In this study, a review of variety of processes that are used in the treatment produced water prior to reuse or to responsible disposal are presented with their environmental issues and economical benefits. Samples of produced water from five locations in Rumaila oilfield/in south of Iraq were taken and analyzed for their contents of brine, some heavy metals, total suspended solids and oil and grease. Moreover, two samples of water were treated using reverse osmosis technique which showed its ability to treat such contaminated water. The results showed that the environmental impact of produced water arises from its chemical composition; i.e., its salt content, its heavy metals, and hydrocarbon contents.


The purpose of this article is to explain the meanings and uses of the English auxiliaries will morpho-syntactically, and answer the question of whether will is a tense auxiliary or a modal one. Some writers even exclude will completely from the semantics of the modal auxiliaries. They argue that the semantics of will is fundamentally non-modal and has only a few modal-like uses. There are some people who treat will to be semantically separate from the other modal auxiliaries. In the light of modal will, the semantics of will basically remains anchored in volition because the lack of required speaker subjectivity, but has undergone so much semantic bleaching that it may also express future time without volition. On the other hand, the semantics of will in the exclusionist view is erroneous and that its semantics is in fact closely related to the semantics of the other modals. This view reinforces the argument that the morpho-syntactic kinship of will, can, may and must also reflects semantic kinship. It is suggested that all the modal auxiliaries show that the correspondence relation is non-verified but potential. And the specific place that will holds is that the correspondence is unverified at the time of utterance but will turn out to become verified. The overall conclusion is that idiosyncratic morphosyntax shared by the modals reflects the semantics and pragmatics of the English modal auxiliaries and is forced also to include will.


Electron-spin-resonance (ESR) experiments have been performed on the quasi-one-dimensional magnet (NH4)2MnF5. The ESR spectrum consists of two components, an extremely broad signal and a weak but sharp resonance on top of the broad signal. The resonance field of the dominating broad signal is most probably shifted by strong non-diagonal terms of the dynamic susceptibility to g-values well below g = 2 and becomes undetectable upon the onset of strong one-dimensional correlations below T≤60 K. We attribute these two signals to Mn3+ ions of the chains (broad resonance, intrinsic response of the sample) and to defects (small resonance), respectively. The ESR spectra reflect the evolution from the paramagnetic state (T>60 K) to one-dimensional magnetic behaviour (T≤60 K). The results are discussed with respect to the local anisotropy of the Mn3+ ions and comparison is made with the behaviour of other one-dimensional magnetic compounds.


The incorporation of a macroscopic approach reflecting Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) and Cooperative Adaptive Cruise Control (CACC) traffic dynamics in a gas-kinetic (GKT) traffic flow model is presented. The approach is a novel one and is based on the introduction of a relaxation term that satisfies the time/space-gap principle of ACC or CACC systems. The relaxation time is assigned on multiple leading vehicles in the CACC case, whereas in the ACC case this relaxation time is only assigned to the direct leading vehicle. Numerical simulations investigate the effect of ACC and CACC to traffic flow macroscopic stability with respect to perturbations introduced in a ring road and to flow characteristics in open freeways with merging flows at an on-ramp. Following from the results, it can be deduced that CACC vehicles increase the stabilization of traffic flow, compared to ACC ones. Further, the proposed CACC approach can further improve the dynamic equilibrium capacity and traffic dynamics, especially at on-ramp bottlenecks.


ABSTRACT Rural communities in the United States have a shortage of primary care physicians. Women physicians are more likely than male physicians to choose primary care specialties but less likely to locate in rural areas. With an increasing proportion of women physicians, it is important to understand community characteristics that encourage their recruitment and retention. This qualitative study explored community characteristics that influenced successful rural practice. We conducted telephone interviews with 25 women family physicians in rural practice in the United States in 2012. Interviews continued until saturation of themes was reached. Data were analyzed using immersion and crystallization. Community themes associated with successful rural practice included: fit with the community; spouse/partner fit with the community; relationships with individuals; and relationships with the community. Family ties, training experience within the community, social networks, and investment in the community were positive factors, while political/cultural differences were negative. Community integration arose from compatibility between the physicians' goals and community characteristics, opportunities for a spouse/partner, friendships, and a feeling of community purpose. This information can be used by rural communities to recruit and retain physicians, and by physicians, medical students, and those who advise them to promote successful rural practice.


The Berners Bay district at the north end of the Juneau gold belt, southeast Alaska, contains a series of structurally controlled mesothermal gold-bearing quartz veins. The 106 Ma Jualin Diorite, which intrudes metabasalt of the Wrangellia terrane, hosts most of the > 2 Moz of gold resources. Wrangellia is one of a sequence of lithotectonic terranes that were accreted along the western margin of the Coast Mountains during Cretaceous time. Following a period of mid-Cretaceous deformation, igneous activity, and regional metamorphism, a belt of tonalite bodies 5 km east of the district were intruded at 71 to 61 Ma. Eocene granodioritic bodies of the Coast Mountains batholith were emplaced at shallow levels 10 km east of the district, coevally with gold vein emplacement. 40 Ar/ 39 Ar age spectra for hydrothermal sericite from variably oriented structures in the Berners Bay district indicate that hydrothermal activity occurred between 56.5 and 53.2 Ma. Gold occurs in quartz carbonate veins containing pyrite and tellurides and with distinctive ankeritic alteration zones. Gold-bearing veins were deposited at temperatures of about 200 degrees to 235 degrees C and a depth of 3 km. The ore fluids were composed of 93 to 97 mole percent H 2 O, 2 to 5 mole percent CO 2 , 1 to 2 mole percent NaCl, <0.5 mole percent N 2 , and traces of CH 4 , H 2 S, and SO 2 . Isotopic study of silicate gangue indicates a delta 18 O fluid value of 6 per mil and a delta D fluid value of approximately -25 per mil. These data suggest that prograde devolatilization reactions in rocks of the Wrangellia terrane, perhaps triggered by heat from magmatic-arc emplacement, are the most likely fluid source. Measured delta 34 S values of -2.5 to +1.6 per mil for sulfide minerals are consistent with ore-fluid sulfur being leached either from metabasalt of the Wrangellia terrane or from the Jualin Diorite. Structural elements important for ore control include premineralization, chlorite-bearing shear zones that strike northwest and dip steeply northeast and southwest. Heterogeneous blocks of homogeneous diorite bounded by chloritic shear zones were favorable locations for gold-bearing vein formation. Most of the vein deposits are controlled by north-to northwest-striking and steeply east-dipping...


This work is focused on the optimization of a reverse osmosis network proposed for the ultrapurification of chemicals, from technical grade to semiconductor grades demanded in electronic applications that require the use of high-purity wet chemicals in the semiconductor manufacturing, as it is the case of hydrogen peroxide that is commonly used in the wafer cleaning and surface conditioning processes. An industrial installation able to produce simultaneously the five different Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International Grades of hydrogen peroxide is represented by a simplified superstructure configuration formulated as a nonlinear programming problem. The network integrates reverse osmosis membrane modules, mixers, and split functions, defined by the equations of mass balances and the Kedem–Katchalsky transport model for the description of the permeate flux and the metal rejection coefficients at each membrane stage. The objective of the design is to maximize the daily profit obtained from the sale of the electronic grades of hydrogen peroxide produced by the ultrapurification system. V C 2012 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 58: 3718‐3730, 2012


Abstract In this study, a new series of N-(di or trimethoxyaryl)-5-arylisoxazole-3-carboxamide derivatives were synthesized and evaluated against human breast cancer cell lines including MCF-7, MDA-MB-231, and T-47D. Among the synthesized compounds, 5-(m-tolyl)-N-(3,4,5-trimethoxyphenyl)isoxazole-3-carboxamide (8f) showed significant cytotoxicity against all three cell lines comparing with etoposide as the reference drug. Also, Annexin V-FITC/propidium iodide and acridine orange/ethidium bromide staining assay were performed to validate apoptotic activity of compound 8f. The results confirmed induction of apoptosis at early stage.


In this paper, a nonlinear optimization problem is proposed to obtain a structured static output feedback controller for discrete time linear systems. The proposed optimization problem has LMI (Linear Matrix Inequality) constraints and a non-convex objective function. Using the conditional gradient method, we can obtain suboptimal solutions of the proposed optimization problem. Numerical examples show the effectives of the proposed approach.


In the heavy current disconnecting switches contact system there is a set of parallel finger contacts to eliminate their welding. Alternating current distribution in contacts depends upon their number, material, dimensions, shape, and mutual location. In the paper, the effective numerical method of calculation of alternating current distribution in parallel infinite conductors is proposed within a boundary integral equation method to select these parameters optimally.


A series of 3 benign and 10 malignant smooth muscle (SM) neoplasms and of 2 malignant fibrous histiocytomas was examined by light microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2D-GE) and indirect immunofluorescence, using polyclonal monospecific or monoclonal antibodies to desmin, vimentin, cytokeratin, alpha-SM and alpha-sarcomeric (alpha-SR) actins. Benign neoplasms displayed typical light-microscopic features of SM, whereas leiomyosarcomas demonstrated variations in their histologic pattern. In 6 sarcomas, light microscopy suggested a SM differentiation, whereas in the other 4, a predominant nondistinctive spindle-cell pattern was observed. By transmission electron microscopy, all 13 neoplasms showed the minimal essential features of SM differentiation. Immunofluorescence disclosed heterogeneity of cytoskeletal protein expression: 5 neoplasms (3 benign and 2 malignant well-differentiated) expressed desmin, vimentin, and alpha-SM-actin; 2 malignant neoplasms expressed desmin and vimentin; 1 malignant neoplasm expressed desmin, vimentin and alpha-SR actin; 1 malignant neoplasm expressed vimentin and alpha-SR actin; and 4 malignant neoplasms expressed vimentin alone. By 2D-GE, 3 benign and 4 malignant SM neoplasms expressed alpha, beta, and gamma actins, and the remaining expressed only beta and gamma actins. The presence of alpha-SM actin in all benign neoplasms and in 2 well-differentiated leiomyosarcomas suggests that this actin isoform reflects a high degree of cellular differentiation. In 2 leiomyosarcomas, alpha-SR actin was detected by immunofluorescence, which suggested a skeletal muscle differentiation of these neoplasms. This study supports the assumption that leiomyosarcomas represent a heterogeneous group of neoplasms and furnishes new criteria for their characterization.


