Lymphoma 6C3HED-OG cells, known from previous work to be susceptible to the effects of guinea pig serum in vivo and dependent upon extrinsic asparagine for protein synthesis and growth in vitro, remained for the most part morphologically intact and countable in the electronic cell counter following exposures of 1 and 2 hr to the effects of heated (56°C, 30 min) guinea pig serum injected into the peritoneal cavities of mice in which the lymphoma cells were growing rapidly; after exposures of 4 and 6 hr the bulk of the -OG cells remained still intact and countable in the cell counter, though by this time a small proportion of them (5 to 12%) proved stainable with eosin in wet preparations) hence were presumably nonviable. After 12, 16, and 24 hr of exposure, however, the bulk of the -OG cells were either lysed or fragmented, to the extent that they did not register in the cell counter. Morphologic studies of the cells exposed 16 and 24 hr to the effects of heated guinea pig serum in vivo, disclosed that most of the cells then remaining were either frankly necrotic or greatly altered otherwise, marked vacuolation of the cytoplasm being the most conspicuous alteration in cells not yet obviously necrotic. Long before the bulk of the Lymphoma 6C3HED-OG cells had become conspicuously changed morphologically following exposure to the effects of heated guinea pig serum in vivo, they manifested striking alterations in protein metabolism, as was disclosed by "pulse" studies with radioactive valine. For example, the protein metabolism of -OG cells, as measured by their incorporation of L-valine-C14, was sharply curtailed following 15 min of exposure to heated guinea pig serum in vivo, as compared with valine incorporation by cells labeled immediately after exposure to the guinea pig serum. Following exposure to heated guinea pig serum during 60 min, -OG cells incorporated less than half as much L-valine-C14 as did cells labeled immediately after exposure, and the incorporation of L-valine-C14 was still less after 120 min of exposure. By contrast, Lymphoma -RG1 cells, known from previous work to be wholly insusceptible to the effects of guinea pig serum in vivo and independent of need for extrinsic asparagine for protein synthesis and growth in vitro, showed no curtailment whatever of protein synthesis following exposures to the effects of heated guinea pig serum in vivo during periods of 15, 60, and 120 min. Reasons are given for considering the prompt inhibition of protein synthesis in the asparagine-dependent -OG cells a direct result of asparagine-deprivation induced in vivo by the injected guinea pig serum, the L-asparaginase of which presumably converted the available L-asparagine of the host to L-aspartic acid that was not taken up by the -OG cells. The synthesis of deoxyribonucleic acid by Lymphoma 6C3HED-OG cells, as measured by the incorporation of thymidme-H3, determined with the aid of liquid scintillation counting and autoradiography, was also altered by exposure of the lymphoma cells to the effects of heated guinea pig serum in vivo, though not during exposures of 15 and 60 min; only after an exposure of 120 min did the population of -OG cells incorporate notably less thymidine-H3 than did control populations, though after 240 min of exposure the -OG cells incorporated less than one-fifth as much tritiated thymidineas had -OG cells exposed to heated guinea pig serum for 60 min or to heated horse serum for periods up to 240 min. Autoradiographs indicated that DNA synthesis by -OG cells normally proceeds at an intense level that leads to some 60% of these cells being heavily labeled in autoradiographs at any given time; after exposure to the effects of heated guinea pig serum during 2 and 4 hr in vivo, however, the lymphoma cells lost their ability to incorporate enough tritiated thymidine to become heavily labeled, but approximately the same proportion of them (56 to 58%) retained their ability to incorporate sufficient tritiated thymidine to become lightly labeled. The possibility is considered that the inhibition of DNA synthesis in the asparagine-dependent -OG cells exposed to the effects of heated guinea pig serum in vivo may be secondary to the previously manifest inhibition of protein synthesis. Further, in tests of ribonucleic acid metabolism of Lymphoma 6C3HED-OG cells after exposure to the effects of heated guinea pig serum in vivo during periods of 15, 60, 120, and 240 min, the findings indicated that the ability of the lymphoma cells to synthesize RNA, as measured by their capacity to incorporate uridine-5-H3, remained unaltered during the exposures of 15, 60, and 120 min, but was substantially reduced following 240 min of exposure. The findings are considered in relation to the probability, disclosed in part by previous studies, that heated guinea pig serum brings about its effects upon Lymphoma 6C3HED-OG cells in vivo by providing active L-asparaginase in large amounts, which presumably converts the available (extracellular) asparagine of the host to aspartic acid, the latter not being taken up by the lymphoma cells in vivo or in vitro. Hence it seems likely that heated guinea pig serum in this way brings about a state of asparagine deprivation that is responsible for the sequential metabolic and morphologic alterations that become manifest in asparagine-dependent Lymphoma 6C3HED-OG cells following their exposure to the effects of guinea pig serum in vivo, as here described.


Convolutional neural networks (CNNs) require significant computing power during inference. Smart phones, for example, may not run a facial recognition system or search algorithm smoothly due to the lack of resources and supporting hardware. Methods for reducing memory size and increasing execution speed have been explored, but choosing effective techniques for an application requires extensive knowledge of the network architecture. This paper proposes a general approach to preparing a compressed deep neural network processor for inference with minimal additions to existing microprocessor hardware. To show the benefits to the proposed approach, an example CNN for synthetic aperture radar target classification is modified and complimentary custom processor instructions are designed. The modified CNN is examined to show the effects of the modifications and the custom processor instructions are profiled to illustrate the potential performance increase from the new extended instructions.


The aim of this work is to develop and investigate an accurate sequence for MR flow quantification. We utilized a 3D ultra-short echo time (UTE) flow sequence to minimize the displacement artifact that frequently occurs in MR flow imaging. In UTE acquisitions, the position is encoded at the beginning of the readout. Thus, the time difference between velocity encoding and spatial position encoding is minimized. This leads to an improved accuracy of the velocity quantification. The sequence was tested and validated against a reference sequence and a conventional 4D flow sequence in a flow experiment in vitro at 3T.


This work demonstrated the development of an array of oscillator-based sensors for the detection of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). A field-programmable gate array (FPGA) was leveraged to monitor the oscillation frequency of 16 sensing elements in parallel. It was shown that three functional chemistries can be deposited via inkjet printing to detect several analytes selectively. These unique response characteristics allowed for the creation of a linear regression model that relates the shifts in oscillation frequencies to the concentration of specific analytes. This approach utilized a single array with sufficient elements to incorporate intentional redundancies. Ultimately, this work demonstrated a low-cost oscillator-based sensing array capable of simultaneously monitoring chemical processes with single second resolution using 16 independent channels.


In 2020, Namibia celebrates the thirtieth anniversary of its independence from apartheid South African rule and the sixtieth anniversary of the founding of its primary liberation movement, now ruling party, the South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO). For many people across these years, SWAPO has been associated with the promise of a postcolonial Namibian nation, committed to the idealistic principles on which its liberation movement was founded: "solidarity, freedom, justice." As a result, Namibia and SWAPO often appear to be indistinguishable from one another, and they are


Abstract Both sexes of adult Western Screech-Owls (Otus kennicottii) sing in response to playback of conspecific song within their territories. Two primary songs are the bounce and double trill. Using sonographic analysis of tape-recorded vocalizations, our study quantified characteristics of bounce and double trill songs uttered by individuals within a population of Western Screech-Owls inhabiting riparian woodlands in southwestern Idaho. We asked if songs of males and females differed and, if so, how accurately could songs be classified by sex. On average, male bounce songs were ∼30% lower in frequency than bounce songs of females, but song duration, note duration, number of notes per bout, and internote duration did not differ. Similarly, double trill songs of males were significantly lower in frequency than those of females, and double trill songs uttered by females had significantly greater internote distances in the leading portion. A discriminant model based on frequency at maximum amplitude of bounce songs correctly classified all males and females in our sample. Presence of sex-specific patterns of vocalizations in that species would allow owls to assess the sex of potential intruders and respond appropriately. Moreover, sonographic analysis of Western Screech-Owl songs provides a means for noninvasive classification of sex.


A transistorized special purpose digital computer called MAUDE (Morse AUtomatic DEcoder) has been designed, built and analyzed. This computer decodes a hand-sent Morse message, which is printed on a teletypewriter. MAUDE's decisions take place at a number of different levels and its "knowledge" is not only that of relative durations of dots and dashes, but also of the Morse code and even of certain elementary properties of language. MAUDE has successfully decoded between 90 per cent and 95 per cent of 184 operators. A successful decoding is one which results in a text which can be easily read by a man who knows the language. It is felt that MAUDE can be a practical piece of equipment for a site with heavy traffic. Its performance will be inferior to that of a man until more sophisticated language rules, using at least a word vocabulary, are included.


BACKGROUND
Intraductal ultrasonography (IDUS) is highly accurate in detection of extrahepatic bile duct stones. This study was to compare the accuracy of IDUS and endoscopic retrograde cholangiography (ERC) in the diagnosis of extrahepatic bile duct stones.

METHODS
Thirty patients suspected of extrahepatic bile duct stones on B ultrasonography, CT, or MRI were enrolled for study. ERC was performed using a Fujinon duodenoscope (ED-410XT, ED-410Xu), then IDUS was done by inserting a Fujinon microprobe (PL2220-15) through the endoscopic biopsy channel to detect the extrahepatic bile duct. Finally stones in the extrahepatic bile duct were detected and extracted by endoscopic sphincterotomy (EST).

RESULTS
Among the 30 patients, 26 were diagnosed as having cholelithiasis accurately through ERC. In one patient the stone detected by ERC was really floccule. Misdiagnosis happened in 2 patients with extrahepatic bile duct stones. So the overall accuracy and sensitivity of ERC in the diagnosis of extrahepatic bile duct stones were 86.7% (26/30) and 92.9% (26/28) respectively. In contrast, IDUS showed the results of diagnosis were in consistent with those of EST stone extraction. Its accuracy and sensitivity in the diagnosis of extrahepatic bile duct stones were 100% (30/30) and 100% (28/28) respectively.

