T HE EFFECTS of vitamins on atherogenesis and its clinical complications have been investigated extensively in Russia during the past 15 years. The importance of certain vitamins in the treatment of coronary heart disease and other manifestations of severe atherosclerosis seems to be generally accepted. Since some of these views are not held in the United States and other Western countries, it is of interest to present here a review of the pertinent Russian literature. The references cited are representative rather than complete, but we have attempted to include the most important studies. No attempt is made here to cover the corresponding Western literature.


In spite of the high-density and strongly correlated nature of the atomic nucleus, experimental and theoretical evidence suggests that around particular 'magic' numbers of nucleons, nuclear properties are governed by a single unpaired nucleon1,2. A microscopic understanding of the extent of this behaviour and its evolution in neutron-rich nuclei remains an open question in nuclear physics 3-5. A textbook example is the electromagnetic moments of indium (Z = 49) 6, which are dominated by a hole with respect to the proton magic number Z = 50 nucleus. They exhibit a remarkably constant behaviour over a large range of odd-mass isotopes, previously interpreted as pure "single-particle behaviour". Here, we present precision laser spectroscopy measurements performed to investigate the validity of this simple single-particle picture. Observation of an abrupt change in the dipole moment at N = 82 reveals that while the single-particle picture indeed dominates at neutron magic number N = 82 2,7, it does not for previously studied isotopes. We present state-of-the-art nuclear theory developed to investigate the details of the nuclear forces that describe the experimental results. The emergence and disappearance of single-particle behaviour was reproduced from an ab initio theory, including challenging many-body correlations in these large, complex nuclei. The inclusion of time-symmetry-breaking mean fields is shown to be essential for a correct description of the nuclear electromagnetic properties within the Density Functional Theory framework. Until now, such time-odd channels have been poorly constrained, but are essential to provide accurate predictions of nuclear properties necessary for searches of new physics with neutrinos 8,9 and studies of fundamental symmetries 10,11. These findings are key to understand the microscopic origin of nuclear electromagnetism and the emergence of single-particle phenomena from complex nuclei.


Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate physicians' opinions on the required information about biosimilars and the need for biosimilars related education.
Methodology: The study included a survey that was prepared using a survey from a previous study and after face validation and content validation, it was prepared as an online form using the SurveyMonkey platform.
Results: The majority of physicians stated that the most important information about biosimilars are studies that provide clinical immunogenicity data for the biosimilar and reference product (93.33%) in addition to studies that directly compare clinical efficacy and safety between reference products and biosimilars (88.89%). The majority of physicians stated that tracking safety events with biosimilars (94.45%) and access to information on studies comparing biosimilars with reference biologics (91.11%) are important issues related to biosimilars in professional environments.
Conclusion: The present study highlights the needs of physicians for biosimilar education. More efforts are needed to increase the awareness regarding biosimilars by different formats in order to integrate biosimilars into clinical practice and to counsel patients about biosimilars.


Soil salinity is one of the most devastating environmental stresses for rice production in the coastal areas of Bangladesh. Improvement in salt tolerance of rice is an important way for the economic utilization of coastal zones. An experiment was conducted at the vinyl house of the Department of Agronomy, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Agricultural University (BSMRAU), Bangladesh during December 2016 to April 2017 to determine the effects of different salinity levels on the yield and yield components of some rice (Oryza sativa L.) genotype sand finally, screening of rice genotypes for salt tolerance. The experiment containing four treatments was laid out in a complete randomized design with five replications. The treatments were four levels of saline water with electrical conductivities at control (0.3 dSm-1), 5, 10 and 15dSm-1. Based on screening at germination stage, relatively salt-tolerant eleven genotypes with two check varieties were used in this experiment. The study showed that increase in salinity level significantly decreased yield and yield contributing characters of rice. However, among the eleven, three genotypes (Chapali, Patnai 23 and Soloi) were considered as moderately salt tolerant at 15 dSm-1 on the basis of their yields and yield contributing characteristics such as plant height reduction, total tiller reduction, effective tiller reduction, reduction of fertile grains per panicle, grain yield and relative grain yield. Therefore, Chapali, Patnai 23 and Soloi might be recommended as moderately salt tolerant rice genotypes. The Agriculturists 2018; 16(1) 65-77


A new silicon-based anode suitable for direct ethanol fuel cells (DEFCs) is described. Pd-Ni nanoparticles are coated on Si nanowires (SiNWs) by electroless co-plating to form the catalytic materials. The electrocatalytic properties of the SiNWs and ethanol oxidation on the Pd-Ni catalyst (Pd-Ni/SiNWs) are investigated electrochemically. The effects of temperature and working potential limit in the anodic direction on ethanol oxidation are studied by cyclic voltammetry. The Pd-Ni/SiNWs electrode exhibits higher electrocatalytic activity and better long-term stability in an alkaline solution. It also yields a larger current density and negative onset potential thus boding well for its application to fuel cells.


