PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate gender differences in organizational commitment (OC) and the relationship between OC and rewards among employees who work for Japanese manufacturing companies within China.Design/methodology/approachThis study utilized hierarchical regression analysis to examine survey data obtained from 27,854 employees who worked for 64 Japanese manufacturing companies within China.FindingsThe results reveal that autonomy and role clarity had a stronger influence, and co-worker support had a weaker influence, on OC for male employees than for female employees. These differences may be because more male employees than female employees prefer working with higher autonomy and well-defined roles than with co-worker support. After all, male employees, who place a great emphasis on independence, competition, decision-making and challenges, rely on intrinsic rewards more than social rewards.Research limitations/implicationsThis study used data collected from Japanese manufacturing companies to understand the differences between OC and rewards in local male and female Chinese employees. We recommend that future research uses other national affiliates to clarify the characteristics of male and female Chinese workers more objectively and to test the validity of this research.Practical implicationsThe results of this study support revising human resource management practices within multinational enterprises to enable female and male host-country workers to contribute to their companies on a long-term basis by taking into account the differences between the cultures of the home and host countries.Originality/valueAlthough previous research has elucidated the OC–rewards relationship in particular countries, it has not met the requirements of foreign managers from different corporate cultures who face differences in the OC–rewards relationship between their male and female employees. In this sense, this research is the first attempt to tackle this theme and contribute to the literature.


The aim of this paper is to analyse the punitive regime foreseen in the Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data (GDPR). The administrative fines' regime found in Article 83 of the GDPR and some of the questions it arises will be explored. We conclude that the Member States should adopt a critical stance when adapting their national legislation to the norms of the GDPR. The fundamental principles enshrined in national constitutions and supranational legal texts must be closely analysed and observed since the GDPR introduces a mandatory sanctions framework.


The success of new antiretroviral medicines for HIV resulted in a change to guidelines of standard therapy where continuation of antiretroviral therapy is recommended to maintain the low viral load during pregnancy, thereby preventing transmission of the virus to the fetus. As a result, pregnancy related exposure to HIV medicines has increased. Understanding the safety of these medicines during pregnancy is of paramount importance to ensure health of mothers and their offspring; well-designed animal studies that evaluate the reproductive life cycle play a key role in this effort. As part of the medicine development program for dolutegravir (DTG), a series of reproductive and developmental toxicity studies were conducted using rats and rabbits. In a fertility study, where exposure to DTG occurred in female rats before mating through conception and up to implantation of the embryo, no effects on reproductive cycles, ovulation, fertility) or preimplantation embryonic growth were observed. In rat and rabbit embryo-fetal development studies, where exposure to DTG occurred during organogenesis, no malformations or other developmental abnormalities were observed. In a rat pre- and post-natal development study, where DTG exposure to the pups occurred during pregnancy and postnatally via milk, no malformations or other developmental abnormalities were observed. In these studies, no DTG-related effects occurred on fertility, embryonic (pre- and post-implantation loss, resorptions, abortions, and malformations) or fetal development where the multiples of exposure at the maximum recommended human dose were up to 27 times higher in rats or below the human exposure in rabbits.


Recent developments in astrophotonics herald a new era for ground-based astronomy. These technologies are now being extended and adapted to space-borne instrumentation over the coming decade. One of the revolutionary developments is the photonic integrated multimode microspectrograph (PIMMS) that greatly reduces the size of any spectrograph, independent of the telescope aperture, the slit aperture or the spectroscopic resolution of the instrument. We now extend these ideas to space instrumentation where a much broader spectral range can be explored. We are focusing our efforts on the extremes of the UV to mid-infrared (0.15–15μm) window that is increasingly becoming more accessible to photonic technologies.


Perhaps the most deeply rooted stereotype of motherhood, editor Annelise Orleck writes, is "the notion that mothers are by definition apolitical, isolated with their children in a world of pure emotion, far removed from the welter of politics and social struggle." This collection of essays, interviews, and personal narratives challenges the image of a mutually absorbed madonna and child and explodes the myth that bearing and raising children alters a woman's consciousness in some fundamentally conservative way, silencing her voice and disarming her rebellion. Instead, these contributors demonstrate that motherhood often redefines and revitalizes a woman's political consciousness. From Love Canal to the Kenyan countryside, from a public housing project in Las Vegas to a plaza in Buenos Aires, from a Minnesota Indian reservation to the Gaza Strip, the radicalizing events differ but the effects are the same. While most mothers from disparate classes, races, nationalities, cultures, and political ideologies mobilize to protect their children from toxic waste, war, racism, or political persecution, some such as KKK mothers fight to maintain hateful stereotypes that put others at risk. By examining the characteristics, effects, contradictions, and prices of "motherist" politics, we can begin to understand the forces that bring these women out from behind their curtains.


The cigarette industry produces wastes from tobacco leaves and clove flowers which is called Jengkok. The wastes contain metal Arsenic (As), a toxic metalloid chemical element that is dangerous for the environment. The organic compounds in the wastes can be decomposed using pyrolysis, a chemical process at elevated temperatures in the absence of oxygen. The purpose of this study is to examine the chemical compositions and characteristics of biochar produced from quenching technology treatment in the pyrolysis process using a Rotary Kiln machine. The variables used were the temperatures ranging from 400, 450, 500, 550, 600°C, the duration from 30, 35, to 40 minutes, and water quenched temperature at 25°C. The Biochar water content and temperature produced were then observed. The results analysis included properties test, ultimate analysis, namely elemental testing using the SEM-EDX method and proximate analysis. This research found that water quenched treatment produces Biochar of Jengkok from tobacco is bases (pH. 9-10), and low bulk density. The specific characteristic is C-organic, N, and O has a large enough value, while the optimal processing time is 40 minutes at a temperature of 550 °C, a time of. Therefore, biochar from jengkok is very good for farming with acid soil conditions.


Small cells have been proposed as a vehicle for wireless networks to keep up with surging demand. Small cells come with a significant challenge of providing backhaul to transport data to(from) a gateway node in the core network. Fiber based backhaul offers the high rates needed to meet this requirement, but is costly and time-consuming to deploy, when not readily available. Wireless backhaul is an attractive option for small cells as it provides a less expensive and easy-to-deploy alternative to fiber. However, there are multitude of bands and features (e.g. LOS/NLOS, spatial multiplexing etc.) associated with wireless backhaul that need to be used intelligently for small cells. Candidate bands include: sub-6 GHz band that is useful in non-line-of-sight (NLOS) scenarios, microwave band (6-42 GHz) that is useful in point-to-point line-of-sight (LOS) scenarios, and millimeter wave bands (e.g. 60, 70 and 80 GHz) that are recently being commercially used in LOS scenarios. In many deployment topologies, it is advantageous to use aggregator nodes, located at the roof tops of tall buildings near small cells. These nodes can provide high data rate to multiple small cells in NLOS paths, sustain the same data rate to gateway nodes using LOS paths and take advantage of all available bands. This work performs the joint cost optimal aggregator node placement, power allocation, channel scheduling and routing to optimize the wireless backhaul network. We formulate mixed integer nonlinear programs (MINLP) to capture the different interference and multiplexing patterns at sub-6 GHz and microwave band. We solve the MINLP through linear relaxation and branch-and-bound algorithm and apply our algorithm in an example wireless backhaul network of downtown Manhattan.


This paper focuses on the cross-dynamics of exchange rate expectations over different time-scales. We use over-the-counter currency options on the euro, Japanese yen, and British pound vis-a-vis the U.S. dollar to extract expected probability density functions of future exchange rates, and apply recent wavelet cross-correlation techniques to analyze linkages in these option-implied exchange rate expectations. The results show that market expectations are closely linked among the three major exchange rates. Regardless of time-scales, we find significant lead-lag relationships between the expected exchange rate probability densities. Nevertheless, our findings also indicate that the dynamic structure of exchange rate expectations may vary over different time-scales. In terms of short-run linkages in volatility expectations, the Japanese yen seems to have a leading role among the exchange rate triplet. At the longer scale, however, we also find significant feedback effects from the GBP/USD volatility expectations to the JPY/USD implied volatilities. The wavelet cross-correlations between the higher-order moments of option-implied exchange rate distributions indicate that the expectations about the JPY/USD rate are virtually unrelated to the developments of the European currencies, while the higher-order moments of the EUR/USD and GBP/USD densities appear strongly linked with each other.


The purpose of this paper is to construct confidence intervals for the regression coefficients in high-dimensional Cox proportional hazards regression models where the number of covariates may be larger than the sample size. Our debiased estimator construction is similar to those in Zhang and Zhang (2014) and van de Geer et al. (2014), but the time-dependent covariates and censored risk sets introduce considerable additional challenges. Our theoretical results, which provide conditions under which our confidence intervals are asymptotically valid, are supported by extensive numerical experiments.


Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) is recognized as one of the most favored techniques for enhancing Raman signals. The morphology of the SERS substrate profoundly affects molecular Raman spectra. This study aimed to construct a ring-mounted nanostructured substrate via liquid–liquid two-phase self-assembly incorporated with anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) membrane transfer techniques. High-density nanoparticles (NPs) assembled on AAO membranes were ascribed to reduce the diameters of the nanopores, with Au–Ag alloy NPs to regulate the dielectric constant so as to reveal the local surface plasmon resonance tunability. SERS engineered in this way allowed for the fabrication of a ring-mounted nanostructured substrate where the distribution density of NPs and dielectric constant could be independently fine-tuned. High SERS activity of the substrate was revealed by detecting the enhanced factor of crystal violet and rhodamine 6G molecules, which was up to 1.56 × 106. Moreover, SERS of thiram target molecules confirmed the supersensitivity and repeatability of the substrate as a practical application. The results of this study manifested a low-cost but high-efficiency ring-mounted nanostructured SERS substrate that might be suitable in many fields, including biosensing, medical research, environmental monitoring, and optoelectronics.


