We present a 7 minute long 4π-3D simulation of a shell merger event in a nonrotating 18.88 M ⊙ supernova progenitor before the onset of gravitational collapse. The key motivation is to capture the large-scale mixing and asymmetries in the wake of the shell merger before collapse using a self-consistent approach. The 4π geometry is crucial, as it allows us to follow the growth and evolution of convective modes on the largest possible scales. We find significant differences between the kinematic, thermodynamic, and chemical evolution of the 3D and 1D models. The 3D model shows vigorous convection leading to more efficient mixing of nuclear species. In the 3D case, the entire oxygen shell attains convective Mach numbers of ≈0.1, whereas in the 1D model, the convective velocities are much lower, and there is negligible overshooting across convective boundaries. In the 3D case, the convective eddies entrain nuclear species from the neon (and carbon) layers into the deeper part of the oxygen-burning shell, where they burn and power a violent convection phase with outflows. This is a prototypical model of a convective–reactive system. Due to the strong convection and resulting efficient mixing, the interface between the neon layer and the silicon-enriched oxygen layer disappears during the evolution, and silicon is mixed far out into the merged oxygen/neon shell. Neon entrained inward by convective downdrafts burns, resulting in lower neon mass in the 3D model compared to the 1D model at the time of collapse. In addition, the 3D model develops remarkable large-scale, large-amplitude asymmetries, which may have important implications for the impending gravitational collapse and subsequent explosion.


The increase in productivity and reliability of bar ground-cutting machines has been considered. The mathematical model of frozen ground inter-crack mass splitting-off with the use of a high-pressure pneumatic tank has been presented.


Background Knowledge of the course of psychopathology from adolescence into adulthood is needed to answer questions concerning origins and prognosis of psychopathology across a wide age range. Aims To investigate the 10-year course and predictive value of self-reported problems in adolescence in relation to psychopathology in adulthood. Method Subjects from the general population, aged 11–19 years, were assessed with the Youth Self-Report (YSR) at initial assessment, and with the Young Adult Self-Report (YASR), the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI) and three sections of the Diagnostic Interview Schedule (DIS) 10 years later. Results Of the subjects with deviant YSR total problem scores, 23% (males) and 22% (females) had deviant YASR total problem scores at follow-up. Subjects with initial deviant YSR total problem, internalising and externalising scores had higher prevalences of DSM–IV diagnoses at follow-up. Conclusions Adolescent problems tended to persist into adulthood to a moderate degree. High rates of problems during adolescence are risk factors for psychiatric disorders in adulthood.


A peptic ulcer is an erosion in part of the mucosal lining of the stomach (gastric ulcer) or the first few centimetres of the duodenum (duodenal ulcer).

The epithelial cells of the stomach and duodenum protect the gastrointestinal (GI) mucosa from stomach acid and digestive enzymes by secreting a protective mucous layer. Other cells secrete bicarbonate, which neutralises acid near the GI mucosa. In the event of acid and pepsin entering the epithelial layer, there are additional mechanisms in place to reduce mucosal damage.

Under normal conditions, a balance exists between gastric acid secretion and mucosal protection of the stomach and duodenum. However, if the mucosal protection breaks down, the digestive juices and stomach acid can erode the GI mucosa and an ulcer may form.


Overcoming the threat of coercion attacks in a cryptographic system has been a top priority for system designers since the birth of cyber-security. One way to overcome such a threat is to leverage implicit memory to construct a defense against rubber-hose attacks where the users themselves do not possess conscious knowledge of the trained password. We propose NeuroCrypt, a coercion-resistant authentication system that uses an improved version of the Serial Interception Sequence Learning task, employing additional auditory and haptic modalities backed by concepts borrowed from cognitive psychology. We carefully modify the visual stimuli as well as add auditory and haptic stimuli to improve the implicit learning process, resulting in faster training and longer retention. Moreover, our improvements guarantee that explicit recognition of the trained passwords remains suppressed.


Two-factor authentication (2FA) offers several security benefits that security-conscious users might expect from high-value services such as online banks. In this work, we present our preliminary study to develop a scoring scheme to automatically recognize when bank sites mention support for two-factor authentication. We extract information related to security features (primarily 2FA) offered by 379 bank domains from 93 countries. We use a subset of these sites to refine our scoring scheme to include several heuristics for identifying whether sites offer 2FA. For each bank domain in our dataset, we use our algorithm based on text-analysis to calculate whether the domain offers 2FA to the users of the domain's online banking platform. Our preliminary findings suggest that 2FA is yet to be widely adopted by banking domains.


This paper discusses two multivariate visualisations which provide insights into topic model distributions across sub-collections of a collection of historical textbooks in the context of a digital humanities project. Results of a qualitative user study with experts in historical research indicate that network graphs are more appropriate for revealing general connections among subcollections, while small-multiples of heatmaps of topic correlations are more suitable for a finer grained analysis of the connections between specific topics. We analyse the user behaviour during analysis to identify general activities of the interpretation of topic models as well as activities of interpreting visual elements that are specific to each visualisation. As a result, we observed usability problems and show potential for improved visualisations in digital humanities applications.


Introduction: Compared to systemic steroids, inhaled steroids are much better in view of adverse reactions because of less systemic absorption. However there are indication to show that the use of inhaled steroids is a possible risk factor for ocular hypertension and glaucoma. Materials and Methods: A total number of 100 subjects over the age of 50 years, suffering from Asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, who were prescribed inhaled steroids for the first time, were included into the study. Intra Ocular Pressure (IOP) was measured for the patients at 3, 6, and 12 month follow up. Results: At the end of the year, the number of patients who were positive for IOP was 5. There was a significant increase of the intraocular pressure during the follow ups at 3, 6 and 12 months among the patients. The intraocular pressure significantly increased in patients with a very high dosage of over 1000 units of inhaled steroids after 1 year. Conclusion: Prolonged administration of inhaled steroids for control of asthma can cause ocular hypertension. However, high doses of inhaled corticosteroids should be used with caution


The band structure and energetics of and were calculated by means of the full-potential linearized augmented-plane-wave (FLAPW) method. In accordance with experiment, was found to be more stable than . The transformation energy at 0 K was calculated as . Relaxation of the Ti atoms stabilizes the -phase and the relaxation energy of is rather high. A comparison with a former LAPW band-structure calculation that used a muffin-tin potential shows significant differences which are ascribed to the sensitivity of some very delocalized valence states to the approximations for the potential in the interstitial region. Thus, the importance of using a full potential for these compounds is stressed. A FLAPW calculation for the fictitious compound furnishes qualitative explanations for the instability of the structure for this substance.


possibility of real human communication, and that he should alter on the basis of thus acquired experiences. In his book Carl Rogers depicts the group procedure, the methodics of group conducting, the characteristics of the group leaders, and described the results of such a group procedure, but all this on a real practical level, so that by necessity the book is very accessible to the reader. In a separate chapter is described the thus far contributed theoretical scientific work on the encounter group. Encounter groups commenced developing subsequent to World War II in 1947. In the beginning they were the so-called T-groups (T standing for training), for they served for education in interhuman relations.


Introduction The aging cause muscular modifications that have a negative influence on functional capacities of elderly on locomotion, in special during inclined surface transpose. Those changes generate decrease on gait performance, reducing the mobility and increasing the risk on execution of the task. The stretching exercises can reduce the influence of these degenerations, preserving the muscular capacities and the mobility. Objective The aim of this study was evaluate the influence of acute effect of one session of stretching exercise on elderly gait during locomotion on sloped surface. Materials and methods Twelve elderly women, healthy and independent, were walking up and down on a ramp with 10% of inclination. The kinematics (2D) and electromyography analysis was accomplished during one single experimental session, immediately before (PRE) and after (POS) a static stretching exercise on hip flexor muscles. Results The stretching exercise was generate increases on range of motion (PRE 52.3 ± 18.30; POS 63.6 ± 16.90) and velocity (PRE 195.8 ± 31.20/s; POS 241.8 ± 29.80/s) of hip, as a reduction on time of activation of anterior tibialis (PRE TAFIN1 29.7 ± 6.7%; TAFIN2 100.0 ± 0.0%; POS TAFIN1 23.3 ± 7.4%; TAFIN2 87.7 ± 3.4%) and biceps femoris (PRE 45.0 ± 5.4%; POS 36,1±10,4%) on walking up. On walking down occur increases on gait velocity (PRE 0.95 ± 0.18 m.s-1; POS 1.01 ± 0.22 m.s-1) and step length (PRE 1.02 ± 0.15 m; POS 1.08 ± 0.18 m). Conclusion The exercises were able to alter significantly the evaluates parameters, allowing a fast gait with reductions on muscle activation levels. Longitudinal studies are necessary to confirm chronically the temporary effects found on this study.


ABSTRACT Hypothalamic gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) plays a critical role in reproductive physiology by regulating follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH) gene expression in the pituitary. Analysis of gonadotrope deep-sequencing data identified a global regulation of pre-mRNA splicing by GnRH. Homer1, a gene encoding a postsynaptic density scaffolding protein, was selected for further study. Homer1 expresses a short splice form, Homer1a, and more-abundant long transcripts Homer1b/c. GnRH induced a modest increase in Homer1b/c expression and a dramatic increase in the Homer1a splice form. G protein knockdown studies suggested that the Homer1 induction, but not the regulated splicing, was Gαq/11 dependent. Phosphorylation of the splicing regulator SRp20 was found to be induced by GnRH. SRp20 depletion attenuated the GnRH-induced increase in the Homer1a-to-Homer1b/c ratio and modulated the effects of GnRH on FSHβ and LHβ expression. Homer1 gene knockdown resulted in increased GnRH-induced FSHβ and LHβ transcript levels. Furthermore, splice-form-specific reduction of Homer1b/c increased both FSHβ and LHβ mRNA induction, whereas reduction of Homer1a had the opposite effect on FSHβ induction. These results indicate that the regulation of Homer1 splicing by GnRH contributes to gonadotropin gene control.


