A polarized AlN/GaN five barrier heterostructure was grown and characterized for resonant electron emission in a diode configuration. Diodes of this type have extremely high resonant tunneling voltages of ∼5 V, which is important for an effective electron emission over the surface gate-electrode vacuum barrier. The surface electrode consists of a carbon nanotube (CNT) network, which is highly conductive and has a good surface potential distribution and electron transparency, which is expected to be higher compared to a thin metal layer. The design proposed in this work aims in demonstrating monochromatic electron emission through the use of a resonant-tunneling configuration, semiconducting surface accelerating layer and a CNT surface gate-electrode.


BACKGROUND
Increased blood insulin levels are associated with an increased risk of pasture-associated laminitis in equids.

OBJECTIVE
To determine the relationship between plasma insulin, leptin, and lipid levels, and measures of oxidative stress with adiposity in mature light breed horses.

ANIMALS
300 randomly selected light breed horses, aged 4-20 years.

METHODS
A random sample of horses (140 mares, 151 geldings, and 9 stallions) was drawn from the VMRCVM Equine Field Service practice client list. Evaluations occurred June 15 - August 15, 2006, with all sampling performed between 0600 and 1200 hours. Concentrate feed was withheld for at least 10 hours before sampling. Plasma was analyzed for insulin, glucose, leptin, triglycerides, nonesterified fatty acids, and measures of oxidative stress. Body condition score was determined as the average of 2 independent investigators.

RESULTS
Overconditioned and obese horses had higher plasma insulin (P < .001) and leptin (P < .01) levels than optimally conditioned horses. Obese horses had higher triglyceride levels (P = .006) and lower red blood cell gluthathione peroxidase activities (P = .001) than optimally conditioned horses.

CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL IMPORTANCE
Maintaining horses at a BCS <7 might be important for decreasing the risk of pasture-associated laminitis.


In the article, the attempt is made to substantiate Lenin's status as a political thinker. In doing so, the author seeks for Lenin's philosophical concept, which could be regarded as essential to his political thought. Consecutively analyzing his ideas of party, socialism, and communism, as well as their place in his theory, the author concludes that the meaning of the political in Lenin's theory as Marxist thinker is completely different from its meaning in traditional political philosophy. However, it does not mean that Lenin is not a political thinker. It is argued that Lenin's political theory is characterized by the combination of the political and the economic, which becomes indistinguishable. The elimination of the opposition of the political and the economic in Lenin's theory is fully embodied in his concept of revolution, which is therefore considered as the very core of Lenin's political thought. Here, revolution is described as a unity of the event and the process where individual events and crises become the components of an immense historical dialectics, which is invisible and absent for the empirical perception in each of its moments, but whose overall movement alone gives them meaning. Underlining that revolution is the lengthy and contradictory process of systemic transformation that can ends at any moment, the author concludes that the true significance of Lenin is connected with his legacy to keep the revolution alive as a possibility before it takes place; to keep it alive as a process when it is threatened by defeat, routinization, compromise or forgetfulness. In this sense, according to the author, the idea that "Lenin is still alive" is identical to the appeal to keep alive the very idea of revolution, which today becomes particularly important.


The purpose of this research is to investigate the potential of an Adult Playfulness scale that would aid in the selection of potentially successful sales reps. In the first study, we verify the construct validity of the Adult Playfulness scale in a sales context. The results show that adult playfulness has two primary factors: fun-loving and frivolous. In the second study, we show that fun-loving has a positive effect on adaptive selling by creating a learning orientation, and that it also has a positive effect on job satisfaction by lowering stress. Frivolous, however, has a negative effect on sales performance.


Research has focused on the role of jealousy and anger in intimate partner aggression, though little attention has been given to whether these variables might mediate the relationship between intimate partner aggression and adult attachment insecurity (i.e., anxious, avoidant). It is important for researchers to focus on jealousy and anger because these variables are linked to perpetrating intimate partner aggression. Adult attachment insecurity might have a role in these associations. The research focused on this topic has examined broad forms of intimate partner aggression without consideration for the effects of new technology on young adults' romantic relationships. To this end, the present study examined the mediation of jealousy and anger on the relationship between intimate partner aggression and adult attachment insecurities among 600 young adults (Mage = 20.68; 54% female). Intimate partner aggression included the following forms: relational, privacy invasion, cyber, and cyber/technology privacy invasion. Jealousy mediated the association between avoidant anxious partner attachment and relational intimate partner aggression. Similar patterns were found for anger, privacy invasion, and cyber/technology privacy invasion. Recommendations for programs aimed at raising awareness of intimate partner aggression among young adults are described.


Background and purpose — Metal artifact reduction sequence (MARS) MRI and ultrasound scanning (USS) can both be used to detect pseudotumors, abductor muscle atrophy, and tendinous pathology in patients with painful metal-on-metal (MOM) hip arthroplasty. We wanted to determine the diagnostic test characteristics of USS using MARS MRI as a reference for detection of pseudotumors and muscle atrophy. Patients and methods — We performed a prospective cohort study to compare MARS MRI and USS findings in 19 consecutive patients with unilateral MOM hips. Protocolized USS was performed by consultant musculoskeletal radiologists who were blinded regarding clinical details. Reports were independently compared with MARS MRI, the imaging gold standard, to calculate predictive values. Results — The prevalence of pseudotumors on MARS MRI was 68% (95% CI: 43–87) and on USS it was 53% (CI: 29–76). The sensitivity of USS in detecting pseudotumors was 69% (CI 39–91) and the specificity was 83% (CI: 36–97). The sensitivity of detection of abductor muscle atrophy was 47% (CI: 24–71). In addition, joint effusion was detected in 10 cases by USS and none were seen by MARS MRI. Interpretation — We found a poor agreement between USS and MARS MRI. USS was inferior to MARS MRI for detection of pseudotumors and muscle atrophy, but it was superior for detection of joint effusion and tendinous pathologies. MARS MRI is more advantageous than USS for practical reasons, including preoperative planning and longitudinal comparison.


A ratiometric pH-sensitive fluorescent dye (hydroxypyrenetrisulfonic acid) was covalently attached to an acrylamide polymer. These pH-sensitive copolymers were either covalently bonded to the end of an optical fiber or polymerized into separate gels. Long-term, accelerated aging studies were performed on the fibers and gels in 43°C distilled H20. The fiber-immobilized optrodes gave good pH responses for up to 2 months. The pH-sensitive gels were physically attached to optical fibers and gave very good pH responses for over one year. These physically immobilized, one-year-old, pH-sensitive copolymers provided optrodes with linear pH responses between pH 6 and 8 and resolution greater than 0.25 pH unit. A simple photostability experiment on these optrodes showed that they were very photostable. The results of this study indicate that pH-sensitive copolymers in a simple optrode design can be employed as pH sensors with useful lifetimes exceeding one year.


In the first months of COVID-19 pandemic, paediatricians were not much involved in the management of the illness. Reports from China had shown that relatively few children and adolescents were affected, and that most of those who were infected had experienced milder disease compared with adults.1 2 The same trend was initially seen after the spread of COVID-19 to Western countries.3 4

However, between April and May 2020, a rise in the number of children and adolescents with an acute multisystem hyperinflammatory state fulfilling full or partial criteria for Kawasaki disease (KD),5 although frequently accompanied by unusual or less common symptoms, such as abdominal pain, diarrhoea and myocardial failure, was noticed in European and North American countries or regions mostly hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.6–9 A number of these children needed urgent intensive care treatment due to the development of toxic shock syndrome, leading to multiorgan failure and circulatory shock, usually of myocardial origin, and some of them had signs of macrophage activation syndrome (MAS). Markers of inflammation were elevated, with neutrophilia, prominently increased C-reactive protein, interleukin (IL)-6, D-dimer and ferritin levels, and hypoalbuminaemia. Lymphopenia and relative thrombocytopenia were often present. Management was based on the administration of anti-inflammatory treatment, which included intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) and glucocorticoids. In some instances, IL-1, IL-6 or tumour necrosis factor inhibitors were given. Some, but not all, of these patients tested positive on swabs or serology for SARS-CoV-2 or were exposed to potential contact with a household member affected with COVID-19.

Alerts have been issued by national health authorities and paediatric scientific societies to raise awareness of this emerging syndrome in the medical community.10–14 This condition, which has been named 'Paediatric inflammatory multisystem syndrome temporarily associated to SARS-CoV-2 infection' (PIMS-TS) in the UK, 'Multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children' in …


Background. Pneumonia remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality among South African (SA) children. Improved immunisation regimens, strengthening of HIV programmes, better socioeconomic conditions and new preventive strategies have influenced the epidemiology of pneumonia. Furthermore, sensitive diagnostic tests and better sampling methods in young children improve aetiological diagnosis. Objectives. To summarise current information on childhood community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) epidemiology and aetiology in children as part of the revised South African Thoracic Society guidelines. Methods. The Paediatric Assembly of the South African Thoracic Society and the National Institute for Communicable Diseases expert subgroup on epidemiology and aetiology revised the existing SA guidelines.The subgroup reviewed the published evidence in their area; in the absence of evidence, expert opinion was accepted. Evidence was graded using the British Thoracic Society (BTS) grading system, and the relevant section underwent peer review. Results. Respiratory viruses, particularly respiratory syncytial virus, are the key pathogens associated with hospitalisation for radiologically confirmed pneumonia in HIV-uninfected children. Opportunistic organisms, including Pneumocystis jirovecii , are important pathogens in HIV-infected infants, while non-typable Haemophilus influenzae and Staphylococcus aureus are important in older HIV-infected children. Co-infections with bacteria or other respiratory viruses are common in hospitalised children. Mycobacterium tuberculosis is common in children hospitalised with CAP in SA. Conclusions. Numerous public health measures, including changes in immunisation schedules and expansion of HIV prevention and treatment programmes, have influenced the epidemiology and aetiology of CAP in SA children. These changes have necessitated a revision of the South African Paediatric CAP guidelines, further sections of which will be published as part of a CME series in SAMJ .