This study presents multiperiod multiobjective generation expansion planning (MMGEP) model of power electric system including renewable energy sources (RES). The model optimises simultaneously multiple objectives (i.e. minimisation of total costs, emissions, energy consumption and portfolio investment risk as well as maximisation of system reliability). The mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) is used for the proposed optimisation and an efficient linearisation technique is proposed to convert the non-linear reliability metrics into a set of linear expressions. The proposed solution for multiobjective mathematical programming (MMP) framework includes a hybrid augmented-weighted epsilon constraint and lexicographic optimisation approach to obtain the Pareto optimal or efficient solutions for the MMGEP problem. Finally, fuzzy decision making is implemented to select the most preferred solution among Pareto solutions based on the goals of decision makers (DMs). A synthetic test system including seven types of candidate units is considered here for GEP in a 6-year planning horizon. The effectiveness of the proposed modifications is illustrated in detail.


Leptospirosis is an infectious disease that damages the liver and kidneys, found mainly in dogs and farm animals and caused by bacteria. In this paper, we present the optimal control problem applied to a dynamical leptospirosis infected vector and human population by using multiple control variables. First, we show the existence of the control problem and then use analytical and numerical techniques to investigate the existence cost effective control efforts for prevention of indirect and direct transmission of this disease. In order to do this, we consider three control functions two for human and one for vector population. We completely characterize the optimal control problem and compute the numerical solution of the optimality system using an iterative method.


In last few decades many attempts have been made on speech signals to eliminates the noise. Purpose of use any speech enhancement algorithm is to eliminate noises in variety of environments; most prominent of which are telecommunication applications. The purpose of this paper is to development of a novel speech enhancement algorithm which offers superior noise reduction over current methods. This Research paper work demonstrates a novel time domain speech enhancement algorithm for speech signals called empirical mode decomposition (EMD). EMD decomposes the speech signal corrupted by noise signal into a finite number of band limited signals known as intrinsic mode functions (IMFs), using iterative procedure called sifting process. These IMFs are denoised by using two different techniques first method is IMFs thresholding method or direct method of speech enhancement and another technique is IMF frame based method are discussed in this work. Both the methods use soft and hard threshold techniques for denoising the IMFs which are obtained from EMD. These algorithms are implemented empirically by using MATLAB software on real time speech data. Experimental Results shows that IMFs frame based method superior than direct method this can be tested by adding noises with the different SNR values to the clean speech.


The expansion of part‐time or reduced hours working into skilled, managerial and professional jobs is increasing. This expansion is generally viewed positively. Not only does it herald a change of status for part‐time working but also suggests that organisations are taking Equal Opportunities policies and specifically, family‐friendly policies, seriously. However, the emerging literature in this area suggests that part‐time working within professional roles poses a considerable HRM problem. Using an explicitly pluralistic perspective, this paper presents the results of a case study into the management of part‐time working in a UK police force. It is argued that part‐time working has different meanings for managers and part‐time employees, producing conflicting needs and expectations that are not readily reconcilable. The cultural and institutional factors that reproduce these differences are explored and the implications for human resource management are identified.


Growth models of urban clusters are developed to understand the mechanisms of city evolution. Natural, social and economical constraints must be considered in studies of the spatial dynamics of the Latin American cities. However, to describe the urban evolution, methods to generate and handle growth vectors are needed. Great part of this kind of study focuses on qualitative analyses, where trend vectors are manually defined. This research presents an algorithm for the estimation of speed and acceleration of the urban growth. The proposed approach produces results on raster databases, spatially modelled pixel by pixel. This data structure allows integration with other raster base, such as satellite and DEM-derived relief data (slope, altimetry, for example) and others. This method uses the temporal series of the city limits, extracted from satellite imagery. These limits are stored in the vector format labelled with time as z-value, expressed in years, months or days. The interpolation, through kriging techniques, produces a timely based image of the urban growth. Since speed is a relation between ∆s and ∆ ∆ ∆ ∆t (where ∆s is space differential and ∆t the time differential), a growth speed image can be calculated using the expression v=resolution/z, or the inverse of the time image gradient, automatically obtained with the slope angle function. Once acceleration is the relation ∆v/∆ ∆ ∆ ∆t, the same approach can be applied for its calculation. Convolution filtering with 3x3 pixels moving windows on the growth speed image may indicate the higher gradient among the eight windowed neighbours, so as to generate a ∆v image, which can be divided by the ∆t image to produce the acceleration image. Aspect function may be used to generate the directions of the calculated vectors. The developed program automatically executes all these operations to calculate speed and acceleration from the interpolated time image. Tests under varied hypothetical conditions showed the program to perform very well, with promising potentials for the analysis of urban growth, crop expansion, deforestation, gully erosion, as well as any other growth phenomena of different temporal and spatial scales.


We present the results of a double analysis of the ionizing cluster in NGC 588, a giant H region (GHR) in the outskirts of the nearby galaxy M 33. For this purpose, we obtained ground based long-slit spectroscopy and combined it with archival ground based and space borne imaging and spectroscopy, in the wavelength range 1100−9800 A. A first modeling of the cluster was performed using integrated properties, such as the spectral energy distribution (SED), broad band colors, nebular emission Hβ equivalent width, the main ultraviolet resonance lines, and the presence of Wolf-Rayet star features. By applying standard assumptions about the initial mass function (IMF), we were unable to fit satisfactorily these observational data. This contradictory result led us to carry out a second modeling, based on a resolved photometric analysis of individual stars in Hubble Space Telescope (HST) images, by means of finding the best fit isochrone in color−magnitude diagrams (CMD), and assigning a theoretical SED to each individual star. The overall SED of the cluster, obtained by integrating the individual stellar SEDs, is found to fit better the observed SED than the best solution found through the integrated first analysis, but at a significantly later stage of evolution of the cluster of 4.2 Myr, as obtained from the best fit to the CMD. A comparative analysis of both methods traces the different results to the effects of statistical fluctuations in the upper end of the IMF, which are significant in NGC 588, with a computed cluster mass of 5600 M� , as predicted by Cervino et al. (2002, A&A, 381, 51). We discuss the results in terms of the strong influence of the few most massive stars, six in the case of NGC 588, that dominate the overall SED and, in particular, the ionizing far ultraviolet range beyond the Lyman limit.


Since the beginning of the 1990s, the relevance of the attachment theory has gained increasing significance for psychotherapeutic practice. Due to the lack of empirical proof, the only feasible approach, for the time being, are conceptional deliberations, which, however, offer useful ideas for the practical work. Based on an case record obtained from the psychotherapeutic treatment of a 4-month-old suckling and his parents, this article attempts to discuss the incorporation of attachment-theoretical concepts into infant-parent psychotherapy. Infant-parent psychotherapy constitutes a treatment method which, on the initiative of Mechthild Papousek, founder of the "Munich interdisciplinary intervention Program", has enjoyed larger-scale dissemination and deals with regulatory disturbances in infancy. Irrespective of core symptoms and their etiology, regulatory disturbances often lead to impaired mother-child interactions and formation of secure attachment organization of the child. The observation of essential, attachment-relevant contents, such es, for instance, the child's attachment and exploratory behavior an the maternal sensitivity to signals emanating from the child gives rise to novel viewpoints regarding therapeutic interventions.


Coplanar waveguide (CPW) metamaterials with varied left- (LH) and right-handed (RH) passbands are thoroughly studied in terms of per-unit-length transmission parameters and magnitude/phase of transmission coefficient, respectively. The two metamaterials are constructed by simultaneously loading the lumped or distributed CPW series-capacitive and shunt-inductive elements in periodic intervals. Effective characteristic impedance and propagation constant of these infinite-extent metamaterials are first extracted to give a physical insight into the guided-wave propagation characteristics in the LH/RH passbands. It is further exhibited that the stopband between the LH and RH passbands can be wholly eliminated in the distributed CPW case. The two finite-extent CPW metamaterials with 50-/spl Omega/ feed lines are then modeled via simple cascaded transmission line theorem. Predicted magnitude and phase of transmission coefficient are confirmed by experiment, showing the distinctive backward- and forward-wave performances in the LH and RH passbands, respectively.


The fluctuating resource hypothesis (FRH) proposes that fluctuations in resource supply can temporally reduce competitive pressure from resident species, thereby providing ephemeral opportunities for invading species. Although FRH has the potential to integrate many existing hypotheses regarding mechanisms of community invasibility, previous tests and evaluations of FRH were based on single trophic level, did not take the timing effect into account, and had difficulties in distinguishing the effects of resource pulses from other simultaneous processes. Here we test FRH in multi-trophic aquatic microcosms by creating resource pulses, by controlling resource quantity, propagule supply and pulse recurrence frequency, and by manipulating the timing of pulses relative to the timing of the arrival of new species (i.e. invaders) to local communities. The novelty of our work lies in that we directly manipulate resource pulse timing relative to invader introduction events and thus demonstrate the importance of this timing effect for community invasibility. Our study supports FRH in general: invasion success was positively related to resource pulses, and invaders had strong performance in treatments receiving coincident pulses, although not all invaders gained more benefit when resources were supplied at large-magnitude than supplied at continuous rates. Since many ecosystems worldwide are experiencing high rates of anthropogenic nutrient input and increasing rates of precipitation, these ecosystems are potentially more fragile and susceptible to invasion. More experiments across multiple ecosystem types are needed to help formulate a general theory of community invasibility.