CONCLUSION
IDUS which is superior to ERC in diagnosing extrahepatic bile duct stones can avoid the visual error of ERC.


Received: Revised: Accepted: June 28, 2014 October 10, 2014 January 05, 2015 A severe hemorrhagic pneumonia with respiratory distress prevalent has been observed in broilers with approximately 80% morbidity and 50% mortality. In our initial studies, Ornithobacterium rhinotracheale (ORT), Enterococcus faecalis (E. faecalis) and Streptococcus zooepidemicus were isolated from the diseased birds. However, the respective contribution of these organisms in the pathogenesis of hemorrhagic pneumonia is unclear. The objective of this study was to evaluate the role of ORT-E. faecalis co-infection in hemorrhagic pneumonia in chickens. Biochemical assays and 16S rRNA-based PCR were used to identify 5 E. faecalis isolates. Subsequently, forty-eight 21-day-old SPF chickens were divided randomly into six groups, 8 birds in each group. Chickens were co-infected intraperitoneally with ORT and E. faecalis isolates simultaneously, or inoculated with ORT first, then with E. faecalis three days later, and vice versa. Control groups consisted of chickens inoculated with ORT alone or E. faecalis alone. Post inoculation, the mortality was 87.5, 62.5, 37.6, 62.5 and 50% in birds co-infected with ORT and E. faecalis, infected with E. faecalis first followed by ORT, with ORT first followed by E. faecalis, and mono-infected with ORT and E. faecalis, respectively. Moreover, serum specimens from 60 out of 194 randomly selected chickens (30.9%) were positive for antibodies against E. faecalis. Our co-infection studies suggest that E. faecalis infection is able to trigger hemorrhagic pneumonia with a rapid mortality, while ORT infection was able to prolong pathological lesions. Therefore, the occurrence of ORT and E. faecalis co-infection may be associated with the outbreak of chicken hemorrhagic pneumonia. ©2015 PVJ. All rights reserved


We investigated whether the renal brush border Na+/H+ exchanger NHE3 exists in assemblies with other proteins in native kidney membranes. To this end we generated monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) against affinity purified NHE3 protein complexes. Hybridomas were selected based on ability to immunoprecipitate NHE3. One of the resulting mAbs (10A3) labeled a high molecular mass (>200 kDa) protein and stained primarily the coated pit region of the proximal tubule in a manner similar to that described for megalin (gp330). We then confirmed that both mAb 10A3 and a known anti-megalin mAb immunoprecipitated and immunoblotted the same protein, namely megalin. mAb 10A3 specifically co-precipitated NHE3 but not villin or NaPi-2 from solubilized renal membranes, indicating specificity of the NHE3-megalin interaction. When immunoprecipitations were performed using either 10A3 or anti-NHE3 mAb 2B9 after separation of solubilized renal proteins by sucrose velocity gradient centrifugation, we found that NHE3 exists in two states with distinct sedimentation coefficients, a 9.6 S megalin-free form and a 21 S megalin-bound form, and that when NHE3 assembles with megalin, epitopes within the carboxyl-terminal 131 amino acids of NHE3 are blocked. Taken together, these findings indicate that a significant pool of NHE3 exists as a multimeric complex with megalin in the brush border of the proximal tubule.


This project recovers what we call a "Marxist Feminist eye" in critical educational research. We begin by tracing the roots of this project, discussing the gender disparity present in the traditionally-cited literature of critical pedagogy. Next, we share a brief history of Marxist Feminist work, looking at educational research by Madeleine Arnot, Anne Marie Wolpe, Rosemary Deem, and Linda Valli. These relatively unknown Marxist Feminist perspectives from the 1970s and 1980s show how capitalist and patriarchal forces mutually constitute. Finally, we expand upon this framework to understand multiple intersections of exploitation and oppression, such as race, ability, sexuality, nationality and others. Finally, we highlight how the Marxist Feminist eye is useful in understanding ourselves and educational spaces within our neoliberal context.


Asphinctites tenuiplicatus [M] and Polysphinctites secundus [m] from the Asphinctites tenuiplicatus Zone (Early Bathonian), are usually considered as a sexual dimorphic pair, although authors describe them as separate species. We used statistical methods to test the sexual dimorphic correspondence between those morphospecies, based on a rather large sample of well-preserved macro- and microconchs derived from a single horizon of calcareous concretions in the Polish Jura. Our results indicate that both dimorphs or sexes have identical ontogeny up to a critical diameter, from which they diverge towards the characteristic morphology and sculpture of each dimorph. Thus, both dimorphs are described as a single species: Polysphinctites tenuiplicatus [M and m]. After review of the several nominal species usually assigned to the genera Asphinctites and Polysphinctites throughout their stratigraphic and biogeographic range in the Early Bathonian of the Tethys, it is concluded that they actually correspond to only two species of a single lineage. The corresponding name for the lineage should be Polysphinctites (= Asphinctites as a junior synonym).


We have developed the first assays that measure the protein kinase activities of interleukin-1 receptor-associated kinase 1 (IRAK1) and IRAK4 reliably in human cell extracts, by employing Pellino1 as a substrate in conjunction with specific pharmacological inhibitors of IRAK1 and IRAK4. We exploited these assays to show that IRAK4 was constitutively active and that its intrinsic activity towards Pellino1 was not increased significantly by stimulation with interleukin-1 (IL-1) in IL-1R-expressing HEK293 cells, Pam3CSK4-stimulated human THP1 monocytes or primary human macrophages. Our results, in conjunction with those of other investigators, suggest that the IL-1-stimulated trans-autophosphorylation of IRAK4 is initiated by the myeloid differentiation primary response gene 88-induced dimerization of IRAK4 and is not caused by an increase in the intrinsic catalytic activity of IRAK4. In contrast with IRAK4, we found that IRAK1 was inactive in unstimulated cells and converted into an active protein kinase in response to IL-1 or Pam3CSK4 in human cells. Surprisingly, the IL-1-stimulated activation of IRAK1 was not affected by pharmacological inhibition of IRAK4 and not reversed by dephosphorylation and/or deubiquitylation, suggesting that IRAK1 catalytic activity is not triggered by a covalent modification but by an allosteric mechanism induced by its interaction with IRAK4.


China's trade relations with Africa have displayed a striking dynamism in the past decade. The spatial distribution of these trade flows is highly uneven: Chinese imports are mainly sourced from a few resource-rich nations, while Chinese exports penetrate most African markets. Small-scale business enterprises have been crucial to the recent surge in the export of Chinese manufactured goods to Africa. The scholarship on the micro-level processes through which these commodities enter Africa has so far focused on the role of Chinese entrepreneurs. This article contributes to the existing literature by addressing the ways in which both African and Chinese actors play a part in strengthening Sino–African trade relations. Based on multi-sited fieldwork with semi-structured interviews and participant observation, it explores relationships of competition, complementarity and cooperation between Chinese and African traders. The macro-level trends in Sino–African trade are described using information extracted from the United Nations Commodity Trade Statistics Database. Given the economic and social significance of the exports from China to Africa, it is important to build a better understanding of the central role played by small-scale businesses and to recognize the role of Africans in shaping Sino–African links.


This paper provided a general study of Wireless Body Area Network (WBAN) in health monitoring system as well as the study of the application of wearable and implanted Bio-Medical-Sensors (BMS) which are used to monitor the vital signs of a patient in early detection. Energy efficiency is a significant issue in WBAN which can be achieved by reducing the overhead of control packets, prioritizing sensor-nodes and sink-node selection. Moreover, uncertainty in network topologies, such as distance and link affect between sensor-nodes occurs due to the mobility of human. In this research, we propose a scheme to reduce the overhead of control packets and prioritizing the threshold values of vital signs by assigning low and high transmission power with enhanced IEEE802.15.6 CSMA/CA as well as introduce a Mobility Link Table (MLT) for selecting a sink-node to communicate with the coordinator. Compare it with existing IEEE802.15.6 CSMA/CA technique and results shows the proposed techniques regarding mean power consumption, network delay, network throughput.


One of the most recent innovations in the field of biometric recognition is the usage of heart sounds as physiological traits for identity verification. In this paper, we propose a statistical approach, supported by Gaussian Mixture Models, to the the problem of biometric identity verification based on heart sounds. The system is validated on a database of heart sounds acquired from 147 people, and shows a significant performance improvement with respect to other approaches, yielding an Equal Error Rate of 15.53 %.


This paper discusses the issues surrounding voluntary action control in terms of two models that have emerged in empirical research into how our human conscious capabilities govern and control voluntary motor actions. A characterization of two aspects of consciousness, phenomenal consciousness and access consciousness, enables us to ask whether effect anticipations need be accessible to consciousness, or whether they can also have an effect on conscious control at an unconscious stage. A review of empirical studies points to the fact that willed actions are influenced by effect anticipations both when they are conscious and when they remain inaccessible to the conscious mind. This suggests that the effects of conscious voluntary actions—in line with the ideomotor principle proposed by William James—are anticipated during the generation of responses. I propose that the integration of perceptual and motor codes arises during action planning. The features of anticipated effects appear to be optionally connected with the features of the actions selected to bring about these effects in the world.


Strategies & tips for locating resources for your research project. How to find articles, book and other kinds of information using Google Scholar


Objectives. We identified the level and type of program collaboration and service integration (PCSI) among HIV prevention programs in 59 CDC-funded health department jurisdictions. Methods. Annual progress reports (APRs) completed by all 59 health departments funded by CDC for HIV prevention activities were reviewed for collaborative and integrated activities reported by HIV programs for calendar year 2009. We identified associations between PCSI activities and funding, AIDS diagnosis rate, and organizational integration. Results. HIV programs collaborated with other health department programs through data-related activities, provider training, and providing funding for sexually transmitted disease (STD) activities in 24 (41%), 31 (53%), and 16 (27%) jurisdictions, respectively. Of the 59 jurisdictions, 57 (97%) reported integrated HIV and STD testing at the same venue, 39 (66%) reported integrated HIV and tuberculosis testing, and 26 (44%) reported integrated HIV and viral hepatitis testing. Forty-five (76%) jurisdictions reported providing integrated education/outreach activities for HIV and at least one other disease. Twenty-six (44%) jurisdictions reported integrated partner services among HIV and STD programs. Overall, the level of PCSI activities was not associated with HIV funding, AIDS diagnoses, or organizational integration. Conclusions. HIV programs in health departments collaborate primarily with STD programs. Key PCSI activities include integrated testing, integrated education/outreach, and training. Future assessments are needed to evaluate PCSI activities and to identify the level of collaboration and integration among prevention programs.