PRECIS:This essay attends to contemporary Oriental Orthodox solidarity as a postcolonial condition and to the possibilities of communal belonging along different planes of theopolitical intelligibility. Oriental Orthodox debates around what I call the "social hierarchy of theological truth" are mired in colonial histories of civilizational order and the production of the collective experience of Byzantine and Islamic subjugation. The project of making Oriental Orthodox experience visible in the contemporary moment as perennial persecution and perpetual subjugation hinders analysis of the workings of this neo-imperial system that utilizes certain narratives of Oriental Orthodox while precluding the collective's historicity and its enmeshment in other radical frameworks of solidarity. I argue that contemporary Oriental Orthodox experience must be historicized as a means to understand the operations of the complex and changing discursive processes by which such an identity is ascribed, debated, or embraced. By historicizing the identity that such a process has produced, I ethnographically trace how such processes are unmarked in the everyday interactions of Oriental Orthodox in the United States—in the ways history, theology, and collective memory are debated and politicized in the present.


This paper develops a method of testing for zones of financial integration based upon intertemporal considerations and applies it to data on Canadian provincial trade. In a financially-integrated region individuals smooth consumption with respect to movements in aggregate income. Consumption in that region follows income in that region if individuals use only regional capital markets while consumption follows movements in income in broader regions (e.g. national income or world income) if individuals have access to and use capital markets in those broader regions (e.g. the national or global capital markets, respectively). We derive a specification which measures the impact of differential levels of access to capital markets--different zones of capital mobility--on the relationship between the regional trade balance and regional, national and global income. This empirical specification is tested using data on trade balances across Canadian provinces. The results indicate full capital mobility within Canada but only partial capital mobility between Canada and the rest of the world.


In this paper, we address the introduction of Virtual Reality (VR) tools to the education of industrial design (ID) university students. We present three cases of how we have introduced VR technology in different courses of the industrial design curriculum at the University of Lapland, Finland. As the first example (Case I), we introduced a VR simulation as an empathetic design tool to simulate visual disabilities. The second example (Case II) is reported from a course where students created concepts for a head mounted display (HMD) AR application in smart buildings, and tried out interaction with a HMD VR application. In the third example (Case III), VR was used as a display environment to exhibit students' 3D industrial design concept models. We report our experiences and lessons learnt, as well as recorded student feedback from the trials. As salient findings, we report the general positive feedback, successful integration with the taught themes especially when connected to physical 3D models, as well as suggested improvements. Hindering the adoption of the technology from the teaching point of view, we report on the lack of infrastructure for multi-user groups in classrooms, the additional effort required to set up the technical system, and limited features supporting multimodality.


The aim of this study was to identify the prevalence and concordance of excess weight (BMI) and body fat (fat %) in adolescents of both sexes from cities of Rio Branco-AC and Porto Velho-RO. This study evaluated 4,310 adolescents, 2,167 from Rio Branco and 2,143 from Porto Velho. No difference (p=0.46) for excess weight between adolescents from Rio Branco (34.8%) and Porto Velho (33.8%) was observed. Fat percentage was significantly higher (p<0.01) in adolescents from Porto Velho (59.8%) compared to those from Rio Branco (44.3%). In intra-pubertal and pubertal stages, moderate concordance was identified (p<0.01) and in pre-pubertal stage, substantial concordance was observed (p<0.01). Thus, the findings of this study point out the adequacy of screening and diagnosis of obesity and overweight, which will enable earlier approach and treatment of adolescents.


Many causes of meralgia paresthetica (neuropathy of lateral cutaneous nerve of thigh) have been suggested. This is a case of a 42-year-old man who developed sensory loss and dysesthesia in the anterolateral thigh following an incision for pelvic bone graft.


An enzyme immunoassay (EIA) for the detection of rotaviral antibodies was developed, using a purified, cell culture-grown SA 11 viral antigen and alkaline phosphatase as an enzyme label. This technique was evaluated by comparative testing with tube neutralization and complement-fixation assays on a collection of simian sera. There was close correlation between positive and negative results obtained by EIA and by neutralization. The EIA was as easy to perform as complement fixation testing, but showed greater sensitivity and fewer nonspecific reactions. Thus, EIA was shown to be a very suitable test for routine detection of rotaviral antibodies in serum. Results of neutralization tests suggested that the monkeys (mostly rhesus macaques) in the present study were infected with viruses varying in their antigenic relatedness to SA 11 virus and to a British isolate of calf rotavirus.


Both gut microbiota and 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) have been shown to have an impact on immune response and disease development. The present study investigates how TCDD alters gut microbiota, thereby inducing immunosuppression in delayed type hypersensitivity reaction (DTHR). C57BL/6 mice were sensitized with methylated bovine serum albumen (mBSA) and rechallenged after six days with mBSA. On day 5, one group received intraperitoneally TCDD (10μg/kg) and the other group received vehicle. On day 8, all groups were sacrificed. TCDD treated mice showed significant reduction in the DTHR in comparison with the vehicle group. Furthermore, we found an increase in the T regulatory cells (Tregs) in draining lymph nodes of TCDD-treated mice, and in the expression of TGFβ. Moreover, cecal flushes were collected and 16S rRNA sequencing was performed. We determined alpha and beta diversity. We found that at the level of phylum, there was a significant decrease in Bacteroidetes and a significant increase in Firmicutes in TCDD-treated mice in comparison with vehicle group. Interestingly, TCDD-treated group showed significant increase in members of the class Clostridia, which is known to maintain the immune homeostasis by inducing T-regs. Furthermore, we found a significant decrease in the species, Prevotella in TCDD-treated group in comparison with vehicle-treated group. It is known that decreased abundance of Prevotella in the gut correlates with reduction in inflammation in the joints. Together, TCDD treatment alters gut microbiota which may be responsible for amelioration from inflammatory diseases.


Being killed for the sake of religion, homeland, or political opinion is in different forms in different societies; but is commonly honored and praised. Thus, victims and even deprives and survivors of the war are respected in all nations, governments and the public. In Islamic culture, this kind of sacrificing for the sake of Allah is called "martydom".
Human fascination for martyrdom brings this question to mind that while many people fear from death what the difference is between this type of death and other deaths that it leads them to welcome death. In examining this issue, which is essentially what the distinction is between martydom and other deaths, referring to the Qur'an and Sunnah can be the best solution. Contemplating these two sources give various characteristics. In this thesis, the literal and technical concepts of martyr, equivalents of sacrificing and martyrdom in other religions, the concept of martyrdom in the Shiite school and the rules and virtues of burying martyr are studied. The obtained result is that martydom for the sake of Allah is a huge triumph that is not obtainable by all the people because martydom means welcoming death, which is obviously different from the other types of death, and it is with positive results such as eternal life with peace, joy and forgiveness of sins, the divine gift and the lack of need for bathing an enshrouding the deceased.


Background: Formaldehyde, acetone, styrene, 2-methylbutane, and toluene are known as volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that have shown to cause serious health effects. This study sought to determine the health effects and levels ofthese VOCs and determined if their levels decreased after the addition of indoor plants. Methods: Two offices were tested in a newer building and two offices were tested in an older building. The chemical levels were tested before plants were added and were retested after plants were added at four and six weeks. Results: In the new building, formaldehyde increased by the fourth week, but decreased by the sixth week, while acetone decreased by the fourth week and increased by the sixth week. In the older building, acetone increased by the fourth week and decreased by the sixth week. Formaldehyde decreased by the fourth week and increased by the sixth week. No styrene was found in any office at any time. A reduction in 2-methylbutane levels was observed in two out of four 'post-plant' measurements and a reduction in toluene levels was observed in three out of four 'post-plant' measurements.  Conclusion: Employees may become exposed to VOCs in office buildings. As healthcare providers, nurses can educate people about what these harmful chemicals are and ways to reduce exposure. Nurses can also introduce efficient and cost-effective methods, such as adding plants, to decrease these chemicals in the places where people spend the most time.


Electron microscopic observations of two implanted absorbable clips, Absolok and Lactomer, infected with Escherichia coli and Streptococcus faecalis, were carried out. An overgrowth of bacteria was observed over the entire surface of the clips. The mating surfaces of the Lactomer clips and the locking mechanisms of both types of clip were more heavily infected--that is, provided better support for bacterial growth--than other areas of the clips in the initial postimplantation period. However, with longer periods (up to seven days), the initial bacterial deposits developed into a thick, plaquelike layer. This layer appeared to restrict access to the surfaces such that the infected clips degraded at a much slower rate than did the noninfected clips, particularly Lactomer clips, on which little morphologic change was detectable seven days after implantation.


Evaporation of soil water is a major water balance component during early growth stages of irrigated field crops, row crops with incomplete cover, and in soils with high water table. Quantification of soil evaporation can help in environmental and irrigation management. The objective is to develop a new method to estimate daily soil evaporation using differential measurements of temperature. A major advantage of this approach is that measurements of sensible heat flux can be replaced by those of surface temperature. An empirical coefficient was determined from integrated energy fluxes over daytime hours and mean daytime temperatures. It leads to a new soil evaporation transfer coefficient that can replace the aerodynamic resistance to calculate sensible heat flux. Experiments were conducted in a field with sandy soil that was irrigated with sprinklers and included a weighing lysimeter to measure actual evaporation. Measurements were of net radiation, soil heat flux over a wet and a reference air-dried soil, and air and surface temperatures of both soils. Regression between modeled and actual evaporation on a daily basis produced a slope of 1.05 and r ² = 0.9. Thirty days of cumulative model evaporation exceeded the measurements by 5%. The proposed coefficient can theoretically vary from 0 for wet soil to 1 for dry soil and can thus provide limits between 0 and potential evaporation. Actually, the coefficient increased from 0.2 to 0.8 in wet soil and from 0.8 to 1.0 in dry soil. The soil evaporation transfer coefficient was easy to measure, and it was sufficiently stable to adequately estimate soil evaporation.