Mycobacterium tuberculosis strain Erdman, M. bovis (BCG), and M. phlei showed a 1- to 2-log drop in viability after exposure to ultraviolet light compared to a 5-log drop over the same period for Staphylococcus albus, Listeria monocytogenes, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella enteritidis, and Serratia marcescens. L. monocytogenes showed an initial resistance to ultraviolet inactivation, but later the inactivation rate increased sharply. The significance of these findings with regard to the use of S. marcescens as a test organism for determining the bactericidal efficiency of ultraviolet lamps used to sterilize equipment contaminated with tubercle bacilli is discussed.


The models presented in the previous paper (Famiglietti and Wood, this issue) are applied at their appropriate scales for evapotranspiration modeling at the First International Satellite Land Surface Climatology Project Field Experiment (FIFE) site. The local soil-vegetation-atmospheric transfer scheme is applied at five flux measurement stations in the northwest quadrant of the FIFE site. Simulations were performed for three of the four FIFE "golden (cloud-free) days" with good results. The spatially distributed model was applied at the 11.7-km2 King's Creek catchment, also located in the northwest quadrant of the FIFE site, during FIFE Intensive Field Campaigns (IFCs) 1–4. Simulated catchment average evapotranspiration was compared to an average of observations made at the five aforementioned measurement stations with good results. The macroscale formulation was applied to both the King's Creek catchment and the entire 15-km FIFE site for evapotranspiration simulations. Macroscale model simulations for King's Creek were nearly identical to the spatially distributed results, implying that at this location and at this scale, the assumptions invoked in the development of the macroscale formulation are reasonable. The macroscale model was also employed to simulate evapotranspiration from the entire 15-km site for the four golden days. Simulated evapotranspiration rates show reasonably good agreement with the 22-station average of observations. However, it is suggested that at 15-km and larger scales, simulation error may arise as a result of the macroscale assumptions of areally averaged atmospheric forcing, vegetation parameters, soil parameters, and the methods by which these data and other flux observations are aggregated. A methodology to combat these problems at larger scales is reviewed.


We have investigated the effect of freeze-thaw (FT) pretreatment on the adhesion and rupture of extruded vesicles over a wide range of vesicle sizes. To characterize the size distributions of vesicles obtained with and without FT pretreatment, dynamic light scattering (DLS) experiments were performed. The interaction between extruded vesicles and a silicon oxide substrate was investigated by quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation (QCM-D) monitoring, with a focus on comparative analysis of similar-sized vesicles with and without FT pretreatment. Under this condition, there was a smaller mass load at the critical coverage associated with untreated vesicles, as compared to vesicles which had been subjected to FT pretreatment. In addition, the rupture of treated vesicles generally resulted in formation of a complete planar bilayer, while the adlayer was more heterogeneous when employing untreated vesicles. Combined with kinetic analysis and extended-DLVO model calculations, the experimental evidence suggests that the differences arising from FT pretreatment are due to characteristics of the vesicle size distribution and also multilamellarity of an appreciable fraction of untreated vesicles. Taken together, our findings clarify the influence of FT pretreatment on model membrane fabrication on solid supports.


The 2020 Covid19 global pandemic disrupted teaching practices of 8 universities and 16 Institutes of Technology and Polytechnics (ITPs) in New Zealand. This disruption led to the curriculum being transferred from internal classes to online delivery. It unleashed a surge of research activity and publications in the education sector. However, little research was conducted to investigate the effect to the academic experience and even less research explored the impact to Indigenized curriculums. This paper explored websites for the visibility of Indigenous programmes and Indigenous academic experiences. It does this by: 1) describing the 8 universities and 16 Polytechnics for context; 2) identifying the type of Indigenous Schools/Faculties in universities and ITPs and whether Indigenous programmes of study were visible; 3) two authors providing personal accounts as Indigenous academics moving from internal teaching to online delivery. Specific mention is made of an Indigenous avatar named "Digi Hami from NZ." The exploration utilized a M?ori-Centered and social research approach. The analysis drew main themes and suggested that some universities and ITPs were better prepared in the transition and the virtual mode of teaching was unable to retain the same quality and depth of learning required for an Indigenized curriculum.


Despite the New Deal, most junior doctors in Scotland work more than their contracted 83 hours a week without extra pay, writes Peter Bennie.


BACKGROUND
The value of serum thyroglobulin/anti-thyroglobulin (Tg/ATg) for papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) surveillance after lobectomy was investigated. We aimed to examine the association between post-lobectomy serum Tg/ATg and PTC structural recurrence and define applicable values for stratification.

METHODS
PTC Patients who underwent lobectomy with adequate serum Tg/ATg data during 2000-2014 were selected. Predictive classifiers of recurrence using random forest were established combining different variables related to serum Tg (ATg-negative patients) or ATg (ATg-positive patients). Cutoff values were determined with receiver operating characteristic curves when applicable. Kaplan-Meier curve and cox regression were performed to examine the predictive value of elevated Tg/ATg.

RESULTS
Of 1451 patients enrolled, 66 (6.3%) and 26 (6.5%) patients in the ATg-negative group (n=1050) and ATg-positive group (n=401) experienced recurrence. The established classifier of serum Tg (n=1050) showed a favorable association with recurrence (AUC=0.81), while serum ATg did not (AUC=0.72). The optimal cutoff values of the first Tg (FTg, measured 6-12 months after lobectomy) and last Tg (LTg, measured most recently) were 5.3 and 11.0 ng/ml, respectively. Elevated LTg patients had significantly higher recurrence rates than normal LTg patients (23.5% vs. 4.4%, P<0.05). Patients with elevated FTg had significantly compromised RFS rates compared with patients with normal FTg in all ATg-negative patients, low-risk patients and intermediate- to high-risk patients (according to the ATA initial risk stratification) (n=1050, 583 and 467, all P<0.05). Multivariate analysis by cox regression indicated patients with elevated FTg had twice recurrent risk of those with normal FTg (HR=2.052).

CONCLUSIONS
Post-lobectomy serum Tg has favorable value for prediction recurrence in PTC patients, and reasonable thresholds could differentiate patients well during follow-up.


In Kenya the belowground biodiversity project was implemented in Embu and Taita which are biodiversity hotspots. The objective of the paper is to present and analyze farmers' knowledge, attitudes and practices at different timelines of the project, as well as identify factors limiting adoption of the best bet technologies. In early 1960's when natural forest was cleared for farming activities no farm inputs were introduced in food crops until after 10 years. Ever since, to the present similar farm imputs and crops have been propagated continuously leading to declined food production hence the bgbd project interventions. A triangulation of methods, both quantitative and qualitative participatory approaches were used to obtain data from farmers in both benchmark sites. The results showed that most farmers were more aware of bgbd at the end of the project compared to the beginning. As much as the best bet technologies were identified, their adoption was constrained by the unavailability of the technologies in local agro shops. This forced farmers to continue using the farming techniques that had deleterious effects on the soil. Hence farmers adopt what works, but which must be locally available. In this cost considerations did not matter, but simply inaccess.


The paper is a contribution for the knowledge upon concentrations and fate of different kinds of organic micropollutants in Tropical River system from a very industrialized region in Brazil. The presented data was obtained during three years of an International Research Project between Brazilian and Dutch institutions. The sediments were sampled at the Paraiba do Sul-Guandu river watershed, the most important watercourse of Rio de Janeiro state, where up 90% of the population depends on its water for domestic uses. After extraction with non-polar solvents in a hot sohxlet device and clean up using chromatographic columns, three classes of organic micropollutants were analyzed: organochlorine insecticides (OCs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The organochlorines, including the PCBs were scarcely present in the collected samples probably reflecting the restrictions of use of this class of compounds in the Brazilian market. However, the PAHs levels were high at the vicinity of a huge steelworks located in the city of Volta Redonda. This contamination is probably due to the massive use of coal in the above-cited metallurgical plant.


This article talks about the dynamic of the formation of Semarang cultural identity especially Semarang arts and Semarang ritual tradition. Semarang is a city which has an unique growth and character. Based on traditional historical resources, Semarang had been already existed since the period of the expansion of Hindu culture. Its early development as a city ran parallel with the islamization in this region. Semarang was formed administratively on May 2 - 1547, when Ki Pandanarang II was chosen as the regent of this city by the Sultan of Pajang kingdom, Hadiwijaya. The administrative development of Semarang could not be separated from its good economic and geographical position. Because of its strategic position, the Dutch came to occupy this region and also spread its political, economic, social, and cultural influences in this region. To face these influences of foreign cultures, the people of Semarang took the way of peace and hybrid, so it could be argued that Semarang become a good medium of hybrid culture. This could also be concluded that Semarang is a maritime city which can be viewed as a good medium for strengthening Indonesian national identity: unity in diversity.


Accurate modeling of thermal noise in MOSFETs is crucial for RF application of deep-submicrometer CMOS technologies. Here, we present RF noise measurements on four commercial advanced CMOS technologies down to the 45-nm node. Based on this extensive set of measurements, we prove the existence of excess noise (i.e., above the pure Nyquist level), but at the same time, we show that it is significant only for sub-100-nm MOSFETs. The amount of excess noise depends mainly on the channel length, and its occurrence is remarkably universal across technologies. We also present an electric-field-dependent extension of Nyquist's law that represents a nonequilibrium-transport correction to diffusive transport. We show that this microscopic model quantitatively explains the main features of the experimentally observed excess noise for all technologies. This includes its bias dependence, its geometrical scaling behavior, and the observed difference between n-channel and p-channel devices.


