The permeation characteristics and the selectivity of four nitrile rubber films with respect to 1,3-butadiene and isobutene were studied as a function of experimental conditions and the nature of membrane material. A specific research apparatus was developed, allowing the determination of both permeation rate and selectivity, at a temperature varying between 0° and 30°C and under a pressure of from 1 to 3 bars. The inverse proportion of permeation rate to membrane thickness was verified for a thickness of from 12 to 500 microns. An increase in temperature promotes liquid permeation and is detrimental to gas permeation, the latter being facilitated by an increase in pressure. The introduction of an inert gas pressure on the liquid did not bring about an increase in the liquid permeation rate. The permeation rate decreases as a result of an increase in the proportion of acrylonitrile in the rubber, which also affects selectivity; the latter reaches a maximum value when said proportion is about 23%. The effect of the composition of the feed mixture was also studied and curves were determined relating, simultaneously, selectivity and permeation rate to the 1,3-butadiene content. Selectivity is maximal with mixtures having a very high 1,3-butadiene content. The solubilities of 1,3-butadiene and of isobutene in the four types of nitrile rubber were measured at 0°C and at 20°C (68°F). Selectivity can be interpreted in terms of the solubilities of the two hydrocarbons.


Atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2), a major cause of global warming, have been rising due to industrial development. Carbon capture and storage (CCS), which is regarded as the most effective way to reduce such atmospheric CO2 concentrations, has several environmental and technical disadvantages. Carbon capture and utilization (CCU), which has been introduced to cover such disadvantages, makes it possible to capture CO2, recycling byproducts as resources. However, CCU also requires large amounts of energy in order to induce reactions. Among existing CCU technologies, the process for converting CO2 into CaCO3 requires high temperature and high pressure as reaction conditions. This study proposes a method to fixate CaCO3 stably by using relatively less energy than existing methods. After forming NaOH absorbent solution through electrolysis of NaCl in seawater, CaCO3 was precipitated at room temperature and pressure. Following the experiment, the resulting product CaCO3 was analyzed with Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR); field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) image and X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns were also analyzed. The results showed that the CaCO3 crystal product was high-purity calcite. The study shows a successful method for fixating CO2 by reducing carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere while forming high-purity CaCO3.


Sustainability has been a important issue in fashion industry that reflects the modern phase of the time. More education institutions than ever before are beginning to offer specialized courses, certificates and degrees related to sus- tainability in fashion, and many fashion institutions are working to embed sustainability issues into the educational con- tents. In this study, I investigate how sustainability is being integrated into the curriculum of leading fashion institutions, corporate management activity across the world and overview the world leading educational programmes related to sus- tainable fashion, pulling out the unique expertise and areas of specialization for each institution. In conclusion, the sus- tainable fashion were still not widely promoted domestical fashion institutions compare with other foreign leading fashion institutions. This happens in fashion business as well. Korean fashion institutions have to make educational program and certificates and degrees related to sustainability because the educational program can transform domestic fashion industry to sustainable fashion leading country level.


Following the dynamic capabilities perspective, we suggest that antecedents to innovation can be found at the individual, firm, and network level. Thus, we challenge two assumptions common in prior research: (1) that significant variance exists at the focal level of analysis, while other levels of analysis are assumed to be homogeneous, and (2) that the focal level of analysis is independent from other levels of analysis. Accordingly, we advance a set of hypotheses to simultaneously assess the direct effects of antecedents at the individual, firm, and network level on innovation output. We then investigate whether a firm's antecedents to innovation lie across different levels. To accomplish this, we propose two competing interaction hypotheses. We juxtapose the hypothesis that the individual, firm, and networklevel antecedents to innovation are substitutes versus the proposition that these innovation mechanisms are complements. We test our multi-level theoretical model using an unusually comprehensive and detailed panel dataset that documents the innovation attempts of global pharmaceutical companies within biotechnology over a 22-year time period (1980-2001). We find evidence that the antecedents to innovation lie across different levels of analysis and can have compensating or reinforcing effects on firm-level innovative output.


Abstract A mega-event-led-urban renewal (MELUR) has been a popular but controversial urban renewal instrument worldwide. Adding to the persisting difficulty in the post-event uses of its physical legacies is an emerging dilemma of initiating spatial regeneration in an environmentally degenerated urban setting. This seems especially imperative for host cities from emerging economies, while facing the dual pressures of urban degradation and regeneration, tend to favour instant image-building through flagship construction. The purpose of this study is to propose an integrated approach to making an intelligent balance between functional adaptation and environmental sustainability in planning an MELUR. It presents an in-depth case study of the Expo 2010 Site renewal in Shanghai, China. Modelled on the 3R waste management principle, a five-layered analytic framework is established. First-hand data were gathered through participant observation, field trips and stakeholder meetings. Besides drawing constructive lessons from the empirical study, a 5R strategy hierarchy is formulated to synergise functional and environmental planning for future MELURs and significantly comparable urban renewal initiatives.


The petitioner challenged the legality of Regulation 54/88 of 10 February 1988, which adds abortion to the list of services that "shall not be considered as services that are medically required and are not insured services" under the British Columbia Medical Services Act. The Court held that the Cabinet had exceeded its powers in that it was not authorized by the Act to stipulate that certain services are not "medically required." It noted, however, that the Cabinet might have acted within its powers if it merely stipulated that abortion would not be an insured service.


Taenia crassiceps is a parasite of wild canids and dogs that serve as definite hosts, harboring the adult cestode, whereas rodents are the intermediate hosts in which the metacestode/cysticercus/larval stage occurs. Fecal-oral transmission ensures the parasite's lifecycle. At times, dogs and humans act as accidental intermediate hosts. Despite the public health concern this parasite warrants, its epidemiology remains unclear. In this report, we document the occurrence of metacestodes of T. crassiceps in a muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus) and a domestic dog from the northeastern United States, a development that necessitates increased awareness and surveillance to tackle this disease of "one health" significance. Taenia crassiceps cysticercosis was confirmed in an adult male muskrat in February 2018 and in a 4-year-old female spayed Staffordshire Bull Terrier in December 2020. Parasitological and histopathologic examination of both cases revealed cysticerci with the characteristic rostellar hook morphology that aided in Taenia species identification. In the muskrat case specifically, partial sequencing of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase gene confirmed the species identity as T. crassiceps. We report T. crassiceps occurrence in a muskrat in New York State for the first time and document a case presentation in a domestic dog from New Jersey that was infected with metacestode stages of this parasite. Given the detection of this parasite in the northeastern United States, T. crassiceps infection, which otherwise is considered a rare disease, should be on the radar of veterinary, medical and wildlife biologists for timely diagnosis and interventions.


This paper describes the design and the performance of DOMINO, a 3D Cartesian SN solver that implements two nested levels of parallelism (multicore+SIMD) on shared memory computation nodes. DOMINO is written in C++, a multi-paradigm programming language that enables the use of powerful and generic parallel programming tools such as Intel TBB and Eigen. These two libraries allow us to combine multi-thread parallelism with vector operations in an efficient and yet portable way. As a result, DOMINO can exploit the full power of modern multi-core processors and is able to tackle very large simulations, that usually require large HPC clusters, using a single computing node. The very high Flops/Watt ratio of DOMINO makes it a very interesting building block for a future many-nodes nuclear simulation tool.


The flag leaf is the most important source of carbohydrate during wheat kernel filling. Around a 75% of all sugars stored in the kernel come from carbon fixed by this leaf. Terra-Sorb® foliar is an L-α-amino acid-based product from enzymatic hydrolysis for foliar application with a high ratio of free to total amino acids. Previous agronomical studies carried out on grassy, horticultural and tree crops have shown that the application of Terra-Sorb® increases photosynthetic plant activity and chlorophyll content, promotes rapid recovery from stress and improves fruit set. In this work, we have undertaken a proteomic approach to explore molecular mechanisms potentially involved in the stimulating effect of Terra-Sorb® Foliar on wheat yield when applied in commercial fields. Wheat plants at the flag leaf stage were treated, and a DIGE approach was used to compare the proteomes of treated vs. control plants in four biological replicates. Thirty-seven protein spots were found to change in abundance (ANOVA p The deregulated proteins identified were mainly related to the life cycle of Rubisco. Importantly, two proteins involved in the positive regulation of Rubisco activity, namely Rubisco activase, and the large subunit of Rubisco binding protein, were found up-regulated in treated plants, suggesting a better performance of Rubisco. Down-regulated proteins were of metabolic and anti-stress enzymes, including Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase that protects photosystem II from photooxidation. In conclusion, significant changes were shown to occur in the wheat flag leaf proteome upon Terra-Sorb® Foliar application. The deregulated proteins identified are directly or indirectly involved in the CO fixation which may correlate with the known stimulating effect of Terra-Sorb® Foliar of wheat yield, although further functional experiments are needed to validate the proposed hypothesis.


Simulating the Universe: Nonlinear Formation and Evolution of Cosmic Structure Jeffrey David Emberson Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics University of Toronto 2016 In this thesis, we harness the power of modern scientific computing to explore the formation and evolution of cosmological structure in a wide variety of astrophysical scenarios. We explore the nonlinear dynamics associated with the interplay between cold dark matter (CDM), baryons, ionizing radiation, and cosmic neutrinos, within regimes where analytic calculations necessarily fail. We begin by providing an overview of structure formation and its connections to the fields of study considered here: the epoch of reionization, galactic substructure evolution, and cosmic neutrinos. We then present a rigorous numerical convergence study of cosmological hydrodynamics simulations post-possessed with radiative transfer to study the impact of small-scale absorption systems within the intergalactic medium (IGM) during the onset of reionization. We present converged statistics of the IGM on smaller scales and earlier times than previously considered. Moreover, we provide strict resolution limits for hydrodynamic simulations to properly resolve the unheated IGM. Next we study the infall and dynamical evolution of CDM halos in a galactic host. We find the behaviour of low-mass subhalos is qualitatively different than previously described for high-mass subhalos. In particular, the evolution of low-mass subhalos, with masses less than 0.1 per cent that of the host, is mainly driven by their concentration. This presents an opportunity to use concentration as a predictive indicator of substructure evolution. We finish this thesis with an investigation of a recently proposed method for constraining individual neutrino mass from cosmological observations. Such a detection depends on the ability to reconstruct the CDM-neutrino relative velocity, which we show can be accomplished using linear transformations of an observed galaxy field. Based on this, we perform the world's largest cosmological N -body simulation and present preliminary results for the observational prospects of cosmic neutrinos.