This paper proposes an improved GA (genetic algorithm)-based integrated optimization of automated container terminal scheduling. The three-stage integrated optimization model of automated container terminal scheduling is suggested, and the objective is the minimal operation time of the loading and unloading tasks at the automated container terminal. To solve the difficult combination problem, an improved GA, which is named PGA (Probability Genetic Algorithm), is developed. As traditional GA does not change the probability according to the specific iterations in the population, PGA improves the above limitation to improve population distribution and accelerate convergence. Different from published literature, the study of this paper can be presented in two aspects. One is in the modeling; it includes (i) formalizing the description of the purpose of the model and (ii) having a real-world coordination of three types of equipment that are incorporated at automated container terminals. The other is that PGA is applied to deal with the integrated scheduling whose results can be gotten with better solving speed and convergence. Numerical experiments show that the model constructed in this paper has important reference value for the optimum ratio of QCs, AGVs, and ASCs in automated container operation, which is of great significance to improve the efficiency of the automated terminal. Furthermore, compared with the results of traditional GA and PSO (particle swarm optimization), the speed and convergence of PGA have been greatly improved.


This study explores in-service failure modes for rolling stock in the rail environment, identifies the most critical failures and explores the consequential cost of these failure modes.  Rolling stock is maintained according to maintenance plans with a major goal being the prevention of in-service failures, but due to the nature of the equipment not all failures can be prevented. In-service failures normally result in train delays or the cancellations of trains not only disrupting commuter services but also causing financial losses. The typical failures of rolling stock are analysed using data from the facility maintenance management system.  The critical failure modes are identified and classified according to cause, severity, consequence and frequency parameters. A decision model is employed to classify the criticality of the failure modes. The most prominent critical failure modes are analysed to determine root causes, to conclude the investigation. Areas are identified where the focus of future investigation and planned maintenance will have the most significant impact.


ABSTRACT Formerly, computer-aided stratigraphic analysis of seismic data was available only to those with access to large mainframe computers. Now, microcomputers are capable of performing many of the necessary operations at a cost within the means of most earth scientists. The critical restraints beyond the standard micro are graphics input and display devices, and software designed to operate within the capacity of the microcomputer. For a brief period Tandy Corporation marketed an inexpensive digitizer under its Radio Shack trademark. A seismic stratigraphic analysis system has been developed using this device and a 48K Radio Shack microcomputer. This system has the capacity to enter well log curves and seismic traces at the digitizer, convert log curves to time dimension by integration or interpolation, compute synthetic seismograms and time logs, and do synthetic modeling, wavelet estimation, and inversion of seismic and synthetic traces. The system allows great flexibility, as each process is designed as a stand-alone, interactive program, and data files are in identical format. Thus almost any order of operation may be chosen, and modeling may be in either depth or time. display is to a pen plotter or dot-matrix printer-plotter. The plot routines allow flexibility in the number, order, spacing, and scale of the curves displayed. Poster session presentation End_of_Record - Last_Page 465-------


Background:  Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is one of the commonest endocrine disorder affecting the women in childbearing period. Accumulating evidences from recent studies indicate that vitamin D receptor (VDR)Taq1(Tt) genetic variants may contribute to the pathogenesis of  insulin resistance and polycystic ovary syndrome. The Vitamin-D receptor (VDR) regulates vitamin D levels and calcium metabolism in the body and these are known to be associated with insulin resistance and type-2 diabetes in polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS). This study aims to investigate the association of VDR polymorphism Taq1(Tt)and serum 25(OH)D level with PCOS. This study was carried out on140 subjects divided into 2 groups: 70 patients with PCOS (group I) and 70 healthy subjects served as controls (group II). All studied subjects were submitted to full history taking, general clinical examination and laboratory investigations for serum levels of fasting blood glucose, total cholesterol (TC),triglycerides (TG), HDL-c,LDL-c, fasting insulin and 25(OH)D. Also genotyping of VDR polymorphism ( Taq1) was analyzed using the polymerase chain reaction–restriction fragment length polymorphism technique (PCR-RFLP). Results showed high significant statistical differences between the two studied groups regarding BMI (P value <0.001),SBP (P value <0.001) ,DBP (P value <0.001), fasting insulin (P value <0.001), fasting blood glucose (P value <0.001) ,insulin resistance (P value <0.001) ,triacylglycerol (P value <0.001), LDL cholesterol (P value <0.001),  serum level of 25 (OH) Vit D (P value <0.001) and VIT D R Taq1 genotype distribution (p value<0.001) with increased frequency of the tt andTt genotype in patients with PCOS and increased frequency of TT genotype in controls.  Conclusion: Our results indicate that tt genotype and t allele of VDR TaqI polymorphism and serum level of 25OHD might be risk factors for PCOS.


The single pixel camera is an imaging system particularly well suited for scene acquisition where a matrix detector is unavailable. Because of the long acquisition times, the system is usually aided with common compressive sensing techniques. However, if the scene contains moving elements, the recovery may show poor results. In this article we review a new novel technique we purposed for recovery of a moving scene with a compressive single pixel camera. The technique is inspired by 'Russian-Dolls' multi-scale ordering of the Hadamard sensing matrix. The technique can handle both global motion (e.g. due to camera panning) and motion of the objects in the scene.


Si_3N_4 ceramic was jointed to Si_3N_4 ceramic using a filler alloy of Cu-Zn-Ti at ~1123-1323K for ~0.3-2.7ks. Ti content in the Cu-Zn-Ti filler alloy was 15%(molar fraction). The effect of bonding parameters ~on the microstructure and mechanical properties of the Si_3N_4/Si_3N_4 joint were investigated. The results indicate ~that with increasing brazing temperature from 1123K to 1323K and brazing time from 0.3ks to 2.7ks, the thickness of the interfacial reaction layer between the filler alloy and the Si_3N_4 ceramic and the size and amount of the reactant products in the filler alloy increase, leading to an increase in shear strength of the joint from ~163MPa to ~276MPa. It is also found that the fracture behavior of the Si_3N_4/Si_3N_4 joint greatly depends on the microstructure of the joint.


Proceedings: AACR 104th Annual Meeting 2013; Apr 6-10, 2013; Washington, DC

SR16388 is a novel amino steroid that targets estrogen-binding proteins including genomic estrogen receptors (ERs). Preclinical studies have demonstrated that SR16388 is a well-tolerated, orally active compound with compelling properties as an experimental antitumor agent: SR16388 has been demonstrated to 1) inhibit the proliferation and viability of diverse human cancer cell lines in vitro; 2) have antiangiogenic activity in vivo; and 3) reduce the growth of human tumor xenografts in mice. SR16388, which binds to and potently inhibits ERα and ERβ in breast cancer cells, also inhibits the widely expressed orphan nuclear receptor ERRα that has been implicated in the development of various human malignancies. ERRα is thought to regulate tumor cell energy metabolism associated with energy stress within solid tumor microenvironments.

We have been exploring potential mechanisms that could explain SR16388's broad anti-proliferative effects toward human tumor cell lines with different genotypes and tissues of origin. In these studies, we observed that SR16388 can initiate a cell-cycle arrest at G1 or G2 and ultimately cause cytotoxicity (e.g., by apoptosis) even in cells that do not express ERs or ERRα. We recently observed that SR16388 can induce persistent macroautophagy (autophagy) in diverse tumor cells, including cells from hematopoietic malignancies (e.g., multiple myeloma/MM cells) in addition to carcinomas such as prostate and breast cancers. We demonstrated induction of autophagy by using established assays (e.g., LC3I/II processing; fluorescent reporters for acidic vacuole formation; long-lived protein degradation). Here we present results demonstrating that SR16388 can rapidly and potently induce autophagy in cultures of MM cells (U266, RPMI-8226) and PC3 prostate cancer cells. Induction of autophagy in PC3 cells, in particular, was detected in tumor xenografts as early as 3 hours after dosing of mice with a therapeutic dose level of SR16388. We will present data supporting the hypothesis that SR16388 exerts its anti-proliferative and anti-tumor effects in part through the induction of stress pathways modulated by perturbations of protein homeostasis. These effects could yield therapeutic benefits that derive from targets within solid tumor microenvironments.

Citation Format: Lidia C. Sambucetti, Wei Zhou, Joy Calaoagan, Laurie Kara, Xiaohe Liu, Barbara Sato, Steve Samuelson, Nathan Collins, Keith Laderoute. SR16388 impairs protein homeostasis and induces autophagy in diverse human cancer cell lines. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 104th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2013 Apr 6-10; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2013;73(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 1692. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2013-1692


The main purpose of this paper is to discuss the most common translational problems which occur during the production of audio description (AD), which is one of the modes of audiovisual translation (AVT). The article analyses selected translational problems encountered while scrutinizing the film entitled Django Unchained (2012) by Quentin Tarantino. The analysis is chiefly focused on issues which occur most frequently in the film and seem to be most difficult to solve by audio describers, both in English and in Polish versions of the film. The study compares notions of character description, facial expressions and gestures; these phenomena constitute in fact the core of audio description and particular attention should be paid to accurate rendering of them into the target language. Nonetheless, the article suggests possible strategies of dealing with the above-mentioned obstacles. Proceeding from these considerations, the study proposes conclusions concerning the type of audio description that would probably be the most successful and beneficent to the target audience.


A new computational method for solving the fifth order Korteweg-de Vries (fKdV) equation is proposed. The nonlinear partial differential equation is discretized in space using the discrete singular convolution (DSC) scheme and an exponential time integration scheme combined with the best rational approximations based on the Caratheodory-Fejer procedure for time discretization. We check several numerical results of our approach against available analytical solutions. In addition, we computed the conservation laws of the fKdV equation. We find that the DSC approach is a very accurate, efficient and reliable method for solving nonlinear partial differential equations.


