Betavulgarosides I, II, III, and IV, oleanolic acid oligoglycosides having an unique acidic substituent, were isolated from the root of Beta vulgaris L. (sugar beet) together with betavulgarosides VI, VII, and VIII. The chemical structures of betavulgarosides I, II, III, IV were identified from chemical and physicochemical evidence. Betavulgarosides II, III, and IV were found to exhibit hypoglycemic activity in an oral glucose tolerance test in rats.


Customer relationship management (CRM) is an increasingly important issue in competitive markets. One of the most important aspects of CRM is increasing customer retention. Within the entertainment product industry, several factors seem to motivate consumers in their product usage: habits, extrinsic rewards, immersion and product mastery. The current study introduces a fifth feature: social interaction. While prior research has identified factors affecting customer defection in many industries, the role of product usage motivations are not studied. The primary goal of the thesis is to bridge the gap between customer defection prediction literature and product usage literature, by proposing a defection prediction model using the factors of product usage motivation. Data on actual product usage is obtained from a novel dataset containing usage and defection decisions of consumers of a popular online game. Using logistic regression, the effect of these product usage features on consumer defection is tested. The results suggest that (the lack of) product usage habits and social interaction are the most important predictors of customer defection. Product mastery and reward seeking are also factors that show predictive power, however these effects seem to be mediated by product usage habits. Managerial insights are provided based on these results and prior literature, which are applicable to a broad range of product categories within the entertainment industry.


Acute Appendicitis (AA) is the most commonly encountered disease in emergency clinics, with about 250,000 cases of appendicitis reported in The United States and 40,000 in England each year (Deng et al., 2010; Simpson et al., 2008). The key form of treatment for the disease is surgery and the mortality, morbidity, and economic cost ratio rise the longer it remains untreated. Despite the high prevalence of the disease, the uncertainty of just how many appendicitis patients will present to emergency clinics each day still remains an unpredictable situation for us surgeons, with some days bringing a large number of cases, and others relatively few. Ever since Amyand Claudius performed the first appendectomy in 1735 at St George's Hospital in London, this decrease and increase in cases has led researchers to conduct studies into both the etiology of AA and the disease's epidemiological and demographic characteristics. The etiology of AA has, as of yet, not been clarified. Clarification of the etiology has been the main point of epidemiological studies and advancements in this area will influence the incidence of the disorder as well. There are various theories on the frequency and incidence of appendicitis at present and these are still debated, despite some having strong scientific backing.


There are limited strategies for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). In this study, we prepared a Bispecific T cell engager (BiTE) targeting Glypican 3 (GPC3) and CD3. The GPC3/CD3 BiTE was prepared by fusing the single-chain variable fragment (scFv) of the humanized anti-GPC3 antibody (9F2) with the scFv of the anti-CD3 antibody (OKT3). The in vitro and in vivo cytotoxic activities of the GPC3/CD3 BiTE were evaluated against various HCC cell lines. The GPC3/CD3 BiTE could efficiently mediate the T cell killing of GPC3-positive HCC in vitro, which was dependent on GPC3 expression on the surface of HCC cells. Moreover, our study indicates that, in the presence of the GPC3/CD3 BiTE, T cells could efficiently destroy GPC3-positive human HCC cells in vitro and in vivo. Additionally, our study further proved that GPC3 is not expressed in normal tissues. Thus, GPC3 may be a cancer-specific antigen. Collectively, these findings suggest that this anti-GPC3 BiTE might be a promising anti-tumor reagent for patients with GPC3-positive HCC.


Purpose. The goal of this project was to evaluate an intervention on reducing alcohol-exposed pregnancies with nonpregnant American Indian women, with a focus on risky drinking and ineffective contraception use. Design. This study had a descriptive longitudinal study design, with follow-up every 3 months for 1 year. Setting. Three American Indian tribes in the Northern Plains. Subjects. Participants were 231 nonpregnant American Indian women. Intervention. Participants responded to drinking and contraception questions through the telephone and then received intervention materials via mail. Follow-up telephone surveys occurred at 3, 6, 9, and 12 months after the baseline call, and participants were again mailed intervention materials. Measures. Alcohol consumption and birth control measurements were modified from the Project CHOICES program. The intervention was based on motivational interviewing constructs. Analysis. Analysis techniques included covariate-adjusted generalized estimating equation methods and Bonferroni correction. Results. All of the alcohol consumption amount responses had significant decreases with each follow-up intervention session; the average change for the range of questions was −26% to–17%. The proportion of those stating they did not use birth control decreased from 29% to 10% during the first 3 months. Conclusions. The intervention was successful in modifying self-reported drinking and contraception behaviors. This project is the only one to date that has focused on preventing alcohol-exposed pregnancies in nonpregnant American Indian women.


This paper describes the design and performance of a 90 nm CMOS SAW-less receiver with DigRF interface that supports 10 WCDMA bands (I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VIII, IX, X, XI) and 4 GSM bands (GSM850, EGSM900, DCS1800, PCS1900). The receiver is part of a single-chip SAW-less transceiver reference platform IC for mass-market smartphones, which has been designed to meet Category 10 HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access) requirements. The novel receiver core consists of a single-stage transconductance amplifier (TCA) with large gain control range, a current commutating passive mixer enhanced for automatic on chip IIP2 calibration with 25% duty-cycle LO injection and threshold adjust, and current-input complex Direct Coupled Filter (DCF). The low noise TCAs are designed without inductive loads to save area. A self-contained on chip automatic IIP2 calibration system with algorithm routine, implemented in firmware, is used to optimize IIP2 performance. This topology eliminates the external LNA, inter-stage SAW filter and transimpedance amplifier (TZA) in conventional WCDMA designs and results in current drain and die area savings as well as improved noise. The 25% duty-cycle LO injection, with threshold adjustment, into a current driven passive double-balanced mixer results in 3 dB additional gain, lower noise figure and lower intermodulation distortion. Large signal blocking and 1/f noise performance are improved significantly by eliminating the 0 and 180deg LO signal crossover at the mixer. The full receiver achieves 2.2 dB/2.39 dB simplex/duplex NF (with - 24.5 dBm TX leakage), > 90 dBm complex two-tone IIP2, 60 dB gain and - 1/+ 5 dBm half/full-duplex image IIP3. The receiver core consumes only 15.1 mA from a 1.5 V supply.


The effect of burbot weight (BW) and length (TL) on the efficiency of weaning under controlled conditions was investigated. Growth, survival rate, cannibalism and histological analysis of digestive tract were examined. The experiment lasted 49 days (40–89 days post hatch [DPH]). The fish (BW 0.12 g; TL 14.1 mm) were divided into four groups: a control group (C) exclusively fed Artemia sp. nauplii and groups F40, F47 and F54 that were weaned to dry feed on 40, 47 and 54 DPH, respectively. The highest survival rate was observed in groups C (78%) and F54 (58%). In group F54, similar TL (53.8 mm) and higher BW (1.36 g) at the end of experiment, in comparison with group C (43.9 mm, 0.84 g for TL and BW, respectively), were obtained. At the end of the experiment, the length of enterocytes in groups C and F54 was at a similar level (over 23 μm), whereas in group F47 was significantly lower (approximately 20 μm; P < 0.05). This study for the first time presents successful weaning of the burbot. The data indicate that live food should be offered until the fish reach 25 mm and 0.20 g.


In Gram negative bacteria, hydrophilic antibiotics such as beta-lactams and fluoroquinolons used the bacterial porin channel during their entry. The balance of the porin expression level and the molecular parameters which govern the molecule diffusion through the pore are important physiological points. Acquired in vivo beta-lactam resistance is often associated with porin loss, and recently clinical resistant strains synthetizing mutated porin have been described. These data highlight both the importance of the channel characteristics and the amino acid residues involved in the drug diffusion process. In addition, several mechanisms, including various repressors or activators as well as molecules inhibiting the pore synthesis or activity, argue for the complexity and plasticity of the bacterial control of porin function. All these aspects play a key role in both membrane permeability and efficiency of the antibiotic resistance process.


Construction and agroinoculation of full-length infectious cDNA clones of plant RNA viruses have been used in plant virology to prove Koch's postulates and for development of viruses as vectors for expressing foreign genes in plants. Four full-length cDNA clones (pIF3-12, pIF3-14, pIF3-15, and pIF3-19) of Apple chlorotic leaf spot virus (ACLSV) isolate 38/85 were produced. Two of the four full-length cDNA clones (pIF3-15 and pIF3-19) proved to be infectious on Nicotiana occidentalis 37B test plants by agroinoculation and were then mechanically transmissible to healthy N. occidentalis 37B. The genomic cDNAs of ACLSV pIF3-15 and pIF3-19 shared nucleotide identity of 77.5%, demonstrating mixed infections of multiple strains of ACLSV in the source tree of isolate 38/85. The two full-length cDNA clones were agroinoculated to apple seedlings by a newly developed vacuum infiltration method. The success rate of agroinoculation was greater than 78%, defined as the number of PCR positive seedlings to the number of apple seedlings that survived. ACLSV was transmissible from agroinoculated seedlings by cleft grafting. The results of this study will be useful for construction of infectious cDNA clones of plant viruses from full-length PCR fragments and agroinoculating woody host plants using the vacuum infiltration method outlined here.


Summary form only given. Requirements for spoken language understanding for spoken dialog systems can range from the recognition of key words and phrases to a deeper understanding of the speaker's intentions. It is important to take account of the functional requirements of the overall system in order to determine the approaches and technologies that are most relevant for a particular type of dialog system. Within the research community the main focus over the past decade has been on a variety of data-driven methods in contrast to the hand-crafted approaches used predominantly in commercial systems. The main arguments for data-driven approaches are that they support more robust understanding and that they are ultimately more portable and less labour intensive. This tutorial reviews a number of different approaches to spoken language understanding within the context of conversational dialog systems, looking at issues such as coverage, robustness, context of deployment, and usability.