The optimal management of ductal carcinoma in situ of the breast is controversial. With the introduction of the National Mammographic Breast Screening Programme the condition will be encountered more frequently. We have reviewed 76 patients from a 12-year period treated by one surgeon (R.W.B.) at the Nottingham City Hospital. Fifty-nine patients had either ductal carcinoma in situ or lobular carcinoma in situ; 17 patients had Paget's disease. The mean age at diagnosis was 54 years and the commonest mode of presentation was with a palpable breast lump. Pre-operative mammography was performed in 31 patients with ductal carcinoma in situ and 28 were reported as showing malignancy. Patients with a lesion in the breast parenchyma were treated either by mastectomy (simple, subcutaneous or 'wedge'--see text) or by lumpectomy and radiotherapy. Patients with Paget's disease were treated by simple mastectomy, wedge mastectomy or a cone excision of the nipple and underlying tissue. The mean follow-up period was 65 months. Patients treated by any of the procedures less than simple mastectomy had a significant chance of developing local recurrence. A detailed histological review was made and grade, microinvasion, calcification, necrosis and completeness of excision were assessed for each tumour. None of these factors was correlated with subsequent local recurrence.


Attitudes and concerns related to privacy are not homogeneous, but instead differ based on the individual and context at hand. Understanding how these attitudes and concerns vary could inform product, service, and policy design. Questionnaires, such as the Privacy Attitudes Questionnaire (PAQ), can be used to evaluate and derive implications from people's privacy orientations in numerous domains, including healthcare, social media, and e-commerce. Our objective is to refine the PAQ to reflect areas of privacy concern in today's landscape. The panel will serve as a forum for conversation about areas of privacy concern, guided by our panelists' expertise and questions about demographic and user considerations for the revised PAQ, a framework-inspired understanding of privacy, and privacy in healthcare. Insights and perspectives arising from the discussion panel will be considered for subsequent revisions of the PAQ.


The ability to genetically modify human T cells to target tumor antigens through retroviral gene transfer constitutes a potentially powerful approach to cancer immunotherapy. However, low transduction efficiencies may hamper the efficacy of such therapeutic strategies in the clinical setting. Most commonly, gammaretroviral gene transfer into T cells is conducted through spinoculation, that is, centrifugation of retroviral particles and T cells on RetroNectin-coated non-tissue culture vessels. Here we present data investigating the impact of temperature, speed, and frequency of spinoculation on T cell transduction efficiencies. We found that all three variables independently impacted gene transfer, with increasing temperature, speed, and frequency of spinoculation all enhancing the transduction of T cells. These improved conditions were additive, with the greatest proportion of transduced T cells being generated at the highest tested temperature and speed, after daily spinoculation for 2 to 3 days. Under these conditions, enhanced gene transfer was observed in T cells derived from healthy donors, using research-grade vector stocks. Whereas both RetroNectin and spinoculation were critical to optimal gene transduction, preloading of gammaretroviral particles before spinoculation did not enhance gene transfer. Significantly, application of these enhanced transduction conditions to T cells derived from previously treated patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia allowed for adequate gene transfer under both small-scale and large-scale clinically applicable conditions using either preclinical or current Good Manufacturing Practice-grade gammaretroviral vector stocks.


The University of Virginia, by providing world-class educational opportunities to citizens of the state, has played an important role in the lives of Virginians since its founding in 1819. The University enhances economic opportunity and provides a steady stream of citizens prepared to assume positions of leadership in business and in public service. In carrying out its core missions of education, research, and service, U.Va. has a vital impact on its community, on its region, and on the entire state. A complete picture of the economic impact of the University requires both a close-up lens, for the impact on the local community, and a wide-angle lens, for the impact on the state as a whole. Earlier studies of this sort have concentrated mostly on the local effects of university spending. This study extends the earlier work by adding to the traditional local economic impact analysis an overview of how a large public research university can contribute to the economy of an entire state. In making our case we review the literature on the economic rationale for state support of a major research university with a large component of students from other states and from other nations.


The finite-difference time-domain method is used to simulate the optical characteristics of an in-plane switching blue phase liquid crystal display. Compared with the matrix optic methods and the refractive method, the finite-difference time-domain method, which is used to directly solve Maxwell's equations, can consider the lateral variation of the refractive index and obtain an accurate convergence effect. The simulation results show that e-rays and o-rays bend in different directions when the in-plane switching blue phase liquid crystal display is driven by the operating voltage. The finite-difference time-domain method should be used when the distribution of the liquid crystal in the liquid crystal display has a large lateral change.


The presentation of the environmental issues in the media always reaches certain divisiveness about the topic. This divisiveness stems from two outlooks towards the environment; human supremacy over the environment and human equality with the environment. Environmental issues are part of wider discourse on politics and economy and incorporate the inherent values of the society. These values are reflected in the media and influence the understanding of the environmental issues. To analyze how social values influence the media portrayal of divisive environmental issues, the present study looks into the media framing and agenda setting of oil spill accidents. Compared to other environmental issues, such as global warming or alternative energy sources, oil spills are not frequently the focus of academic research. To improve that and to study how social values influence the media frames, this thesis analyzed the articles from two progressive and two conservative newspapers in United States and United Kingdom. The findings of the content analysis show the overarching presence of the environmental catastrophe frame in portrayal of oil spills. At the same time, more news coverage is given to the spills, which directly impact the societies newspapers are part of. The results are situated within theories of framing and agenda setting, focusing on the portrayal of the environmental issues.


The density-dependence hypothesis is one of the most important mechanisms proposed to explain species coexistence in natural forest communities. Picea schrenkiana is the single dominant species of the forest communities in Tianshan Mountains, which plays a very important role in temperate forests of China. We used reexamined data with a five-year interval on an 8-ha P. schrenkiana forest dynamics plot to illustrate the dynamics of species composition. Pointpattern analysis was conducted to reveal the spatial structure of P. schrenkiana individuals of different ages, and the effects of the density-dependence hypothesis on different ages of P. schrenkiana was discussed. The results were as follows: (1) Woody plants with DBH ≥ 1 cm were 11,835 trees in 2009 and 11,050 in 2014. The mortality rate was 8.82%, the recruitment rate was 2.19%, and the net decrease was 6.63%; (2) Young and medium trees of P. schrenkiana presented an aggregation distribution across a scale of 0–40 m, and the aggregation intensity decreased as the scale increased. Mature trees presented a random distribution on scales of 0 m ≤ r ≤ 2 m and r = 4 m, and an aggregation distribution on other scales with a low density. (3) Using a "case-control" design method and eliminating habitat heterogeneity, the distribution of young and medium trees were taken as examples of case. The distribution pattern of mature trees was used as a comparison and represented habitat heterogeneity, and was compared with that of young and medium trees. Young and medium trees of P. schrenkiana were observed to present ·研究报告· 第 3 期 王慧杰等: 天山雪岭云杉森林群落的密度制约效应 253 more considerable gathering than was observed for mature trees on scales of 0–40 m, and density decreased while the diameter class increased. These results indicate that the density-dependence hypothesis has an influence on distribution patterns of different age classes. This study reveals that P. schrenkiana was affected by habitat heterogeneity and presented a significant aggregation effect. The spatial pattern of P. schrenkiana is revealed to be affected by the density-dependence hypothesis after eliminating the effects of habitat heterogeneity. The results of this paper support the Janzen-Connell hypothesis.


Abstract The classical and still valid study of Oinonen (1956) on the species distribution and nesting habits of ants on rocks and their contribution to forest regeneration and tree growth on rocks was reviewed. Oinonen searched ant colonies in 103 sample plots situated on rocks in southern Finland. The plots were classified into three categories according to their vegetation succession stage. The locations of origin, ages, heights and height increment of seedlings were determined. The results indicated that the number of ant species decreased from sites with >50% lichen cover to sites with >50% moss cover and to sites with <50% lichen cover. Lasius flavus was the most common species (5.14 nests per 100 m2), followed by Lasius niger (0.72), Myrmica lobicornis (0.57), Formica fusca (0.38) and Myrmica scabrinodis (0.36). Ant nests were favourable sites for tree establishment, growth and survival. The height growth of 3–14-year-old seedlings averaged 39% higher in ant nests than elsewhere. Ants form favourable microsites for seedlings by collecting organic material and fine mineral soil in their mounds, and thus significantly contribute to forest regeneration on rocks with thin soil cover. The role of ants in postfire forest regeneration on mineral soils was also discussed.


Background: Continued exposure to prolonged periods of intense exercise may unfavourably alter neuroendocrine, neuromuscular, and cardiovascular function. Objective: To examine the relation between quantifiable levels of exertion (TRIMPS) and resting heart rate (HR) and resting supine heart rate variability (HRV) in professional cyclists during a three week stage race. Method: Eight professional male cyclists (mean (SEM) age 27 (1) years, body mass 65.5 (2.3) kg, and maximum rate of oxygen consumption (V˙o2max) 75.6 (2.2) ml/kg/min) riding in the 2001 Vuelta a España were examined for resting HR and HRV on the mornings of day 0 (baseline), day 10 (first rest day), and day 17 (second rest day). The rest days followed stages 1–9 and 10–15 respectively. HR was recorded during each race stage, and total HR time was categorised into a modified, three phase TRIMPS schema. These phases were based on standardised physiological laboratory values obtained during previous V˙o2max testing, where HR time in each phase (phase I  =  light intensity and less than ventilatory threshold (VT; ∼70% V˙o2max); phase II  =  moderate intensity between VT and respiratory compensation point (RCP; ∼90% V˙o2max); phase III  =  high intensity (>RCP)) was multiplied by exertional factors of 1, 2, and 3 respectively. Results: Multivariate analysis of variance showed that total TRIMPS for race stages 1–9 (2466 (90)) were greater than for stages 10–15 (2055 (65)) (p<0.0002). However, TRIMPS/day were less for stages 1–9 (274 (10)) than for stages 10–15 (343 (11)) (p<0.01). Despite a trend to decline, no difference in supine resting HR was found between day 0 (53.2 (1.8) beats/min), day 10 (49.0 (2.8) beats/min), and day 17 (48.0 (2.6) beats/min) (p  =  0.21). Whereas no significant group mean changes in HR or HRV indices were noted during the course of the race, significant inverse Pearson product-moment correlations were observed between all HRV indices relative to total TRIMPS and TRIMPS/day accumulated in race stages 10–15. Total TRIMPS correlated with square root of mean squared differences of successive RR intervals (r  =  −0.93; p<0.001), standard deviation of the RR intervals (r  =  −0.94; p<0.001), log normalised total power (r  =  −0.97; p<0.001), log normalised low frequency power (r  =  −0.79; p<0.02), and log normalised high frequency power (r  =  −0.94; p<0.001). Conclusion: HRV may be strongly affected by chronic exposure to heavy exertion. Training volume and intensity are necessary to delineate the degree of these alterations.