Background Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients are prone to osteoporosis and fracture due to disease itself and its therapies. Many studies of bone quality have involved in patients with adult-onset SLE (a-SLE), but only a few have concerned childhood-onset SLE (c-SLE) patients, who were at special risk of loss of bone mass. This is because they have developed the disease before achieving peak bone mass[1], which was reached in late teens or early adulthood after a gradual increase of bone mass throughout childhood and adolescence. Lilleby reported a high prevalence of osteopenia (41%) in young patients with a history of c-SLE[2]. However the information of the alterations of bone quality in this kind of patients is still scant. Objectives To study alterations of bone geometry, density and microarchitecture in women with SLE on long-term GCs according to disease onset. Methods 179 Chinese women with SLE who were receiving prednisone at least 5 mg/d for at least 1 year before study entry were selected, among whom, 18 were c-SLE (diagnostic age <18 years), 161 were a-SLE (diagnostic age ≥18 years). aBMD at femoral neck, total hip and lumbar spine were measured by DXA. Bone microarchitecture at the non-dominant distal radius was measured by high-resolution peripheral quantitative CT (HR-pQCT) and bone mechanical properties were analyzed by finite element (FE). Results Compared with a-SLE patients, patients with c-SLE were significantly younger (28yr vs.44yr), with longer GCs duration (14yr vs.11yr). All of the c-SLE patients were premenopausal, while 69 (42.9%) a-SLE patients were postmenopausal. NPLE, musculoskeletal damage and photosensitivity were more common in c-SLE patients, but no significant difference was in the prevalence of other clinical manifestations, such as nephritis or renal damage. Although aBMD at all measured sites were not significantly different between two groups, osteopenia and osteoporosis at either one site was more common in c-SLE than a-SLE (56% vs. 44%). Measured by HR-pQCT and FE, significantly lower cortical bone area (p<0.001), density (p=0.004) and thickness (p=0.003), smaller trabecular separation (p<0.001), more trabecular number (p=0.003), lower bone stiffness (p=0.03) and failure load (p=0.05) were detected in c-SLE patients. Lower cortical area, density, thickness, bone stiffness and failure load persisted in c-SLE patients even after adjusted for age, menstrual status, body mass index, duration of GCs use, highest GCs dose, disease duration, total and mean SLEDAI, disease damage (SDI), smoking, alcohol drinking, physical activities and diabetes. Conclusions C-SLE is an independent risk factor for deterioration of bone microarchitecture and mechanical properties. Early use of GCs-sparing therapies which may preserve bone quality should be applied on c-SLE patients. References Matkovic V, Jelic T, et al. Timing of peak bone mass in Caucasian females and its implication for the prevention of osteoporosis. Inference from a cross-sectional model. J Clin Invest 1994;93:799-808. Lilleby V, Lien G, et al. Frequency of osteopenia in children and young adults with childhood-onset systemic lupus erythematosus. Arthritis Rheum 2005;52:2051-9. Disclosure of Interest None Declared


Phenol is widely used by many industries in Malaysia, and is one of the highly toxic environmental pollutants with levels exceeding the regulatory standard that have been reported in Malaysia. A phenol-degrading bacterium; Pseudomonas sp. AQ5-04, a metabolically versatile xenobiotic-degrading bacterium, has been isolated from a local contaminated site. The bacterium was able to withstand a high concentration of phenol. This work aims to determine the effect of concentration and to establish the yield factor on phenol as a carbon source. It was established that the isolate can degrade up to 900 mg/L phenol within 72 h; it was discovered that the yield factor (YX/S) varied between 0.3 to 0.6 mg cells per mg phenol for different initial phenol concentrations with increasing phenol concentrations resulting in a lower yield. This shows that growth on phenol is strongly inhibitory and resulted in low yield at an inhibitory concentration of phenol.

 Key words: Pseudomonas sp. AQ5-04, yield factor, phenol, inhibitory concentration.


External expectations come from family, society and other aspects, which widely exist and have a great impact on individuals. This study explores how external expectations influence individual well-being and ways to reduce the impact of external expectations. The results show that external expectations can be generated through social comparison theory and belonging needs, and affect individuals through pressure and restraint. In order to achieve true inner happiness, individuals need to redefine the standard of happiness and enhance their sense of autonomy and psychological resilience. Reducing the impact of external expectations is not only conducive to the realization of inner happiness of individuals, but also conducive to the positive progress of society. To achieve happiness, individuals need to change their concepts and improve their mental toughness, in addition to changing external conditions. This study provides a new perspective on the realization of individual self-actualization.


Judith M. Brown, one of the leading historians of South Asia, provides an original and thought-provoking strategy for conducting and presenting historical research in her latest book, "Windows into the Past". Brown looks at how varieties of 'life history' that focus on the lives of institutions and families, as well as individuals, offer a broad and rich means of studying history. Her distinctively creative approach differs from traditional historical biography in that it explores a variety of 'life histories' and shows us how they become invaluable windows into the past. Following her introduction, "The Practice of History", Brown opens windows on the history of South Asia. She begins with the life history of an educational institution, Balliol College, Oxford, and tracks the interrelationship between Britain and India through the lives of the British and Indian men who were educated there. She then demonstrates the significance of family life history, showing that by observing patterns of family life over several generations, it is possible to gain insight into the experiences of groups of people who rarely left historical documents about themselves, particularly South Asian women. Finally, Brown uses the life history of two prominent individuals, Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, to examine questions about the nature of Indian nationalism and the emergent Indian state.


ABSTRACT The immune response of hamsters to a chronic hookworm infection has been investigated. Ancylostoma ceylanicum caused long term infections in hamsters which were associated with prominent changes in secondary lymphoid organs. The mesenteric lymph nodes and spleens increased rapidly in size stabilizing at approximately 3–4 times the weight in control animals by weeks 3–7. Cells from both the mesenteric lymph node and spleen, after an initial period of increased blast cell activity, became less reactive in the latter stages of infection. Serum antibody responses were marked, commencing in weeks 3–4 and increasing in intensity throughout the 10 week period of measurement. The results are discussed in relation to their contribution to the understanding of human hookworm infection.


In oil palm harvesting, falling fruit bunches have a considerable potential energy, which can be captured and used to power the wheelbarrow in evacuating the fruit bunches. This study was conducted to measure the engineering characteristics of fruit bunches harvesting, determine the best fruit bunches catchment platform material, analyze the potential energy of falling fresh fruit bunch, and design a conceptual design of the catchment platform and evacuation machine. Measurements of the characteristics of the harvesting were done in an oil palm plantation. Four types of fruit catchment platform materials were tested, namely: steel plate, wood board, expanded steel plate and rubber sheet. The results showed that, bunches fell at a distance between 0.6 m to 1.4 m from the tree. Fruit bunches weight was in the range of 16 kg to 32 kg. The rubber catchment platform was superior to the other materials in reducing the scattered loose fruits and bruised fruits. Potential energy of falling fruit bunches were in the range of 0.44-4.44 kJ. Theoretical traveling distance of the wheel barrow powered by the captured potential energy was in the range of 2.27 m - 22.98 m. Based on the data obtained, a conceptual design of catchment platform and evacuation machine was designed.


