Farmers in the tropical environment face the acute problem of using mineral fertilizers due to their unsustainable attributes ranging from scarcity and high cost of the material to the adverse effects on tropical soil which resulted to soil acidity and pollution of underground water. This study evaluated the effects of rice-bran compost on the growth and yield of improved variety of soybean on an Alfisol, in Ibadan, Nigeria. The investigation involved a screen house experiment conducted at the Department of Agronomy, University of Ibadan. The experiment comprised five rates of compost (0, 2.5, 5.0, 7.5 and 10 t/ha) replicated four times with two pots per replicate in a Completely Randomized Design (CRD) using soybean (TGX 1740- 1F) variety with a total of 40 pots in all. The data collected were subjected to analysis of variance ANOVA and Duncan multiple range test was used to separate the means. The experimental results showed significant differences (p˂0.05) among the levels of compost on soybean; however, 10 t/ha gave the highest value on the number of leaves while 7.5 t/ha performed better in respect of plant height compared with the other treatments. Also, rice bran compost at 10 t/ha produced statistically highest root and grain yields followed closely by 7.5 t/ha. However, 10 t/ha of rice bran compost promoted shoot performance. Soybean yield increased with higher rates of rice-bran compost. Soybean growth and yield are improved with a compost of rice- bran and cattle dung up to 7.5 t/ha to supply 95 kg N, 169 kg P and 12 kg K.


OBJECTIVE
To investigate surgical treatment results and clinical pathological specifics in the treatment of non-functional islet cell tumor.

METHODS
To perform retrospective analysis of 78 cases of non-functional islet cell tumor treated at Peking Union Medical College Hospital from July 1968 through January 2005, and summarize clinical symptoms and signs, primary diagnosis before surgery, surgical treatment, pathologic specifics and immuno-histological analysis.

RESULTS
Of 78 cases, 27 cases (34.6%) was found in physical examinations, the most common symptoms was upper abdominal pain and upper abdominal discomfort, 30.7% (24 cases) and 26.9% (21 cases) respectively; the most common sign being abdominal masses 35.9% (28 cases). B-us and CT are most commonly used forms of preoperative examination, with positive rates being 98.6% (71/72), 100% (53/53) respectively. Operative mortality was 1.28%, Radical surgery of malignant cases with 5 year survival rate 75% (9/12). Immuno-histological examinations showed that tumors with multi peptide linked hormones 78.6% (55/70), a larger number of positive examinations of neuron specific enolase and chromaffin, 91.4% (32/35) and 79.4% (27/34) respectively. Insulin, glucagon, pancreatic polypeptide, somatostatin, vasoactive intestinal peptide and gastrin positive rates are 64.6% (42/65), 47.5% (22/53), 45.8% (22/48), 37.5% (21/56), 23.9% (11/46) and 22.6% (7/31).

CONCLUSIONS
Non-functional islet cell tumor lack specificity, Bus and CT are primary examination methods, immuno-histological analysis indicates various different hormones, but lacks the presence of related clinical symptoms. Surgery is an effective form of treatment in the treatment of non-functional islet cell tumor, even with distal metastasis, immediate surgical removal and treatment, extend prognosis.


The large talus landslide of is very complicated and difficult to deal with. In order to make a good research on the influence of rainfalls to the high talus slope deformation, the method of information entropy is employed by using the principle of information transfer and relativity to analyze and calculate the rainfall influence on the deformation velocity. Moreover, taking the full and accurate data of the accumulation body with high slope on the left bank in front of Xiaowan Dam as an example, the information transfer function between rainfall and deformation is established. The actual shows that this new method is convenient, universal and precise. It also demonstrates its great advantage for the analysis of such complex slope deformation problem that has a lot of influencing factors. The method does not make any hypothesis before putting into consideration.


Biotechnology for Beginners, Second Edition, presents the latest information and developments from the field of biotechnology?the applied science of using living organisms and their by-products for commercial development?which has grown and evolved to such an extent over the past few years that increasing numbers of professionals work in areas that are directly impacted by the science. For the first time, this book offers an exciting and colorful overview of biotechnology for professionals and students in a wide array of the life sciences, including genetics, immunology, biochemistry, agronomy, and animal science. This book also appeals to the lay reader without a scientific background who is interested in an entertaining and informative introduction to the key aspects of biotechnology. Authors Renneberg and Demain discuss the opportunities and risks of individual technologies and provide historical data in easy-to-reference boxes, highlighting key topics. The book covers all major aspects of the field, from food biotechnology to enzymes, genetic engineering, viruses, antibodies, and vaccines, to environmental biotechnology, transgenic animals, analytical biotechnology, and the human genome. This stimulating book is the most user-friendly source for a comprehensive overview of this complex field.Provides accessible content to the lay reader who does not have an extensive scientific backgroundIncludes all facets of biotechnology applicationsCovers articles from the most respected scientists, including Alan Guttmacher, Carl Djerassi, Frances S. Ligler, Jared Diamond, Susan Greenfield, and moreContains a summary, annotated references, links to useful web sites, and appealing review questions at the end of each chapterPresents more than 600 color figures and over 100 illustrationsWritten in an enthusiastic and engaging style unlike other existing theoretical and dry-style biotechnology books


Background Continuous nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) treatment is significantly more efficacious than intermittent dosing1 in preventing flares in patients with OA of the knee or hip who have successfully treated their flare, over a 22-week period. Objectives To characterize the effect of body mass on efficacy, as measured by the number of flares, of continuous daily celecoxib treatment compared to intermittent celecoxib treatment. Methods An exploratory analysis of a multinational, randomized clinical trial1 was conducted to determine if the number of OA flares during the blinded postrandomization period was different, for patients with a body mass index (BMI) ≥30 kg/m2 or <30 kg/m2. 858 patients aged 18-80 years with knee or hip OA, determined by American College of Rheumatology criteria, were randomized to receive celecoxib 200 mg qd either as "continuous" (daily) or "intermittent" (celecoxib 200 mg qd when needed to treat OA flare meeting predefined criteria). Analyses were performed on the intent-to-treat (ITT population (≥1 dose of study medication postrandomization) and flare-modified ITT population (all patients meeting criteria for ITT population plus having flare durations ≤14 + 2 days), using a 2-sided type I error rate of 0.05. Results Mean age was 58.5 years in the continuous treatment group and 58.7 years in the intermittent treatment group; duration of OA was 6.3 years and 6.8 years, respectively. At baseline, BMI was <30 kg/m2 in 48.5% (209/431) of patients in the continuous treatment group and 48.0% (205/427) of patients in the intermittent group. BMI was ≥30 kg/m2 in 51.5% (222/431) of patients in the continuous treatment group and 52.0% (222/427) of patients in the intermittent group. In patients with a BMI <30 kg/m2, 0.55 flares/month (standard deviation 0.78) were observed in patients receiving continuous treatment, while 0.88 flares/month (0.86) were observed in patients receiving intermittent treatment (P <0.0001). For the patients with a BMI ≥30 kg/m2, the continuous treatment group had 0.54 flares/month (0.69) compared with 0.97 flares/month (1.13) in the intermittent group (P <0.0001). The results are consistent with the published findings.1 There were more flares in patients with a BMI ≥30 kg/m2 than in patients with a BMI <30 kg/m2 in the intermittent treatment group, while the number of flares were similar in patients with a BMI <30 kg/m2 and ≥30 kg/m2 in the continuous treatment group. Conclusions Daily celecoxib treatment was significantly more efficacious, as assessed by the number of flares/month, than intermittent use and more so in those patients with a BMI <30 kg/m2 compared with obese patients (BMI ≥30 kg/m2). These data suggest weight loss will help reduce the burden of illness experienced by obese arthritis patients. References Strand V, et al. J Rheumatol 2011;38:2625-2634. Disclosure of Interest G. Sands Employee of: Pfizer Inc, P. Bhadra Employee of: Pfizer Inc, M. Noyes Essex Employee of: Pfizer Inc


For a class of state nonlinear uncertain time-delay systems, the design of a delay-dependent robust H∞ state feedback controller is considered by using linear matrix inequality (LMI) based on an appropriate Lyapunov function and Lyapunov stability theory. On condition that the nonlinear uncertainty is gain bounded, a sufficient condition, which is dependent on the delay of the state, is presented for the existence of H∞ controller. The proposed controller not only stabilizes closed-loop uncertain systems but also guarantees a prescribed H∞ norm bound of closed-loop transfer matrix from the disturbance to controlled output. By solving the linear matrix inequalities (LMIs), a robust H∞ controller is obtained. An illustrative example is given to show the effectiveness of the proposed method.


The catalytic activity of PVP-Pd nanoparticles synthesized by electrochemical methods was explored in nitroaromatic hydrogenation reaction. In this transformation, the colloidal nanocatalyst proved to have outstanding catalytic activity under sustainable reaction conditions. This mild process efficiently reduced the nitroaromatic group at room temperature, without high pressure of molecular hydrogen and in aqueous medium. Furthermore, several functional groups were tolerated, given the corresponding substituted arylamines in excellent yields and with high TOF. In addition, one-pot reactions and tandem process were explored, in which nitroaromatic hydrogenation reaction was included in the synthesis of modified amines. This methodology was effectively incorporated in tandem reactions and one-pot procedures, achieving N-arylamines functionalized in good isolated yields. Finally, comparison of sustainable chemistry metrics analysis demonstrated that this methodology is a reliable approach to perform the nitro compound hydrogenation process.


Text parsing has always benefited from special attention since the first applications of natural language processing (NLP). The problem gets worse for the Arabic language because of its specific features that make it quite different and even more ambiguous than other natural languages when processed. In this paper, we discuss a new approach for chunking Arabic texts based on a combinatorial classification process. It is a modular chunker that identifies the chunk heads using a combinatorial binary classification before recognizing their types based on the parts-of-speech of the chunk heads, already identified. For the experimentation, we use over than 2300 words as training data. The evaluation of the chunker consists of two steps and gives results that we consider very satisfactory (average accuracy of 89,60% for the classification step and 80,46% for the full chunking process).