Author(s): Patton, Wendy; Ross, Jean | Abstract: "Pay equity" or "comparable worth" are terms that have come to stand for the notion that people should be paid equally for jobs of similar skill levels, training requirements, and responsibility, regardless of their race, sex, creed, or color. Comparable worth has been called the job issue of the eighties. The first half of the decade witnessed a surge of activity around the issue in the courts, in legislative arenas, and at the bargaining table.Although two of the original lawsuits establishing the grounds for comparable worth involved private-sector employers,1 most activity to date has dealt with public-sector employees. Recently, however, the notion of pay equity has gained renewed attention in the private sector as well. As economic shifts diminish the number of well-paid manufacturing jobs, lower-paid jobs in ser vices and related sectors, traditionally employing high concentra tions of women, become relatively more important to households and communities. The pressure is growing for private as well as public employers to redress discriminatory wage scales that have evolved in the workplace.


The design of finite sound barriers noise sources and control points requires calculations beyond those that are used when the Maekawa formula is applied, since the problem involves polygon sd barriers located in various possible orientations in 3D space. We present here some means
 that are linked to basic mathematical geometrical tools. Those means are relatively simple, as compared to the physical formulation of the relevant diffraction solutions for sound barriers (e.g. Rosenhouse, 2019, 2020). Such calculations can apply algebraic, trigonometric or vector analysis
 and their combinations to define the geometries of barrier IL. This approach includes the location of the sources and control points, which are essential as data for finding IL and other issues of environmental acoustics. We will show solutions including results of IL for a common rectangular
 barrier, as compared to IL of a barrier with a sloped top and side, among other possibilities.


Hydrocracking is a catalytic cracking process for the conversion of heavy oil fractions, such as vacuum gas oil (VGO), into valuable products with lower boiling point, such as diesel, kerosene and gasoline. Due to the flexibility of the process, high yields and good quality of liquid products, hydrocracking has become an important unit in modern refinery. However, the study of kinetic modelling towards hydrocracking reactor (HCR) is limited due to its complicated reaction mechanism. In this study, the reactor model is established based on a new six-lump model considering the velocity change along the reactor, different thermal effects and kinetic differences between hydrotreater (HT) and hydrocracker (HC). Compared with the previously reported lumped kinetic models, the fine-tuned model (calibrated by differential evolution algorithm) can predict products yields more accurately, in particular outlet temperature of each beds and the detailed yields and temperature distribution along with the reactor beds. The proposed lump based kinetic model can be applied to the optimization and control of industrial hydrocracking process.


Based on Structure-Conduct-Performance (SCP) paradigm, the fact  that concentration ratio of Indonesian banking industry decreasing,  in terms of deposit and credit, can be interpreted as the increasing of  competitiveness. This proposition tested using econometric regression  that relating between profit and concentration. If there is positive  relationship then one can conclude that high profit comes from  collusive behavior. Other competing paradigm, Chicago School,  argues this proposition and said that high profit can come from  efficiency, instead of collusive behavior. Using Polius and Samuel  model, this study tries to prove which hypotheses, SCP hypotheses or  Efficiency hypotheses that can be used to explain the conditions in  Indonesian banking industry. The result shows that efficiency  variables have statistically significant relation with bank's profit,  while all other structure variables are insignificant. This conclusion  suggested that profit level of commercial banks in Indonesia  influenced by efficiency, rather than structure variables.


DOI : 10.26650/IstanbulJPharm.2019.418892 Callistemon citrinus is a member of Myrtaceae family that thrives under different ecological conditions. The leaves, flowers, stem backs and roots of the plant contain various phytochemicals that are useful in   folk medicine for different remedies such as antimicrobial, anti-nociceptive, fungicide and anti-inflammatory purposes. In this study, we investigated the cytotoxic effect of Callistemon citrinus leaf and flower methanolic extracts against human Colo-205 Cell Line using real time cell analyzer device for monitoring in time-dependent manner. To determine the mechanism of cytotoxicity of the extracts, Western blotting assay was used for measuring evocation of Akt pathway. Extracts were found to exert cytotoxic effect at a dose dependent manner. IC50 values of leaves and flowers extract were 6.49 µg/mL and 5.22 µg/mL, respectively. At the early stages of the experiment, Akt pathway was triggered at high extract concentrations. Although, high extract concentrations showed proliferative effect at early stages, this effect reversed after 5 and 8 h resulting in low cell viability. Findings from this study therefore showed that extracts of leaf and flower from Callistemon citrinus demonstrated cytotoxic effect against Colo-205 but seems not to be related Akt signaling pathway. Cite this article as : Dokumaci AH, Fayemi PO, Aycan Yerer B. (2019). Real time monitoring of cytotoxicity of Callistemon citrinus against Colo-205 cell line. Istanbul J Pharm 49 (1): 25-32.


Species occurrence patterns, and related processes of persistence, colonization and turnover, are increasingly being used to infer habitat suitability, predict species distributions, and measure biodiversity potential. The majority of these studies do not account for observational error in their analyses despite growing evidence suggesting that the sampling process can significantly influence species detection and subsequently, estimates of occurrence. We examined the potential biases of species occurrence patterns that can result from differences in detectability across species and habitat types using hierarchical multispecies occupancy models applied to a tropical bird community in an agricultural fragmented landscape. Our results suggest that detection varies widely among species and habitat types. Not incorporating detectability severely biased occupancy dynamics for many species by overestimating turnover rates, producing misleading patterns of persistence and colonization of agricultural habitats, and misclassifying species into ecological categories (i.e., forest specialists and generalists). This is of serious concern, given that most research on the ability of agricultural lands to maintain current levels of biodiversity by and large does not correct for differences in detectability. We strongly urge researchers to apply an inferential framework which explicitly account for differences in detectability to fully characterize species-habitat relationships, correctly guide biodiversity conservation in human-modified landscapes, and generate more accurate predictions of species responses to future changes in environmental conditions.


Summary: Recent studies have indicated the importance of subcortical mapping of the corticospinal tract (CT) during tumor resection close to the primary motor area. It is substantial evidence that the corticospinal descending direct wave (D-wave) can be used as a guide for mapping of the primary motor cortex (M1) and for monitoring of the CT functional integrity. In the present study, the authors investigated the feasibility of D-wave recordings after subcortical stimulation. The authors examined 14 patients with brain tumors close to the M1 and/or CT, who exhibited no obvious motor deficit before surgery. Subcortical white matter was electrically stimulated in monopolar or bipolar fashion by recording the descending wave (D-wave) from the spinal epidural space using a catheter-type electrode. Subcortical D-wave was more clearly recorded after monopolar stimulation than after bipolar stimulation. The features of the subcortical D-wave, including its waveform, conduction velocity, and latency, were nearly identical to those of the corticospinal D-wave recorded after M1 stimulation. Subcortical D-wave amplitude was prone to change depending on the distance from the stimulation points to the CT. Changes in parameters of subcortical D-wave may provide valuable information to prevent postoperative motor deficit. Further studies are required to clarify the relationship between the distance from the stimulating point to the CT and the amplitude of the subcortically elicited D-wave.


Since the Fukushima disaster, medical professionals have been involved in risk communication with residents affected. This is an urgent issue, and an important aspect of global disaster preparedness is defining the essential characteristics of professional risk communication, and training medical professionals and students to conduct effective risk communication. Using a narrative of risk trade-offs between radionuclides in the diet and traffic accidents as an example, we introduce the seven essential characteristics required by medical professionals and authorities involved in risk communication: (1) risk assessment, (2) differentiating between risk acceptance and risk trade-offs, (3) understanding differences in risk quality, (4) understanding how to frame information given residents' values, (5) giving attention to coping with too-high risk, (6) building trust and (7) fully considering how information is provided. Furthermore, we introduce an example of lectures at which participants can voluntarily learn the seven essential characteristics of risk communication through group discussions.


We theoretically and experimentally investigate the wave front distortion in critically phase-matched continuous-wave (CW) second harmonic generation (SHG). Due to the walk-off effect in the nonlinear crystal, the generated second harmonic is extremely elliptical and quite non-Gaussian, which causes a very low matching and coupling efficiency in experiment. Cylindrical lenses and walk-off compensating crystals are adopted to correct distorted wave fronts, and obtain a good TEM00 mode efficiently. Theoretically, we simulate the correction effect of 266-nm laser generated with SHG. The experiment results accord well with the theoretical simulation and an above 80% TEM00 component is obtained for 266-nm continuous-wave laser with a 4.8°-walk-off angle in beta barium borate (BBO) crystal.