The GenCyber program is jointly sponsored by the National Security Agency (NSA) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) to help faculty and cybersecurity experts provide summer cybersecurity camp experiences for K-12 students and teachers. The main objective of the program is to attract, educate, and motivate a new generation of young men and women to help address the nationwide shortage of trained cybersecurity professionals. The curriculum is flexible and centers on ten cybersecurity first principles. Currently, GenCyber provides cyber camp options for three types of audiences: students, teachers, and a combination of both teachers and students. In 2016, over 120 GenCyber camps were funded, serving 5,000+ students and teachers, and the NSA hopes to double the program in 2017. GenCyber camps can be offered at colleges, universities, public or private school systems, or non-profit institutions. The purpose of this paper is to describe the GenCyber program, provide lessons learned from a successful program implementation, and encourage PI's to plan and implement a GenCyber summer cyber academy.


The MCORE M340 architecture was designed to target the low-power, embedded application market. Building upon the MCORE M3 core, the M340 provides enhancements through the addition of an 8 K, 4-way set-associative unified (instruction/data) cache and an on-chip Memory Management Unit (MMU) that contains a single unified 64-entry TLB capable of mapping multiple page sizes. To achieve the power and performance requirements that today's portable electronics demand the M340 provides programmable features that allow the architecture to be optimized for a given application. This paper discusses the features of the M340 cache sub-system and illustrates the power and performance improvements that can be achieved through proper configuration.


A number of analytical models have been proposed during the past 15 years for assessing the reliability of a software system. In this paper we present an overview of the key modeling approaches, provide a critical analysis of the underlying assumptions, and assess the limitations and applicability of these models during the software development cycle. We also propose a step-by-step procedure for fitting a model and illustrate it via an analysis of failure data from a medium-sized real-time command and control software system.


Heart rate estimation is very important for heart health monitoring. As a non-invasive optical technology, remote photoplethysmography (rPPG) has the advantages of noncontact, portability and low-price. However, motion and noise artifacts bring additional uncertainty to the results of heart rate estimation. Based on the signal quality assessment method, we propose a new remote heart estimation algorithm by signal quality attention mechanism and long short-term memory (LSTM) networks. The model consists of three parts: firstly, an LSTM network is used to estimate the heart rate sampling point by sampling point; secondly, a similar LSTM network predicts the signal quality; finally, an attention-based model uses the heart rates and quality scores predicted above to calculate the average heart rate of a period of time. The model allocates higher weights to the reliable heart rates estimated from high-quality signals, meanwhile, ignores unreliable results estimated from low-quality signals. Experiments show that LSTM with attention mechanism accurately estimates heart rate from corruption rPPG signal and it performs well on cross-subject tasks and cross-dataset tasks. The results also demonstrate that the scores predicted by the signal quality model is valuable to extract reliable heart rate.


Results of the treatment of 19 children aged from 1,5 months to 8 years with different forms of hiatal hernias are analyzed. Specific features of the clinico-roentgenological picture of the disease is described with special reference to the child's age and type of hernia. Methods of the surgical treatment are proposed.


The Łódź underground had emerged from the punk aesthetic, yet it absorbed
successive genres surprisingly quickly: hardcore, industrial, later
also, among others, techno and rave. It utilized diverse forms of expression:
most of all sound, but also projections, site-specific actions, graphic
design or fashion. The article, drawing from the memories and output of
several most important participants of the movement, poses the question,
in what way the underground so easily absorbed new genres and
aesthetic patterns on the one hand, while on the other – it remained so
strongly separate.
The separation is revealed in the tension between experiencing new,
experimenting musical and aesthetic trends, and the overwhelming everyday
life of the post-industrial city. This tension was the reason why the
underground movement was so intensely performative in its character, in
which new knowledge and new inspirations were mostly created in action.


This study proposes a spatial extension of time series autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity (ARCH) models to those for areal data. We call the spatially extended ARCH models as spatial ARCH (S-ARCH) models. S-ARCH models specify conditional variances given surrounding observations, which constitutes a good contrast with time series ARCH models that specify conditional variances given past observations. We estimate the parameters of S-ARCH models by a two-step procedure of least squares and the quasi maximum likelihood estimation, which are validated to be consistent and asymptotically normal. We demonstrate the empirical properties by simulation studies and real data analysis of land price data in Tokyo areas.


A simple and purely algebraic construction of super-energy (s-e) tensors for arbitrary fields is presented in any dimensions. These tensors have good mathematical and physical properties, and they can be used in any theory having as basic arena an n-dimensional manifold with a metric of Lorentzian signature. In general, the completely timelike component of these s-e tensors has the mathematical features of an energy density: they are positive definite and satisfy the dominant property, which provides s-e estimates useful for global results and helpful in other matters, such as the causal propagation of the fields. Similarly, super-momentum vectors appear with the mathematical properties of s-e flux vectors. The classical Bel and Bel-Robinson tensors for the gravitational fields are included in our general definition. The energy-momentum and super-energy tensors of physical fields are also obtained, and the procedure will be illustrated by writing down these tensors explicitly for the cases of scalar, electromagnetic, and Proca fields. Moreover, higher order (super)k-energy tensors are defined and shown to be meaningful and in agreement for the different physical fields. In flat spacetimes, they provide infinitely many conserved quantities. In non-flat spacetimes, the fundamental question of the interchange of s-e quantities between different fields is addressed, and answered affirmatively. Conserved s-e currents are found for any minimally coupled scalar field whenever there is a Killing vector. Furthermore, the exchange of gravitational and electromagnetic super-energy is also shown by studying the propagation of discontinuities. This seems to open the door for new types of conservation physical laws.


After the demonstrated familial incidence of the "labile pseudo-ischemic T-wave" patterns, a research has been carried on in order to ascertain the possible genetic conditioning of the anomaly. The analysis of the pattern of the families, formed starting from the subjects carrier of the above-mentioned pattern, carried on with the Haldane sibships method corrected with that proposed by Lejeune, leads to affirm that the models of hereditary transmission able of explaining the found out distributions are of a not simple recessive type. The distribution of frequence of the subjects by "aplotype HLA" does not permit to settle a reliable correlation between the considerated electrocardiographic anomaly and the aplotype, at least as far as the number of the examined cases is concerned.


Achieving sustainable food security and increased farm income will depend on how efficient production systems are in converting available inputs to produce outputs. Using data from Malawi, we estimate a Bayesian directional technology distance function to examine the relationship between farm size and technical efficiency. Our results support the existence of an inverse relationship between farm size and productive efficiency, where small farms are more efficient than large farms. On average, farms exhibit inefficiency levels of 60%, suggesting that productivity could be improved substantially. Improving productive efficiency and food security will require farms to operate in ways where the size of cultivated area is matched by nonland production inputs such as labor, fertilizer, and improved seeds. The results highlight the need for policies that could incentivize farmers to adopt productivity‐enhancing technologies and, where possible, to allocate excess land to lease markets.


In the 3-players exactly-N problem the players need to decide whether x + y + z = N for inputs x, y, z and fixed N. This is the first problem considered in the multiplayer Number On the Forehead (NOF) model. Even though this is such a basic problem, no progress has been made on it throughout the years. Only recently have explicit protocols been found for the first time, yet no improvement in complexity has been achieved to date. The present paper offers the first improved protocol for the exactly-N problem. This improved protocol has also interesting consequences in additive combinatorics. As we explain below, it yields a higher lower bound on the possible density of corner-free sets in [N] × [N].


Inevitably, whenever a new procedure of diagnosis or therapy is developed or gains rapid popularity, the pendulum swings too far and the procedure is apt to be employed in clinical practice beyond its indications. This appears to be true of electrocardiography, which recently has rapidly advanced the ability to interpret damage to the heart, especially that variety which accompanies disease of the coronary vascular system. There is a tendency today to rely too much on the electrocardiogram for the final interpretation of the condition of the heart at the expense of a careful history and an accurate clinical examination of the patient. The fault is less applicable to the cardiologist than to the general practitioner. In many places this trend has gone so far that surgeons require a routine preoperative tracing, believing incorrectly that it will by itself establish the margin of cardiac safety before operation. Eventually this overswing will


Synopsis Doped He droplets constitute an important environment as ultracold homogeneous matrices for spectroscopic studies. Alkali metal dopants have a series of interesting properties due to their unusual bonding behavior. Neutral atoms attached to the surface of the droplet, forming eventually cold molecules via collisions, while charged dopants form solvation shells, related with the low mobility of the ions in experiments. So, investigations on the underlying intermolecular, markedly orientational ionic, forces, and on the miscoscopic structures of alkali-cation-He complexes is essential.


This paper builds upon a cognitive model and a
study of how people find faults in a simple device
(Ritter & Bibby, 2008). This existing learning
model, called Diag, was implemented in Soar and is
based on the idea that learning consists of
procedural, declarative, and episodic learning.
Because Diag is implemented in a version of Soar
that is no longer supported, an implementation in an
up-to-date cognitive architecture is necessary to
understand Soar and to model further aspects of this
task. We maintained Diag's basic structure while
reimplementing it in a high-level behavior
representation language, Herbal, that generates Soar
models and can generate different variants quickly.
This newly implemented model, called Diag-H, was
validated by comparing its predictions to Diag and
the existing data. As a result, it could be shown that
Diag-H creates nearly the same results as Diag but
also incorporates the advantages of Herbal.


In recent years, studies of geographic information systems (GIS) is made rapid progress. Practical use cases of GIS is found in some municipal offices. Then we developed indicators of land use mixture by using GIS data. Characteristics of land use has been evaluated by various methods. Most of them are calcurated by numerical data, such as floor areas by building use, areas by land use and the like. But we can't understand spatial distributions of land use mixture by these values. Then we propose indicators of land use mixture to evaluate spatial distributions by using GIS data related to polygons of plottages. These methods are applications of the JOIN concept which can evaluate spatial distributions of land use by using grid data. We also validated effectiveness of these indicators by applying to a study area in Kobe city.