Iodine is considered an essential trace element for mammals, and its deficiency is related to numerous pathologies as severe as goitre, reproductive failure, mental retardation and brain damage, among others. Currently, about 30% of the world's population are affected by this deficiency, and thus, in an attempt to ameliorate these nutritional disorders, we propose a biofortification programme with iodine by an application of different dosages and forms of this element (iodide versus iodate) in lettuce plants. In this work, a study has been made of the iodine concentration in roots and edible leaves and their influence on nutritional quality through an analysis of its antioxidant capacity. The results showed that the most appropriate application rates in hydroponic cultivation were 40 μM or lower in the form I - because these concentrations did not reduce biomass in the treated plants with respect to control plants and caused a foliar accumulation of this element that guarantees the viability of this type of programmes. Furthermore, these data are novel, given that the treated plants show a significant increase in antioxidant compounds after the application of iodine.


OBJECTIVE
Aortic stenosis (AS) shares pathophysiological similarities with atherosclerosis including active inflammation. CT attenuation of perivascular adipose tissue provides a measure of vascular inflammation that is linked to prognosis and has the potential to be applied to the aortic valve. We investigated perivascular adipose tissue attenuation around the aortic valve in patients with AS.

METHODS
CT attenuation was measured in the perivascular adipose tissue extending 3 mm radially and 10 mm longitudinally around the aortic valve in patients with and without AS. Associations between perivascular adipose tissue attenuation and AS disease severity, activity and progression were investigated.

RESULTS
Perivascular adipose tissue attenuation around the aortic valve demonstrated good intraobserver and interobserver repeatability (interobserver: intraclass correlation coefficient 0.977 (95% CI: 0.94, 0.99)) but was similar between patients with AS (n=120) and control subjects (n=80) (-62.4 (-68.7, -56.5) Hounsfield units (HU) vs -61.2 (-65.3, -55.6) HU, p=0.099). There were no differences between perivascular adipose tissue attenuation in patients with mild (-60.2 (-66.9, -55.1) HU), moderate (-62.8 (-69.6, -56.80) HU) or severe (-62.3 (-69.3, -55.4) HU) AS (all p>0.05), and perivascular adipose tissue attenuation did not demonstrate an association with AS severity as assessed by echocardiography or CT calcium scoring, nor with disease activity assessed by 18F-sodium fluoride positron emission tomography. Moreover, there was no association between baseline aortic valve perivascular adipose tissue attenuation and subsequent AS progression (annualised change in peak velocity: r=0.072, p=0.458). Similar results were found using five other image analysis methods.

CONCLUSIONS
CT-derived aortic valve perivascular adipose tissue attenuation is not associated with AS disease severity, activity or progression suggesting that it has no value in the investigation and management of patients with AS.


This paper examines the impact of constitutional rules on parliamentary dissolution, government termination and duration with a particular focus on the likely effects of UK's Fixed-term Parliament's Act (2011). In the UK debate, expectations about the Act diverge. This article evaluates the plausibility of these contrasting views by combining evidence from a comparative analysis of European cabinets with a counterfactual analysis of the Act's effect on the strategies of UK politicians. The evidence from both analyses indicates that fixing the term of parliament is likely to render parliaments more stable, but may also have the unanticipated effect of making governments more vulnerable to failure and replacement.


Aims: Primary cysts and tumors of the ovary alongwith torsion are often regarded as an indication for open oophorectomy because of the fear of leaving an ischemic organ inside and chances of recurrence. We wish to report our experience of both modalities of management where we initially removed adenexal torsion by either laparoscopic salpingo-oophorectomy or oophorectomy, but later followed a more conservative approach of adenexal lesion removal with ovarian preservation. Materials and Methods: Retrospective review of clinical records of patients with ovarian pathology who were managed laparoscopically. Results: 46 cases of pediatric ovarian pathology were managed between March 2006 and March 2013 in two centers by a team of surgeons. The age ranged from 1 days to 18 years (average 14.3 years) and the pathology varied from 30 cases of a simple ovarian cyst with torsion, 3 cases of ovarian torsion without any cyst, 7 cases of a dermoid cyst with torsion in all, 1 case of secreting ovarian tumor and 5 cases of a paraovarian cyst with torsion. All patients had a normal tumor marker except 1 girl with a functional ovarian tumor who had elevated LDH and estrogen levels alongwith suppressed LH and FSH. In the initial period of our study we did 1 salpingo-oophorectomy for a suspected complex lesion and two oophorectomies for torsion with a simple cyst. In the later part of our study we performed laparoscopic cystectomy and ovarian preservation in 40 cases, including 7 cases of dermoid, where we performed laparoscopic detorsion with dermoid cystectomy and ovarian preservation in the same sitting. In three cases of chronic torsion who presented to us late, we could not preserve the ovary and had to resort to salpingo-ophorectomy. Histology showed a simple corpus luteal and follicular ovarian cyst in 31 cases, a paraovarian cyst in 5 cases with mature teratoma in 7 cases. Twenty-five patients with ovarian preservation following detorsion were subjected to follow-up ultrasound, who were found to have normal shape, size and blood flow compared to the contra lateral side. Conclusion: We outline our experience from the management of 46 cases of various ovarian pathologies with and without ischemia and found that ovarian torsion with a benign pathology and ischemia is not a contraindication for ovarian preservation, as pointed out in the current literature.


Microstructure evolution is largely dominated by the internal stress fields that appear upon the appearance of inhomogeneous structures in a material. The hardening behaviour of metals physically originates from such a complex microstructure evolution. As deformation proceeds, statistically homogeneous distributions of dislocations in grains become unstable, which constitutes the driving force for the development of a pronounced dislocation substructure. The dislocation structure already appears at early stages of deformation due to the statistical trapping of dislocations. Cell walls contain dislocation dipoles and multipoles with high dislocation densities and enclose cell-interior regions with a considerably smaller dislocation density. The presence and evolution of such a dislocation arrangement in the material influence the mechanical response of the material and is commonly associated with the transient hardening after strain path changes. This contribution introduces a micromechanical continuum model of the dislocation cell structure based on the physics of the dislocation interactions. The approximation of the internal stress field in such a microstructure and the impact on the macroscopic mechanical response are the main items investigated here.


This paper describes a new method for solving the permutation problem in frequency-domain blind source separation (FDBSS). The permutation problem in FDBSS is the well-known order-changing problem of separating spectra, which is caused by the independent separating process in each frequency bin. The new solution is based on the expectation-maximization (EM) technique applied to phases of inverse separating filters. The EM algorithm treats spatial aliasing implicitly and exploits statistics of a room environment embedded in the inverse of separating filters. As a result, it provides more robust performance than other existing methods based on source directions. In addition, it does not require any knowledge of the microphone geometry. Experimental results in reverberant environments demonstrate good performance of the proposed method.


Disorders such as psychogenic nonepileptic seizures (PNES) often strike our blind spots; patients can be misdiagnosed for years. Even though there are standard ways of classifying the patients, not everyone fits. Why do they occur? Some people express emotions physically. PNES (and their cousin disorders) are products of a number of factors. The first derives from the ways patients interact with those around them. This could be particularly (but not uniquely) important in people with inadequate coping skills or whose maladaptive behaviors have been reinforced. A second group of factors pertains to internal or internalized conflicts. These might be important for patients with affective disorders, panic attacks, anxiety, obsessivecompulsive disorders, conversion or somatization disorders, posttraumatic stress disorders, or sexual or physical abuse. For personal reasons, some patients may misinterpret normal physiological phenomena. Another group includes patients who have psychoses or are schizophrenic. Still another includes those with what used to be called personality disorders, with problems including borderline personality, malingering, or factitious disorder. In practice, these groupings are not distinct from one another: how you organize and perceive yourself and your experiences, and how flexible, pleasant, and open you are in your interactions derive from what you are, both inside and out. Patients with PNES are not always distinctly different from the rest of us. Formal psychiatric disorders may not be present. Patients' personalities can be variants, even if extreme variants, of normal. When this occurs, patients' similarities to ourselves may make empathic diagnosis and treatment more difficult. How should we treat? First, explain the diagnosis to the patient courteously and tactfully. The manner for describing PNES should be no different from describing epilepsy, or lupus. If the diagnosis is uncertain, say so. Consider with the patient why the episodes might be occurring. Sometimes that is enough; symptoms stop. More often patients need more treatment, but studies have shown that treatment is often unsuccessful, especially in patients with psychiatric diagnoses. Previous studies have utilized psychological testing to characterize patients with PNES. In this issue, Reuber and colleagues report that measurements of personality correlated with the success that PNES patients had in controlling their episodes. Somatization and dissociation linked with poorer outcome. Less than a third became seizure free; however, as the authors note, treatment was not evaluated systematically. It occurred after patients returned home, and not at their tertiary referral center. It is not clear what treatment patients did receive, if any. These are difficult patients and are best treated by therapists experienced with both epilepsy and PNES. This problem is not unique to epilepsy: symptoms and signs of emotional origin occur in every specialty and every subspecialty. Health care expenditures of patients with such disorders are nine times higher than those of others. The symptoms, and the patients themselves, can arouse our deepest emotions, and not always our best ones. We often do not treat these people well and sometimes do not like them. Nonetheless, many can be treated successfully by expert hands able to tailor treatment to the personality, functional capabilities, and life experiences of the individual patient. The challenge is to determine how best to do this, and for whom.