For better or ill, religion informs the environmental views, values, relations, and behaviour of an overwhelming majority of people around the world, often in profound ways. For this reason alone, studies in religion and ecology should comprise a crucial component of the wider work of the environmental humanities. It is the first task of this essay to show how this has indeed been the case. Among the world's many diverse religions, Christianity has become a dominant force globally. Christianity remains the most populous world religion, with some 3.2 billion followers, constituting over 31.5% of the global population (Pew Center). While the global predominance of practicing Christians is being challenged by the growth of Islam, estimated at 23.2% of the total population (ibid.) and growing rapidly, Christian traditions remain culturally influential, informing many of the secular attitudes, assumptions and institutions of modern western societies. Moreover, in light of the continuing geopolitical power of the USA, it is not insignificant that 78% of the US population identify as Christian of one kind or another (ibid.). If, as Larry Rasmussen has argued, it would be foolish for those with an interest in the prospects for a more sustainable world "to overlook the religious loyalties of some ten thousand religions and 85 percent of the planets' peoples" (6), so too it behoves religious studies researchers in the environmental humanities to inquire into the potential for the 'greening' of Christianity. In my own case, I should acknowledge upfront that Christianity forms part of my own cultural formation, something that I accept as a problematic inheritance with which I continue to grapple, personally, politically and academically. Accordingly, the latter part of this chapter homes in on Christianity and ecology, with a view to tracing the lineaments of an emergent "communion of all creatures" (Rigby "Animal Calls").


This protocol describes the preparation of samples and data acquisition for microsecond-alternating laser excitation. Sample preparation requires a dilution that ensures the detection of single events.


A genre of speech used by the speaker to access an essentially therapeutic power, but also traditionally to invoke a magical or divine power to destroy an opponent, the curse (in Portuguese "praga", from the Latin "plaga": "blow," "wound," "calamity," in the proper and figurative sense) is at the same time a discourse of threat and satire, a discourse of merciless predation by an adversary who employs the force of words and gestures invested with supernatural power. In this article, based mainly on the many dozens of curses spoken by characters in the works of the Portuguese novelist Aquilino Ribeiro, I propose to build a theory (literary, cultural and anthropological) of the curse.


OBJECTIVE
To observe the effect of UPPP on hemorheology in patients with obstructive sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS).

METHOD
Thirty patients of moderate or severe OSAHS were randomly selected from February 2004 to February 2006 in our hospital. Among them, 11 cases are moderate OSAHS (AHI<40), 19 cases are severe OSAHS (AHI>40). They were received uvulopalatopharyngoplasty. Whole blood specific viscosity, erythrocytic and erythrocyte aggregation index were detected before and after operation.

RESULT
The values of testing in post operation were significantly lower than that in pre-operation (P<0.01).

CONCLUSION
Uvulopalatopharyngoplasty has can improve abnormity of hemorheology of OSAHS and decrease the danger of cerebrovascular disorder.


Fourteen of 330 patients with the clinical and laboratory supported definite diagnosis of Multiple Sklerose (MS) had epileptic seizures. The epilepsy of six patients probably originates from the MS. Four patients respectively suffered from genuin epilepsy or symptomatic epilepsy caused by other diseases than the MS. Most patients had GM, two GM and focal motor fits and one uncinatus fits. An epileptic focus in the EEG was evident in two patients. MRI- and CCT-scans frequently showed extensive cortex-neighboured lesions and multiple subcortical demyelination, especially localized in the temporal lobe. Epileptic seizures as a symptom of MS are very seldom. The longer the interval from the first episode of the MS to the first epileptic seizure the more probable epilepsy is caused by other reasons than the MS.


We present a case of osteoid osteoma of the right third metacarpal bone in a 23-year-old man. He had an apparent history of initial injury, followed by pain and swelling. He was initially treated for post-traumatic periostosteitis, so that the diagnosis of osteoid osteoma was delayed. Computed tomography and histology confirmed the latter diagnosis. En bloc resection of the nidus was followed by complete resolution of his symptoms. This case report emphasises the difficulties in diagnosis, particularly after an injury, and illustrates its effective treatment.


Confocal microscopy has shown potential as an imaging technique to detect precancer. Imaging cellular features throughout the depth of epithelial tissue may provide useful information for diagnosis. However, the current in vivo axial scanning techniques for confocal microscopy are cumbersome, time-consuming, and restrictive when attempting to reconstruct volumetric images acquired in breathing patients. Chromatic dispersion confocal microscopy (CDCM) exploits severe longitudinal chromatic aberration in the system to axially disperse light from a broadband source and, ultimately, spectrally encode high resolution images along the depth of the object. Hyperchromat lenses are designed to have severe and linear longitudinal chromatic aberration, but have not yet been used in confocal microscopy. We use a hyperchromat lens in a stage scanning confocal microscope to demonstrate the capability to simultaneously capture information at multiple depths without mechanical scanning. A photonic crystal fiber pumped with a 830nm wavelength Ti:Sapphire laser was used as a supercontinuum source, and a spectrometer was used as the detector. The chromatic aberration and magnification in the system give a focal shift of 140μm after the objective lens and an axial resolution of 5.2-7.6μm over the wavelength range from 585nm to 830nm. A 400x400x140μm3 volume of pig cheek epithelium was imaged in a single X-Y scan. Nuclei can be seen at several depths within the epithelium. The capability of this technique to achieve simultaneous high resolution confocal imaging at multiple depths may reduce imaging time and motion artifacts and enable volumetric reconstruction of in vivo confocal images of the epithelium.


Auxiliary data sources have become increasingly important in epidemiological surveillance, as they are often available at a finer spatial and temporal resolution, larger coverage, and lower latency than traditional surveillance signals. We describe the problem of spatial and temporal heterogeneity in these signals derived from these data sources, where spatial and/or temporal biases are present. We present a method to use a ``guiding'' signal to correct for these biases and produce a more reliable signal that can be used for modeling and forecasting. The method assumes that the heterogeneity can be approximated by a low-rank matrix and that the temporal heterogeneity is smooth over time. We also present a hyperparameter selection algorithm to choose the parameters representing the matrix rank and degree of temporal smoothness of the corrections. In the absence of ground truth, we use maps and plots to argue that this method does indeed reduce heterogeneity. Reducing heterogeneity from auxiliary data sources greatly increases their utility in modeling and forecasting epidemics.


With the instrument here described the gravity anomaly caused by an arbitrarily given finite body can be computed. The integrator is operated by tracing the contour lines representing the body in a manner similar to the operation of a planimeter. The instrument is useful mainly in the indirect method of interpretation of observed gravity anomalies, in the computation of terrain corrections, and in the evaluation of magnetic anomalies. Its design is based on a formula which expresses the gravity anomaly caused by an infinitely thin slab, bounded by a closed curve, as a line integral over this curve.


Protein-protein interactions are crucial in many biological pathways and facilitate cellular function. Investigating these interactions as a graph of pairwise interactions can help to gain a systemic understanding of cellular processes. It is known, however, that proteins interact with each other not exclusively in pairs but also in polyadic interactions and they can form multiprotein complexes, which are stable interactions between multiple proteins. In this manuscript, we use hypergraphs to investigate multiprotein complex data. We investigate two random null models to test which hypergraph properties occur as a consequence of constraints, such as the size and the number of multiprotein complexes. We find that assortativity, the number of connected components, and clustering differ from the data to these null models. Our main finding is that projecting a hypergraph of polyadic interactions onto a graph of pairwise interactions leads to the identification of different proteins as hubs than the hyper-graph. We find in our data set that the hypergraph degree is a more accurate predictor for gene-essentiality than the degree in the pairwise graph. We find that analysing a hypergraph as pairwise graph drastically changes the distribution of the local clustering coefficient. Furthermore, using a pairwise interaction representing multiprotein complex data may lead to a spurious hierarchical structure, which is not observed in the hypergraph. Hence, we illustrate that hypergraphs can be more suitable than pairwise graphs for the analysis of multiprotein complex data.


Experimental investigation is presented of an all-optical associative memory using a LiNbO3:Fe hologram and BaTiO3 phase conjugate mirror which is an improved self-pumped phase conjugate mirror with high response speed for a µ W-order of the magnitude signal beam. In our experiment, a 40 µ W readout light beam is used and an associated output is obtained within 2 s. Nonlinear reflectivity of the phase conjugate wave is expected to reflect the strongest signal and to improve the signal-to-noise ratio.