The purpose of this study is to explore the influence of supply chain relationships on supply chain (SC) resilience through empirically exploring the effects of trust, communication, commitment and cooperation on SC resilience and its further impact on supply chain performance. We employed a cross-sectional survey through online mode for collecting perceptual responses from supply chain professionals. Using 155 completed responses, the study further analysed using SmartPLS to validate the proposed relationships. Findings suggest communication and cooperation as dominant enablers of SC resilience in the integrated model that explored the inter-relationships also among the proposed relational attributes. Also, SC resilience has positive performance implications. Alternate models were suggested to further explore the inter-play between communication, trust, commitment and cooperation and how the same influences the SC resilience. The study is the first to consider the inter-relationships among the relational attributes and how the same as a whole influences SC resilience.


Abstract Introduction: Proprioceptive activities are commonly described for control of the postural balance of the elderly in order to avoid falls. But, there is no consensus on which ones can significantly improve balance or on intervention and assessment protocols. Objective: To investigate which proprioceptive activities are specific to static and dynamic postural balance of the elderly through a systematic review. Method: This is a systematic review based on PRISMA recommendation, by surveying PubMed, Medline, LILACS, Scielo and EBSCO databases. The period considered for the search was from 2006 to 2016, using the following descriptors - aged, proprioception, exercise therapy, and postural balance for articles in English, Portuguese or Spanish. Randomized and non-randomized clinical trials were included using the PEDro scale to analyze the methodological quality of the studies. Results: Eight articles were included with different protocols, without standardization of evaluation and intervention, but, which demonstrated improvement of functional abilities. Different kinds of walk, muscular strengthening exercises, stretching, postural oscillations and Yoga patterns for the improvement of functional abilities. Conclusion: The association of static and dynamic activities can contribute to the improvement of functional abilities, but it cannot be affirmed that they are specific for postural control, given the lack of standardization of exercise protocols and evaluation tools.


Little is known about how the generations of World War Two and baby boomer women respond to the contemporary North American assumptions that negate their sexuality, denigrate their physical appearance, and question their physical and cognitive abilities. This thesis explores how the older women represented in my research respond to the norms, expectations and prohibitions constructed by the discourses of ageism, heterosexuality, gender and beauty in documentary films, published research, books and media reports. I argue that their responses are diverse and that older women should not be stereotyped as a homogenous group. Many describe themselves as sexual beings and others, living non-sexual lives, express their contentment. Influenced by the social repercussions of ageing, the majority of the older women represented in my research are not resisting the demands of the ideology of youth; they are attempting to conceal their age, and exposing a cultural preoccupation with weight.


Testbenches play one of the most important roles in simulation-based design verification. Given a simulation scenario, a testbench provides specific vectors to simulate the design, then collects responses from the design to monitor whether the simulation has satisfied the scenario. The major bottleneck in writing testbenches is generating valid simulation vectors. Many current automatic-vector-generation methods focus on exploring a design's state space. Due to memory or runtime limitations, these methods cannot keep up with the rapid growth of design complexity. We propose a novel algorithm based on the divide-and-conquer paradigm that helps these methods decompose the design's complexity. The algorithm uses a partitioning method that recursively divides a design into smaller, more manageable components. Other approaches handle the divided components while maintaining the entire design's proper functioning. Random simulation generates sets of simulation vectors by randomly assigning the logic values to the design's primary inputs (Pis) one cycle at a time. Unlike random simulation, which uses only a single trace, symbolic solvers attempt to simultaneously enumerate all possible primary inputs to explore the entire state space. They typically use binary decision diagrams (BDDs) or satisfiability (SAT) solvers as their core engine.


Abstract Selectively deuterium-labeled isotopomers of 1,3-butadiene (CD2CDCDCD2, CD2CHCHCD2, and CH2CDCDCH2) have been used as feed reactants to study kinetic isotope effects (KIEs) in the epoxidation of butadiene over both unpromoted and Cs-promoted catalysts. On unpromoted catalysts, the rate of formation of the epoxide product, 3,4-epoxy-1-butene (EpB), is increased relative to that for unlabeled butadiene for the butadiene isotopomers labeled on the terminal carbon atoms. This indicates that EpB formation is characterized by an inverse KIE that is caused by a primary KIE in the rate of the combustion reaction and also demonstrates that combustion is initiated by cleavage of a terminal C–H bond. These KIE phenomena can be explained by a reaction mechanism in which both partial and complete oxidation products are produced from a common C4H6O(ads) surface intermediate. The measured KIEs for the reaction over the Cs-promoted catalyst are also consistent with this mechanism. Comparisons between KIE measurements in ethylene and butadiene epoxidation are discussed, and links with surface science studies of C4H6O oxametallacycle reactions are established.


Nitric oxide plays an important role in the regulation of basal renal blood flow. This study was performed to examine whether selective inhibition of renal nitric oxide synthesis affects renin release in vivo. Accordingly, in six barbiturate-anaesthetized dogs renin release was examined before and after intrarenal infusion of the selective inhibitor of nitric oxide synthesis, NG-nitro-L-arginine (NOARG). NOARG was infused into the renal artery to yield a renal arterial blood concentration of 0.4 mumol ml-1. NOARG did not change systemic arterial blood pressure and glomerular filtration rate, but reduced basal renal blood flow by 26 +/- 2%. Urine flow, sodium and potassium excretion were reduced after inhibition of renal nitric oxide synthesis. Basal renin release (3 +/- 2 micrograms AI min-1) was not altered by NOARG infusion (1 +/- 1 micrograms AI min-1). To stimulate renin release the renal artery was constricted to a renal perfusion pressure of 50 mmHg. At this perfusion pressure infusion of NOARG reduced renin release significantly from 48 +/- 11 micrograms AI min-1 to 14 +/- 4 micrograms AI min-1. In conclusion, inhibition of renal nitric oxide synthesis reduces basal renal blood flow and reduces renin release stimulated by renal arterial constriction. These findings indicate that renal nitric oxide modulates both renal blood flow and renin release in vivo.


Since the work of Semon was rediscovered by Schacter in 1978, there has been a renewed interest is searching for the "engram" as the locus of memory in the brain and Hebb's cell assembly has been equated with Semon's engram. There have been many theories of memory involving some concept of synaptic change, culminating in the "Hebb Synapse" theory in 1949. However, Hebb said that the idea that any two cells or systems of cells that are repeatedly active at the same time will tend to become "associated," was not his idea, but an old one. In this manuscript we give an overview of some of the theories of the neural basis of learning and memory before Hebb and describe the synaptic theory of William McDougall, which appears to have been an idea ahead of its time; so far ahead of its time that it was completely ignored by his contemporaries. We conclude by examining some critiques of McDougall's theory of inhibition and with a short discussion on the fate of neuroscientists whose ideas were neglected when first presented but were accepted as important many decades later.


SUMMARY: Shigella dysenteriae strain 136-R4 is lactose-negative, mannitol-negative (Lac-Mann-) and is sensitive to bacteriophage T7. Carrier clones of strain R4 (contaminated with T7) were found to maintain their association with phage T7 through as many as fifty consecutive single-colony isolations (from an ancestral colony which had survived lysis by phage T7). All carrier cultures (so-called pseudo-lysogenic strains) were found to be lactose-positive and mannitol-positive (Lac+ Mann+). Passage of Lac+ Mann+ bacteria through media containing antiserum directed against phage T7 resulted in a change back to Lac- Mann- and in the complete elimination of phage T7.
Biochemical, genetic and immunochemical evidence indicates that the change from Lac- Mann- to Lac+ Mann+ is the result of a phage-controlled alteration in the phenotype of Shigella dysenteriae. This dysentery bacillus is cryptic with respect to the expression of Lac+ Mann+ and the crypticity is attributable to surface structures (which are probably not a part of the Y or permease system). Under appropriate conditions decryptification may be brought about by phage-associated endolysin. Similar phenomena were observed in carrier strains of certain other members of the Enterobacteriaceae.


Since the sport of football field as the main focus and it is directly related to sports phenomenon up to understood of changes occurring in the rules and game systems over the years. The main aim was analyzed the historical changes in the soccer with relation to the game systems and rules, and their consequences. The research is qualitative type and uses the bibliographic collection as instrument. For this, it was searched in the published literature data about the present study subject. The results indicated for a soccer tactics and rules set that it was constructed with the evolution and consolidation of the soccer. It was concluded that the game system had suffered many alterations during the historical process of soccer development, but this process leaved poured the spectacle of the game. In the other way, the rules had suffered great alterations with regard to the soccer primaries, but after its consolidation as universal sport, they had remained almost the same, having assisted in the maintenance of the soccer characteristics and status.


The Sox family of transcription factors is thought to regulate gene expression in a wide variety of developmental processes. Here we describe the cloning of the X. laevis orthologs of the SoxB2 family of transcription factors, sox14 and sox21. In situ hybridization revealed that sox14 expression is restricted to the hypothalamus, dorsal thalamus, the optic tectum, a region of the somatic motornucleus in the midbrain and hindbrain, the vestibular nuclei in the hindbrain and a discrete ventral domain in the developing spinal cord. In contrast to the limited expression domain of sox14, sox21 is found throughout the developing central nervous system, including the olfactory placodes, with strongest expression at the boundary between the midbrain and hindbrain.