Storage and processing of information is the major application of big data analytics. Internet of Everything (IoE) is the smart connection between people, data, things and processes. This paper studies the available frameworks used for developing secure Internet of Everything with big data analytics. Big data is a collection of data generated from the sensors embedded in the surrounding physical objects. This information can be used for analysis of the surroundings and development based on the inference. Internet of Everything uses this data for automation of the electronic equipment in the surrounding environment. However, with the increasing level of automation, the vulnerability to attack also increases. This paper presents a detailed analysis of big data analytics that is used for developing a secure internet of everything.


A new series of 1-deoxy-1-[(6-(4-(substituted-aminosulfonyl)phenyl)amino)carbonylamino-9H-purin-9-yl]-N-ethyl-beta-D-ribofuranuronamides (83-102) have been synthesized and tested at the human A3 adenosine receptor subtype. All the derivatives described in this work displayed affinity versus this receptor in the nanomolar range and good selectivity versus A1 adenosine receptor subtype, confirming that the p-sulfonamido moiety positively affected the activity of the molecules. The best substituents at the sulfonamido nucleus were found to be small alkyl groups, like methyl, isopropyl, ethyl, or allyl moieties (compounds 96-100), whereas monosubstitution at the amino group led to a decrease in A3 affinity values. The selectivity versus A1 adenosine receptor subtype is increased when the amino group in the sulfonamido core is represented by a hydrogenated heterocyclic ring like piperidine, morpholine, or pyrroline. Bulky groups, like adamantane and alkyl chains with more than four carbon atoms, are detrimental for the affinity and the selectivity of the A3 adenosine receptor agonists described here.


The region comprising the Candelaria Hills and Excelsior Mountains, Nevada, is structurally anomalous with respect to surrounding tracts of the Basin and Range Province. Its major faults strike east, and some, if not all of them, have undergone significant left slip. Ratios of lateral to vertical displacement components on strands of such faults vary from 2 to 6.5. The region of left-oblique slip faulting seems to constitute the intermediate leg of a gigantic Z pattern of Basin and Range faults. One of these faults, the Candelaria fault system, has been studied closely in pursuit of kinematic details that might characterize the regional faulting. The Candelaria system consists of three en echelon faults of 5 to 10 km trace length joined by connector zones that possess compressional features. The amount of lateral slip transferred from one en echelon fault to another is uncertain; analysis of a complex of faults in one connector zone indicates at least some degree of integrated motion. The same connector zone is the site of a bulge that has an uplift estimated to have been 275 m since 2.8 m.y. B.P. On the basis of fault-plane striae, the extension direction is ∼ N82°W. We propose that the Candelaria fault system and a major asymmetric trough in its northern wall were created in Oligocene time by a regional left-lateral shear system oriented in the extension direction. The connector zones may be kinematic impediments which, at shallow levels at least, have prevented the system from maturing into a single plane fault. The existence of the bulge and the estimated rate of slip on part of the Candelaria fault system suggest that the system is still active.


Abstract The process of reaching a diagnosis in health care has not been emphasized in safety programs carried out by health care organizations as much as many other aspects of care such as handoffs, medication errors, patient falls, wrong-side surgery, and decreasing hospital-acquired infections. However, diagnostic errors are a fairly frequent cause of harm that can contribute to serious injury or death. This article is the first in a series discussing the diagnostic process and how to define, measure, and prevent errors in diagnosis.


OBJECTIVES
Ploidy assessment is often required for the diagnosis of partial molar pregnancy. While fluorescence in situ hybridization has been shown to be effective, it is not available in many laboratories. We validated chromogenic in situ hybridization (CISH) for this purpose.

METHODS
CISH using probes to chromosomes 17 and 10 was performed on 20 POC cases with known cytogenetics to establish a reference percentage. This was then used to classify a randomized set of abnormal and normal cases.

RESULTS
An abnormal CISH cutoff of greater than 7% was established. All abnormal cases (six triploid and three tetraploid), 11 "normal" (46, XX or XY or undetectable abnormalities), and one trisomy 10 were all correctly classified by the assay.

CONCLUSIONS
CISH is a useful ancillary technique for the diagnosis of molar pregnancy. Its greater accessibility and ability to score even rare placental tissue in a background of maternal tissue offer advantages over other methods.


In the fabrication process of Nb junctions, a precise and reliable lithography technique for a small junction area is needed to realize a wide-operating-margin circuit. We propose a patterning technique for micron or submicron Nb junctions using optical proximity correction (OPC). In the i-line optical lithography process, scattering bars and serifs are added to the photomask patterns for small junction area. Nb junctions ranging in size from 0.5-/spl mu/m square to 2.0-/spl mu/m square were successfully fabricated using this technique. For a square junction pattern, variations of junction critical current and shrinkage of the junction size are improved using OPC.


In this work, a series of new polymaleimides having pendant 1, 3, 4-oxadiazole moiety were synthesized. Synthesis of the new polymers was performed by many steps. In the first step, five 2-amino-5-substituted-1,3,4-oxadiazoles were synthesized by oxidative cyclization of substituted semicarbazones under treatment with bromine and anhydrous sodium acetate in glacial acetic acid. The prepared 1, 3, 4-oxadiazoles were introduced in reaction with maleic anhydride in the second step producing five N-[5-substituted-1, 3, 4-oxadiazole-2-yl] maleamic acids and these in turn were dehydrated in the third step by fusion method producing the corresponding N-[5-substituted-1, 3, 4-oxadiazole-2-yl] maleimides. The synthesized maleimides were introduced in the fourth step in free radical polymerization affording the new target polymers. The newly synthesized polymaleimides are expected to possess high thermal stability due to the presence of both imide and 1, 3, 4-oxadiazole cycles in their repeating units.


The transcranial sonography (TCS) finding of reduced echogenicity of brainstem raphe (hypoechogenic BR) has been associated with depressive states. Here, we review the TCS studies in subjects with depressive disorders and with depression related to degenerative brain diseases, and compare the frequency and clinical correlates of hypoechogenic BR in these reports. Summarizing the data published so far, hypoechogenic BR is present in 67% (range, 37‐95%) of depressed but only in 15% (5‐36%) of nondepressed subjects without history of neurodegenerative disease. The finding of hypoechogenic BR in these subjects is associated with a relative risk of 3.03 (95% CI, 2.44‐3.75; P < .001) of being diagnosed with depression. In patients with Parkinson's disease, hypoechogenic BR is present in 63% (35‐92%) of depressed but only in 27% (10‐62%) of nondepressed patients, resulting in a relative risk of 2.18 (95% CI, 1.80‐2.66; P < .001) of being diagnosed with depression. Hypoechogenic BR is associated with depression in a number of neurological disorders such Huntington's disease, idiopathic Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep behavior disorder, myotonic dystrophies, and cerebral small vessel disease. Although some studies did not show any relationship between BR echogenicity and severity of depression, others suggest an association with higher severity of depression, or even with suicidal ideation. In one study BR hypoechogenicity was found to be associated with better responsivity to serotonin reuptake inhibitors. Further studies are warranted to compare the TCS findings of BR alteration with post‐mortem histopathological findings, and with genetic variants related to cerebral serotonin metabolism.


Pre-eclampsia is a serious condition that affects 5–10% of all pregnancies in Australia and the USA. This article examines the aetiology, pathophysiology, clinical manifestations and complementary medicine strategies in the management of preeclampsia. Reference


In this paper, a quasi-static object manipulation by an articulated three-fingered robot hand with slip motion of grasping is discussed. This kind of manipulation achieves more dexterous manipulation by robot hands. The equilibrium relations of fingertip forces for grasping an object are solved in three dimensions. It is assumed that a slip happens when the fingertip forces go beyond the bound of the cone of maximum static friction. Possible directions of slip within a grasp are determined from the analysis. The fingertip force which achieves a desired slip motion is determined uniquely. Finally the set of fingertip forces is obtained, and the planning method of slip motion is discussed.


Four new azo-dyes, 3-phenyl azopentane-2,4-dion (LA), 3-(4-nitro phenyl azo)-pentane-2,4-dion (LP), 3-(2-nitro phenyl azo)-pentane-2,4-dion (LO) and 4-(1-acetyle-2-oxo-propyl azo)-benzene sulfonate sodium (LS), were synthesized from, aniline, 4-nitroaniline, 2-nitroaniline and sulfanilic acid with acetylacetone, respectively. Reaction of these new dyes with acetate salts of copper(II), nickel(II) and cobalt(II) in molar ratios of 1:2 were carried out to produce azo metal (II) complexes with the general stoichiometry; CuL2, CoL2 and NiL3 in complexes. Structure of azo dyes was characterized using FT-IR,1H NMR,13C NMR, UV-Visible and also the corresponding metal (II) complex were characterized by FT IR, UV-Visible and CHN and XRD analysis techniques. Elemental analysis and spectral data indicated that the dye as a ligand with two teeth, N and O, acts as a bidentate ligand. Differences in absorption maxima of azo ligands compared to those corresponding complexes were also studied. Also, in this work, singular value decomposition (SVD) as a chemometric method was used to determine the Cu(II), Co(II) and Ni(II) complexes with the mentioned ligands in methanol by UV-Vis spectrophotometry. SVD method confirmed the formation of CuL2, CoL2 and NiL3 complexes.


Optical spectra of finite-momentum excitons in carbon nanotubes with gold nanostructures are theoretically studied. A Green function method is developed for self-consistently solving Maxwell equations including the quantum-mechanical nonlocal response of the nanotubes and the local response of the nanostructures. Excitons with finite momenta in the axis direction in the nanotubes are effectively excited by localized electric fields due to surface plasmons in the gold nanostructures and counteract the surface plasmons through depolarization fields, showing the crucial self-consistency of these effects.