Natural language processing (NLP) algorithms are rapidly improving but often struggle when applied to out-of-distribution examples. A prominent approach to mitigate the domain gap is domain adaptation, where a model trained on a source domain is adapted to a new target domain. We present a new learning setup, ``domain adaptation from scratch'', which we believe to be crucial for extending the reach of NLP to sensitive domains in a privacy-preserving manner. In this setup, we aim to efficiently annotate data from a set of source domains such that the trained model performs well on a sensitive target domain from which data is unavailable for annotation. Our study compares several approaches for this challenging setup, ranging from data selection and domain adaptation algorithms to active learning paradigms, on two NLP tasks: sentiment analysis and Named Entity Recognition. Our results suggest that using the abovementioned approaches eases the domain gap, and combining them further improves the results.


Perovskite is a promising light harvester for use in photovoltaic solar cells. In recent years, the power conversion efficiency of perovskite solar cells has been dramatically increased, making them a competitive source of renewable energy. An important parameter when designing high efficiency perovskite-based solar cells is the perovskite deposition, which must be performed to create complete coverage and optimal film thickness. This paper describes an in-depth study on two-step deposition, separating the perovskite deposition into two precursors. The effects of spin velocity, annealing temperature, dipping time, and methylammonium iodide concentration on the photovoltaic performance are studied. Observations include that current density is affected by changing the spin velocity, while the fill factor changes mainly due to the dipping time and methylammonium iodide concentration. Interestingly, the open circuit voltage is almost unaffected by these parameters. Hole conductor free perovskite solar cells are used in this work, in order to minimize other possible effects. This study provides better understanding and control over the perovskite deposition through highly efficient, low-cost perovskite-based solar cells.


We propose a method of analyzing the time evolution of constraint equations of the Einstein's equation on the nonflat background by adding constraint terms to the evolution equations. In past studies, the eigenvalues of the coefficient matrix of the constraint equations was mostly obtained on the flat background. Since simulations do not always perform near the flat background, we need to calculate the eigenvalues on the appropriate background. We analyze eigenvalues numerically and predict the stability in the appropriate background. We also perform some numerical simulations and show consistency between the results of the eigenvalue analysis and the numerical stability.


Background: The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommends that women whose family his- tory is associated with an increased risk for deleterious mutations in BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes be referred for genetic counseling and evaluation. Methods: Using data from the 2005 National Health Interview Survey, we examined the percentage of respondents in the U.S. population who report specific first-degree family history patterns and the percentage who reported they had received testing services. Results: Overall, less than 1% of the general population (about 1.4 million persons) reported a family history of breast and ovarian cancers that would be appropriate for referral for genetic counseling and possible genetic testing for cancer sus- ceptibility. Males comprised 40% of those with a positive specified family history. The number of persons who reported having had a genetic test for breast or ovarian cancer susceptibility was very small. Conclusion: Very few of those eligible for testing actually report having been tested for breast or ovarian cancer suscepti- bility. Healthcare providers need opportunities to improve knowledge of genetics concepts and clear guidelines on the use of genetic cancer susceptibility tests.


The article presents the analysis of the "dialogue" concept from philosophical and cultural points of view. The authors consider the pedagogical potential of the dialogue in the educational process, highlight the functions of the dialogue, and reveal the elements, components and forms of the dialogue methods. The dialogue methods such as training discussion are examined in detail. The article proves the didactic value of dialogue mode technology that it is an important way of teaching conducted on the implementation of teaching practice in class, which not only improves the efficiency of teaching but strengthens the academic spirit of mutual respect between teachers and students.


Osteoarthritis (OA) affects over 301 million adults worldwide. Inflammation is a recognized component of the OA process; two potent pro‐inflammatory cytokines involved in OA are interleukin‐1β and tumor necrosis factor‐α. Placental‐derived tissues and fluids are known to contain anti‐inflammatory and immunomodulatory cytokines and growth factors. The objective of this study was to evaluate the anti‐inflammatory effects of amniotic suspension allograft (ASA) in an in vivo model of OA; we evaluated pain, function, and cytokine levels following ASA treatment in the rat monosodium iodoacetate (MIA) OA pain model. Rats were injected with 2 mg of MIA, which causes pain, cartilage degeneration, and inflammation, followed by treatment with saline, triamcinolone (positive control), or ASA 7 days following disease induction with MIA. Behavioral assays, including gait analysis, mechanical pain threshold, incapacitance, and swelling were evaluated, along with histology and serum and synovial fluid biomarkers. Treatment with ASA resulted in significant improvements in pain threshold, while weight bearing aversion and swelling were significantly decreased. There were no differences between groups in total joint score after histological grading. Serum biomarkers did not show differences, indicating a lack of systemic response; however, synovial fluid levels of IL‐10 were significantly increased in animals treated with ASA. ASA treatment significantly reduced pain, weight‐bearing aversion and swelling. This study provides mechanistic data regarding potential therapeutic effects of ASA in OA and preliminary evidence of the anti‐inflammatory nature of ASA. © 2019 Orthopaedic Research Society. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Orthop Res 38:1141‐1149, 2020


This study has two purposes: first, to test the validity of the personal attribute model in explaining judicial voting behavior outside its original cultural context; second, to explain the variation in justice's voting behavior in the Canadian Supreme Court. For the most part, the result arrived in this study supports the validity of the model in cross-cultural analysis. The result of multiple regression analysis shows that four variables, region, judicial experience prior to appointment, political party of appointing Prime Minister, and tenure account for 60 percent of the variations in justice's voting behavior. This result, hence, provides an empirical finding to the development of the personal attribute model in explaining justices' voting behavior.