Surface quality and dimensional precision significantly affect to strength and performance of working machine parts that are contacted one another. Additionally, cutting tool geometry and cutting parameters are the most important factor affecting to cutting force, surface roughness and productivity in machining. In this paper, optimization of cutting parameters and tool nose radius (variables) was performed for which Fc and Ra are occurred in machining of AISI 316L austenitic stainless steel. For this purpose, the machinability experiments were carried out using Taguchi's L9 orthogonal array. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) was employed to determine the level of contribution and effects of variables on Fc and Ra values measured during the machining experiments. Optimal values of variables which were obtained using the S/N ratios were found at different levels for Fc and Ra. According to the ANOVA results, the most significant variable affecting to cutting force and surface roughness values was determined as feed rate.


This research studies the mutual effects between mechanical loading and corrosion of reinforcing steel, as well as their combined effect on serviceability (flexural deflection and residual loading capacity) of reinforced concrete beams. Beam specimens 10-by-15-by-117 cm in size were subjected to four-point bending at various loading levels (0-75% of the ultimate load) with different loading histories (previous loading and sustained loading). Sodium chloride solution ponding was employed to accelerate the corrosion process. Half-cell potential and galvanized current measurements were taken to monitor time for corrosion initiation. After corrosion initiated, an external current was applied to some of the specimens to expedite corrosion propagation. Beam deflections were recorded throughout all of the tests. Residual flexural loading capacity of the beams was evaluated at the end of the experiment. The results indicate that loading history and loading level have significant effects on both corrosion initiation and the rate of corrosion propagation. The failure mode of the reinforced concrete beams appeared to shift from a shear failure of concrete to bond splitting as the degree of corrosion increased. The results suggest that for a rational service-life prediction of reinforced concrete structures, the influence of the service load on the structure performance should be considered in combination with environmental conditions and material proportions.


Similar to many other types of cancer, liver cancer is associated with biological changes that lead to tissue stiffening. An effective imaging technique that can be used for liver cancer detection through visualizing tissue stiffness is ultrasound elastography. In this paper, we show the effectiveness of an enhanced method of quasi-static ultrasound elastography for liver cancer assessment. The method utilizes initial estimates of axial and lateral displacement fields obtained using conventional time delay estimation (TDE) methods in conjunction with a recently proposed strain refinement algorithm to generate enhanced versions of the axial and lateral strain images. Another primary objective of this work is to investigate the sensitivity of the proposed method to the quality of these initial displacement estimates. The strain refinement algorithm is founded on the tissue mechanics principles of incompressibility and strain compatibility. Tissue strain images can serve as input for full-inversion-based elasticity image reconstruction algorithm. In this work, we use strain images generated by the proposed method with an iterative elasticity reconstruction algorithm. Ultrasound RF data collected from a tissue-mimicking phantom and in-vivo data of a liver cancer patient were used to evaluate the proposed method. Results show that while there is some sensitivity to the displacement field initial estimates, overall, the proposed method is robust to the quality of the initial estimates. Clinical Relevance— Improved elasticity images of the liver can aid in achieving more reliable diagnosis of liver cancer


The average number of available oocytes recovered per ovary collected during the breeding season in dairy goats was 5.5 (1815/330). 66.17% (1201/1815) of oocytes extruded the first polar body after maturation in vitro for 20 h. 75.44% (906/1201) of matured oocytes with membrane evagination around the M II chromosomes were enucleated. Ear skin fibroblast cells were derived from an adult female Jining Grey goat (C. hircus). The cells were cryopreserved in liquid nitrogen after passage 2. Thawed cells were further cultured for 3–6 passages and were subjected to serum starvation by 0.5% FBS for 2–10 d, then used as donor cells for nuclear transfer. 98.12% (889/906) of the enucleated oocytes were reconstructed by intracytoplasmic injection of karyoplast. The reconstructed embryos were activated by 5 μmol/L ionomycin for 4.5 min and further activated by culturing with 6-dimethylaminopurine (6-DMAP) for 3 h. After 36 h of culture in mCR1aaBF, 76.69% (645/841) of the cloned embryos cleaved. There were no significant differences in development in vitro between the cloned embryos derived from donor cells precooled at 4°C for 24 h and nonprecooled donor cells. The cleavage rates, 4-cell development, and blastocyst development of reconstructed embryos were 72.48% (79/109), 53.16% (42/79), and 19.05% (8/42) in precooled group; 68.5% (211/308), 59.72% (126/211), and 17.46% (22/126) in nonprecooled group, respectively. Eighteen cloned 4-cell embryos derived from precooled donor cells were transferred and one cloned kid was born. Eighty-four cloned 4-cell embryos derived from nonprecooled donor cells were transferred and no offspring were produced. Of 18 cloned morale from nonprecooled donor cells transferred, one kid was born. The results of microsatellite DNA analyses indicated that the two cloned kids were from the same donor fibroblast cell line derived from an adult goat ear skin.


The cytochrome P-450 content, activity of microsomal monooxygenases, nonspecific esterases and glutathione S-transferases were studied at different stages of development of the Colorado beetle, cotton bollworm, cabbage butterfly, wax moth from the laboratory and natural populations. The data obtained demonstrate significant species, sexual and age differences in the activity of enzyme systems of insecticide detoxication. The toxic efficiency of insecticides at certain developmental stages depends on the level of activity of the enzyme systems involved in their metabolism. These data are discussed with respect to the problem of insects' sensitivity to insecticides at different developmental stages.


This study reports new three-dimensional (3D) micromachined magnetic tweezers consisting of micro-electromagnets and a ring-trap structure, fabricated using MEMS (micro-electro-mechanical systems) technology, for manipulating a single 2 nm diameter DNA molecule. The new apparatus uses magnetic forces to exert over 20 pN with less heating, allowing the extension of the DNA molecule over its whole contour length to investigate its entropic and elastic regions. To improve the localized DNA immobilization efficiency, a novel ring-trapper structure was used to handle the vertical movement of magnetic beads which were adhered to the DNA molecules. One extremity of the DNA molecule, which was bound to the thiol-modified magnetic bead, could be immobilized covalently on a gold surface. The other extremity, which was bound to another unmodified magnetic bead, could be manipulated under a magnetic field generated by micro-electromagnets. The important elastic modulus of DNA has been explored to be 453 pN at a low ionic strength. This result reveals that DNA becomes more susceptible to elastic elongation at a low ionic strength due to electrostatic repulsion. The force–extension curve for DNA molecules is found to be consistent with theoretical models. In addition to a single DNA stretching, this study also successfully demonstrates the stretching of two parallel DNA molecules.


We study two coupled reaction-diffusion equations of the $\lambda$–$\omega$ type [11] in $d\,{\le}\,3$ space dimensions, on a convex bounded domain with a $C^2$ boundary. The equations are close to a supercritical Hopf bifurcation in the reaction kinetics and are model equations for oscillatory reaction-diffusion equations. Global existence, uniqueness and continuous dependence on initial data of strong and weak solutions are proved using the classical Faedo-Galerkin method of Lions [15] and compactness arguments. We also present a complete case study for the application of this method to systems of nonlinear reaction-diffusion equations.


Undoubtedly, in recent years, the world as a whole, as well as the present world of work, has seen rapid changes which have served to bring about fundamental changes to work practices. Employees and trainers are thus facing greater challenges to achieve the required competency needed in this changing workplace environment. Bhatia (2013) observes that while the analyses of legal discourse have focused largely on 'discursive practices', very little effort has been given to studying 'critical performance' in professional legal practices, which is distinct from discursive practices. For this reason, this paper aims to show why discursive output has proved insufficient in the dynamic and complex discourse world of the present day workplace, as well as how the application of Critical Genre Analysis (CGA) greatly assists our understanding of it. By using critical genre theory, this paper looks more closely at interdiscursivity in public relations (PR) involving professional communication and how this in turn results in greater understanding of the changing workplace environment of the PR profession and helps individual PR practitioners cope with the challenges that they face. To achieve these aims, this study includes (i) in-depth interviews with public relations practitioners to gain their perceptions of their daily activities and the language and communication skills required by public relations practitioners to improve their effective professional communication, and (ii) critical genre analysis of the production of PR/communication plans, in particular, the Executive Summary and the Situation Analysis Section of the plans, to show the interaction between discursive and professional practices in the "socio-pragmatic space" of public relations contexts and how interdiscursivity is built into PR genres. For example, in order to examine the appropriation of genre and genre resources, it is interesting to consider: (i) in what way the Executive Summary of the PR/communication plans satisfies the requirements of sales promotional materials, and (ii) how in a very subtle manner, promotional elements are incorporated in the Situation Analysis Section, resulting in a mixed and embedded genre and discourse, achieving a mixture of  communicative purposes in the communicative context: to report and to recommend communicative actions as well as to achieve 'private intentions' within the context of 'socially recognized communicative purposes' (Bhatia 2002).