Background: The objective of the present study was to examine the association of educational level and socioeconomic status with glucose metabolism including prediabetes. Methods: This cross-sectional study subjects were 882 (mean age: 51.0 ± 13.4 years, M:F = 241:641) without diabetes, aged more than 20 years and residing in Whasu 2 dong in Incheon. We classified them into three levels according to their educational level: primary (illiterate or up to elementary school), secondary (middle school or high school) and tertiary (university), and into three levels according to their socioeconomic status by self reported questionnaire: low, middle and high. Subjects were diagnosed as three groups (normal, prediabetes and diabetes) by American Diabetes Association crit eria using 75 g oral glucose tolerance test. The association of educational level and socioeconomic status with glucose metabolism was analyzed. Results: The number of normal group was 300 (34.0%), that of prediabetes was 470 (53.3%) and that of diabetes was 112 (12.7%). In women, the proportion of primary educational group was larger than that of secondary educational group in diabetes (Odds ratio [OR] = 1.88; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.01-3.51) and larger than that of tertiary educational group in prediabetes ([OR] = 2.00; [CI]: 1.06-3.78). But socioeconomic status did not have the statistical association with glucose metabolism in women. Also both educational level and socioeconomic status had no statistical association with glucose metabolism in men. Conclusions: The proportion of low educational level is larger in prediabet es and diabetes compared with normal group in women. (KOREAN DIABETES J 32:377-385, 2008)


Continuous and patterned FePt films (40 nm) were fabricated on silicon (100) substrates using deep ultraviolet lithography with the wavelength of 248 nm followed by sputter deposition or pulsed laser deposition at room temperature, liftoff, and postannealing in vacuum. The structures and magnetic properties of the films were characterized by X-ray diffractometry, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and alternating gradient force magnetometry. A buffer layer of Ag or MgO was inserted between the Si substrate and FePt to prevent a chemical reaction between Si and FePt. The phase transformation from face-centered cubic to face-centered tetragonal started after annealing at 400 degC for continuous films, while for the patterned FePt films, phase formation was retarded. High coercivities of 10-15 kOe have shown potential in hard magnetic applications. The effects of Ag and MgO top layers on the coercivities were also investigated


Fluorescence microscopy has become an essential tool to study biological molecules, pathways and events in living cells, tissues and animals. Meanwhile, the conventional optical microscopy is limited by the wavelength of the light. Even the most advanced confocal microscopy or multiphoton microscopy can only yield optical resolution approaching the diffraction limit of ~200 nm. This is still larger than many subcellular structures, which are too small to be resolved in detail. These limitations have driven the development of super-resolution optical imaging methodologies over the past decade. The stimulated emission depletion (STED) microscopy was the first and most direct approach to overcoming the diffraction limit for far-field nanoscopy. Typically, the excitation focus is overlapped by an intense doughnut-shaped spot to instantly de-excite markers from their fluorescent state to the ground state by stimulated emission. This effectively eliminates the periphery of the Point Spread Function (PSF), resulting in a narrower focal region, or super-resolution. Scanning a sharpened spot through the specimen renders images with sub-diffraction resolution. Multi-color STED imaging can present important structural and functional information for protein-protein interaction. In this work, we presented a dual color, synchronization-free STED stimulated emission depletion (STED) microscopy with a Ti:Sapphire oscillator. The excitation wavelengths were 532nm and 635nm, respectively. With pump power of 4.6 W and sample irradiance of 310 mW, we achieved super-resolution as high as 71 nm. We also imaged 200 nm nanospheres as well as all three cytoskeletal elements (microtubules, intermediate filaments, and actin filaments), clearly demonstrating the super-resolution resolving power over conventional diffraction limited imaging. It also allowed us to discover that, Dylight 650, exhibits improved performance over ATTO647N, a fluorophore frequently used in STED. Furthermore, we applied synchronization-free STED to image fluorescently-labeled intracellular viral RNA granules, which otherwise cannot be differentiated by confocal microscopy. Thanks to the widely available Ti:Sapphire oscillators in multiphoton imaging system, this work suggests easier access to setup super-resolution microscope via the synchronization-free STED A series of biological specimens were imaged with our dual-color STED.


Scrotum reduction is a surgical procedure for the management of scrotal enlargement. Men with low-hanging scrotums may present with discomfort, skin chafing, and/or aesthetic concerns. A penoscrotal web frequently needs treatment. The approach to surgery is modified based on the patient's anatomy. Hematoma is the most common surgical complication, necessitating meticulous hemostasis. Recurrence requiring revision surgery is uncommon, and men are usually very pleased with the postoperative results.


The interaction between hydrophobically modified cationic polysaccharides based on dextran and a flavonoid drug (Rutin) was studied by isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) and fluorescence spectroscopy, in order to assess the factors responsible for the interaction and characterize its energetics, as well as for evaluating their encapsulation capacity, for possible applicability of these polymers as drug delivery vectors. To address the importance of the hydrophobic pendant groups in the solution behavior of these polymer/drug systems, we also studied the interaction of Rutin with a cationic surfactant, cetyltrimethylammonium chloride (CTAC). The interaction enthalpies and drug binding constants for D40R30/Rutin systems were derived from ITC through a simple binding model. The binding constants were independently derived from fluorescence results, with fair agreement between the parameters obtained from both methods. By changing the Rutin concentration, we were able to get evidence for a solubility enhancement induced by the presence of the polymers, a promising effect regarding its use to improve bioavailability.


The basic idea underpinning the theory of spatially balanced sampling is that units closer to each other provide less information about a target of inference than units farther apart. Therefore, it should be desirable to select a sample well spread over the population of interest, or a spatially balanced sample . This situation is easily understood in, among many others, environmental, geological, biological, and agricultural surveys, where usually the main feature of the population is to be geo-referenced. Since traditional sampling designs generally do not exploit the spatial features and since it is desirable to take into account the information regarding spatial dependence, several sampling designs have been developed in order to achieve this objective. In this paper, we present the R package Spbsampling , which provides functions in order to perform three specific sampling designs that pursue the aforementioned purpose. In particular, these sampling designs achieve spatially balanced samples using a summary index of the distance matrix. In this sense, the applicability of the package is much wider, as a distance matrix can be defined for units according to variables different than geographical coordinates.


OBJECTIVE
To determine the effect of different energy densities of near infrared diode lasers with wavelengths of 810 or 940 nm on the proliferation and survival of periodontal ligament derived stem cells (PDLSCs).

METHODS
After isolation and characterisation, PDLSCs were cultured in clear 96-well plates. Each well was irradiated by either 810 nm (L1) or 940 nm (L2) lasers, with energy densities of 0.5, 1.5 and 2.5 J/cm2 and an output power of 100 mW. A non-irradiated well was used as a control. Cellular viability was measured 24 hours after irradiation using 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl-2H-tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay and proliferation was measured 24, 48 and 72 hours after irradiation using trypan blue staining and counting. Propidium iodide (PI) staining was used to identify any pyknotic nuclei or nuclear fragmentation 72 hours after irradiation.

RESULTS
An increase in viability was observed only in the group with the 940 nm laser irradiation at energy density of 2.5 J/cm2 (P < 0.001). The proliferation of cells was significantly increased in the group with 940 nm laser irradiation at energy density of 2.5 J/cm2 at all the time points examined in comparison to other groups (P < 0.001). PI staining showed no change in cell nuclei in any of the groups.

CONCLUSION
Irradiation of PDLSCs with a 940 nm laser at an energy density of 2.5 J/cm2 could promote efficient cell proliferation.


Abstract. As a major source for atmospheric CO2, the Peruvian upwelling region exhibits strong variability in surface fCO2 on short spatial and temporal scales. Understanding the physical processes driving the strong variability is of fundamental importance for constraining the effect of marine emissions from upwelling regions on the global CO2 budget. In this study, a frontal decay on length scales of 𝒪(10 km) was observed off the Peruvian coast following a pronounced decrease in down-frontal (equatorward) wind speed with a time lag of 9 h. Simultaneously, the sea-to-air flux of CO2 on the inshore (cold) side of the front dropped from up to 80 to 10 mmol m−2 day−1, while the offshore (warm) side of the front was constantly outgassing at a rate of 10–20 mmol m−2 day−1. Based on repeated ship transects the decay of the front was observed to occur in two phases. The first phase was characterized by a development of coherent surface temperature anomalies which gained in amplitude over 6–9 h. The second phase was characterized by a disappearance of the surface temperature front within 6 h. Submesoscale mixed-layer instabilities were present but seem too slow to completely remove the temperature gradient in this short time period. Dynamics such as a pressure-driven gravity current appear to be a likely mechanism behind the evolution of the front.


The Regional Medium Term Development Plan (RPJMD) is one of the development planning documents that must be prepared by the regional government 6 months after the regional head is inaugurated. Vision The mission in the RPJMD is the vision and mission of the elected regional head offered to the community at the time of the campaign implementation in the implementation of the Regional Election Committee and adjustments that refer to the existing RPJPD. This means that the RPJMD is a political contract between the regional head and the community during his tenure (5 years).The political process is also interpreted as a stage where there is interaction between the executive and the legislature in the legislative process, especially in relation to the discussion of the RPJMD which sets out the vision and mission of the regional head during his term of office. The legislative process is focused on the stages of discussion and agreement with the DPRD regarding the RPJMD and its relation to the performance of the future regional government.


Many libraries use the OCLC Online Union Catalog and Shared Cataloging Subsystem to perform various library functions, such as acquisitions and cataloging of library materials. As an initial part of the operations,users must search and retrieve a bibliographic record for the desired item from the large OC LC database. Various types of derived search keys are available for retrieval. This study of actual search keysentered by users of the OCLC online system was conducted to determine the types of search keys users prefer for performing various library operations and to find out whether the preferred search keys are effective.