A number of educational researchers have developed pedagogical approaches that involve the teacher in discovering and helping to correct misconceptions that students bring to their study of their subject matter. During the last decade, several computer systems have been developed to support teaching and learning using this kind of approach. A central conceptual construct used by these systems is the "facet" of understanding: an atomic diagnosable unit of belief. A formidable challenge to applying such pedagogical approaches to new topic areas is the task of discovering and organizing the facets for the new subject area. This paper presents a taxonomy of misconceptions and a methodology for going about the task of preparing a database of facets. Important issues include the generality and diagnosability of facets, granularity of facets, and their placement on a scale of problematicity. Examples are drawn from the subjects of physics and computer science and in the context of two computer systems: the Diagnoser and INFACT. Editors: Patrick McAndrew (Open University, UK). Reviewers: Paul Horwitz (Concord Consortium, USA) and Ruth Thomas (Jelsim Partnership, UK).


— A bubbly flow in a vertical miniature tube is analyzed theoretically. The liquid and gas phase are co-current flowing upward. The gas phase is injected via a nozzle whose inner diameter is 0.11mm and it is placed on the axis of the tube. A force balance is applied on the bubble at its detachment. The set of governing equations are solved by use of Mathematica software. The bubble diameter and the bubble generation frequency are determined for various inlet phase velocities represented by the inlet mass quality. The results show different behavior of bubble growth and detachment depending on the tube size.


"CHRIS" is an experimental computer simulation of a patient with a schizophrenic disorder responding to an initial diagnostic interview with a clinician. The program is designed as a teaching aid in psychiatric interviewing and diagnosis. The user of the simulation assumes the role of the "clinician" conducting a diagnostic interview, Upon completion of the interview, the program checks the user's diagnosis for accuracy; it reports a corrected diagnosis if necessary; and finally, it lists all schizophrenic symptoms displayed during that interview. The program is composed of a dictionary of about 800 words including their functional part of speech, a list of about 200 output sentences, and a parser. The simulation provides the student with training experience in specific aspects of a mental disorder without posing any burden upon a human patient.


The aim of this work was to evaluate the interference of three densities (4, 8 and 16 plants/m 2 ) of Brachiaria decumbens Stapf distributed at three different distances (0, 10 and 20 cm from coffee plants) on the initial growth of Coffea arabica L. seedlings. Dark red Latosoil was used as substrate to fill up 70 liters cement boxes. Coffee seedlings at 15 cm height and 8 leaves stage were planted in each box. B. decumbens seedlings were transplanted when they reached two to four leaves stage. The experimental design was a randomized blocks with ten treatments and three replications. At the end of the experiment were measured, height, leaf number, leaf area, chlorophyll content and dry weight of coffee plants. Dry weight of B. decumbens leaves was also evaluated. The leaf area and leaf dry weight was shown to be more sensitive parameters to the interference of Brachiaria plants. Dry weight of coffee plants were reduced from 60% to 88% when the B. decumbens were transplanted 0 cm from the coffee plant. With distance of 10 cm the reduction of dry weight increased with the increase of the density of the B. decumbens . In the coexistence of the coffee plants with 16 plants/m 2 of B. decumbens , there was a reduction in the dry weight of about 80% at the distances of 0 and 20 cm. Regarding leaf area, the reduction was 47% on the average in the density of 4 plants/m 2 of B. decumbens The reduction in leaf area at other densities was higher at the distance of 0 and 20 cm, and 55% reduction was obtained at the distance of 10 cm.


When a C60 film is irradiated with a 3-kV electron-beam (EB), a peanut-shaped C60 polymer with metallic properties is formed. Valence photoelectron spectra of the polymer indicated that the density-of-states (DOS) of the polymer clearly comes across the Fermi edge in a manner similar to that of Au film used as a reference. Interestingly, the spectral function of the peanut-shaped polymer around the Fermi edge resembles that of quasi one-dimensional (1D) materials such as K0.3MO3 with its metallic phase. This suggests that the peanut-shaped polymer has also a quasi 1D structure and may exhibit the Peierls transition at a given temperature. If the polymer shows the metal-insulator transition at the given temperature, the transition would change the electron-transport mechanism of the polymer. Then, we examined the temperature-dependence of the electrical conductivity of the polymer in the range of 9K-400K. It is found that the electron transport mechanism was changed at approximately 90 K, suggesting that the valence electronic structure around the Fermi edge was changed at this temperature.


John Hill (1714-1775), a brilliant man of many talents, was extremely productive, having produced more than a hundred books and pamphlets on a wide range of subjects, but despised by most contemporaries for his egotistical, argumentative, and provocative manner and for his slanderous writings that resulted in many heated disputes, among scientists and literati alike. Rejected in his attempts to join the Royal Society of London, he began a campaign of criticism and derision against the Society, its president, Martin Folkes (1690-1754), and the Philosophical Transactions, by publishing, under a pseudonym, satires on the Society that destroyed his chances of ever being elected to that body. Accusations of plagiarism followed much of his work. A previously unnoticed example of his wholesale lifting of the classification of fishes published in 1738 by Swedish naturalist Peter Artedi (1705-1735), is described. As for the Royal Society, Hill's persistent satirization, which was mixed with sound critical advice, is said to have done more to improve the quality of the Philosophical Transactions than any other contemporary effort.


Assessment of buildings is one of the main components that are essential to assess the condition of the building. Without evaluation, it is difficult to determine the current condition of a heritage building, so failure to check can contribute to future assets. The objective of this study is to assess the level of defect condition in a heritage building. This study has selected nine buildings of the museum as a place of study. The location of the museum building is located in three states of Kelantan, Terengganu, and Pahang. All of the museum buildings have been implemented by using Building Defect Assessment (BDA) and used as a survey tool to assess the level of disability at museum building. Defects of each element in the building of the museum have been recorded. As a result of the BDA suggests that score full points used to provide the level of evaluating the overall condition of the museum building is good, and the need for action to maintenance requirements such as monitoring, repair, a replacement for preventing defects or serious damage.


In order to develop business, the company has problems associated with waste. This research focuses on the incorporation of the concept of lean thinking and six sigma concept which is lean six sigma to improve quality. Lean six sigma tools which used in this study is Big Picture Mapping, Pareto Chart, Root Cause Analysis, Fishbone Diagram, and Failure Mode and Effect Analysis. Tools used above will support the improve stage to determine the priority of reprair. From the results found that 3 critically waste were defect, overproduction and inventory. Improve stage focus on the most critical waste issue is defect, primary process improvement method of paint, the process sequence and pre assy plug gage to measure eye reaming process. Waste overproduction and inventory focused on the Master Production Schedule (MPS). These improvements were expected to resolve issues relating to the elimination of defects, overproduction and inventory.


BACKGROUND: Currently, scrotal and inguinal approaches are widely used for the treatment of low-positioned palpable forms of cryptorchidism. In the literature, available data demonstrate the comparability of the results obtained after using both techniques; however, the effectiveness reported in the literature was obtained based on rough criteria, such as the presence or absence of atrophy and malposition of the testis in the postoperative period.
AIM: To study the dynamics of the testicular volume in the postoperative period after performing scrotal and trans-inguinal orchiopexy.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study was based on the experience of treating 139 patients with palpable unilateral, low-positioned testis, aged up to 18 months, who underwent surgery within the period from 2010 to 2020. The low-positioned ones were those testicles that, during traction, could be descended beyond the superficial inguinal ring; however, the testis did not descend into the scrotum. By mechanical sampling, the patients were divided into two groups. Group I included 69 (49.6%) boys (median age, 17 [1517] months) who used scrotal access, whereas group II included 70 (50.4%) patients (median age, 15 [1417] months) with trans-inguinal access. The volume of the undescended testis was determined in both groups before surgery and after 1, 3, and 12 months.
RESULTS: Patients who had testicular atrophy and malposition that developed after surgery, wound infection, and hematoma, and did not show up for at least one of the scheduled examinations were excluded from the study. After applying the exclusion criteria, 22 boys remained in group I and 29 boys in group II. The volume of a normal testicle before surgery was 2.09 cm3 [1.25; 2.58] group I and 1.69 cm3 [1.41; 2.22] in group II (p = 0.537). In group I, a significant increase was found in the testicular volume from 0.5 cm3 [0.4; 0.8] before surgery to 1.3 cm3 [0.7; 1.8] (p 0.001) a year after orchiopexy. In group II, the testicular volume increased from 0.6 cm3 [0.3; 0.8] before surgery to 0.7 cm3 [0.4; 1.0] after surgery.
CONCLUSIONS:Scrotal access in the treatment of a palpable, low-positioned undescended testis in children aged 618 months provides a greater increase in the volume of the operated testicle in a year compared with trans-inguinal access 1 year after surgery. The results suggest that transcrotal access has some advantages over trans-inguinal access.


A novel scheme of path tracing in all-optical network (AON) is described, every node has a prime number and as data packet travels in the network prime number tag is multiplied with the other node tag. At receiver end factorization is done to measure the travelled path. This technique is implemented with the help of encoder which helps to multiply the prime number tags. This scheme has highest QoS than the scheme which use optical cross connects (OXC).In this scheme OXC is replaced with the clos network which gives better performance than system with OXC.


AIM
To report on the causes of uveitis in children and young adults and their effects on visual functions.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Two hundred and seventy six patients, 18 years old or younger, with uveitis were included in this study. The intraocular inflammation (uveitis) was classified according to anatomical site of ocular involvement and the most probable etiological factor. The final diagnosis was based on clinical manifestations and the results of specific laboratory investigations.