"The accelerated Mahaweli Development Programme is one of the most recent and largest multi-purpose development programmes in Sri Lanka, and System C is a major agricultural settlement that has been developed under this programme.... This paper presents the findings of a study that was carried out in System C, with a view to collecting certain important baseline demographic and socioeconomic characteristics." Information is provided on spatial distribution, number and size of families, sex ratio, age distribution, family characteristics, and seasonal variations in population.


Analysis and understanding of physical systems require modeling the system as set of simultaneous linear/non linear equations and generating solutions to satisfy the system of equations. Analytical approach towards solving the system of equations remains practical so long as considerable constraints are imposed on the modeled system to bring in significant simplicity so as to retain the system model within the scope of defined algorithms for solving system of equations. The current work adopts the concept of genetic algorithm towards evolving a solution to a system of equations. The fundamental strength of genetic algorithms lies in the fact the solution generation is practically unconstrained permitting the methodology to become the superset for all possible realizable problems. One of the oft repeated and highlighted / drawbacks of genetic algorithm i.e. requirements of huge initial population and corresponding extended number of computations and hence time is addressed by exploiting multi-processing capabilities of the current generation hardware as well as system software. Adopted strategy for selecting the best population, implementation flow chart along with a case study is presented..


The purpose of the current study was to investigate the effect of a high intensity treadmill running training (8weeks)
 with or without aqueous extraction of Crataegus-Pentaegyna on heart and plasma LDH and CK. Thirty-two Wistar
 male rats (4-6 weeks old, 125-135 gr weight) were used. Animals were randomly assigned into training (n = 16) and
 control (n = 16) groups and further divided into saline-control (SC, n = 8), saline-training (ST, n = 8), red
 Crataegus pentaegyna extraction -control (CPEC, n = 8), and red Crataegus pentaegyna extraction -training
 (CPET, n = 8) groups. Training groups have performed a high-intensity running program 34 m/min on 0% grade,
 60 min/day, 5 days/week) on a motor-driven treadmill for 8 weeks. Animals were fed orally with Crataegus
 extraction and saline solution (500mg/kg body weight/or 10ml/kg body weight) for last six weeks. Seventy- two
 hours after the last training session, rats were sacrificed; plasma and heart were excised and immediately frozen in
 liquid nitrogen. LDH and CK levels were measured by colorimetric method. Statistical analysis was performed
 using a one way analysis of variance and Tukey test. Significance was accepted at P = 0.05. Result showed that
 consumption crataegus lowers LDH and CK in heart and plasma.Also the heart LDH and CK were lower in the
 CPET compared to the ST, while plasma LDH and CK in CPET was higher than the ST. The results of ANOVA
 showed that the due high-intensity exercise and consumption crataegus, there are significant differences between
 levels of hearth LDH (P<0/001), plasma (P<0/006) and hearth (P<0/001) CK. It appears that high-intensity
 exercise led to increased tissue damage and inflammatory factors in plasma. In other hand, consumption aqueous
 extraction of Red Crataegus maybe inhabits these factors and prevents muscle and heart damage.


This special issue arose from the 3rd International Workshop "Teaching robotics, teaching with robotics" held in Riva del Garda (Trento), Italy, April 20, 2012. The workshop was aimed to promote exchange and sharing of experiences among researchers in the field of educational robotics and continued the tradition of two previous successful workshops in Venice (SIMPAR, 2008) and in Darmstadt (2010) organized by the TERECoP (2009) project partnership. The focus of the workshop was on the integration of educational robotics in school curriculum, which raises challenging issues on two important topics: the effective management of the direct and indirect positive effects of the laboratorial robotics activities in a wide spectrum of disciplines and the development of new assessment tools more suitable to a learning-by-doing approach. Several efforts which were developed during last two years at European level for integrating robotics in tertiary and school education, mainly in science and technology subjects, were presented in the workshop and are reported in the workshop proceedings. After the workshop, the authors of papers representative of the different thematic areas discussed at the workshop were invited to offer an improved and extended version; six of those papers were finally selected after double peer review and are included in this issue.


three months 35% of patients were completely free of stones. At six months the proportion rose to 56%, with a further 29% having fragments less than 2 mm in diameter which can be expected to pass. It is just over six years since the first patients underwent extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy, and with this fairly short follow up the rate at which stones have reformed in patients with residual fragments has been no greater than 510%,' which is in line with results from open surgery.4 Lithotripsy not only has a better long term outcome than is reported by Mr Mays and others, but in patients who require future treatment it can be easily repeated. This is particularly so for the second generation lithotripters, with which anaesthesia is not required.' Further points that should be made include the failure of the authors to relate size of stone to position. Had they done so they would have found more specific subgroups of patients in whom residual fragments can be found more commonly6; for example, a 20 mm diameter stone in the renal pelvis can be less of a problem than a much smaller upper caliceal stone in terms of residual fragments. We do not argue that residual fragments remain after lithotripsy. It is our belief, shared by urologists throughout Europe and the United States, that these fragments eventually pass and even when still present are of little consequence. It is also difficult to understand the data from the 13 centres in which percutaneous nephrolithotomy was carried out. Our experience at St Peter's Hospital, where over 1200 of these procedures have been undertaken under the care of one consultant, is that complications, although uncommon when compared with those after open surgery, occur much more often than are recorded in this study, and would imply that only simple cases of complications have been described. We await the results ofthe same group comparing the costs and quality of life in patients having lithotripsy and nephrolithotomy. Costings from our own unit show that the cost of lithotripsy is almost half that of nephrolithotomy for an equivalent case. In our own institution, which has managed over 3000 unselected patients over 20 years by open surgery, nephrolithotomy, and lithotripsy, there is no doubt of the non-traumatic efficacy of lithotripsy. It is painfully obvious from this paper that the authors (with the exception ofMr Palfrey) have had no first hand experience of the complications resulting from open surgery. If only 10% of their patients were free of stones by lithotripsy then the lack ofsurgical trauma and morbidity would surely make the procedure worth while despite the expense. We would like to ask the authors, in particular Mr Palfrey, which technique they would choose if they were faced with a renal stone themselves. We do not think that considerations of cost would loom large in their decision. In summary, we think that this article was a counterproductive exercise by non-clinicians who are not confronted with the day to day management of patients with renal stones. If lithotripsy is as inferior as they imply should the St Thomas's Lithotripter Unit continue to operate? Our answer is yes. J E A WICKHAM M J COPTCOAT


Biodiesel is one of the most popular alternative fuels. The usage of biodiesel is increasing day by day. Therefore, all effects of biodiesel on internal combustion engines must be known. In this study, vibration effect of canola (rapeseed), sunflower biodiesel and their blends with low sulphur diesel fuel was investigated. Fuels were tested in a four cylinder four stroke diesel engine at 1300, 1600, 1900, 2200, 2500 and 2800 rpm engine speed. The results showed that with the use of biodiesel blend with low sulphur diesel fuel up to 40% proportions, vibration values get significantly lower at all engine speed. The least vibration value for most of the fuel was observed with the use of 60% biodiesel blend. The results were also individually interpreted in longitude, vertical and lateral axes.


Acute exposure to hypoxia evokes changes in local vasodilator and neural vasoconstrictor factors that significantly influence vascular tone. In humans, the net effect of acute systemic hypoxia is limb vasodilation despite significant reflex increases in muscle sympathetic vasoconstrictor nerve activity and norepinephrine spillover. In this context, some studies in experimental animals and humans have documented that hypoxia can reduce the vasoconstrictor responses to sympathetic nerve stimulation, as well as exogenous alpha-adrenergic agonist administration (functional sympatholysis). In contrast, other studies have provided evidence that sympathetic vasoconstriction is well preserved during hypoxia. Recently, our laboratory demonstrated that local blockade of alpha-adrenergic receptors significantly augments the forearm vasodilator response to hypoxia, indicating that sympathetic vasoconstriction persists and can restrain skeletal muscle blood flow under these conditions. Therefore, we revisited this issue and performed a study designed to test the hypothesis that forearm vasoconstrictor responses to local endogenous norepinephrine release are not reduced during systemic hypoxia in humans. To do so, we used selective intra-arterial infusions tyramine to evoke local endogenous norepinephrine release and measured the forearm vasoconstrictor responses during various levels of hypoxia (85, 80, and 75 % O2 saturation). Our findings demonstrate that forearm post-junctional alpha-adrenergic vasoconstrictor responsiveness is well preserved during systemic hypoxia in healthy humans. The implications of these findings with respect to arterial blood pressure regulation and functional sympatholysis in skeletal muscle are discussed.


OBJECTIVE The use of the levels of hemoglobin A1c for the monitoring of glycemic control in patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) is an accepted method of clinical usefulness. A study was performed to assess the relative costs of hemoglobin A1c determination by diagnostic testing at or near the site of patient care (point-of-care testing, POCT) and using the standard hemoglobin A1c analyzer. METHOD A cost identification study was performed. The model of DCA (POCT) versus D10 (standard hospital method) in the Thai context was used. rESuLTS The direct cost of the DCA is higher than that of the D10, but the indirect cost of the DCA is lower than that of the D10. The total cost of the DCA is lower than that of D10. CONCLuSIONS The total cost of hemoglobin A1c determination by the POCT format (DCA) is lower, which implies that the use of this approach is more economically appropriate.


The effect of the partial substitution of x = 0.02 Fe for Cu in the stabilized (Bi, Pb):2223 phase has been investigated by magnetoresistivity measurements up to 0.7 T. The intra- and intergranular transitions as a function of magnetic field were analysed using versus T curves. The Arrhenius plots are represented by a family of straight lines. The activation energy is proportional to . The main dissipation process is related to the vortex cutting mechanism.