This work presents evidence that photo-excitation of guanine radical cations results in high yields of deoxyribose sugar radicals in DNA, guanine deoxyribonucleosides and deoxyribonucleotides. In dsDNA at low temperatures, formation of C1′• is observed from photo-excitation of G•+ in the 310–480 nm range with no C1′• formation observed ≥520 nm. Illumination of guanine radical cations in 2′dG, 3′-dGMP and 5′-dGMP in aqueous LiCl glasses at 143 K is found to result in remarkably high yields (∼85–95%) of sugar radicals, namely C1′•, C3′• and C5′•. The amount of each of the sugar radicals formed varies dramatically with compound structure and temperature of illumination. Radical assignments were confirmed using selective deuteration at C5′ or C3′ in 2′-dG and at C8 in all the guanine nucleosides/tides. Studies of the effect of temperature, pH, and wavelength of excitation provide important information about the mechanism of formation of these sugar radicals. Time-dependent density functional theory calculations verify that specific excited states in G•+ show considerable hole delocalization into the sugar structure, in accord with our proposed mechanism of action, namely deprotonation from the sugar moiety of the excited molecular radical cation.


We present ClearTrack, a system that tracks meta-data for each primitive value in Java programs to detect and nullify a range of vulnerabilities such as integer overflow/underflow and SQL/command injection vulnerabilities. Contributions include new techniques for eliminating false positives associated with benign integer overflows and underflows, new metadata-aware techniques for detecting and nullifying SQL/command command injection attacks, and results from an independent evaluation team. These results show that 1) ClearTrack operates successfully on Java programs comprising hundreds of thousands of lines of code (including instrumented jar files and Java system libraries, the majority of the applications comprise over 3 million lines of code), 2) because of computations such as cryptography and hash table calculations, these applications perform millions of benign integer overflows and underflows, and 3) ClearTrack successfully detects and nullifies all tested integer overflow and underflow and SQL/command injection vulnerabilities in the benchmark applications.


Many times differences in opinion during selection of treatment modalities and options given to patients in routine general practice marks the difference in level of care. With the advent of new technologies in modern 3D dentistry training and delivering new modalities is a challenge and race against time. Implant dentistry as well as restorative dentistry is changing rapidly with many even drastically different approaches preached by mentors for similar situations keeps the generalists confused. The 3Ai route- a simplification protocol devised explains mainly the core concepts among different modalities to be understood and how to prepare cases for a flexibility to choose next better future options and degree of difficulty in consideration. The talk reviews different techniques and with case presentations to support a new view.


This paper describes the Speech Technology Center (STC) antispoofing systems submitted to the ASVspoof 2019 challenge. The ASVspoof2019 is the extended version of the previous challenges and includes 2 evaluation conditions: logical access use-case scenario with speech synthesis and voice conversion attack types and physical access use-case scenario with replay attacks. During the challenge we developed anti-spoofing solutions for both scenarios. The proposed systems are implemented using deep learning approach and are based on different types of acoustic features. We enhanced Light CNN architecture previously considered by the authors for replay attacks detection and which performed high spoofing detection quality during the ASVspoof2017 challenge. In particular here we investigate the efficiency of angular margin based softmax activation for training robust deep Light CNN classifier to solve the mentioned-above tasks. Submitted systems achieved EER of 1.86% in logical access scenario and 0.54% in physical access scenario on the evaluation part of the Challenge corpora. High performance obtained for the unknown types of spoofing attacks demonstrates the stability of the offered approach in both evaluation conditions.


Despite growing interest in digital diplomacy, few studies to date have evaluated the extent to which foreign ministries have been able to realize its potential. Studies have also neglected to understand the manner in which diplomats define digital diplomacy and envision its practice. This article explores the digital diplomacy model employed by four foreign ministries through interviews and questionnaires with practitioners. Results from a cross national comparison suggest that foreign ministries have been able to institutionalize the use of social media through the development of best practices and training for diplomats. However, foreign ministries seem to utilize social media to influence elite audiences rather than to foster dialogue with foreign populations. Results also suggest that both ministries and social media audiences are negotiating their respective roles in the online communication process. Although social media is used to overcome the limitations of traditional diplomacy, and manage the national image, foreign ministries fail to collaborate with non-state actors or use social media as a source of information for policy makers. Thus, while diplomacy is networked, it is still state-centric. Finally, at the embassy level, ambassadors now serve as digital gatekeepers.


By carefully exploiting the resources of today's computer hardware, interactive ray tracing recently became reality even on a single commodity PC. In most of these implementations triangles are used as the only geometric primitive. However, direct rendering of free-form surfaces would be advantageous for a large number of applications, since robust tessellation of complex scenes into triangles is a very time-consuming process. Additionally, scenes consisting of free-form surfaces require less memory and provide a much higher precision resulting in less rendering artifacts. In this paper, we present our implementation of an efficient and robust algorithm for rapidly finding intersections between rays and trimmed bicubic Bezier surfaces. Using SIMD instructions provided by many of today's CPUs, we perform the intersection test of a packet of four rays with a single Bezier surface in parallel. An optimized bounding volume hierarchy provides good initial guesses needed for fast convergence of the Newton iteration, which forms the core of our intersection algorithm. As a result, we demonstrate that it is feasible to render complex scenes of several thousand Bezier surfaces at video resolution with interactive frame rates on a single PC.


The work was aimed at studying the effect of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), an anionic surfactant, on the fine structure of Pseudomonas aeruginosa IC cells capable of its destruction and on the fine structure of P. aeruginosa 1C-16 cells which could not cause the degradation of this surfactant.


describes the use of a compound of the formula, wherein R R R R are, as UV filters in cosmetic formulations, particularly in combination with UV filters from the group of methoxycinnamate derivatives and / or dibenzoyl methane derivatives, with the proviso that R


ABSTRACT Using portfolio assessment to enhance teaching and learning of writing has been ongoing for more than two decades. Despite extensive research on portfolio assessment, not much attention has been paid to its wider implementation in EFL writing settings where alternative assessment is rarely encouraged. This paper fills this gap by arguing that when portfolio assessment is put into practice, writing teachers may encounter a myriad of individual, institutional, and broader contextual issues. The paper starts with an introduction of portfolio assessment in education, followed by a discussion on the what, why, which, how, and when aspects of writing portfolio assessment. Then, it comprehensively evaluates the individual (teacher assessment knowledge and skills), institutional (curriculum design and school support), and systemic issues (educational policy and culture) within a context of portfolio assessment scholarship. Based on the review of these multi-level issues, pedagogical implications are discussed. Lastly, five actionable goals are recommended relating to how portfolio assessment can be pragmatically utilised to inform teaching and learning of writing.


The literature on postpartum psychoses is reviewed. Clinical similarities and differences between patients with postpartum psychoses and those with nonpuerperal psychoses are described. The psychological and physiological precipitants of postpartum psychoses are discussed and a stress summation theory is proposed to explain the etiology of these reactions. Treatment considerations and factors pointing to favorable short-term and long-term prognoses are reviewed.


In France, a new approach is being developed through the ARTEMIS Center, which is a prevention platform for environmental health dedicated to reproduction. The objective is to describe the clinical management of patients in the ARTEMIS center. Couples with a condition affecting reproduction are referred to the ARTEMIS center. Management includes a medical consultation and a standardized interview. Current exposure is assessed by a questionnaire that includes exposure circumstances to reproductive risk factor and on the basis of which it is possible to implement preventive action in clinical practice without prejudging the role of such exposure in the onset of disease. From 16 February 2016 to 2 May 2019, 779 patients were seen in the ARTEMIS center. On the day of the consultation, 88.3% men and 72.2% women were employed. Among employed men, 61.5% had at least one instance of occupational exposure to a reproductive risk factor, and among employed women, 57.8%. The main nonprofessional circumstances of exposure identified were proximity of the residence to an agricultural area (35.3%) and domestic pesticide exposure (79.7%). The preventive actions implemented by the ARTEMIS center are targeted to the individual practices of patients. However, patient care also allows their physicians to become familiarized with environmental health.


Purpose of review Since its outbreak in Wuhan, China in late 2019, coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) has become a global pandemic. The number of affected cases and deaths continues to rise. Primarily a respiratory illness, COVID-19 is now known to affect various organ systems including peripheral nerve and skeletal muscle. The purpose of this review is to discuss the scope of neuromuscular manifestations and complications of COVID-19. Recent findings Several neuromuscular conditions, including Guillain-Barré syndrome, rhabdomyolysis, and myositis, have been reported in patients infected with COVID-19, but even with a temporal association, a causal relationship remains unproven. Direct invasion of neurons or myocytes by the virus, and immune-mediated injury have been speculated but not consistently demonstrated. In addition to potentially causing the above conditions, COVID-19 can trigger exacerbations of preexisting neuromuscular conditions such as myasthenia gravis, and severe infections can lead to critical illness myopathy/polyneuropathy. Summary COVID-19 appears to be potentially associated with a wide range of neuromuscular manifestations and complications. Further studies are needed to examine these possible associations, understand the pathogenesis, and develop preventive and treatment strategies.


Article history: Received 1 February 2019 Received in revised form 18 April 2019 Accepted 2 May 2019 Available online 17 May 2019 Hemodynamics in highly proximal neck of abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) was investigated in an idealized case by using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) technique. The steady and pulsatile flow simulations were carried out and compared. The three-dimensional model was constructed using CAD software and boundary conditions were adopted from the literature based on experimental studies. Grid independency study was performed to test the computational mesh used. Blood was considered as incompressible and Newtonian fluid in steady and transient regimes with no-slip and rigid aortic wall. Finite volume method based on ANSYS Fluent was used to solve the CFD governing equations. The results acquired from CFD post-processing for velocity distributions and flow rate during steady and transient (t = 0.25 s and t = 0.55 s) flow states. Furthermore, velocity distributions showed significant differences between the two cases (steady and transient) in the idealized angulated neck AAA model. During the steady state, the flow was concentrated in the middle of aorta while in transient (a systolic phase) the flow was more pronounced and distributed near the wall and tortuous areas more than in a diastolic phase. Flow rate at iliac artery outlets showed different values in both states and slight variance in the right and left iliac arteries. The steady and pulsatile flow comparison using CFD were crucial to understand and investigate the hemodynamic in angulated neck of abdominal aortic aneurysm model.