Objectives. To highlight the importance of early diagnosis of colloid cyst of the third ventricle and its early management. Clinical Presentation and Intervention. This is a young lady who presented with sudden onset headache. She attended a local clinic and also her area hospital. Her diagnosis was delayed several hours due to a diagnostic dilemma initially. No surgical intervention was tried since the patient developed early signs of brainstem coning by the time she was seen by neurosurgeon. Patient died after few days in spite of intensive ICU measures. Conclusion. Sudden onset headache in young adults should be looked at carefully. Early imaging is mandatory to prevent mortality.


Nursing education in EU countries follows EU requirements and directives. Even Albania, as a candidate country in relation to nursing and midwifery education must start planning to implement these standards. EU directives require that 50% of the nursing education curriculum to be converted into hours of laboratory and clinical practice, which should be carried out in specialized hospital units. The non-compliance of the Albanian Nursing Education's programs with these standards has become an issue for our graduates and makes the equivalentation of the nursing program abroad difficult. Aim: To sightsee the nursing programs offered by Higher Education Institutions in Albania and to analyze how they meet the standards defined in the EU directives. Method: The data was collected from a review of the programs of some Higher Education Institutions in Albania, during the academic year 2019-2021. Results: The results obtained from the analysis of the programs offered by the Higher Education Institutions showed that they do not meet the EU recommendations. The number of hours of nursing lab and clinical practice, as well as the operation of practice are below the standards defined in these directives. Conclusion: This study clearly shows the challenges faced by Higher Education Institutions in Albania. The implementation and coordination of Nursing programs with EU directives is a crucial task. The standardization would enable not only solving the nowadays problems referred by students but would also enable in the future mobility for all lecturers, researchers and nurses who have studied in Albania. Keywords: EU directives, nursing, Higher Education Institution, nursing clinical and laboratory practices.


The origin of a high Neel temperature in a 5d oxide, NaOsO3, has been analyzed within the mean-field limit of a multiband Hubbard model and compared with the analogous 4d oxide, SrTcO3. Our analysis shows that there are a lot of similarities in both of these oxides on the dependence of the effective exchange interaction strength (J(0)) on the electron-electron interaction strength ( U). However, the relevant value of U in each system puts them in different portions of the parameter space. Although the Neel temperature for NaOsO3 is less than that for SrTcO3, our results suggest that there could be examples among other 5d oxides that have a higher Neel temperature. We have also examined the stability of the G-type antiferromagnetic state found in NaOsO3 as a function of electron doping within GGA + U calculations and find a robust G-type antiferromagnetic metallic state stabilized. The most surprising aspect of the doped results is the rigid bandlike evolution of the electronic structure, which indicates that the magnetism in NaOsO3 is not driven by Fermi surface nesting.


Let integral 0b exp(-pt)f(t) dt=F(p) p>0 where b>0 is a given number. The author gives a formula for f(t) in terms of F(p), p>0.


BACKGROUND
The Bayley Scales of Infant Development III (BSID III) is an instrument to measure the development of children aged 1-42 months. Our study sought to assess the feasibility and reliability of the BSID III's cognitive and motor sub-scales among children in rural Nepal.

METHODS
For this study, translation and back translation in Nepali and English for cognitive and motor sub-scale of BSID III were done. Two testers assessed a total of 102 children aged 1-42 months and were video-recorded and rescored by the third tester. Raw scores were calculated for each assessment. Inter and intra-observer reliability of scores across the three testers was examined. Raw score was converted into scaled score to examine the mean score. The study received ethical clearance from NHRC.

RESULTS
A total of 102 children were assessed. The inter-rater reliability of the BSID III among three testers using the Intraclass Correlation Coefficient by age group was 0.997 (95% CI: 0.996-0.998) for the cognitive scale, 0.997 (95% CI: 0.996- 0.998) for the gross motor scale, and 0.998 (95% CI: 0.997- 0.999) for the fine motor scale. All were statistically significant (p< 0.0001). The mean scaled cognitive, fine motor and gross motor development scores in this group of children were 8.3 (SD: 2.5), 8.5 (SD: 2.6) and 9.5 (3.2), respectively.

CONCLUSIONS
Assessing the cognitive and motor development of children under five using the BSID III was feasible in Makwanpur district, Nepal. The inter-rater reliability was highly comparable among the three testers.


Grading potatoes by size is an important operation for preparing tubers for seed and for commercial purposes. Farmers in Iran and in developing countries grade potatoes by hand, which is very slow and costly. This work concerns the development of a potato-grading machine for small-scale farmers. The design is characterized by a spiral structure covered with a capron net to form a cribriform rotating drum as the grading surface. Potato tubers are fed into the drum, moved forward by the spiral structure, and dropped through holes of the net according to their dimensions. The design parameters included net stiffness (T), rotating drum speed (n) and feeding rate (q). The grading accuracy of the machine was evaluated to determine optimum condition of machine performance. An acceptable grading accuracy of about 70% with a low tuber damage of 5.5% were obtained at T = 0.14 N/mm, n = 27 rpm and q = 2,500 kg/h as optimum condition.

PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS

Commercial potato-grading machines are designed for medium- to large-scale farms, and are not suitable for the majority of farmers in developing countries. In these countries, grading of potato tubers, especially for seed purpose, is performed by hand, which is very time-consuming and labor-intensive. A small grading machine has been developed that can sort five times more tubers per person per unit time than the rate achieved by hand grading. The machine is very simply constructed and costs approximately US$800, which is considerably cheaper than current commercial grading machinery.


Accurate measurements of the quantum efficiency of the M-centre luminescence in NaF have been performed in the range of 20 - 300 K, by light excitation in the and bands; as in the KCl case, the absence of energy transfer between F and M centres after the F-centre relaxation was ascertained. A discussion of the controversy in the literature concerning the existence of energy transfer is here presented: to reconcile the present results with the data and speculations of different authors it is proposed that the non-radiative energy transfer, if it exists, takes place before or during the F-centre relaxation. The absence of aging effects for the M-centre luminescence in NaF as well as the absence of perturbative effects of magnesium ions in NaF:Mg have been verified.


Humor that denigrates social groups can be just as harmful as hate speech. Despite research indicating the prevalence of humorous hate speech, how audiences perceive and process the combination of humor (e.g. irony as a humor cue) and hate speech (e.g. dehumanization as a hate cue) remains unclear. Using a sequential mixed-methods approach combining a qualitative think-aloud study (Study 1, N = 41) with an experiment involving implicit measurements of response times (Study 2, N = 65), it was examined how individuals perceive memes that contain both humor and hate cues. While think-aloud interviews indicated that processing humorous hate speech may require multiple steps, the relative time spent by participants in Study 2 to rate humorous and non-humorous hate speech as being hostile or not did not entirely support that conclusion. However, findings imply that hostile views may become more commonplace when hate speech is masked by humor.


Ocular toxoplasmosis has multiple devastating complications with possible recurrence. A potentially blinding complication of ocular toxoplasmosis is macular pucker. Here, we report a case of macular pucker in ocular toxoplasmosis treated with azithromycin and prednisolone. A 35-year-old woman complained of central scotoma for six days, which was associated with fever, headache, joint pain, and myalgia. Her visual acuity was counting finger OD and 6/18 OS. Her right eye optic nerve function test was impaired. Fundoscopy showed bilateral optic disc swelling that progressed to retinal fibrosis over papillomacular bundle and macular pucker over the right eye. CT scan of the brain and orbit was normal. Toxoplasma titer was positive. She was diagnosed to have a right eye macular pucker secondary to ocular toxoplasmosis. Oral azithromycin and oral prednisolone (on a tapering dose) were administered for six weeks. Fundoscopy showed resolved optic disc swelling. However, her vision in the right eye remained poor. Ocular toxoplasmosis may progress to macular pucker which can lead to poor vision and legal blindness. Reduced vision-related quality of life notably in the younger population as a complication of ocular toxoplasmosis is difficult to prevent. However, therapy with azithromycin and prednisolone may reduce the negative consequences of inflammation and shrink lesions, especially when the lesions are located at the macula or near the optic disc. Vitrectomy is an alternative treatment for complications such as macular pucker in selected cases.


AbstractRecent studies have shown that the transient climate response to cumulative carbon emissions (TCRE) of the global temperature can be well approximated by a constant value for cumulative emissions up to about 2 TtC. However, there has been little attention given in the literature to how the TCRE varies across the range of emissions rates represented by the current RCP emissions scenarios. The authors use an ensemble of simulations generated using the University of Victoria Earth System Climate Model to quantify how the temperature response to cumulative emissions varies as a function of both the total magnitude and the rate of CO2 emissions. This study shows that the 500-yr response to a pulse CO2 emission (1.81°C TtC−1) does not depend on the magnitude of cumulative emissions up to 3 TtC. The TCRE (1.66°C TtC−1), which relates to the short-term response, is relatively insensitive to constant-rate emissions up to 30 GtC yr−1. This experiment shows that the formal way of estimating the TCRE—that is,...


A rare case of elastofibroma developing in the greater omentum of a 76 years old woman was reported. The greater omentum was thickened in a plate‐like shape to a size of 24 × 15 × 2 cm, and a firm mass as large as 5 × 4 × 3 cm was formed in a portion of the omentum. Granulomatous inflammation associated with the calcification was present in the center region of the mass. Collagen fibers and elastofibroma fibers were markedly proliferated around the granuloma. Fibrosis accompanied with the formation of elastofibroma fibers was observed not only around the granulomatous inflammatory focus but also throughout the thickened omentum. The elastofibroma fiber in this case lost its stainability to resorcin‐fuchsin and orcein after 4 hours treatment with elastase. It may be inferred that not only mechanical stresses but also inflammatory stimuli contribute to the development of elastofibroma.