This article addresses the accuracy of a dynamic mean field theory (DMFT) for fluids in porous materials [P. A. Monson, J. Chem. Phys. 128, 084701 (2008)]. The theory is used to study the relaxation processes of fluids in pores driven by step changes made to a bulk reservoir in contact with the pore. We compare the results of the DMFT to those obtained by averaging over large numbers of dynamic Monte Carlo (DMC) simulation trajectories. The problem chosen for comparison is capillary condensation in slit pores, driven by step changes in the chemical potential in the bulk reservoir and involving a nucleation process via the formation of a liquid bridge. The principal difference between the DMFT results and DMC is the replacement of a distribution of nucleation times and location along the pore for the formation of liquid bridges by a single time and location. DMFT is seen to yield an otherwise qualitatively accurate description of the dynamic behavior.


(Continued from page 964) expressed their satisfaction with it; patients, when questioned, have said that they are perfectly comfortable on it. To the anaesthetist faced with a hazardous emergency it is a welcome boon to have instant foot control of a tilting mechanism which operates either way. The bed is manufactured to my expressed performance criteria by Messrs. S. B. Whitfield, 19 Conway Street, Fitzroy Square, London W.I. It is hoped that the cost will be in the region of £200. In acknowledging my gratitude to the many people who have helped me with this idea, I would particularly thank Sister Fairbrother, of the labour ward, for her kindly tolerance and her invariably helpful suggestions. To-day's Drugs


There are increasing numbers of International students studying at the University of Wollongong. Out of the total number of students about 10% do not share their first language or culture with the majority. When I look at this figure, my concern focuses on these students and their real ability to learn while studying at university. Language is a learning tool and those International students whose first language is not English need to strengthen their use of this tool in order to learn at the University. It is important that all administrators and lecturers be prepared to take the necessary steps to meet the needs of this linguistically diverse population so that the University can develop as an internationalised academic institution. International students should be encouraged to take the English for Academic Purposes course presented by Modern Languages along with their subject speciality to sharpen their knowledge of English and enhance learning in their specialised subject. This journal article is available in Overview University of Wollongong Teaching & Learning Journal: http://ro.uow.edu.au/overview/ vol4/iss2/9 Dealing with International students


PurposeResearch and development (R&D) is increasingly considered to be a key driver of economic growth. The relationship between these variables is commonly examined using linear models and thus relies only on single-point estimates. Against this background, this paper provides new evidence on the impact of R&D on economic growth using a machine learning approach that makes it possible to go beyond single-point estimation.Design/methodology/approachThe authors use the kernel regularized least squares (KRLS) approach, a machine learning method designed for tackling econometric models without imposing arbitrary functional forms on the relationship between the outcome variable and the covariates. The KRLS approach learns the functional form from the data and thus yields consistent estimates that are robust to functional form misspecification. It also provides pointwise marginal effects and captures non-linear relationships. The empirical analyses are conducted using a sample of 101 countries over the period 2000–2020.FindingsThe estimates indicate that R&D expenditure and high-tech exports positively and significantly influence economic growth in a non-linear manner. The authors also find a positive and statistically significant relationship between economic growth and greenhouse gas emissions. In both cases, the effects are higher for upper-middle-income and high-income countries. These results suggest that a substantial effort is needed to green economic growth. Internet access is found to be an important factor in supporting economic growth, especially in high-income and middle-income countries.Practical implicationsThis paper contributes to underlining the importance of investing in R&D to support growth and shows that the disparity between countries is driven by the determinants of economic growth (human capital in R&D, high-tech exports, Internet access, economic freedom, unemployment rate and greenhouse gas emissions). Moreover, since the authors find that R&D expenditure and greenhouse gas emissions are positively associated with economic growth, technological progress with green characteristics may be an important pathway for green economic growth.Originality/valueThis paper uses an innovative machine learning method to provide new evidence that innovation supports economic growth.


It is widely acknowledged that English has become the language of communication internationally (Yahya, 2012; Pennycook, 2014). To the researchers' best knowledge, no research has reported on neither the difficulties non-English major professors face when using English as their formal language of instruction nor on the impact of these difficulties on their professional development. Thus, this paper aims to offer a better insight into the different problems that university professors non-major in English specifically face when communicating in English and their influence on their academic and professional advancement. Non-English major professors need to be competent in communicating English because they need to contact international organizations for publications, introducing partnership, present up-to-date findings in their fields and so on. The sample of the study comprised of 20 non-English major lecturers randomly selected from Hashemite University. Data collected via semi-structured interviews revealed that the participants encountered numerous difficulties in reading, writing and speaking and listening when using English and that these difficulties impact negatively on their academic and professional development. In light of these findings, the paper concludes with some of the participants' suggestions to solve these difficulties.


Background: Skeletal muscle mass, which is regulated by a balance between muscle protein synthesis and degradation, is an important factor for movement to meet everyday needs, especially in pathological conditions and aging. The purpose of the present investigation was to compare the alterations of the gene expression involved in muscle protein synthesis and degradation signaling pathways induced by two exercise training protocols. Methods: Eight weeks old Wistar rats have been assigned to the present experimental study, which was conducted from August 2018 to October 2018 at the animal laboratory of Tehran University. They were randomly divided into two resistance and endurance training groups and one control group, and run on a treadmill, 5 sessions per week for 8 weeks. 48 hours after the last exercise session, the rats in the two groups were anesthetized, and the dissected soleus muscles from euthanized animals were stored at -80° for RT-PCR and Western blot analysis later. Between-group differences were analyzed by the parametric and non-parametric tests for normally and non-normally distributed data respectively, at the significance level of α˂0.05. Results: Compared with the control group, mTORC1 gene expression was increased significantly just in the endurance group (P=0.022), whereas both endurance and resistance exercise protocols caused a significant increase in Rps6kb1 (P˂0.001 and P=0.001 respectively). In protein degradation pathway, although, FOXO3a did not alter significantly (P=0.463), eIF4Ebp1 gene expression was inhibited by both endurance and resistance exercise training protocols (P˂0.001 and P=0.001 respectively). The alterations of Rps6kb1 and FOXO3a gene expression were confirmed by Western blot analysis. Conclusion: The results showed that the exercise training protocols of the present study had approximately similar effects on alterations of gene expression involved in skeletal muscle protein synthesis and degradation pathways. Therefore, application of the protocols may be considered to prevent or reduce the muscle atrophy in pathological conditions such as motor neuron disease, aging, and/or muscle strength improvement in athletes. Abstract


A line follower is an autonomous robot which traces a white line on a black surface. Line Tracing Robot is most commonly used system in industries for many applications. In this paper we are proposing a low cost line tracing system implemented with a light chassis, DC Motors, infrared Proximity sensors and manually developed controller board. Controller board contains microcontroller, motor driver and MAX232 circuit. Software side we are controlling the robot using C program using Serial Port Communication. Motion control is based on the differential drive mechanism. Suitable upgrades to the base design have also been implemented at the end of this paper.