Most of the strawberry ( Fragaria ×ananassa ) production area in Florida is planted with bare-root transplants, which are relatively inexpensive and provide high yields. High water volumes are needed for bare-root transplant establishment: Approximately 600,000 gal/acre per season with only 3% efficiency. Plug (containerized) transplants can be established with no overhead watering, being an alternative to traditional bare-root transplants. However, plug transplants used in Florida are mostly imported from Canada and California and cost twice as much as bare-root transplants. Research was conducted to evaluate the feasibility of producing strawberry plug transplants under Florida conditions. Treatments consisted of: a) 4-week-old plug transplants, b) 4-week-old plug transplants dipped into indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) at 0.10% v/v, c) 6-week-old plug transplants, d) 6-week-old plug transplants dipped into IBA, and e) bare-root transplants. Results showed no total fruit weight difference between bare-root transplants and Florida-produced 6-week-old plug transplants. These results demonstrated that there is potential for Florida growers to use locally-produced plug transplants, leading to reduced production costs and water use during transplant establishment.


Abstract This article is about kiwifruit production in the north-western part of Húnán province in central China. It provides an overview of the kiwifruit industry in China and traces the development of kiwifruit production in this specific region. It presents the results of a case study conducted at Jíshǒu University in Xiǎngxī Tǔjīa and Miáo Autonomous Prefecture. Situated in a poor and economically underdeveloped area, the university concentrates on local minorities and the development of the region. It has initiated many projects to help in lifting poverty, one of them being the Kiwifruit Project, which encourages local farmers to get actively involved in kiwifruit production and processing. The paper highlights the cooperation between the academic institution, an industrial partner and government agencies in this endeavour. It addresses the problems and challenges that the establishment of a kiwifruit industry in Xiǎngxī has faced over a run of more than two decades, shows solutions based on innovation as in the form of developing new breeds or the introduction of organic farming, and evaluates the socioeconomic as well as the ecological impact the project has had on the local society and environment.


Development of very high speed integrated circuits is currently of great interests for today's technologies. This paper presents the quasi-TEM approach for the accurate parameters extraction of multiconductor transmission lines interconnect in four-layered dielectric region using the finite element method (FEM). We illustrate that FEM is accurate and effective for modeling multilayered multiconductor transmission lines in strongly inhomogeneous media. We mainly focus on designing of five-transmission lines embedded in four-layered dielectric media. We computed the capacitance matrices for this configuration. Also, we determine the quasi-TEM spectral for the potential distribution of the multiconductor transmission lines in multilayer dielectric media. Keywords-capacitance per unit length; multiconductor transmission lines;finite element method; multilayer dielectric media


Abstract. Water balance models provide significant input to integrated models that are used to simulate river basin processes. However, one of the primary problems involves the coupling and simultaneous calibration of rainfall-runoff and groundwater models. This problem manifests itself through circular arguments - the hydrologic model is modified to calculate highly discretized groundwater recharge rates as input to the groundwater model which provides modeled base flow for the flood-routing module of the rainfall-runoff model. A possibility to overcome this problem using a modified version of the HBV Model is presented in this paper. Regionalisation and optimization methods lead to objective and efficient calibration despite large numbers of parameters. The representation of model parameters by transfer functions of catchment characteristics enables consistent parameter estimation. By establishing such relationships, models are calibrated for the parameters of the transfer functions instead of the model parameters themselves. Simulated annealing, using weighted Nash-Sutcliffe-coefficients of variable temporal aggregation, assists in efficient parameterisations. The simulations are compared to observed discharge and groundwater recharge modeled by the State Institute for Environmental Protection Baden-Wurttemberg using the model TRAIN-GWN.


Illness narratives can be said to reclaim the voice of the patient, and while they draw much of their strength from a position of experience and loss, they are also highly mediated and constructed narratives. This article studies, how these textual self-representations are formed in relation to intertexts, and how the authors explicitly use other literary texts and enter into a dialogue with them.
Two pathographies are studied, Anders Paulrud's Fjärilen i min hjärna ("The Butterfly in my Brain", 2008) and Agneta Klingspor's Stängt pga hälsosjäl ("Closed due to health reasons", 2010, and their specific strategies in incorporating other literary texts: Paulrud through assemblage and community, and Klingspor through resistance and critique, especially of narratives the author feels she is supposed to appreciate. In the end, both authors seem to share a view about literature as potentially helpful and meaningful in conveying experiences and even point to a healing potential in narratives and literature.


Human alveolar echinococcosis (HAE), caused by the metacestode stage of Echinococcus multilocularis, has emerged in many European countries over the last two decades. Here, we report the first data on the new HAE focus with increasing incidence in central Croatia, describe its clinical presentation and outcomes in diagnosed patients, and provide an update on the prevalence and geographic distribution of Echinococcus multilocuaris in red foxes. After the initial case in 2017 from the eastern state border, from 2019 to 2022, five new autochthonous HAE cases were diagnosed, all concentrated in the Bjelovar-Bilogora County (the county incidence in 2019 and 2021: 0.98/105, in 2022: 2.94/105/year; prevalence for 2019–2022: 4.91/105). The age range among four female and two male patients was 37–67 years. The patients' liver lesions varied in size from 3.1 to 15.5 cm (classification range: P2N0M0–P4N1M0), and one patient had dissemination to the lungs. While there were no fatalities, postoperative complications in one patient resulted in liver transplantation. In 2018, the overall prevalence of red foxes was 11.24% (28/249). A new focus on HAE has emerged in central continental Croatia, with the highest regional incidence in Europe. Screening projects among residents and the implementation of veterinary preventive measures following the One Health approach are warranted.


Metallotriazine complexes possess interesting biological and medicinal properties, and the present study focuses on the synthesis, characterization, and antimicrobial activity of four novel copper-triazine derivatives in search of potent antibacterial and antifungal drug leads. In this study, 3-(2-pyridyl)-5,6-diphenyl-1,2,4-triazine-4,4′-disulfonic acid monosodium salt (L1, ferrozine) and 3-(2-pyridyl)-5,6-di(2-furyl)-1,2,4-triazine-5,5′-disulfonic acid disodium salt (L2, ferene) have been used as ligands to study the complexation towards copper(II). The synthesized complexes, [CuCl2(ferrozine)]·7H2O·MeOH (1), [CuCl2(ferrozine)2]·5H2O·MeOH (2), [CuCl2(ferene)]·H2O·MeOH (3), and [CuCl2(ferene)2]·H2O·MeOH (4), have been characterized spectroscopically, and preliminary bioassays have been carried out. FTIR spectroscopic data have shown that N=N and C=N stretching frequencies of complexes have been shifted towards lower frequencies in comparison with that of the ligands, confirming new bond formation between Cu and N, which in turn lowers the strength of N=N and C=N bonds. In addition, a bathochromic shift has been observed for UV-visible spectra of complexes (1), (2), (3), and (4). Furthermore, elemental analysis data have been useful to obtain empirical formulas of these complexes and to establish the purity of each complex. Complexes (1) and (2) have shown antibacterial activity for both S. aureus (ATCC® 25923) and E. coli (ATCC® 25922) at 1 mg/disc concentration, and ferrozine has shown a larger inhibition zone against the clinical sample of C. albicans at 1 mg/disc concentration in comparison with the positive control, fluconazole.


Despite the fact that in Peru was observed an improvement in enrollment during the nineties, even performing better than the rest of the Latin American countries, dropout and schooling delay persist avoiding a substantial increase in the society's education level. This research analyzes the dynamics of dropout during the school cycle and, at the same time, characterizes those children that are more prone to leave the school. The results show that economic constraints, mainly in the rural zones and for the urban boys, and non-economic problems, basically in the case of urban girls, are the main determinants of the interruption of the education. Likewise, simulation of a cash transfer program was performed. The results induce to think that the program would have an effect over the dropout, reducing it between 14% and 36%. Finally, if the program is supported by the reduction of the first year school delay, the dropout rate will diminish between 50% and 78%.


In order to accommodate increasingly tighter observational constraints on dark matter, several models have been proposed recently in which dark matter particles are charged under some hidden gauge group. Hidden gauge charges are invisible for the standard model particles, hence such scenarios are very difficult to constrain directly. However black holes are sensitive to all gauge charges, whether they belong to the standard model or not. Here, we examine the constraints on the possible values of the dark matter particle mass and hidden gauge charge from the evolution of primordial black holes. We find that the existence of the primordial black holes with reasonable mass is incompatible with dark matter particles whose charge to mass ratio is of the order of one. For dark matter particles whose charge to mass ratio is much less than one, we are able to exclude only heavy dark matter in the mass range of 1011?GeV?1016?GeV. Finally, for dark matter particles whose charge to mass ratio is much greater than one, there are no useful limits coming from primordial black holes.