RESULTS
Bilateral intraocular inflammation was observed in 70.3% of the cases and 29.7% had either the left or the right eye involved. The symptomatology was relatively mild in most cases despite the fact that the visual acuity was markedly affected. An associated systemic disease was detected in 40.2% of the cases classified as non-infectious. Of this group, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis was the most common single systemic associated cause detected in 41 children. In 110 children (59.8%), the uveitis was strictly confined to the eyes with 70 of these (25.4% of the total group) classified as idiopathic. Parasites were the most common infectious-associated cause for the uveitis followed by viruses and bacteria.

CONCLUSION
Uveitis is highly prevalent among children. In children, symptomatology of the intraocular inflammation may be very mild. However, visual acuity is markedly reduced leading to amblyopia in the young children. Early detection and treatment is therefore of utmost importance.


First-principles calculations are used to characterize the bulk elastic properties of cubic and tetragonal phase metal dihydrides, MH2 ?> {M ?>  =  Sc, Y, Ti, Zr, Hf, lanthanides} to gain insight into the mechanical properties that govern the aging behavior of rare-earth di-tritides as the constituent 3H, tritium, decays into 3He. As tritium decays, helium is inserted in the lattice, the helium migrates and collects into bubbles, that then can ultimately create sufficient internal pressure to rupture the material. The elastic properties of the materials are needed to construct effective mesoscale models of the process of bubble growth and fracture. Dihydrides of the scandium column and most of the rare-earths crystalize into a cubic phase, while dihydrides from the next column, Ti, Zr, and Hf, distort instead into the tetragonal phase, indicating incipient instabilities in the phase and potentially significant changes in elastic properties. We report the computed elastic properties of these dihydrides, and also investigate the off-stoichiometric phases as He or vacancies accumulate. As helium builds up in the cubic phase, the shear moduli greatly soften, converting to the tetragonal phase. Conversely, the tetragonal phases convert very quickly to cubic with the removal of H from the lattice, while the cubic phases show little change with removal of H. The source and magnitude of the numerical and physical uncertainties in the modeling are analyzed and quantified to establish the level of confidence that can be placed in the computational results, and this quantified confidence is used to justify using the results to augment and even supplant experimental measurements.


This paper describes a fully automated driving algorithm on complex urban roads with LiDAR, vision, and GPS/map based environment representation with guaranteed safety. The proposed algorithm consists of the following three steps: an environment representation, a safety driving envelope decision, and a motion optimization. An environment representation system consists of three main modules: object classification, vehicle/non-vehicle tracking and map/lane based localization. A motion planning modules derives an optimal motion as a function of time, from the environment representation results. A safety envelope decision module determines the complete driving corridor that leads to the destination while assigning all objects to either the left or right corridor bound. In the case of moving objects such as other traffic participants, their behaviors are anticipated in the near future. A motion optimization module uses the safety envelop as a constraint and computes a trajectory that the vehicle stays in its bounds. The vehicle control module feeds back the pose estimate of the localization module to guide the vehicle along the planned trajectory. The effectiveness of the proposed automated driving algorithm is evaluated via vehicle tests. Test results show the robust performance on an inner-city street scenario.


Abstract We examined the relative contribution of different forms of eating disorder (ED) pathology to impairment in mental and physical health-related quality of life (QOL) in women with a wide range of ED symptoms. Female participants from an outpatient ED clinic (n = 53) and the local community (n = 214) completed measures of ED features and mental and physical health-related QOL. Across the sample, ED features were significantly associated with most mental and physical domains of QOL. In multiple regression analyses controlling for age and body mass index, ED features significantly predicted impairment in mental and physical QOL. Extreme shape and weight concern significantly and independently predicted most QOL subscales (&bgr; range = 0.19–0.44). The prominent contribution of shape and weight concern to both mental and physical QOL impairment underlines the importance of addressing body dissatisfaction in the treatment and prevention of EDs.


Reproductive tactics can profoundly influence population reproductive success, but paradoxically, breeding strategy and female reproductive care often vary across a population. The causes and fitness impacts of this variation are not well understood. Using breeding records from the Collaborative Cross mouse population, we evaluate the effects of breeding configuration on reproductive output. Overall, we find that communal breeding in trios leads to higher output and that both trio-breeding and overlapping litters are associated with increased neonatal survival. However, we find significant strain-level variation in optimal breeding strategy and show that the tradeoff between strategies is weakly heritable. We further find that strain reproductive condition influences the ability to support multiple litters and alters the related evolutionary tradeoffs of communal breeding. Together, these findings underscore the role of genetics in regulating alternative reproductive tactics in house mice and emphasize the need to adopt animal husbandry practices tailored to strain backgrounds.


The formation of highly phosphatized soils on sites of avian activity is a common feature of oceanic islands. We characterized a toposequence of phosphatic soils on Rata Island, to evaluate the soil genesis based on local topographic variations. For this purpose, four soils ranging from the upper hill down to the lowest landscape position on the island, representing a range of parent materials (basalt and calcareous sands), were analyzed. In the lowest landscape position a shallow Entisol was identified, strongly influenced by birds and marine sprays (Litholic Neosol), developed on " karstified" Pleistocene calcarenites; the three other soils in the upper part of the toposequence are Ornithogenic Inceptsols (Cambisols), ranging from a deep Cambisol profile on Basalt lava to intermediate Cambisols on mixed colluvial sediments of the basalt/calcareous. The lowermost Litholic Neosol is associated with a rugged landscape with strong calcarenite dissolution and karstification, related to a former wetter climate. The soil phosphatization is clearly an inherited process of the Late Quaternary age, when climate conditions were different. Initial weathering took place in the last interglacial period, under wetter conditions during which the Tertiary basalts were strongly weathered, leaving corestones in a saprolitic, oxidized mass. In the late Pleistocene, a gentle surface distributed these weathering products along the pediment slopes as colluvial materials, whereas in the coastal areas aeolian processes formed large sand dunes composed of reworked calcareous sands from marine sources during a time of very low sea level. During this time, widespread bird activity accounted for secondary apatite formation on the surface of calcareous oolites. Finally, the Holocene warming was accompanied by increasing sea level, enhanced tropical weathering, Fe and Al mobility and variscite formation superimposed on degraded Ca-phosphates, forming two phase phosphatic aggregates.


In this paper, a double tapered fractal electromagnetic bandgap (DT-FEBG) technique in planar CPW structure is proposed and analyzed. The DT-FEBG structure of CPW not only improves the pass band performance but also generates two distant band-gaps. The fractal structure is realized by replacing the etched rectangular holes with a Minkowski loop generator. High resistivity silicon substrate and MEMS surface micromachining process are employed. The DT-FEBG structure shows insertion loss of less than 1.3 dB and the stop band rejection of around 44 dB.


This paper proposes a new methodology to improve the population based optimization techniques applied for preventive control actions enhancing power system security. The preventive control studied includes both generation rescheduling and load curtailment. We first investigate how the size of the search space affects and improves the best solution obtained in the optimization process. Then, we develop a new methodology that involves a number of optimization algorithms running consecutively as the size of the search space of each algorithm is reduced according to the objective function. The extensive computational requirement for dynamic security assessment during the optimization processes is overcome by the application of neural networks. The methodology is successfully applied for solving the security constrained optimization problem of a 16-generator 68-bus test system with both continuous and discrete decision variables using consecutive differential evolution optimization algorithms.


By expanding the gain of the mode-locked equation to the third order, we have solved the equation with the aid of the La grange muliplier method and obtained asymmetric pulse shapes in synchronously pumped dye lasers. We can thus give qualitative and quantitative accounts for the asymmetric factor μ.


Intimate partner violence (IPV) affects individuals and families from all backgrounds, regardless of their ethnicity, socio-economic status, sexual orientation, or religion. Pregnancy and childbirth could be a time of vulnerability to violence because of changes in physical, emotional, social, and economic demands and needs. Prevalence of IPV against women during the perinatal period is increasingly researched and documented. However, evidence on IPV prevalence among intimate partners as well as on the course of IPV over the perinatal period is scarce. The purpose of this review was to provide a narrative synthesis of the existing literature regarding the prevalence estimates of IPV among intimate partners over the perinatal period. Through this review, we also gained better insight into associated factors, as well as the various forms of IPV. Of the 766 studies assessing prevalence estimates identified, 86 were included, where 80 studies focused on unidirectional IPV (i.e., perpetrated by men against women) and six studies investigated bidirectional IPV (i.e., IPV perpetrated by both partners). Most of the included studies reported lower overall prevalence rates for unidirectional IPV postpartum (range: 2–58%) compared to pregnancy (range: 1.5–66.9%). Psychological violence was found to be the most prevalent form of violence during the entire perinatal period. Studies on bidirectional IPV mostly reported women's perpetration to be almost as high as that of their partner or even higher, yet their findings need to be interpreted with caution. In addition, our results also highlighted the associated factors of IPV among partners, in which they were assimilated into a multi-level ecological model and were analyzed through an intersectional framework. Based on our findings, IPV is found to be highly prevalent during the entire perinatal period and in populations suffering from social inequalities. Further research exploring not only the occurrence, but also the motivations and the context of the bidirectionality of IPV during the perinatal period may facilitate better understanding of the detrimental consequences on partners and their families, as well as the development of effective intervention strategies. Public health prevention approaches intervening at optimal times during the perinatal period are also needed.


