-section models similar to Elder (1947) problem. In this work, we developed a high resolution parallel simulator to investigate these mechanisms with grid blocks needed for accurate modelling of convective mixing in realistic three-dimensional configurations. The simulator sequentially couples groundwater flow and CO2 transport equations by density and viscosity contrasts. Density and viscosity of the aqueous CO2 solution is predicted by accurate equations of state module validated against previously published experimental data for a wide range of temperatures and pressures of interest. Numerical experiments show that two-dimensional modelling over-predicts the time to onset natural convection and under-predicts the time to achieve ultimate dissolution of the CO2-free phase in a homogeneous porous medium. The role of aquifer heterogeneity in further enhancing CO2 dissolution is illustrated for a generic case study. Heterogeneity leads to a disconnection of the otherwise continuous fingers to form CO2 blobs and ganglia, increasing the effective surface area between CO2-rich blobs and formation waters. Results suggest that high resolution three-dimensional modelling should be guided in CO2 storage projects to (a) estimate the onset of natural convection, (b) determine the size of convective instabilities when they occur, and (c) calculating the maximum mixing achieved.


Spi-1/PU-1 and Spi-B are hematopoietic transcription factors, which, in vitro, display similar affinities for DNA target sequences containing the consensus binding site 5'-GGAA-3'. While the role of Spi-1 in the transcriptional regulation of B cell and myeloid specific genes has been largely demonstrated, the biological function of Spi-B still remains to be elucidated. Since Spi-B and Spi-1 are very divergent in their transactivator domain, these domains might acquire functional specificity in vivo by interacting with different co-factors and/or by undergoing different phosphorylations. First, we observed that casein kinase II phosphorylates Spi-B as well as Spi-1, in vitro. Then, by affinity chromatographies and in vitro kinase assays with fusion proteins between glutathione-S-transferase and the transactivator domain of Spi-B, two kinases were identified on their ability to interact and phosphorylate this domain; the MAP kinase ERK1 and the stress activated protein kinase JNK1. The Threonine 56 was defined as the ERK1 phosphorylation site by using phosphoamino-acid analyses and a Spi-B mutant version with the substitution T56 to A56. Strikingly, ERK1 failed to phosphorylate Spi-1, in vitro, whereas JNK1, like CK II, phosphorylated Spi-B and Spi-1. In addition, other purified Spi-B-kinase activities, unidentified as yet, display similar specificity than ERK1 for Spi-B versus Spi-1. Furthermore, the evident interaction of pRb protein with the transactivator domain of Spi-B in an unphosphorylated state disappeared when this domain was first phosphorylated in vitro either by ERK1 or by the purified Spi-B-kinase activities. Our data revealed multiple phosphorylation sites within Spi-B whose some of them appeared specific for Spi-B versus Spi-1 and which may account for differential regulation of their activities.


The upper boundary of the Middle Devonian Malbaie Formation is an angular unconformity below the Carboniferous Cannes de Roche Formation; although previously unrecognised, it is well exposed along the coast west of Pte-St-Pierre, Quebec. The lower boundary defined in 1935 on the shore northwest of Pte-St-Pierre is thought to be incorrect, representing stata about 500 m above the base of the formation. Logan's proposal that the boundary at this location is a fault contact with the Lower Devonian Battery Point Formation is accepted as a better interpretation.


This analysis examines the negotiation of a critical 1961 defence production agreement between Canada and the United States. Through this triangular transaction, the United States transferred American F-101 interceptors to Canadian ownership and paid $150 million to procure F-104 fighters in Canada. In return, Canada contributed $50 million to the F-104 project and assumed the significant costs of operating stations in the Pinetree radar line. Complex diplomatic discussions led to the conclusion of this deal. On the Canadian side, economic stagnation and the controversial cancellation of the Avro Arrow interceptor forced Prime Minister John Diefenbaker's government to seek an arrangement that would revive Canada's troubled aircraft industry whilst minimising nationalist opposition to the acquisition of American-built interceptors. The successive American administrations of Dwight Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy, on the other hand, were guided by the military imperative of transferring F-101 aircraft to allow Canada to fulfil its continental air defence commitments and the political consideration of using the triangular arrangement as a cure-all for the many irritants plaguing the Canadian–American relationship. Ultimately, the successful conclusion of the agreement demonstrates the complexity of bilateral relations during the Cold War and provides a compelling case study of the inter-relation of political, military, and economic factors influencing the conduct of foreign affairs between close allies.


Infections with hepatitis B, C, and E virus (HBV, HCV, and HEV) can be transmitted via blood and cause severe acute or chronic liver infections. To ensure the safety of blood donations and protect recipients from virus transmissions, blood donations in Germany are tested for viral genomes using nucleic acid amplification techniques (NATs) as well as for viral antigens and antibodies by serological testing. This article describes the relevant regulations on the safety of blood and blood products in Germany and the various screening methods. The safety of blood products is assessed. Currently used NAT methods for detection of hepatitis viruses are based either on polymerase chain reaction (PCR) or isothermal methods such as transcription-mediated amplification (TMA), which enable a highly sensitive detection of viral infections and thereby contribute to the reduction of the diagnostic window. Antigen tests for the detection of viral surface protein of hepatitis B virus in blood donations were introduced in the 1970s in order to prevent potential transmissions. Since the introduction of mandatory testing for HCV-specific antibodies in 1992, HCV NAT testing in 1999, anti-HBc antibody testing in 2006, and the non-mandatory HBV NAT, which is voluntarily performed by most of the blood establishments, blood safety has increased tremendously. Only a few isolated cases of transfusion-transmitted infections in the early window period have been reported since. The success of the recent introduction of mandatory HEV NAT testing in 2020 will have to be assessed in the upcoming years. Besides blood donor screening, the system for blood safety in Germany is supplemented by additional measures for donor selection and pathogen inactivation.


Underwater images tend to suffer from critical quality degradation, such as poor visibility, contrast reduction, and color deviation by virtue of the light absorption and scattering in water media. It is a challenging problem for these images to enhance visibility, improve contrast, and eliminate color cast. This paper proposes an effective and high-speed enhancement and restoration method based on the dark channel prior (DCP) for underwater images and video. Firstly, an improved background light (BL) estimation method is proposed to estimate BL accurately. Secondly, the R channel's transmission map (TM) based on the DCP is estimated sketchily, and a TM optimizer integrating the scene depth map and the adaptive saturation map (ASM) is designed to refine the afore-mentioned coarse TM. Later, the TMs of G–B channels are computed by their ratio to the attenuation coefficient of the red channel. Finally, an improved color correction algorithm is adopted to improve visibility and brightness. Several typical image-quality assessment indexes are employed to testify that the proposed method can restore underwater low-quality images more effectively than other advanced methods. An underwater video real-time measurement is also conducted on the flipper-propelled underwater vehicle-manipulator system to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method in the real scene.