Urinary tract infection is one of the most prevalent infections. Microorganisms causing UTI vary in their susceptibility to antimicrobials and the empirical choice of antimicrobial treatment is generally guided by susceptibility data provided by regional microbiological laboratories. This study was designed to determine the prevalence and antimicrobial susceptibility patterns of uropathogens among patients referring to Valieasr laboratory in Najafabad, Isfahan, Iran from 2009 to 2012. This study was aiming at isolation of bacteria causing UTI from urine of patients at the Valieasr laboratory of Najafabad..Antimicrobial resistance testing was performed by the standard disc diffusion technique in accordance with the recommendation of the clinical and laboratory standards institute. 187 uropathogens were isolated from 2201 patients. Escherichia coli (E. coli) was the most common isolate (55%) followed by Enterobacter (13.3%) and S. Aureus (11.76%). Susceptibility of E. coli to Nitrofurantoin was 85.7%, Gentamicin 82.5%, Cefotaxime 81.9% and ciprofloxacin 78%. High resistance rate was observed among E. coli against ampicillin (100%). The sensitivity rates of Enterobacter isolates for ciprofloxacin, gentamicin and cefotaxime were 75, 76.4 and 77.7%, respectively. S.Aureus strains were sensitive to gentamicin (84.2%), nitrofurantoin (75%) and ciprofloxacin (60%). It can be concluded that in our study E. coli was the most common isolated uropathogen. Entrobacterspp, Staphylococcus aureus and streptococcus were reported in second to forth degree of prevalence. Because of increasing resistance to FQ, FQ should be restricted for UTI. Nitrofurantoin should be used for first line empirical treatment in UTI instead of FQ.TMP-SMX


Adoption rates of automated milking systems (AMS) continue to rapidly increase in North America. There is no doubt that feeding management for cows housed in facilities with AMS is different than for herds using parlor-based milking systems, yet there are few studies that have critically evaluated feeding management practices for AMS systems. The central dogma for feeding management for cows milked with AMS is that a pelleted concentrate must to entice cows to enter the AMS with greater quantities having a stimulatory effect. Moreover, feeding a basal PMR that has a low nutrient density not only stimulates cows to seek the pellet in the AMS, but also allows for precision feeding approaches by allocating the type or quantity of pellet provided at a cow-level in the AMS. While these concepts are appealing, the ability to stimulate voluntary visits to the AMS and increase milk yield or milk component yield with greater concentrate allocation in the AMS has been variable. As a result, studies evaluating precision feeding management have not consistently reported positive responses. The lack of a positive response for voluntary visits and increased milk yield may be explained as follows: (1) there is a difference between the quantity of pellet programmed for delivery and that actually delivered in the AMS; (2) that not all concentrate delivered is consumed; and (3) that dairy cattle reduce intake of the partial mixed ration with increasing consumption of the concentrate delivered in the AMS. Further development of AMS to capture information related to the amount of AMS concentrate delivered, refused, and partial mixed ration eating behavior and or consumption is necessary to move forward toward precision feeding approaches.


It is proposed a power plant represented a combination of turbo rotors: Darrieus and Savonius. It is showed that the optimal construction of this power plant is possible only by use the computer-aided design. The structure scheme computer-aided design system is developed


Dissections of the bilateral orbits in a 45-year-old female cadaver, who had no ocular movement disorders in her lifetime, revealed anomalous muscles linking the superior and inferior rectus muscles. The muscles, situated between the optic nerve and the lateral rectus muscle, originated from the annulus of Zinn and branched off two heads; one inserted into the medial inferior side of the superior rectus muscle and the other inserted into the central superior side of the inferior rectus muscle. Each insertion was located on a distal site of the myoneural junction of each rectus muscle. Histological investigations showed that the muscles had a striated muscle structure. No definite nerve insertion was observed in the muscles. Although this type of anomalous muscle has been reported in a few Caucasian cases, the present study is the first report in an Asian person. Anomalous orbital structures, which are a rare cause of strabismus, are important in the differential diagnosis of intra-orbital space-occupying lesions, rather than the differential diagnosis of strabismus.


A neural network-guided Monte Carlo tree search (MCTS) has been shown to be a promising algorithmfor computer-aided synthesis prediction. Here we train and investigate a filter policy that removesunfeasible reactions from the search. We investigate three different methods to generate negativedata that the filter policy model can be trained on, and we show that these methods arecomplementary to each other. Therefore the most robust model is one that combines all generatednegative data. The filter in itself is quick (< 0.1 s per prediction on average) but using the filter policyin the MCTS results in a doubling of the search time. However it only leads to a small reduction in thesuccess rate of finding synthetic routes (< 1%) and we are able show that using filter policy the MCTSalgorithm produce more promising routes, although the predicted routes are more complex. The filterpolicy has been integrated in the AiZynthFinder software.


How do medical residents organize their work in settings where queue demands are heavy and resources are limited? Under such conditions, a queue theory would predict the delivery of care that is indifferent to clients' needs or that gets rid of clients as quickly as possible. In an exploratory case study of medical residents in a Veterans Administration outpatient clinic, we found instead that the medical residents' work was characterized by a high level of professional commitment: they provided thorough medical examinations and attempted to expedite patient care in other ways. We attribute the residents' professional ethos to opportunities provided in the VA hospital to learn the craft of routine medicine and to be directly responsible for patient care; such opportunities were not available in other settings.


Determining the factors governing investment in immunity is critical to understanding host-pathogen ecological and evolutionary dynamics. Studies often consider disease resistance in the context of life-history theory, with the expectation that investment in immunity will be optimized in anticipation of disease risk. Immunity, however, is constrained by context-dependent fitness costs. How the costs of immunity vary across life-history strategies has yet to be considered. Pea aphids are typically unwinged but produce winged offspring in response to high population densities and deteriorating conditions. This is an example of polyphenism, a strategy used by many organisms to adjust to environmental cues. The goal of this study was to examine the relationship between the fitness costs of immunity, pathogen resistance and the strength of an immune response across aphid morphs that differ in life-history strategy but are genetically identical. We measured fecundity of winged and unwinged aphids challenged with a heat-inactivated fungal pathogen, and found that immune costs are limited to winged aphids. We hypothesized that these costs reflect stronger investment in immunity in anticipation of higher disease risk, and that winged aphids would be more resistant due to a stronger immune response. However, producing wings is energetically expensive. This guided an alternative hypothesis - that investing resources into wings could lead to a reduced capacity to resist infection. We measured survival and pathogen load after live fungal infection, and we characterized the aphid immune response to fungi by measuring immune cell concentration and gene expression. We found that winged aphids are less resistant and mount a weaker immune response than unwinged aphids, demonstrating that winged aphids pay higher costs for a less effective immune response. Our results show that polyphenism is an understudied factor influencing the expression of immune costs. More generally, our work shows that in addition to disease resistance, the costs of immunity vary between individuals with different life-history strategies. We discuss the implications of these findings for understanding how organisms invest optimally in immunity in the light of context-dependent constraints.


This paper introduces a method to measure regret theory, a popular theory of decision under uncertainty. Regret theory allows for violations of transitivity, and it may seem paradoxical to quantitatively measure an intransitive theory. We adopt the trade-off method and show that it is robust to violations of transitivity. Our method makes no assumptions about the shape of the functions reflecting utility and regret. It can be performed at the individual level, taking account of preference heterogeneity. Our data support the main assumption of regret theory, that people are disproportionately averse to large regrets, even when event-splitting effects are controlled for. The findings are robust: similar results were obtained in two measurements using different stimuli. The data support the reliability of the trade-off method: its measurements could be replicated using different stimuli and were not susceptible to strategic responding.


The paper sketches the institutional and legal framework for public procurements in Romania and its influence on how environmental and social considerations may be taken into account. This situation is discussed in light of the Commission's initiatives that foster sustainable public procurements and of the 2004/18/EC Directive. It also describes practical instances of applications of secondary considerations by contracting authorities and identifies possible situations in which breaches of both community and national law provisions occur. The paper is structured into three subsequent sections. Section I begins with a brief overview of the Romanian legal framework in public procurements in light of its conformity with community law and principles. It focuses on the stages of the public procurements process where the law allows for secondary considerations to be included. It then discusses the institutional framework and various legal means for solving disputes in public procurements. Section II regards instances of both judicial and non-judicial applications of secondary considerations in the public procurements process. This section analyzes the inclusion of secondary considerations in light of the distinction made in the comparative chapter – it questions which of these environmental or social considerations are truly secondary (not mandated by legislation on public procurements and/or other laws). Section III details policy initiatives in Romania aimed at fostering secondary considerations in public procurements and assesses their initial impact. This section refers mostly to green considerations and not to social ones.


We evaluated the suitability of ELF-based assay (ELF: Enzyme-Labeled Fluorescence, Molecular Probes) as a tool for specific-detection of alkaline phosphatase (AP) activity in individual species of marine phytoplankton. Among 4 species of marine phytoplankton tested in the present culture experiments, the ELF-labeled cells of Karenia mikimotoi (Dinophyceae) and Skeletonema costatum (Bacillariophyceae) were simultaneously found with AP activity that was determined by using 4-methylumbelliferyl phos- phate under the phosphorus-starved state but not found under the phosphorus-replete state. There were significant positive correlations between the percentage of ELF-labeled cells and AP activity of K. mikimotoi and of S. costatum. In contrast for Chattonella antiqua and Heterosigma akashiwo (Raphidophyceae) which do not produce AP, no ELF-labeled cells were found even under the phosphorus- starved state. Thus, ELF-based assay is considered to be useful for specific-detection of AP activity.


In order to address the issue of counterfeiting online, it is necessary to use automatic tools that analyze the large amount of information available over the Internet. Analysis methods that extract information about the content of the images are very promising for this purpose. In this paper, a method that automatically extract the brand of objects in images is proposed. The method does not explicitly search for text or logos. This information is implicitly included in the Bag-of-Words representation. In the Bag-of-Words paradigm, visual features are clustered to create the visual words. Despite its shortcomings, k-means is the most widely used algorithm. With k-means, the selection of the number of visual words is critical. In this paper, another clustering algorithm is proposed. Markov Cluster Algorithm (MCL) is very fast, does not require an arbitrary selection of the number of classes and does not rely on random initialization. First, we demonstrate in this paper that MCL is competitive to k-means with a number of cluster experimentally selected. Second, we show that it is possible to identify brand from objects in images without previous knowledge about visual identity of these brands.


An effective distributed multi-agent system using local communication is proposed in this paper, which employs a state-based approach and achieves a complex task without any centralized agent. In general, many researches on cooperative multi-agent system employ a centralized approach which uses a centralized agent as supervisor. However, it has drawbacks that it is weak for a failure of the centralized agent and the task management becomes difficult as the number of agents increases. We propose a distributed-type cooperative multi-agent system in which tasks of each agent are arranged effectively by using local information. In the proposed model, each agent determines effective actions by using a situation of a whole system estimated from a local communication between neighboring agents. The proposed system offers a low computing cost and effective cooperative actions. The performance of the proposed system is confirmed by computer simulations on surrounding task.