Two trials were conducted to determine effects of feeding corncobs, rice hulls or a combination of both on nutrient digestion and flow of digesta through the gastrointestinal tract of multiple-cannulated sheep (55-kg Rambouillet X Dorset rams; trial 1; 4 X 4 Latin square) as well as ruminal, digestive and metabolic characteristics of early-weaned lambs (24.1-kg crossbred rams; trial 2; randomized complete block design; 3 periods) fed pelleted 75% concentrate-25% roughage diets. In trial 1, apparent total tract dry matter (DM), organic matter (OM) and neutral detergent fiber (NDF) digestibilities decreased and N digestibility increased as percentage of dietary corncobs decreased and percentage of rice hulls increased. Site of NDF digestion appeared to shift from the upper to the lower digestive tract as percentage of corncobs decreased and percentage of rice hulls increased. In trial 2, apparent DM digestibility decreased as corncobs were replaced with rice hulls in the diet. Neutral detergent fiber digestibility was not affected by diet except in larger lambs at higher intakes, with NDF digestibility generally decreasing as percentage of dietary rice hulls increased. Nitrogen digestibility was not affected by replacing corncobs with rice hulls in the diet. Ruminal pH decreased as rice hulls replaced corncobs in the diet. These data are interpreted to indicate that rice hulls can be effectively substituted for corncobs in sheep diets when added at levels up to 25% of the total diet.


In this article we introduce variable exponent Lebesgue spaces on metric measure spaces and consider a central tool in geometric analysis: the HardyLittlewood maximal operator. We show that the maximal operator is bounded provided the variable exponent satisfies a log-Hölder type estimate. This condition is known to be essentially sharp in real Euclidean space, however, we show that this is not so in metric spaces.


The energy cost of major activities was determined in healthy students. Among the 606 medical students, 319 were males and 287 were females. Their ages ranged from 18 to 24 years. Douglas' method was used to measure energy cost of each of a total of 42 activities, as well as that of the basal metabolic rates (BMR), resting metabolic rates (RMR) and the total energy expenditure per day under normal situations. The average RMR of male and female subjects were 0.669 +/- 0.033 and 0.656 +/- 0.030 kcal/sq.m/min respectively. The total energy expenditure per day of male students were 2706 kcal, and 2373 kcal for female students. The energy cost of single activities can be used as the basal data in studies of energy metabolism.


In this paper, we report a joint theoretical-experimental study on electron-OCS collisions in the low- and intermediate-energy ranges. More specifically, elastic differential and integral cross sections, as well as grand total (elastic + inelastic) cross sections in the 0.4-600 eV energy range, are reported. A complex optical potential consisting of static, exchange, correlation-polarization plus absorption contributions, derived from a fully molecular wavefunction, is used for the electron-molecule interaction. The Schwinger variational iterative method, combined with the distorted-wave approximation, is applied to calculate the scattering amplitudes. Additionally, we also report measured elastic differential and integral cross sections in the 100-600 eV energy range determined using the relative-flow technique. Comparison between calculated results and present and existing experimental data, as well as with other theoretical results, is encouraging.


National Initiatives for Open Science in Europe (NI4OS-Europe) is a Horizon 2020 project related to the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC). One of the project objectives is promoting EOSC and open science in 15 Central and East European EU states and EU-associated countries. This paper describes the variety of promoting activities carried out in Hungary as part of the NI4OS-Europe project by the Governmental Agency for IT Development (KIFÜ). Identifying good practices will give us the chance to find the best communication channels and methods to promote open science and to manage expectations of funders, researchers and librarians. The audience diversity of organized NI4OS events was analyzed in this study. The anonymized dataset based on registration forms was filtered by profession. Results suggest that events are generally visited by more librarians than researchers. The only exception is the third forum where the main Hungarian research fund as co-organizer might have attracted researchers' attention. This suggests that librarians are considered to be in charge of open science issues in general. Usage data of the open science news feed were also studied. The 130 posts between May 2021 and April 2022 and 2500 visitors until the end of June 2022 give us the chance to learn about the characteristics of the most visited posts. We can conclude that the focus of communication is on open and FAIR data management, while other areas receive less attention. The results show that despite more international posts being published, the target group is more interested in local information.


The objective of the present study was to analyse potential negative consequences of cochlear implantation (CI) with a view to reducing the possibility of their development Vestibular disorders constitute the most frequent complications of cochlear implantation.Wound infections, acute otitis media (especially among the children), and meningitis are almost equally important.A single episode of otitis in the recipients of cochlear implants may have such serious consequences as meningitis. Approximately 20 new cases of meningitis following Cl are documented annually throughout the world. It emphasizes the paramount importance of prophylaxis of this condition, regular information of the patients, and long-term thorough observation of the children that survived after meningitis.


India and Iran share a historical and long term economic relation that has formed the basis of close bilateral relationship. In contemporary World politics, energy resources play an important role and are considered as the engines of economic growth and development for a country. India's growing energy demand and Iran's vast energy resources make the two nations natural economic partners. For India, Iran becomes attractive because it occupies second and fourth place among the countries having the highest reserves of gas and oil in the whole world. Iran, on the other hand, needs substantial investments not only in its oil and gas industry but in educational, health, defence and in technological sector as well. The sanctions imposed by the West particularly by United States of America have made it difficult for Iran to emerge as a major regional power on the basis export of gas and oil to its nearest and huge markets (Pakistan and India). This paper examines the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline as a confidence building measure in developing strategic relationship between India, Pakistan and Iran, secondly the nature of American attitude and influence on the relationship between Iran and India particularly in context of the proposed (IPI) Iran, Pakistan and India gas pipeline.

 Key words: India's growing energy situation, Iranian energy sources and IPI gas pipeline, IPI Gas Pipeline and Regional integration, U.S.'s influence on IPI Project.


Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the most frequently diagnosed malignancy of the gastrointestinal tract. The dysregulation of microRNAs (miRNAs/miRs) has been reported in the majority of types of human cancer, and is correlated with tumorigenesis and tumor development. Abnormal expression of miR‑663 has been observed in various types of human cancer. However, little is known about its role in CRC. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to clarify the expression and potential role of miR‑663, and its underlying molecular mechanism in CRC. It was observed that miR‑663 was markedly downregulated in CRC tissues and cell lines. Decreased miR‑663 expression levels in CRC tissues were correlated with tumor, node, metastasis stage and lymph node metastasis. Functional assays revealed that upregulation of miR‑663 inhibited cell proliferation and invasion in CRC. Further molecular mechanism assays demonstrated the fascin (FSCN1) was a target gene of miR‑663. In addition, FSCN1 was increased and negatively correlated with miR‑663 expression in CRC tissues. FSCN1 underexpression mimicked the tumor suppressive functions induced by miR‑663 overexpression on CRC cell proliferation and invasion. Collectively, the present study presented evidence that miR‑663 may act as a tumor suppressor in CRC by directly targeting FSCN1, which may lead to a potential therapeutic strategy focusing on miR‑663 and FSCN1 for patients with this disease.


The process of forming new species is the driving force behind the diversity of life on Earth. Yet, we have not answered the basic question: why are species unevenly distributed across taxonomic groups and geographic settings? This is because we lack the means to directly compare aspects of population (lineage) divergence across unrelated species because taxon-specific effects make comparisons difficult or impossible. Here, we present a new solution to this challenge by identifying the information signature of diverging lineages, calculated using partial information decomposition (PID), under different evolutionary scenarios. We show in silico how the informational decomposition of genetic metrics varies over time since divergence. Calculating PID over 97,200 lattices reveals that the decomposed nodes of Tajima's D, θW, and π have strong information signatures, while FST was least useful for discriminating among divergence scenarios. The presence or absence of gene flow during divergence was the most detectable signature; mutation rate and effective population size (Ne) were also detectable whereas differences in recombination rate were not. This work demonstrates that PID can reveal evolutionary patterns that are minimally detectable using the raw metrics themselves; it does so by leveraging the architecture of the genome and the partial redundancy of information contained in genetic metrics. Our results demonstrate for the first time how to directly compare characteristics of diverging populations even among distantly related species, providing a foundational tool for understanding the diversity of life across Earth.


In order to broaden the possibilities for further, in-depth analysis of contemporary art in the light of climate change, the essay identifies and explores a recurrent phenomenon within contemporary art today: The frequent use of rocks and stones. Stones have, of course, played a quite significant role in the history of art, not least through skillfully crafted marble and grand earthworks. Within contemporary art today, however, everyday pebbles, cobbles and boulders have become a means to address the ecological crisis. By drawing upon the ongoing debate about the reorganization of knowledge, fostered by the awareness of climate change and discussed by Matthew Omelsky and Ian Baucom amongst others, this essay examines when and how stones became such a means. By reflecting upon artworks by Jimmie Durham, Adriane Wachholz, Silvia Noronha and Julian Charrière, it is suggested that stones are often used as a medium to transgress habitual and anthropocentric notions of time and temporality. Further, through their work, these artists have the potential to make us believe, in times of make-believe: Not only in the urgency of climate change, but also in a future to come.


The increased consumer awareness of the health promoting effects of functional foods and nutraceuticals is the driving force of the functional food and nutraceutical market. Bioactive peptides are known for their high tissue affinity, specificity and efficiency in promoting health. For this reason, the search for food-derived bioactive peptides has increased exponentially. Over the years, many potential bioactive peptides from food have been documented; yet, obstacles such as the need to establish optimal conditions for industrial scale production and the absence of well-designed clinical trials to provide robust evidence for proving health claims continue to exist. Other important factors such as the possibility of allergenicity, cytotoxicity and the stability of the peptides during gastrointestinal digestion would need to be addressed. This review discusses our current knowledge on the health effects of food-derived bioactive peptides, their processing methods and challenges in their development.