Parastagonospora nodorum is a necrotrophic pathogen causing Stagonospora nodorum blotch (SNB) in wheat. Wheat varieties grown in Virginia vary in susceptibility to SNB, and severity varies across locations and years. However, impacts of wheat genetic backgrounds and environments on SNB severity and structure of P. nodorum populations in the region has not been well studied. A population genetic study was conducted utilizing P. nodorum isolates collected from different wheat varieties and locations in Virginia. Isolates (n=320) were collected at seven locations over two years from five wheat varieties. Isolates were genotyped using multi-locus simple sequence repeat markers, and necrotrophic effector (NE) and mating type genes were amplified using gene-specific primers. Wheat varieties varied in SNB susceptibility, but site-specific environmental conditions were primary drivers of disease severity. Fungal populations were genetically diverse, but no genetic subdivision was observed among locations or varieties. Ratios of mating type idiomorphs were not significantly different from 1:1, suggesting P. nodorum is undergoing random mating. Three major NE genes were detected within the P. nodorum population but with unequal frequency. However, NE gene profiles were similar for groups of isolates originating from different varieties suggesting wheat genetic backgrounds are not differentially selecting NEs. There is no evidence of population structure in P. nodorum in Virginia and thusly, no support for wheat genetic backgrounds shaping these populations. Finally, although varieties only exhibited moderate SNB resistance, current levels are likely to be durable over time and remain a useful tool for integrated management of SNB in the region.


The noise characteristics of vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) are analysed by using rate equations with a reasonable noise simulating method,and the effect of device parameters (such as spontaneous emission factor,output power,injection current and threshold current) on relative intensity noise,frequency noise and spectral linewidth is calculated under single-mode condition.The results are in agreement with experiments.These results may be helpful for optimising the structure design and determing the factors in the application of VCSEL.


Background and aims: There has been little empirical evidence to show the 'real world' impact of scaling-up direct-acting antiviral (DAA) treatment among people who inject drugs (PWID) on hepatitis C virus (HCV) viraemia at a population level. We aimed to assess the population impact of rapid DAA scale-up to PWID delivered through community services – including drug treatment, pharmacies, needle exchanges, and prisons – in the Tayside region of Scotland, compared with Greater Glasgow & Clyde (GGC) and the Rest of Scotland (RoS). Design: Natural experiment, evaluated using data from national biennial surveys of PWID and national clinical data. Setting: Services providing injecting equipment (2010-2018) and HCV treatment clinics (2017-2018) across Scotland. Participants: 12,492 PWID who completed a questionnaire and provided a blood spot (tested for HCV-antibodies and RNA); 4,105 individuals who initiated HCV treatment. Intervention and comparator: The intervention was rapid DAA scale-up among PWID, which occurred in Tayside. The comparator was GGC/RoS. Measurements: Trends in HCV viraemia and uptake of HCV therapy over time; sustained viral response (SVR) rates to therapy by region and treatment setting


Field observations suggest that ettringite-induced swell in lime-treated soils may manifest rapidly after placement and compaction or after months or even years after lime treatment. In either case, forensic investigations have identified the presence of the mineral ettringite in distressed sections. However, the time window between the observation of distress and the subsequent forensic evaluations has left room for doubt as to whether the ettringite caused the observed distress or was formed between the time of the observed distress and the time of the forensic investigation. The study focuses on identifying alternative, probable mechanisms of swelling when sulfate-laden soils are stabilized with lime. The research addresses the hypothesis that swelling in sulfate-bearing fine-grained soils results from one or a combination of three mechanisms: (a) volumetric expansion during ettringite formation, (b) water movement triggered by a high osmotic suction caused by sulfate salts, and (c) the ability of the ettringite mineral to absorb water and contribute to the swelling process. The data validate the conclusion that a synergy of the mechanisms discussed contributes to swelling distress. The study also addresses the impact of matrix strength of the stabilized soil on damage potential.


Portable and wearable devices have attracted wide research attention due to their intimate relations with human daily life. As basic structures in the devices, the preparation of high-conductive metallic circuits or micro-circuits on flexible substrates should be facile, cost-effective, and easily integrated with other electronic units. In this work, high-conductive carbon/Ni composite structures were prepared by using a facile laser direct writing method, followed by an electroless Ni plating process, which exhibit a 3-order lower sheet resistance of less than 0.1 ohm/sq compared to original structures before plating, showing the potential for practical use. The carbon/Ni composite structures exhibited a certain flexibility and excellent anti-scratch property due to the tight deposition of Ni layers on carbon surfaces. On the basis of this approach, a wireless charging and storage device on a polyimide film was demonstrated by integrating an outer rectangle carbon/Ni composite coil for harvesting electromagnetic waves and an inner carbon micro-supercapacitor for energy storage, which can be fast charged wirelessly by a commercial wireless charger. Furthermore, a near-field communication (NFC) tag was prepared by combining a carbon/Ni composite coil for harvesting signals and a commercial IC chip for data storage, which can be used as an NFC tag for practical application.


We discuss an optimal asset allocation problem in a wide class of discrete-time regime-switching models including the hidden Markovian regime-switching (HMRS) model, the interactive hidden Markovian regime-switching (IHMRS) model and the self-exciting threshold autoregressive (SETAR) model. In the optimal asset allocation problem, the object of the investor is to select an optimal portfolio strategy so as to maximize the expected utility of wealth over a finite investment horizon. We solve the optimal portfolio problem using a dynamic programming approach in a discrete-time set up. Numerical results are provided to illustrate the practical implementation of the models and the impacts of different types of regime switching on optimal portfolio strategies.


Abstract The coronavirus COVID-19 is affecting around the world with strong differences between countries and regions. Extensive datasets are available for visual inspection and downloading. The material has limitations for phenomenological modeling but data-based methodologies can be used. This research focuses on the intelligent temporal analysis of datasets in developing compact solutions for early detection of levels, trends, episodes, and severity of situations. The methodology has been tested in the analysis of daily new confirmed COVID-19 cases and deaths in six countries. The datasets are studied per million people to get comparable indicators. Nonlinear scaling brings the data of different countries to the same scale, and the temporal analysis is based on the scaled values. The same approach can be used for any country or a group of people, e.g., hospital patients, patients in intensive care, or people in different age categories. During the pandemic, the scaling functions expanded for the confirmed cases but remained practically unchanged for the confirmed deaths, which is consistent with increasing testing.


Acute ethanol ingestion (5 g/Kg) led to an acceleration of lipid peroxidation and reduction in non-proteinic free sulfhydryl (NPFSH) levels in the rat liver and kidney. In the liver, progressive changes of these phenomena were inversely related, and maximal effects were observed 6 hr after ethanol ingestion. Unlike the liver, in the kidney, there was a rapid fall in NPFSH content followed by constantly reduced levels during ethanol intoxication, whereas acceleration of lipid peroxidation was detected only after 6-8 hr of ethanol. In addition, a lower dose (2 g/Kg) which caused no significant change in the liver, was effective in reducing renal NPFSH, but not in enhancing lipid peroxidation. These results suggest that acceleration of lipid peroxidation may not be required for the NPFSH decrease, at least in case of kidney.


Determination of abnormalities in coronary vessels and vessel segmentation in X-ray coronary angiography has been a challenging problem in recent years. This paper presents a new approach to increase segmentation success in angiography images. With the proposed method, the vessel location due to the change in brightness are detected in the angiography image sequences. In Angiography images Frangi Filter for vessel identification and the OTSU algorithm for automatic threshold detection in image thresholding that was tried to vessel segmentation. The contribution of the proposed method to the success of segmentation is shown wiht the experiments. Sensitivity, specifity and accuracy measures are used to analyze the segmentation success. The results are compared with the manual segmentation of the angio by the specialist. In the experiments, it is seen that the proposed method increases at least 3% of the segmantation success. In the best example, the accuracy has increased to 91,67 deni 93,81.


Paper presented at the 13th European Vacuum Conference (2014), the 9th Iberian Vacuum Meeting (2014) and the 7th European Topical Conference (2014), which were held in Aveiro (Portugal) on 8-12th September 2014.


In this paper, I focus on the relationships between the attitude of the native population towards immigrants and immigration (ATII) in 20 European countries and the level of social integration and perceived discrimination of first and second generation immigrants in those countries. The stringency of naturalization policies in the host countries is also taken into consideration as a mechanism of the development of these relationships. The results confirm that a country's naturalization policies fairly represent most ATII indicators, and that immigrants feel less discriminated against in more welcoming societies. However, no systematic relationship was revealed between the attitude of the native population and the social integration of immigrants. On the other hand, the results suggest lower perceived discrimination and higher social integration of first generation immigrants in countries where the naturalization status of immigrants is more secured, and the possibility of dual nationality is more restricted. The results also show that the perceived discrimination of immigrants does not decline with the duration of residence in the host countries, but the latter revealed a positive relationship with the social integration of immigrants.


Welcome to the historic, vibrant and beautiful city of Edinburgh. Scotland's capital is imbued with a rich tradition of creativity, design, innovation and research, making it a most fitting home for the 12th ACM SIGCHI Designing Interactive Systems (DIS'17) conference.