Prior research on those who are "not religious" in the traditional, organizational sense has focused on a broad category of people in the United States who do not identify with an established religious tradition. We distinguish three categories of people who are religiously nonbelieving or nonbelonging: atheists, agnostics, and unchurched believers. Examining issues of religious belief and identity, we compare private spiritual life, attitudes on political issues, and stance toward religion in the public sphere for these three categories of nonreligious respondents. Atheists are the most uniformly antireligious. Agnostics, by comparison, are less opposed to religion overall, while unchurched believers display higher levels of personal religiosity and spirituality than atheists or agnostics. While atheists, agnostics, and unchurched believers are similar in their political identification and attitudes related to religiously infused political topics, unchurched believers are as strongly opposed to religion in the public sphere as atheists.


This paper shows that it is possible to improve antioxidant activity of apple juice by extraction of polyphenolic compounds from apple pomace, as waste, and their addition to the apple juice. Raw apple juice was prepared by pressing of apple mash. After thermal treatment of raw apple juice, depectinisation, additional clarification and filtration, the clarified juice was obtained. In raw and clarified apple juice soluble solids, acidity, reducing sugar, total sugars and brown component content were determined, as well as total dry matter, ash, acidity, reducing sugar, total sugars, total pectins, cellulose and starch content in apple mash and pomace. The total cotent of phenolics in clarified apple juice and apple pomace extract, determined spectrophotometrically using the FolinCiocalteu reagent, was 0.496 mg/ml and 6.505 mg/g, respectively. The antioxidant activity of clarified and polyphenol-enriched clarified juice (with addition of apple pomace extract in the concentrations 0.05 g, 0.1 g, 0.5 g and 1 g of phenolic compounds per liter of clarified apple juice) was examined on stable 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radicals. Based on the obtained results it can be concluded that polyphenol-enriched clarified juice was more effective on DPPH radicals than the clarified apple juice.


PURPOSE
We aim to identify the prevalence and risk factors of three outcomes after stone removal following treatment for obstructive acute pyelonephritis (APN) associated with urinary tract calculi: immediate postoperative febrile urinary tract infection (UTI), stone recurrence, and APN recurrence during the follow-up period.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
We retrospectively review the charts of 107 patients who underwent stone removal following treatment for obstructive APN associated with urinary tract calculi. Logistic regression analysis is used to identify the factors that contribute to postoperative febrile UTI after stone removal. Cox proportional hazard analyses are used to identify the factors contributing to stone recurrence and APN recurrence during the follow-up period.

RESULTS
Postoperative febrile UTI was observed in 23 out of the 107 patients (21.5%). Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that female sex (P = .02) and having multiple stones (P < 0.01) were independently significant predictors of postoperative febrile UTI. One-year recurrence-free survival rates of stone disease and APN were 76.1% and 82.5%, respectively. Multivariable cox proportional hazard analyses revealed that residual fragments were the only significant risk factor for stone recurrence (P < 0.01) and marginally significant for APN recurrence (P = .05).

CONCLUSION
Patients presenting obstructive APN can develop postoperative febrile UTI after active stone removal with high frequency and the risk factors are female sex and having multiple stones. Residual fragments after stone removal in patients with obstructive APN can cause stone and APN recurrence, indicating that complete removal of stone fragments ? 4 mm is imperative to the management of the disease.


We read with great interest the experience reported by Ducic et al. on the use of nitinol stents in the treatment of benign tracheobronchial obstruction. We would like, however, to raise a few salient points regarding these stents. The authors state that their report is the first to describe the use of nitinol stents in the treatment of benign tracheobronchial obstruction. However, Becker et al. have been inserting nitinol stents for benign airway strictures since 1993. We have used this stent in our department since 1997 and are currently reporting our experience with it. We have certainly found these stents easy to insert and fixate and were impressed by the immediate symptomatic improvement after insertion. Nitinol stents certainly cause less airway reaction, which formerly plagued other metallic stent systems. Certain points, however, must be addressed before this stent is adopted as the stent of choice. We inserted this stent in six patients over a 12-month period and have a maximum 18 months of follow-up on one. Two of these patients had benign tracheobronchial obstruction, the remainder had terminal malignancies causing airway obstruction.Of the benign group, one had recurrent subglottic stenosis not amenable to surgery or laser, the other a narrow patulous stricture with a 3-cm area of tracheomalacia distal to it in her mid-trachea. The latter underwent bronchoscopy 4 months after stent insertion and the stent was found to have migrated into the right main bronchus. We found the stent impossible to remove and would therefore regard these stents as permanent once placed. This is obviously of concern in patients with a benign stricture, because removal is impossible if complications develop. Interestingly, this patient also developed a rash approximately 4 months after stent insertion. We could find no report of this before in the literature. Ducic et al. also comment that these stents have no significant capacity to dilate a stenosis. In one of our cases with almost complete occlusion of the distal trachea from a Hodgkin's lymphoma, once the stent was deployed there was almost immediate dilatation of the airway to almost normal dimensions. In conclusion, we would agree that nitinol certainly seems to be an excellent material for tracheobronchial stenting. We have found it particularly useful for palliation of airway obstruction in those patients with terminal disease and in whom removal is not an issue. However, we advise extreme caution in inserting these stents in patients with benign disease, in whom insertion should be regarded as permanent.


OBJECTIVE
To determine whether lead affects brainstem auditory evoked potentials (BAEPs) in low-to-moderate lead exposed children.

METHODS
BAEPs were recorded from 114 asymptomatic children aged 1 - 6 years. Average values were calculated for peak latency (PL) and amplitude (Amp). Whole blood lead (PbB) levels were assessed by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectroscopy. Based on their PbB levels, subjects were divided into low lead (PbB < 100 micro g/L) and high lead subgroups (PbB > or = 100 micro g/L).

RESULTS
The PbB levels of the 114 subjects ranged from 32.0 to 380.0 micro g/L in a positively skewed distribution. The median of PbB levels was 90.0 micro g/L while the arithmetic average was 88.0 micro g/L. Of the subjects, 43.0% (49/114) had levels equal to or greater than 100 micro g/L. Bilateral PLs I, V, and III of the left ear in the high lead subgroup were significantly longer than those in the low lead subgroup (P < 0.05). A positive correlation was found between PbB levels and bilateral PLs I, V and III of the left ear (P < 0.05), after controlling for age and gender as confounding factors. A significant and positive correlation between PbB levels and PL I of the left ear, even when PbB levels were lower than 100 micro g/L, in the low subgroup (r = 0.295, P = 0.019) was also found.

CONCLUSIONS
Lead poisoning in children younger than 6 years old is a very serious problem to which close attention should be paid. The indications that lead prolongs partial PLs may imply that lead, even at PbB levels lower than 100 micro g/L, impairs both the peripheral and the central portions of the auditory system. BAEPs may be a sensitive detector of subclinical lead exposure effects on the nervous system in children.


We aim to reprogram visual perception through an Adaptive Optics Scanning Laser Ophthalmoscope (AOSLO) Display, using a GPU renderer that rasterizes a target color image or video into cone-by-cone single-wavelength laser light pulses ("microdoses"). We imaged and tracked at ~ 2° eccentricity a 0.9° x 0.9° field of view of the retina in 840 nm. Stimulated in 543 nm, all resolved, spectrally classified cones receive microdoses of varying intensities. The renderer updates for each AOSLO frame (30 frames / sec) an underlying stimulation image buffer, encoding a desired color percept pattern that takes into account the cone locations, cone spectral sensitivity to the 543 nm stimulation light, and the corresponding color percept pixel values. Within one frame, the buffer gets pixelated strip-by-strip at 1 kHz into actual world-fixed microdose intensity values, each centered on a cone within that strip at that instant. The resulting frame of microdoses visually occupies the whole raster view. We showed multiple color percepts to a cone-classified subject, with logging data. The subject saw spatially-varying colors, e.g. a red box moving on a green canvas - these percepts validated the accuracy of the prototype. These initial prototyping experiments allude to the potential of presenting general percepts to a cone-classified subject, at cone-level accuracy in a fully programmable way. The technology allows us to probe neural plasticity and towards generation of novel percepts.


Paracetamol overdose can cause serious and sometimes fatal liver damage. Children are at particular risk of overdose with the orodispersible tablet form. A study conducted by a Swiss poison control centre showed that children ingested twice the dose of paracetamol in cases involving the orodispersible tablet form. In practice, it is better to keep drugs, including commonly used medicines such as paracetamol, out of reach of children and to warn their relatives and carers that paracetamol is highly toxic in case of overdose. In France, as of 1 March 2012, a number of orodispersible paracetamol tablets are sold in bulk tubes without a child-proof cap, packaging that is particularly dangerous for children. Blister packs sealed with a safety film are safer because it takes longer to remove the tablets. When choosing a drug, the safety of its packaging will remain a key factor to take into consideration until the pharmaceutical industry and drug regulatory agencies place more importance on protecting patients and their relatives.


We propose a comprehensive research framework to empirically investigate complex visual inference tasks, support mechanisms (animated transition using morphing or vector overlay), and how spatial ability affects people's learning and knowledge construction process from Spatially Ordered Treemaps (SOTs) as compared to conventional choropleth maps. This effort is inspired by the call of the new International Cartographic Association commission on Cognitive Visualization (CogVis), which proposes "developing a sound theoretical framework based upon cognition and perception discipline" (Fabrikant, 2011). The framework aims to explore SOTs in the context of both 'in-vitro' and 'in-vivo' settings. This study is grounded in cartography but also conforms to experimental design standards in perception and cognitive sciences.