For decades, it has been affirmed that pulsed neutron (PN) spectral Carbon/Oxygen (C/O) logging is the industry's most robust salinity-independent means for reservoir saturation monitoring (RSM); yet C/O logging still comes with considerable uncertainty that has to be identified and handled with ultimate care. In this paper we investigate two main aspects of such uncertainties and showcase some recommendations to enhance the accuracy of the measurement for improved reservoir saturation monitoring.
 Two fundamental factors affecting C/O measurement are the type of gamma ray (GR) scintillation detector crystals used and the method for C/O spectral data processing. Currently, there are mostly six types of crystals used as GR detectors in commercial PN logging tools for routine operations. Each detector type has its advantages and limitations. With respect to data processing, the most commonly adopted method is the Windows method, due to its simplicity and statistical robustness. Whereas the Yields method is much more complicated to develop and prone to statistical variation, though it tends to provide more accurate results. Similarly, each of these two methods has its own set of advantages and disadvantages.
 A comprehensive study involved different logging instruments and datasets acquired under various logging environments showed that both the physical properties of the detector, as well as the characteristics of the data processing method, have to be fully considered for optimum results. The Windows method, for instance, can be adequate for detectors of statistical nature. Unlike the Yields method, which requires an optimized set of detector and tool specifications. Where for certain GR detectors, significant differences in C/O data and consequently the calculated fluid saturation were observed when processed by using the Windows and the Yields methods. C/O data processing method selection is commonly fit for purpose; yet with the continuous advancement in GR detection technology, standardization is recommended for accurate and precise log measurement.
 Accuracy and precision are keys to C/O logging and consequently successful reservoir surveillance and oil field management. Accordingly, a new standard RSM workflow is recommended where all available elements are properly tailored, to enhance the quality of the answer product.


The objective of this research was to examine the influence of macroeconomic and institutional factors when determining the capital structure of Latin American companies from 2009 to 2014, and also analyze if the significance of these factors to explain the capital structure of the companies is changed taking into account the financing composition. We used hierarchical linear modeling to process data. The main results pointed that, both the representative variables of characteristics of the firm and representative variables of countries are important determinants of the capital structure of the companies. However the variables of the firm explain a much higher percentage of variance of leverage. Thus, we emphasize that there is still much to be done in order to analyze the effects of macroeconomic and institutional factors. We expect that this study has created contributions to the national literature, by using a theoretical and also econometric approach that has not been much explored so far. As well as for market agents to examine the determinants of capital structure, considering the institutional aspects.


new Books for ChILdren And Young PeoPLe wide range of ages and interests. The book is also remarkably useful, as the textpicture relationship (and textually unexplained disappearance of the tiny fish) is perfect for teaching about inference, while the tightly focused art, simple vocabulary, and short sentences printed in large type make this perfect for novice readers as well. This is, quite simply, an outstanding book—and that ain't no fish tale. (See p. 151 for publication information.) Jeannette Hulick, Reviewer


Callus was initiated from seedling hypocotyls and mature stems of Papaver somniferum and maintained in culture. The ultrastructure of callus cells resembled parenchyma of intact plants, their most conspicuous feature being a large central vacuole. Meristemoids were formed at random on the surface of calli transferred to the appropriate medium. In cross section, meristemoids appeared as an inner meristematic region surrounded by several layers of concentrically arranged cells. Cells of meristemoids were smaller, more densely cytoplasmic, and more compactly arranged compared with callus. Roots and shoots induced to form from callus possessed cells that were morphologically and developmentally similar to laticifers in intact plants. Laticifers in redifferentiated organs, like those in intact plants, contained numerous capped vesicles that are apparently derived from stacked endoplasmic reticulum. Cell wall perforations between adjacent laticifer elements in redifferentiated organs developed by the gradual, s...


BACKGROUND
It is a great challenge for surgeons to resect pulmonary nodules with small volume, deep position and no solid components under video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery. The purpose of this study is to explore the feasibility and necessity of the localization of pulmonary nodules by injecting indocyanine green (ICG) under the guidance of magnetic navigation bronchoscope and the resection of small pulmonary nodules under the fluoroscope.

METHODS
Between December 2018 and August 2019, sixteen consecutive patients with 30 peripheral lung lesions in our hospital received fluorescent thoracoscopic pulmonary nodule resection. Electromagnetic navigation bronchoscope (ENB) was performed before surgery to guide ICG to the target lesion.

RESULTS
All patients underwent magnetic navigation-guided pulmonary nodule localization, and surgical resection was performed immediately after localization was completed. The average size of the nodules was (11.12±3.65) mm. The average navigation time was (12.06±2.74) minutes, and the average interval between dye labeling and lung resection was (25.00±5.29) minutes. All lesions were completely resected, the localization success rate was 100.00%, no bleeding and other complications occurred after the localization, the postoperative pathological results confirmed the accuracy of the staining.

CONCLUSIONS
Indocyanine green injection under the guidance of magnetic navigation bronchoscope is an effective way to locate pulmonary nodules, which can locate small and untouchable lesions in the lung. This method can help surgeons identify lesions more quickly and accurately. It is practical and worthy of promotion.


With about a dozen species, Dendrobium section Fugacia Smith (1905: 343) is one of the smaller but also one of the more distinctive clades within the large genus Dendrobium Swartz (1799: 82) (Schuiteman 2014). The plants have unbranched, tufted, clavate and usually distinctly angular stems of several internodes, of which only two or three of the uppermost ones carry a non-sheathing leaf. The inflorescences are subsessile and one- or few-flowered and arise singly from the swollen upper internodes. Flowers are ephemeral, generally opening early in the morning, often before sunrise, and withering in the afternoon. Unusually in Dendrobium, the lip is mobile and delicately hinged to the short column-foot, a character-state more commonly found in the sister genus Bulbophyllum Thouars (1822: t. 3). The lip is often broader than long and can be broadly obreniform in outline.


We have prepared the first crystalline and 3D periodically ordered mesoporous quaternary semiconductor photocatalyst in an evaporation-induced self-assembly assisted soft-templating process. Using lab synthesized triblock-terpolymer poly(isoprene-b-styrene-b-ethylene oxide) (ISO) a highly ordered 3D interconnected alternating gyroid morphology was achieved exhibiting near and long-range order, as evidenced by small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and electron microscopy (TEM/SEM). Moreover, we reveal the formation process on the phase-pure construction of the material's pore-walls with its high crystallinity, which proceeds along a highly stable W5+ compound, by both in situ and ex situ analyses, including X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR). The resulting photocatalyst CsTaWO6 with its optimum balance between surface area and ordered mesoporosity ultimately shows superior hydrogen evolution rates over its non-ordered reference in photocatalytic hydrogen production. This work will help to advance new self-assembly preparation pathways towards multi-element multifunctional compounds for different applications, including improved battery and sensor electrode materials.

publisher-specific, author manuscript: http://rsc.li/journals-terms-of-use


In this work we aim to provide a comprehensive summary of the most inspiring aspects of 5G mobile networks. In addition, we present the latest findings on the promising 6G technology towards a world of fully digital connectivity. The key determinants are extreme system performance and combinations of requirements for new use cases. We study new performance targets beyond 5G in two stages: 5G+ evolution and new 6G step. Relevant technologies considered too immature for 5G or outside the defined scope are outlined. To justify our vision of future mobile networks, we point out the need for closer collaborations of academia, standardizing bodies, industrial organizations and governments. The contribution strategy is gradual evolution and performance enhancement of mobile communications. Finally, we identify challenges and directions on network technology roadmap toward 6G. Keywords: wireless communication, mobile broadband, low-latency communi-cation, 5G network, 3GPP, 6G vision


A particular decorative motif of some antiquity is still used by Fijian, Samoan and Tongan women when dyeing and painting bark cloth. This motif (See Figure 1) has been taken into the public domain in New Zealand by individuals and groups as a representation of Pacific/New Zealand identity. The motif is popularly (but erroneously) believed to represent a Frangipani flower, a conflation of Oceanic peoples' love of perfumed flowers and leaves, and the constant use of photographs of the flower in tourist brochures and advertisements as an identifier of Pacific island-ness.