Gasification is one of the most promising technologies of converting biomass into energy. Different type of biomass can be used for gasification process since there are no strict limitations for parameters of used fuel. Various types of biomass are used in Latvia for production of energy. Wood fuels make up the main part of used biomass in Latvia. However, many non- wood biomass types are available as well. This study presents the comparison of wood and non-wood biomass use in gasification process. Biomass gasification model based on thermodynamic equilibrium was used to simulate gasification process with various biomass types. All input parameters were constant in model except fuel properties. In general gasification process was simulated with seven types of biomass - draff from beer production, common reed, middling from oats and wheat sieving, straw from grain cultivation, buckwheat hulls, rapeseed by-product from biofuel production, as well as wood. These non-wood biomass types are available in Latvia. Produced syngas calorific value and gasification process efficiency are taken as the indicators to examine the gasification performances using various biomass types. The regression model was proposed to describe relation between fuel properties and efficiency of the gasification process. Results show that non-wood biomass can be successfully used for gasification process. Ash content growth in the fuel promotes temperature decrease in the reactor. Fuel chemical composition has effect on the produced syngas composition and heating value.


Author(s): Preisendorfer, Rudolph W | Abstract: SIO Reference 57-51. In this note, we exhibit the formulation of the requisite statements of the four tijne-dependent principles of invariance and show that they are sufficient todorivethe functional relations governing the tine-dependent R and T functions and their corresponding integral operator. The derivations follow closely the pattern used in some earlier studies of the stationary case, in this way we add to the evidence that the classical procedures initiated by Chandrasekhar can be extended to more general setting For brevity the present discussion is limited to plane-parallel media. However the media will be assumed finite, non-separable, and such that the attenuate and scattering functions are generally dependent on time.


Most major construction projects in the world are based on standard contract conditions for international projects issued by the Federation Internationale des Ingenieurs-Conseils (FIDIC, or International Federation of Consulting Engineers), which are based on concept law rooted in the common law system. Thus, the stakeholders involved in construction projects in the World need to understand the interpretation of FIDIC provisions against a background of civil law. This literature study will explore the identification of risks that occur in international projects using FIDIC contracts. A systematic review and detailed content analysis of 30 articles selected from respected academics and relevant journals published over the past three decades was carried out. The findings of risk identification are divided into 5 namely (1) Planning and Design, (2) Construction, (3) Operations & Maintenance, (4) Political Environment and (5) Social Economic. This study trying to identify, investigate, and classify the strongest factors that are considered to influence delays in construction projects. From the results of grouping identification, it is found that the greatest risk in FIDIC construction contracts is when the construction work is caused due to the complexity of the problems at the time of the construction, whether the dispute, payment or claims of work results. Recommendations from the authors would be good for the relevant stakeholders the project uses the FIDIC contract to further study the contents of the contract to help reduce or at least minimize the risk of project delays, especially during construction.


Synthelis Your Cell-Free Partner G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are among the best therapeutic targets for a wide spectrum of diseases, including cancer and immunode!ciency disorders. However, they are underused in clinic, the production of su"cient amounts of functional proteins with conserved conformation, still remaining a challenge. Here we present a series of experiments realized with functional CxCR4containing proteoliposomes produced by SYNTHELIS, using a patented cell-free system, to study the interaction with clinically relevant ligands, such as SDF1-α, T22 and AMD 3100. We demonstrate the interest of the SPRi technology (HORIBA Scienti!c) for the determination of GPCR-ligand interactions, independently of the binding site. These results con!rm the usefulness of SPRi as a technique to carry out primary screenings and to obtain relevant pharmacokinetic data.


Objective: It is well known that the renin angiotensin system (RAS) plays a pivotal role in the development of diabetic nephropathy (DMN). Recent genome-wide association studies have identified a number of common genetic variants associated with blood pressure variation in east Asians. One of such loci is angiotensinase A (ENPEP), which converts the angiotensin II to angiotensin III in the RAS. We therefore tested the hypothesis that genetic variants of ENPEP could show significant association with prevalence of DMN. Design and method: We enrolled consecutive 345 subjects who had consulted our hospitals for type 2 diabetes. They consisted of cases with nephropathy (57.1 %) and controls (42.9%). Genomic DNA was isolated from human leukocytes by QIAamp kit. Genotypes were assayed with genomic DNA for a C/T variant of ENPEP (rs6825911) using the StepOnePlus real-time PCR system by TaqMan method. Association between the genetic variant and the prevalence of DMN was tested. Results: The numbers of individuals with each genotype of ENPEP were as follows (CC, CT and TT): 64, 93 and 40 for cases and 29, 84 and 35 for controls. Accordingly, the risk for DMN was 1.39 (95% confidence interval; 1.02–1.88), p = 0.03 for allelic comparison and also p = 0.03 for Armitage's trend test. Thus, a significant association with DMN was observed for the ENPEP variant with 1.4 times risk. Conclusions: Thus, it is found that a genetic variant of ENPEP may have a significant impact on the onset of DMN.