The current cattle selection program for dairy cattle in the Walloon region of Belgium does not consider the relative content of the different fatty acids (FA) in milk. However, interest by the local dairy industry in differentiated milk products is increasing. Therefore, farmers may be interested in selecting their animals based on the fat composition. The aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of genetic selection to improve the nutritional quality of bovine milk fat. The heritabilities and correlations among milk yield, fat, protein, and major FA contents in milk were estimated. Heritabilities for FA in milk and fat ranged from 5 to 38%. The genetic correlations estimated among FA reflected the common origin of several groups of FA. Given these results, an index including FA contents with the similar metabolic process of production in the mammary gland could be used, for example, to increase the monounsaturated and conjugated fatty acids in milk. Moreover, the genetic correlations between the percentage of fat and the content of C14:0, C12:0, C16:0, and C18:0 in fat were -0.06, 0.55, 0.60, and 0.84, respectively. This result demonstrates that an increase in fat content is not directly correlated with undesirable changes in FA profile in milk for human health. Based on the obtained genetic parameters, a future selection program to improve the FA composition of milk fat could be initiated.


Human carbonic anhydrase II (HCA II) is a zinc metalloenzyme that catalyzes the reversible hydration and dehydration of carbon dioxide and bicarbonate, respectively. The rate-limiting step in catalysis is the intramolecular transfer of a proton between the zinc-bound solvent (H2O/OH-) and the proton-shuttling residue His64. This distance (approximately 7.5 A) is spanned by a well defined active-site solvent network stabilized by amino-acid side chains (Tyr7, Asn62, Asn67, Thr199 and Thr200). Despite the availability of high-resolution (approximately 1.0 A) X-ray crystal structures of HCA II, there is currently no definitive information available on the positions and orientations of the H atoms of the solvent network or active-site amino acids and their ionization states. In preparation for neutron diffraction studies to elucidate this hydrogen-bonding network, perdeuterated HCA II has been expressed, purified, crystallized and its X-ray structure determined to 1.5 A resolution. The refined structure is highly isomorphous with hydrogenated HCA II, especially with regard to the active-site architecture and solvent network. This work demonstrates the suitability of these crystals for neutron macromolecular crystallography.


Abstract This article explores whether professionals working with young people hold a negative view on adolescents in Hong Kong. Data were collected from 1112 participants from 23 workshops in a 3-day training program of the Project P.A.T.H.S. in Hong Kong. In the workshop, there was a group activity inviting the participants to describe the characteristics of contemporary young people in Hong Kong. The findings showed that positive comments about adolescents were only half of the negative comments. The common themes that emerged from the negative comments included: "problematic self-conceptions", "do not have long-term life goals", "irresponsible", "materialistic", and "calculative". The common themes that emerged from the positive comments included: "good at learning new things", "energetic", and "creative". The themes apparently reflected sociocultural characteristics of the contemporary Hong Kong Society.


Because of their simple structure and low-maintenance characteristics, railways in Japan have often adopted overhead rigid conductor lines for current collection systems applicable to underground track sections or tunnels. With regard to the copper Type T rigid conductor line adopted on some JR commercial lines, undulating wear appeared at intervals of about 60 mm on contact wire sliding surfaces. Such wear would cause impaired train speedup and thus increase maintenance costs. We investigated the causes of the wears, and proposed measures to improve the quality of overhead rigid conductor lines.


Personality and subjective well-being (SWB) have been suggested to be strongly related in previous studies. This study was intended to confirm the relationship between personality and SWB and tried to seek out the genetic variants which underlie both personality and SWB. The subjects were 890 participants from Chinese Han population. We evaluated their personality using the Big Five Inventory (BFI) and used the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) to reflect their SWB. Five single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were selected from the literature (rs1426371, rs2164273, rs322931, rs3756290, rs490647) and genotyped for genetic association study. We found negative correlations between neuroticism and SWB. On the contrary, extraversion and agreeableness were positively associated with SWB. Three SNPs (rs2164273, rs3756290, rs490647) out of the five were found to connect with personality (extraversion, neuroticism, conscientiousness and openness to experience) and rs490647 variants of GRIK3 was also associated with SWB. Individuals carrying G allele at this site were predisposed to have lower risk to be neuroticism and greater chance to be extraverted, open and satisfied with their life. In summary, our study revealed that rs490647 might be a good candidate genetic variant for personality and SWB in Chinese Han population.


Abstract We used a database derived from the integration of core material and geophysical downhole measurements in order to investigate the relationships between fracturing and alteration in the volcanic section of DSDP/ODP Hole 504B. The studied crustal section (from top of the basement to 1000 mbsf (metres below sea floor)) consists of low resistivity/high porosity pillow lavas associated with breccias and rubble material, alternating with high resistivity/low porosity massive basalt flows. A positive correlation between DLL (Dual Laterolog)-derived porosity and occurrence of breccias in the core suggests that breccias more than fractures contribute to the electrical resistivity signal. A structural analysis performed from core suggests that most fractures and veins are steeply dipping, and may represent tectonic features or cracks due to contractional cooling of the crust, the latter being more abundant in pillows. Fractures and veins recorded on core tend to be clustered in massive units or thin flows. This result may derive from criteria adopted during structural measurements and must be taken with care. The natural radioactivity (GR) profile delineates two main alteration zones in the volcanic section: an oxidizing zone with increased potassium above, and a reducing one without K gain below. Most of the GR maxima are found to be correlated with celadonite-bearing alteration halos. GR minima are frequently located at the boundaries between domains of contrasting fracture orientation, where metasomatic reactions may have occurred due to contrasting permeability.


This article addresses the issue of transnational terrorism in Southeast Asia. The objective of the article is to investigate the structure of the transnational element of terrorism to determine their impact on conflict resolution attempts in the region. The transnational terrorist organization Jemaah Islamyiah will be used as a single case for the analysis. From this analysis, obstacles toward conflict resolution originating from the structure of transnational terrorism are identified, and the article provides suggestions on how to circumvent these impediments.


It is desirable that the data for a statistical control chart be normally distributed. However, if the data are not normal, then a transformation can be used, e.g. Box-Cox transformations, to produce a suitable control chart. In this paper we will discuss a quantile approach to produce a control chart and to estimate median rankit for various non-normal distributions. We will also provide examples of logistic data to indicate how a quantile approach could be used to construct a control chart for a non-normal distribution using a median rankit.


A randomized, double-blind, double-crossover, placebo-controlled haemodynamic study was undertaken in patients with Grade II/III (NYHA) cardiac failure to examine the acute effects of intravenous alifedrine, 20 mg and 40 mg (17 patients), and oral 40 mg alifedrine (8 of these patients). Patients received single doses of alifedrine and placebo on separate days, with invasive monitoring. Alifedrine resulted in a significant (p less than 0.001), dose-dependent increase in cardiac output. The peak effect (+23% with 20 mg i.v., +42% with 40 mg i.v. and +29% with 40 mg orally) was seen approximately 1 hour after intravenous administration (with about half of these increases still apparent at 3 hours) but developed progressively over 3 hours after oral administration. There were significant reductions (p less than 0.001) in peripheral resistance (peak mean changes -21% with 20 mg i.v., -31% with 40 mg i.v. and -23% with 40 mg orally), but little (less than +/- 6%) observed change in arterial pressure. With intravenous alifedrine, there were significant increases in stroke volume (+19% with 20 mg, +35% with 40 mg, p less than 0.001) with little (5%) change in heart rate (+3% and +7%, respectively, N.S.). With the 40 mg oral dose, there was a small increase in heart rate (+12%, p less than 0.005) associated with a 19% (N.S.) increase in stroke volume. Peak haemodynamic responses to 40 mg alifedrine orally were 50% to 75% of those seen after administration of the same dose intravenously. When assessed 3 hours after administration, responses to the two routes of administration were similar. There were no clinically or statistically significant changes in arterial (non-invasive), pulmonary artery, pulmonary capillary or right atrial pressures with any dose of alifedrine. No significant arrhythmias were noted clinically with the doses studied. Alifedrine, therefore, is an interesting agent, available both orally and intravenously, which is well tolerated and appears to produce marked acute increases in cardiac output with little change in heart rate or blood pressure. Further studies should determine whether these effects are maintained during longer-term therapy and clarify the relative contributions of positive inotropic and peripheral vasodilator activity to the effects observed.


Purpose: To evaluate the effectiveness of rigid registration image fusion and dose composites in HDR brachytherapy patients who have previously undergone EBRT. Methods: Data was collected from five randomly selected patients with cervical cancer who were treated with both EBRT (50.4Gy) and HDR brachytherapy (30Gy in 5 fractions) using a split-ring and tandem applicator. Planning CTs, contours, and dose profiles were exported from the Pinnacle and Oncentra treatment planning systems into the MIM 6.0 software tool for image fusion and dose composite generation. The planning CT for the third course of HDR brachytherapy was used as the primary image for each patient. Rigid registration image fusion was performed in two different ways: the first method used bony anatomy for initial matching and then fine tuned using surrounding OARs; the second method used the HDR applicator for matching. For EBRT CTs in which no applicator was present, images were fused using the uterus. Treatment doses were transferred to the primary image and then EQD2-BED calculations were performed using the linear quadratic model in MIM software. Results from MIM calculations were compared with the hand calculations based upon the ABS EQD2 worksheet used clinically to estimate aggregated dose to the bladder, rectum, sigmoid, and bowel. Results: Results revealed differences in the 2cc dose between the calculation and dose composite methods for the sigmoid (mean±SD) as 7.96%±5.11% and 6.49%±3.02% for the OAR and applicator methods, respectively; bladder as 5.77%±3.28% for applicator method. No statistically significant differences (p-value >0.05) were observed for the bladder using the OAR method, or for the rectum or bowel using either method. Conclusion: Early results suggest that current methods may be overestimating dose to the bladder while underestimating dose to sigmoid. However, more patient data needs to be collected to determine the significance of the findings and clinical implications.