Endometriosis is a debilitating gynecological disorder in women of reproductive age. Laparoscopy, a minimally invasive surgical procedure, provides a definitive diagnosis of the disease. Current treatments, including hormonal therapy and pain medication, are often associated with undesirable side effects limiting their long-term usage. This calls for exploring newer diagnostic and therapeutic options with minimal side effects. Curcumin is an established anti-endometriotic agent with inherent fluorescent properties; however, poor bioavailability limits its clinical utility. To address this shortcoming, various transition metals were conjugated with curcumin to improve its stability, specificity and pharmacological properties. The chemical stability, hemocompatibility and ability of the synthesized metallo-curcumin complexes (MCCs) to ameliorate endometriotic lesions were investigated. While all of the MCCs exhibited low hemolytic activity, their chemical and biological activities were largely dependent on the nature of the metal ion conjugated to the curcumin molecule. Copper-curcumin and nickel-curcumin complexes demonstrated superior therapeutic efficacy evidenced by enhanced antioxidant activity, selective cytotoxicity and increased accumulation in endometriotic cells mediated by an energy-dependent active transport process.


The primary aim of the present investigation was to study possible adverse effects of groundwater from an aquifer south of Austria's capital, Vienna, and to relate these toxicological effects to routinely measured physical/chemical parameters. Fourty-three water samples were tested for genotoxic and ecotoxic effects. For genotoxicity testing the Salmonella/microsome assay, the micronucleus test with primary rat hepatocytes and micronucleus tests with plants( Tradescantia, Vicia faba) were used. In ecotoxicity tests, algae (Selenastrum capricornutum), water cress (Lepidium sativum), and water flea (Dapnia magna) were studied as target organisms. In genotoxicity assays, 10 samples (23%) gave a weak positive response with a single end point, but only one sample (2%) was genotoxic in three different test systems. Thirty-six samples (86%) caused adverse effects in ecotoxicity assays. Plants(algae and water cress) were more sensitive than daphnie. No correlations between toxic effects and physical/chemical parameters were detected. The genotoxicity experiments indicate presently a low risk from genotoxic compounds. The ecotoxic (especially phytotoxic) properties of many water samples raise concern about their suitability for irrigation purposes. The lacking correlation between results from toxicity tests and physical/chemical data indicates that it is presently impossible to predict toxic properties from routine physical/chemical measurements with a sufficient level of safety. It is therefore important to include biological toxicity assays in groundwater monitoring programs.


Dissociative and personality disorders are frequently characterized by a severe psychopathology, high rates of comorbidity and impairments. Experience with aversive events is believed to be an important etiological factor in the development of these disorders. The psychotherapeutic approaches to these disorders pay particular attention to such issues. Available treatments of dissociative disorders take into account comorbidity issues, which are very often explained by a personal history of extremely stressful situations. Therefore there are no universal intervention strategies for treating dissociative disorders. Treatment needs to address the specific problems and histories of the affected individuals. As with personality disorders, the pathological personality structure determines the development of complex interactional and emotional deficits, disturbed perception of self and others, and impulse control problems. These deficits constitute the primary focus of psychotherapy rather than the actual personality disorders. This present work reviews several effective psychotherapeutic techniques for the treatment of dissociative and personality disorders. It discusses theoretical considerations and presents practical aspects as well as empirical evidence of psychotherapeutic strategies for patients with dissociative and personality disorders.


Plasma electron density is one of the most fundamental parameters in the study of tokamak plasma physics.The method of plasma electron density measuring and processing on the Joint Texas Experimental Tokamak(J-TEXT) was presented in this paper.The principle of the plasma electron density measuring by hydrogen cyanide(HCN) laser interferometer was introduced.Room temperature triglycine sulface(TGS) detector was used to obtain the beat signal of HCN,and phase difference was measured by high-speed acquisition card DAQ2010.Based on the signal characteristics,a specific HCN processing algorithm was designed to eliminate the baseline offset accurately and process overturns of HCN signals effectively.As a result,plasma electron density with high accuracy and low noise has been obtained during the J-TEXT tokamak experiment.


Retinoic acid or vitamin A is important for an extensive range of biological processes, including immunomodulatory functions, however, its role in gastrointestinal parasite infections is not yet clear. Despite this, parasite infected individuals are often supplemented with vitamin A, given the co‐localised prevalence of parasitic infections and vitamin deficiencies. Therefore, it is important to understand the impact of this vitamin on the immune responses to gastrointestinal parasites. Here, we review data regarding the role of retinoic acid signalling in mouse models of intestinal nematode infection, with a view to understanding better the practice of giving vitamin A supplements to worm‐infected people.


The present in-situ study examined employee engagement of a cruise ship workforce. 246 crew members and officers in different department's on-board a contemporary market cruise ship filled in a questionnaire during their voyages. Exploratory factor analysis has been applied to test factors of engagement and findings indicated that a four-factor solution (Communication and progress, Capacity to engage, Engaged behaviour, Trust and feeling of freedom) is the best explanation. Furthermore an IPA matrix outlined areas for improvement. The study has found that there is an opportunity for cruise organisations to increase the engagement of their employees by improving factors related to Communication and progress, Capacity to engage and Engaged behaviour. These findings have important implications for cruise tourism theory and practice.

 Key words: Employee engagement on cruise ship, cruise tourism, principal components analysis, importance-performance analysis.