A review of the well known two-wattmeter method for measuring real power is given, emphasising its advantages in responding immediately to changes in real power flows and eliminating the double-frequency term. The usual technique for determining reactive power is described, showing the presence of a DC term plus the troublesome double-frequency term. Theory is developed for determining reactive power flow that eliminates the double-frequency term and produces an instantly responding DC term only. Five measurement techniques are shown to be possible, three of which are of practical value. Whereas two of the five methods require a neutral connection for voltage measurement, the methods selected for practical realisation require line voltages only. The applicability of the chosen techniques to include the two-wattmeter method of real power measurement is described. An optimal choice of the techniques is suggested, based on minimal use of electronic components and longevity of calibration. A series of experimental results comparing the various techniques of fast reactive power measurement is presented, confirming the theory and showing some practical limitations to elimination of the double-frequency term.


Author(s): Falconer, Rachel | Abstract: What are the ends of poetry in times when humanity has to face up to the possibility of nature's finitude and our own lethal capacity to bring about its end? The Northern Irish poet Seamus Heaney has been invoked as an example of an environmentalist poet whose later writing addresses issues of climate change and ecological disaster. I would like to argue for a more nuanced approach to Heaney's late poetry which, I believe, does powerfully address our relation to the natural world, but it does so on its own, internally generated terms. Heaney invites us to think more broadly about the ends—or the good, or telos—of poetry, and its ability to align us with our fundamental, rhythmic, patterned, human, and natural senses of being. His conviction of the serious purpose of poetry, in my view, transcends the current, in-house divisions of ecocriticism. It also restores a sense of poetry as playful, pleasurable, and health-enhancing to the individual reader or poet. To advance this argument, I will analyse a little-discussed late work: The Last Walk (2013), which is Heaney's posthumously published translation of Pascoli's "L'ultima passeggiata." This sequence of slight, finely turned poems, while celebrating the rhythms of rural life, are far removed from any explicitly political or environmentalist agenda. Yet they reveal much about Heaney's aesthetics and ethics as he faced his own end, preparing this translation in the last months of his life. The second part of the essay considers the translation in the light of other writing by the Irish poet, and suggests how, without locking him into an explicit political or theoretical agenda, we might read his poetry from an environmental perspective.


Note from the editor: DttP has been featuring student papers for a number of years at this point—I remember talking about it in my documents class in library school. (For the record, I did not get nominated, which was probably the right choice, even if I did find my paper about the Nuclear Regulatory Commission fascinating.) But as technology changes the work of libraries, so has it changed the products that our students are producing. What follows is an example of a libguide created by a Nora Stewart, student from Emporia State University. Although my presentation of this work is somewhat clumsy, I highly recommend that all of you visit the page ( http://libguides.emporia.edu/c.php?g=531631&p=3637209) and look through the resources Nora has collected and placed into context.


Notillage and reduced tillage have been used since ancient times by indigenous cultures, simply because man has not the muscle force to till any significant area of land to a significant depth by hand. The ancient Egyptians and the Incas in the Andes of South America for example, used a stick to make a hole in the ground and put seeds by hand into unprepared soil. In modern, mechanised agriculture, notillage cultivation of crops was attempted long time ago, but it was not until the advent of modern herbicides that the technique could be put into practice. Back in the 1940s Edward Faulkner induced a change to eliminate tillage by the plough and reduce tillage in his famous book "Plowman's Folly" (1943). According to Phillips and Phillips (1984) attention was diverted to reduced tillage in the late 1940s with the introduction of plant growth regulators developed during World War II. Klingman, in North Carolina in the late 1940s reported on no-tillage practice. In 1951, K.C. Barrons, J.H. Davidson and C.D. Fitzgerald of the Dow Chemical Co., reported on the successful application of notillage techniques. In the 1960s M.A. Sprague, in New Jersey, reported on pasture renovation using chemicals as a substitute for tillage. L.A. Porter, New Zealand, reported on strawberry production without tillage in the early 1960s, followed by A.E.M. Hood, and R.S.L. Jeater at Jealott's Hill, England, for small grain (Phillips and Phillips, 1984). The invention of Paraquat in 1955 and its commercial release in 1961 led the Imperial Chemical Company, ICI, and others, to initiate intensive no-tillage research in the UK, the USA and elsewhere. In 1961 and 1962 demonstration trials were run in several farms in the United States. These demonstration plots led Harry and Lawrence Young from Herndon, Kentucky, to apply the novel technology on their farm and became one of the first mechanised farmers in the world to use modern notillage crop production. Notillage trials in Latin America were first started in 1971 by the Instituto de Pesquisas Agropecuarias Meridional, IPEAME, in Londrina, Paraná State, Brazil, in cooperation with a GTZ (German aid) project. This project set up demonstration plots in the farm of Herbert Bartz, a Brazilian farmer of German descent, in Rolandia, Paraná. After seeing the results of these plots, Herbert Bartz visited the UK and the USA, carried out research on the advances of this technique, visited ICI in Fernhurst and Harry Young in Kentucky, bought a no-tillage planter in each country, and started seeding his first soybeans under no-tillage in 1972. Thus Herbert Bartz became the first farmer to apply the technology in Latin America and to use it continuously until the present. Compared to the Americas, notillage practice is much less adopted in Europe, Africa and Asia, and in many countries this soil-conserving sustainable production system is virtually unknown. Despite a wealth of research information generated at IITA, Nigeria, since the seventies, the total area under no-tillage in Africa is still very small.


Background Goldfish is an important model for various areas of research, including neural development and behavior and a species of significant importance in aquaculture, especially as an ornamental species. It has a male heterogametic (XX/XY) sex determination system that relies on both genetic and environmental factors, with high temperatures being able to produce female-to-male sex reversal. Little, however, is currently known on the molecular basis of genetic sex determination in this important cyprinid model. We used sequencing approaches to better characterize sex determination and sex-chromosomes in goldfish. Results Our results confirmed that sex determination in goldfish is a mix of environmental and genetic factors and that its sex determination system is male heterogametic (XX/XY). Using reduced representation (RAD-seq) and whole genome (pool-seq) approaches, we characterized sex-linked polymorphisms and developed male specific genetic markers. These male specific markers were used to distinguish sex-reversed XX neomales from XY males and to demonstrate that XX female-to-male sex reversal could even occur at a relatively low rearing temperature (18°C), for which sex reversal has been previously shown to be close to zero. We also characterized a relatively large non-recombining region (∼11.7 Mb) on goldfish linkage group 22 (LG22) that contained a high-density of male-biased genetic polymorphisms. This large LG22 region harbors 373 genes, including a single candidate as a potential master sex gene, i.e., the anti-Mullerian hormone gene (amh). However, no sex-linked polymorphisms were detected in the goldfish amh gene or its 5 kb proximal promoter sequence. Conclusions These results show that goldfish have a relatively large sex locus on LG22, which is likely the goldfish Y chromosome. The presence of a few XX males even at low temperature also suggests that other environmental factors in addition to temperature could trigger female-to-male sex reversal. Finally, we also developed sex-linked genetic markers in goldfish, which will be important for future research on sex determination and aquaculture applications in this species.


This study characterized a protein complex in human milk that induces apoptosis in tumor cells but spares healthy cells. The active fraction was purified from casein by anion exchange chromatography. Unlike other casein components the active fraction was retained by the ion exchanger and eluted after a high salt gradient. The active fraction showed N-terminal amino acid sequence identity with human milk α-lactalbumin and mass spectrometry ruled out post-translational modifications. Size exclusion chromatography resolved monomers and oligomers of α-lactalbumin that were characterized using UV absorbance, fluorescence, and circular dichroism spectroscopy. The high molecular weight oligomers were kinetically stable against dissociation into monomers and were found to have an essentially retained secondary structure but a less well organized tertiary structure. Comparison with native monomeric and molten globule α-lactalbumin showed that the active fraction contains oligomers of α-lactalbumin that have undergone a conformational switch toward a molten globule-like state. Oligomerization appears to conserve α-lactalbumin in a state with molten globule-like properties at physiological conditions. The results suggest differences in biological properties between folding variants of α-lactalbumin.


Background—Genome-wide association studies for body mass index (BMI) previously identified a locus near TMEM18. We conducted targeted sequencing of this region to investigate the role of common, low-frequency, and rare variants influencing BMI. Methods and Results—We sequenced TMEM18 and regions downstream of TMEM18 on chromosome 2 in 3976 individuals of European ancestry from 3 community-based cohorts (Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities, Cardiovascular Health Study, and Framingham Heart Study), including 200 adults selected for high BMI. We examined the association between BMI and variants identified in the region from nucleotide position 586 432 to 677 539 (hg18). Rare variants (minor allele frequency, <1%) were analyzed using a burden test and the sequence kernel association test. Results from the 3 cohort studies were meta-analyzed. We estimate that mean BMI is 0.43 kg/m2 higher for each copy of the G allele of single-nucleotide polymorphism rs7596758 (minor allele frequency, 29%; P=3.46×10−4) using a Bonferroni threshold of P<4.6×10−4. Analyses conditional on previous genome-wide association study single-nucleotide polymorphisms associated with BMI in the region led to attenuation of this signal and uncovered another independent (r2<0.2), statistically significant association, rs186019316 (P=2.11×10−4). Both rs186019316 and rs7596758 or proxies are located in transcription factor binding regions. No significant association with rare variants was found in either the exons of TMEM18 or the 3′ genome-wide association study region. Conclusions—Targeted sequencing around TMEM18 identified 2 novel BMI variants with possible regulatory function.