We have compared the effects of interleukin-2 (IL-2) or tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF alpha) administration with or without interferon-gamma (IFN gamma) on Graves' and normal thyroid tissue xenografts in the nude mouse (in the absence of an intact immune system) in terms of possible functional, immunological, or histological changes. The dosages of recombinant human IL-2, TNF alpha, and IFN gamma given to each mouse were 250, 800, and 4000 U, respectively; they were injected ip daily for 6 consecutive weeks. The parameters measured included the free T4 index, thyroid autoantibodies, and mouse TSH during the course of the study. Thyroid epithelial cell (TEC) HLA-DR expression was measured in thyroid tissue before xenotransplantation and at death; in addition, light microscopic studies were carried out at those times. There were no significant differences in thyroid function between the results in unstimulated (control) animals and those obtained with cytokine administration in either group of tissues, with the exception of the group receiving TNF alpha together with IFN gamma; in this latter group, the free T4 index declined significantly 4-6 weeks after commencement of treatment in the animals with normal thyroid tissue xenografts. The reduction of thyroid function induced by the combination of IFN gamma and TNF alpha observed in normal thyroid tissue may be due to inhibition of thyroperoxidase and thyroglobulin gene transcription. However, there was no such effect on the Graves' thyroid tissue xenografts, perhaps because of down-regulation of this tissue in response to cytokines, after having been released from long term in vivo immune stimulation. On the other hand, TNF alpha plus IFN gamma induced TEC HLA-DR expression on both types of thyroid xenografts at death, although IL-2 alone did not induce HLA-DR expression, and IFN gamma induced TEC significantly only on normal thyroid xenografts (but not on Graves' xenografts). In light microscopic examination, Graves' thyroid xenografts treated with IL-2 alone or TNF alpha plus IFN gamma appeared normal at death. In addition, normal thyroid xenografts treated with the same cytokines did not show discernible differences compared to those at human surgery or when the xenografts were untreated at death. We conclude that Graves' TEC did not differ from normal TEC in any significant fashion at the time of death, aside from a reduced responsiveness to the stimuli applied.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


The musical scene in mid-nineteenth century New York City, contrary to common belief, was exceptionally vibrant. Thanks to several opera companies, no fewer than two orchestras, public chamber music and solo concerts, and numerous choirs, New Yorkers were regularly exposed to "new" music of Verdi, Meyerbeer, Schumann, Berlioz, Liszt, and Wagner.In "European Music and Musicians in New York City, 1840-1900", the first thorough exploration of musical life in New York City during this period, editor John Graziano and a number of other distinguished essayists assert that the richness of the artistic life of the city, particularly at this time, has been vastly underrated and undervalued. This marvelous new collection of essays, with topics ranging from military bands and immigrant impresarios to visits from operatic diva Adelina Patti, establishes that this musical scene was one of quantity and quality, lively and multifaceted - in many ways equal to the scene in the largest of the Old World's Cities.Contributors include: Adrienne Fried Block, Christopher Bruhn, Raoul F. Camus, Frank J. Cipolla, John Graziano, Ruth Henderson, John Koegel, R. Allen Lott, Rena C.Mueller, Hilary Poriss, Katherine K. Preston, Nancy B. Reich, Ora Frishberg Saloman, and Wayne Shirley. John Graziano is professor of music, The City College and Graduate Center, CUNY, and co-director of the Music in Gotham research project.


This paper deals with a method for designing a digital system which will remain operational in spite of the failure of some of its components. A scheme and its realization are presented for automatically reconfiguring a 5MR (five modular redundancy system or 5-input majority voting system) into a triple modular redundancy (TMR) system under a single or double module failures. The scheme can tolerate a double fault followed by a single fault which can neither be tolerated by a 5MR nor by a hybrid redundancy system with a TMR core. It uses no spare units and the circuit realization is relatively simple. The modular structure of the logic design for the proposed scheme should make the testing of the system easier. The scheme can be used in both binary and multivalued systems.


ABSTRACT Photoautotrophic cultivation of Chlorococcum humicola was performed in batch and continuous modes in different cultivating system arrangements to compare biomass and carotenoids' concentration and their productivities. Batch result from stirred tank and airlift photobioreactors indicated the positive effect of increasing light intensity on growth and carotenoid production, whereas the finding from continuous cultivation indicated that carotenoid enhancement preferred high light intensity and nitrogen-deficient environment. The highest biomass (1.31 ± 0.04 g L−1) and carotenoid (4.59 ± 0.06 mg L−1) concentration as well as the highest productivities, 0.46 g L−1 d−1 for biomass and 1.61 mg L−1 d−1 for carotenoids, were obtained when maintaining high light intensity of 10 klx, BG-11 medium and 2% (v/v) CO2 simultaneously, while the highest carotenoid content (4.84 mg g−1) was associated with high light intensity and nitrogen-deficient environment, which was induced by feed-modified BG-11 growth medium containing nitrate 20 folds lower than the original medium. Finally, the cultivating system arranged into smaller stirred tank photobioreactors in series yielded approximately 2.5 folds increase in both biomass and carotenoid productivities relative to using single airlift photobioreactor with equivalent working volume and similar operating condition.


Developing novel methods for the removal of heavy-metal ions from wastewater with low costs, special selectivity and high efficiency is quite important in water restoration and comprehensive ecological improvement. In this work, a nanopore-based strategy was suggested and related segregation apparatus was built to separate multiple heavy-metal ions in water by selective complexation. The results indicated that the prioritization of the selecting order for the complexing agent (thiacalix[4]arene- p-tetrasulfonate (TCAS)) to heavy-metal ions was Cu(II) > Cd(II) > Pb(II) > Ba(II). Meanwhile, higher driven voltage corresponded to a faster separation speed, while it could cause the decomposition of complexed heavy-metal ions when excessed the threshold. On the other hand, pH value would affect the hydrolysis of heavy-metal ions, the complexation of the calixarene to the heavy-metal ions and the speed of the electroosmotic flow. In our experiments, the maximum separation efficiency was achieved when the driven voltage was 1.5 V and the pH value was 5.0, corresponding to the best separation rate of 94.8%, 95.2%, 92.8%, 93.6%, for Cu(II), Cd(II), Pb(II) and Ba(II), respectively.


Response surface methodology is able to find the setting for input variables that optimize the response. When there is more than one response, the multiresponse surface methodology is used. To optimize these responses simultaneously, especially for quality characteristics, a hybrid method of Fuzzy Goal Programming (FGP) - Genetic Algorithm (GA) can accommodate it. In this research, the tablet's quality characteristics are the level of hardness, the level of friability, and the disintegration time of the tablet. The input variables that are considered to have a significant effect on the quality characteristics of the tablet are levels of binding agents, disintegrants, and the ma-chine pressure on compression process. The use of FGP is based on the reason that this method provides flexibility especially when objective functions and constraints cannot be clearly defined, thus requiring fuzzy numbers as operators. This advantage is not owned by the basic method of common Goal Programming (GP). The use of GA is to find a global optimum solution because it implements a ran-dom system.


Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is a non-cancerous increase in the tissue mass of the prostate, the muscular gland that produces seminal fluid. BPH is one of the most common medical conditions affecting older men. It may be diagnosed because of urinary symptoms, or identified when a large prostate is found during a routine screening rectal exam. Many men simply have a slow worsening of symptoms throughout their lifetimes, usually beginning in their 50's. Subclinical disease is very common: Approximately 80% of men older than age 60 will have histological changes indicative of BPH upon biopsy; by age 85, this percentage rises to 90%.1 Some of these patients have severe disease progression, which can lead to incontinence, formation of calculi, frequent urinary tract infection, or permanent urinary tract damage.


ABSTRACT To identify essential host genes affecting replication of Tomato bushy stunt virus (TBSV), a small model plant virus, we screened 800 yeast genes present in the yeast Tet promoters Hughes Collection. In total, we have identified 30 new host genes whose down-regulation either increased or decreased the accumulation of a TBSV replicon RNA. The identified essential yeast genes are involved in RNA transcription/metabolism, protein metabolism/transport, or other cellular processes. Detailed analysis of the effects of some of the identified yeast genes revealed that they might affect RNA replication by altering (i) the amounts/functions of p33 and p92pol viral replication proteins, (ii) the standard 10 to 20:1 ratio between p33 and p92pol in the viral replicase, (iii) the activity of the tombusvirus replicase, and (iv) the ratio of plus- versus minus-stranded RNA replication products. Altogether, this and previous genetic screening of yeast (Panavas et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 102:7326-7331, 2005) led to the identification of 126 host genes (out of ∼5,600 genes that represent ∼95% of all the known and predicted yeast genes) that affected the accumulation of tombusvirus RNA.


The innocence of the young Australian soldiers sent to Malaya during the Second World War to halt the territorial expansion of the Japanese was quickly shattered by defeat and surrender. Russell Braddon, who himself became a prisoner of war, graphically describes the ghastly suffering and wanton neglect of the Allied soldiers in some of the most infamous Japanese POW camps, from Pudu in Malaya to Changi in Singapore. For more than three years he watched as these men were ravaged by disease, tortured, and deprived of their most basic needs. Braddon recounts his horrifying story with barely suppressed rage, but also with enormous admiration for the amazing ingenuity, spirit and determination of the prisoners, who created a semblance of order out of nightmarish chaos. His remarkable book makes grim but compelling reading.


In the research of drug delivery, the ratio of the extravascular fluorescence intensity to the intravascular fluorescence intensity with respect to a transformed time axis plays an important role. Therefore, it is critical to accurately segment the blood vessel structures from time sequence images of LSCM. Conventionally, the users have to place some seed points into the images based on the region growing method. In this paper, the seed points are automatically taken from itself. The new approach also reduces the range of region growing in the images based on morphology and the computation speed becomes faster. In fact, it utilizes the correlative information between the images which are imaged at adjacent selected time-points during the time-course of experiment. Moreover, edge constraint is combined with region growing to reduce the influence of noisy boundaries and holes within the object. By conducting some experiments of live mice, it is demonstrated that the new approach is able to distinguish correctly all fluorescent pixels inside and outside the vessels, and the segmentation result is used to evaluate the permeability of drug.


The refined topological vertex of Iqbal—Kozçaz—Vafa has been investigated from the viewpoint of the quantum algebra of type W1+∞ by Awata, Feigin, and Shiraishi. They introduced the trivalent intertwining operator Φ which is normal ordered along with some prefactors. We manage to establish formulas from the infinite operator product of the vertex operators and the generalized ones to restore this prefactor, and obtain an explicit formula for the vertex realization of the topological vertex as well as the refined topological vertex.