…When the desire comes upon us to go street rambling the pencil does for a pretext, and getting up we say: "Really I must buy a pencil," as if under cover of this excuse we could indulge safely in the greatest pleasure of town life in winter – rambling the streets of London. Space, whether private or public, is undoubtedly a prominent concern in Virginia Woolf's writing. Most closely associated with the metaphysical inner recesses of consciousness or with physical interiors, rooms to call one's own, Woolf also had plenty to say about women's relation to urban space. From Mrs Dalloway's delight in leaving her domestic interior, 'I love walking in London…Really, it's better than walking in the country" to the aptly-titled essay, "Street Haunting: A London Adventure', one senses an exhilaration in Woolf, a liberating impulse which only the streets of the city can satisfy. Clearly throughout the eponymous novel Mrs Dalloway is not the only character who enjoys the metropolis. Peter Walsh, in particular, relishes the opportunities that the streets and parks of London offer, but his is primarily a traditional stance – the male flaneur observing and fantasising about the women he sees. Elizabeth Dalloway, perhaps less at ease than her mother, found 'London … so dreary compared with being alone in the country with father and the dogs,', and yet she, too, prefers to 'dally a little longer'. 'It was so nice to be out of doors. She thought perhaps she need not go home just yet. It was so nice to be out in the air. So she would get on to an omnibus … .' A few decades earlier, however, such apparently simple pleasures, aimlessly experiencing the life of the city, would have been rather more limited for women, especially of their class. In Victorian Britain gender governed space, or so we have been led to believe. At a pinch a woman of a certain class might become 'an angel out of the house', doing good works amongst the poor, but as a rule the private and domestic were considered her domain, leaving the public forum for the male of the species, or for women of a lower class. In this paper I would like to examine some of the conflicting ways in which this simple binary divide, perpetuated not only by the Victorians themselves, but also by some twentieth and twenty-first century critics and historians, a few feminists included, was already being contested, particularly by women writers, forerunners of Virginia Woolf, in the latter half of the nineteenth century.


The use of exhaust gases for creating dilute mixtures for internal combustion engines has been shown to play an important role for the development of high-efficiency engines. These exhaust gases may be recirculated with external piping, or they may be retained in the cylinder by altering the valve timings. A thermodynamic cycle simulation was used to determine the thermodynamic advantages and disadvantages of external and internal methods of providing the exhaust gases for an automotive engine at constant load and speed. For the external exhaust gas recirculation, four (4) levels of cooling were examined, and for the internal exhaust gas recirculation, the use of negative valve overlap and delayed exhaust valve closing were assessed. A measure of the total amount of recirculated and retained exhaust gases is the burned gas percentage. In general, the thermal efficiencies decreased for most of these methods as the burned gas percentage increased. These decreases were due to increased cylinder heat transfer (in spite of the decreases in the gas temperatures) which was due to increases in the convective heat transfer coefficient. For the highly cooled external exhaust gas recirculation configuration, a slight increase in the thermal efficiencies was obtained, but this level of cooling might not be practical.


This paper presents an improved particle filtering for hand tracking in a video sequence in real time. In this method, we incorporate mean shift process of elite particles into conventional particle filtering for hand tacking which aims to improve the tracking efficiency. The elite particles are chosen from the particles with higher weights based on observation model. The proposed method can significantly improve the tracking performance, as well as reducing the computational cost compared to conventional particle filtering. Experiments result of the hand tracking show the effectiveness of proposed method.


A one and a half-year-old, male, castrated, domestic short-haired cat was presented with a six-month history of depression, anorexia, skin lesions, excessive itching and systemic lymphadenopathy. Complete blood count revealed severe leukocytosis (114,700 cells/μl), and peripheral blood films were characterized by marked lymphocytosis. Lymph nodes examinations and bone marrow aspirate were not suggestive of neoplastic changes. Histopathologic examination of skin lesions revealed allergic dermatitis. Based on the anamnesis and histopathologic features, nonflea, non-food hypersensitivity dermatitis (NFNFHD) was diagnosed. Treatment was initiated with prednisolone and cyclosporine. During the treatment, the cat fully recovered from the skin lesions. Leukocytosis was reduced to 18,940/μl six months after initiation of medication. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first report describing a case of a leukemoid reaction secondary to feline NFNFHD.


A Beckerian model of household production is developed to study the cyclical allocation of capital and time between market and home activities. The adopted framework treats the business and household sectors symmetrically. In the market, labor interacts with business capital to produce market goods and services, and likewise at home the remaining time (leisure) is combined with household capital to produce home goods and services. The model presented is parameterized and simulated to see whether it can rationalize the observed allocation of capital and time, as well as other stylized facts, for the postwar U.S. economy.


Superradiance is a signature effect in quantum photonics that explains the collective enhancement of emission power by a factor of N2 when N emitters are placed in subwavelength proximity. Although the effect is inherently transient, successful attempts have been made to sustain it in the steady-state regime. Until recently, the effects of superradiance were not considered to be applicable to thermal emitters due to their intrinsic incoherent nature. Novel nanophotonic thermal emitters display favorable coherent characteristics that enable them to obey principles of superradiance. However, published analytical work on conventional superradiant thermal emitter assemblies shows an anomalous power scaling of 1/N , and therefore increasing the number of thermal emitters leads to a degeneration of power at resonance. This phenomenon immediately renders the effect of thermal superradiance futile since it cannot outperform noncoupled emitters in the steady-state regime. We propose an alternative assembly of thermal emitters with specific features that improves the power scaling while maintaining the effects of superradiance. In essence, we show that our emitter assembly achieves superior power delivery over conventional noncoupled emitter systems at resonance. Additionally, this assembly has the ability to be tuned to operate at specific resonant frequencies, which is a vital requirement for applications such as photothermal cancer therapy.


The interface to a real world element such as light, temperature or current in this case, requires a sensor to convert the signal to a proportional value (voltage or current) that can be more easily measured. There are a several sensors that use magnetic field sensing for detecting the effects of current flow. These can be very effective for detecting very large currents or when isolated measurements are required. The most common sensor for measuring current is a current sensing, or shunt, resistor. Placing this component in series with the current being measured develops a proportional differential voltage as the current passes through the resistor.