The aim of systems biology is to provide a system or multilevel understanding of biological processes through the integration and modeling of different data sources. The complexity of immunology and infection of microorganism cannot be untangled by investigating it from a reductionist point of view. Therefore immunology and infection microbiology, with all its complex interactions between different species, different cell types, different regulatory and signaling pathways, and different molecules and genes, which always could not be measured directly by experiments in wet lab, provides a perfect environment for the development and use of approaches based on systems biology.


Many problems faced by the memorizers of the Qur'an such as not being able to memorize correctly according to makhraj and tajwid, there are still many students who have not memorized it perfectly, lack of dividing time in rote repetition, not focus on memorization, That is why it is not easy to memorize the Qur'an.  This study aims to determine and describe how the concepts, implementation, evaluation and inhibiting and supporting factors in the Implementation of Local Content Curriculum in achieving the target of memorizing Al-Qur'an 4 juz at SD Islam Annajah West Jakarta. The object of this research is the Principal, Chairperson of the Tahfiz Coordinator, Tahfiz Teachers and students SD Islamic Annajah West Jakarta. Data collection techniques used are interviews, observation and documentation. The steps taken are data reduction, data presentation and conclusion  drawing. The results of this study indicate that: (1) The concept of the Tahfiz Al-Qur'an Local Content Curriculum in class I is that students are focused on learning to read the Qur'an and memorizing the surah-An-Nas to Al-Fil, class II is memorizing Al-Qur'an juz 30, class III is memorizing Al-Qur'an juz 29, class IV is memorizing Al-Qur'an juz 28, class V is me-morizing Al-Qur'an juz 27 and for class 6 repeating all memorization from juz 27-30. (2) The implementation of tahfidz is conducted every Monday-Friday. Before students add new memorization ustad / ustadzah recite the verse first, After that students follow together. For students who have memorized it directly deposit the memorization one by one. (3) The evaluation is carried out in several stages in 1 year, namely PTS 1, PAS 1 and PTS 2, PAT 2. Exams are conducted for 3 days, namely Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. (4) Supporting factors in implementing this program are age, teacher criteria, motivation from parents and teachers, facilities and infrastructure. While the inhibiting factors in implementing the tahfidz program are students, lack of time management, and forgetfulness.


In The Twilight of the Social, Henry A. Giroux looks at the decline of social spaces which enable grievances to be dealt with and considers new ways in which citizens can create social spaces today. After decades of neoliberalism, today's young people lack a voice and are saddled with economic, political, and social conditions that have rendered them marginalised and ultimately disposable. Giroux covers a broad range of topics - from youth and the promise of new media technologies, the economic Darwinism of globalisation, and the need for a renewed democratic culture. The Twilight of the Social is a compelling account of the erosion in recent decades of the very idea of 'the social' in America and other societies.


The authors have carried out neutron diffraction measurements for two Li-Ga samples: Li0.50Ga0.50 at 750 degrees C and Li0.77Ga0.23 at 475 degrees C. The Li-Ga system is an example of a system forming ionic alloys. The temperatures were chosen to be slightly above the respective melting points. The composition of the latter sample is not only close to that at which a maximum in the resistivity is observed, it corresponds also to the 'zero-alloy' composition. For both samples evidence for chemical short-range order is found while for the equiatomic composition evidence is obtained that the arrangement of atoms in the first coordination shell as observed in the solid state is preserved upon melting. A simple model using the mean spherical approximation yields structure factors that are in satisfactory agreement with the measured ones.


Jean Francheteau, pioneering marine geologist and geophysicist, AGU Fellow, and emeritus professor at the University of Brest (Universite de Bretagne Occidentale), died on 21 July in St-Renan, Brittany, France, at the age of 67 after a long illness. With his passing, the field of Earth sciences lost a major contributor to the development of a definitive theory of plate tectonics and one of the first to make visual geological observations on the deep seafloor. Such scientific accomplishments, coupled with his personal charm and the ability to collaborate with researchers from many institutions, ensured that he had a huge influence not only on the world of research but also on teaching and the application of ethics to science.


What would you do if you were invited to play a game where you were given \$25 and allowed to place bets for 30 minutes on a coin that you were told was biased to come up heads 60% of the time? This is exactly what we did, gathering 61 young, quantitatively trained men and women to play this game. The results, in a nutshell, were that the majority of these 61 players did not place their bets very well, displaying a broad panoply of behaviorial and cognitive biases. About 30% of the subjects actually went bust, losing their full \$25 stake. We also discuss optimal betting strategies, valuation of the opportunity to play the game and its similarities to investing in the stock market. The main implication of our study is that people need to be better educated and trained in how to approach decision making under uncertainty. If these quantitatively trained players, playing the simplest game we can think of involving uncertainty and favourable odds, did not play well, what hope is there for the rest of us when it comes to playing the biggest and most important game of all: investing our savings? In the words of Ed Thorp, who gave us helpful feedback on our research: "This is a great experiment for many reasons. It ought to become part of the basic education of anyone interested in finance or gambling."


The availability of cross‐platform, large‐scale genomic data has enabled the investigation of complex biological relationships for many cancers. Identification of reliable cancer‐related biomarkers requires the characterization of multiple interactions across complex genetic networks. MicroRNAs are small non‐coding RNAs that regulate gene expression; however, the direct relationship between a microRNA and its target gene is difficult to measure. We propose a novel Bayesian model to identify microRNAs and their target genes that are associated with survival time by incorporating the microRNA regulatory network through prior distributions. We assume that biomarkers involved in regulatory networks are likely associated with survival time. We employ non‐local prior distributions and a stochastic search method for the selection of biomarkers associated with the survival outcome. We use KEGG pathway information to incorporate correlated gene effects within regulatory networks. Using simulation studies, we assess the performance of our method, and apply it to experimental data of kidney renal cell carcinoma (KIRC) obtained from The Cancer Genome Atlas. Our novel method validates previously identified cancer biomarkers and identifies biomarkers specific to KIRC progression that were not previously discovered. Using the KIRC data, we confirm that biomarkers involved in regulatory networks are more likely to be associated with survival time, showing connections in one regulatory network for five out of six such genes we identified.


ABSTRACT Most sequenced bacteria possess mechanisms to import choline and glycine betaine (GB) into the cytoplasm. The primary role of choline in bacteria appears to be as the precursor to GB, and GB is thought to primarily act as a potent osmoprotectant. Choline and GB may play accessory roles in shaping microbial communities, based on their limited availability and ability to enhance survival under stress conditions. Choline and GB enrichment near eukaryotes suggests a role in the chemical relationships between these two kingdoms, and some of these interactions have been experimentally demonstrated. While many bacteria can convert choline to GB for osmoprotection, a variety of soil- and water-dwelling bacteria have catabolic pathways for the multistep conversion of choline, via GB, to glycine and can thereby use choline and GB as sole sources of carbon and nitrogen. In these choline catabolizers, the GB intermediate represents a metabolic decision point to determine whether GB is catabolized or stored as an osmo- and stress protectant. This minireview focuses on this decision point in Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which aerobically catabolizes choline and can use GB as an osmoprotectant and a nutrient source. P. aeruginosa is an experimentally tractable and ecologically relevant model to study the regulatory pathways controlling choline and GB homeostasis in choline-catabolizing bacteria. The study of P. aeruginosa associations with eukaryotes and other bacteria also makes this a powerful model to study the impact of choline and GB, and their associated regulatory and catabolic pathways, on host-microbe and microbe-microbe relationships.


Although it has been argued that knowledge on initial motivation for choosing teaching as a career is necessary for improving teacher education programmes and teacher education policies, there is a lack of research investigating this issue in the fields of English as a second language (ESL) and English as a foreign language (EFL). Grounded in Watt and Richardson's (2007) Factors Influencing Teaching Choice (FIT Choice) framework, which laid its foundation on expectancy-value theory, this study fills that research gap by examining why EFL teachers chose teaching as a career. Thirty-eight EFL teachers with diverse backgrounds were interviewed. The results indicated that the participants became EFL teachers mainly for complicated, multi-layered reasons. They were attracted to teaching because of its intrinsic career value and its salary. The former refers to the fact that they enjoyed English or that they wanted to become a teacher since childhood. The latter applied to those who were either pleased with the salary or who could strike a balance between work and life, work and study or work and health while earning a competitive salary. Surprisingly, the participants rarely mentioned personal utility value (e.g., job security) as motivation. This study suggests that ESL/EFL teachers require intrinsic and extrinsic motivations to commit to teaching.


Abstract A characteristic feature of the description of physical phenomena formulated by an appropriate boundary or initial-boundary value problem and occurring in microstructured materials is the investigation of the unknown field in the form of decomposition referred to as micro-macro hypothesis. The first term of this decomposition is usually the integral average of the unknown physical field. The second term is a certain disturbance imposed on the first term and is represented in the form of a finite or infinite number of singleton fluctuations. Mentioned expansion is usually referred to as a two-scale expansion of the unknown physical field. In the paper, we purpose to apply two-scale expansion in the form of a certain Fourier series as a result of an applying Surface Localization of the unknown field. The considerations are illustrated by two examples, which results in analytical approximated solutions to the Effective Heat Conduction Problem for periodic composites, including the full dependence on the microstructure length parameter.