Using two different culture media we have determined, by the agar dilution method, the minimal inhibitory concentrations of five antibiotics against eighty strains of Neisseria gonorrhoeae and compared the results with those obtained with the disk-agar diffusion technique. With one medium, under defined conditions of inoculum, we found a close statistical correlation for penicillin G, cefotaxime, tetracycline and thiamphenicol with linear regression coefficients (r) ranging from --0.9457 to -0.7400 but not for spectinomycin (r = -0.2503). The technique described also allows easy detection of beta-lactamase-producing strains of gonococci.


This paper demonstrates the possibility of producing iron or chromium‐based nanophase hardfaced coatings by means of common arc welding methods (TIG, PTA). The appropriate composition of the alloys to be deposited allows to control the structural properties and thus also the coating properties of the weld metal. Specific variations of the alloying elements allow also the realisation of a nanostructured solidification of the carbides and borides with cooling rates that are common for arc surfacing processes. The hardfaced coatings, which had been thus produced, showed phase dimensions of approximately 100–300 nm. Based on the results it is established that the influence of the surfacing parameters and of the coating thickness and thus the influence of the heat control on the nanostructuring process is, compared with the influence of the alloy composition, of secondary importance. The generation of nanoscale structures in hardfaced coatings allows the improvement of mechanical properties, wear resistance and corrosion resistance. Potential applications for these types of hardfaced coatings lie, in particular, in the field of cutting tools that are exposed to corrosion and wear.


This report presents an overview of the activities of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Magdalena Sepúlveda Carmona, during the term of her mandate 2008-2014. It summarizes the Special Rapporteur's country visits to Ecuador, Zambia, Bangladesh, Viet Nam, Ireland, Timor-Leste, Paraguay, Namibia, Mongolia, Mozambique, the Republic of Moldova and Guinea-Bissau (in chronological order). It also highlights the Special Rapporteur's thematic reports on social protection, welfare reform, penalization of poverty, access to justice, participation, unpaid care work, and the post-2015 development goals as well as her work on advocacy and in concluding the drafting process for the Guiding Principles on extreme poverty and human rights.


Assessment of groups in CSCL context is a challenging task fraught with many confounding factors collected and measured. Previous documented studies are by and large summative in nature and some process-oriented methods require time-intensive coding of qualitative data. This study attempts to resolve these problems for teachers to assess groups and give timely feedback. We first operationalize activity theory to holistically frame group work by breaking it down into six dimensions. The captured log data by the collaborative software is mapped with these dimensions and as a result, six measures are generated with a semantic background. Next, we employ a relatively new cluste ring algorithm – spectral clustering – to categorize groups with similar behaviors, which not only allows us to consider the six indicators simultaneously but also has the capability to deal with large online context. The spectral clustering result is compared with traditional algorithms and demonstrates better assessment accuracy. Furthermore, since the whole process is automated and the group performance indicators are grounded in a meaningful backdrop, it enables teachers to offer concrete and personalized help in a real-time format. Theoretical and practical implications are then discussed.


This paper presents solutions for both museum exhibitions and mobile guides using multimodal mixed reality interfaces based on open standards that can be highly customisable and intuitive to attract and engage a broad spectrum of users. For indoor exhibitions, some of the most characteristic technologies will be presented to demonstrate how multi-modal presentations and interactions of three-dimensional heritage environments can provide enhanced support in practice. For mobile personalised applications like on-site visits, a highly customisable mobile framework illustrates how personalized visits to open-air heritage sites can be performed. The multimodal mixed reality interfaces take into account the diverse needs of visitors to heritage and mobile guide exhibitions allowing for multimedia representations of the same content but using diverse interfaces including a web, a map, a virtual reality and an augmented reality domain. Different case-studies demonstrate the capabilities of the multimodal mixed reality interfaces when applied to museum and open-air environments as well as how personalisation and customisation can be performed to meet a wide range of user needs.


This study examined if babies (6–24 months; n = 60) learn words from a DVD modeled on Baby Einstein™. The study was novel in that it utilized an infant-directed DVD, but was edited to include low-frequency words (e.g., medallion) and it utilized the preferential looking method in the posttest so that very young babies could be tested. Results suggested that babies could learn the novel words in the live condition; however, they did not appear to learn them in the video condition. Furthermore, there was no age effect in the video condition. Finally, there was no relationship between visual attention to the video and learning from it. Thus, high attention did not necessarily result in learning.


Recent research on stand-alone focused on the improvement and development of functions for solving problems such as the limited operating time of stand-alone installed at dwelling and their low reliability caused by false alarms, but it is more urgent to study on the operating range of stand-alone sensor in consideration of the impacts of combustion products on residents because the primary goal of fire safety is minimizing casualties. This study purposed to propose the optimized operating range of stand-alone sensor in consideration of the impacts of combustion products on residents. For this purpose, we made a mathematical approach to the change of temperature over the lapse of time in compartment fires similar to house fires, and established the standards of the body`s response against heat and smoke based on literature review. In addition, we surveyed domestic and foreign technological standards for stand-alone sensor, and converted them to standards for residents of the body`s response against heat and smoke using mathematical model equations and analyzed them comparatively.


Assignment of lexical stress to the appropriate syllable is an integral part of reading polysyllabic words. The attention of reading research and computational modelling of reading has recently shifted from the monosyllabic to the polysyllabic domain, hence making more apparent the need to understand the stress assignment process. The great amount of cross-linguistic variability regarding the type and the amount of information that each language provides to its readers about stress position indicates that the stress assignment mechanism is not a uniform process among different languages. Research on the stress assignment mechanism investigates how diverse sources of information on stress position in each language interact with and shape the process of assigning stress to polysyllabic words. The main focus of this thesis was to enhance theoretical knowledge regarding stress assignment by collecting and analysing data in two languages with quite distinct linguistic characteristics regarding stress, namely, Greek and English.
The sources of information on stress position can be generally summarised in lexical contributions by access to the stored position of stress for each word in the mental representations, the explicit indication of stress position by orthographic stress marks, and language-dependent statistical regularities between orthography and/or phonology and stress position. In Greek, stress position is explicitly and consistently marked orthographically by means of a diacritic over the vowel of the stressed syllable but only in lower and not uppercase words. Hence, it provides an ideal platform for investigations with naturalistic manipulations of the availability of this information through manipulation of case. A default metrical bias to stress a specific syllable, the prefinal, has also been observed. With the utilisation of reading aloud and lexical decision experiments, it was investigated: 1) how the different sources of information interact with each other; 2) how the shift in reading strategies has an impact on this mechanism; and 3) within the framework of a computationally implemented theory of reading, what levels of representation stress is encoded at.
Experiments with Greek skilled readers in reading aloud showed that the stress assignment mechanism is directly dependent upon shifts of processing strategies in reading with lexical processing encouraging the extraction of stress position information directly from the lexicon. The default bias was also found to be active and dominant in the absence of other sources but also of relatively limited contributions when the other sources are present. Effects of case type of presentation were also disentangled from any potential effects from the availability of the diacritics. Case type was found to have an independent role in reading regardless whether this coincides with the presence of stress marks (in lowercase) or not (in uppercase). Experiments with skilled readers in visual word recognition showed evidence that stress is a multifaceted feature encoded in several levels of representation in the reading system, including as an independent unit processed at the letter level, stored in the phonological representations, and embedded in the orthographic representations of known words.
Additionally, statistical analyses of the statistical characteristics of Greek orthography, which eventually led to the development of a new psycholinguistic database (Kyparissiadis, van Heuven, Pitchford & Ledgeway, 2017), showed that, in similarity with other languages such as English, the orthographic patterns in the endings of Greek words can be associated with specific stress positions. It remains to be investigated whether such regularities have a behavioural dimension and inform the stress mechanism as an additional source of information on stress assignment. This has been shown in other languages that present similar regularities. Furthermore, it was shown that the default metrical bias, which has universally been accounted as the result of a statistical preponderance of stress on a specific syllable, does not present a uniform statistical dominance in Greek. The process of adding part-of-speech information to the database elucidated that not all grammatical categories are predominantly stressed on the default position. In contrast to other languages, in which readers have been shown to be sensitive to the shift of statistical regularities within different subsets of the language's battery, a lexical decision experiment in Greek showed uniform conformance of readers to the default bias even in a subset or words that does not present this statistical dominance. This raises questions regarding the origins of the default bias and warrants further investigations.
In English, in conjunction to lexical retrieval, stress assignment is argued to be heavily affected by associations between orthography and the stressed syllable. Investigations on the default metrical bias in English have given rise to inconsistent results. Direct comparison of the contributions of the default mechanism against lexical activations in stress assignment showed no evidence for a default pattern being active in English reading in the presence of lexical information. However, the shifting of stressing strategies induced by a subsequent implicit priming experiment suggests that stress assignment through lexical access can be still affected by sublexical processes. Computational simulations with a leading computational model of reading showed a heavier reliance of the model on lexical contributions rather than orthographic information when these two sources where contrasted against each other. However, the model showed sub-optimal performance when simulating the behavioural results of the first experiment in English reported above. The reasons behind this inefficiency of a model that is able to simulate a wide range of behavioural patterns are considered and discussed. Finally, results of simulations from a preliminary word recognition model in Greek are presented and future directions for these modelling investigations are discussed.
Overall, the results of this body of research indicate the stress assignment mechanism is multi-facetted and language-dependent. This has implications for universal models of written word recognition and reading aloud that future research will need to address.