Introduction: Coping strategies and adaptation skills are key features in successfully adjusting to university challenges. Coping skills are an essential part of the Psychological immune system, which leads to successful adaptation. Due to COVID-19 most universities have changed their face-to-face teaching for online education. Nevertheless, there is little concrete empirical evidence on how this generation of students with the ongoing impacts of disruptive changes can cope with it. Colleges and universities need to make changes in order to retain this new generation of students. Our aim was to explore the characteristics and changes in coping skills of university students from three different age groups. Method: Psychological coping skills were measured by the Psychological Immune Competence Inventory (PICI). Differences were detected between generations. Group comparisons (pre-2004, pre-Covid, and post-Covid) groups were compared) using PICI subscales using independent sample analysis of variance. The sample consisted of 4,731 university students, 2,768 (58.5%) were men and 1,730 (36.56%) were women. Results: Students from 2004 showed significantly higher scores in the Self-regulation subsystem scale compared to students in the pre-Covid and post-Covid groups. Self-regulation subsystem: F(2, 2,569.607) = 444.375, p < 0.001, η2 = 0.27: small effect, ω2 = 0.27; Resilience: F(2, 2,372.117) = 1171.855, p < 0.001, η2 = 0.14: small effect, ω2 = 0.14. Based on the results, the explained variance ratio was at least 10% based on self-regulation and resilience. Conclusions: Psychological immune capacity of students seems to decrease through the years. Nonetheless, interventions may have a further facilitating role in the maintenance and development of psychological immunity during college years.


This paper discusses the methods
used by the team from the German Aerospace
Center (DLR) for solving the 9th Global Trajectory
Optimization Competition (GTOC) problem.
The GTOC is an event taking place every
year lasting roughly one month during which
the best aerospace engineers and mathematicians
world wide challenge themselves to solve a nearlyimpossible
problem of trajectory design.


The present study compared the effects of irrational beliefs measured by the Survey of Personal Beliefs (SPB) and optimism and pessimism as measured by the revised Life Orientation Test (LOT-R) on depressive and anxious symptoms 6 weeks later. Results of analysis of variances for both measures of psychological distress indicated a significant main effect for pessimism only. Implications for Ellis Rational Emotive Therapy are discussed.


Minsmere is a large nature reserve in East Anglia UK, owned and managed by the Royal Society for the Protec- tion of Birds (RSPB). Two blocks of land, which were farmed commercially until 1990, have been bought in an attempt to link existing patches of heathland and acid grassland, thus creating a larger area for conservation. This paper discusses methods for the creation of acid grasslands. Previous studies of the arable soils in these fields identified three constraints - a depauperate seed bank, a high pH and vigorous growth of ruderal species after the fields were abandoned. Accordingly, experiments were set up to test the effects of (1) adding seed of species typical of acid grasslands and (2) adding amendments (elemental sulphur, litter of Pteridium aquilinum and pine chippings) to acidify the soil. The results confirmed that ruderal growth was high on unamended plots, but this could be reduced by addition of acidic amendments. Where the cover of ruderals was reduced, the cover of the sown species increased. The sown species colonized adjacent unsown subplots naturally and this was most pronounced where the acidity had been reduced by treatment. The most effective treatment was 2 t S/ha, which gave the optimal reduction in soil pH, controlled ruderal growth and provided a reasonable cover of the sown species. The addition of Pteridium litter or pine chippings gave good establishment of sown species, but control of the ruderals was less effective.


A non-contact electrocardiograph (ECG) measurement system based on capacitive coupled electrodes is proposed. Unlike conventional wet electrode, the capacitive coupled electrode is designed to measure ECG signal both in contact with skin and through clothes. The hardware part of the system includes two capacitive coupled electrodes, a reference electrode, a signal processing module and a transmission module, and the software part includes data extraction, signal processing, data storage, and waveform display. A real-time ECG denoising algorithm is developed based on wavelet transform with a moving window. To verify the performance of proposed system, two different conditions of the ECG measurement are experimentally tested in comparison with Ag/AgCl electrode. One is in a contact condition in which capacitive coupled electrodes touched the skin. Another is the non-contact condition in which ECG was measured through thin clothes. The results show that the capacitive coupled electrode is better than the conventional Ag/AgCl electrode when it is attached to the skin, and the clear ECG waveform can be obtained under non-contact measurement. The results demonstrated the feasibility to measure high resolution ECG waveform with real-time denoising algorithm in a non-contact way.


We aimed to compare continuous temperature-monitoring using Bluetooth-enabled thermometer (BET) and intermittent monitoring by digital thermometer (DT) in neonates. Continuous monitoring using BET identified 377 episodes of hypo/hyperthermias in 90 baby-days; 316 (83.8%) episodes were confirmed by DT and 61 (16.2%) were false alarms. Five episodes were missed by BET. The agreement between digital thermometer and BET was good. Continuous temperature monitoring helps in early identification of hypo/hyperthermia in neonates.


Abstract The Polish Armed Forces use tracked vehicles that serve as a core element of the ground combat forces. These vehicles are capable of fighting in all kinds of terrain conditions, in any season of the year. Combat missions are often fought in areas where even no dirt roads are available. The present paper assesses the reliability of tracked vehicles in the context of their irregular operation, as well as service- and maintenance-related vulnerability.


OBJECTIVES
This study aims to compare veterans and non-veterans undergoing transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) using data from the Society for Thoracic Surgeons/American College of Cardiology Transcatheter Valve Therapy (STS/ACC TVT) registry.

METHODS
Patients undergoing TAVR at George Washington University (GWU) and veterans treated at Washington DC Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC) who underwent TAVR at GWU from 2014-2020 were included. All patients were reported in the TVT registry. Emergency and valve-in-valve TAVR were excluded. Cohorts were divided based on veteran status. Operators were the same for both groups. Outcomes were compared at 30 days and 1 year. The primary outcome was mortality and secondary outcomes were morbidity metrics.

RESULTS
A total of 299 patients (91 veterans, 208 non-veterans) were included. Veterans had higher rates of hypertension (87.9% vs 77.9%; P=.04), diabetes (46.7% vs 28.9%; P<.01), and lung disease (2.4% vs 11.0%; P<.001). Outcomes were not significantly different between veterans and non-veterans, including 30-day mortality (0% vs 2.9%, respectively; P=.18), 1-year mortality (9.8% vs 10.7%, respectively; P=.61), stroke incidence (0% vs 2.5%, respectively; P=.73), median intensive care unit stay (24 hours in both groups), and overall hospital stay (2 days in both groups).

CONCLUSIONS
The affiliation between a VAMC and an academic medical center allowed for direct comparison between veterans and non-veterans undergoing TAVR by the same operators using the TVT registry. Despite significantly higher rates of comorbidities, veterans had equivalent outcomes compared with non-veterans. This may be in part due to the comprehensive care that veterans receive in the VAMC and this institution's integrated heart center team.


Surmmary
Methods of isolation and nutritional requirements of Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus strains capable of growth on host-free media are described. Such strains retained their parasitic capacities for various Gram-negative bacteria after many transfers in host-free media. In parasite + host suspensions the spectrum of host specificity of various bdellovibrio strains was considerably wider than that obtained by examination for plaques on host lawns. The growth conditions therefore affect the capacity of the bdellovibrios to attach to and lyse host organisms. A proteolytic exoenzyme formed by certain bdellovibrio strains digested heat-killed, acid-treated or EDTA-treated host organisms, but did not affect intact host organisms. High phosphate concentrations inhibited exoenzyme activity. The morphological sequence of lysis induced by exoenzyme-forming parasitic bdellovibrio strains suggested that this lysis was a two-stage process: the first stage was specific attachment of bdellovibrios with damage to the cell wall of the host organisms; the second stage was non-specific digestion of cellular components by exoenzyme produced by the bdellovibrios.


With more and more renewable energy generation (REG) connections, busbar voltage violation and line overloading problems may occur for some parts of a distribution network. However, building new circuits to accommodate REG may have high monetary and environmental costs. This paper considers distribution automation as a supplementary scheme to traditional primary asset investments and analyzes the operational benefits from introducing an autonomous regional active network management system (AuRA-NMS) to a practical distribution system with rich renewable sources. The benefits are quantified in terms of optimal power flow control and investment deferral, and the resulting quantification will inform distribution network operators of the trade-offs between investment in the automation system and in the primary assets, thus helping them to make cost-effective investment decisions. Time-series-based simulation for over an entire year is implemented to calculate the benefits of active power loss and curtailment reductions for AuRA-NMS over the current practice. Part I of this paper illustrates the current schemes for voltage control and constraint management, advanced voltage control and constraint management enabled by the distribution automation, and the annual benefit by introducing the AuRA-NMS to the system with different considerable new DG integrations. Part II analyzes the investment deferral benefit by deploying AuRA-NMS.