We focused on the regulation of inflammatory mediator expression by adenovirus E1A in lung epithelial cells and the role of this viral protein in the pathogenesis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). We previously reported that E1A, a well-known regulator of host genes, increased ICAM-1 expression in human bronchial epithelial (HBE) and A549 cells in response to LPS stimulation. In this report, we clarified the mechanism of this regulation. We found NF-kappaB translocation to the nucleus after LPS stimulation in both E1A-positive and -negative HBE cells. ICAM-1 promoter reporter constructs revealed that a mutation in the proximal NF-kappaB binding site completely inhibited increased transcription, whereas the mutation in a distal site did not. We analyzed the participation of E1A in transcriptional complex formation at this promoter using chromatin immunoprecipitation. In E1A-positive HBE and A549 cells, LPS stimulation increased ICAM-1 promoter immunoprecipitation by NF-kappaB p65 and p300 but not activator protein-1 antibodies with a concomitant increase by the E1A antibody. No increase was found in E1A-negative cells except in HBE cells with p65 antibody. The association of E1A with the increased promoter immunoprecipitation with p300 was also observed after TNF-alpha stimulation of A549 cells. These results suggest that adenovirus E1A regulates the ICAM-1 promoter through its proximal NF-kappaB binding site, most likely by interacting with the transcriptional complex that forms at this site. E1A regulation of the LPS response may play a role in acute exacerbations as a consequence of bacterial infections in COPD.


The FRS4 pressure balance, or piston gauge, extends the range of this type of instrument below the usual minimum of 1,5 kPa. It gives 0,001 Pa resolution from 0,000 Pa to 1 kPa and 0,01 Pa to 3,2 kPa. This is achieved using a piston with an effective area of 100 cm2. A novel mechanism holds the piston centrally in the cylinder without friction and without the necessity of rotation. The piston assembly is mounted on an electronic balance giving direct continuous readout in pascals. Calibration is by direct measurement to calculate effective area and by standard certified weights to characterize the electronic balance. The uncertainty is ± 0,002 Pa ± 0,003% of reading from 0,000 Pa to 1 009,999 Pa, and ± 0,01 Pa ± 0,003% of reading from 1 010,00 Pa to 3 200,00 Pa.


We show that the dynamics of a spatially dosed Friedmann-Robertson-Walker universe conformally coupled to a real, free, massive scalar field, is chaotic, for large enough field amplitudes. We do so by proving that this system is integrable under the adiabatic approximation, but that the corresponding KAM tori break up when non-adiabatic terms are considered. This finding is confirmed by numerical evaluation of the Lyapunov exponents associated with the system, among other criteria. Chaos sets strong limitations on our ability to predict the value of the field at the big crunch, from its given value at the big bang.


This study examined the effect of fast‐velocity concentric isokinetic resistance training (FV) on the rate of force development (RFD) at early (<100 ms) and late phases (>100 ms) of rising muscle force. Nine men participated in a 6‐week resistance training intervention for the lower body, and nine matched subjects participated as controls (CON). During concentric isokinetic (180°s−1) knee extension training, subjects were instructed to do each contraction 'as fast and forcefully as possible'. Maximal muscle strength (MVC) and RFD (0–10, 0–20, …, 0–250 ms from the onset of contraction) were measured during maximal voluntary isometric contraction of the knee extensors (KE). There were no significant changes in MVC of KE in both groups after intervention (FV = 314·2 ± 101·1 versus 338·7 ± 88·0 N∙m, P>0·05; CON = 293·3 ± 94·8 versus 280·0 ± 72·2 N∙m, P>0·05). The RFD increased 39–71% at time intervals up to 90 ms from the onset of the contraction (P<0·05), whereas no change occurred at later time intervals. Similarly, relative RFD (i.e.%MVC∙s−1) (RFDr) increased 33–56% at time intervals up to 70 ms from the onset of the contraction (P<0·05). It can be concluded that a short period of resistance training performed with concentric fast‐velocity isokinetic muscle contractions is able to enhance RFD and RFDr obtained at the early phase of rising muscle force.


Variances associated with sampling, sample preparation, and analytical steps of a test procedure that measures fumonisin in shelled corn were estimated. The variance associated with each step of the test procedure increases with fumonisin concentration. Functional relationships between variance and fumonisin concentration were estimated by regression analysis. For each variance component, functional relationships were independent of fumonisin type (total, B1, B2, and B3 fumonisins). At 2 ppm, coefficients of variation associated with sampling (1.1 kg sample), sample preparation (Romer mill and 25 g subsample), and analysis are 16.6, 9.1, and 9.7%, respectively. The coefficient of variation associated with the total fumonisin test procedure was 45% and is about the same order of magnitude as that for measuring aflatoxin in shelled corn with a similar test procedure.


Antioxidant enzymes (AOEs), including superoxide dismutase isoenzymes (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) along with glutathione reductase (GR), reduced glutathione (GSH) and glutathione transferase (GST), are thought to be necessary for life process in all oxygen-metabolizing cells by removing reactive oxygen species (ROS). The biological significance of AOEs in transformed cells is still unclear, but their capacity to survive may be affected by changes in cellular process such as proliferation, invasiveness, migration, apoptosis and drug resistance. This review summaries the significance of antioxidant enzymes in cancer cell progression mainly in an in vitro context.


Phases of nonlinear double tearing modes are studied numerically. The first two phases lead to the formation and growth of magnetic islands and are followed by a fast reconnection phase to complete the process, driven by a process of neighboring magnetic separatrices merging and magnetic islands coupling. The fast growth can be understood as a result of the island interaction equivalent to a steadily inward flux boundary driven. Resistivity dependences for various phases are studied and shown by scaling analysis for the first time. It is found that after an early Sweet-Parker phase with a eta(1/2)-scale, a slow nonlinear phase in a Rutherford regime with a eta(1)-scale is followed by the fast reconnection phase with a eta(1/5)-scale.


Thecavermiculatus andinus n.sp. is described and illustrated from Oxalis tuberosa originally collected in the vicinity of Lake Titicaca high in the Andes mountains of southern Peru. This new species differs markedly front the other two species in the genus, especially in having a much greater female vulval-anal distance and annules with lined punctation on most of the female body with a lacelike pattern restricted to the posterior portion, particularly at the vulva and anus which do not protrude. Females are essentially spherical with protruding neck, white to yellowish in color, and can easily be mistaken for potato cyst nematodes. Among the dozen or more known weed and crop host plants are potato and eggplant. In order to accommodate this new species, the genus Thecavermieulatus is emended. A key to the species of this genus is presented.


OBJECTIVE
To explore the advantage of reconstruction belt for treating complicated acetabular fracture by combined anterior and posterior approaches through the comparison with reconstruction plate.

METHODS
A retrospective analysis was made on the clinical data of 39 patients with acetabular fractures who met the selection criteria. After open reduction by combined anterior and posterior approaches was performed, fracture was fixed by reconstruction belt in 20 cases (trial group), and by reconstruction plate in 19 cases (control group). There was no significant difference in gender, age, cause of injury, time from injury to hospital, type of fracture, and preoperative visual analogue scale (VAS) score between 2 groups (P > 0.05). The number of plate shaping, plate shaping time, operation time, bleeding amount, perspective times, VAS score, modified Merled'Aubigne-Postel hip score, and related complications were recorded and compared. According to Matta standard, the fracture displacement was measured to evaluate the fracture reduction and fracture healing.

RESULTS
The number of plate shaping, plate shaping time, operation time, bleeding amount, and perspective times in the trial group were significantly less than those in the control group (P < 0.05). The patients were followed up 12-29 months (mean, 21.1 months) in the trial group, and 12-27 months (mean, 20.5?months) in the control group. The VAS score was significantly lower at 7 days and 6 months after operation than at pre-operation, and at 6 months than at 7 days in 2 groups (P < 0.05), but difference was not significant between 2?groups (P > 0.05). At 6?months after operation, the Merled'Aubigne-Postel score of hip function in the trial group was 15.950±1.504, showing no significant difference when compared with the control group (15.895±1.629) (t= -0.110, P=0.913). The fracture displacement was (0.750±1.070) mm in the trial group and was (0.842±1.068) mm in the control group, showing no significant difference (t= -0.269, P=0.789). The X-ray films showed that all fractures healed in 2?groups. The healing time was (16.10±2.07) weeks in the trial group and was (15.84±2.14) weeks in the control group, showing no significant difference (t =0.382, P=0.075).

CONCLUSIONS
Reconstruction belt for complicated acetabular fracture by combined anterior and posterior approaches has similar effectiveness to reconstruction plate, but the number of plate shaping, plate shaping time, and perspective times are fewer.


We consider growth of local operators under Euclidean time evolution in lattice systems with local interactions. We derive rigorous bounds on the operator norm growth and then proceed to establish an analog of the Lieb-Robinson bound for the spatial growth. In contrast to the Minkowski case when ballistic spreading of operators is universal, in the Euclidean case spatial growth is system-dependent and indicates if the system is integrable or chaotic. In the integrable case, the Euclidean spatial growth is at most polynomial. In the chaotic case, it is the fastest possible: exponential in 1D, while in higher dimensions and on Bethe lattices local operators can reach spatial infinity in finite Euclidean time. We use bounds on the Euclidean growth to establish constraints on individual matrix elements and operator power spectrum. We show that one-dimensional systems are special with the power spectrum always being superexponentially suppressed at large frequencies. Finally, we relate the bound on the Euclidean growth to the bound on the growth of Lanczos coefficients. To that end, we develop a path integral formalism for the weighted Dyck paths and evaluate it using saddle point approximation. Using a conjectural connection between the growth of the Lanczos coefficients and the Lyapunov exponent controlling the growth of OTOCs, we propose an improved bound on chaos valid at all temperatures.


Immunoglobulin content and antibody content in urine were analyzed in rabbits following experimental urinary tract infection. IgA was present in urine from normal animals and in animals with urinary tract infection. Since it was present in urine whether it was synthesized locally or not, IgA in urine probably represents IgA excreted from serum. IgG was not present in urine from normal rabbits, but was present in urine from some animals with pyelonephritis. This IgG migrated as a fast component immunoelectrophoretically, had antibody activity, and had the capability of crossing renal and intestinal epithelium. This unique IgG probably represents IgG synthesized by a restricted population of cells within the infected kidney. IgG was present in urine from all animals with bladder infection and represents newly synthesized IgG which can cross the inflamed bladder mucosa.