E-notary or cyber notary which has become a necessity as a form of adjustment to the development of the times, although its presence is agreed to be impossible to avoid, but it still leaves a pro-cons opinion. Some support and some refuse. Problems that arise related to the validity of the deed made in the cyber notary work system (cyber notary). However the practice of cyber notary in Indonesia today, it will reduce the strength of proof of authentic deed. The decrease is parallel with the text of Article 5 paragraph (4) of the ITE Law which emphasizes that the electronic deed does not have perfect proof of strength like a deed of qualification. Until now the electronic deed is still regarded as a deed under the hand that is equal in value to documents. But the presence of COVID-19, which since March 11, 2020, was determined by WHO as a pandemic, like it or not, forced us to think or review the implementation of the basic concepts of cyber notary. Posts that use the statute approach and the concept are expected to be able to encourage related parties to review the authority of the Notary Position in authorizing the certification of transactions conducted electronically.  Keywords: Reconstruction, Notary Authority, Implementation, Basic Concepts of Cyber Notary


OBJECTIVE Nocardial brain abscesses are associated with significant morbidity and mortality rates. The optimal management remains unclear. We reviewed the surgical outcomes of patients treated with a relatively uniform policy at a single institution. METHODS Eleven patients were treated at the Royal Adelaide Hospital between 1970 and 2001. Their clinical presentations, surgical treatment, and outcomes were reviewed. RESULTS Clinical presentations most frequently involved focal neurological deficits (91%). Predisposing factors were identified for 63% of the patients. Nine patients were treated only with aspiration and long-term chemotherapy. Two patients underwent craniotomy and lesion excision. The majority of patients required either one or two procedures. There were no deaths in this series. Management complications were observed for three patients. Abscess aspiration was complicated by parenchymal hemorrhage and ventriculitis for one patient and temporary worsening of hemiparesis for two patients. CONCLUSION Our results suggest that aspiration alone (repeated as clinically indicated) is a safe, efficacious treatment for the majority of patients with nocardial brain abscesses.


We use the results of the policies, appropriation and competitiveness in Europe (PACE) 1993 survey of Europe's largest firms to explore the effect of proximity on knowledge flows from affiliated firms, suppliers, customers, joint ventures, competitors and public research organisations to innovative firms. The focus is on the last. First, we find that public science is among the most important sources of technical knowledge for the innovative activities of Europe's largest industrial firms. Then, after comparing the PACE results with the Community Innovation Survey II (1997) and the Carnegie Mellon Survey (1994), we use the unique information from the PACE survey on the geographic location of knowledge sources and the methods used to access them to develop an econometric analysis of proximity and location. The importance of proximity for sourcing knowledge from public research increases with the quality and output of domestic public research organisations and the importance given to public science by the respondents. It declines with an increase in the firm's R&D expenditure, activity in the North American market and the importance to the firm of codified basic research results. Surprisingly, firms that find informal contacts to be an important method for acquiring public research results are more likely to find proximity less important, even though proximity allows firms to access tacit knowledge. This effect is primarily limited to European countries, suggesting the development of a 'European Research Area'.


Regression testing is an expensive process used to validate modified software. Test case prioritization techniques improve the cost-effectiveness of regression testing by ordering test cases such that those that are more important are run earlier in the testing process. Many prioritization techniques have been proposed and evidence shows that they can be beneficial. It has been suggested, however, that the time constraints that can be imposed on regression testing by various software development processes can strongly affect the behavior of prioritization techniques. Therefore, we conducted an experiment to assess the effects of time constraints on the costs and benefits of prioritization techniques. Our results show that time constraints can indeed play a significant role in determining both the cost-effectiveness of prioritization, and the relative cost-benefit tradeoffs among techniques, with important implications for the use of prioritization in practice.


The Covid-19 pandemic has been a leveller of sorts; across communities, cities, and countries. All healthcare workers are doing their best beyond the call of duty. With many patients recovering and others succumbing every day, they are facing extreme situations. Sometimes, both the good and the bad occur within in a matter of minutes which can be emotionally exhausting. A single Covid-19 test report whether positive or negative has many implications, the rest depends on the healthcare staff who diagnose, treat and more importantly, convey the diagnosis to the patients. Here is an experience of what healthcare workers face and how they handle it. Brave are those who still hold on to their grit and spirit.


A new high temperature and abrasion resistant glass-ceramic coating system (based on MgO-Al2O]-TiO2 and ZnO-Al2O3-SiO2 based glass systems) for gas turbine engine components has been developed. Thermal shock resistance, adherence at 90°-bend test, static oxidation resistance at the required working temperature 1000°c for continuous service, and abrasion resistance are evaluated using suitable standard methods. The coating materials and the resultant coatings are characterized using differential thermal analysis, differential thermo-gravimetric analysis, X-ray diffraction analysis, optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The properties evaluated clearly showed the suitability of these coatings for protection of different hot zone components in different types of engines. XRD analysis of the coating materials and the resultant coatings showed presence of a number of microcrystalline phases. SEM photographs indicated strong chemical bonding at the metal-ceramic interface. Optical micrographs showed smooth glossy impervious defect free surface finish.


When public transport system represents a primary need for citizens, the analysis of users' satisfaction is of the utmost importance to offer and obtain an efficient service. It is clear that a customer will be "satisfied", if his expectations are met and will be" disappointed", if his needs are ignored. In the transport field, the formulation and the definition of organizational and operational criteria are essential requisites to improve service quality. Restoring and improving modes and procedures will certainly guarantee an increasing efficiency, but the evaluation of customer satisfaction has been gaining more and more importance in order to achieve such a goal: different transport companies have been able to set such quality standards not only thanks to their own abilities, but also by taking into account specific service needs, directly expressed by customers through an adequate monitoring process. With this paper our aim is to make a study that analizes the satisfaction of the Italian population using transport service. With a particular reference to "Buses," "Coaches" and "Trains", we are going to evaluate the proportion of satisfied public transport users according to ISTAT indicators (frequency, punctuality and seats availability) both in regional and in geographical divisions. The methodology used is based on permutation tests.


The surfaces of the film samples of low-density polyethylene (LDPE) were chemically modified with an aqueous solution of ammonium persulphate solution (0.1 M) and Fe (NO3)3,9H2O (0.2 M) heated to about 80°C for 2.5 h for which polar groups like OH, 〉CO, COOH, etc., were generated on the surface of the LDPE films. The modified films were analyzed by Infrared (IR) spectroscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), and Electron Spectroscopy for Chemical Analysis (ESCA). New surface of LDPE produced by this modification, demonstrated reasonable oxygen incorporation on the surface of polymer films through chemical bonding, which is essential for adhesion processes. For these chemical changes the extent of printability and adhesion. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 92: 3046–3051, 2004


Tyee, one of the wheat cultivars used to differentiate races of Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici in the United States, was identified to have a single gene for all-stage resistance, tentatively named YrTye. To map the gene, Tyee was crossed with 'Avocet Susceptible' (AvS). Genetic analysis of the F1, F2, F2:3, and BC1 progenies confirmed a single dominant gene for resistance to race PSTv-37 that is avirulent to YrTye. A mapping population of 135 F2 plants was phenotyped with PSTv-37 and the derived F2:3 lines were tested with races PSTv-37, PSTv-40, and PSTv-79. The F2 mapping population was genotyped with simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. A genetic map comprising 13 SSR markers located YrTye in chromosome 3AS flanked distally by SSR marker wmc11 and proximally by wmc532 at 2.6 and 3.4 cM, respectively. Amplification of Chinese Spring 3A deletion lines placed the gene in the distal bin 3AS4-0.45 to 1.00. Because YrTye is different from all formally named Yr genes in chromosomal location, we permanently name the gene Yr76. A near-isogenic line of spring common wheat was developed and selected by testing F3 lines derived from a AvS*4/Tyee cross with Tyee-avirulent and virulent races and the flanking markers. The specific SSR alleles flanking Yr76 were validated using cultivars and breeding lines with and without the gene, and showed high polymorphisms. The specificity of Yr76 is useful in differentiating P. striiformis f. sp. tritici races, and its tightly linked markers will be useful in developing resistant cultivars when combining the gene with other genes for resistance to stripe rust.


the application of edible coatings for fruits and vegetables should be preceded by tests that seek the formulation that best fits that product. The objective of this study was to determine the ideal composition of edible coating based on carnauba wax added to prebiotic to be applied on grapes Thompson variety, stored under refrigeration. After selection, the fruits were cleaned and proceeded to apply the aqueous solutions of carnauba wax added to fructooligosaccharides (FOS).Thirteen formulations were tested, using the combinations 50, 33, 25 and 0% (v/v) of carnauba wax and 30, 20, 10 and 0% of the FOS (w/v). For 25 days, texture, physicochemical and physical parameters were evaluated. The texture parameters were changed during the study period, but no evidence have been influenced the coverage applied. The tested edible coatings did not alter the parameters evaluated of the Thompson grapes. The formulation which showed the most promising for future commercial applications were the treatment B (50% wax, 20% FOS), K (25% wax, 10% FOS) and L (25% wax, 0% FOS). Index terms: physicochemical parameters, evaluation of texture, edible coating, postharvest.


The behavior of the light signal converted by means of a Mach-Zehnder interferometer is analyzed under the assumption of a three-tone modulation of the emitting laser source. Illustrations are given of the signal at the interferometer output, showing the frequency response, the second- and third-order intermodulation distortions (IMDs), with a direct comparison between intensity modulation (IM) and optical frequency modulation (FM). The FM characteristics are plotted for the different cases where the spurious IM component and the term of chirp formula involving the gain compression factor are taken into account or not. Successful results are obtained in agreement with previous studies. In addition, this work shows that the FM-to-IM signal would exhibit lower distortion levels than the conventional direct IM, placing less stringent requirements on the laser linearity.