The occurrence of the European species Rhagio scolopaceus in North America is recorded for the first time from the Boston area (Massachusetts). Its differences from other native species are noted and Chillcott's key (Can. Ent. 97:785) to the eastern nearctic species is emended to include scolopaceus. The question of its introduction is also discussed. Recently while collecting syrphids an unusual rhagionid was noticed. Its large size and striking markings set it off from the local species. Although the fly was recognized as new to me, an intensive search for additional specimens was not made at the time because the abundance of uncommon syrphid flies distracted me. However, after the identity of the fly was learned, I returned to the original area where it was found and made a thorough search for more individuals. No additional specimens were collected. The original female specimen was collected in a wet grove of deciduous trees opposite Regis College on Wellesley Street in Weston on 7 June 1968. This is the habitat and time of occurrence of the common native Rhagio mystaceus (Macquart). The fly's behavior was also similar to that of the common mystaceus. When it was disturbed, it made a short flight to another spot and turned around to face the pursuer. The behavior and the coloration of these flies (mystaceus and scolopaceus) is reminiscent of scorpion flies and is perhaps a form of mimicry of these predaceous insects. Apparently these two species are ecological equivalents on either side of the Atlantic Ocean and are now occupying the same (?) niche in the Weston area. A search was made of the local collections for additional material, which might help to indicate the time and extent of the introduction. No material of scolopaceus (Linne) was found in either the Museum of Comparative Zoology or the University of Massachusetts collection, despite the fact that there were many specimens of mystaceus from the greater Boston area, particularly Wellesley. However, two more specimens were found in the private collection of Mr. David Meissner, a local collector. One was from the same spot in Weston as my first and was collected a day earlier, 6 June 1968. The other was a specimen 1 Contribution #1391 from the Department of Entomology, Systematics and Morphology Research Laboratory, University of Massachusetts. 142 PHOC. ENT. SOC. WASH., VOL. 71, NO. 2, JUNE, 1969 from Wellesley collected on 9 June 1963. The Wellesley specimen is particularly interesting in that it was collected in the Wellesley College area, presumably the same area in which A. P. Morse, who taught at the college, in the early part of this century collected the mystaceus material now in the Museum of Comparative Zoology. It is hardly likely that a local collector, like Morse, who was collecting rhagionids at the same place and time of year, which is indicated by the mystaceus and other material in the MCZ, would have overlooked a larger and more showy species like scolopaceus. This fact strongly suggests that scolopaceus was not present in Morse's time. This supposition naturally leads to the question of mode and time of introduction. Chillcott (1965) in his revision of the eastern species of Rhagio stated that the "Larvae of Rhagio are frequently intercepted in the soil on imported plant materials and the establishment of local colonies of European species is probably more widespread than this paper indicates." He recorded only two European species in North America. They are lineola (Linne) (Ottawa, Ontario) and tringarius (Linne) (Lockeport, Novia Scotia). The discovery of scolopaceus (Linne) in Massachusetts is the partial fulfillment of Chillcott's prediction. Although presently the facts are too meager to say anything with certainty, it seems probable that scolopaceus is a recent immigrant introduced through nursery or floricultural importations. Lindroth (1957) stresses ship ballast as the means of introducing various European soil-inhabitating forms into North America. It is veiy unlikely that scolopaceus was introduced by this means for two principal reasons: 1) ballast was not used in the Massachusetts area (Lindroth, 1957, p. 169); 2) the use of ballast virtually stopped when steam replaced sail in the late part of the last century (Lindroth, 1957, p. 157, 161) [whereas scolopaceus appears to be a recent introduction]. Since submitting this manuscript, Dr. Wirth has called to my attention still another specimen of scolopaceus from, the Boston area—Hyde Park, 1 June 1949. Apparently this specimen was overlooked by Chillcott in his revision (1965). In short, Rhagio scolopaceus, with a short flight period during the first part of June, appears to be a recent introduction to the metropolitan Boston area. Rhagio scolopaceus is easily separated from other North American species of Rhagio. In habitus it looks like a vertebratus (Say) with the wings of mystaceus: the abdomen is generally orange with the black lateral margins and a mid-dorsal row of black spots and the wings are strongly patterned with brown. Chillcott's key (1965) to the eastern species can be modified as follows to include scolopaceus. 4. Notopleural shelf and metepimeron bare 4a Notopleural shelf and metepimeron haired 5 4a. Wings strongly patterned; proepisternum haired scolopaceus (Linne) Wings clear; proepisternum bare tringarius (Linne) PROC. ENT. SOC. WASH., VOL. 71, NO. 2, JUNE, 1969 143 The only species that scolopaceus is likely to be confused with is strigosa Meigen. However, strigosa is bare on the proepisternum, extensively yellow on the pleuron and scutellum, and with the medial wing spot restricted to the Ri cell, whereas scolopaceus is haired on the proepisternum, dark on the pleuron and scutellum, and with the brownish color of the medial wing spot extended to r4+5 vein. Strigosa has not yet been found in North America. The determination of scolopaceus was made with Verrall (1909) and verified by comparison with several European specimens in the Museum of Comparative Zoology (Cambridge, Mass.). The original specimen will be deposited in the Canadian National Collection at Ottawa (Ontario).


Based on examination of many necks and observations at surgery and on cadavers, we believe that "platysma cords"' or cervical folds are normal when the muscles are being contracted. In the aged, they do not disappear when the muscle is relaxed. We believe that they are caused by a stretching and loss of contractility of skin and fat overlying the anterior platysma muscles from aging and from the many contractions of these muscles which selectively stretch the overyling tissues. In addition, we believe that the superficial musculoaponeurotic system (SMAS), which in youth holds the muscle strongly and closely to the confines of the concavity of the neck, stretches so that the muscle webs more easily out of the concavity when contracted and is returned less completely into it upon relaxation. Treatment and prevention should be directed toward tightening the skin and the SMAS and supporting the muscle in its retrodisplaced, more youthful position.


We study the self-organization process induced by a nonlocal critical field, in analogy with the electric field that is derived from the global spatial profile of electric charge density during a discharge. In this nontrivial extension of standard sandpilelike models of intermittent dissipation, the charges move in a similar manner to grains of sand when the threshold condition on the field is achieved. Here we focus our attention on the long term statistics of events, so that we consider an extremely simplified model in close similarity with sandpiles, avoiding some of the extremely interesting complexities that occur in three-dimensional electric discharges. For the observed avalanches (discharges in this case) we analyze four characteristic quantities: current, charge discharged, energy discharged, and duration of the discharge. We have run several simulations to explore the parameter space and found in general that they exhibit well defined power law event statistics spanning for one to three decades in general. For some parameter values we observe the existence of large or global events, in addition to the power law statistics, some of which may be related to finite size effects due to the size of the simulation box. This is the first step in understanding the long term statistics of systems with avalanches or discharges, when the criticality is controlled by nonlocality, as there are a number systems, such as lightning discharges or heat transport in tokamaks, where this type of dynamics is expected to occur.


In this study, electric yellow cichlid were (Labidochromis caeruleus) exposed to acute cadmium (Cd) concentrations (0, 50, 60, 70, 80 mg l-1) for 72 h, and chronic Cd concentrations (0.00, 0.25, 0.50, 1.00, 2.00 mg l-1) for 20 d to examine histological alternation. In addition to the recovery was detected after 10 d. After chronic trial, rest of the fish were exposed to just water not containing cadmium for 10 day for recovery. Gills, liver, muscle, and spleen samples were collected from randomly selected fish. The tissue samples prepared with standard techniques for haematoxylin and eosin (H&E). Cadmium depending on concentrations increase caused severe disorders on fish. After acute exposure, several changes were detected such as edema, hyperplasia, breakdown in epithelial tissues of gills; vacuolation and necrosis in liver; increase of hemosterin clustering and necrosis in spleen. After chronic exposure, some symptoms were also found such as edema, aneurysm, degermation of secondary lamellae in gills; degeneration and necrosis in liver; degeneration and granulomas in spleen. Additionally, after recovery of chronic Cd exposure some of the same symptoms were observed such as edema, hyperplasia and aneurysm in gills; vacuolar degeneration and necrosis in liver; granulomas and degeneration in spleen.


We used simultaneous Pockels effect and photoconductivity measurements to study of processes in high-resistivity CdZnTe semiconductor X-ray and gamma ray detector material at steady state high flux conditions. We have proven, that with an appropriate choice of monochromatic laser light, the profile of the electric field is nearly the same as with a polychromatic X-ray source. We observed that the electric field is strongly deformed in the case of both above and below bandgap laser radiation. This leads to a decrease of the photocurrent when the sample is illuminated with above bandgap radiation. When below bandgap illumination is used the photocurrent values are not affected by electric field weakening. This is explained by increased filling of the midgap trap with trapped electrons leading to an increase of the lifetime.


Animal skin pattern is one of the good model systems used to study the mechanism of pattern formation. Molecular genetic studies with zebrafish have shown that pigment cells play a major role in the mechanism of stripe formation. Among the variety of cellular events that may be involved in the mechanism, aggregation of melanophores has been suggested as an important factor for pattern formation. However, only a few experimental studies detected the migration ability of melanophores in vivo. Here, we tried to determine whether melanophores really have the ability to aggregate in the skin of zebrafish. Melanophores in the adult stripes are packed densely and they rarely move. However, when the neighboring pigment cells are killed, they move and regenerate the stripe pattern, suggesting that melanophores retain the migration ability. To analyze the migration, we ablated a part of the melanophores by laser to give free space to the remaining cells; we then traced the migration. Contrary to our expectation, we found that melanophores repulsed one another and dispersed from the aggregated condition in the absence of xanthophores. Apparent aggregation may be forced by the stronger repulsive effect against the xanthophores, which excludes melanophores from the yellow stripe region.