Author(s): Chen, Julia Wan | Advisor(s): Pirih, Flavia Q | Abstract: Background: Peri-implantitis is an inflammatory disease process that presents with bone loss around implant fixtures. Without the proper treatment, it can lead to the eventual loss of the implant. However, controversy lies over the effectiveness of treatment modalities as the criteria for disease diagnosis and success of treatment varies in the literature. With an increasing global burden of disease comes incentive to find predictable treatment options for peri-implantitis. Wnt4 has been shown in prior studies to attenuate osteoporotic bone loss and prior studies in our lab using a murine model for peri-implantitis, found transgenic Wnt4 mice to exhibit the same pattern of attenuated bone loss in the maxilla. Objective: To identify whether experimental recombinant Wnt4 (rWnt4) injection shows attenuated bone loss compared to a control PBS injection, in a murine model of ligature induced peri-implantitis.Methods: Four-week-old male C57BL/6J mice had their left maxillary molars extracted. Following eight weeks of healing, titanium implants were placed in the extraction sites and allowed to integrate for four weeks. After osseointegration, evaluated by presence and lack of mobility in the implants, a 6-0 ligature was tied under the head of the implant in half of the mice to induce peri-implantitis. Half of the mice did not receive ligature placement around the implants. Each group was then divided again to either receive daily control PBS injections or experimental rWnt4 injections intraperitoneally for 30 days. Four weeks after ligature placement and daily injections, the mice were sacrificed. The maxillae were imaged using micro-computerized tomography (μCT) scanning and linear and volumetric bone loss were analyzed. Tissues from the representative samples (based on proximity to mean measurements) were stained with hematoxylin and eosin (HaE), Picrosirius Red for collagen, and Tartrate Resistant Acid Phosphatase (TRAP) for osteoclasts. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) was also performed and analyzed for NF-κB, MMP-9, and Cox-2.Results: Clinically, four weeks after ligature placement there was increased soft tissue edema present around implants from the ligature induced peri-implantitis group compared to the no-ligature group. Radiographically, linear bone loss analysis showed statistically greater bone loss in the ligature compared to no ligature group for both the PBS and rWnt4 injection groups. The same finding was observed for the volumetric bone loss analysis around implants. There was no statistical difference found in bone loss between the rWnt4 injected groups compared to PBS injections for both the ligature and no ligature groups. TRAP staining for osteoclasts showed statistically greater numbers of osteoclasts in the PBS injection ligature group compared to PBS injection no ligature group. Picrosirius red staining showed more organized collagen fibril distribution in rWnt4 ligature vs. PBS ligature groups. There was also a decreased amount of immunoreactivity for MMP-9, NF-κB and Cox 2 on IHC staining for the rWnt4 ligature group compared to the PBS ligature group. Conclusion: The findings from this research study validate the ligature-induced peri-implantitis murine model and show that ligature samples have greater tissue and bone loss, making this an ideal animal model to study this disease process. Although the bone loss exhibited by rWnt4 injections was not statistically significant, it provides a preliminary framework for future studies of Wnt4 effects on bone metabolism in the maxilla. The decreased amount of immunoreactivity shown in IHC staining of MMP-9, NF-κB and Cox-2 show a positive effect of decreased inflammatory response in the soft tissues surrounding implants in the injected rWnt4 injection groups, which could be translated to the treatment of peri-implant mucositis. Given that there was a decrease in inflammatory markers, a dose response study may allow us to identify a Wnt4 dose that has a positive therapeutic effect on peri-implantitis, which could be further translated to the treatment of peri-implantitis in humans.


We derive nonlinear recursion relations for the leading chiral logarithms (LLs) in massless theories. These relations not only provide a very efficient method of computation of LLs (e.g., the 33-loop contribution is calculated in a dozen of seconds on a PC) but also equip us with a powerful tool for the summation of the LLs. Our method is not limited to chiral perturbation theory only; it is pertinent to any nonrenormalizable effective field theory such as, for instance, the theory of critical phenomena, low-energy quantum gravity, etc.


Reye's syndrome is characterised by acute non-inflammatory encephalopathy and fatty degeneration of the liver. The exact aetiology of the syndrome is unknown, but there is an association with viral infections and the use of  aspirin. There has been a sharp decline in the incidence of Reye's syndrome; the reasons for this are unclear, but may be due, in part, to the declining use of aspirin in children and to improvements in the diagnosis of underlying inborn errors of metabolism. The use of the term 'Reye-like' has been advocated among experts in the field. We report the case of a child with Reye-like syndrome complicated by pancreatitis.


Objective
To analyze the clinical characteristics, treatments, and prognosis of patients with de novo digestive system malignancy following orthotropic liver transplantation(OLT).

Methods
Clinicopathological data of 4 patients with de novo digestive system malignancy out of 416 patients who underwent OLT and received postoperative follow-up in the Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University from August 2003 to December 2008 were analyzed retrospectively. The informed consents of all patients were obtained and the ethical committee approval was received. There were 3 males and 1 female with age ranging from 48 to 61 years old and the median age of 57 years old. Clinical data of patients' age when underwent liver transplantation, primary disease, medical history, the smoking and drinking history, family history of cancer, treatment and prognosis of de novo digestive system malignancy were collected and analyzed.

Results
The morbidity of de novo digestive system malignancy after OLT was 1.0%(4/416). The 4 patients were diagnosed as esophageal carcinoma, gastric carcinoma, hepatosarcoma and colon cancer respectively. The male to female ratio was 3∶1. The median age of patients when receiving OLT was 53 years old. The primary disease were hepatitis B with liver cirrhosis(n=2) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) (n=2). Two cases with HCC were combined with hepatitis B, including 1 case with alcoholic liver cirrhosis. One case had history of gastric ulcer and one of colon polyps. Two cases had history of smoking and 1 case had long-term secondhand smoke exposure. Two cases had long-term drinking history and 1 case had liver cancer family history. The median length from liver transplantation to the diagnosis of de novo malignant tumors was 34 months (range: 10-71 months). Three patients converted to sirolimus instead of tacrolimus and 1 patient continued treatment with half amount of tacrolimus. Only one case received resection but refused radiotherapy and chemotherapy. The other 3 cases received no surgery, radiotherapy or chemotherapy. The median time from the diagnosis of de novo malignant tumors to death was 5 months (range: 2-25 months). All of the 4 patients died of tumor progression and multiple organ failure.

Conclusions
The prognosis of patients with de novo malignancy after OLT is poor. Risk factors of de novo digestive system malignancy should be evaluated before OLT and should be prevented and monitored effectively.

Key words:
Liver transplantation; Neoplasms, second primary; Digestive system; Tacrolimus binding proteins; Prevention; Treatment


For a competitive organisation, it is important to invest in employee's education to keep their knowledge up to date and ensure continuous growth in terms of employees' competence and skills. Continuous learning is considered as one of the success factors for the organisation, since this ensures constant growth of employees' competence that results in productiveness and effectiveness in its product development. Nowadays, more and more organisations are investing in performance analytics, Big Data analytics, artificial intelligence and process automation that are strongly related. However, such initiatives and projects can fail due to the lack of skills and competence of employees, which is strongly related to certain learning barriers. Therefore, the objective of the article is to create a conceptual framework for the elimination of learning-related barriers. The methods employed in this research are scientific literature analysis, synthesis and logical analysis of information, comparison of information, systemisation and visualisation. The conceptual framework illustrates the learning process for learning-related barriers elimination and suggests learning solutions: e-learning, mentoring, in house sessions, generic courses and external training solutions such as conferences and seminars.
Keywords: Teaching concept, learning big data, big data management, big data teaching, electronic learning


The Cartersville–Villa Rica amphibolites are of extrusive volcanic origin. Relict amygdaloidal textures are widespread. Pillow structures are well preserved at some localities. Relict porphyritic textures characteristic of volcanic rocks are readily recognized in interlayered gneisses. These rocks are in the upper part of the Ashland group, and probably are correlative with the Ashe Formation of North Carolina and the Mount Rogers volcanic series.


ABSTRACT African swine fever virus is a complex DNA virus that causes high fatality in pigs and wild boar and has a great socio-economic impact. An attenuated genotype II strain was constructed by replacing the gene for wildtype CD2v protein with versions in which single or double amino acid substitutions were introduced to reduce or abrogate the binding to red blood cells and reduce virus persistence in blood. The mutant CD2v proteins were expressed at similar levels to the wildtype protein on the surface of infected cells. Three recombinant viruses also had K145R, EP153R, and in one virus DP148R genes deleted. Following immunization of pigs, the virus with a single amino acid substitution in CD2v, Q96R, induced moderate levels of replication, and 100% protection against virulent ASFV. Two additional recombinant viruses had two amino acid substitutions in CD2v, Q96R, and K108D, and induced no binding to red blood cells in vitro. In immunized pigs, reduced levels of virus in blood and strong early ASFV-specific antibody and cellular responses were detected. After challenge low to moderate replication of challenge virus was observed. Reduced clinical signs post-challenge were observed in pigs immunized with the virus from which DP148R gene was deleted. Protection levels of 83–100% were maintained across a range of doses. Further experiments with virus GeorgiaΔDP148RΔK145RΔEP153R-CD2v_mutantQ96R/K108D showed low levels of virus dissemination in tissue and transient clinical signs at high doses. The results support further evaluation of GeorgiaΔDP148RΔK145RΔEP153R-CD2v_mutantQ96R/K108D as a vaccine candidate.


Four new sesquiterpenes, lamellodysidines A and B, O,O-dimethyllingshuiolide A, and 11-epi-O,O-dimethyllingshuiolide A (1-4), were obtained from the marine sponge, Lamellodysidea herbacea, collected in Indonesia. Their planar structures were elucidated by analysis of spectroscopic data. The absolute configurations of the new compounds were determined by the calculated ECD spectra. Compound 1 has a unique carbon framework, and 2 is a new nitrogenous sesquiterpene.


We design a novel kind of polarization beam splitter based on a gold-filled dual-core photonic crystal fiber (DC-PCF). Owing to filling with two gold wires in this DC-PCF, its coupling characteristics can be changed greatly by the second-order surface plasmon polariton (SPP) and the resonant coupling between the surface plasmon modes and the fiber-core guided modes can enhance the directional power transfer in the two fiber-cores. Numerical results by using the finite element method show the extinction ratio at the wavethlengths of 1.327 μm and 1.55 μm can reach −58 dB and −60 dB and the bandwidths as the extinction ratio better than −12 dB are about 54 nm and 47 nm, respectively. Compared with the gold-unfilled DC-PCF, a 1.746-mm-long gold-filled DC-PCF is better applied to the polarization beam splitter in the two communication bands of λ = 1.327 μm and 1.55 μm.