Running biennially since 1995, the Designing Interactive Systems (DIS) Conference is the premier, international arena where designers, artists, psychologists, user experience researchers, systems engineers, and many more, come together to debate and shape the future of interactive systems design and practice. DIS is owned by the ACM Special Interest Group on Computer- Human Interaction (SIGCHI). In the past, DIS has been held in Ann Arbor (1995), Amsterdam (1997), New York (2000), London (2002), Boston (2004), State College (2006), Cape Town (2008), Aarhus (2010), Newcastle (2012), Vancouver (2014), Brisbane (2016) and now, in 2017, moves to a new era of annual conferences.

The DIS'17 conference schedule starts with two days of pre-conference workshops and a doctoral consortium and continues with three main conference days into which we have packed 130 peer reviewed paper and pictorial presentations into 30 sessions across three parallel tracks, alongside which we have demos, provocations and works in progress, a lunchtime symposium held by Facebook and two invited keynote speakers. The social program includes a welcome reception on Sunday evening, a Demos & Posters Industry Reception on Monday night, the DIS conference dinner on Tuesday night, and a post-conference closing drinks party on Wednesday night.

The theme of DIS 2017 is bridging and connecting -- across disciplines, practices, places and understandings. The most interesting things happen at edges and boundaries, and so the aim of the 2017 conference is to examine different approaches to framing knowledge about the design of interactive systems. As advancements in interactive technology continue to blur the demarcations between people and data, and between things and software, interaction designers and researchers are finding new ways to explore this evolving, interdisciplinary landscape. At DIS 2017 we shall consider the contrasts and commonalities that are central in shaping the landscape of emerging interaction paradigms.

I am very proud that we have been able to curate and assemble a stellar program, including two invited keynote presentations by Salvatore Iaconesi (ISIA Design Florence) and Di Mainstone (QMU), I am sure they and the program will encourage much thought, discussion and future endeavours.


Modeling neural networks is a powerful approach to uncover the mechanism of the brain, and the results of the research are ready to use for engineering applications. This paper introduces several models for vision from recent works by the author. (1) Increased recognition rate of the neocognitron: to increase the recognition rate of the neocognitron, several modifications have been applied to the network architecture and the learning method. For example, an inhibitory surround in the connections to C-cells is useful for this purpose. When trained with 3000 patterns, the neocognitron shows a recognition rate of 98.6% for a blind test set randomly sampled from a large database of handwritten digits (ETL-1), and 100% for the training set. (2) A neocognitron that can accept incremental learning, without giving severe damage to old memories or reducing learning speed: It uses competitive learning, and the learning of all stages of the hierarchical network progresses simultaneously. (3) A model that. has an ability to recognize and restore partly occluded patterns: even the identical image is perceived differently by human beings depending on the shape of occluding objects. The model responds in a similar way to human beings. It is a multi-layered hierarchical neural network, in which visual information is processed by interaction of bottom-up and top-down signals. Occluded parts of a pattern are restored mainly by feedback signals from the highest stage of the network, while the unoccluded parts are reproduced mainly by signals from lower stages. The model does not use a simple template matching method. It can recognize and restore even deformed versions of learned patterns.


* Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: firstname.lastname@example.com (T.E. Gri 1537-5110/$ – see front matter Published by doi:10.1016/j.biosystemseng.2008.06.006 A generic method to estimate the flow rate (number of particles passing per unit of time) of free falling granular particles in a tube is presented. This principle could be applied in pneumatic planters, fertiliser distribution, yield monitoring of grains and fruits and various industrial applications. The flow of particles in a tube was observed as an intermittent succession of clumps of particles separated by spacings among them. Since the clumping effect prohibits counting individual particles, the hypothesis was that the flow constitutes a random arrival process in time. In other words, the process of particle arrivals at the sensor was assumed equivalent to classical Poisson driven arrival processes from queueing theory, such as telephone calls arriving independently at a helpdesk. The assumption of a Poisson process allows for simple flow rate estimation, since according to theory, the flow density of such a process is equal to the reciprocal value of the mean of the spacing time intervals, which can be measured. An optical single interruption plane sensor was used to measure the time intervals during which clumps and spacings pass. This sensor suffers from inherent errors such as defocus and uncertain optical switching behaviour. Therefore, the sensor was characterised by equalising measured quantities with their theoretical equivalents. This implies that the estimated mean flow rate must be equal to the theoretical mean flow rate, however, the variability and extreme values among experiments indicate the usefulness and appropriateness of the method. To test the validity of the Poisson model assumption, 30 experiments were conducted in which 4000, 4.5 mm identical spherical particles were dropped from a funnel into a fall tube. To assess the performance of the method, it is not possible to compare measured flow rates with reference counterparts, since there are none. However, the initial number of particles per experiment is known and, therefore, this number was estimated using measurements. After characterisation, the original number of 4000 particles per experiment was estimated at 4000 with a standard deviation of 44 (1.1% coefficient of variation) among 30 datasets. The extreme values of the estimations were 4092 (þ2.3% error) and 3930 ( 1.8% error), respectively. Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of IAgrE.


Beginning with the Einstein Field equations, we characterize gravitational waves by expressing the one dimensional wave equation in terms of Lie derivatives for the space-time general relativity. A condition for a radiative gravitational field is obtained. This condition proves to be satisfied for the exact solution, including plane waves as well as approximate solutions.


Many blind people learn to use sound reflections to localize objects. However, precedence-effect research has reported evidence both for and against the possibility to improve lateralization of lag clicks preceded by lead clicks. This training study used stimuli more relevant to human echolocation than did previous training studies. One participant, the author, practiced lateralizing a lag-click inter-aural level difference (ILD) of 10 dB for 60 days, with performance measured in the lag-lead peak amplitude ratio at threshold. Clear improvements were observed at interclick intervals of 2-18 ms, suggesting that extracting a large lag-click ILD may improve with practice.


Published reports and our own diagnostic data on the avian host range of avian Chlamydophila spp. are presented in an attempt to provide evidence for the large number of bird species that have been naturally infectedwith chlamydia. The term 'chlamydia-positive' is based on either isolation of the organism and antigen detection or on serological detection of circulating antibodies. The list of chlamydia-positive birds contains the six majordomestic species (chicken, turkey, Pekin duck, Muscovy duck, goose, and pigeon), the three minor domestic species (Japanese quail, bobwhite quail, and peafowl) and a total of 460 free-living or pet bird species in 30 orders. The order Psittaciformes contains by far the most (153 of 342; 45%) chlamydia-positive bird species. More than 20% of all species per order are positive for chlamydia in the orders Lariformes (gulls, 26 of 92species; 28%), Alciformes (alks, six of 23 species; 26%), Sphenisciformes (penguins, four of 16 species; 25%), and Anseriformes (ducks and geese, 33 of 157 species; 21%). Only 5% of all bird species (14 of 259 species) inthe order Phasianiformes (gallinaceus birds) are chlamydia-positive. The different percentages of chlamydiapositive bird species reflect: (i) a high rate of investigations (e.g. of domestic birds) compared with infrequenttesting (e.g. of Charadriiformes or Cuculiformes), (ii) frequent zoonotic implications (e.g. psittacine and columbiform birds), and (iii) an assumed high susceptibility to infection and subsequent seroconversion (e.g.waterfowl).


This paper examines the potential of convergence technologies in the process of 9/11 memorialization, particularly when materiality and its absence are so crucial to the in-situ narrative of post terror attack. Questions over the incorporation of virtual and digital media are not new in the context of COVID-19 but are perhaps more urgent than ever, as we all begin to grapple with the turn to technology as a surrogate for what we cannot physically provide. In particular, I trace the Derridean phenomenon of autoimmunity to draw parallels between memorial practices associated with both 9/11 and COVID-19. Ultimately, the migration online initiated by global pandemic  reminds us that traumatic memory in particular is punctuated by gaps and absences; it insists on the recognition of other, stranger, incomplete and imperfect ways of knowing and commemorating.


There are two kinds of smear-positive and culture-negative (SPCN) cases. One takes place temporarily when patients are under healing process and another takes place fro a long period of time. In the latter situation, probability of detecting live mycobacteria in the SPCN specimens seems to be high. To detect live mycobacteria, we examined 27 specimens which had been designated as SPCN previously, and could recover colonies from 14 specimens. Ten strains of M. tuberculosis and 4 strains of M. chelonae were identified. We analyzed factors of false results of SPCN specimens in routine examination. Nine out of 10 strains of M. tuberculosis were multi-drug resistant, and most of these strains were inhibited their growth on the media by added glycerol. Therefore we concluded that glycerol affected the proliferation of M. tuberculosis in SPCN specimens. Moreover, treatment of specimens by NaOH also affected the growth of mycobacteria. The number of colony which we recovered, decreased dramatically after the treatment by 4% NaOH (M. tuberculosis) and by 1% NaOH (M> chelonae).


In this article, the authors examine the dynamics generated from the inclusion of Italian American texts in college writing and literature courses that are not specifically focused on Italian American literature. This exploration contains three distinct perspectives and styles from literary artists and teachers who work with students in both traditional undergraduate university settings as well as adult learning settings in three states: New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts. Olivia Kate Cerrone, Kathy Curto, and Julia Lisella presented a version of this conversation during the roundtable discussion entitled "Teaching Italian American Authors in the Multi-Ethnic Literature Course" at the 53rd Annual Italian American Studies Association Conference held in November 2021. The theme of the conference was Diversity in Italian American Studies: The Status of Race, Gender and Sexual Orientation in Uncertain Times. The focus of this contribution is to offer readers practical strategies for including Italian American texts in their classes, as well as observations on the ways in which these texts affected the classroom dynamics and students' writing and reflection on their own identities and experiences. The essay also suggests specific texts that can evoke discussions and writings that enable students to reach their learning objectives. The variety of courses taught and student populations served will give readers a deeper sense of how to apply these inclusions into their own syllabi. Common to the learning objectives of all the courses described in this essay is that students evaluate the impact of this literature on their understandings of their own identities as global citizens.