With pot experiment, this paper studied the effects of silicon supply on drought-resistance capability of maize plant. The results showed that under mild and severe drought stress, supplying silicon could increase the plant biomass by 31.1%-33.3% and 23.7%-40.5%, respectively, compared with the control. Silicon enhanced the net photosynthetic rate by 10.9% --28.8%, increased the chlorophyll content and POD, SOD and CAT activities by 4.0% -11.9%, 6.4% -26.4%, 17.8% -26.8% and 3.2%-33.5%, respectively, and restrained the increase of leaf plasma membrane permeability and MDA content. Correlation analysis indicated that there was a significant correlation between plant dry matter accumulation and diurnal photosynthetic cumulates (r = 0. 9357, P < 0.05), demonstrating that the enhancement of photosynthesis under effect of silicon supply was the main factor inducing the increase of dry matter accumulation under drought stress. The higher antioxidative enzyme activities with silicon supply lightened the injury effect of free radicals, being another important factor inducing the increase of plant drought-resistance capability.


Background: Cotton industry workers are exposed to various hazards in the different departments of textile factories. The major health problems associated with cotton dust are respiratory problems, byssinosis, bronchitis and asthma. Objective: To study the effect of cotton dust exposure on pulmonary function and respiratory symptoms. Settings and Design: This cross-sectional observational study was conducted at cotton mill in the Ahmedabad city. Materials and Methods: One hundred cotton mill workers of the weaving and spinning area participated in this study while 100 age- and gender-matched male subjects living in the residential area served as the control group. A questionnaire was used to inquire about respiratory symptoms and spirometry was done in both the groups. Statistical Analysis Used: Student's t-test was used to find the difference between spirometric parameters, and Chi-square test was used to find the difference between respiratory symptoms. Results: Respiratory symptoms were statistically significantly more common in the cotton mill workers compared to control group. Cotton mill workers group also showed significant (P < 0.0001) decrease in forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1), ratio of FEV1 and forced vital capacity (FVC) and peak expiratory flow rate, and no significant difference of FVC between groups. There was an association of duration of exposure and symptoms with spirometric abnormality. Conclusion: Cotton mill workers showed a significant decrease in spirometric parameters and increase in respiratory symptoms. As the duration of exposure and symptoms increased, spirometric abnormality increased.


The experimental dislocation resistivity of rolled samples of 99.9999% pure aluminium was investigated in the temperature range from 4.2 K to 300 K. The minimum in the deviation from Matthiessen's rule (DMR) below 40 K and the step height of the DMR from 4.2 K to 300 K can be explained by anisotropic scattering in terms of a three-group or a two-group model. The physical relevance of the fitted anisotropy parameters for electron-dislocation (Ad) and electron-phonon scattering (Ap) can be better seen in the two-group model. The variation of Ad and Ap with dislocation density is similar to that for the noble metals, whereby Ap at low temperatures is much more anisotropic for aluminium. The change of Ap with increasing dislocation density for T≤50 K can be understood if anisotropic small-angle scattering at local phonon modes originating from the dislocations is taken into account. This anisotropy could arise, as the Burgers vectors of the dislocations are oriented mainly in [011] directions.


Introduction: Dengue Haemorhagic Fever (DHF) still becomes health problem in Indonesia. Less understand about it will lead into people's ignorance in cutting the transmission line, for the example by eradicate mosquito nest. Not only knowlegde, but people's motivation also important to implement particular behavior. The aim of this study was to examine the correlation between knowledge and motivation with mother's behavior in eradication mosquito nest of DHF. Method: This was correlational study with cross sectional approach. Population were mother at Kelurahan Pegirian, Surabaya. Samples were 80 respondents, taken with proposionate cluster sampling. The independent variables were mother's knowledge and motivation, while the dependent variable was mother's behavior in eradicate mosquito nest. Data were collected by using questionaire, then analyzed by using Spearman Rank Test with level of significance α≤0.05. Result: The result had showed that there was significant weak correlation between mother's knowledge and behavior (p=0.000; r=0.309). While mother's motivation have significant moderate correlation with behavior in eradicate mosquito nest (p=0.000; r=0.423). Discussion:  It can be concluded that mother's knowledge and motivation correlate with their behavior in eradicate mosquito nest. Mother should inform the member of her family about preventing DHF transmission by eradicate mosquito nest. Nurses should empower mother to do it through health education regularly.


We propose an efficient method for computing the Sparse Resultant of a system of (n+1) polynomial equations in n unknowns. The first efficient algorithm was proposed by Canny and Emiris [CE93]. The new algorithm produces a smaller matrix whose determinant is a nontrivial multiple of the Sparse Resultant and from which the latter is easily recovered. It is incremental in the sense that successively larger matrices are constructed until one is found with the above properties. For certain classes of systems, the new algorithm attains optimality by expressing the Sparse Resultant as a single determinant. An implementation of the algorithm is described and experimental results are presented. In addition, we propose an efficient algorithm for computing the Mixed Volume of n polynomials in n variables, which provides an upper bound on the number of common roots. This algorithm has been implemented and empirical results are reported which suggest that this is the fastest algorithm to date. Keywords: Sparse Resultant, Mixed Volume, Newton Polytope, Asymptotic Complexity, Experimental Results.


This paper describes a novel interactive floor application suited for hearing impaired children with a cochlear implant (CI). Existing linguistic learning materials for CI children are restricted to analogue books and CD ROM application in which bodily interaction is rather limited. The paper highlights the relation between language and body movement and proposes interactive floor technology as a foundation for CI children's linguistic learning. The Stepstone application described in this paper combines body movement and group collaboration as a mean for practicing and enhancing speech and language skills for CI children in a school environment. Two Stepstone games for CI children are presented: the Stepstone Ling Game helping the children to calibrate their cochlear implants, and the Stepstone Language Game which is a framework for language concept training.


: The objective of the aforesaid study was to assess the incidence and frequency of Epistaxis in IDPs who migrated to District Bannu from North Waziristan agency during military operation "Zarb-E-Azab". This study was conducted in ENT department, DHQ teaching hospital Bannu from august 2014 to May 2015. The inclusion criteria was acute epistaxis occurred due to any reason. The exclusion criteria were the natural blood stoppage. The data was collected based on age, gender, causes, type, treatment success rate and the actual need for hospitalization of victims. The results of this study showed that out of 121 patients during 10 months, 72% (87.12) were male patients while rest of the patients i.e. 28% (33.88) were female. The prevalence of epistaxis in male was higher than the female patients. The average age group was 37 years. During the study, the most prevailing cause for the epistaxis was trauma (50.20%) in youngsters which was followed by hypertension (29.30%) in adults. Anterior epistaxis was around 58.20% while posterior one was 22.11%. AgNO cautry (56.45%) was the commonest treatment regimen followed by anterior nasal packing (32.78%). 3 We achieved a success rate of 35% for AgNO cautry and 65% for anteriornasal packing. In cases of 3 acute/persistent epistaxis, where first-aid events have failed and providing a bleeding vessel is visible, cautery with a silver nitrate tipped stick is the treatment of choice. However, where there is profuse bleeding from larger nasal arteries or veins, difficulty is often experienced in curtailing the blood flow and commonly one must resort to electro cautry or tamponade by balloon or packing. Modifying the technique of silver nitrate cautry will result in universal success.


This retrospective study evaluated the characteristics and treatment modalities performed under general anesthesia in dental patients with disabilities at Departments of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery and Pediatric Dentistry of Gulhane Military Medical Academy between 2009 and 2011. A total of 70 (mean age 11.6); 49 male (70%), 21 female (30%) patients were included, and the treatment needs were recorded. All dental procedures were performed by at least one oral and maxillofacial surgeon and one pediatric dentist working at the same institution. Seven cases were autistic (10%), 19 were cerebral palsy (27.1%), 39 were mental retardation (55.7%) and
5 were Down's syndrome (7.1%). Filling was the most required treatment (Mean value 3.8). The mean ages of patients with cerebral palsy and mental retardation were higher than that of the patients with Down's syndrome. Down's syndrome was the diagnosis with the least need for treatment (Mean value 5.6). Providing early treatment for children with a chronic illness and/or a disability may improve their dental health and maintain full dentition so as to reduce the number of subsequent teeth extractions. It is recommended to refer these children at an earlier age to a hospital where tooth restoration under general anesthesia can be performed.


Research into major party behaviour in Britain from a political marketing perspective finds that political marketing is broad in scope and offers fresh analytical tools to explain how political organizations behave. It is nevertheless a marriage between political science and marketing. It borrows the core marketing concepts of product, sales and market-orientation, and techniques such as market intelligence, and adapts them to suit traditional tenets of political science to produce an integrated theoretical framework. A party that takes a product-orientation argues for what it stands for and believes in. A Sales-Orientated party focuses on selling its argument and product to voters. A Market-Orientated party designs its behaviour to provide voter satisfaction. Exploring these three orientations demonstrates that political marketing can be applied to a wide range of behaviour and suggests its potential to be applied to several areas of political studies.


In this study, we examine unemployment hysteresis for Turkey over the period 1923- 2007 by using unit root tests which allow for structural breaks. We test whether unemployment rates are stationary by using Perron, Zivot-Andrews (ZA), Lumsdaine – Papell (LP) and LM unit root tests. According to the ZA and LP tests, we find evidence of hysteresis. We find series as a unit root process with structural breaks according to both Perron and the LM tests. We conclude even transitory shocks have permanent effects on the level of unemployment and can cause natural rate of unemployment to change.