ÐSeveral travel indicators were compared between telecommuting (TC) days and non-telecommuting days for a sample of 72 center-based telecommuters in California. Distance traveled decreased signi®cantly on TC days, with average reductions of 51 person-miles (58%) and 35 vehicle-miles (53%). When weighted by telecommuting frequency, average reductions of 11.9% in PMT and 11.5% in VMT were found over a ®veday work week. Person-trips and vehicle-trips increased slightly (but not signi®cantly) on TC days. This was due to statistically signi®cant increases in commute trips by telecommuters (who more often went home for lunch on their TC days), partly counteracted by decreases in non-commute travel. The drive-alone mode share increased on TC days, both for all trips, and for commute trips in particular. Walking and biking shares also increased modestly on TC days, whereas shares of transit and ridesharing declined. Despite the increase in trip rates, TC-day reductions were found for all pollutants analyzed: 15% for total organic gas emissions, 21% for carbon monoxide, 35% for oxides of nitrogen, and 51% for particulate matter. The reduction in VMT more than compensated for the marginal increase in number of trips (and consequently, cold starts) on telecommuting days. # 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved


Airspace congestion has a direct effect on departure schedules of aircraft. In events when there is a constrained airspace due to various factors such as adverse weather, departure delays may be potentially serious. Due to the complexity of the problem of choosing the best possible option in addressing airspace congestion, a combined multiple criteria decision making (MCDM) approach is used for the decision-making process. Furthermore, this paper incorporates the views of experts representing air traffic service and airlines management which is significant in choosing a viable solution to both stakeholders operating air transport. It has been found that both air traffic service and airlines management give most priority to safety, thus, prefer to apply for ground delay program during airspace congestion.


Two new species of pseudorhyncocyonid, Fordonia lawsoni sp. nov. and Leptictidium prouti sp. nov. from the UK earliest Eocene, described here, are older than any previously recorded member of the family. They are represented by teeth from numerous loci, which allow a better understanding of the sparsely known dentitions of currently known pseudorhyncocyonids. This facilitates the recognition of two further species of Leptictidium, L. listeri sp. nov. from the Middle Eocene of Germany and L. storchi sp. nov. from the Late Eocene of France. Study of occlusal relationships also helps to fill gaps in our knowledge of missing tooth loci. Cladistic analysis of pseudorhyncocyonids with their previously judged closest relatives, the Leptictidae, Pantolesta and Palaeanodonta, shows that two European species, Diaphyodectes prolatus and Palaeictops? levei, formerly thought to be leptictids, are instead primitive pseudorhyncocyonids, extending the range of the family further back in time to the Middle Paleocene. P? levei is placed in the new genus Phakodon gen. nov. The analysis also shows that the Pseudorhyncocyonidae are sister group to the other three groups combined and that family‐level differentiation in this probable clade took place as early as the earliest Paleocene.


During the last few decades, land use changes have largely affected the global warming process through emissions of CO2. However, C sequestration in terrestrial ecosystems could contribute to the decrease of atmospheric CO2 rates. Although Mediterranean areas show a high potential for C sequestration, only a few studies have been carried out in these systems. In this study, we propose a methodology to assess the impact of land use and land cover change dynamics on soil organic C stocks at different depths. Soil C sequestration rates are provided for different land cover changes and soil types in Andalusia (southern Spain). Our research is based on the analysis of detailed soil databases containing data from 1357 soil profiles, the Soil Map of Andalusia and the Land Use and Land Cover Map of Andalusia. Land use and land cover changes between 1956 and 2007 implied soil organic C losses in all soil groups, resulting in a total loss of 16·8 Tg (approximately 0·33 Tg y−1). Afforestation increased soil organic C mostly in the topsoil, and forest contributed to sequestration of 8·62 Mg ha−1 of soil organic C (25·4 per cent). Deforestation processes implied important C losses, particularly in Cambisols, Luvisols and Vertisols. The information generated in this study will be a useful basis for designing management strategies for stabilizing the increasing atmospheric CO2 concentrations by preservation of C stocks and C sequestration. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Large-scale genome wide association studies (GWASs) have been performed in search for risk genes for Alzheimer's disease (AD). Despite the significant progress, replicability of genetic findings and their translation into targetable mechanisms related to the disease pathogenesis remains a challenge. Given that bile acids have been suggested in recent metabolic studies as potential age-related metabolic factors associated with AD, we integrated genomic and metabolomic data together with heterogeneous biological networks and investigated the potential cascade of effect of genetic variations to proteins, bile acids and ultimately AD brain phenotypes. Particularly, we leveraged functional protein interaction networks and metabolic networks and focused on the genes directly interacting with AD-altered bile acids and their functional regulators. We examined the association of all the SNPs located in those candidate genes with AD brain imaging phenotypes, and identified multiple AD risk SNPs whose downstream genes and bile acids were also found to be altered in AD. These AD related markers span from genetics to metabolomics, forming functional biological paths connecting across multiple-omics layers, and give valuable insights into the underlying mechanism of AD.


A method for the analysis of epsilon aminocaproic acid in plasma or serum has been developed. This report describes a simple and rapid assay with a small sample (20 microliter) by reverse phase high performance liquid chromatography. The supernatant is derivatized with fluorescamine after acetonitrile deproteinisation. Linearity, sensibility and accuracy are good. Save time extraction allows quick determination of many samples.


Previous research has revealed that group behavioral therapy for distressed couples provides an effective and efficient form of marital treatment. However, research comparing alternative group approaches is lacking. The current investigation evaluated group behavioral and cognitive-behavioral marital treatments across a variety of relationship dimensions and measures of individual functioning. Dysfunctional couples were randomly assigned to experimental conditions and demonstrated statistically and clinically significant improvement as contrasted with the waiting list control group. These results are discussed in terms of the differences between treatment conditions, potential advances in the field of marital therapy, and recommendations for further inquiry.


A new breakpoint adaptive DWT, referred to as tri-break, is currently being considered by standardization efforts in relation to JPEG 2000 Part 17 extensions. We first provide a summary of the tri-break transform and then explore its performance for coding motion fields. Experimental results show that significant gains can be achieved for coding piecewise smooth motion flows by employing the tri-break transform. We demonstrate the feasibility of utilising a common set of breakpoints for compressing depth maps and motion fields anchored at the same frame. We also extend prior work to decode motion vector fields directly onto a triangular mesh, enabling operations such as view warping to be defined on triangular cells which can be efficiently processed by GPU based architectures.


Teenagers are facilitated in accessing the world of information and have a lot of influence on human life and child development. The use of gadgets has a positive impact on human life, but if used excessively it will have a negative impact, especially for children. The positive impact of using gadgets for children, including in the mindset of children, namely: being able to help children in regulating the speed of their play, processing strategies in games, and helping to improve the ability of the child's right brain while under good supervision. On the other hand, the negative impacts of using gadgets for children include: children become difficult to socialize, unstable in emotional control, slow in motor development, the emergence of a sense of laziness, waste, significant behavioral changes to changes in academic achievement at school.The target audience of this service activity are PKK Korsda women at the Banyuwangi Tile Irrigation Service. The women of PKK Korsda of the Banyuwangi Tile Irrigation Service became the target audience because there was a request from the head of the PKK Korsda of the Banyuwangi Irrigation Service at the Banyuwangi PGRI University who needed resource persons in the activities of the PKK Korsda women of the Tile Irrigation Service. The activity is carried out every month, so that the service activities carried out by the PGRI Banyuwangi University service team are adjusted to the needs.


The case presented is reported for three reasons: (1) because of the relative infrequency of seeing optic atrophy in Paget's disease, (2) because of the unusual ocular symptoms presented and (3) because the bony changes involved primarily the sphenoidal region and caused a partial obliteration of the optic foramina and to a lesser extent of the sphenoidal fissures. The literature reveals few reports by ophthalmologists of complications of the optic nerve in Paget's disease. Sir James Paget1first described this disease before the Medico Chirurgical Society in 1876, and gave a complete picture which has not been improved on. Lawford R. Knaggs, in February, 1925, in the Hunterian Lecture before the Royal College of Surgeons in England, said that Paget's disease is "A very chronic disease of an inflammatory nature occurring in middle age or elderly people in which the normal osseous structure of the skeleton is removed,


Research has demonstrated that stressors play a critical role in the development of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), social anxiety disorder (SAD), and major depressive disorder (MDD). Separately, deficits in positive affect (PA) have been identified in GAD, SAD, and MDD. Whereas previous research has linked the buffering effects of PA in chronic illness, such effects have yet to be investigated for chronic stressors and emotional disorder–related symptom severity. The purpose of the present study was to examine PA as a moderator of chronic interpersonal and noninterpersonal stress on GAD, SAD, and MDD symptom severity. Using a multilevel statistical approach with a sample of adolescents and young adults (N = 463), PA was found to moderate significantly the relationship between chronic interpersonal stress and symptom severity for MDD and SAD. Findings suggest that in times of chronic interpersonal stress, higher PA may serve as a buffer from development of SAD and MDD symptoms.


When a small-molecule ionic crystal is group-substituted with polymer chain-segments to form an ionomer, do its constrained ionic aggregates maintain ordered internal structures? This work presents, for a Na-salt sulfonated-polystyrene ionomer, reconciled TEM electron-diffraction schlieren textures and WAXS Bragg-type reflections from the ionic-aggregate nanodomains, which solidly prove the aggregates' internal (mono)crystalline order. The observed DSC endotherm of the ionomer, identified by WAXS as an order-disorder transition interior to its aggregates, gradually becomes enhanced over a 3-month, room-temperature physical aging process, indicating that the aggregates' ordering is a slow relaxation process in which the degree of order increases with time. This work corroborates an uncommon form of order, i.e., polymer-bound small-molecule ionic (quasi)crystal, which is supplementary to the order phenomena in small molecules, polymers, and liquid crystals.


Time evolution of stress in diamond-like films with small quantities (10-20 at%) of titanium (Ti-C:H) was investigated together with their structure, electrical resistivity, optical constants, Raman spectra, and composition. The compressive stresses for all films were found to increase, regardless of their structure (either amorphous or a-C:H with TiC nanocrystalline inclusions) and composition (10-20 at% Ti) over a period of several months. The conductivity and optical constants (n and k) decreased with time, and Raman spectra indicated no change of the film structure. The observations can be explained by a migration of interstitial atoms (probably hydrogen) resulting in a saturation of dangling bonds and, consequently, leading to a reduction in the number of free carriers. Vacancy clustering and effects of hydrogen atoms on stress increase are discussed.