Objectives To study frequency and character of atherosclerotic damage of coronary arteries (CA) and associated coronary heart disease (CHD) in patients (pts) with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE); to suggest a rational algorithm of non-invasive diagnostics CHD in this category of pts. Methods We studied autopsy protocols and case histories of 33 pts who died of SLE (26 women and 7 men, the mean age 39.7±2.6 years, the mean disease duration – 81.3±17.4 month). 100 pts with SLE were examined intravital (90 women and 10 men) aged from 18 to 66 years old (mean 40,9±1,4), the disease duration – from 1 to 43 years (mean 9.93±0.88 years). For detection of CA calcification we used multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) with calculation of calcium index (CI) and Mayo scale. In order to diagnose CHD we used both traditional clinical examination and stress tests – treadmill-test and stress echocardiography with dipyridamole. Diagnosis of CHD was set if not less than two informative methods of investigation were positive – MDCT (obligatory) and one of the stress tests. Results Among patients who died, the signs of aortic atherosclerosis (AS) were found in 51,5% of people, AS CA – in 39,4%, the CA stenosis – in 21,2%. One patient had intravital CHD signs. MDCT data detected calcification of CA in 39% of pts with SLE during their lifetime with mean CI 52,6±11,4 (mild calcification). Atherosclerotic plaques were most frequently localized in the left main artery (66,7% from 39), more rarely – in the left anterior descending artery (51,3%), and occasionally – in the left circumflex and right CA (12,8% and 10,3% respectively). Damage of several CA was observed in 14 pts: 2 – in 12, 3 – in 2 pts. Moderate degree of calcification was registered in 10 pts, high – in no-one. Degree of calcification (mean CI) CA diminished in the following sequence: left anterior descending > left main > right > left circumflex. Treadmill-test was performed by 94 pts, other 6 pts didn't perform it due to stable changes of ST-segment. The test was informative in 55,3% cases (negative in 43 pts, positive in 9 – an ischemic ST-segment depression), noninformative – in 44,7% cases (due to low tolerance to the physical loadings). Out of pts with noninformative treadmill-test and those who didn't perform it (in total 48%) 26 pts agreed to undergo stress echocardiography. The test appeared negative in 13 pts, positive – in 12, noninformative - in 1. Among 39 pts with CA calcification treadmill-test was positive in 8 pts, negative – in 10, noninformative – in 17; positive result of stress echocardiography was established in 12 pts, negative – in 3. The diagnosis of CHD was set in 21 pts (53,8% from the number of all pts with AS CA according to MDCT). Clinical signs of CHD were present in 11 pts (effort angina – in 10 pts, remote myocardial infarction – in 6 pts, 5 of whom had an angina pectoris). Conclusions AS CA was found in 39,4% SLE pts at autopsy and in 39% pts – intravital. For timely detection of CHD in pts with SLE we recommend such algorithm: MDCT may be used as a screening test for diagnostics of AS CA; in pts with positive results of MDCT stress echocardiography is more preferable in diagnostics of CHD, since informativity of pharmacological test achieves 96,2%, whereas the treadmill-test's is only 55,3%. Disclosure of Interest None Declared


are show the sensitivity of the capsule aerodynamics to rarefaction(cid:2) velocity variations at an altitude of (cid:17)(cid:7)(cid:9) km(cid:2) sensitivity to grid resolution(cid:2) and chemistry model assumptions of species(cid:10) at (cid:21)(cid:9) with the NS simulations(cid:8) The DSMC results presented herein along with data from some recent studies (cid:4)(cid:8)(cid:9)(cid:4)(cid:10) available capability to the transitional (cid:12)ow aerodynamics of capsules such the CEV(cid:2) a capability that did not exist when the Apollo Command Module design was evolved(cid:8) The current results show that the lift and lift(cid:11)to(cid:11)drag coe(cid:5)cients increase substantially with decreasing rarefac(cid:11) tion(cid:8) Also(cid:2) the location of the longitudinal center of pressure is very sensitive to the degree of rarefaction and the simulations show that the stable trim point for the Apollo capsule at (cid:17)(cid:7)(cid:9) km altitude occurs at an incidence angle of (cid:11)(cid:17)(cid:15)(cid:4) degrees rather than the nominal (cid:11)(cid:14)(cid:9) degrees (cid:12)own by Apollo (cid:15)(cid:22) that is(cid:2) the capsule is statically unstable for much(cid:2) if not all(cid:2) of the transitional (cid:12)ow regime(cid:2) a result not for capsules as discussed by Wilmoth et al(cid:8) (cid:4)(cid:11) for the Stardust sample return capsule and Moss et al(cid:8) (cid:4)(cid:5) the Path(cid:16)nder capsule(cid:8) Results of the simulations for variations in free(cid:11)stream velocity show that the in


Fast electrical discharge drilling is broadly used to manufacture small holes on molds, dies, filters, and automobile and aerospace components. Breakout is the event when the tool electrode reaches the opposite surface of the workpiece. When a breakout happens, the machining efficiency drops sharply and the process becomes unstable. To gain a deep understanding of the breakout process, this paper observed the gap phenomena before and after the breakout with cameras through a quartz glass flake. Experiments were conducted on the workpiece tilted to 45 deg. From the observation, it was found that the deformation of the electrode was not negligible. The electrode would vibrate or shake before and after the breakout. Side-gap sparks were common in the process, and even more were observed after the breakout. The fluid flow in the discharge gap and the side gap did not vanish immediately when a breakout happened and could still evacuate debris for a short period. The debris gradually accumulated as the fluid flow in the gap vanished. A series of simulations were conducted to study the fluid flow and debris movement after the breakout. And simulations were also performed to find the influence on electrode vibration of high-pressure flush fluid and discharge location. The results of simulations agreed well with the observed phenomena. From the observation and simulation results, the deformation or vibration of the electrode and the accumulation of debris were found to be the main factors that led to the low machining efficiency after the breakout.


Documentary heritage collections in Indic languages have been soul of indigenous digital libraries in South Asia. Some of the digital preservation initiatives in India received global acceptance are namely, Digital Library of India, Panjab Digital Library, Kalasampada Digital Library – Resource for Indian Cultural Heritage, National Databank on Indian Art and Culture, Traditional Knowledge Digital Library, and National Mission for Manuscripts, due to uniqueness in their collections and approaches. These projects also help in preserving socio-linguistically diverse cultural contents and achieving a sense of unity while online accessing using common platforms. This paper evaluates enrichment of collections and effectiveness of online platforms of five major digital library initiatives in India.


Abstract We investigate patterns of genetic variation along an east–west transect of Central European populations of Linum flavum and interpret the Quaternary history of its peripheral populations, especially those at the westernmost isolated range edge, discussing their migrations and possible relict status. We defined our peripheral transect across three study regions from Central Hungary, eastern Austria to southwestern Germany. Using AFLP fingerprinting and cpDNA sequence variation (rpL16 intron, atpI‐H), we analyzed 267 and 95 individuals, respectively, representing each study region by four populations. Hierarchical AMOVA (AFLPs) indicated significant variation among study regions (12% of total variance) and moderate differentiation between populations (10%). Population differentiation was high at the westernmost range edge (11.5%, Germany), but also in the east (13.4%, Hungary), compared to the Austrian study region (8.6%). Correspondingly, AFLP diversity was highest in the center of the study transect in eastern Austria. CpDNA haplotypes support a pattern of regional structuring with the strongest separation of the westernmost range edge, and some haplotype sharing among Austrian and Hungarian individuals. Equilibrating nucleotide versus haplotype diversity patterns, the highly diverse populations at the Pannonian range edge (Austria) indicate long‐term persistence, while Central Pannonian populations are obviously effected by recent bottlenecks. Intermediate nucleotide, but high haplotype diversity within the westernmost exclave (Swabian Alb), is indicative of a founder bottleneck during its pre‐LGM or early postglacial migration history, followed by sufficient time to accumulate cpDNA variation. The not obviously reduced genetic diversity and distinctiveness of L. flavum at the westernmost range edge suggest a long‐term persistence (relict status) of populations in this region, where the species has survived probably even the Würm glaciation in extra‐Mediterranean refugia. This genetic relict variation represents an important part of the overall genetic diversity found in the western periphery of this steppe plant and highlights the high conservation priority of respective gene pools.


water through the stems of submerged aquatics. To call such a stream "the transpiration current" is manifestly absurd, unless one changes the meaning of the word transpiration. It will be remembered that others have found evidence of like movements, so that these new experiments only add somewhat clearer evidence as to its existence, which the most elementary consideration of the physical conditions would lead one to expect. Yet these authors naively say: "Probably external conditions also affect the results; this point we hope to investigate later." This really is the fundamental point: does not the heating of the leaves create the conditions for the circulation of water as truly in this case as in a house heating system?-C. R. B.


This study it describes the style of life and vulnerability of the adolescents of the quarter of Felipe Camarao in Natal-RN, in order to understand its behaviors, as identified vulnerabilities. The questionnaire halfstructuralized, was applied in the 145 adolescents, between 12-18 years, in the period of january-april of 2005. The drawn style, as the data had been 92.4% know of the importance of if feeding well; 86.9% have preserved sleep; 76.5% have good relation with its parents. However, 86.9% had affirmed not to have leisure area/diversion in the quarter. The 31.0% had not answered on corporal hygiene; 41.4% consume allowed drugs (majority alcohol), while 37.9% ilictas (majority glue); 51.7% say that they do not talk with nobody on sex, while 30.3% talk with mothers; 38.0% are sexually active, initiate between 13-16 years. The behaviors of the studied adolescents indicate a style of healthful life, while others, not, such as: little participation in the leisure, due to option; consumption of allowed and illicit drugs; the lack of dialogue with parents on sex; precocious sexual relationship, added disfavored the economic and social conditions displays them in adopting a life style that implies in vulnerability.