Objectives: This study aims to investigate likely impact of pre-service IMCI- training on nursing students' case assessment and management skills. Methods: The study was carried out at Blinded Nursing Institute, Oman in May 2016. We developed a validated four constructs for developing a hypothetical model. The four constructs namely General Skills (GS), Knowledge, Attitudes and Skills (KAS), Confidence Level (CL) and Holistic Treatment Skills (HTS) that were used as latent variables to highlight their likely impact on the formative variable Assessment and Management Skills (AMS). Data were collected through qualitative structured questionnaires designed to measure participants' opinions about the studied constructs. For data collection purpose, we developed a qualitative questionnaire and invited nursing students to voluntarily take part in the study. The purpose of the study and research details was explained to the potential participants in written. Participants were invited through printed posters in the institute. In response, 114 participants completed the questionnaires. Four respondents did not complete the entire questionnaire consequently they were excluded from the sample. The final sample size of the completed responses was 110 (n=110). Results: We first examined the factor loadings and calculated variances to ensure convergent validity. By exceeding 0.50, all the items in the model loaded well. We then measured the internal consistency reliability among the items through Cronbach's Alpha that was observed to be 0.694. For all the constructs, the values exceeded the desired value of 0.50. The composite reliability of all the constructs in the model evidently surpassed the recommended value of 0.700. In the cross-loadings, the value of R2 was noted as 0.675 (R2=67.5%). Conclusion: The findings from the structural model support the hypothetical structural model. All the four studied constructs appear to significantly influence case assessment and management skills of pre-service IMCI-trained nursing students.


OBJECTIVE
To investigate the biologic behavior of keloid fibroblasts and the pathogenesis of keloid.

METHODS
Human dermal fibroblasts cultured from normal skin and keloid were treated with tumor necrosis factor-alpha(TNF-alpha) for 48 hours at 10(3) U/ml and 10(4) U/ml. Collagen production by fibroblasts was assessed by 3H-proline in corporation into pepsin-resistant, precipitated extracellular collagenous protein.

RESULTS
TNF-alpha caused a concentration-dependent reduction in collagen production in normal dermal fibroblasts. Treatment with TNF-alpha at 10(3) U/ml significantly reduced the collagen synthesis in keloid fibroblasts (P < 0.01). However, the collagen synthesis in keloid fibroblasts did not further decreased after exposure to TNF-alpha at 10(4) U/ml.

CONCLUSIONS
Keloid fibroblasts may remain less sensitive to the inhibitory effects of TNF-alpha on collagen synthesis to a certain extent.


Compost is the product resulting from the controlled biological decomposition of organic material that has been sanitized through the generation of heat and stabilized to the point that it is beneficial to plant growth. Compost bears little physical resemblance to the raw material from which it originated. Compost is an organic matter resource that has the unique ability to improve the chemical, physical, and biological characteristics of soils or growing media. It contains plant nutrients but is typically not characterized as a fertilizer.


COVID-19 and its control measures have caused obstacles to the performance of many house-leasing contracts. To give reasonable relief to contracts' Parties involved, the legal nature of COVID-19 and its control measures must be precisely defined. This paper argues that the early COVID-19 and its control measures are the force majeure, and the legal nature of COVID-19 and its control measures under the normal epidemic preventing and controlling mechanism should be analyzed in light of the specific situation. We should accurately grasp the meaning of impossibility of performance, frustration of purpose and impracticability, appropriately take the legal relief, balance the interests of both Parties, and promote social and economic recovery finally.


Abstract:By examining the case of rural Guangdong, this research elaborates on the practice of party-led social capital building (PSCB), which provides a Janus-faced mechanism for creating synergies between the local party-state and society: the Primary Party Organizations cultivate bonding, bridging, and linking social capital to enhance community engagement while deliberately limiting the democratizing potential of this process by selecting vetted nonstate actors, including social workers, private entrepreneurs, and official delegates from higher administrative levels, to serve as key nodes in the community networks. These delegates are tasked with gathering information, building trust and reciprocity, and influencing public opinion to ensure that mass participation in community affairs produces the results desired by the local party-state. The state-vetted key players are mobilized and controlled by the grassroots cadres through well-targeted actions, including party discipline and various carrot-and-stick incentives in the private and tertiary sectors. Reinvigorating the mass line by integrating party-building with the control of the nonstate sector, grid management, and cultural governance, PSCB calls for our reimagination of the governance nexus in grassroots China.


ABSTRACT The purpose of this phenomenological inquiry is to describe the experiences of LGB IS through the lens of relational-cultural theory. Eight LGB IS from the Southwest region of the United States agreed to participate in the study. The age range of the participant was 20–31 (M= 22.13) with three identifying as male and five identifying as female. The participants identified the following as their sexual orientations: one lesbian, four bisexual, two gay, and one pansexual. The following sections depict the a priori themes derived from RCT that resulted from the data analysis. The final reported themes are as follows: growth-fostering relationships, disconnection, authenticity, power and control, and controlling images. Implications are provided for the campus-based counseling professions who may find themselves working with or supporting LBG IS.


The paper explores the effect of nudges on dishonest academic behavior in a 3x4 factorial treatment design. Subjects had to throw a physical die 50 times, report the outcome and were given partial credit for their participation. 435 students were assigned to the following conditions: a) a nudge presenting an authoritarian instruction; 2) a nudge referring to the college code of honor; 3) a nudge that presented reasons for not cheating; and 4) a condition presenting no instruction at all. Additionally, within each condition, the partial credit incentive obtained from participating in the study varied. Some did not have it (n=166), others had a partial credit that represented 15% of the final grade (n=145), and, lastly, some of them had a partial credit that represented 2% or less of the final grade (n=124). Our results showed a significant difference between the group that had an academic incentive and the group that did not: t (433) = -2.35, p = 0.0190. However, we did not find any significant difference between any of the nudge conditions. Among students who could obtain academic credit, the incentive's magnitude did not have an effect on the results of the task: t (267)=-0.90, p =0.3651. This indicates that the presence of incentives increases dishonest behavior, but their magnitude does not. These results suggest that when given an academic incentive to cheat, students will be dishonest, and they shed light on Colombian culture and on the effects of the education grading system. Finally, the study showed that the nudges that are reported in the literature are not as effective as they are said to be. In fact, more research should be dedicated to the effectiveness of nudges in different cultures and it should be done to look for effective nudges on academic settings.


We consider a multilateral Nash demand game where short-sighted players come to the bargaining table with requests for both coalition partners and the potentially generated resource. We prove that group learning leads with probability one to complete cooperation and a strictly self-enforcing allocation (i.e., in the interior of the core). Highlighting group dynamics, we demonstrate that behaviors which appear destructive can themselves lead to beneficial and strictly self-enforcing cooperation.


Narrow photon beams of less than 10 mm in diameter play a significant role in modern radiotherapy since they are increasingly used in stereotactic radiosurgery and in IMRT. The conventional treatment planning systems rely on narrow beam profile measurements either for relative dose calculations or for beam modeling. However, these measurements are problematic since narrow beams are characterized by large dose gradients and electronic dis-equilibrium. The aim of the current study was to investigate the detectors' size effect on the profile measurement of a 5 mm diameter 6 MV x-ray narrow beam using polymer gel MRI dosimetry.


In this paper a numerical algorithm for fluid-particle flow computation is presented. The mathematical formulation is based on the averaged continuum model, in which the effects of particles are taken into account in terms of an effective viscosity. The dispersed phase equation closure is based on sedimentation and shear-induced self-diffusion effects. The present work is the first step in the development of a general model for the simulation of the interaction between waves or currents and bottom sediment. Namely, the proposed approach allows the study of sediment transport and the evolution of the bottom shape without the need for curvilinear coordinate systems and related step-by-step regridding. In fact, pure liquid regions, suspension regions (more or less concentrated) as well as bottom sediment are studied by a unique model with a proper effective viscosity (hindrance effect and Bingham viscoplastic model). Preliminary numerical results have been obtained for 2D Bingham flow in a driven cavity by a finite difference method.


The IEEE 802.15.3c standard defines physical layer and Medium Access Control (MAC) specifications for millimeter-Wave Wireless Personal Area Networks. The MAC protocol implements a combination of random channel access and time division multiple access mechanisms to exploit the sectorization granted by the directional antennas. In this work, a novel two-level stochastic model is presented to capture the complex dynamics of channel access in this network environment. Different from prior work, the finite temporal horizon of the channel contention phase is accurately modeled, and the common assumption of saturated terminals is removed. Based on the proposed modeling framework, the allocation of time resource to each sector is optimized to improve the network performance.


The current level of technological development is characterized by the constant complexity of the products. For its production requires processing a large number of parts of complex shape. Mathematical modeling is an effective and economical way to solve many technical problems. There are various ways to ensure the necessary cleanliness of machine parts or reduce the negative effects of technological pollution. Existing methods of finishing and cleaning parts on the physical-chemical effects on the material during processing are divided into several groups. The most widespread are both mechanical methods in which the removal of defects is carried out by mechanical action on machined parts of tools and chemical and mechanical methods in which there is a simultaneous mechanical effect of the tool and the chemical action of the external. The gas-dynamic method of removing defects that occur after the preliminary metalworking of parts of aircraft objects seems to be very effective. The mathematical model of this process is the system of laws for the conservation of the dynamics of a viscous heat-conducting gas, the physicochemical characteristics of which are established in an experimental way. The construction of a gas-dynamic model of the physical process of finishing parts as an arbitrary spatial form and the material of manufacture is presented. On the basis of the general laws of conservation of the dynamics of a viscous heat-conducting gas, analytical forms of solutions for the kinematic and dynamic characteristics of a high-temperature flow are obtained using the example of a flat channel simulating the surface of a part being cleaned. It is shown that in the flat case the conservation laws have a linear form, which provided exact solutions for the kinematic characteristics, such as the velocity and vorticity of a viscous gas flow, which play a major role in calculating the dynamic and thermal characteristics of the flow. The use of a generalized apparatus of vector-tensor analysis is fundamentally important in order to obtain integral representations of the solutions of differential forms of the laws of conservation of momentum and energy in the control region. Control of gas dynamic and thermodynamic parameters of the flow is able to provide a high-quality surface.