Fluorescence quenching of riboflavin by cytochrome P450 2B4 was used to probe the ligand--enzyme binding interaction ((lambda ex = 385 nm, lambda em = 520 nm). Riboflavin is a component of a flavoprotein NADPH dependent cytochrome P450 reductase, an essential electron carrier during cytochrome P450 catalysis. Fluorescence titration measurements revealed that cytochrome P450 2B4 and riboflavin formed a complex with an apparent Kd = 8.8 +/- 1 microM. The fluorescence intensity of riboflavin decreased upon the addition of cytochrome P450 2B4, which may be caused by the resonance excitation energy transfer from the fluorescent donor riboflavin to the cytochrome P450 2B4 heme acceptor. These data suggest that there may exist specific sites of binding of riboflavin with the protein globule of cytochrome P450 2B4.


United Nations (UN) sustainable development goal 5 calls for the elimination of violence, and goal 16 calls for strong and stable judicial institutions (United Nations 2016). The composition and culture of a nation's police force play an essential role in its ability to achieve these goals. Employing a diverse workforce, particularly in terms of female representation in all ranks within the policing command structure, is a vital determinant for setting a police force's culture. However, many police forces remain as traditional, male-dominant hierarchical institutions (Rabe-Hemp 2018). In England and Wales, although the proportion of female police officers has reached 30.4 per cent of the police force, the progression of women to the highest police ranks has declined (Home Office 2019). This article considers the influence that female representation can have within police forces on the effective management of domestic and sexually violent crimes that disproportionately affect women. It will highlight the barriers to female recruitment and their progression, as well as suggest a series of recommendations to improve opportunities for women in policing. In doing so, the article will consequently suggest improvements to women's access to justice, thereby providing a platform for achieving these UN goals.


Models of two‐phase flows in porous media, used in petroleum engineering, lead to a coupled system of two equations, one elliptic and the other degenerate parabolic, with two unknowns: the saturation and the pressure. In view of applications in hydrogeology, we construct a robust finite volume scheme allowing for convergent simulations, as the ratio μ of air/liquid mobility goes to infinity. This scheme is shown to satisfy a priori estimates (the saturation is shown to remain in a fixed interval, and a discrete L2(0,T;H1(Ω)) estimate is proved for both the pressure and a function of the saturation), which are sufficient to derive the convergence of a subsequence to a weak solution of the continuous equations, as the size of the discretization tends to zero. We then show that the scheme converges to a two‐phase flow model whose limit, as the mobility of the air phase tends to infinity, is the "quasi‐Richards equation" (Eymard et al., Convergence of two phase flow to Richards model, F. Benkhaldoun, editor, Finite Volumes for Complex Applications IV, ISTE, London, 2005; Eymard et al., Discrete Cont Dynam Syst, 5 (2012) 93–113), which remains available even if the gas phase is not connected with the atmospheric pressure. Numerical examples, which show that the scheme remains robust for high values of μ, are finally given. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq 2013


By ways of favorable bi-directionally-regulative effect of acupoint stimulation and close correlation between acupoints and Zangfu-organs, acupuncture therapy can effectively regulate both blood pressure and functional activities of the corresponding viscera. Hence, acupuncture therapy, as a complementary method for hypertension, has its characteristics in protecting target organs. In the present paper, the authors review the progress in acupuncture treatment of hypertension in recent ten years from the studies of clinical treatment and animal experiments; analyze the underlying mechanism of acupuncture in protecting target organs of hypertension from the neuro-endocrine-immune network. Moreover, the authors point out some existing problems and put forward a few suggestions about acupuncture research in this field.


E-learning has become a trend wherein people would opt to learn at their own pace. This need arises particularly when non-English speakers would want to learn English but do not want to go through the hassle of attending regular classes, thus, the option to study online is a good way for them to balance their work and study time. In fact, most of these students are traders who feel that learning English is an essential factor in doing business and getting foreign partners. This paper presents an overview of how there is a conflict between issues underlying the business side of an online tutorial and the pertinent issues of how English should be taught as a learning process. This overview will identify the argument between the business of online tutorial and the learning process itself and how it should be balanced, as well as the essential ingredients of successful online tutorials based on experiences of online tutorial schools in the Philippines.


In this essay, we examine sexual initiation in Joyce's narratives of development, focusing on representational strategies that achieve their effects through recourse to a residue of sexualized trauma embedded in language. An understanding of the ways in which Joyce employs ambiguously sexual words and situations that constitute both characters and readers as imperfectly initiated, unable to decode ambiguous signifiers, allows for a fuller appreciation of Joyce's style. It also affords insight into how the social world leaves its imprint upon the individual subject through idiosyncratic and contingent personal experience, and, conversely, how such experience lends intense affect to social movements.


ObjectiveThe objective of this study was to determine the feasibility of shoe stiffening inserts to reduce pain in first metatarsophalangeal joint osteoarthritis. DesignThirty-one participants with first metatarsophalangeal joint osteoarthritis were prescribed shoe stiffening inserts and were evaluated at baseline and at 1 and 3 mos. The primary outcome measure was foot pain, assessed using the foot pain domain of the Foot Health Status Questionnaire (possible score ranges from 0 to 100). Secondary outcome measures included foot-related disability (foot function domain of the Foot Health Status Questionnaire), self-reported treatment effectiveness, use of rescue medication and other co-interventions, and adverse events. ResultsAt 1 and 3 mos, statistically significant improvements in foot pain and foot-related disability were observed (mean difference at 3 mos: foot pain = 18.8, 95% confidence interval, 13.3–24.3; foot function = 11.8, 95% confidence interval, 4.3–17.3). Treatment was reported to be effective by 78% of participants. Few participants (4%) reported using pain-relieving medication. Minor adverse events were reported by 30% of participants. ConclusionsFull-length shoe stiffening inserts may be an effective intervention in first metatarsophalangeal joint osteoarthritis. However, further controlled studies are required.


Clinical-neurological, electrocephalographic, ophthalmological and genetic observations of a family with related persons with Leber's optic atrophy is described. 6 male subjects of the altogether ca. 100 members of the family tree stretching over 4 generations were manifestly affected relatives - that is possible carriers, an unusually large number of EEG's were abnormal, and, less often, colour vision disturbances were seen. The results suggest that Leber's optic atrophy is a hereditary neuro-ophthalmological systemic condition, whose most striking symptom is the optic atrophy. The genetic factors of the condition are also discussed.


We consider sequential change point detection in multiple data streams, where each stream has its own change point. Once a change point is detected for a data stream, this stream is deactivated permanently. The goal is to maximize the normal operation of the pre-change streams, while controlling the proportion of post-change streams among the active streams at all time points. This problem has wide applications in science, social science, and engineering. Taking a Bayesian formulation, we develop a compound sequential decision theory framework for this problem. Under this framework, an oracle procedure is proposed that is optimal among all sequential procedures which control the expected proportion of post-change streams at each time point. We also investigate the asymptotic behavior of the proposed method when the number of data streams grows large. Several non-standard technical tools involving partially ordered spaces and monotone coupling of stochastic processes are developed for proving the optimality result. Numerical examples are provided to illustrate the use and performance of the proposed method.


There is provided a driving circuit, comprising: a working range up to the high potential side power supply potential, the first, second buffer circuit 13, the low potential side power supply potential, the input terminal and the one input terminal of the input voltage signal is inputted are commonly connected to and an output terminal connected to a common output terminal; a storage section 3, when the standard for modulation and the gamma characteristic, the input signal voltage stored and held for the first and second buffer circuits to work with a range corresponding to reference data; selecting unit 4, in accordance with the modulation information determining a modulation, modulation selection criteria and the corresponding reference data and output; and comparing unit 5, a data input signal and compares the reference data output unit selection. The first and second buffer circuit according to the comparison result signal and the control signal of the comparing section 5, and to control its operation is stopped.


Prognostics is the process of predicting a system's future states, health degradation/wear, and remaining useful life (RUL). This information plays an important role in prevent ing failure, reducing downtime, scheduling maintenance, and improving system utility. Prognostics relies heavily on wear estimation. In some components, the sensors used to estimate wear may not be fast enough to capture brief transient states that are indicative of wear. For this reason it is beneficial to be capable of detecting and estimating the extent of component wear using steady-state measurements. This paper details a method for estimating component wear using steady-state mea surements, describes how this is used to predict future states, and presents a case study of a current/pressure (lIP) Transducer. lIP Transducer nominal and off-nominal behaviors are char acterized using a physics-based model, and validated against expected and observed component behavior. This model is used to map observed steady-state responses to corresponding fault parameter values in the form of a lookup table. This method was chosen because of its fast, efficient nature, and its ability to be applied to both linear and non-linear systems. Using measure ments of the steady state output, and the lookup table, wear is estimated. A regression is used to estimate the wear propagation parameter and characterize the damage progression function, which are used to predict future states and the remaining useful life of the system.


Objective: To estimate the prevalence and distribution of metabolic syndrome (MS) in Chinese adults. Methods: Cross-sectional data on 104 098 men and women aged 18 years or above was gathered from 150 monitoring sites from 31 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities from the China National Health and Nutrition Surveillance (2010-2012) Project. Data was randomly selected by multi-stage stratified and Probability Proportionate to Size (PPS) cluster random sampling method. Prevalence of MS was defined under the diagnostic criteria of China Diabetes Society (CDS). Complex sampling weighing method was used with demographic data released by the National Bureau of Statistics of China in 2009, when calculating the prevalence and its 95%CI of MS. Results: The overall prevalence rate of the MS among adults was 11.0%, more seen in urban than in rural areas, and in men than in women. The prevalence showed a parallel increasing trend with age. As was observed in the comparison between the prevalence of four components of MS, the prevalence rates of dyslipidemia (33.7%) and overweight or obesity (32.3%) showed more serious than in hypertension (22.4%) or hyperglycemia (16.2%). Conclusion: The prevalence of MS among adults in China showed an increasing trend which had already become a significant public health problem, in the country.