We propose to develop a trust system based on processing the payment reports to maintain a trust value for each node. The nodes that relay message more successfully will have higher trust values, such as the low-mobility and the large-hardware-resources nodes. Based on these trust value, we will propose a trust -based routing protocol to route message through the highly trusted node (which performance packet relay more successfully in the past) to minimize the probability of dropping the messages, and thus improve the network performance in terms of throughput and packet delivery ratio. The nodes submit lightweight payment report to the AC to update their credit accounts, and temporarily store undeniable security token called Evidences. The reports contain the alleged charges and rewards of different sessions with security proofs. The A C verifies the payment by investigating the consistency of the reports, and clears the payment of the fair reports with almost number of cryptographic operation. For cheating reports, the evidences are requested to identify and evict the cheating nodes , that submit correct reports. Evidence aggregation technique is used to increase the storage area of the Evidences. Evidences are submitted and the AC applies cryptographic operations to verify them only in case of cheating, but the nodes always submit security tokens. However, the trust system should be secure against singular and collusive attacks, and the routing protocol should make smart decisions regarding node selection with low overhead.


. The objective of the present work is to analyze the influence of the lightweight concrete block support on the physical and mechanical characteristics of the applied mortar. This work aims to understand how the physical and mechanical properties of the mortar are modified by the support. The methodology used consisted of conducting laboratory experimental tests to compare the behavior of mortar molded in standard moulds with the behavior of mortar applied to lightweight concrete block supports. Open porosity, bulk density, capillary water absorption, water vapor permeability and compressive strength were studied. These results have shown how the support influences the characteristics of the mortar, improving the understanding of the performance of the applied mortar. This study provides a global approach to the assessment of mortar characteristics, considering the analysis and comparison of mortar applied to the support and molded in the laboratory, according to current standards. Such understanding may contribute to the reassessment of the way mortars are produced, seeking to optimize their characteristics and compatibility with the support.


We consider the existence for extremal solutions of a class (QL) type stochastic differential equations which the coefficients do not satisfy Lipschitz condition by using monotone iterative method.


Background: Indigofera arrecta (Hoscht-Holl) is used traditionally in Nigeria for treating conditions associated with pain and inflammation. Based on the traditional use of the plant for the management of pain and inflammation, the present study was designed to evaluate scientifically the anti-inflammatory and analgesic activities of whole plant parts of Indigofera arrecta so as to generate data that could support such traditional applications. To the best of our knowledge, no similar studies on Indigofera arrecta have been undertaken previously. Objectives: To experimentally demonstrate the anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects of the whole plant parts of Indigofera arrecta . Methodology: The extract of I . arrecta was screened for the presence of phytochemicals. The methanol extract of the plant was tested orally for acute toxicity effect (median lethal dose; LD 50 ) at doses between 10 mg/kg and 5000 mg/kg. Similarly, the extract at 100, 400 and 1000 mg/kg was evaluated in vivo for anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties in rodent models. Results: Carbohydrates, cardiac glycosides, flavonoids, glycosides, saponins, steroids and triterpenes and tannins were detected in the extract. The extract is relatively safe when administered orally to rats with a median lethal dose (LD 50 ) of ≥ 5000 mg/kg. The plant exhibited significant (p< 0.05) in vivo anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects at all the tested doses. However, at 100 mg/kg, the extract did not produce significant effect against thermal-induced pain. Discussion: Phytochemical study showed the presence of flavonoids, glycosides, tannins, steroids and triterpenes in the extracts of Indigofera arrecta . One or more of these constituents either singly or in combination may be responsible for the pharmacological action of the plant. Flavonoids and phenolic compounds have been reported to have multiple biological effects such as antioxidant, analgesic, anti-inflammatory actions, inhibition of platelet aggregation, inhibition of mast cell histamine release and inhibitory actions on arachidonic acid metabolism as demonstrated by in vitro and in vivo tests. Flavonoids have been documented to have anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects. The analgesic and anti-inflammatory effects of steroids and tannins have also been reported. Key words: Indigofera arrecta , Methanol extract, Antinociceptive, Analgesic, Median lethal dose


This paper summarizes the clinical results achieved at the Milan Cancer Institute in advanced Hodgkin's disease through successive randomized studies performed during the last two decades. Long-term results confirm the therapeutic activity of a regimen containing bleomycin and doxorubicin, such as ABVD (doxorubicin/bleomycin/vinblastine/dacarbazine), as salvage treatment and as primary chemotherapy, either when combined with radiation or cyclically alternated with MOPP (mechlorethamine/vincristine/procarbazine/prednisone). Delayed iatrogenic morbidity (namely, sterility and leukemogenesis) was less frequently documented in ABVD-treated patients compared with MOPP-treated patients. Nevertheless, bleomycin- and anthracycline-containing regimens can be refined in the attempt to further decrease iatrogenic toxicity.


The detection of objects is important in many computer vision applications. This paper proposes a reconfigurable architecture for object detection using adaptive threshold with an efficient algorithm for removal of salt and pepper noise from the colour and grayscale images. The main objective of this paper is to design an alternate architecture of object detection using adaptive threshold. In this paper, a type median filter is used to preserve the edges and to reduce the salt and pepper noise easily of the input and reference image is discussed. The pre-processed images are applied to 2D-discrete wavelet transform (2D-DWT) to remove variable illumination and to select appropriate sub-band, i.e., low-low (LL) band which contains maximum information of the original image. The modified background subtraction is used to remove the background from LL band of input and reference images to obtain a foreground image. The detected object is fed to median filter to remove any small amounts of noise which is still present in the image. The modified decision based partially trimmed global median (MDBPTGM) filter was used to give better results in terms of mean square error (MSE), peak signal to noise ratio (PSNR) and image enhancement factor (IEF). Hardware parameters such as slice registers and flip-flop pairs, latches, lookup table (LUT), shift registers and memory usage were compared with the existing techniques. Propose architecture used less number of hardware parameters. It means the proposed design reduces power and the area usage in comparison to the other techniques.


The topic of this research is The Effect of Grammar Translation Method in Descriptive Text for Students' Writing Skill. The objective of this research were to find how the Grammar Translation Method can improve students' writing skill through descriptive text for eleventh grade students at SMK Yapalis Krian in the academic year of 2019/2020 and whether the grammar translation method can be used as a method in improving the students' achievement of writing skill. The researchers was applied pre-experimental research in this study. The steps of pre-experimental research were given test and treatment. In gathering the data, the researcher used a test in the form of writing content about descriptive text. The result of this research showed that using grammar translation method was good. It was proven by the improvement mean difference of pre-test and post-test after treatment. The means of the pre-test was 60.85, and the post-test was 74.63. Therefore, it can be suggessted that grammar translation method can be used as the alternative method in teaching which especially to improve writing skill.


In this article, the authors analyze the effect of time of day on the average bid/ask spread of an exchange-traded fund (ETF). They examine a cross-section of 55,781 intraday spread observations generated by 744 US-domiciled ETFs in 2017, controlling for fund category, trading volume, and issuer. The authors find that, both before and after they add controls, average spreads are highest in the early morning, supporting the argument that investors should avoid trading near market open. Before controls, average spreads are tightest in the late afternoon. After controls, they appear elevated during the final five minutes. However, because volume increases substantially during that period, spreads still appear tighter overall. Therefore, our analysis does not support the argument that investors should avoid trading near market close. Unexpectedly, after controls, the authors find higher spreads during Federal Open Market Committee announcements. This suggests that investors should be vigilant when trading at such times.


In order to demonstrate the growth of our knowledge of a typical Gulf Coast salt dome concurrently with development of the science of geophysics, the successive application of various techniques to the exploration of the Cameron Meadows dome is described and illustrated. These methods were: mechanical refraction seismograph (1926); torsion balance (1927); electrical refraction seismograph (1928–29); early correlation reflection seismograph (1929); dip reflection seismograph (1933); special salt profiling refraction seismograph (1942); continuous correlation reflection seismograph (1942); gravity meter (1943.)


The in vitro studies of 3H-morphine binding to synaptosomal brain and spinal cord membranes and the in vivo detection of pA2 values were carried out in mice. Both morphine-tolerant and intact animals were used. Morphine-tolerant mice showed no changes in specific binding and naloxone pA2 values. Desensitization of neural tissue is most likely to result from variation in translation from opiate receptors to subreceptor effector systems.


I present our recent results on the critical end point in the μB-Tphase diagram of QCD with two flavours of light dynamical quarks and compare them with similar results from other groups. Implications for a possible energy scan at the RHIC are discussed. I also comment briefly on the new results of great relevance to heavy ion collisions from finite temperature lattice QCD simulations on speed of sound, specific heat and on the fate of J/ψ.


Abstract In the early 20th century literature was woven into language curriculum to endorse learners to acquire language structures and perform drills successfully. The actual use of the target language upstaged grammar instruction as the primary focus of language learning in the fields of language pedagogy. In the late 1960s and 1970s literature fell into disuse on the grounds that it was not in conformity with standard grammar rules and the widespread perception was that literature was complex and inaccessible for learners. In the late 1970s and 1980s a decisive swing against literature was experienced and literature came into prominence to enable learners to make huge leaps in language learning. Learners can reap many benefits from the inclusion of literature in foreign language teaching. In attempting to support their arguments of incorporating literature into language teaching a considerable number of researchers offer a number of reasons why literature is an ideal medium for extending language use. By means of inclusion of literature in language teaching, learners are at an advantage to acquire profound knowledge of language. The present paper investigates the language-literature division and focuses on the three phases with regard to the inclusion of literature in language teaching. The supportive role of literature in the development of language awareness is another issue the paper deals with.