Classification of incompletely preserved fossils is a challenging task. We describe a moss fossil preserved in a piece of Miocene Dominican amber and assign it to the monospecific extant genus Helicophyllum. According to the published divergence time estimates, Helicophyllum originated in the Late Cretaceous, but so far no Helicophyllum fossils have been found. The Helicophyllum fossil consists of several sterile gametophytes with dimorphic leaves in two lateral and one ventral series;the lateral leaves being lingulate and obtuse and the shorter ventral leaves ovate-lanceolate. All leaves have a percurrent single costa and hexagonal to subquadrate, papillose cells. The fossil differs from extant Helicophyllum torquatum only by its slightly narrower leaf costa. Based on the extensive morphological overlap of the fossil and extant Helicophyllum specimens in other gametophytic characters and considering the Mesozoic origin of the genus, we propose an assignment of the fossil to the extant species H. torquatum, thereby accepting a minimum age of the species of 15 My. We discuss the problems of assigning fossils to extant species and propose to take into account not only morphological evidence but also evidence from divergence time estimates.


The raised rims of impact craters consist of ejecta deposited onto structurally uplifted target rocks. Although it is commonly accepted that ejecta makes up 50–75% of the total rim height, no previous measurements on well‐preserved, naturally occurring impact craters exist. Relying on data from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, I report the first direct measurements of the rim‐forming constituents from 21 lunar craters ranging in diameter from 2.2 km to 45 km. Results show that the ejecta deposit accounts for no more than ~20% of rim relief, and structural uplift is the primary mechanism of rim development in both simple and complex craters. Thick, quasi‐horizontal outcrops of coherent bedrock indicate that this uplift is the result of subsurface injection of debris or melt into the surrounding target rocks. Crater growth, at least during the latest portion of the excavation stage, therefore, proceeds mainly through injection—rather than ejection—of material. These results suggest that ejecta volumes and excavation depths may be factors of 3 to 4 less than previously considered.


Abstract. Sweet basil − Ocimum basilicum L. contains a wide spectrum of biologically active compounds: essential oils, phenolic compounds, including flavonoids and anthocyanins. The violet variety is a rich source of acylated and glycosylated anthocyanins and can be of interest as a unique source of stable red pigments for the food industry. The HPLC method has determined the chemical composition of O. basilicum L.anthocyanins: it contains 12 anthocyanin glycosides, and these compounds are in the form of depsides with hydroxy-cinnamic acids, as evidenced by their characteristic UV profiles. The aglycone of anthocyanin glycosides is cyanidin, which was confirmed by the acid hydrolysis. And 11 anthocyanin glycosides are represented as depsides with p-coumaric acid. One anthocyan glycoside is in the form of a depside with caffeic acid. The quantification of anthocyanins was determined by the pH-differential spectrophotometry. It was found that the fresh O. basilicum L. raw material total content of anthocyanins was – 0,48 ± 0,054%.


A study on noise and hearing loss was conducted in 36 small-scale factories where press machinery is actively used. Noise levels in working environments were measured in 34 factories. Of those measured, two (6%), eight (24%) and 24 (71%) factories were classified into control classes I, II and III, respectively, according to guidelines established for the prevention of noise-related disorders. Furthermore, personal exposure levels to noise were measured for 23 workers. Twenty-one (91%) of those workers measured were exposed to 85 dB(A) or higher, (the occupational exposure limit for an 8-hour exposure period). Maximum exposure levels were found to be at 102 dB (A). Hearing tests were then conducted on 97 male workers at those 36 factory sites. Twenty (21%), 30 (31%) and 10 (10%) of the workers measured were classified into a "precursory symptom group", a "slight hearing loss group" and a "medium to serious hearing loss group", respectively, based on the aforementioned guidelines. It was found that as workers' ages increased, the percentage of workers having some degree of hearing loss increased. Specifically, it was found that there was some level of hearing loss for 93% of those studied aged in their 50's, and up to 100% in those aged in their 60's.


ABSTRACT Early leaving studies demonstrate it is possible to improve young people's opportunities through education and training. The current research evidence has yet to agree a definitive answer as to where the primary policy focus to improve their life chances should be. That is, which risk factors are the most impactful for minimising early school leaving rates. This paper reports on the qualitative findings from the Orienta4YEL project – conducted via interviews and focus groups administered to 711 educational agents in five countries – Spain, Portugal, Romania, Germany and UK. The goal of the study was to contribute to the development of initiatives addressed to early leaving through orientation and tutorial action – as key points of intervention by schools, colleges and training providers. The analysis indicates that the categories of young peoples' personal challenges and social relationships are key mediators of the broader risk categories (family, institutional and structural) and therefore an opportune focus to target intervention. The close interconnection found between the micro categories of risk (social relationships/family/institutional) and in their impact upon the personal challenges that young people face, highlights the importance of individual support and underscores the affordances of orientation and tutorial actions, as key mechanisms to tackle early leaving.


Background: Cystic Fibrosis (CF) is a life-threatening autosomal recessive disease. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the value of Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) in CF patients with Nontuberculous Mycobacteria (NTM) negative sputum culture. Methods: This is a descriptive cross-sectional study. The population included all children with CF, aged between 5 - 18 years old, with an NTM negative sputum culture. The patient's sputum samples were sent for smear and culture of NTM, RFLP PCR, and PCR sequence. Results: In total, 57 CF patients with negative NTM sputum culture were enrolled. Nine patients (15.78%) had positive sputum PCR for NTM. Among these strains, Mycobacterium simiae was the most common one with 5 cases (8.77% of total positive cases). Conclusion: PCR can be used as an alternative diagnostic method for NTM in CF patients with negative NTM sputum culture, always under clinical suspicion of the disease.


Hope. It is a word that is often used but one which we do not stop to think intentionally about. It may be difficult to define, and frequently many come to know it more by its absence. Nurses espouse the value of hope, but it is a concept that often seems elusive when one is trying to put it into practice. The author suggests that hope is at the heart of psychiatric nursing practice and provides insights and reflections about how it has made a difference in the lives of individuals.


In this paper, we apply the one dimensional quantum law of motion, that we recently formulated in the context of the trajectory representation of quantum mechanics, to the constant potential, the linear potential and the harmonic oscillator. In the classically allowed regions, we show that to each classical trajectory there is a family of quantum trajectories which all pass through some points constituting nodes and belonging to the classical trajectory. We also discuss the generalization to any potential and give a new definition for de Broglie's wavelength in such a way as to link it with the length separating adjacent nodes. In particular, we show how quantum trajectories have as a limit when ℏ → 0 the classical ones. In the classically forbidden regions, the nodal structure of the trajectories is lost and the particle velocity rapidly diverges.


The paper deals with power and subcarrier allocation in a frequency hopping - orthogonal frequency division multiple access (FH-OFDMA) based system. The problem is solved for the downlink of a cellular wireless transmission and the performance of the solution applied in two different frequency reuse schemes are compared. The proposed allocation strategy aims at minimizing the total power emitted by the base station (BS) and only requires the knowledge of the users' mean signal to interference plus noise ratios and rate requirements. We prove that in a universal frequency reuse scheme, the algorithm converges if the users' mean rate requirement is below a threshold which can be determined by the network designer. Moreover, numerical results show that this scheme outperforms the partial frequency reuse one under some cell size limit


Data-driven interactive computation is widely used for business analytics, search-based decision-making, and log mining. These applications' short duration and bursty nature makes them a natural fit for serverless computing. Data processing serverless applications are composed of many small tasks. Application tasks that use remote storage encounter bottlenecks in the form of high latency, performance variability, and throttling. Caching has been used to mitigate this bottleneck for intermediate data. However, the use of caching for input data, albeit widely used in industry, has yet to be studied. We present the first performance study of scaling, a key feature of serverless computing, on serverless clusters with input data caches. We compare 8 task placement algorithms and quantify their impact on task slowdown and resource usage before and after scaling. We quantify the consequences of using work stealing. We quantify the performance impact of scaling in the buffer period immediately after scaling. We find up to a 420% increase in task slowdown after scaling without work stealing and a 22% slowdown with work stealing. We also find that cache misses after scaling can lead to an additional 21% resource usage.


Colorectal cancer is malignancy of the colon or rectum. Adenocarcinoma is the most common colorectal cancer. These malignant cancer cells grow inside the colon and the rectum. Large clusters of these cells form structures known as tumors. Our treated patient is a 48 year old male who has undergone colorectal adenocarcinoma surgery in stage IIIB. During the surgery he was resected part of the colon with a total length of 57 cm. We started the treatment with Chinese herbs immediately after the surgery with no additional chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Herbs used in the treatment are Cordyceps sinensis, Ganoderma broken spores (Reishi) and Yunnan Baiyao. Before the surgery the patient was pale, exhausted, with abdominal pain on the left side under the ribs, Iron (Fe) was very low—7, tumor marker (CEA) was high—39.64 ng/mL, hematochezia was present and with insulin intake of 34 units (the patient is diabetic). Two months after using the herbs daily, the patient blood analysis was improved, Iron (Fe) is elevated, no hematochezia is detected, organs are with normal findings, normal color of the face is restored, post-operative scar healed very well and quickly and insulin intake is reduced from 34 to 6 units. After 6 months of treatment the results are amazing, the patient is in excellent health condition, the treatment is completed and is no longer taking any medications. With the herbal treatment we succeeded to keep the patient in good health, boost the immune system and improve the Qi energy flow.