INTRODUCTION: Palliative care is a specialized type of healthcare directed to individuals with chronic conditions. According to recent data, only a proportion of the Portuguese population has access to this care, the number of cases referred to specialized teams still falling below what would be expected. Doctors and nurses from primary care can play a relevant role in identifying and referring individuals, as they represent their first contact point with the Portuguese National Healthcare Service.
OBJECTIVE: Assess the ability of doctors and nurses from primary care to identify palliative care patients and determine facilitating personal factors.
MATERIAL & METHODS: Analytical and cross-sectional study, undertaken by submitting a questionnaire to 49 medical and nursing healthcare professionals from two Primary Care Trusts in Lisbon, Portugal, between June and September 2014. Statistical analysis of the data was conducted using the SPSS® 20.
RESULTS: Only 14.3% of the sample correctly identified the clinical cases referred to palliative care. From the analyzed contributing factors, two were of statistical significance (p < 0.05) in identifying palliative care patients: personal involvement in this area and specific training.
CONCLUSIONS: The results obtained demonstrate the need it is essential to strengthen palliative care training among health professionals and facilitate communication between the different elements involved in identifying and referring patients.


Nowadays, non-contact detection techniques that investigate and analyze discontinuity of road facilities have been studied, and the techniques and products have been released to determine the state of the structure for road facilities. Generally, the survey for road facilities is conducted manually. However, this kind of survey cannot represent the overall condition of facilities because specific regions among all regions are selected as samples for survey. Thus, estimating defect of structure is a much more difficult way. The exhaustive search is performed in special cases but it takes a lot of time and cost in this way. Also, the problem may occur in the reliability of the data because of the consistency of the measurement results. In this paper, we proposed a three-dimensional scanning system by using triangulation measurement with laser line beam and video camera. This is a method and system for obtaining three-dimensional data on the sample material of road facilities in door. The test object used in this paper is the materials used for road facilities in general, and the three-dimensional data was acquired by using a measurement system. The three-dimension data was obtained by selecting two kinds of the test object. The reliability of the measuring method and the system was confirmed through comparing the value of three-dimensional profiling data and the actual value of the object.


The effect of selenium ions on the catabolism of prostaglandin E2 by 15-hydroxy prostaglandin dehydrogenase and prostaglandin delta 13 reductase in rabbit kidney cortex was examined. Selenium ions had no effect on the 15-hydroxy prostaglandin dehydrogenase activity. On the other hand, selenium ions inhibited the prostaglandin delta 13 reductase activity at concentrations ranging from 0.05 to 0.5 mM. The effect was concentration-dependent. The inhibition by selenium ions was non-competitive with regard to NADH and 15-keto PGE2, respectively. These results suggest that selenium ions have the potential to increase 15-keto PG levels in the kidney by inhibiting the prostaglandin delta 13 reductase activity and that such action of selenium ions may participate in renal damage of selenium poisoning.


The report is a summary of the research programme "Quality in Architecture and Urban Planning". The aim has been to develop concepts and theory on 'quality' within building design. 'Quality' is discussed in three chapters, from different angles. The first is a case study of quality criteria for the Swedish architecture reward "Stenpriset". Then experiences from quality management within the construction sector are discussed, especially from the architects' point of view. The last chapter is a study of critique of architecture in current newspaper journalism. The changing perspectives highlight the diversity of perceptions of 'quality' in the building process. The results are presented in relation to five statements on 'quality': - The use of the concept can appear unclear and confusing. - 'Quality' as a concept is open and evaluating. - The concept mirrors a divide between architects and their customers. - Architectural quality is a key concept laden with value, as are the quality criteria used by professional practitioners when judging the quality of the built environment. - Architectural criticism in the daily press is to a very small extent scrutinizing architectural quality.


Abstract. Evapotranspiration (ET) links the hydrological, energy, and carbon cycle on the land surface. Quantifying ET and its spatiotemporal changes is also key to understanding climate extremes such as droughts, heatwaves and flooding. Regional ET estimates require reliable observationally-based gridded ET datasets, and while many have been developed using physically-based, empirically-based and hybrid techniques, their efficacy, and particularly the efficacy of their uncertainty estimates, is difficult to verify. In this work, we extend the methodology used in Hobeichi et al. (2018) to derive a new version of the Derived Optimal Linear Combination Evapotranspiration (DOLCE) product, with observationally constrained spatiotemporally varying uncertainty estimates, higher spatial resolution, more constituent products and extended temporal reach (1980–2018). After successful evaluation of the efficacy of these uncertainty estimates out-of-sample, we derive novel ET climatology clusters for the land surface, based on the magnitude and variability of ET at each location. The verified uncertainty estimates and extended time period then allow us to examine the robustness of historical trends spatially and in each of these six ET climatology clusters. We find that despite robust decreasing ET trends in some regions, these do not correlate with behavioural ET clusters. Each cluster, and the vast majority of the Earth's surface, show clear robust increases in ET over the recent historical period.


Steam injection in diatomite reservoirs results in permeability changes owing to fracture propagation, and compaction as a result of thermal effects and pressure changes during injection and production. The purpose of this work is to evaluate these coupled thermal, hydrological, and mechanical (THM) processes over several years of cyclic steam injection and production. A single well model in a diatomite reservoir was created to evaluate these processes at a higher resolution near wellbore than used in a 3-D reservoir-scale model.

 Simulations include tensile failure, shear failure with simultaneous shear on multiple planes, coupling of porosity and permeability changes with multiphase flow, and diatomite compaction with temperature and effective stress. Initial isotropic horizontal stresses are 1.0375 of vertical (azimuthal average, part of San Joaquin Valley). Injection interval (437-528 m) pressure is fixed, 6.3 MPa, 930 psi (injection), and ~4 MPa (production), with a soak period between injection and production. Three degree dilation on shearing is assumed. To the extent that fracture opening is tensile, fractures close on fluid pressure drop, but shear components remain. Permeability changes due to mechanical failure are simulated using a cubic law.

 During injection over multiple cycles, the diatomite surrounding the well is heated to over 250 °C and pressurized by the injected steam. During soak (shut-in) and subsequent production, pressure drops, dropping the boiling point, inducing further vaporization. Geomechanical changes show tensile opening accompanied by a greater amount of shearing. Total shearing increases with each injection cycle, resulting in a greater porosity increase from shearing than tensile opening. Fracture propagation was limited to the diatomite reservoir and did not penetrate the caprock.

 Inclusion of an empirical effective stress/temperature diatomite compaction law together with porosity and permeability changes due to mechanical failure more closely models the mechanics of cyclic steaming of diatomite.


The purpose of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the oral pulse therapy with high doses of alphacalcidol (1 alpha(OH)D3) in secondary hyperparathyroidism. 16 hemodialysis patients with 4 to 9-fold iPTH serum elevation were given ones in week oral 1 alpha(OH)D3 in doses from 5.0 to 7.0 micrograms (0.1 microgram/b.m.) according to serum levels of calcium, phosphate, activity of alkaline phosphatase with its bone fraction. Serum iPTH levels were measured every 3rd month of the treatment. The dialysate calcium was reduced to 1.25 mmol/l. CaCO3 was used as a main phosphate binder in doses from 3.0 to 9.0 g/day. After first three months of treatment the serum iPTH levels decreased from 486.0 +/- 200 pg/ml to 218.0 +/- 117 pg/ml (p = 0.0001). Calcium levels increased from 2.39 +/- 0.2 mmol/l to 2.52 +/- 0.29 mmol/l (p > 0.05). Phosphate levels increased from 2.15 +/- 0.67 mmol/l to 2.17 +/- 0.62 mmol/l (p > 0.05). Alkaline phosphatase levels decreased from 35.2 +/- 17.3 IU/l to 31.1 +/- 7.78 IU/l (p > 0.05). Bone isoenzyme of alkaline phosphatase decreased from 19.2 +/- 13.4 IU/l to 15.5 +/- 7.51 IU/l (p > 0.05). Because of early serum hypercalcemia, doses of 1 alpha(OH)D3 had to be reduced in 2 patients. In 8 patients (50%) demonstrating decrease of serum iPTH levels (below 200 pg/ml) after first 3 months of treatment doses of 1 alpha(OH)D3 were reduced in the following months. We conclude that oral 1 alpha (OH)D3 pulse therapy is effective for parathyroid activity suppression in patients with severe hyperparathyroidism. To avoid dangerous hypercalcemia and adynamic bone disease serum iPTH and calcium levels should be strictly monitored.


In our contemporary life, various information technologies are changing our lives, and the development of information technology has also provided a certain degree of convenience for the development of education. Now, every country attaches great importance to the development of the informatization of education. (is article aims to study how to apply artificial intelligence content and control algorithms to the English listening mode of a flipped classroom. (e main purpose of the article is how to make the flipped classroom more intelligent, enrich the content of the classroom, and devote itself to improving children's learning efficiency.(is article proposes the application of the PSO algorithm in the flipped classroom to help students learn more intelligently and conveniently in this mode of teaching. (ey can help children improve their academic performance faster and learn more efficiently. (e experimental results of this article show that nearly 65.63% of students are familiar with the teaching method of using animation video to train English listening, and nearly 70% of students are very willing to use this teachingmethod to learn; using more artificial intelligence fusion control algorithms for us, this teaching mode is used for some simplification and assistance. (e average test score of the experimental class (82.95 points) is higher than the posttest score of the control class (79.9 points), the excellence rate of the experimental class is 38%, the pass rate is 100%, and the control class has an excellent rate of 32% in the posttest score. (e passing rate was 86.7%. Further analysis shows that, in the posttest scores of the experimental class, the excellent rate and the passing rate have increased, respectively. After the test, the scores of the students in the experimental class have improved greatly compared with the control class. (e overall performance of the students has improved significantly.