This study aimed to establish a buprenorphine regime suitable for the short-term management of out-patient heroin withdrawal using an open-label, single-group case series. Eighteen dependent injecting heroin users underwent an 8-day withdrawal episode with supervised dosing of sublingual Subutex tablets. Buprenorphine doses were titrated daily over a 5-day period. Fifteen subjects (83%) completed the 5-day regime, and 14 (78%) completed the 8-day withdrawal episode. The mean doses ((SD) were 6.1 (1.2) mg on day 1; 9.6 (1.7) mg on day 2; 10.1 (1.9) mg on day 3; 8.9 (2.0) mg on day 4; 4.1 (1.5) mg on day 5; and a total regime dose of 38.9 (5.8) mg. Withdrawal severity was mild, with minimal rebound upon the cessation of dosing. Five subjects reported no heroin use, and five subjects reported using on only one occasion during the 8 days. An out-patient buprenorphine regime is recommended.


The product formation channels of ground state carbon atoms, C(3P), reacting with ammonia, NH3, have been investigated using two complementary experiments and electronic structure calculations. Reaction products are detected in a gas flow tube experiment (330 K, 4 Torr) using tunable vacuum-ultraviolet (VUV) photoionization coupled with time of flight mass spectrometry. Temporal profiles of the species formed and photoionization spectra are used to identify primary products of the C + NH3 reaction. In addition, H-atom formation is monitored by VUV laser induced fluorescence (LIF) from room temperature to 50 K in a supersonic gas flow generated by the Laval nozzle technique. Electronic structure calculations are performed to derive intermediates, transition states, and complexes formed along the reaction coordinate. The combination of photoionization and LIF experiments supported by theoretical calculations indicate that in the temperature and pressure range investigated, the H + H2CN production channel represents 100% of the product yield for this reaction. Kinetics measurements of the title reaction down to 50 K and the effect of the new rate constants on interstellar nitrogen hydride abundances using a model of dense interstellar clouds are reported in Paper II.


AIMS
In individuals with chronic kidney disease (CKD), including those undergoing maintenance hemodialysis (MHD), coronary artery calcification (CAC) is common. We hypothesized that, in MHD patients, intake of the calcium-free phosphate binder sevelamer is associated with lower CAC compared to calcium-based phosphate binders (CBPB).

MATERIAL AND METHODS
This is a cross-sectional study of MHD patients, who underwent computerized tomography to assess coronary artery calcium scores (CACS). Patients were stratified into two mutually exclusive groups based on taking only a CBPB vs. sevelamer. Logistic regression was used to calculate adjusted odds ratio (OR) of CACS > or = 400, CACS 100 < or =; CACS < 400, 10 < or =; CACS < 100 vs. CACS < 10.

RESULTS
117 MHD patients were either on a CBPB alone (n = 60) or sevelamer alone (n = 57). Despite increased prevalence of DM in the sevelamer group (58%) as compared to the CBPB group (35%), CACS was significantly lower with sevelamer use (283 + or - 83 vs. 494 + or - 94, p = 0.02). The OR of significant CACS > or =; 400 vs. CAC < 10 was 4.35 (95% confidence interval: 1.5 - 9.9, p = 0.008) for CBPB compared with sevelamer, after controlling for case-mix, cholesterol-lowering medication, DM, and inflammatory markers.

CONCLUSION
In our cohort, significant CAC was significantly more prevalent among MHD patients taking CBPB as compared to sevelamer monotherapy.


EXHIBITS. MR. W. H. JESSOP showed a case of pseudoglioma and a series of photographs of the fundus oculi taken by Professor Dimmer. Electricity was the illuminant. Mr. BARDSLEY showed several ingenious mechanical improvements in instruments. One was a new form of needle holder, another an adjustable modified trial frame, and a third an improvement in the " Moorfields" ophthalmoscope, introducing a double hole for indirect vision.


Background and Purpose— Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) results in high mortality and morbidity for patients. Previous retrospective studies correlated the spot sign score (SSSc) with ICH expansion, mortality, and clinical outcome among ICH survivors. We performed a prospective study to validate the SSSc for the prediction of ICH expansion, mortality, and clinical outcome among survivors. Methods— We prospectively included consecutive patients with primary ICH presenting to a single institution for a 1.5-year period. All patients underwent baseline noncontrast computed tomography (CT) and multidetector CT angiography performed within 24 hours of admission and a follow-up noncontrast CT within 48 hours after the initial CT. The ICH volume was calculated on the noncontrast CT images using semiautomated software. The SSSc was calculated on the multidetector CT angiographic source images. We assessed in-hospital mortality and modified Rankin Scale at discharge and at 3 months among survivors. A multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to determine independent predictors of hematoma expansion, in-hospital mortality, and poor clinical outcome. Results— A total of 131 patients met the inclusion criteria. Of the 131 patients, a spot sign was detected in 31 patients (24%). In a multivariate analysis, the SSSc predicted significant hematoma expansion (odds ratio, 3.1; 95% confidence interval, 1.77–5.39; P⩽0.0001), in-hospital mortality (odds ratio, 4.1; 95% confidence interval, 2.11–7.94; P⩽0.0001), and poor clinical outcome (odds ratio, 3; 95% confidence interval, 1.4–4.42; P=0.004). In addition, the SSSc was an accurate grading scale for ICH expansion, modified Rankin Scale at discharge, and in-hospital mortality. Conclusions— The SSSc demonstrated a strong stepwise correlation with hematoma expansion and clinical outcome in patients with primary ICH.


We propose a novel multi-texture synthesis model based on generative adversarial networks (GANs) with a user-controllable mechanism. The user control ability allows to explicitly specify the texture which should be generated by the model. This property follows from using an encoder part which learns a latent representation for each texture from the dataset. To ensure a dataset coverage, we use an adversarial loss function that penalizes for incorrect reproductions of a given texture. In experiments, we show that our model can learn descriptive texture manifolds for large datasets and from raw data such as a collection of high-resolution photos. Moreover, we apply our method to produce 3D textures and show that it outperforms existing baselines.


The mathematical model has a different response character with the real system because this mathematical model has the modeling errors and the imprecise value of system's parameters. Therefore to find the value of system parameters as possible as near by real value in the model is necessary to design the controlled system. This study concern about the identification method to estimate the parameter for the magnetic bearing system with RCGA(Real Coded Genetic Algorithm). Firstly, we will get the mathematical model from the current amplifier circuit and the magnetic bearing system. Secondly we will get the step response data in this circuit and system. Finally, we will estimate the unknown parameter's value from the data.


This book is for all working mothers struggling to find a balance between work and family. The enormous increase of women in the labor force, especially mothers with young children has led to significant work-family conflict. This book draws on role theory to explain stress for women as stemming from competing worker and family roles (as stressors). Traditional gender roles cause stressors which differ for men and women. Yet the latter continue to shoulder a disproportionate share of domestic responsibilities as they take on roles as workers. The analysis suggests that the effects of stressors or stress can be reduced by drawing on different forms of social support. Family/ childcare support and social networks are used as examples functional and structural social support respectively. The central goal of this book is to demonstrate the positive effect of social support on reducing stressors, especially for working women. The results show childcare and family support reduced the effects of stressors in both wives and husbands, but more so in wives. All forms reduced effects of stress on health, in husbands more than in wives.


The performance of a polyester mooring line is non-linear and its elongation plays a significant role in the dynamic response of an offshore moored structure. However, unlike chain, the tension-elongation relationship and the overall behaviour of elastic polyester ropes are complex. In this paper, by applying a new stiffness model of the mooring line, the traditional elastic rod theory is extended to allow for large elongations. One beneficial feature of the present method is that the stiffness matrix is symmetric; in non-linear formulations the element stiffness matrix is often non-symmetric. The static problem was solved by Newton-Raphson iteration whereas a direct integration method was used for the dynamic problem. The mooring line tension based on the enhanced model was validated against the proprietary OrcaFlex software. Results of mooring line top tension predicated by different elongations are compared and discussed. The present method was then used for a simulation of an offshore floating wind turbine moored with taut lines. From a comparison between linear and non-linear formulations, it is seen that a linear spring model under-estimates the mean position when the turbine is operating, but over-estimates the amplitude of the platform response at low frequencies when the turbine has shut down.


Measurements of the transport critical current in a magnetic field (H), hysteresis loops and a.c. susceptibility were performed on Bi-2223/Ag tapes that were subjected to different degrees of mechanical deformation and subsequently sintered. against H for some of the tapes was also measured at different stages of thermo-mechanical treatment. All the measurements (the field of the peak of the pinning force, the irreversibility field obtained from hysteresis loops and the temperature of the peak of a.c. susceptibility for different d.c. fields) clearly show an increase of pinning with increase of the degree of mechanical deformation. Measurements of samples at different stages of thermo-mechanical treatment indicate that the pinning depends not only on the degree of mechanical deformation, but also on the conditions of the grain growth. Sintering can provide imperfect healing of micro- and nano-cracks, introduced upon mechanical deformation. It is proposed that the imperfections introduced by the healing are responsible for the improvement in flux pinning, and not the dislocations introduced upon mechanical deformation.


The electron microprobe provides a complete micron-scale quantitative chemical analysis of inorganic solids. The method is nondestructive and utilizes characteristic x-rays excited by an electron beam, incident on a flat surface of the sample. This course provides an introduction to the theory of x-ray microanalysis by wavelength and energy dispersive spectrometry (WDS and EDS), ZAF matrix correction procedures and different imaging techniques including scanning backscattered electron (BE), scanning secondary electron (SE), scanning X-ray (by WDS or EDS, also known as compositional or elemental maps), and scanning cathodoluminescence (CL) imaging. Lab sessions involve hands-on use of the JEOL JXA-733 Superprobe.