This paper proposes a path planning algorithm called guiding attraction based random tree (GART), which is built upon the famous sampling-based algorithm RRT* to generate a near optimal path in real time for unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) navigation under uncertainty. The algorithm takes UAV heading dynamic constraint and `obstacle safe attraction' into consideration, and uses a descriptive set method to describe the uncertainty caused by control and sensing error. The analysis shows that the computational complexity of GART is within a constant factor of RRT* and RRT. A number of detailed comparisons of the proposed algorithm with RRT* in 2D are given which verify the efficiency of our algorithm. Moreover, 3D simulation results demonstrate that GART find the near optimal path only after 2400 iterations, which means that GART outperformed RRT* by 833%.


Patterns of Pennsylvanian sandstone deposition in the Illinois Basin are delineated by a series of local and regional maps. Pennsylvanian sand bodies in the basin are classified into sheet and several elongate types. These sand bodies occur throughout the basin. Regional patterns of sandstone deposition are displayed by basin-wide maps of two intervals: from the base of the Pennsylvanian system to the Illinois No. 2 coal and its equivalents and from the No. 2 coal to the Shoal Creek Limestone and its equivalents in the basin. Number of sand bodies, sand thickness, and sand-shale ratios were mapped. All three maps have broadly similar basin-wide patterns. They differentiate the more rapidly subsiding basin from more stable western and northern shelf areas and, in conjunction with two isopach maps and a basin-wide compilation of 1887 cross-bedding directions, reveal the dispersal patterns of clastics into and across the basin. Clastics came from the east, north, and northwest. The salient features of Pennsylvanian sedimentation in the basin are summarized in terms of basin geometry, lithic fill, arrangement or distribution of lithic fill within the basin, and tectonic setting.


Front end of data collection and loading into database manually may cause potential errors in data sets and a very time consuming process. Scanning of a data document in the form of an image and recognition of corresponding information in that image can be considered as a possible solution of this challenge. This paper presents an automated solution for the problem of data cleansing and recognition of user written data to transform into standard printed format with the help of artificial neural networks. Three different neural models namely direct, correlation based and hierarchical have been developed to handle this issue. In a very hostile input environment, the solution is developed to justify the proposed logic.


Cybersecurity tends to be viewed as a highly dynamic, continually evolving technology race between attacker and defender. However, economic theory suggests that in many cases doing "nothing" is the optimal strategy when substantial fixed adjustment costs are present. Indeed, the authors' anecdotal experience as chief information security officers indicates that uncertain costs that might be incurred by rapid adoption of security updates substantially delay the application of recommended security controls, so the industry does appear to understand this economic aspect quite well. From a policy perspective, the inherently discontinuous adjustment path taken by firms can cause difficulties in determining the most effective public policy remit and the effectiveness of any enacted policies ex post. This article summarizes this type of policy issue in relation to the contemporary cybersecurity agenda.


In the realm of Large Language Models, the balance between instruction data quality and quantity has become a focal point. Recognizing this, we introduce a self-guided methodology for LLMs to autonomously discern and select cherry samples from vast open-source datasets, effectively minimizing manual curation and potential cost for instruction tuning an LLM. Our key innovation, the Instruction-Following Difficulty (IFD) metric, emerges as a pivotal tool to identify discrepancies between a model's expected responses and its autonomous generation prowess. Through the adept application of IFD, cherry samples are pinpointed, leading to a marked uptick in model training efficiency. Empirical validations on renowned datasets like Alpaca and WizardLM underpin our findings; with a mere 10% of conventional data input, our strategy showcases improved results. This synthesis of self-guided cherry-picking and the IFD metric signifies a transformative leap in the optimization of LLMs, promising both efficiency and resource-conscious advancements. Codes, data, and models are available: https://github.com/MingLiiii/Cherry_LLM


Handgrip strength is essential in manual operations and activities of daily life, but the influence of forearm/hand skin temperature on estimation of handgrip strength is not well documented. Therefore, the present study intended to investigate the effect of local cooling of the forearm/hand on estimation of handgrip strength at various target force levels (TFLs, in percentage of MVC) for both genders. A cold pressor test was used to lower and maintain the hand skin temperature at 14°C for comparison with the uncooled condition. A total of 10 male and 10 female participants were recruited. The results indicated that females had greater absolute estimation deviations. In addition, both genders had greater absolute deviations in the middle range of TFLs. Cooling caused an underestimation of grip strength. Furthermore, a power function is recommended for establishing the relationship between actual and estimated handgrip force. Statement of relevance: Manipulation with grip strength is essential in daily life and the workplace, so it is important to understand the influence of lowering the forearm/hand skin temperature on grip-strength estimation. Females and the middle range of TFL had greater deviations. Cooling the forearm/hand tended to cause underestimation, and a power function is recommended for establishing the relationship between actual and estimated handgrip force. Practitioner Summary: It is important to understand the effect of lowering the forearm/hand skin temperature on grip-strength estimation. A cold pressor was used to cool the hand. The cooling caused underestimation, and a power function is recommended for establishing the relationship between actual and estimated handgrip force.


Autophagy is a cellular process that allows degradation by the lysosome of cytoplasmic components such as proteins or organelles. Many studies that used model organisms, showed that autophagy plays an important role in multiple developmental processes like degradation of mitochondria of spermatozoids after fertilization, fetal growth or resistance to nutrient starvation. It is also essential to programmed cell death. The involvement of autophagy in these processes may be related to the production of energy resources in conditions of stress or autophagy can selectively degrade specific proteins during development.


Statin drugs, such as lovastatin and pravastatin, block the cellular synthesis of cholesterol by inhibiting the function of HMG-CoA reductase. In a prospective study, patients undergoing statin treatment for prevention of atherosclerosis were at a lower risk of developing certain cancers, including lung and breast, suggesting a possible use for lovastatin in the chemoprevention of lung cancer. Here, we show that lovastatin dose-dependently decreases proliferation in both histologically normal and Kras-mutated human bronchial epithelial cells (HBECs) through the inhibition of cholesterol production. However, increased expression of PGE2, which we and others have shown to contribute to lung cancer progression, was noted with lovastatin treatment alone. Lovastatin up-regulates the production of PGE2 by up-regulating COX-2 expression and simultaneously down-regulating metabolism of PGE2 via down-regulation of 15-PGDH expression. Treatment with the cholesterol precursor, mevalonic acid, inhibited up-regulation of PGE2 and blocked dose-dependent anti-proliferative activity of lovastatin, indicating sterol-dependence. Treatment with both lovastatin and low dose (0.1uM) celecoxib, a COX-2 inhibitor, decreased PGE2 protein production in vector control and Kras-mutated HBECs. These findings suggest that the combination of lovastatin and low dose celecoxib overcomes up-regulation of PGE2 by lovastatin alone and that the combination represents a potentially effective lung cancer chemopreventative regimen worthy of further investigation. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 101st Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2010 Apr 17-21; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2010;70(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 5592.


Horseradish peroxidase (HRP), a plant glycoprotein with a molecular weight of 40,000 D and a molecular radius (ae) of 30 A, has been modified chemically to prepare tracer molecules with different molecular charge. Modification of free carboxyl groups on the enzyme is achieved by carbodiimide activation and subsequent reaction of activated carboxyl groups with a nucleophile; uncharged groups or radicals containing additional positively charged moieties are introduced into the protein molecule resulting in an increased net positive charge of the tracer. Amino groups in the protein molecule are modified by acetylation or succinylation; this reaction will increase the net negative charge of the enzyme by either introducing an uncharged group or an additional carboxyl radical. The tracer molecules so obtained are then characterized in terms of molecular size and charge by column chromatography and isoelectric focusing respectively. The enzymatic activity as measured by 3,3'-diaminobenzidine reaction, the pH optimum and the absorption spectra for the modified enzymes remain virtually unchanged.


At the height of the financial crisis of 2007-09, the Federal Reserve conducted emergency lending under authority granted to it in the third paragraph of Section 13 of the Federal Reserve Act. This article explores the political and legislative origins of the section, focusing on why Congress chose to endow the central bank with such an authority. The author describes how in the initial passage of the act in 1913, Congress demonstrated its steadfast commitment to the ?real bills? doctrine in two interrelated ways: 1) by limiting what assets the Fed could purchase, discount, and use as collateral for advances, and 2) by ensuring that any newly created government-sponsored credit enterprises were kept separate from the Federal Reserve System. During the Great Depression, however, Congress passed legislation that blurred the line between monetary and credit policy, slowly chipping away at the real bills doctrine as it sought to combat the crisis. It was in this context that Congress added Section 13(3) to the Federal Reserve Act. In tracing this history, the author concludes that the original framers of Section 13(3) meant to sanction direct Federal Reserve lending to the real economy, rather than simply to a weakened financial sector, in emergency circumstances. This Depression-era history provides insights into the evolving role of the Federal Reserve as an emergency provider of liquidity.


Due to growing demands on newly developed products concerning their weight, sound emission, etc., advanced materials are introduced in the product designs. The modeling of these materials is an important task, and a very promising approach to capture the viscoelastic behavior of a broad class of materials are fractional time derivative operators, since only a small number of parameters is required to fit measurement data. The fractional differential operator in the constitutive equations introduces additional challenges in the solution process of structural models, e.g., beams or plates. Therefore, a highly efficient computational method called Numerical Assembly Technique is proposed in this paper to tackle general beam vibration problems governed by the Timoshenko beam theory and the fractional Zener material model. A general framework is presented, which allows for the modeling of multi-span beams with general linear supports, rigid attachments, and arbitrarily distributed force and moment loading. The efficiency and accuracy of the method is shown in comparison to the Finite Element Method. Additionally, a validation with experimental results for beam systems made of steel and polyvinyl chloride is presented, to illustrate the advantages of the proposed method and the material model.