Infinitesimal canonical transformation of a field operator 1s written in terms of the chronological product of the field operator and the generating current. This relation is then generalized to the infinitesimal transformation of the chronological (and retarded) products of any number of field operators. It is shown that the general relations thus obtained con tain identities known as the generalized Ward relations in various forms. The general relations given in integral form are converted into differential form. The relation to the similar identities obtained by the path integral method is discussed and use of the general relations is suggested. The argument of a previous paper is, thus, refined and extended in three aspects: (i) constraint variables are treated systematically, (ii) it is pointed out that the general relations hold true for the retarded products, (iii) relation to the path integral method is discussed.


The present account is of data available from the 1958 British national birth cohort and its follow-up to the age of 23 years. It shows an increase in adult height between the cohort members and their parents, amounting to an average 1.2 +/- 0.11 (SEM) cm between the daughters and their mothers and 3.0 +/- 0.12 cm between the sons and their fathers. Factors in early life which contributed jointly to a significant increase in adult height included, as well as sex and parental height, birthweight and maternal pre-pregnant weight, while increasing gestational age had a negative effect. Overall these factors accounted for 71% of the variance of the cohort members' height. Measuring the intergenerational difference between individual pairs of sons and father and daughters and mothers allows to some extent for social and genetic influences. This showed that the size of the difference was increased by increasing intrauterine growth rate, and falling paternal social class. These findings demonstrate again the lifelong influence on offspring of circumstances pertaining at their birth and explain why it may take more than one generation to overcome the effects of childhood disadvantage.


ABSTRACT The detailed function of ARAP1-AS1, the antisense RNA of Arf-GAP with Rho-GAP domain, ANK repeat and PH domain-containing protein 1 (ARAP1), in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) has not been clearly elucidated and required further investigation. Our study is committed to exploring the role of ARAP1-AS1 in LUAD. Gene expression in LUAD was measured by real-time quantitative polymerase-chain reaction (RT-qPCR). The influence of ARAP1-AS1 on LUAD cell malignant behaviors was evaluated by 3-(4,5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay, colony formation assay, Transwell invasion assay and wound healing assay. Subcellular fractionation assay detected the cellular localization of ARAP1-AS1 in LUAD. The protein levels were subjected to western blotting. RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP) and luciferase reporter assay were employed to verify the interaction between ARAP1-AS1, ARAP1 and enhancer of zeste 2 polycomb repressive complex 2 subunit (EZH2). Our investigation identified that ARAP1-AS1 was upregulated in LUAD cells and tissues. ARAP1-AS1 silencing repressed LUAD cell growth and migration. Furthermore, ARAP1-AS1 knockdown altered the expression of its sense mRNA, ARAP1. ARAP1-AS1 could recruit EZH2 to inhibit ARAP1 expression. Additionally, the downregulation of ARAP1 reversed ARAP1-AS1 downregulation-induced repression of cell growth and migration in LUAD. In conclusion, ARAP1-AS1 recruited EZH2 to silence ARAP1, facilitating cell proliferation, migration and invasion in LUAD. Our study demonstrated the possibility of ARAP1-AS1 to be a novel therapeutic target for LUAD.


This paper presents a study on the distortion of a 'laser beam analyser' (LBA) output signal. The basic principles of the LBA device were described by Lim and Steen in 1982. This instrument is very useful for characterizing the distribution of power density into a laser beam, and it is now widespread in industrial and research centres. The reasons for the distortion of the analogue output signal of this optoelectronic system are explained, and the correction of such a signal to reconstitute the initial form is shown. This work consists in both a theoretical study on the signal distortion at the output of the device and a study on appropriate corrections. After these corrections, a quantitative analysis is made: through software it is now possible to evaluate accurately the beam physical parameters: diameter, position in space and true energy distribution.


The authors have generalized the experience of treatment of 82 injured with injuries of condylar processus fracture treatment of the lower jaw. By a surgical way were successfully eliminated posttraumatic ankylosis and contracture of temporomandibular articulations with use of titanium endoprosthesis and semi-joints. The osteosynthesis of condylar processus of the lower jaw by titanium miniplates and screws was also practiced.


OBJECTIVE
To investigate the distribution of NMDAR1 and subunits (alpha1 and alpha3) of Immunohistochemistry and GABAA receptors in the cerebellar cortex of adult rhesus macaques.

METHODS
Nissl staining were used.

RESULTS
(1) NMDAR1 immunoreactivity was prevalent in the endoplasma of Purkinje and dendrites of molecular layer, and moderate in glia, but was very weak in the stellate cells in the molecular layer and granule cells. In addition, cerebellar nuclei were also strongly stained; (2) The immunostaining pattern of subunit of GABAA alpha1 receptor was similar to that of NMDAR1, but more distinctive than NMDAR1 in stellate cells; (3) Immunoreactivity of subunit (alpha3) of GABAA receptor was also prevalent in the endoplasma of Purkinje cells and dendrites. The glia and the neurons of the cerebellar nucli were intensively stained. (4) The rates of Purkinje cells containing NMDAR1, and subunits of GABAA alpha1 and alpha3 were (90.0 +/- 2.1)%, (83.0 +/- 2.3)%, and (78.0 +/- 1.8)%, respectively. Conclusion NMDAR1 and subunits (alpha1 and alpha3) of GABAA receptors are widely distributed in the cerebellum of adult rhesus macaques. These receptors may play an important role in maintaining the complicated function of the cerebellar.


The ms1 mutation of Arabidopsis thaliana causes male sterility by preventing the development of normal microspores in the developing anther. The gene is located on a region of chromosome 5 containing the RFLP markers g4111, g4560 and g21503. Using yeast artificial chromosome (YAC) libraries, we have constructed a contig of 38 YACs spanning approximately 2.1 megabases (approximately 2% of the genome) around MS1 and redefined the order of these RFLP markers. Chimeric YACs and repetitive DNA caused problems in chromosome 'walking'. A method for cloning YAC right ends by plasmid rescue was applied to arabidopsis. One YAC end contained a portion of the A. thaliana sucrose synthase gene ASUSI, hence locating this gene on chromosome 5 near MS1. Using recombinant plant populations containing ms1 and flanking markers, MS1 was localised to a 200 kb region within the YAC contig. In this contig the relationship between physical and genetic distance varied from less than 100 kb to 720 kb per centimorgan.


The corporate security is a quite recent concept that would take place in a modern business environment after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States. Some defense experts would agree that those changes being taken after the 9/11 would not be that significant, but we would find some clues indicating that such events would make this world getting more different and significantly resilient to many security's threats. And indeed – today's defense is more about the resilience to some challenge, risk or threat and it seeks highly capable and skillful people to cope with them on a daily basis. The corporate security as a defense approach of the 21st century is a step forward that would offer us a chance to protect our critical and non-critical industries. The developed economies worldwide would organize their businesses in such a manner and many societies over the globe would so carefully be in the process of adoption such a new concept. In this article, we intend to discuss how corporate security works in a practice as well as provide some insights into advantages and disadvantages of this recent paradigm. In addition, there is a need to deeply and comprehensively understand such a paradigm as it could be some kind of the readiness program for the possible economic, social and security crises, so far.


Neural Radiance Fields (NeRF) [22] have emerged as a potent paradigm for representing scenes and synthesizing photo-realistic images. A main limitation of conventional NeRFs is that they often fail to produce high-quality renderings under novel viewpoints that are significantly different from the training viewpoints. In this paper, instead of ex-ploiting few-shot image synthesis, we study the novel view extrapolation setting that (1) the training images can well describe an object, and (2) there is a notable discrepancy between the training and test viewpoints' distributions. We present RapNeRF (RAy Priors) as a solution. Our insight is that the inherent appearances of a 3D surface's arbitrary visible projections should be consistent. We thus propose a random ray casting policy that allows training unseen views using seen views. Furthermore, we show that a ray atlas pre-computed from the observed rays' viewing directions could further enhance the rendering quality for ex-trapolated views. A main limitation is that RapNeRF would remove the strong view-dependent effects because it lever-ages the multi-view consistency property.


Skin damage will impair human health. One of the causes of skin damage are free radicals form ultra violet rays. Antioxidants are needed to stabilize free radicals. Alternative sources of antioxidants which can be used to block the effects of free radicals on the skin are skin lotion of fruit black mangrove (Rhizophora mucronata Lamk.) and sunscreen of waste corn cob (Zea mays L). Mangrove fruit methanol extract shown to function as a source of natural antioxidants, which have very strong antioxidant activity, so the lotion containing fruit extracts exact mangrove can be used as inhibitors of free radicals on the skin. In addition, it has been proven that the active compound contained in a corn cob has the ability as a sunscreen active ingredient, with the highest SPF value.


The poloidal divertor configuration is considered the most promising solution to the particle and energy exhaust problem for a tokamak reactor. The scrape-off layer plasma surrounding the core and the high-recycling plasma near the divertor plates can be modelled by fluid equations for particle, momentum and energy transport. A numerical code (B2) based on a two-dimensional multi-fluid model has been developed for the study of edge plasmas in tokamaks. In this report we identify some key features of this model as applied to the DIII-D tokamak. 2 refs., 1 fig.


Grafting influences scion photosynthetic capacity and fruit quality. Ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (Rubisco), which strongly affects photosynthetic rate, and Rubisco activase (RCA), which regulates Rubisco activity, are two key photosynthetic enzymes. However, little information is available regarding the effect of grafting on the concentration and expression of Rubisco and RCA in the citrus cultivar Huangguogan. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of grafting Huangguogan plants onto trifoliate orange, tangerine, and orange on: 1) the concentration of Rubisco and RCA; 2) the mRNA levels of rbcL, rbcS, and rca; and 3) fruit quality. Overall, the results showed that when Huangguogan plants budded on tangerine and orange, they had better fruit quality, while on trifoliate orange they had higher Rubisco concentration. Tangerine and orange are probably the most suitable rootstocks for Huangguogan plants given the environmental conditions of Sichuan Province, China.