Crystallization is an important property of polymeric materials. In conventional viewpoint, the transformation of disordered chains into crystals is usually a spatially homogeneous process (i.e., it occurs simultaneously throughout the sample), that is, the crystallization rate at each local position within the sample is almost the same. Here, we show that crystallization of ultra-thin poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) films can occur in the heterogeneous way, exhibiting a stepwise crystallization process. We found that the layered distribution of glass transition dynamics of thin film modifies the corresponding crystallization behavior, giving rise to the layered distribution of the crystallization kinetics of PET films, with an 11-nm-thick surface layer having faster crystallization rate and the underlying layer showing bulk-like behavior. The layered distribution in crystallization kinetics results in a particular stepwise crystallization behavior during heating the sample, with the two cold-crystallization temperatures separated by up to 20 K. Meanwhile, interfacial interaction is crucial for the occurrence of the heterogeneous crystallization, as the thin film crystallizes simultaneously if the interfacial interaction is relatively strong. We anticipate that this mechanism of stepwise crystallization of thin polymeric films will allow new insight into the chain organization in confined environments and permit independent manipulation of localized properties of nanomaterials.


We propose a novel sensitivity analysis framework for linear estimands when identification failure can be viewed as seeing the wrong distribution of outcomes. Our family of assumptions bounds the density ratio between the observed and true conditional outcome distribution. This framework links naturally to selection models, generalizes existing assumptions for the Regression Discontinuity (RD) and Inverse Propensity Weighting (IPW) estimand, and provides a novel nonparametric perspective on violations of identification assumptions for ordinary least squares (OLS). Our sharp partial identification results extend existing results for IPW to cover other estimands and assumptions that allow even unbounded likelihood ratios, yielding a simple and unified characterization of bounds under assumptions like the c-dependence assumption of Masten and Poirier (2018). The sharp bounds can be written as a simple closed form moment of the data, the nuisance functions estimated in the primary analysis, and the conditional outcome quantile function. We find our method does well in simulations even when targeting a discontinuous and nearly infinite bound.


'Soft matter' is a lively current field of research, looking at fundamental theoretical questions about the structure and behaviour of complex forms of matter, and at very practical problems of, for example, improving the performance of glues or the texture of ice cream. Foodstuffs provide an excellent way in to this modern topic, which lies on the boundary between physics and chemistry.


The objective of the present investigation was to screen a series of new N'-oxides of N',N'-dimethylaminoalkylamides of dodecanoic acid for activity in vitro and to investigate the biochemical mode of action. On the basis of primary screening, one of the most active compounds, namely the N'-oxide of 10-(N',N'-dimethylaminodecyl)amide of dodecanoic acid (n = 10) was chosen for detailed biochemical study. This compound inhibited the incorporation of 14C-precursors (adenine, valine, thymidine, uridine) into appropriate macromolecules of P388 murine leukemia and Ehrlich ascites carcinoma cells. The amine oxide also interfered with energy-yielding processes (aerobic glycolysis, endogenous respiration). Cytotoxicity is a consequence of the cytolytic activity of the compounds mentioned above. Membranous effects were demonstrated by the measuring of the release of cytoplasmic materials absorbing at 260 and 280 nm, marker enzyme activities (LDH, MDH), release of protein from the cells into the culture medium, as well as by morphological examination. It is evident that the site of action of the amine oxides investigated was the biological membrane which, after interaction with the amine oxides, showed changes in molecular organization and osmotic and permeability characteristics.


Abstract Over 120 FDA-approved antibody-based therapeutics are used to treat a variety of diseases.However, many candidates could fail because of unfavorable physicochemical properties. Light-chain amyloidosis is one form of aggregation that can lead to severe safety risks in clinical development. Therefore, screening candidates with a less amyloidosis risk at the early stage can not only save the time and cost of antibody development but also improve the safety of antibody drugs. In this study, based on the dipeptide composition of 742 amyloidogenic and 712 non-amyloidogenic antibody light chains, a support vector machine–based model, AB-Amy, was trained to predict the light-chain amyloidogenic risk. The AUC of AB-Amy reaches 0.9651. The excellent performance of AB-Amy indicates that it can be a useful tool for the in silico evaluation of the light-chain amyloidogenic risk to ensure the safety of antibody therapeutics under clinical development. A web server is freely available at http://i.uestc.edu.cn/AB-Amy/.


OF THE THESIS Quality of Care in Residential Care Facilities for the Elderly (RCFE) in California: Impact of a Policy Change by Anna Celeste Hendricks Master of Social Work and Master of Public Health San Diego State University, 2015 Quality of care has been a topic of concern in assisted living facilities, known as Residential Care Facilities for the Elderly (RCFEs) in California, for both policy makers and researchers. Research has shown that quality is difficult to measure and measurement systems implemented at a policy level are varied, and often insufficient for research purposes. Without knowledge on how policy impacts quality of care, it is difficult to identify and implement effective policies in assisted living facilities. This study examined how a 2004 policy change in California which reduced the number of unannounced inspection visits from once annually to once every five years, may have impacted quality of care in a sample of 83 RCFEs in San Diego County. Eight hundred eighty six facility inspection reports from a sample of 83 facilities in San Diego County were analyzed to find the number of deficiencies cited and the number of complaint investigation visits from January 2000 through December 2006. Complaint investigation visits and deficiencies were outcomes of interest in this analysis and proxies for quality of care measures. No significant differences were found in the frequency of complaint investigation visits for all facilities or for any individual facility characteristic before and after the policy change. The average number of complaint investigation visits increased overall after the policy change. Individual facility characteristics had varied outcomes, with frequency of complaint investigation visits increasing in some types of facilities and decreasing in others. Significant increases in cited deficiencies were found for facilities licensed 12 months or fewer before the policy change (p=0.040), facilities licensed longer than 37 months before the policy change (p=0.022), 7 to 15 bed facilities (p=0.024), and 50-99 bed facilities (p=0.045). A significant decrease in cited deficiencies was found for facilities with an ownership status of individual or sole proprietorship (p=0.012). Since quality of care is a complex concept to measure, it is recommended that the policy impact be researched further in order to assess why this shift in deficiencies and occurred for some types of facilities and not others.


About two years ago, Mr. S., aged twenty-four years, came to consult me about his deafness and sharp pain in the right ear. His history showed that he had had a tuberculosis of the lungs which at that time was in a quiescent state. He had had a radical mastoid operation performed on the left ear and mastoid four years before. This had never healed properly, with the result that there was a large opening into the dura which was constantly suppurating. Examination of the right ear showed granulations in the middle ear, entire destruction of drum, and the discharge of cheesy-like pus. Culture from this ear and from the sinus behind the left ear showed numerous tubercle bacilli. He could hear neither watch nor tuning fork at either ear. During that first winter I had him under observation two or three times a week, during which time I attempted every known means of clearing up the condition. As he did not improve, I advised a radical mastoid operation. The question of anesthesia was an important one. Here was a patient with a quiescent tuberculous process in his lungs, a patient whose general physical condition was far below par. Ether anesthesia per oram would possibly light up his lung condition, so I determined to operate upon him under local anesthesia. On the day of the operation at ten o'clock in the morning he was given a hypodermic injection of morphin grain onefourth, atropin grain one-one-hundredth. Two hours later a


If surface fences are to be applied for measuring skin friction in three-dimensional boundary layers they must be calibrated for both magnitude and direction of the shear stress. Results of the calibration for fences of different height are given. Furthermore, a manufacturing process and a mounting procedure are described to obtain surface fences with identical calibration curves.


An isolated case of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) in a female who has a deletion of the DMD locus is described. This patient was a 26‐year‐old woman born to unrelated, healthy parents. She was initially examined at age 6 because of a waddling gait. At age 15, pseudohypertrophy of calves and pes equinus were observed along with proximal muscular weakness and wasting. Her serum creatine kinase level was high and histological evidence of muscular dystrophy was apparent on muscle biopsy. The patient was ambulant at age 15 and progression of motor disability has been slow. Chromosomal studies revealed a normal karyotype, and mental retardation is moderate. DNA analysis at age 26 revealed that she has a deletion of DMD cDNA 8 mapped within Xp21 and is heterozygous for the deletion. Since diagnosis of DMD is now dependent on the evidence of mutation or deletion at Xp21, this patient is thought to have a form of DMD. Expression of the DMD gene in the heterozygous state might be due to random but unequal lyonization.


This paper presents a one-dimensional theoretical model for describing the steady state flow and heat transfer processes of single-phase natural circulation flow. By mean of experimental investigation, the relationship of flow resistance and flow rate is obtained, and then utilized to acquire an accurate computation model. The response behaviors of thermal-hydraulic parameters varied with the heating power are also observed. The expression of resistance and flow rate is attained as ΔP ∝ G1.40, and the relationship between flow rate and heating power is G ∝ Q0.38. Experimental results show good agreements with the theoretical model. Moreover, the influence of flow resistance in the core inlet is studied.Copyright © 2013 by ASME


We present follow-up spectroscopic observations of quasar candidates in the Small Magellanic Cloud selected by L. Eyer from the OGLE database. Of 12 observed objects identified as "QSO candidates," five are confirmed as quasars, with emission redshifts ranging from 0.28 to 2.16. Two of these quasars were also recently identified independently in the MACHO database by Geha et al. We discuss the prospects of using the variability-based selection technique for quasar searches behind other dense stellar fields. An additional criterion utilizing a color-color diagram should reduce the number of stars in the candidate lists.