A pilot scheme is to be set up in the United Kingdom to assess the value of using human papillomavirus (HPV) testing as the primary screening test for cervical cancer rather than the currently used cytology or smear test.

The pilot scheme will be developed by the NHS cervical screening programme after a recommendation by the UK National Screening Committee. The pilot aims to establish whether using HPV testing as the primary screen for cervical disease results in better outcomes for women while minimising overtreatment and anxiety. More detail about the configuration, timing, and length of the scheme will be decided at future meetings of the screening committee.

The NHS cervical …


We introduce a new kind of space-filling brane, which we term "G-brane" because its action is a descendant of the gravitational action. The G-brane may be thought of as the remanent of the gravitational field when the propagating gravitons are removed. The G-brane is different from the Dirac or Nambu space-filling branes. Its properties in any spacetime dimension D are exhibited. When the spacetime dimension D is greater than or equal to three, the G-brane does not possess propagating degrees of freedom, just as the Dirac or Nambu branes. For D=3 the G-brane yields a reformulation of gravitation theory in which the Hamiltonian constraints can be solved explicitly, while keeping the spacetime structure manifest. For D=2 the G-brane provides a realization of the conformal algebra, i.e. a conformal field theory, in terms of two scalar fields and their conjugates, which possesses a classical central charge. In the G-brane reformulation of (2+1) gravity, the boundary degrees of freedom of the gravitational field in asymptotically anti-de Sitter space appear as "matter" coupled to the (1+1) G-brane on the boundary.


Just a few months after the Court of Justice gave a key ruling in Sony/BMG v Impala (2), the Commission adopted its decision in the ABF/GBI Business case (3). This was the first case since Airtours in which the Commission intervened solely on the basis of coordinated effects. The case raised several interesting issues and may well help to pave the way for another era of Commission coordinated effects cases, in line with the latest case-law from the Court of Justice.


The aim of the current study was to characterize and quantify risk factors involved in juvenile mortality in divergently selected and control lines of Japanese quail. Survival analysis and Cox proportional hazards regression were used to describe mortality in the three experimental lines with hatch weight and posthatch BW evaluated as risk factors. Survival function distribution indicated that the proportional mortality was highest in the line selected for high 4-wk BW compared to the low and control lines. In all the experimental lines mortality declined when posthatch BW increased; however, the magnitude of reduction was highest in the control line compared to the divergently selected lines (57 vs. 22%). Any factor that influences growth after hatching may likely have a direct impact on mortality. Lack of accessibility to water, feed, warmth, and potential negative social interaction are factors that could affect mortality immediately after hatch. The posthatch BW at time of mortality used as a risk factor indicated that the divergently selected lines have about the same risk and are less sensitive to reduced BW compared to the control population. Through survival analysis, the present study has demonstrated that factors causing reduction in posthatch BW are likely risk factors for mortality in growing birds.


: We present a general proposal for testing for goodness of fit, based on resampling and subsampling methods, and illustrate it with graphical and analytical tests for the problems of testing for univariate or multivariate nor- mality. The proposal shows promising, and in some cases dramatic, success in detecting nonnormality. Compared to common competitors, such as a Q-Q plot or a likelihood ratio test against a specified alternative, our proposal seems to be the most useful when the sample size is small, such as 10 or 12, or even very small, such as 6! We also show how our proposal provides tangible information about the nature of the true cdf from which one is sampling. Thus, our proposal also has data analytic value. Although only the normality problem is addressed here, the scope of application of the general proposal should be much broader.


Secondary crashes (SCs) are crashes resulting from non-recurring congestion and other unexpected surrounding conditions affected by a primary crash. This type of crash results in further disruptions and congestions. Previous studies showed that more than 20 percent of the primary crashes lead to SCs and the average duration of SCs is longer than the average duration of any other crashes, representing the necessity of further attempts. In order to identify the SCs, it is required to advance investigate their characteristics. However, there is a lack of available information to link a primary crash and a secondary crash, especially from the standpoint of time and location. This paper aims to develop a method to identify secondary crashes and then to study the statistical characteristics of this type of crash based on different criteria including, collision type, severity level, time of day, area type, average emergency response duration, and roadway classification from available historical crash databases and without the necessity of further data collection efforts. A proportional test was conducted to examine the statistically significant difference between the characteristics of the primary and secondary crashes. The study uses the latest available dataset (2010 to 2013) from the critical analysis reporting environment (CARE) to point out the secondary crash locations in the state of Alabama. The outcome of this study can help state and local agencies to identify SCs for performance measure of their incident management program and to develop countermeasures to prevent SCs.


PREVIOUS to 1916 no commercial a-c. system was regulated with sufficient accuracy of speed to enable its use for indicating time. Two devices then were developed making commercial a-c. time service possible. The first of these was a selfstarting synchronous motor which utilized residual magnetism to enable the rotor to start and run at synchronous speed. The second consisted of an indicating instrument which would show to a generating station operator, directly in terms of time, deviations of average frequency from standard.


Streets, as one type of land use, are generally treated as developed or impervious areas in most of the land-use/land-cover studies. This coarse classification substantially understates the value of streets as a type of public space with the most complexity. Street space, being an important arena for urban vitality, is valued by various dimensions, such as transportation, recreation, aesthetics, public health, and social interactions. Traditional remote sensing approaches taking a sky viewpoint cannot capture these dimensions not only due to the resolution issue but also the lack of a citizen viewpoint. The proliferation of street view images provides an unprecedented opportunity to characterize street spaces from a citizen perspective at the human scale for an entire city. This paper aims to characterize and classify street spaces based on features extracted from street view images by a deep learning model of computer vision. A rule-based clustering method is devised to support the empirically generated classification of street spaces. The proposed classification scheme of street spaces can serve as an indirect indicator of place-related functions if not a direct one, once its relationship with urban functions is empirically tested and established. This approach is empirically applied to Beijing city to demonstrate its validity.