The mechanism by which the angiotensin I (AI) converting enzyme inhibitor SQ20,881 (<GluTrp-Pro-Arg-Pro-Gln-Ile-Pro-Pro) blocks the pressor response to exogenous AI was studied in mo in the intact anesthetized dog. When administered as a single dose 250 times that of Injected AI (250 nmoles/kg) into either the pulmonary or systemic circulation, SQ20,881 produced inhibition of pulmonary conversion of exogenous AI to AH that lasted for more than 6 hours as judged by the absence of immunoreactive or labeled AH in the pulmonary venous effluent. In contrast, the pressor response to exogenous AI began to reappear within 1 hour of SQ20.881 administration. Six hours following SQ20.881, the pressor response to AI had nearly returned to normal, still in the absence of demonstrable intrapulmonary conversion and without release of detectable amounts of All into the pulmonary venous effluent. These experiments demonstrated that AI has a pressor effect in the presence of SQ20.881 that is independent of pulmonary conversion. Studies with (DesAsp) AH and (Des-Asp, Arg") AH snowed that the delayed pressor response to AI following SQ20.881 administration could not be accounted for by circulating peptide metabolites of AI or AH. A competitive inhibitor of AH, (D-Asp, lie*) AH completely blocked the returning pressor response, suggesting that extrapulmonary generation of AH was responsible. The data strongly suggest that the systemic vascular bed taken as a whole contains large amounts of AI converting enzyme that is capable of rapid generation of AH without releasing the peptide into circulation. The extrapulmonary enzyme is more resistant to long-lasting blockade by SQ20,881 than pulmonary converting enzyme. The physiological role of extrapulmonary conversion in systemic and local circulatory homeostasis remains to be assessed. (Hypertension 1: 13-22, 1979)


Temporomandibular disorders are a common cause of chronic pain in the orofacial region and have a complex and multi-factorial pathophysiology. Mechanical loading or inflammatory conditions have been shown to decrease oxygen tension within the joint cartilage and activate the hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) pathway, which in turn aggravates the pathological processes underlying temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorders. We previously showed that low-intensity pulsed ultrasound (LIPUS) treatment effectively repairs TMJ injury induced by chronic sleep deprivation (CSD). Here, we explored the effects of LIPUS treatment on hypoxia-induced chondrocyte injury. We found that it effectively restored the proliferation capacity of mandibular chondrocytes under hypoxic conditions and lowered their rate of apoptosis. Chondrogenic capacity, as assessed by type II collagen levels, and mucin-positive areas were also significantly increased after LIPUS treatment. Levels of matrix metalloprotein-3 and interleukin-6 decreased in mandibular chondrocytes following this treatment, whereas the expression of tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-1 increased. We also found that HIF-1α expression was upregulated in mandibular chondrocytes under hypoxic conditions and was further enhanced by LIPUS treatment. Similarly, HIF-2α levels increased in mandibular chondrocytes under hypoxic conditions but decreased following LIPUS treatment. Subsequently, we established a CSD-induced TMJ injury model and found that LIPUS increased mucin-positive areas as well as HIF-1α expression and decreased HIF-2 level in the chondrocyte layer. Together, our results indicate that the protective effect of LIPUS on chondrocyte is partly associated with the HIF pathway.


Mixed traffic, characterized by diverse vehicles, changing composition, lack of lane discipline, etc. is best modeled by micro simulation. However, the majority of the leading micro simulation packages and their calibration methodologies have been developed considering less complex homogeneous traffic. Hence, a methodology for calibrating a micro simulation model for mixed traffic is proposed. Driver behavior in mixed traffic is observed and adjustments were made to represent in the simulation. Calibration parameters were identified using multi parameter sensitivity analysis, and the optimum values for these parameters were obtained by minimizing the error between the simulated and field delay using a genetic algorithm. Multiple criteria were included in the optimization formulation by constraint insertion. The proposed methodology is illustrated using VISSIM, a widely used micro simulation software. Signalized intersections with different traffic characteristics from Mumbai are taken as case study.


Technology is now the primary force behind economic growth and increased productivity in the era of the digital economy. The online technology market is the main platform for technology trading and is a new strategic industry. The service mode of the online technology market can improve user service and enable the co-creation of user value. At first, a thorough review of the literature is performed to investigate the online technology market, service design and mode, value co-creation theory and its application. Second, it classifies various online technology market types and the service modes of various platforms using a comparative analytical approach, and it draws conclusions about how these service modes will develop. Eventually, the design subjects, design factors and processes, and design forms in the technology transaction process of the online technology market are studied, the service mode design model of the online technology market is developed, and the design results are generated. This essay encourages the growth of service design for the online technology market by offering useful concepts and workable recommendations for the service mode.


OBJECTIVES
The aim of this study was to analyse the position and relationship of juxta-apical radiolucency (JAR) to the mandibular canal and buccal and/or lingual cortical plates using cone beam CT (CBCT).

METHODS
A retrospective study was carried out to analyse the JAR on CBCT for 27 patients. These findings were compared with 27 age- and sex-matched patients without the presence of JAR, which acted as the control group. The CBCT images were analysed according to a checklist, to evaluate the position of the JAR and its relationship to the mandibular canal. Then, any thinning or perforation of either the buccal or lingual cortical plate due to JAR was noted, and a classification to quantify the thinning of cortical plates was proposed. The findings in the two groups were analysed using a paired comparison by McNemar test.

RESULTS
A statistical increased thinning of cortical plates was seen in the JAR group compared with the control group, and most of the cases were in the J3 group. None of the patients in either the JAR or the control group showed perforation of the buccal and/or lingual cortical plate on CBCT images.

CONCLUSIONS
A classification to quantify the thinning of cortical plates was proposed, which may be used for objective evaluation of the thinning of the cortical plates in future studies. The present study gives an insight into the relationship of the juxta-apical area with the mandibular canal and cortical plates in the mandible using CBCT.


The impact of the Antarctica,especially geographic information system,on our future becomes more profound.Compared to the traditional GIS,Internet GIS has the following benefits:Firstly,Internet technology transfers GIS which has only been used by professional to public information system which can be used by everyone who knows about Internet in any way or any time.In other words,it makes GIS enter into everyone.Secondly,it can reduce expenditure in data promulgation and improve geographic data's share extent and avoid data's collection repeatedly by means of accessing data on Internet.Thirdly,it can construct geographic information service net_work via Internet_based GIS technology by means of the facilities of information highway.There_fore,it is an urgent thing to construct a GIS to realize Antarctic data's access,sharing and publishing on Internet. As we all know,the rapid advance of networking and componentization technology is one of the most important characteristics in software development in recent years.Java,being robust,secure,easy to use,easy to understand,and automatically downloadable on network,is an excellent language basis for database applications.What is needed is a way for Java applications to talk to a variety of different databases.JDBC(Java database connectivity) is a Java API for executing SQL statements.It consists of a set of classes and interfaces written in the Java programming language.JDBC provides a standard API for tool/database developers and makes it possible to write database applications using a pure Java API. This paper presents a new GIS —— GeoStar software.The main advantages of the software compared to similar softwares are:① An object_orientated spatial data management platform which has high efficiency;② Integration of vector database,image database and DEM database;③ Component GIS;④ Internet GIS designed with Java which provides the method to access,publish and share GIS data on Internet. Besides,it expatiates the characteristics of Antarctic data which has the distributive characteristic containing perpendicular distribution and horizontal distribution and organization of Antarctic data,etc.Homepage data is the description of each web site of Antarctica,which includes hypertext,hypermedia,hyperlink,hyperdocument,video and VRML,etc.Vector data is main portion of the system,which includes water system maps,island maps,contour maps and elevation data,geodesy control points and place name data.Attribute data is stored by RDBMS,which provides the convenient method to refresh and modify.Metadata is referred to quantitative and qualitative description of geographic spatial data and is the data to describe spatial data's contents,defintion,spatial frame of reference,quality,management,etc.Image data is acquired by RS method,which is integrated into vector data. Moreover,the authors introduce the Internet_based geographic information system of Antarctica consisting of Web Server (in China),Multi JDBC Data Acquisition Server,Metadata Server and Multi Database Server.Web Server is in charge of Web services,such as network directory service,user's power management etc.Database Server is in charge of database management and database service,Metadata Server is in charge of metadata management.The rests of the tasks are finished by Client side,such as pan,zoom in,zoom out,etc. Finally,this system includes data manage component,data acquisition component,spatial query component,mapping component,language component,display component and spatial analysis component,etc.which can access and manage multi data source such as Geofile,GeoDB,Arc/Info,MapInfo,DXF and MGE,link with database including Sybase,SQL Server,Oracle,DBase,Access,Foxpro and Informix.Data manage component is in Web Server,which is in charge of creating network directory service.Data acquisition component is distributed on nodes with database Server on Internet,which is in charge of accessing multi data source.Spatial query component is in Web Server,which can be downloaded to Client and run on Client and is in c


A numerical analysis has been carried out on forced convection heat transfer in the developing region of a porous channel. The channel is filled with an isotropic porous medium. At the channel walls, a uniform heat flux is given. Comprehensive numerical solutions are acquired to the Brinkman-Forchheimer extended Darcy equation and the LTNE model which does not employ the assumption of local thermal equilibrium between solid and fluid phases. Details of thermal fields in the developing region are examined over wide ranges of the thermal parameters. The numerical solutions at the fully developed region are compared with the previous analytical solutions. The correlation for predicting local Nusselt number in a porous channel is proposed.


An extractor is a function that is used to extract randomness. Given an imperfect random source X and a uniform seed Y, the output E(X,Y) is close to uniform. We study properties of such functions in the presence of prior quantum information about X, with a particular focus on cryptographic applications. We prove that certain extractors are suitable for key expansion in the bounded-storage model where the adversary has a limited amount of quantum memory. For extractors with one-bit output we show that the extracted bit is essentially equally secure as in the case where the adversary has classical resources. We prove the security of certain constructions that output multiple bits in the bounded-storage model.