The interpretation and understanding of physical gestures play a significant role in various forms of art. Interactive technology and digital devices offer a plethora of opportunities for personal gesture-based experience and they assist in the creation of collaborative artwork. In this study, three prototypes for use with different digital devices (digital camera, PC camera, and Kinect) were designed. Subsequently, a series of workshops were conducted and in-depth interviews with participants from different cultural and occupational backgrounds. The latter were designed to explore how to specifically design personalised gesture-based expressions and how to engage the creativity of the participants in their gesture-based experiences. The findings indicated that, in terms of gesture-based interaction, the participants preferred to engage with the visual traces that were displayed at specific timings in multi-experience spaces. Their gesture-based interactions could effectively support non-verbal emotional expression. In addition, the participants were shown to be strongly inclined to combine their personal stories and emotions into their own gesture-based artworks. Based on the participants' different cultural and occupational backgrounds, their artistic creation could be spontaneously formed.


Surface tensions evaluated from molecular dynamics simulations of fully hydrated dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine bilayers and monolayers at surface areas/lipid of 54, 64, and 80 A2 are uniformly lowered 4-8 dyn/cm upon addition of trehalose in a 1:2 trehalose/lipid ratio. Constant surface tension simulations of bilayers yield the complementary result: an increase in surface area consistent with the surface pressure-surface area (pi-A) isotherms. Hydrogen bonding by trehalose, replacement of waters in the headgroup region, and modulation of the dipole potential are all similar in bilayers and monolayers at the same surface area. These results strongly support the assumption that experimental measurements on the interactions of surface active components such as trehalose with monolayers can yield quantitative insight to their effects on bilayers. The simulations also indicate that the 20-30 dyn/cm difference in surface tension of the bilayer leaflet and monolayer arises from differences in the chain regions, not the headgroup/water interfaces.


Belowground-feeding herbivores may be very destructive to plants. Roots are known to produce various defense compounds to protect themselves against these herbivores, both with direct and indirect—inducible—defense compounds. Recent literature reviews reveal no overall pattern for root-shoot defense allocation. Optimal defense allocation patterns within roots may be predicted with an ecophysiological model taking into account the value and vulnerability of root classes. Induced responses elicited by root herbivores are likely to result in systemic responses in the shoots. These systemic responses may affect aboveground herbivores and higher trophic levels. This calls into question whether root-to-shoot systemic induction is an adaptive response. Physiological responses conferring tolerance may co-occur with resistance responses, depending on the biotic and abiotic environment of the roots. More detailed analyses of root defenses and the feeding sites of herbivores are needed to gain a better understanding of optimal defense allocation in roots.


The present invention relates to a method and a system for detecting presence in a predefined space. The system comprises cascade connected sensors (s1, s2, . . . , sn), an output device (1), a control unit (2) and a processing unit (3). The method comprises the steps of activating a first sensor (s1) in the cascade and waiting until the first sensor detects presence. When presence is detected, a successive sensor (s2, . . . , sn) in the cascade is activated, and when the successive sensor (s2, . . . , sn) also detects presence the step of activating the successive sensor is repeated until all sensors in the cascade have been activated. If the successive sensor (s2, . . . , sn) does not detect presence the method returns to the waiting step of the first sensor. When the ultimate sensor in the cascade (sn) detects presence, a confirmation message is sent to the output device (1).


One of the polyketide compounds, the naphthoquinone pigment echinochrome, is synthesized in sea urchin pigment cells. We analyzed polyketide synthase (pks) and sulfotransferase (sult) gene expression in embryos and larvae of the sea urchin Strongylocentrotus intermedius from various stages of development and in specific tissues of the adults. We observed the highest level of expression of the pks and sult genes at the gastrula stage. In unfertilized eggs, only trace amounts of the pks and sult transcripts were detected, whereas no transcripts of these genes were observed in spermatozoids. The addition of shikimic acid, a precursor of naphthoquinone pigments, to zygotes and embryos increased the expression of the pks and sult genes. Our findings, including the development of specific conditions to promote pigment cell differentiation of embryonic sea urchin cells in culture, represent a definitive study on the molecular signaling pathways that are involved in the biosynthesis of pigments during sea urchin development.


Tribbles are a family of signal‐regulating proteins shown to coordinate the action and the suppression of different pathways. Tribbles homolog 3 (Trib3), the best‐studied member of the mammalian tribble family, has a key function in determining cell fate when responding to environmental challenges. Trib3 effects are also modulated by its direct interaction with other signaling molecules. We found that Trib3 is highly expressed in the early development of rat testis, at just the time when the gonocytes resume proliferation to give rise to A spermatogonia. Immunofluorescence staining of cross‐sections of rat testis and cultured spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs) also confirmed that Trib3 is expressed in rat SSCs.


Logical reasoning in any form is an important aspect of life; it is persuading or convincing others with logic through writing or speech, for example, scientists, politicians, businessmen, financiers, solicitors and many others do this. This paper points out the frequent inefficacy of logical presentations, arguments and debates per se in bringing about the correct and wonted outcomes. It describes the scenario of people frequently involved in fruitless arguments and debates, and shows why the application of logic, for example, in logical argument or debate, could not often achieve the desired outcomes, much of the time ending up with frustration, unhappiness, bad feelings and poor relationships. Scenarios from mathematics, which probably represents the most rigorous form of logical reasoning, and science are described as well. The paper also delves into the problems encountered in logical reasoning as well as some modes of reasoning. It would be difficult and might be impossible to reason with and convince someone with a closed mind-set, someone who has made up the mind not to be convinced, or even someone who is not intelligent enough to be convinced. The paper presents a resolution to this serious problem, which is important, as that would be conducive to peace and harmony. (Published


The quality and quantity of public elementary and secondary school teachers are of increasing concern to the 106th Congress. Although states and localities are responsible for most aspects of teacher preparation, recruitment, and employment, the federal government supports a wide array of programs for teachers. Several of these programs are being considered for amendment and extension by the 106th Congress including the Eisenhower Professional Development program and the Class Size Reduction program. The 106th Congress has before it a wide array of legislative proposals to address teacher issues. Action has occurred on several proposals. This report tracks such action and will be updated as it occurs.


Objective:Superior hypogastric plexus neurolysis (SHP-N) has been shown in uncontrolled studies to provide intermediate-term benefit in a majority of patients with pain secondary to genitourinary, gynecologic, and colorectal cancers. The purpose of this is to determine factors associated with treatment outcome. Materials and Methods:Patients who underwent SHP-N after a positive prognostic block were identified based on diagnostic classification and procedural codes from databases at 2 large teaching hospitals. A host of demographic, clinical, and treatment factors were examined for their association with treatment success, which was defined as ≥50% pain relief lasting ≥1 month. Results:A total of 53.1% of 32 patients with sufficient medical records for analysis experienced a positive outcome. Those with a positive outcome were older (mean age 59.6 y, SD 13.1 vs. 47.8, SD 15.6; P=0.03), less likely to have pelvic pain (36.8% success rate, P=0.04), and more likely to have bladder cancer (88.9% success rate; P=0.01) than those with a negative outcome. In stratified analysis, female were more likely to have positive outcome if they did not have pelvic pain compared to those that did (P=0.008). This difference was not significant for males. Discussion:Selecting patients based on demographic and clinical variables may improve treatment outcomes for SHP-N. Larger, prospective studies are needed to confirm our results and better refine selection criteria better.