This paper deals with the study of the Late Triassic coal  deposits from Parvade coalfield in south of Tabas town and located geologically this is part of Central Iran zone. Coal main seam in Parvade coalfield named C1.Coals are rich in vitrinite, with average contents of 90%.Collinite is main part of vitrinite. their structures are homogenous .Telinite is low amount of vitrinite, based on ratio of collinite to telinite , subsidence of swamp is gradually and conditions  of environments is reduction and PH is acidic. Lithotype of coals is most ultraclarain with high amount of  vitrinite .some of amounts presents of semi-vitrinite and fusinite, micronite, skelerutinite and semi-fusinite macerals. High content of the vitrinite group macerals in these coals shows that water level was relatively high .Amount of vitrinite played key roles in coking.


In a previous study we showed that photoperiodically generated T3 in the hypothalamus is critical for the photoperiodic response of gonads in Japanese quail. The expression of thyroid hormone receptors in the median eminence (ME) suggested that photoperiodically generated T3 acts on the ME. Because thyroid hormone is known to play a critical role in the development and plasticity of the central nervous system, in the present study we have examined ultrastructure of the ME in Japanese quail kept in short-day and long-day environments. Immunoelectron microscopy revealed that GnRH nerve terminals are in close proximity to the basal lamina under long-day conditions, and conventional transmission electron microscopy demonstrated the encasement of the terminals by the endfeet of glia under short-day conditions. These morphological changes may regulate photoperiodic GnRH secretion.


The standard finite element implementation of intrinsic cohesive zone models (CZMs) based on the penalty method exhibits a distinct lack of numerical stability and/or convergence for stiff cohesive laws. This lack of stability is typically observed in the form of spurious oscillations in the normal and tangential tractions recovered at the cohesive interface. In this paper, we will present a robust, stabilized finite element formulation for CZMs that remedies traction oscillations, thus ensuring stability and convergence for any value of initial cohesive stiffness. A key advantage of the proposed formulation is that it generalizes the Nitsche's method for modeling cohesive fracture with a large initial cohesive stiffness, thus enabling the implementation of intrinsic and extrinsic CZMs in a unified and variationally consistent manner. We present several numerical examples to demonstrate the stability, convergence and accuracy of the proposed formulation in two-dimensions. First, we will verify the accuracy using simple patch tests considering uniaxial tension, compression and shear loadings. Second, we will demonstrate the lack of spurious traction oscillations at cohesive interfaces of rectangular beams loaded under shear and three-point bending. To demonstrate the stability issues related with the spurious traction oscillation, we consider both isotropic as well as anisotropic CZMs, wherein the normal and tangential cohesive stiffness values are different. Our numerical results for high stiffness cases clearly show that the proposed formulation yields a smooth oscillation-free traction profile and ensures stability, whereas the standard formulation suffers from instability and/or convergence issues.


In a non-blind randomized comparison of sotalol hydrochloride and methyldopa in essential hypertension, the two drugs were equivocal in effect in reaching a preset hypotensive aim, in the maximum decreases from the baseline and in the mean reductions per week from the baseline. Milligram for milligram, sotalol was about twice as potent as methyldopa. No volunteered side-effects were noted for methyldopa; 3/19 for sotalol.


A characterization is given for the spectrum of a symmetric matrix to remain real after a nonsymmetric sign-restricted border perturbation, including the case where the perturbation is skew-symmetric. The characterization is in terms of the stationary points of a quadratic function on the unit sphere. This yields interlacing relationships between the eigenvalues of the original matrix and those of the perturbed matrix. As a result of the linkage between the perturbation and stationarity problems, new theoretical insights are gained for each. Applications of the main results include a characterization of those matrices that are exponentially nonnegative with respect to the $n$-dimensional ice-cream cone, which in turn leads to a decomposition theorem for such matrices. In addition, results are obtained for nonsymmetric matrices regarding interlacing and majorization.


Ulinastatin [or called as urinary trypsin inhibitor (UTI)] plays a role in regulating neurological deficits evoked by transient cerebral ischemia. However, the underlying mechanisms still need to be determined. The present study was to examine the effects of UTI on autophagy, Nrf2-ARE and apoptosis signal pathway in the hippocampus in the process of neurological functions after cerebral ischemia using a rat model of cardiac arrest (CA). CA was induced by asphyxia followed by cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in rats. Western blot analysis was employed to determine the expression of representative autophagy (namely, Atg5, LC3, Beclin 1), p62 protein (a maker of autophagic flux), and Nrf2-ARE pathways. Neuronal apoptosis was assessed by determining expression levels of Caspase-3 and Caspase-9, and by examining terminal deoxynucleotide transferase-mediated dUTP nick-end labeling (TUNEL). The modified neurological severity score (mNSS) and spatial working memory performance were used to assess neurological deficiencies in CA rats. Our results show that CA amplified autophagy and apoptotic Caspase-3/Caspase-9, and downregulated Nrf2-ARE pathway in the hippocampus CA1 region. Systemic administration of UTI attenuated autophagy and apoptosis, and largely restored Nrf2-ARE signal pathway following cerebral ischemia and thereby alleviated neurological deficits with increasing survival of CA rats. Our data suggest that UTI improves the worsened protein expression of autophagy and apoptosis, and restores Nrf2-ARE signals in the hippocampus and this is linked to inhibition of neurological deficiencies in transient cerebral ischemia. UTI plays a beneficial role in modulating neurological deficits induced by transient cerebral ischemia via central autophagy, apoptosis and Nrf2-ARE mechanisms.


Ad hoc vehicular networks have been identified as a suitable technology for intelligent communication amongst smart city stakeholders as the intelligent transportation system has progressed. However, in a highly mobile area, the growing usage of wireless technologies creates a challenging context. To increase communication reliability in this environment, it is necessary to use intelligent tools to solve the routing problem to create a more stable communication system. Reinforcement Learning (RL) is an excellent tool to solve this problem. We propose creating a complex objective space with geo-positioning information of vehicles, propagation signal strength, and environmental path loss with obstacles (city map, with buildings) to train our model and get the best route based on route stability and hop number. The obtained results show significant improvement in the routes' strength compared with traditional communication protocols and even with other RL tools when only one parameter is used for decision making.


Isolates of Metarhizium anisopliae (CNPSo-Ma12) and Beauveria bassiana (CNPSo-Bb56) were tested under field conditions as biological control agents of soybean stink bugs (Nezara viridula, Piezodorus guildinii, and Euschistus heros). Kaolin-based powder formulations of M. anisopliae or B. bassiana were applied to soybean plots at a rate of 1.5 x 10(13) conidia per ha. After treatment, field cages (0.25 m2) were placed in plots and stink bug adults were introduced into the cages. Mycosis for both P. guildinii and N. viridula was initially observed 7 days postapplication in the 1991 season and at 15 days postapplication in the 1992 season. For E. heros, mortality was detected on day 8 and on day 20 in 1991 and 1992, respectively. In 1991, infection levels of 48 and 41% were achieved at day 30 for P. guildinii and N. viridula, respectively, whereas the infection level in E. heros reached only 33%. In 1992, mortality caused by M. anisopliae on the three stink bug species was lower than that observed in 1991, with cumulative mycosis at day 30 being 15, 17, and 20% for P. guildinii, N. viridula, and E. heros, respectively. The 1991 season was humid and warm, whereas in the 1992 season there was an 8-day drought spell (<75% relative humidity (RH)) after application, suggesting that %RH was responsible for an earlier occurrence and a higher prevalence of both fungi on stink bug species in the 1991 trial. Despite the higher deposition of B. bassiana on the plants (17 colony forming units [CFU] per mm2 of leaflet) 1 day after application compared to M. anisopliae (5.1 CFU per mm2 of leaflet), B. bassiana was less efficient against stink bugs than M. anisopliae. Field results were confirmed through laboratory bioassays, in controlled conditions (T = 26 +/- 1.5 degreesC, 90% RH, and 8D:16L light regimen). The mean time to mortality by M. anisopliae was 4.3 +/- 0.2 days for P. guildinii, 4. 6 +/- 0.2 days for N. viridula, and 7.4 +/- 0.5 days for E. heros. E. heros was less susceptible and P. guildinii was the most susceptible species to M. anisopliae. Since these species usually occur as a complex in soybean in Brazil, these results represent important information toward the development of entomopathogenic fungi as microbial insecticides of these pests. Copyright 1998 Academic Press.


Creative Pansori is a music therapeutic method especially designed for people receiving treatment for depression. Developed by the Korean music therapist Hyunju Kim, Creative Pansori was internationally presented at the World Congress for Music Therapy 2014 in Krems / Austria. Based on elements of the Korean UNESCO cultural heritage "Pansori", Hyunju Kim created a clinical method integrating the patient's self-expressive narration, the therapist's drumming, and specific verbal and non-verbal interactivities. Creative Pansori mirrors the spirit of traditional forms of Pansori which date back to the 17th century and are considered to have their roots in Korean shamanism. This fact raises two crucial questions: How can tradition-based practices be applied in modern clinical, namely psychiatric contexts? And can these methods also be used in a cross-cultural way? As epic biographical practices, therapeutic drumming, and highly nuanced arts-related communication between therapist and patient are important phenomena in various cultures, we assume Creative Pansori to be of possibly cross-cultural music therapeutic value. To verify this hypothesis, however, requires further international and interdisciplinary investigations. Creative Pansori seems to trigger multifaceted psychological and neurobiological processes which facilitate therapeutic coping and cognitive re-organisation. In order to synchronise somatic micro-structures the therapist's high empathetic reactivity is required.