Over the last few decades, the characterisation of steel joints has been a highly active research topic thanks to its inherent complexity and utmost importance in the behaviour of a whole structure. The emergence of the semi-rigid concept provided significant benefits from both the structural and economic perspectives, in exchange for more advanced and sophisticated calculation procedures. An approach that has gained popularity is the component-based method, in which the overall behaviour of the joint can be determined from the force-displacement responses of its individual components. Although this method is very versatile for modelling any joint configuration, a detailed characterisation of components is necessary to ensure accuracy.
In this context, this thesis presents a hybrid methodology to determine the comprehensive force-displacement curve of bolted components: from initial stiffness up to the fracture point. This methodology couples numerical and informational models to predict key parameters of curves, such as initial stiffness, maximum resistance and displacement at failure. To this end, numerical models based on the finite element method (FEM) are first developed to reproduce the real response of bolted components. These models incorporate progressive damage mechanisms and failure criteria to accurately estimate the displacement at fracture. In order to minimise the computational burden of the FEM, the results of a set of simulations are then utilised to train informational models based on soft computing (SC). A genetic algorithm (GA) optimisation is included to set up model parameters and select the most relevant input variables for predicting the force-displacement response. Taken together, the proposed methodology is capable of providing accurate and parsimonious informational models.
The applicability of the hybrid methodology is demonstrated for the characterisation of two fundamental bolted components: the lap and the T-stub. The results obtained highlight the superior accuracy of this methodology as compared to current regulatory codes and traditional analytical models. Once trained and validated, the informational models are able to replace costly FE simulations without a significant decrease in accuracy, and at a negligible computational cost. Therefore, the hybrid methodology could represent an effective tool to be implemented in structural analysis software for designers and practitioners.
Overall, the contributions presented in this thesis provide evidence of the great potential of combining FEM and SC to predict the behaviour of structural components.


p33ING1 is a novel candidate tumor suppressor gene which is involved in the regulation of apoptosis. p33ING1 interacts with p53 signaling pathway and regulates cellular growth. It has reported that the expression of p33ING1 mRNA was decreased in lymphoid malignancies. We thus investigated the potential involvement of p33ING1 abnormalities in myeloid leukemias. However, the levels of p33ING1 transcript were almost equal in 3 AML cell lines and 10 fresh AML samples. In addition, neither point mutations nor deletions in p33ING1 gene were found in myeloid leukemias. These results suggest that p33ING1 may not be a major candidate tumor suppressor gene in myeloid leukemias. Am. J. Hematol. 69:141–143, 2002. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


The heat capacity of thorium dioxide was determined from 10 to 305°K in an adiabatic calorimeter. As expected, no anomaly was observed in the heat capacity. The enthalpy, entropy, and free energy were calculated from the heat‐capacity data and are tabulated for several temperatures. At 298.16°K the entropy and the enthalpy are, respectively, 15.593±0.02 cal deg−1 mole−1 and 2524.4±3 cal mole−1. By assuming the lattice entropy of uranium dioxide and of neptunium dioxide to be equal to the entropy of thorium dioxide, the magnetic entropy contributions at 298.16°K were evaluated as 3.0 cal deg−1 mole−1 for uranium dioxide and 3.6 cal deg−1 mole−1 for neptunium dioxide. These values are somewhat greater than the spinonly values (R ln 3=2.18 cal deg−1 mole−1 for uranium dioxide and R ln 4=2.75 cal deg−1 mole−1 for neptunium dioxide). The entropies of the other isomorphous actinide dioxides at 298.16°K are estimated to be (in cal deg−1 mole−1) 17.8 for PaO2, 19.7 for PuO2, 20.0 for AmO2, 20.3 for CmO2, 20.6 for...


The Edlen equation has become the standard method of relating the index of refraction of air to the air temperature, pressure and humidity. The recent suggestion for improvements in the humidity dependence by Birch and Downs has been verified at the 0,633 μm He-Ne laser wavelength using the line scale interferometer at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).


Ganoderma boninense is a causal agent of basal stem rot (BSR) and is responsible for a significant portion of oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) losses, which can reach USD 500 million a year in South East Asia. At the early stage of this disease, infected palms are symptomless, which imposes difficulties in detecting the disease. In spite of the availability of tissue and DNA sampling techniques, there is a particular need for replacing costly field data collection methods for detecting Ganoderma in its early stage. This study evaluated the use of insitu and remote sensors to early detect the Ganoderma infected oil palms before the visual symptoms are manifested (mildly infected). The study was conducted in Machap sub-district belonging to United Malacca Berhad located in Melaka, Malaysia (2.402° N and 102.327° E) (WGS 84 coordinate system). Initially an experiment was carried out to determine the best insitu sensors that could be utilized for early detection of Ganoderma in oil palms. During the field experiments, leaf samples of healthy (T1), mildly (T2), moderately (T3) and severely-infected (T4) palms were measured using a Minolta SPAD-502 chlorophyll meter and a SC-1 leaf Porometer to obtain relative leaf chlorophyll content and stomatal conductance, respectively. Afterwards spectral reflectance readings data were acquired using a GER 1500 spectroradiometer from 1016 spectral signatures of foliar samples in four disease levels (T1 to T4) and 2 fronds (9, 17). Various artificial neural network (ANN) architectures were applied to the datasets to verify the proficiency of various combinations of input variables, learning optimization methods and different numbers of neurons on the hidden layer by MATLAB 2014a software. The neural network chosen in this study was multi-layer and back-propagation (BP) due to the ability to learn and determine nonlinear combinations. 70.0% of data were assigned for the purpose of training the network, while the remaining 30.0% of data were allocated for testing model accuracy.Subsequently in imaging processing study, 287 oil palm samples were classified into three disease levels (T1 to T3) using ANN, whereby the principle of the classification is to seek for the most representative image configurations and network properties while adjusting for the best canopy circle radius, threshold limit, best neuron numbers of hidden layer and the best mean and standard deviation values from different combination of spectral bands (green,red, and NIR bands) from CIR images obtained from a unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). Simultaneously, the number of hidden neurons and termination error were optimized given various classification input in order to correctly classify the imaged palms to their corresponding severity classes. For this purpose, the dataset was randomly split into three sets, 60.0% for model training, 20.0% for model validating, and 20.0% for model testing. In the second stage and for improvement of image processing study, support vector machine (SVM) classifier was performed on UAV and Pleiades imagery to identify early Ganoderma infected oil palms. In the first phase, spectral features and structural features were extracted for feature extraction. In the spectral features part, the descriptors include red (R), green (G), blue (B), near-infrared (NIR) digital numbers and a vegetation index (VI) was considered. Statistical parameters like average, variance and grey-level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM) was set as a structural feature which provides several statistics information about the texture of an image. In the next phase, the SVM classifier was trained to achieve the best classification using training data and test data integrated with selected features. The results and consequences of this study showed that the chlorophyll meter, leaf porometer and spectral indices from the spectroradiometer, mNDVI, GNDVI and VOG1, were found beneficial to differentiate between T1 and T2. Nonetheless, the combination of VOG1-stomatal conductance obtained from frond 9 and 17 could discriminate the T2 palms from the T1 ones with accuracies ranging from 66.67% to 73.68% regardless of time of measurements. The results obtained from the spectroradiometer analysis presented that the healthy oil palms and those which were infected by Ganoderma at early stage (T2) were classified satisfactorily with an accuracy of 83.33%, and 100.0% in 550-560 nm, respectively, by ANN using first derivative spectroradiometer data. The results further indicated that the sensitive frond number modelled by ANN provided the highest accuracy of 100.0% for frond number 9 compared to frond 17. The results acquired from the UAV classification in the third study indicated that classification error of 12.29% was achieved which generated by the ANN network by 219 neurons, green and NIR bands, canopy circle radius of 35 pixels and 1/8 threshold limit. The total classification accuracy for training and testing the dataset was 97.52% and 72.73%, respectively. Finally, the findings from fourth study showed that the best prediction results of using SVM classifier were obtained from the UAV image with an overall accuracy of 68.28% compared to Pleiades with an overall accuracy of 64.52%; also the early Ganoderma infection (T2) could be detected with an accuracy of 64.07% and 64.49%, respectively. Even though at first glance the classification accuracy was moderate, the level of details provided by the imageries suggests that the accuracies were acceptable. In conclusion, for early detection of Ganoderma, better accuracies were derived from the spectroradiometer which is a destructive and ground based method and still requires individual leaf sampling. This method is still considerably time-consuming and laborious compared to the rapid, nondestructive approach of canopy reflectance using UAV or satellite imagery. The latter, nonetheless, gained reasonable accuracy and is appropriate for field applications involving mass screening of oil palm plantations that are commonly cultivated in thousands of hectares in seeking for potentially infected individual palms. This study concluded that remote sensing approach combined with data mining approaches such as ANN algorithms have great potential in monitoring vast plantation areas in a rapid and inexpensive manner.


In modern power systems, co-simulation is proposed as an enabler for analyzing the interactions between disparate systems. This paper introduces the co-simulation platform Virtual Grid Integration Laboratory (VirGIL) including Hardware-in-the-Loop testing, and demonstrates its potential to assess demand response strategies. VirGIL is based on a modular architecture using the Functional Mock-up Interface industrial standard to integrate new simulators. VirGIL combines state-of-the-art simulators in power systems, communications, buildings, and control. In this work, VirGIL is extended with a Hardware-in-the-Loop component to control the ventilation system of a real 12-story building in Denmark. VirGIL capabilities are illustrated in three scenarios: load following, primary reserves and load following aggregation. Experimental results show that the system can track one minute changing signals and it can provide primary reserves for up-regulation. Furthermore, the potential of aggregating several ventilation systems is evaluated considering the impact at distribution grid level and the communications protocol effect.


The ability of high dietary carbohydrate to induce acute pancreatitis was investigated in groups of 16, 21-day and 15-month old rats fed different carbohydrate diets for 30 days. Significantly increased levels of serum amylase (2-fold), phospholipids (50%), phosphorus (2-fold), and lipoperoxides (8-fold) were observed in 15-month old rats fed a high-carbohydrate diet, compared to rats fed a diet with normal carbohydrate levels, indicating peroxidation of membrane lipids which caused final cell death and pancreatic lesion. Serum Cu-Zn superoxide dismutase activity was not altered. Daily administration of bovine Cu-Zn superoxide dismutase conjugated with polyethylene glycol prevented the serum level alterations and pancreatic lesions, indicating that the superoxide radical has a role in dietary carbohydrate-induced acute pancreatitis. No biochemical changes were observed in rats in which treatment was initiated on the 21st day of life indicating that this is an age-related lesion.


Abstract Continuous improvement of the teaching process requires teachers to constantly think, analyse and evaluate their own work and try to improve its quality. The paper deals with the introduction of quality management in the teaching process, since one way of improving the quality of education is to build a quality management system at primary schools, focusing exclusively on schools with Hungarian language of instruction. The paper includes the climate survey of the school class aiming at verifying the current state of the social climate of the class in the subject of Slovak language and Slovak literature. When teaching this subject at the primary level of education, attention has to be paid to the fact that pupils in the first year of primary school with Hungarian language of instruction come with different linguistic and speech competences.