In wireless network, nodes are not connected by physical links. Routing is an important factor in wireless network. Ad-hoc On-demand Distance Vector (AODV) is one of the most widely used routing protocol in wireless sensor networks. AODV is a stateless protocol that establishes and maintains a single route between source and destination. If the path is disrupted, then another alternate path is determined. An alternative of AODV, called multipath AODV, has been proposed that establishes multiple routes between source and destination nodes in a single route discovery. So, multipath AODV can use alternative paths in case of failure without going for another route discovery phase. So multipath AODV gives better performance compared to single path AODV. The traditional AODV protocol is vulnerable to the well-known black hole attack. In case of multipath AODV, when one path is affected by blackhole attack, then source node can choose another alternative path. In this paper we propose a new type blackhole attack mainly targeting multipath AODV. To the best of our knowledge there is no blackhole attack which specifically targets multipath AODV. Broadly speaking, in the proposed blackhole attack, the attacker looks for nodes through which many alternative paths of multipath AODV passes through. Such nodes are selected and blackhole attack is launched targeting them, thereby damaging more number of paths in a single attempt. Further, the attacker selects only those genuine nodes through more than a threshold number of alternative paths pass through, thereby facilitating the attacker to use less number of nodes. So the attack scheme is power aware. NS2 experimental results show the validity of the proposed attack.


Categorization and categorical perception have been extensively studied, mainly in vision and audition. In the haptic domain, our ability to categorize objects has also been demonstrated in earlier studies. Here we show for the first time that categorical perception also occurs in haptic shape perception. We generated a continuum of complex shapes by morphing between two volumetric objects. Using similarity ratings and multidimensional scaling we ensured that participants could haptically discriminate all objects equally. Next, we performed classification and discrimination tasks. After a short training with the two shape categories, both tasks revealed categorical perception effects. Training leads to between-category expansion resulting in higher discriminability of physical differences between pairs of stimuli straddling the category boundary. Thus, even brief training can alter haptic representations of shape. This suggests that the weights attached to various haptic shape features can be changed dynamically in response to top-down information about class membership.


We have studied a dissipative version of a one-dimensional Fermi accelerator model. The dynamics of the model is described in terms of a two-dimensional, nonlinear area-contracting map. The dissipation is introduced via inelastic collisions of the particle with the walls and we consider the dynamics in the regime of high dissipation. For such a regime, the model exhibits a route to chaos known as period doubling and we obtain a constant along the bifurcations so called the Feigenbaum's number d.


The authors introduce a continuous stochastic generative model that can model continuous data, with a simple and reliable training algorithm. The architecture is a continuous restricted Boltzmann machine, with one step of Gibbs sampling, to minimise contrastive divergence, replacing a time-consuming relaxation search. With a small approximation, the training algorithm requires only addition and multiplication and is thus computationally inexpensive in both software and hardware. The capabilities of the model are demonstrated and explored with both artificial and real data.


The Dutch protocol for the national inventory estimates the methane emission of the average Dutch dairy cow based on a Tier 3 approach. A dynamic, mechanistic model is used to represent the enteric fermentation processes, using annual national statistics on feed intake and feed composition as model inputs. Dutch dairy rations are based mainly on roughage (3/4 of dry matter ingested) with a high proportion of grass products (2/3 of roughage dry matter). Between 1990 and 2008, there were continuous increases in dry matter intake, milk production and enteric methane emission. Methane emission ranged from 111 to 129 kg/cow/year, and from 17.6 to 15.4 g/kg fat- and protein-corrected milk. The present study indicates that uncertainties in the feed intake level and the proportion and composition of grass products contribute to the variation in predicted methane emission. In addition, internal model equations also greatly contribute to the uncertainty (representation of rumen acidity and yield of volatile fatty acids). The greatest part of the uncertainty in the methane emission factor (kg methane/cow/year) is determined by the uncertainty in the feed intake and stoichiometry of volatile fatty acid production, while the greatest part of the uncertainty in the methane conversion factor (methane energy as % of gross energy intake) is determined by the stoichiometry of volatile fatty acid production in combination with the acidity of rumen digesta. Although the applicability of national statistics as model inputs can be investigated relatively easily in follow-up studies, physiological research with dairy cattle will be required to fully validate the current internal model equations.


When doing recording work in the studio, disturbing sound must be removed. In this thesis, the purpose of this thesis is to formulate a mathematical equation, by using MATLAB to identify a system, then using the system to do cancellation of disturbing sound. The method of doing cancellation is to subtract the simulated output by the actual output, and then the disturbing sound was cancelled. The main thesis work will focus on the system identification, which is the process of determining the characteristic of an unknown system. Three systems were identified with the same model structure, which is linear (ARX) model. After finding out the model, the model quality must be evaluated. If the model is valid, there is a discussion if it is possible to run the mathematical equation in the real application, and how is the market today.


Annual legumes are often used as nurse plants for restoration projects, but two commonly used legume species were competitors at all densities with Artemisia californica (California sagebrush), a dominant shrub of southern California coastal sage scrub. Survival of Artemisia was not reduced by the lowest densities of the native Lupinus succulentus (arroyo lupine) at ratios of Artemisia to Lupinus of 1:1 or 1:3 or by the exotic Trifolium hirtum (rose clover) at the 1:1 density, but its survival was as low as 4% at the highest densities of Trifolium (1:16) and 1:32). Overall, Trifolium was more detrimental to survival of Artemisia, but the biomass of Artemisia was reduced by 90% or more in mixtures with both legumes even at the lowest densities of 1:1. The total soil nitrogen either did not change or decreased in two of the mixtures between planting and harvest dates, indicating that the legumes not only did not add nitrogen to the soil within one growing season but even depleted it in these two cases. Whereas Lupinus had greater aboveground bio-mass than Trifolium, it had a lower root density than Trifolium. The Artemisia root system was more shallow than either Trifolium or Lupinus, possibly explaining the poor growth of Artemisia in mixtures, The legumes were one to two orders of magnitude greater in aboveground biomass than Artemisia at the 1:1 ratio and therefore may be inappropriate choices as nurse plants. There is no evidence from this study that either of these legumes can act as nurse plants, even at the lowest ratio of one nurse plant to on shrub. Nurse plants are probably more important in harsher environments than in coastal sage scrub.


Following our earlier gauge field theory analysis of the diffusion and interactions of classical and quantum waves with topological defects in solids (screw and edge dislocations), we present the analysis of the interaction of a classical spin wave with a screw dislocation studied within the Heisenberg ferromagnet model in which spins are located on a lattice containing dislocations. We show that the spin wave interaction with the screw dislocation shows a similarity to the Aharonov–Bohm-like deflection found previously for scattering of acoustic waves on the same type of defects.


This paper will concern itself with differentiating between the six syndromes typically classified as collagen diseases. Other diseases with manifestations common to these will not be differentiated, or even enumerated. Ocular manifestations will be omitted. The approximate relative incidence of these six collagen diseases is as follows: Rheumatoid arthritis - - Rheumatic fever Lupus erythematosus - - - Periarteritis nodosa - - Dermatomyositis Scleroderma Some Features of the Collagen Diseases as a Group The collagen diseases are characterized by widespread focal lesions of connective tissue. They differ individually as to sites of predilection, and there are quantitative histopathological differences in the lesions. However, there is sufficient overlap that at times two or more collagen diseases appear histologically and clinically indistinguishable in their manifestations. This is more likely during early stages than later. Even more commonly, initial manifestations more or less characteristic of one collagen disease (e.g., rheumatoid arthritis) may evolve into those typical of another (e.g., lupus


In this paper, a signal acquisition system for continuous-wave lidar is present in two ways. One is the hardware design, the other is the device design and application program design using FPGA with USB2.0 interface. The sampling rate of this system is up to 300Msps. The signal correlation and accumulation is processed by using FPGA with 512M RAM The experimental results show that it can be used in a variety of systems.


We investigated whether the shift of cardiac myosin heavy chain (MHC) isoform observed during exposure to hypoxia is secondary to hypertrophy, or whether it is directly related to the hypoxic stress. Twelve male Wistar-Kyoto rats, 14 weeks old, were randomly assigned to two groups: sea-level control group (CO) and hypoxia group (HX). The CO group was housed 4 weeks at 1,011 hPa, and the HX group was housed for 4 weeks at 701 hPa. The expression of MHC-beta was significantly increased (600%) in the HX group as compared to the CO group in the right ventricle (p < 0.01). An increased ventricular mass induced by hypoxic exposure was associated with an increased expression of MHC-beta in the right ventricle (p < 0.05). In the left ventricle, the MHC-b expression was significantly increased (295%) in the HX group as compared to the CO group without ventricular hypertrophy (p < 0.01). No differences were observed in the adenylyl cyclase activity or in the phosphodiesterase activities in both ventricles between the CO and HX groups (p > 0.05). Oxidative enzymatic activities (citrate synthase and three-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase) were unchanged in both ventricles following 4 weeks of hypoxia (p > 0.05). These findings suggest that, besides cardiac hypertrophy, the hypoxia-induced adaptational change to the MHC-b isoform may be mediated through a specific mechanism related to the stress of hypoxia.


Both ion cyclotron rf and glow discharge boronization have been successfully used for wall conditioning on EAST tokamak device. The whole process is monitored continuously by residual gas analyzer and film thickness monitor. These diagnostics provide detailed information about the boronization. High hydrogen inventory level observed after boronization maybe due to the boronization material used (C2B10H12). Ion cyclontron rf conditioning is proved to be an efficient wall conditioning method for superconducting device because it could be carried out under toroidal magnetic field. In this paper, the procedure of boronization is described, and subsequently sample analysis and the effect on plasma operation are introduced. Conclusion is given at the end.