Owing to the plentiful information released by the commodity devices, Wi-Fi signals have been widely studied for various wireless sensing applications. In many works, both received signal strength indicator (RSSI) and the channel state information (CSI) are utilized as the key factors for precise sensing. However, the calculation and relationship between RSSI and CSI is not explained in detail. Furthermore, there are few works focusing on the measurement variation of the Wi-Fi signal which impacts the sensing results. In this article, the relationship between RSSI and CSI is studied in detail and the measurement variation of amplitude and phase information is investigated by extensive experiments. In the experiments, the transmitter and receiver are directly connected by power divider and RF cables and the signal transmission is quantitatively controlled by RF attenuators. By changing the intensity of attenuation, the measurement of RSSI and CSI is carried out under different conditions. From the results, it is found that in order to get a reliable measurement of the signal amplitude and phase by commodity Wi-Fi, the attenuation of the channels should not exceed 60 dB. Meanwhile, the difference between two channels should be lower than 10 dB. An active control mechanism is suggested to ensure the measurement stability. The findings and criteria of this work is promising to facilitate more precise sensing technologies with Wi-Fi signal.


Speaking English is very difficult for non-native speakers. Speaking skill is ability to interactive process which involves face to face conversation partner and it is an esential part of humans life because without speaking it will be difficult for them to interact each other smoothly and efectively in environment. Speaking difficulties is a condition when students experience an obstacle when speaking in public. The purpose of this study was to describe the students difficulties in speaking skills at the fifth semester of the University of Muhammadiyah Kotabumi. The data from this study were taken from the results of interviews with 5 students in the fifth semester of English education. The instrument used in this study was an interview. In this study, the data collection technique used by the researcher is the in-depth interview technique and documentation. The results of this study illustrate that in fact there are 2 aspects of the problem that causes speaking difficulties faced by students. the two aspects of the problem are linguistic problems and non-linguistic/psychological problems. In linguistic problems there is a of pronunciation, lack of vocabulary and lack of grammar mastery. while non-linguistic/psychological problems consist of lack of confidence, anxiety, shyness, lack of motivation and fear of mistake.


Background: Using a mouse model of HER3 ablation in the mammary epithelium, we previously showed that HER3 is required for the genesis of transgenic HER2-overexpressing breast cancers. However, increasing evidence suggests that transgenic models of HER2 overexpression result in luminal B-like mammary tumors, which resemble human breast tumors that express estrogen receptor (ER) but are often not responsive to endocrine therapy. Furthermore, we found that HER3 is required in the untransformed mouse mammary epithelium for differentiation and survival of luminal cells, but not basal cells. Herein we report that HER3 drives growth and survival of luminal breast cancers in a manner that parallels its role in maintaining the untransformed luminal epithelium in the breast. Results: Expression profiling of a large human breast cancer dataset demonstrated that HER3 expression was highest in Luminal breast cancers as compared to different molecular subtypes of breast cancers, including HER2-enriched, claudin-low, and basal-like breast cancers. In luminal breast cancer cell lines MCF7, ZR75-1, and MDA-MB-361, HER3 targeting using siRNA or a monoclonal antibody against HER3 decreased Akt, S6, and Erk1/2 phosphorylation, cell growth and cell survival under conditions of estrogen deprivation. Luminal breast tumor xenografts treated with U3-1287, a humanized monoclonal anti-ErbB3 antibody, or EZN-3920, an anti-sense oligonucleotide against ErbB3, decreased tumor growth and phosphatidyl inositol-3 kinase (PI3K)/mTOR signaling in vivo . Interestingly, luminal breast tumor xenografts responded to the ER inhibitor fulvestrant with increased HER3 expression and phosphorylation, and with increased PI3K/mTOR signaling as shown by enhanced S6 phosphorylation. Fulvestrant-mediated upregulation of HER3 was also seen in matched clinical breast tumor specimens harvested before treatment and after 21 days of fulvestrant treatment. AMG-888 blocked fulvestrant-induced HER3 and phospho-S6 upregulation in vivo , resulting in regression of luminal breast tumor xenografts. Conclusions: These data suggest that HER3 targeting may improve the outcome of luminal breast cancers treated with endocrine therapy, and are consistent with our findings that a HER3-dependent expression signature positively correlates with relapse in tamoxifen-treated patients. Taken together, these results define a novel role for HER3 in luminal breast cancer cells, and support future investigations into therapeutic strategies to target HER3 in luminal breast cancers. Citation Information: Cancer Res 2012;72(24 Suppl):Abstract nr P5-19-01.


The utility of T‐cell receptor (TCR) transgenic mice in medical research has been considerable, with applications ranging from basic biology all the way to translational and clinical investigations. Crossing of TCR transgenic mice with either recombination‐activating gene (RAG)‐1 or RAG‐2 knockouts is frequently used to generate mice with a monoclonal T‐cell repertoire. However, low level productive TCR rearrangement has been reported in RAG‐deficient mice expressing transgenic TCRs. Using deep sequencing, we set out to directly examine and quantify the presence of these endogenous TCRs. Our demonstration that functional nontransgenic TCRs are present in nonmanipulated mice has wide reaching ramifications worthy of critical consideration.


Interconnected dc grids are studied in this paper, which comprise resistive and constant-power loads (CPLs) fed by photovoltaic (PV) units. All the sources and CPLs are connected to the grid via dc–dc converters. Nonlinear behavior of PV units in addition to the effect of negative-resistance CPLs can destabilize the dc grid. Thus, the decentralized nonlinear model and intelligent control are proposed using adaptive output-feedback controller to stabilize the grid. The use of the output-feedback control makes possible the utilization of other available signals, in case of loss of main signal, at the converter location and creates measurement redundancy that improves reliability of the dc network. The switching between measured signals of different types are performed through using the neural network (NN) controllers without the need to further tuning. The stability of the entire network is assured through Lyapunov stability method while each converter employs only local measurements. The adaptive NNs are utilized to overcome the unknown dynamics of the dc–dc converters at distributed energy resources and CPLs and those of the interconnected network imposed on the converters. Simulation and experimental results are provided on a small-scale dc grid to show the effectiveness of the developed model and the proposed controller.


In this chapter, the thin-film R(R)DE (TFR(R)DE) method is described, i.e., a method for the quantitative evaluation of the electrocatalytic activity of high-surface area catalysts in a true R(R)DE configuration. The method offers complete catalyst utilization combined with a high reproducibility with respect to the catalyst loading on the electrodes. It is further proven that both catalyst agglomerate and film diffusion effects, respectively, are negligible in the thin catalyst/Nafion layers. That means the thin-film electrodes can be treated like smooth rotating electrodes with the well-known hydrodynamics and defined mass-transport conditions. In other words, kinetic parameters such as kinetic current densities, activation energies, Tafel slopes etc. can directly be determined from the measured current densities without applying any mathematical modeling of the mass transport in the catalyst/Nafion layer. Furthermore, this method allows the determination of electrode kinetics under fuel cell relevant mass-specific current densities of 1–2 A . The suitability of the TFRDE method is demonstrated by discussing results from different kinetic studies on the oxidation of CO and CO/H2 mixtures on high-surface area Pt, PtRu, PtSn and PdAu electrocatalysts. Additionally, it is illustrated how thin-film electrodes can be successfully used for measurements with a differential electrochemical mass spectrometry (DEMS) setup for the mass-spectrometrical determination of the electrochemically formed products. In the last section, the adaptation of the TFRDE method for ring-disk measurements is described. The potential- and rotation-rate independent, well-defined collection efficiency for the thin film RRDE configuration enables the quantification of the molar fraction of H2O2 produced during oxygen reduction. In general, the TFR(R)DE method can be seen as an easy-to-use tool for the screening and characterization of high-surface area electrocatalysts under low temperature fuel cell relevant conditions.

Keywords:

rotating disk electrode;
rotating ring-disk electrode;
differential electrochemical mass spectrometry;
CO tolerance;
oxygen reduction reaction;
carbon-supported Pt electrocatalysts;
carbon-supported Pt-alloy electrocatalysts


To evalue the coincidence and correlation between the four domestic quantity assay reagents and with ARCHITECTi2000 immunoassay system. 185 weak-reactive serum samples and standard materials of different concentrations were tested by four domestic quantity assay reagents for HBsAg test and ARCHITECTi2000 immunoassay system. The coincidence, the precision and the correlations between different systems were analyzed. The coincidence rates of the results of 0.05-1.00 IU/ml samples between the four domestic quantity assay reagents and ARCHITECTi2000 immunoassay system were 25.93%, 35.19%, 51.85% and 18.52% respectively, and for those results of more than 1.00 to 10.00 IU/ml samples the coincidence rates were 71.76%, 87.79%, 95.42% and 69.47% respectively. The samples of 0.05 to 0.80 IU/ml weak-reactive serum samples detected by the i2000 system were all negative detected by the four domestic systems. The coincidence rates of more than 7.93 IU/ml serum samples detected by i2000 system were 100% detected by the four domestic systems. The correlations of the four domestic quantity assays were around 0.8629 to 0.9265. The analysis sensitivity of the four domestic quantity assay reagents were below the i2000 system. The results of under 0.80 IU/ml samples detected by i2000 system were disaccord with the results detected by the four domestic systems, whereas for the sapmples over 7.93 IU/ml the results were consistent.


This paper investigates the flow of a solidifying liquid film on a solid surface subject to a complex kinematics, a process relevant to pancake making and surface coating. The flow is modeled using the lubrication approximation, with a gravity force whose magnitude and direction depend on the time-dependent orientation of the surface. Solidification is modeled with a temperature-dependent viscosity. Because the flow eventually ceases as the liquid film becomes very viscous, the key question this study aims to address is: what is the optimal surface kinematics for spreading the liquid layer uniformly? Two methods are proposed to tackle this problem. In the first one, the surface kinematics is assumed a priori to be harmonic and parameterized. The optimal parameters are inferred using the Monte-Carlo method. This ``brute-force'' approach leads to a moderate improvement of the film uniformity compared to the reference case when no motion is imposed to the surface. The second method is formulated as an optimal control problem, constrained by the governing partial differential equation, and solved with an adjoint equation. Key benefits of this method are that no assumption is made on the form of the control, and that significant improvement in thickness uniformity are achieved with a comparatively smaller number of evaluations of the objective function.