Background: The limitations in efficacy and safety encountered with the current medical approaches for Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) continue to drive the search for better therapeutic agents. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of indigo in ulcerative colitis. Indigo is bis-indolic alkaloid and has antiulcerogenic, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and analgesic activities. Methods: Male mice Unib: SW (30–40 g) were divided into 4 groups: SAL (non-colitic control), IND (non-colitic test), SAL + DSS (colitic control) and IND + DSS (colitic test). Groups SAL + DSS and IND + DSS received solution of dextran sodium salt 3% (DSS) ad libitum instead of water for 7 days. During this period, daily, the animals were treated by gavage: vehicle 0.9% NaCl (10 mL/kg*) for groups SAL and SAL + DSS, and indigo (3 mg/kg*) for groups IND and IND + DSS. On the eighth day, animals were euthanized and the colon was removed for measurement of weight/length ratio of colon and quantification of cytokine levels (IL-1&bgr;, IL-6, IL-10, INF-g), by ELISA. Diarrhea, bloody stools and weight change were evaluated to define the disease activity index (DAI). Data are expressed as median (minimum-maximum) or mean ± SEM. Statistical analysis: Kruskal-Wallis test, followed by Duns or ANOVA, one way, followed by Tukey. The experiments were approved by the Ethics Commission in Animal Use—CEUA/Unicamp (CEUA numbers 2399–1 and 3743–1). Results: The treatment with indigo did not alter DAI (SAL: 0 [0–1]a, IND: 0 [0–0],a SAL + DSS: 3.3 [2.7–4],b IND+ DSS: 2.7 [2.7–3.7]b), but prevented the increase in weight/length ratio of the colon SAL: 32 ± 4.3a; IND: 30 ± 2.5a; SAL + DSS 40 ± 6.4b; IND + DSS: 31 ± 4.1a g/cm*), and body weight loss. IL-6 and IL-1&bgr; levels were higher in the SAL + DSS group, which was prevented with the treatment with Indigo—IL-1&bgr; (SAL: 125.3 ± 13.1,a IND: 132.2 ± 8.5,a SAL + DSS: 280.0 ± 56.5,b IND + DSS: 181.6 ± 17.5a), IL-6 (SAL: 25.1 ± 3.4,a IND: 30.6 ± 7.6,a SAL + DSS: 158.3 ± 37.3,b IND + DSS: 45.9 ± 9.3a). The experimental groups did not show diferences in IL-10 and INF-g levels—IL-10 (SAL: 262.1 ± 22.3,a IND: 220.2 ± 14.0,a SAL + DSS: 339.9 ± 35.5,a IND + DSS: 297.4 ± 35.7a), INF-g (SAL: 213.8 ± 46.2,a IND: 164.2 ± 32.1,a SAL + DSS: 175.1 ± 32.6,a IND + DSS: 155.9 ± 16.1a). Conclusions: Indigo showed no effect on DAI, however, the 7-days oral treatment with Indigo decreased weight/length ratio of the colon and body weight loss. Indigo also inhibited inflammatory cytokine release. These results suggests a potential role of indigo in colitis therapy.


A study was conducted to investigate the effects of increasing copper concentration in soil on rhizobial occurrence and the process of biological nitrogen fixation. Two slow-growing bradyrhizobial strains CP1 and GM8 and two fast-growing rhizobial strains PV1 and PV2 were studied by comparing their performance under increasing copper concentrations in greenhouse-based assays involving modified Leonard jar assemblies and potted-soil experiments. Additionally, field samples from soils grown to coffee and subjected to long-term use of copper-based fungicides were analyzed for their total indigenous rhizobial populations using the most probable number-plant infection technique. Results indicated that elevated copper levels in the growth medium had inhibitory effects on nodulation, biological N2 fixation and overall rhizobial numbers in soil. Significant (p= 0.05%) reductions in fresh nodule mass, fresh nodule volume and total shoot nitrogen were recorded when copper concentration was increased from 0 to 100 ppm in both modified Leonard jar assemblies and potted-soil trials. Effective decrements in all the three parameters of fresh nodule mass, fresh nodule volume and total shoot nitrogen were more pronounced with the slow-growing bradyrhizobial strains of CP1 and GM8 than with the fast-growing PV1 and PV2. The MPN-plant infection technique results showed a non-significant (p=0.05) but substantial decrement in rhizobial and bradyrhizobial numbers when the copper-contaminated field soil (82.5 mgCu/g soil) was compared to a control soil (1.8 mgCu/g soil). The study concludes, therefore, that elevated levels of copper in soil could be harmful to free-living rhizobia and their abilities to fix N2 in respective symbiotic associations with legume species. Such negative effects were more pronounced in the slow-growing bradyrhizobial than rhizobial species used.


Statement of purpose The purpose of this study is to compare location of residence with location of injury for homicide victims to identify geographic areas in which violence reaches populations beyond the community in which it occurs. Methods/approach This is a serial cross-sectional analysis for 2005, 2010, and 2015 using quantitative methods. Cases were selected for manner of death (homicide) and location of injury which lead to death occurring in Chicago. Victim demographics were described using frequencies and percentages. Cases were grouped into four categories: resided and injured in the same community area (CA); resided and injured in an adjacent CA; resided and injured in a different, non-adjacent CA; and resided outside of Chicago and injured in a Chicago CA. CAs for each category containing at least 10 cases at any of the time points are included. Results The majority of victims were 25–34 year old Black/Non-Hispanic males. Across each time point, 50% or more of victims were injured in the same CA in which they resided. The category with the second highest proportion of victims was that in which victims were injured and resided in different CAs. Overall, the lowest proportion of victims were injured in Chicago and resided outside the city. CAs on the West and South sides of Chicago consistently had at least 10 or more cases at each time point. Conclusions While most victims were injured in the communities in which they lived, a significant proportion of victims were injured in communities other than the one in which they lived. Location-based prevention measures should take into consideration geographical components of location of injury and residence when providing services to implement programs and conduct outreach. Significance and Contributions to Injury and Violence Prevention Science These results can lend support for geographic targeting of community-based violence prevention programs.


Introduction: Aging leads to sarcopenia and functional capacity decline, compromising upper (UL) and lower limb (LL) performance of activities. Body mass index (BMI) is an important parameter for the assessment of health conditions in older adults, especially with regard to obesity, since it leads to functional limitations in terms of mobility and task performance. Objective: To investigate the potential association between UL and LL functionality and BMI in physically active older adults; and to characterize this population with regard to BMI and UL and LL functionality. Methods: The data were collected between August 2013 and April 2014. The sample comprised 371 physically active older adults. This study used secondary data from the program "PET Saude IPA/SMS". The program interviewed older adults living in areas comprised by the Third Family Health Unit of a neighborhood in Porto Alegre/RS. This paper used questions from the "Instrumento de Avaliacao Multidimensional Rapida da Pessoa Idosa" (Instrument for Rapid Multidimensional Assessment of Elderly People, in English) that had to do with UL and LL functionality, weight, height and BMI. Results and Conclusion: There was no association between UL and LL functionality and BMI in physically active older adults. More than half of the sample was overweight. Most participants had functional UL and LL. While occupation, self-perception of health as "good" and "very good", and physical activity were found to be associated with LL functionality; regular physical exercise was found to be associated with UL and LL functionality.


The percentage of single rooms in hospitals is rising dramatically throughout the UK. Single rooms can increase dignity and privacy, and allow care to be delivered closer to the patient. Downsides include cost and possibly increased demands on nurses.


A detailed investigation of radiative parameters for electric dipole (E1) transitions is presented for the ions Ra II, Ac III, Th IV and U VI along the francium isoelectronic sequence. The pseudo-relativistic Hartree–Fock (HFR) method including core-polarization effects is used for the calculations. Comparisons with multiconfigurational Dirac–Fock (MCDF) calculations show that the most important relativistic effects are taken into account. In view of their importance in nuclear laser spectroscopy, forbidden rates (transitions M1 and E2) in Th IV are also reported in this paper.


Daduhe River is in western Sichuan Basin which is across the Songpan-Ganzi geosynclinal fold system and the Yangtze para-platform. There are some complex geological backgrounds in this region, such as active new tectonic movements, frequent earthquakes and high seismic intensity. Remote sensing interpretation shows that there are lots of large-scale landslides existing between Huangjinping and Detuo in the upper reaches of Daduhe River. It has been shown by the research that the reason why large-scale landslides happened frequently in this region has a close relationship with its special fault structure, landform and strata distribution. Landslides always develop along the concave bank, free face of mountain or the thin mountain ridge and they all have close connection with fault in different degrees. Although the lithology of this section is constituted by ancient Kangding complex, yet the adverse rock mass discontinuity and free face combination lay a foundation for slope's deformation and progressive failure. The earthquake force, however, is the key factor triggering landslides.


This guide provides a selection of basic resources for research in heath care law and policy, bioethics, and interdisciplinary topics in law and medicine.


Proceedings: AACR 103rd Annual Meeting 2012‐‐ Mar 31‐Apr 4, 2012; Chicago, IL

Background &Aims: Curcumin, a polyphenol derived from Curcuma Longa is known for his anti-cancer activity and may exert synergic effects with cytotoxic agents. In parallel, neuroendocrine differentiation in castration-resistant prostate cancer provides an aggressive phenotype to disease. In this prospective phase II study, we assessed the impact of a new combination, docetaxel plus curcumin, in patients with or without neuroendocrine features. Methods: In this phase II study, thirty patients received docetaxel 75 mg/m*2 (perfusion given every 3 weeks) in combination with curcumin orally at 6 g/day (day-4 to day+2 of docetaxel). Neuroendocrine features were determined by serum chromogranin A and neuron-specific enolase, before each cycle. Variations were divided in 3 groups: an increase > 25%, a decrease of 50% or greater and stability. Treatment response were measured by PSA >50% decrease (PSA response) and objective response rate on evaluable metastatic lesions. Results: Initially, 53% of patients had an elevated chromogranin A and 33% an elevated neuron-specific enolase. During treatment, 7% performed a > 50% chromogranin A decrease and 30% a neuron-specific enolase decrease. PSA response was observed in 59% of patients and 40% out of patients with evaluable targets had a partial response. PSA and objective response rate were identical whatever neuroendocrine feature. A positive correlation was found between chromogranin A and PSA, age, weight and palliative radiotherapy. Conversely, neuron-specific enolase was negatively correlated with PSA and patients'age. Conclusions: Curcumin and docetaxel had a global action on tumors with or without neuroendocrine features. Chromogranin A was the best neuroendocrine marker in correlation with clinical parameters. This association delivered then remarkable results on neuroendocrine differentiation of castration-resistant prostate cancer, in comparison with pivotal study data with docetaxel alone (TAX 327).

Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2012 Mar 31-Apr 4; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 2694. doi:1538-7445.AM2012-2694


Production of renewable fuels, especially bio-ethanol from lignocellulosic biomass, holds remarkable potential to meet the current energy demand as well as to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions for a sustainable environment. Present technologies to produce bioethanol largely depend on sugarcane and/or starch based grains and tubers (mainly corn, potatoes). This is partly due to ease of substrate handling and processing. On the other hand, use of sugarcane and food grains to produce bio-ethanol has caused significant stress on food prices and food security. Accordingly, the recent focus has been on lignocellulosic materials as a source for bio-ethanol.  In fact, many countries are moving towards developing or have already developed technologies to exploit the potential of lignocellulosic materials for the production of bioethanol. This process of ethanol production generally involves hydrolysis of lignocellulosic biomass to fermentable sugars followed by fermentation of such sugars to ethanol.  Achieving fermentable levels of sugars from lignocellulosic biomass requires relatively harsh pretreatment processes. The pretreatment process has pervasive impact on the overall operation because the process depends on the choice of lignocellulosic source, the size reduction via grinding, chemical treatment, acid hydrolysis, neutralization and fermentation. Recent advances in the process technologies have made it possible to use simultaneous saccharification and fermentation.  In this process cellulase enzyme is the critical reagent as well as the cost determining factor. The advances in biotechnology as related to bioethanol have focused on engineering organisms that are capable of producing ethanol from cellulose, hemicellulose and lignocellulose.  Such organisms are expected to be capable of not only degrading cellulose, hemicellulose and lignocellulose to fermentable sugars, but also are able to utilize both pentose and hexose sugars to produce ethanol at a relatively high yield.  More recent and emerging approaches in bioethanol production are focused on reducing production costs. This approach uses consolidated bioprocessing schemes in which cellulase production, substrate hydrolysis, and fermentation are all accomplished in a single step. Countries, such as Nepal, that totally depend on the import of fossil fuels cannot ignore the potential of bioethanol derived from lignocellulosic biomass.  Nepal is rich in biodiversity and posses variety of energy crops.  Accordingly, developing policies and mechanisms that promote bioethanol will go a long-way in reducing the fuel crises in the countries lacking oil resources.

 Key words: Lignocellulosic biomass, bioethanol, saccharification and fermentation (SSF), consolidated bioprocessing (CBP).


Cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase 3 (PDE3) is an important regulator of cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) signaling within the cardiovascular system. In this study, we examined the role of PDE3A and PDE3B isoforms in regulation of growth of cultured vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) and the mechanisms by which they may affect signaling pathways that mediate mitogen-induced VSMC proliferation. Serum- and PDGF-induced DNA synthesis in VSMCs grown from aortas of PDE3A-deficient (3A-KO) mice was markedly less than that in VSMCs from PDE3A wild type (3A-WT) and PDE3B-deficient (3B-KO) mice. The reduced growth response was accompanied by significantly less phosphorylation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) in 3A-KO VSMCs, most likely due to a combination of greater site-specific inhibitory phosphorylation of Raf-1Ser-259 by protein kinase A (PKA) and enhanced dephosphorylation of ERKs due to elevated mitogen-activated protein kinase phosphatase 1 (MKP-1). Furthermore, 3A-KO VSMCs, compared with 3A-WT, exhibited higher basal PKA activity and cAMP response element-binding protein (CREB) phosphorylation, higher levels of p53 and p53 phosphorylation, and elevated p21 protein together with lower levels of Cyclin-D1 and retinoblastoma (Rb) protein and Rb phosphorylation. Adenoviral overexpression of inactive CREB partially restored growth effects of serum in 3A-KO VSMCs. In contrast, exposure of 3A-WT VSMCs to VP16 CREB (active CREB) was associated with inhibition of serum-induced DNA synthesis similar to that in untreated 3A-KO VSMCs. Transfection of 3A-KO VSMCs with p53 siRNA reduced p21 and MKP-1 levels and completely restored growth without affecting amounts of Cyclin-D1 and Rb phosphorylation. We conclude that PDE3A regulates VSMC growth via two complementary pathways, i.e. PKA-catalyzed inhibitory phosphorylation of Raf-1 with resulting inhibition of MAPK signaling and PKA/CREB-mediated induction of p21, leading to G0/G1 cell cycle arrest, as well as by increased accumulation of p53, which induces MKP-1, p21, and WIP1, leading to inhibition of G1 to S cell cycle progression.


Implementing person-centred care is often considered difficult in congested emergency rooms. The purpose of this study was to understand person-centred care experienced by emergency room nurses in depth and examine the essence of emergency room nurses' lived experience of the person- centred care. Eight nurses working in the emergency room of a large hospital in South Korea and who had over six months of experience were surveyed via semi-structured interviews in February 2019. The data were transcribed and analysed using Colaizzi's framework. The major findings related to person-centred care experiences among emergency room nurses were: (1) feeling distanced from patients; (2) guilt and frustration; (3) accepting patients' symptoms and emotions as they are; (4) person-centred care as a domain of nursing that cannot be replaced by machines; and (5) nursing as an art wherein the minutest details make a difference. Providing person-centred practice in the emergency room is difficult, but it will not only improve the quality of patient care but also increase the job satisfaction of nurses. Based on an in-depth understanding of person-centred care experienced by emergency nurses, it will contribute to enhancing the quality of nursing care in the emergency room.


Since, ice accretion can significantly degrade the performance and the stability of an airborne vehicle, it is imperative to be able to model it accurately. While ice accretion studies have been performed on airplane wings and helicopter blades in abundance, there are few that attempt to model the process on more complex geometries such as fuselages. This paper proposes a methodology that extends an existing in-house Extended Messinger solver to complex geometries by introducing the capability to work with unstructured grids and carry out spatial surface streamwise marching. For the work presented here commercial solvers such as STAR-CCM+ and ANSYS Fluent are used for the flow field and droplet dispersed phase computations. The ice accretion is carried out using an in-house icing solver called GT-ICE. The predictions by GT-ICE are compared to available experimental data, or to predictions by other solvers such as LEWICE and STAR-CCM+. Three different cases with varying levels of complexity are presented. The first case considered is a commercial transport airfoil, followed by a three-dimensional MS(1)-317 swept wing. Finally, ice accretion calculations performed on a Robin fuselage have been discussed. Good agreement with experimental data, where applicable, is observed. Differences between the ice accretion predictions by different solvers have been discussed.


The reversal mechanisms of graded anisotropy FePtCu films have been investigated by alternating gradient magnetometer (AGM) and magneto-optical Kerr effect (MOKE) measurements with first-order reversal curve (FORC) techniques. The AGM-FORC analysis, which clearly shows the presence of soft and hard components, is unable to resolve how these phases are distributed throughout the film thickness. MOKE-FORC measurements, which preferentially probe the surface of the film, reveal that the soft components are indeed located toward the top surface. Combining AGM-FORC with the inherent surface sensitivity of MOKE-FORC analysis allows for a comprehensive analysis of heterogeneous systems such as graded materials.


An object store provides persistence for an object-oriented database or a special-purpose application such as CAD or hypermedia. In this thesis we examine the architecture of an object store in light of the following developments: the cost of network latency is increasing rapidly in relation to other I/O costs, users demand increased availability without the added cost of redundancy, and new application domains require specialized secondary search structures for high performance.
We determined that these problems could not be solved within any existing object store architecture: solving all of them required fundamental changes in the design of the object store. We present a novel architecture which takes advantage of asynchrony to alleviate latency problems, increase availability, and enable extensibility. We analyze the performance of our prototype to demonstrate the feasibility of such an approach.
Our asynchronous cache-coherency protocol in combination with client disk catching greatly reduces the cost of network latency. However, without the correct invalidation protocol, an unacceptable number of aborts results. We experimentally evaluate several invalidation protocols and introduce a new protocol that provides both low network overhead and fewer aborts.
We introduce a recovery algorithm that improves on the popular and efficient write-ahead logging. No-undo, no-redo write-ahead logging requires no updates to the database partition during recovery, reducing recovery to a single analysis scan of the log. The redos are applied on demand as the objects are read or asynchronously after recovery.
Our novel architecture allows new secondary storage structures to extend the client interface. The new structure is encapsulated in a storage class. The storage class abstraction integrates the new structure with transaction management to provide semantically consistent atomic transactions.