There is growing interest in modeling nonlinear behavior in the speech signal, particularly for applications such as speech recognition. Conventional tools for analyzing speech data use information from the power spectral density of the time series, and hence are restricted to the first two moments of the data. These moments do not provide a sufficient representation of a signal with strong nonlinear properties. In this paper, we investigate the use of features, known as invariants, that measure the nonlinearity in a signal. We analyze three popular measures: Lyapunov exponents, Kolmogorov entropy and correlation dimension. These measures quantify the presence (and extent) of chaos in the underlying system that generated the observable. We show that these invariants can discriminate between broad phonetic classes on a simple database consisting of sustained vowels using the Kullback-Leibler divergence measure. These features show promise in improving the robustness of speech recognition systems in noisy environments.


Most baseball fans want to hear about stellar players and spectacular plays, statistics and storied franchises. "Level Playing Fields" sheds light on a usually unnoticed facet of the game, introducing fans and historians alike to the real fundamentals of baseball: dirt and grass. In this lively history, Peter Morris demonstrates that many of the game's rules and customs actually arose as concessions to the daunting practical difficulties of creating a baseball diamond. Recovering a nearly lost and decidedly quirky chapter of baseball history, "Level Playing Fields" tells the engaging story of Tom and Jack Murphy, brothers who made up baseball's first great family of groundskeepers and who played a pivotal role in shaping America's national pastime. Irish immigrants who tirelessly crafted home-field advantages for some of baseball's earliest dynasties, the brothers Murphy were instrumental in developing pitching mounds, permanent spring training sites, and new irrigation techniques, and their careers were touched by such major innovations as tarpaulins and fireproof concrete-and-steel stadiums. "Level Playing Fields" is a real-life saga involving craftsmanship, resourcefulness, intrigue, and bitter rivalries (including attempted murder!) between such legendary figures as John McGraw, Connie Mack, Honus Wagner, and Ty Cobb. The Murphys' story recreates a forgotten way of life and gives us a sense of why an entire generation of American men found so much meaning in the game of baseball.


Design projects have evolved to be collaborative, concurrent and multi-disciplinary. Due to these changes, knowledge management for design projects faces new challenges, in order to represent all the elements in a collaborative design project, it is necessary to consider not only decision-making process, but also its context and interaction with other elements.


The article is devoted to consideration of the services of the platform LEARNIS: web quests "Escape the room", intellectual game "Your quiz", terminology game "Explain me". With their help, teachers of any subject area can conduct educational classes in a fun way. Considered services are elements of the system teaching methods proposed by the authors based on mobile technologies.


LBA6008 Background: Lenvatinib (LEN) is an oral tyrosine kinase inhibitor of the VEGFR1-3, FGFR1-4, PDGFRβ, RET, and KIT signaling networks. Based on efficacy results of the phase 2 study of patients (pts) with 131I-refractory differentiated thyroid cancer (RR-DTC), this phase 3 Study of (E7080) Lenvatinib in Differentiated Cancer of the Thyroid (SELECT) was developed.

METHODS
This randomized, double-blind, placebo (PBO)-controlled study enrolled pts with RR-DTC with documented disease progression within 13 months (mo). Pts were stratified by age (≤65, >65 years), region and ≤1 prior VEGFR-targeted therapies and randomized 2:1 to LEN or PBO (24mg/d, 28-d cycle). Upon progression, pts receiving PBO could crossover to open-label LEN. The primary endpoint was PFS assessed by Independent Radiologic Review; secondary endpoints included overall response rate (ORR; complete response [CR] + PR), overall survival (OS) and safety.

RESULTS
392 pts (63.0 years median age; 51.0% male) were randomized. Pts on LEN had a significantly prolonged PFS vs PBO (hazard ratio 0.21, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.14-0.31; P <.0001); median PFS was LEN: 18.3 mo (95% CI 15.1-not evaluable), PBO: 3.6 mo (95% CI 2.2-3.7). A LEN PFS benefit was observed in all predefined subgroups; median LEN PFS for pts with prior vs no prior VEGF-therapy was 15.1 mo (n=66) and 18.7 mo (n=195), respectively. Rates (n) of CRs were LEN: 1.5% (4), PBO: 0; PRs were LEN: 63.2% (165), PBO: 1.5% (2).Median exposure duration was LEN: 13.8 mo, PBO: 3.9 mo; median time to LEN response was 2.0 mo. Median OS has not been reached; deaths per arm were LEN: 71 (27.2%), PBO: 47 (35.9%). The 5 most common LEN treatment-related adverse events (TRAEs; any grade) were hypertension (68%), diarrhea (59%), appetite decreased (50%), weight loss (46%), nausea (41%). LEN grade ≥3 TRAEs (≥5%) were hypertension (42%), proteinuria (10%), weight loss (10%), diarrhea (8%), appetite decreased (5%). The dose was reduced in 78.5% of pts and discontinued due to adverse events (AEs) in 14.2% of pts.

CONCLUSIONS
LEN significantly improved PFS compared with PBO in pts with progressive RR-DTC. There were no unexpected toxicities and AEs were manageable.

CLINICAL TRIAL INFORMATION
NCT01321554.


This book shows how to use options to increase your investment returns while reducing your risks. In the options market, it always comes down to you versus them. Thing is, they've been at it a lot longer than you, and have years of hands-on experience navigating the tricks and traps of profitable options trading. Before you take your place at the table, it's in your best interest to discover how options really work, and how they can work for you."Options and Options Trading" translates the foreign language of options into plain English. Based on Robert Ward's experience as a Merrill Lynch head trader as well as his popular New York University trading and options course, this step-by-step primer explains what options are, introduces basic valuation and trading concepts, and demystifies this versatile trading vehicle. Look to "Options and Options Trading" to learn: how to use options to increase profits or offset risks, and hazards to watch out for; the 8 most popular options strategies - how and why they work (and sometimes don't!); key options definitions, formulas, abbreviations, techniques, and more. Knowledge on Wall Street rarely comes cheap, and the options market can be a particularly expensive tutor. Let "Options and Options Trading" provide you with the insight you need to understand what is happening and why, and give you a head start on making options a low-risk, high-return part of your overall portfolio."There is a difficult, complex way to learn options (one that requires a Ph.D. in math) and an easier, more basic way for those of us who don't consider ourselves math geniuses. This book is about learning options the easy way..." - From Chapter 1. Options trading can look simple from afar. And frankly, the basics aren't all that difficult to grasp. But while this seeming simplicity has helped a few lucky traders garner fast fortunes, it is far more common to see inexperienced traders wearing bullsyes - with market veterans gladly lining up and taking aim. "Options and Options Trading" will open your eyes to the potentials and realities of real-world options trading.Written by Robert Ward, a former head trader who has devoted his career to both introducing options neophytes to the ways of the markets, this no-nonsense book provides today's best introduction to the complex options arena. Every important aspect of buying, selling, and profiting from options is introduced and explained, including: similarities and differences between using options for income and using them to hedge risks; methods for assessing the "fair value" of any option based on its expected returns; a generic framework for building a workable option pricing model Black-Scholes - how to understand and implement this ingenious and invaluable option formula; everything you need to know about price risk, and techniques traders use to manage that risk; how to understand and implement the Greeks - Delta, Gama, Vega (Kappa), Theta, and Rho; basic statistics knowledge you must have to become an effective trader; and all about volatility - the key to options trading success.Options are one of today's most versatile and valuable tools for traders and investors of every type and budget. Those who take the time to learn their intricacies generally find that options are ideal for increasing their odds of success. Traders and investors who don't invest the time required to get truly comfortable with the realities of options trading, however, soon find themselves back on the sidelines - licking their wounds and wondering where they went wrong. Before you enter the tricky world of options trading, get the foundation of knowledge you need to minimize surprises and compete with the best. "Options and Options Trading" takes you by the hand and walks you through today's most intuitive analysis of options. Mathematically straightforward and refreshingly unbiased, it is today's most clear-eyed look at the tumultuous world of derivatives trading - and will give you the solid foundation you need for success in the profitable yet perilous world of options trading.