Cryosurgery in the palliative treatment of recurrent carcinoma of the vulva is described. A plea is made for the greater use of cryosurgery for this condition in peripheral hospitals.


Modern structure‐based drug design aims at accounting for the intrinsic flexibility of therapeutic relevant targets. Over the last few years a considerable amount of docking approaches that encounter this challenging problem has emerged. Here we provide the readership with an overview of established methods for fully flexible protein‐ligand docking and current developments in the field. All methods are based on one of two fundamental models which describe the dynamic behavior of proteins upon ligand binding. Methods for ensemble docking (ED) model the protein conformational change before the ligand is placed, whereas induced‐fit docking (IFD) optimizes the protein structure afterwards. A third category of docking approaches is formed by recent approaches that follow both concepts. This categorization allows to comprehensively discover strengths and weaknesses of the individual processes and to extract information for their applicability in real world docking scenarios.


PURPOSE
In order to evaluate the dosimetric impact of respiratory motion on the dose delivered to the target volume and critical organs during free-breathing radiotherapy, a four-dimensional dose was evaluated using deformable image registration (DIR).

METHODS
Four-dimensional computed tomography (4DCT) images were acquired for 11 patients who were treated for liver cancer. Internal target volume-based treatment planning and dose calculation (3D dose) were performed using the end-exhalation phase images. The four-dimensional dose (4D dose) was calculated based on DIR of all phase images from 4DCT to the planned image. Dosimetric parameters from the 4D dose, were calculated and compared with those from the 3D dose.

RESULTS
There was no significant change of the dosimetric parameters for gross tumor volume (p > 0.05). The increase D(mean) and generalized equivalent uniform dose (gEUD) for liver were by 3.1% ± 3.3% (p = 0.003) and 2.8% ± 3.3% (p = 0.008), respectively, and for duodenum, they were decreased by 15.7% ± 11.2% (p = 0.003) and 15.1% ± 11.0% (p = 0.003), respectively. The D(max) and gEUD for stomach was decreased by 5.3% ± 5.8% (p = 0.003) and 9.7% ± 8.7% (p = 0.003), respectively. The D(max) and gEUD for right kidney was decreased by 11.2% ± 16.2% (p = 0.003) and 14.9% ± 16.8% (p = 0.005), respectively. For left kidney, D(max) and gEUD were decreased by 11.4% ± 11.0% (p = 0.003) and 12.8% ± 12.1% (p = 0.005), respectively. The NTCP values for duodenum and stomach were decreased by 8.4% ± 5.8% (p = 0.003) and 17.2% ± 13.7% (p = 0.003), respectively.

CONCLUSIONS
The four-dimensional dose with a more realistic dose calculation accounting for respiratory motion revealed no significant difference in target coverage and potentially significant change in the physical and biological dosimetric parameters in normal organs during free-breathing treatment.


The detection of transiting extrasolar planets requires high-photometric quality and long-duration photometric stellar time series. In this paper, we investigate the advantages provided by the Antarctic observing platform Dome C for planet transit detections during its long winter period, which allows for relatively long uninterrupted time series. Our calculations include limiting effects due to the Sun and Moon, cloud coverage, and the effect of reduced photometric quality for high extinction of target fields. We compare the potential for long time series from Dome C with a single site in Chile, a three-site low-latitude network as well as combinations of Dome C with Chile and the network, respectively. Dome C is one of the prime astronomical sites on Earth for obtaining uninterrupted long-duration observations in terms of prospects for a high observational duty cycle. The duty cycle of a project can, however, be significantly improved by integrating Dome C into a network of sites.


To reveal the structure of the ATP-binding site(s) in rabbit muscle phosphorylase kinase, we modified the enzyme with adenosine polyphosphopyridoxals. Adenosine tri- and tetraphosphopyridoxals at micromolar concentrations effectively inactivated the enzyme in a time-dependent manner. Inactivation of the enzyme was accelerated by the addition of Ca2+ and Mg2+. Protection from inactivation was afforded by adenylyl beta,gamma-imidodiphosphate and ADP. In reversible inhibition kinetics, adenosine polyphosphopyridoxals as well as their reduced compounds (adenosine polyphosphopyridoxines) competed with ATP. These results suggest that adenosine polyphosphopyridoxals bind to the ATP-binding site(s) in phosphorylase kinase. When phosphorylase kinase was incubated with adenosine triphosphopyridoxal in the presence of Ca2+ and Mg2+, incorporation of the label into alpha, beta, and gamma subunits was observed. In the absence of both cations, larger amounts of the label were incorporated into all the subunits. Structural study on adenosine triphosphopyridoxal-modified sites in the gamma subunit (having a catalytic site) revealed that Lys-151 is mainly labeled. Based on the results of the present and other studies, it is suggested that the site around Lys-151 is involved in recognition of the substrate protein.


The integration of Roma children in kindergartens is very important for their success at school and has a substantial influence on it. Roma children are subject to a 'different' culture in their family environment; they enjoy a culture which stresses physical work and looking after home and younger family members. Their culture and languages are multifarious. At home, Roma children generally talk in a Roma language. To quite some extent, they also use it in public institutions (including schools), which often leads to misunderstandings, as the non-Roma population does not understand the Roma language and Roma children have problems with Slovene. The deficit can be felt in the number of encouragements of Roma parents which they give to their children. One other key factor of unsuccessful integration is the socio-economic condition of Roma families, since the families are poor and the parents unemployed due to inferior education. Next to poverty, another barrier to integration of Roma children in kindergartens is the lack of trust in educational institutions by Roma parents. Bearing in mind everything said, the vicious circle of school failure is created. Therefore, better communication between the parents and the school/kindergarten staff is needed, as it would definitely help Roma children bridge the gap between exclusion and integration. What is extremely important, by attending kindergarten the Roma children practice Slovene, which actually represents a foreign or second language to them. Moreover, if a child has a learning disability or problem, it is identified at an early age and she or he can get proper help to overcome the problem. Also, in kindergartens Roma children spend time with non-Roma children and experience different everyday routines. Later on, these early steps would help them finish schools and consequently find jobs.


Every unconventional well has a unique set of objectives with the same end goal: effective stimulation. During stimulation, a host of problems can potentially arise. For these problems, a solution is needed, but it is often difficult to visualize. Hydraulic fracturing operations encounter challenges including stress shadowing, thief zones, and fracture-driven interference on a regular basis. A novel application of controlled source electromagnetics (CSEM), called fluid tracking, monitors and images hydraulic fracturing operations. In this paper, we present case studies showing common fracturing hazards and we describe how fluid tracking provides mitigation insight.
 When fracturing fluid is injected into the reservoir rock, it changes the subsurface electrical impedance. The fluid tracking method involves measuring these changes to image the fluid movement. Operations consist of using a controlled electromagnetic field and a dense network of receivers arranged over the horizontal well trajectory. The data recorded over the course of a stage are then refined into a map view motion picture indicating where fluid is flowing. After visualizing and tracking fluid, engineers either adjust designs or confirm success before completing the next well.
 During hydraulic fracturing, areas of high signal amplitude indicate regions where the fluid successfully penetrated the rock. Interpretation provides the azimuth and half-length of each stage's induced fracture network. In the first case study, the operator used fluid tracking to investigate the performance of a new completion design. The design increased the total stage count with tighter spacing than the previous design. Results showed stress shadowing effects and inter-stage interference were greater than expected. Unlike the symmetric fracture geometry predicted by models, this completion had less than 50% of its monitored stages with signal on both sides of the well. Thus, the majority of stages were highly asymmetric. In fact, the asymmetric stimulation contributed to fracture-driven interference (i.e., a "frac hit") on an offset well. The operator found the increased stage design did not create more effectively stimulated rock volume. Instead, the engineer decided to lengthen stages, decreasing the number required to stimulate future wells. This resulted in lower completion costs without sacrificing production. The second case study explores effects of varied geology along a lateral. For one stage, although diverter was applied, fracturing fluid intersected a natural fracture network and was carried away from the intended target zone. Fluid tracking identified the results of ineffective diversion. Although the observation does not indicate a definitive conclusion on how to avoid the fracture network, it certainly showed the diversion method was insufficient.
 Operators choose to monitor treatments with fluid tracking to diagnose fracturing hazards and inform mitigation strategies as they improve completion designs and approach an optimized stimulation. The more understanding the industry gains on inter-well and inter-stage communication along with other unknowns during fracturing operations, the better equipped engineers will be when they determine which design modifications have the largest impacts.


Computer analyses of vehicle and track are producing enlightening results regarding actual dynamic loads and the manner in which various parameters of vehicle and track structure affect these loads. Using this information, it is possible to decide more intelligently how to alleviate the high wheel-rail stresses caused by today's unique traffic and track conditions. Possible solutions range from better track maintenance to different wheel rail geometries to changes in stiffness and damping of trucks and the track structure itself.


In self‐consistent field (SCF) calculations the construction of the Fock matrix is most time‐consuming step. The Fock matrix construction may formally be seen as a matrix‐vector multiplication, where the matrix is the supermatrix,𝒫ijkl, and the vector is the first‐order density matrix, γij. This formalism should be optimal for vector machines. This is not, however, fully utilized in most programs running on computers with small core memory. The size of the 𝒫 matrix, typically in the order of 106–108 elements, has forced programmers to implement other nonvectorizable methods. We will present a submatrixbased algorithm which will partition the supermatrix so that vectorizable methods can be employed. The method will also reduce the input/output.