Two fault-bounded sequences of metamorphic rocks are exposed in the Blue Mountains of eastern Jamaica. Westphalia Schist is dominated by amphibolite facies hornblende schist and mica schist. Mt. Hibernia Schist is dominated by blueschist-greenschist facies metabasalts. New whole-rock geochemistry and 40 Ar/ 39 Ar ages clarify the tectonic setting of the protoliths, timing of post-metamorphic cooling, and evolution of the northern margin of the Caribbean plate. Westphalia Schist is geochemically variable, with mafi c igneous protoliths or vol caniclastic sedimentary protoliths. Regardless of the protolith, the trace-element geochemistry is consistent with an island-arc tectonic environment. These rocks most likely represent metamorphosed equivalents of the regionally extensive Early Cretaceous Greater Antilles arc that is preserved discontinuously along the present-day northern margin of the Carib bean plate. Mt. Hibernia Schist shows little geochemical variability, with an igneous protolith of subalkaline basaltic composition. Flat rare-earth-element patterns and fl at extended trace-element patterns are consistent with an enriched mid-ocean ridge basalt or oceanic plateau environment. However, in terms of immobile elements, Mt. Hibernia Schist is geochemically indistinguishable from nearby ca. 90 Ma basalt of the Bath-Dunrobin Formation, which is a product of Caribbean plate–forming ocean plateau magmatism; i.e., Caribbean large igneous province. Hence, an ocean plateau environment is inferred for the Mt. Hibernia protolith. The Westphalia and Mt. Hibernia Schists are currently juxtaposed along the Blue Mountain fault, yet were subjected to very different subduction-related metamorphic histories. Stratigraphic relationships require that the metamorphic rocks were uplifted, and exposed at the surface by the Early Paleo cene. 40 Ar/ 39 Ar ages indicate that the two units were affected differently by burial metamorphism related to Paleocene–Early Eocene transtensional tectonics. Final juxtaposition of Westphalia Schist and Mt. Hibernia Schist was accomplished through a combination of vertical and horizontal displacements during Neogene transpression along the Plantain Garden fault.


BACKGROUND
Impaired adipogenesis plays an important role in the development of obesity-associated insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes as it leads to ectopic fat deposition.

DISCUSSION
The anti-adipogenic transcription factor GATA-3 was identified as one of the potential molecular targets responsible for impairment of adipogenesis. The expression of GATA-3 is higher in insulin resistant obese individuals compared to BMI-matched insulin sensitive counterparts. Adipose tissue inflammation is a crucial mediator of this process. Hyperglycemia mediates the activation of immune system, partially through upregulation of GATA-3, causing exacerbation of the inflammatory state associated with obesity.

CONCLUSION
This review discusses evidence supporting the inhibition of GATA-3 as a useful therapeutic strategy in obesity-associated insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes, through up-regulation adipogenesis and amelioration of the immune response.


Novel all-optical noise suppressors based on the nonlinear transfer function properties of monolithically integrated active waveguide interferometers are proposed and demonstrated. Through a power map imbalance between the two arms of the interferometers, each of which contains multi-contact semiconductor optical amplifiers, a nonlinear transfer function is created, which can then be exploited to achieve in-band noise suppression. The authors demonstrate the use of such a mechanism in ultra-compact Mach-Zehnder and Michelson interferometers (MIs). Experimental work demonstrates a 5.0-dB optical signal-to-noise ratio improvement for the Mach-Zehnder and an 8.4-dB improvement for the MIs, respectively. It is shown that for input data the Mach-Zehnder is capable of providing a Q factor improvement of 4.1 dB. To the authors knowledge, these devices constitute the smallest integrated interferometer structures reported to date demonstrating in-band noise suppression.


A surface cleaning apparatus is disclosed. In some embodiments, the surface cleaning apparatus comprises a member having a dirty fluid inlet. A fluid flow path extends from the dirty fluid inlet to a clean air outlet of the surface cleaning apparatus and includes a suction motor. At least one cyclone is positioned in the fluid flow path and has at least one material outlet and a divider plate associated with the material outlet. A material collection chamber is in flow communication with the at least one cyclone. The apparatus further comprises a liner bag retaining member.


North China is among the most polluted regions in the country, and human exposure to PM2.5 (particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter less than 2.5 μm) in this region has led to severe health consequences. The region has also benefited the most from emission reductions in recent years. It is of interest to understand to what extent and through which paths emissions from different sectors cause adverse health impacts. Here, we present the results of a full evaluation of the health benefits of emission control actions implemented in recent years based on segregated emission inventories with an emphasis on residential emissions. Two major causal paths, one from residential emissions to indoor air pollution, exposure, and premature deaths, and the other from nonresidential emissions to ambient air pollution and psychophysical impacts, were identified and quantified. From 2014 to 2019, both ambient (33%) and indoor (39%) PM2.5 decreased significantly, leading to decreasing trends in exposure (36%), premature deaths (10%), and psychophysical impacts (21%). The Air Pollution Prevention and Control Action Plan, the Clean Heating Campaign, and spontaneous residential shifts to clean energy contributed significantly to these reductions when the effects of other drivers, such as population and economic growth, were excluded.


Active thermal non-destructive testing (TNDT) has emerged as a swift, robust and cost-effective non-contact inspection method used to detect the surface and sub-surface defects present in a wide verity of solid materials. To further increase the efficacy of the process, various pulse-compression-based post-processing techniques are in use. However, the applicability of pulse compression-based thermographic methods has limited due to the presence of side lobes that degrades the energy concentration capabilities within the main lobe. In order to address this limitation, this work proposes a poly-phase code (P4-code). P4 codes are very efficient and robust in the reduction of distribution of energy in side lobes by concentrating on the main lobe. This Letter proposes a numerical study on the applicability of P4 codes-based pulse compression favourable thermal wave imaging approach for TNDT for testing and evaluation of steel specimen for identification of flat-bottom hole defects located at different depths. Further performance of the proposed method is compared with the widely used linear frequency modulated thermal wave imaging by considering the signal-to-noise ratio as a figure-of-merit.


Abstract Several applications of a Euler solver with the formulation of the flow equations in the noninertial reference system with steady and unsteady flow analysis are presented. The steady‐flow applications include determination of aerodynamic derivatives with respect to angular velocity and analysis of vortical flow over a delta wing at high angles of attack with the determination of aerodynamic coefficients and analysis of vortex breakdown. The unsteady flow analysis is applied in the simulation of a rapid manoeuvre for the determination of unsteady forces. The results of this simulation are compared with results of simulations using steady‐flow approximation in order to assess the advantages of unsteady flow analysis in the simulation of aircraft manoeuvres.


The effect of hypokalaemia on a neuromuscular blockade induced by pancuronium and its antagonism by neostigmine was studied in the cat anterior tibialis-peroneal nerve preparation using the constant infusion of pancuronium technique. Hypokalaemia was induced by chronic administration of chlorothiazide. The infusion rate of pancuronium required to maintain a 90% depression of twitch tension was reduced from 0.72 +/- 0.06 microgram kg-1 min-1 in the cats with a normal serum concentration of potassium (K+ = 4.4 +/- 0.2 mmol litre-1; n = 7) to 0.41 +/- 0.07 microgram kg-1 min-1 in the hypokalaemic cats (K+ = 2.3 +/- 0.1 mmol litre-1; n = 8). The dose of neostigmine necessary for 50% antagonism of the pancuronium-induced depression of twitch tension (ED50) was 10.0 microgram kg-1 in the cats with a normal potassium concentration and 18.5 microgram kg-1 in hypokalaemic cats. We conclude that hypokalaemia decreases the dose of pancuronium required for neuromuscular blockade and increased the dose of neotigmine required for antagonism of the block.


Adhesion of biological systems has recently received much research attention: the survival of organisms ranging from single cells and mussels to insects, spiders and geckos relies crucially on their mechanical interaction with their environments. For spiders, lizards and possible other 'dry' adhesive systems, explanations for adhesion are based on van der Waals interaction, and the adhesion of single–contact elements has been described by the classical Johnson–Kendall–Roberts (JKR) model derived for spherical contacts. However, real biological contacts display a variety of shapes and only rarely resemble a hemisphere. Here, we theoretically assess the influence of various contact shapes on the pull–off force for single contacts as well as their scaling potential in contact arrays. It is concluded that other shapes, such as a toroidal contact geometry, should lead to better attachment; such geometries are observed in our microscopic investigations of hair–tip shapes in beetles and flies.


SKF Marine ISC was requested by STX Finland Oy, location Rauma to perform full scale dynamic propulsion shaft measurements on board of the RoPax vessel "Pride of France" in order to solve high shaft support bearing operational temperatures.
 After modeling the propulsion line with a state-of-the-art CAE software for shaft alignment and vibration calculations and recording of the actual static bearing load and actual static bending stress of the accessible shaft line, during a sea trial, several dynamic measurements like dynamic bending stress, shaft torque and speed, shaft orbit, bearing temperature, vibration and longitudinal shaft movement were measured and recorded.
 After analysis of the measured and recorded data, following conclusions could be made; Large longitudinal shafts movements were present in operational condition. Measured shaft support bearing temperatures have a linear relationship with measured and calculated bearing load in operational condition, so temperature readings can be used as a condition monitoring tool to calculate bearing load in different operational conditions.


This article studies changes of value relevance of earnings after mandatory adoption of new CAS (the Chinese Accounting Standards) which is substantially convergent with IFRS (the International Financial Report Standards) in China's listed enterprises. We extend the previous research by examining the different impact on value relevance of earnings between SOEs (the State-Owned Enterprises) and NSOEs (the Non-State-Owned Enterprises) after adoption of new CAS, which is based on the samples consisting of 836 companies listed on A-shares market of China. The empirical results show that the value-relevance of accounting earnings significantly increased after 2007, and represent that value relevance of earnings increased significantly in SOEs while there are no significant changes in NSOEs after adoption of the new CAS. Our research has implications for China's Accounting Standard setters who desire to reach expected consequences of convergence with IFRS, and provide empirical evidence for adoption of IFRS in different countries which have both SOEs and NSOEs.


The present study tested the hypothesis that the repetition effect occurs during response programming. The choice reaction-time to initiate the second of two responses was examined when two consecutive responses were the same or different in their kinematics and force characteristics and repeated for two different stimuli. 12 subjects were required to react and produce the sequence of same or different force by squeezing a handle as quickly and accurately as possible after the first (auditory) and the second (visual) reaction signals. The response-stimulus interval was set at 500 msec. The choice reaction-time to initiate the second response was significantly shorter for the same-force condition than for the different-force and control conditions. This result indicates that the repetition effect originates in a speedup in response programming rather than response selection or perceptual identification. This finding was discussed in terms of bypassing a response-programming stage.