The logistic activity has been analysed by different approaches, but with a lack of attention to its impacts in the urban and spatial configuration. This work studies the logistic expansion in the Urban Region of Madrid, considering the geographical polarization and its preferential location in suburban and rural zones in the metropolitan area. The methodology considers three variables enlightening the spatial and temporal diffusion: workers and companies by municipality, logistic land use by province and different types of logistic land use. The results confirm the dissemination of logistics in metropolitan areas according to suburbanization and spread processes, at the same time appears new urban centralities as a consequence of the capitalist integration of the economy at different scales.


In this letter, we propose a novel modulation concept which we call index and composition modulation (ICM). In the proposed concept, we use indices of active/deactive codeword elements and compositions of an integer to encode information. In this regard, we first determine the activated codeword elements, then we exploit energy levels of these elements to identify the compositions. We depict a practical scheme for using ICM with orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) and show that OFDM with ICM (OFDM-ICM) can enhance the spectral efficiency (SE) and error performance of OFDM-IM. We design an efficient low-complexity detector for the proposed technique. Moreover, we analyze the error and SE performance of the OFDM-ICM technique and show that it is capable of outperforming existing OFDM benchmarks in terms of error and SE performance.


Plants produce female gametes through mitotic division in the multicellular, meioticolly reduced (haploid) megagametophyte phase. In flowering plants, the megagametophyte is the embryo sac; female gametogenesis or megagametogenesis comprises the ontogeny of the embryo sac. As a step toward understanding the role of embryo sac-expressed genes in megagametogenesis, development of normal, haploid embryo sacs in maize was compared with development of embryo sacs deficient for various small, cytologically defined chromosomal regions. This analysis allowed us to screen 18% of the maize genome, including most of chromosome arms 1L and 3L, for phenotypes due specifically to deletion of essential, embryo sac-expressed genes. Confocal laser scanning microscopy of whole developing embryo sacs confirmed that normal megagameto-genesis in maize is of the highly stereotyped, bipolar Polygonum type common to most flowering plants examined to date. Deficiency embryo sac phenotypes were grouped into three classes, suggesting each deficient region contained one or more of at least three basic types of haploid-expressed gene functions. In the first group, three chromosome regions contained genes required for progression beyond early, free-nuclear stages of embryo sac development. Maintaining synchrony between events at the two poles of the embryo sac required genes located within two deficiencies. Finally, three chromosome regions harbored loci required for generation of normal cellular patterns typical of megagametogenesis. This analysis demonstrates that the embryo sac first requires postmeiotic gene expression at least as early as the first postmeiotic mitosis. Furthermore, our data show that a variety of distinct, genetically separable programs require embryo sac-expressed gene products during megagametogenesis, and suggest the nature of some of those developmental mechanisms. © 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.


This paper presents the use of glass fiber reinforced plastic (GFRP) composite material to produce a structure frame; the behaviors of the GFRP frames were analyzed by using pushover test and a numerical analysis software. Double-web FRP I-beams are used for the beams and columns of the frame, and joints made from metal and FRP. Three types of frame specimens were involved: an un-braced frame, a compression-braced frame and a tension-braced frame for each joint type. The joints were bonded to the frame components using epoxy resin but also adding bolts in the beam-column joint. The pushover test was used to investigate the mechanical behaviors and failure modes of the GFRP frames. The analysis software SAP2000 was used for the pushover analysis of the GFRP frames, and it was shown that the ultimate strength and force-displacement relationships of the analytical results were similar to that of the experimental ones.


The purpose of this paper is to extract the vowel formants of the ten young male speakers from the Buckeye Corpus of Conversational Speech [1] and to analyze them in comparison to earlier works in terms of various phonetic factors that are expected to affect the realization of the formant distribution. The first two formant frequency values were automatically extracted with a Praat script along with such factors as the place of articulation, the content versus function word information, syllabic stress information, the location in a word, location in utterance, speech rate of three consecutive words, and the word frequency in the corpus. The results indicated that the formant patterns from the corpus were very different from those of earlier works although the overall pattern was similar and that the factors were strongly responsible for the realization of the two formants. The purpose of this paper is to extract the vowel formants of the ten young male speakers from the Buckeye Corpus of Conversational Speech [1] and to analyze them in comparison to earlier works in terms of various phonetic factors that are expected to affect the realization of the formant distribution. The first two formant frequency values were automatically extracted with a Praat script along with such factors as the place of articulation, the content versus function word information, the syllabic stress information, the location in a word, the location in an utterance, the speech rate of the three consecutive words, and the word frequency in the corpus. The result indicated that the formant patterns from the corpus were very different from those of earlier works although the overall pattern was similar and that the factors were strongly responsible for the realization of the two formants.


The scope of the investigation is to take on-site measured wind data from a number of sites inside and close to forests. From the collected on-site data the ambient turbulence intensity is calculated and analysed depending on the distance to the forest and height above the forest. From this forest turbulence intensity database it is possible to get an overview of the general behaviour of the turbulence above and down stream from the forest. The database currently consists of 65 measurements points from around the globe, and it will be continually updated as relevant sites are made available. Using the database a number of questions can be answered. How does the ambient turbulence intensity decay with height? What does the turbulence profile look like according to wind speed? Is it the general situation that high wind speeds are creating movement in the canopy tops, resulting in higher turbulence? How does the ambient turbulence intensity decay at different height as a function of distance to the forest? From the forest turbulence database it can be seen that in general, the majority of the turbulence intensity created by the forest is visible within a radius of 5 times the forest height in vertical and 500 meters downstream from the forest edge in horizontal direction. Outside these boundaries the ambient turbulence intensity is rapidly approaching normal values.


Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common malignant diseases in developed countries. Recent epidemiological studies1 suggest that CRC is associated with obesity ( Gut 2002; 51 :191–4).

Although primary prevention of CRC via dietary measures is controversial, secondary prevention by interrupting the adenoma-carcinoma sequence is possible. One cross sectional study2 and a case control study3 have demonstrated the association between obesity and colorectal adenomas in men2 and women,3 respectively, whereas another study failed to show any association.4 Although cross sectional studies in Japan have demonstrated an …


Abstract The high proliferation of on-line gaming along with the high demands of availability of network resources, created the need for the development of Cloudified services that will augment computation capabilities of mobile devices. To this end, this work elaborates on the design, the development and the comparative evaluation with other similar models, as well as with real-time comparisons through emulators, of a process-offloading scheme that is based on a mobile opportunistic cloud computing approach. According to the proposed approach, each mobile device with access to interactive -delay sensitive- multimedia content (i.e. online gaming with processing power requirements) exploits several network-centric parameters, by using Nano-Mobile Data Centers for an interactive, collaborative and real-time manipulation of the available resources. The communication and the social context is used by the mobile nodes with other communication related parameters, towards achieving the efficient execution of the offloading process in order to support adequate quality of service. The proposed scheme allows interactive mobile users to efficiently exploit their resources, while the processes that cannot be locally handled (by each device), are effectively offloaded. The scheme aims at prolonging the lifetime of each mobile device and maximizing the efficiency in running context interactive applications. The efficiency of the proposed scheme is validated through comparative performance evaluations with other similar schemes, indicating the level of the mobile nodes lifetime extensibility that is offered, in contrast to existing approaches.