The previously unreported case of a child with an exceedingly rare amalgamation of complex defects, including truncus arteriosus (TA), double aortic arch (DAA), tracheoesophageal fistula, and choanal atresia is presented. First, on day-of-life (DOL) 2, with a joint effort involving Pediatric Cardiac Surgery, General Surgery, and Otolaryngology, division of tracheoesophageal fistula and repair of esophageal atresia, along with choanal atresia repair, was carried out. Via a right thoracotomy, the tracheoesophageal fistula, located medial to the azygous vein, was skeletonized and ligated. The proximal esophagus was then mobilized up to the thoracic inlet as it coursed through the vascular ring. This enabled esophageal anastomosis with preservation of both aortas. Next, on DOL 11, the child underwent TA repair. Following a standard midline sternotomy and cooling to moderate hypothermia, the left aortic arch was divided and oversewn. The aorta was then transected anteriorly, and the main pulmonary artery (MPA) exiting the posterior aorta was harvested as a single button. The aortic defect from the pulmonary artery button was repaired with autologous pericardium. Next, through a right ventriculotomy, the previously seen conoventricular septal defect was identified and closed. Finally, a 10-mm pulmonary homograft was anastomosed to the pulmonary artery bifurcation to complete the repair. The patient was discharged on DOL 78 and was noted to be doing well at 1-year follow-up. This case validates the feasibility of fistula repair complicated by DAA through a right thoracotomy, the durability of staged, complete repair of TA and DAA, and the advantages of a holistic, team-based approach that optimizes timing of all repairs based upon a careful consideration of the exponential, rather than additive, effects of multi-organ disease on post-cardiac surgery outcomes in neonates.


The calculation of atmospheric neutrino flux in HKKM04 [1] is over viewed. There are many improvements from HKKM95 [2]; the primary flux model is replaced by the one based on the AMS [3] and BESS [4] observations, and the interaction model is changed to DPMJET-III [5]. Also the calculation is carried out in a full 3-dimensional scheme. However, the differences between 3D and 1D calculations are not seen in the averaged fluxes over the azimuthal angles for > ∼ 3 GeV.


COVID-19 is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). The severity of COVID-19 is highly variable and related to known (e.g., age, obesity, immune deficiency) and unknown risk factors. The widespread clinical symptoms encompass a large group of asymptomatic COVID-19 patients, raising a crucial question regarding genetic susceptibility, e.g., whether individual differences in immunity play a role in patient symptomatology and how much human leukocyte antigen (HLA) contributes to this. To reveal genetic determinants of susceptibility to COVID-19 severity in the population and further explore potential immune-related factors, we performed a genome-wide association study on 284 confirmed COVID-19 patients (cases) and 95 healthy individuals (controls). We compared cases and controls of European (EUR) ancestry and African American (AFR) ancestry separately. We identified two loci on chromosomes 5q32 and 11p12, which reach the significance threshold of suggestive association (p<1×10-5 threshold adjusted for multiple trait testing) and are associated with the COVID-19 susceptibility in the European ancestry (index rs17448496: odds ratio [OR] = 0.173; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.08–0.36 for G allele; p=5.15× 10-5 and index rs768632395: OR = 0.166; 95% CI, 0.07–0.35 for A allele; p= 4.25×10-6, respectively), which were associated with two genes, PPP2R2B at 5q32, and LRRC4C at 11p12, respectively. To explore the linkage between HLA and COVID-19 severity, we applied fine-mapping analysis to dissect the HLA association with mild and severe cases. Using In-silico binding predictions to map the binding of risk/protective HLA to the viral structural proteins, we found the differential presentation of viral peptides in both ancestries. Lastly, extrapolation of the identified HLA from the cohort to the worldwide population revealed notable correlations. The study uncovers possible differences in susceptibility to COVID-19 in different ancestral origins in the genetic background, which may provide new insights into the pathogenesis and clinical treatment of the disease.


In acute pelvic infections, the mature judgment gained by long experience as to when and how to operate is of paramount importance. Rules of procedure may be laid down, but their proper application is a matter of personal equation. To operate during the storm of pelvic flare-up frequently spells disaster. Nature must be given an opportunity to corral the infection by adhesions, and to develop immunity against the specific infection. However, if the patient is seen early and the diagnosis is positive, it is good practice to operate immediately. A history of previous attacks will aid materially in determining the course to pursue. Evidences of beginning general peritonitis, such as very rapid pulse or hyperpyrexia, with general abdominal rigidity and tenderness, are counter-indications to early surgical interference. Cases which develop cellulitis accompanied by a full round cul-de-sac are best treated by a posterior vaginal puncture and a double drainage tube inserted


ABSTRACT Lee, S.-Y.; Kim, D.-H.; Kim, D.-S.; Kim, H.-J.; Jeong, Y.-H.; Hong, S.-J., and Lee, H.-Y., 2021. Applicability of disaster scale criteria for swell-like waves based on wave overtopping predictions. In: Lee, J.L.; Suh, K.-S.; Lee, B.; Shin, S., and Lee, J. (eds.), Crisis and Integrated Management for Coastal and Marine Safety. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 114, pp. 226–230. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. In this study, a wave overtopping prediction system was established for 10 major ports adjacent to 10 testbeds in South Korea, and a qualitative assessment of the system's reproducibility was performed through field surveys. The system estimates the probability of wave overtopping hazards, which is required for responding to disasters caused by swell-like waves. Wave overtopping prediction requires information on artificial structures in the major ports near the testbeds, swell-like wave predictions, and wave overtopping rate calculations. The threshold for defining wave overtopping hazards that can affect the hinterland, facilities, and residents in coastal areas was set to 0.01 m3/s/m, in accordance with EurOtop standards (Pullen et al., 2018) and the Korean Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries. The results of this study can be used to facilitate decision-making by providing qualitative estimations of wave overtopping hazards at various levels. By comparing the results to standard values, the risk of swell-like waves in testbeds along the East Sea coast can be determined. The proposed system can be used to avoid casualties and property damage in the event of a wave-overtopping disaster.


This paper proposes an alternative educational accountability system for England that moves away from simplistic comparisons, or league tables, among schools towards a more nuanced reporting at a level of education authorities or other school groupings. Based upon the sampling of pupils within schools, it proposes the use of quantitative pupil assessment data as screening devices that provide evidence within an integrated accountability system that includes inspection. At the same time, it aims to provide a richer set of data than currently available for research as well as accountability purposes. We argue that if carefully implemented within a context of school improvement, such a system has the potential to largely eliminate the deleterious side effects and curriculum distortions of the present system. While being proposed within the context of the current English secondary school system, the proposals will have relevance for other phases of schooling and similar systems in other countries.


INTRODUCTION
Uric acid is one of the compounds associated with the inflammatory process in malaria. It acts as an indicator of cellular damage by activating the immune response and inflammatory process.

METHODS
We measured serum concentrations of uric acid in 60 symptomatic patients before and after treatment for malarial infections caused by Plasmodium vivax.

RESULTS
Lower serum concentrations of uric acid were found during the acute phase of P. vivax malaria compared to those in its convalescent phase (p < 0.0001).

CONCLUSIONS
Patients in the acute phase of malaria had lower uric acid levels than those in its convalescent phase.


In this paper we propose a dynamic multi-layer path computation algorithm which favors the re-usage of FA LSPs (Forwarding Adjacency Label Switched Path) and virtual links over a new LSP establishment. To evaluate the algorithm, we explore several approaches for the dynamic configuration of the Virtual Network Topology (VNT) within a multi-layer network (Connection - Oriented Ethernet transport over a Wavelength Switched Optical Network) controlled by a unified GMPLS control plane. Specifically, three VNT approaches are compared: the virtual approach, where some lambda FA LSPs are pre-computed but not established (i.e., virtual TE links), the semi-dynamic approach, where a specific set of lambda FA LSPs is pre-established and advertised as Ethernet TE links (i.e., FA TE links) and the dynamic approach, where there are neither pre-established nor pre-computed lambda FA LSPs.


High-speed collective communication is the key to achieve high-performance computing in parallel computing. In the past, collective operations are usually implemented using unicast operations. We proposed a new architecture EQA (Enhanced Queue Architecture) for implementing high-speed collective operations in a cluster. With the incorporation of EQA and the hardware broadcast facility in network switches, an efficient reliable broadcast operation is implemented in a DP-SMP communication subsystem. With EQA, the computation, memory and network resources can be utilized efficiently. We evaluated the performance of the broadcast operation in a commodity cluster with fast Ethernet connection. We found that the hardware-based broadcast from DP-SMP with EQA outperforms the software-based broadcast operation. The use of EQA in broadcast operation could reduce the memory consumption by almost 40%. DP-SMP with EQA has proven to be an efficient communication mechanism for coupling commodity clusters.


The rates of hydrolysis of p-Methyl Benzyl-2-Theno Hydroxamic Acid have been studied over a wide range of acidities in hydrochloric, sulphuric, and perchloric acids in 20% (v/v) dioxane-water at 55oC. Plots of the first order rate constant, Kobs against H+ show maxima, which are caused by protonation of the substrate. The kinetics of the hydrolysis has been analyzed by Bunnett, Bunnett Olsen and Cox-Yates excess acidity methods. The variation of reaction rate with acid concentration can be described by a two parameter equation. The mechanism of the reactions was found to be A-2, which involves two steps. A rapid protonation is followed by rate determining step in which nucleophilic attack of water at the carbonyl carbon takes place giving a tetrahedral intermediate, which rapidly changes to the hydrolytic products. Arrhenius activation parameters were also determined.