This volume chronicles the proceedings of the 4th International Symposium on Contact Angle, Wettability and Adhesion held in Philadelphia, PA, June 2004. The world of wettability is very wide and it plays a crucial role in many and varied technological areas ranging from microfluidics to biomedical to agriculture to welding. This volume contains a total of 31 papers covering many ramifications of contact angle, wettability and adhesion. All manuscripts were rigorously peer-reviewed and revised, and properly edited before inclusion in this book. The topics covered include: fundamental aspects of contact line region; evaporative behavior of sessile drops; various factors influencing contact angle measurements; different kinds of contact angles; various ways to measure contact angles; contact angle hysteresis; contact angle measurements on various materials (smooth, rough, porous, heterogeneous); effect of electric field on contact angle (electrowetting); wetting and spreading on heterogeneous surfaces; factors influencing wetting/spreading phenomena; determination of solid surface free energy via contact angle measurements; application of AFM in determining solid surface tension at the nano-scale; ultralyophobic surfaces; surface modification and wettability; multiphase flow dynamics in porous media; thin film coatings for textile materials; bio-fouling resistant coatings; relationships between wetting and adhesion; and relevance/importance of wetting and surface energetics in technological applications, including cleaning of flooring materials, kinetics of oil removal from coating materials, cell adhesion, and mold compound- metal adhesion in semiconductor packaging.


This study examined the influence of 28 days of dietary carbohydrate (CHO) supplementation on plasma cytokine responses to cycle ergometry. Sixteen highly trained male cyclists and triathletes (age: 30.6+/-5.6 y; VO2max: 64.8+/-4.7 mL x kg(-1) x min(-1); mean+/-SD) participated in the study. One group (n=8) consumed a higher-CHO (8.5+/-1.7 g x kg(-1) body mass.day (-1)) diet for 28 days; a second group (n=8) consumed a moderate-CHO diet (5.3+/-0.4 g x kg (-1) x day (-1)). Total daily energy intakes were similar between the two groups. Cytokine responses to cycle ergometry were assessed prior to and again following the dietary intervention period. The cycle ergometry protocol involved 100 min steady state cycling at 70% VO2max followed by a time trial of approximately 30 min. Athletes were provided with 15 mL x kg (-1) x h (-1) of water during each trial. Blood samples were collected pre-, immediately post- and 1 h post-exercise for determination of plasma glucose and pro-inflammatory (IL-6, IL-8) and anti-inflammatory (IL-10, IL-1ra) cytokine concentrations. Cytokine responses to cycle ergometry were not substantially altered following the 28-day higher-CHO diet. In contrast, following the 28-day moderate-CHO diet, there were approximately 30-50% reductions (p=0.08-0.11) in anti-inflammatory cytokine responses post-exercise. These findings suggest that increased dietary CHO content alone does not effectively attenuate the pro-inflammatory cytokine response to exercise, however, there may be a small reduction in the anti-inflammatory cytokine response.


Nearly all fractions within the political, economic, and social spheres gave responses to the recent financial crisis. In broad terms, both left-leaning and right-leaning scholars and commentators presented their explanations for the crisis, with confident agendas defining 'what is wrong' and how to deal with it. However, as intellectual history shows us, most of those explanations were no less fascinating precisely because they shared more that they acknowledged. A major divide has been over the role of governments in coordinating markets, or, in the case of Roberts's The Logic of Discipline, the role of markets in coordinating governments. In this essay, I offer an overview of Alasdair Roberts's arguments in The Logic of Discipline. Gradually, I extend the examined issues beyond the state-market dichotomy, arguing that only in understanding the interactive force of the two can a systemic analysis of capitalism hope to be plausible.


FaBiMed is a European project established to develop new manufacturing strategies for medical micro devices, using polymer replication in production of cost effective miniaturized micro and nanostructured components in biocompatible and functional materials. One demonstration line is dedicated to compact disposable lab-on-chip devices and requires micro and nano‐structuring of the mould surface in order to change wetting characteristics of microfabricated devices and enable them with additional microfluidic functional features such as micro-channels or cell filters. Such features must be effectively replicated by hot‐embossing (HE) or microinjection moulding (IM), at the same time avoiding time‐dependent clogging by residual polymer, after multiple replication cycles. The paper describes the mould manufacturing process combining four sequential technologies as well as the replication results.


Evaluation of drought patterns in Iraq and determining the most susceptible areas of this phenomenon were analyzed, using the remotely-sensed Drought Severity Index (DSI) through analysis the daily and annual DSI for three zones over Iraq, also have been analyzed DSI time series using run theory to evaluate the characteristics of drought in Iraq. The efficiency of DSI for drought monitoring was examined from compared with Percentage of Precipitation Anomaly (PPA) for three zones (Arid and Semi-Arid, Steppes and Desert), and compared with drought indicators (Evapotranspiration (ET), Potential evapotranspiration (PET) and total annual precipitation (PRE)) for the period 2000-2011, were derived from the Numerical Terradynamic Simulation Group (NTSG). The spatial interpolation techniques in Geographic Information System (GIS) package has been used, to cover the whole extent of country and extracting the zones. Statistical methods were applied to compute the probability of drought events at every zone. The results showed the drier year is 2008, the wetter years are 2001 in Desert zone and 2003 in steppes and Arid and Semi-Arid Zone zones. The results also showed a significant fluctuation in precipitation from the average, especially at Arid and Semi-Arid Zone when compared with other zones. The values of standard deviation of precipitation were compared with precipitation anomalies for each zone, Arid and Semi-Arid is the drier zone in 2007-2008, the wetter zone is also Arid and Semi-Arid in 2002-2003. Using run theory, the drier Zone is Arid and Semi-Arid and the wetter Zone is steppes during study period.


Obesity, hyperlipidemia, and truncal adiposity concordantly elevate cardiovascular disease risks, but have unknown genetic effects on blood trait variation. Using Mendelian randomization, we define unexpectedly opposing roles for generalized obesity and truncal adiposity on blood traits. Elevated genetically determined body mass index (BMI) and lipid levels decreased hemoglobin and hematocrit levels, explaining consistent with clinical observations associating obesity and anemia. However, lipid-related effects were confined to erythroid traits, whereas BMI affected multiple blood lineages, indicating broad effects on hematopoiesis. BMI-related effects were unexpectedly opposed by truncal adipose distribution, which increased hemoglobin and blood cell counts across lineages. Conditional analyses indicated genes, pathways, and cell types responsible for these effects, including Leptin Receptor and other blood cell-extrinsic factors in adipocytes and endothelium, which regulate hematopoietic stem and progenitor cell biology. Our findings identify novel roles for obesity and adipose distribution on hematopoiesis and show that genetically determined adiposity plays a previously underappreciated role in determining blood cell formation and function.


Music teaching infiltrates emotional education, which conforms to the basic concept of quality education, can effectively cultivate students' musical aesthetic ability, stimulate students' interest in music learning, and comprehensively cultivate students' comprehensive quality. This article is guided by the basic theory and follows the principles of "development of intelligence and cultivation of emotions, integration of artistic enthusiasm and skill and skills, adaptation of emotional and educational means, and appreciation of appreciation and performance creation". The paper also puts forward the path of "strengthening the sensory stimulation of students, constructing a lively teaching situation, guiding students' emotional presentation with problems, strengthening the emotional input and emotional ability of music teachers, and carrying out rich and colorful practical activities". These measures are all to play an important role in the music teaching, and help the music teaching reform.