In this Thesis, we report on electrical spin injection measurements on Multi-Wall Carbon Nanotubes (MWNTs) as well as on Single-Wall Carbon Nanotubes (SWNT) . We use a ferromagnetic alloy Pd1−x Nix with x ≈ 0.7 which allows to obtain devices with resistances as low as 5.6 kΩ at 300 K. The yield of device resistances below 100 kΩ, at 300 K, is around 50%. We measure atK a hysteretic magneto-resistance due to the magnetization reversal of the ferromagnetic leads. We present the results of tunnelling magnetoresistance (TMR) measurements in carbon nanotubes as a function of electrical gate voltage. We have used ferromagnetic contacts to inject and detect spins in carbon nanotubes in a spin field-effect transistor geometry. In the linear regime, the sign and the amplitude of the relative difference between the resistance in the antiparallel and the parallel magnetization configurations is tunable with the gate voltage. We attribute this effect to resonant tunneling through the nanotube where the transmission probabilities of up and down spins are modulated differently. In addition to this, we study also the bias-voltage dependence of the TMR in ferromagnetically contacted carbon nanotube (CNT) devices. Experiments performed on PdNi/CNT/PdNi double tunnel junctions show that both positive and negative values of TMR are possible, depending on the applied bias-voltage. We show that the TMR is strongly enhanced by charging energy in Coulomb Blockade (CB) regime. A large negative TMR of up to −33 % is observed atK. We investigate the effect of temperatute on TMR. For both high bias voltage and high temperature TMR reduces remarkably.


In the mid-19th to early 20th century, the ancient ethnocentric concept of Chinese Civilization was challenged by European — and Japanese — imperialist conquests. The West, in particular, came with the mission of bringing enlightenment; "civilization" seemed no longer seated in the Middle Kingdom for "all under heaven" to come and admire. Even the Chinese were leaving China in great numbers to seek wealth in foreign lands and Chinese rulers felt the need to reestablish the confidence of their people — at home and in faraway lands — in the worthiness of Chinese Civilization. This is a study of the conflict between the KMT and Siamese governments over the development and control of Chinese education in Siam during the early 20th century. It will investigate how Chinese nationalism, as manifested in the KMT policy toward overseas Chinese education, infringed upon Siam's sovereignty, and how Siam, through its own desperate attempt to avoid being colonized by the Europeans, was making its own claim on Civilization through the establishment of a modern educational system for its own citizens and the overseas Chinese minority.


2454 Gefitinib ('Iressa', ZD1839) is an orally active EGFR-TKI (epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor). However, recent data suggest that gefitinib and other 4-anilinoquinazoline (4-AQ) derivatives have additional functions that may influence their clinical use (Erlichman, CR, 2001; Schuetz, AACR proc., 2002). We have shown previously that gefitinib strongly increases the otherwise poor and variable oral bioavailability of the cytotoxic camptothecin (CMT) analogs topotecan and irinotecan. It was hypothesized that gefitinib increases oral absorption by inhibiting intestinal efflux transporters such as the ABC transporter breast cancer resistance protein (BCRP), which is known to transport these CMT analogs. The objectives of this study were to determine how gefitinib affects the function of BCRP and evaluate whether gefitinib affects other transporters in vivo . Bcrp1 deficient mice had higher topotecan bioavailability and decreased systemic clearance indicating that this protein plays a major role in the disposition of topotecan in mice. Treatment of Bcrp1 null mice with topotecan and gefitinib further increased topotecan oral absorption. Transport of topotecan by other transporters was confirmed as Mdr1a/b null mice had higher bioavailability than wild type mice treated with topotecan. Moreover, in vitro assays revealed that gefitinib inhibited efflux of Hoechst-33342 from cells engineered to express BCRP, and Calcein-AM efflux from MDR1 transfected cells. Importantly, gefitinib inhibited BCRP and MDR1 function at clinically attainable concentrations (eg 1-5 μM). Gefitinib accumulation in BCRP transfected and vector only transfected Saos-2 cells was not dramatically different at these concentrations, suggesting that gefitinib was functioning as an inhibitor. In conclusion, these studies illustrate the broad implications for the therapeutic combination of gefitinib or other 4-AQ derivatives with agents that are BCRP and MDR1 substrates. Gefitinib may offer a means to normalize variations in oral drug absorption and reverse tumor drug resistance. 'Iressa' is a trademark of the AstraZeneca group of companies


A study of strain localization under compression of Hadfield steel single crystals at room temperature was done by light and transmission electron microscopy. At <1%, macro shear bands (MSB) form that have non-crystallographic and complex non-linear habit planes and are the results of the interaction of dislocation slip on conjugate slip planes. Mechanical twinning was experimentally found inside the MSB. After the stage of MSBs formation, deformation develops with high strain hardening coefficient and corresponds to interaction of slip and twinning inside as well as outside the MSBs.


Figures of Colombian immigrants in Venezuela in the period 1981-1986 as well as the development of their socio-demographic profile and their integration into the labor market are analyzed by means of ad hoc tables drawn from a Sample Home Survey by the Oficina Central de Estadisticas e Informatica and information from the civil record office. It is estimated that in 1987 there are only half a million Colombians in Venezuela and, contrary to what is generally assumed, not only has the afflux decreased (3/4 of the Colombians entered before 1981), but also a return migration can be observed. Colombian immigration is not homogeneous, but is made up of different groups as far as their professional skills and occupations are concerned. The number of Colombians engaged in household service and those living in rural areas has decreased, but not the number of active farm workers. A greater proportion of Colombians engaged in trade and sales activities is observed, but artisans and skilled labor are still the majority.


Proceedings: AACR Annual Meeting 2014; April 5-9, 2014; San Diego, CA

Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) arises from the oral cavity, pharynx and larynx, and is the 6th most common cancer worldwide. The incidence of oropharyngeal SCC (OSCC) due to HPV is rising despite a decline in tobacco related HNSCC. However, the molecular mechanisms promoting HPV+ OSCC has not been clearly established. Recently, The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) HNSCC project revealed a higher frequency of homozygous and heterozygous deletions in chromosome 14q32.32 associated with lower expression of the TNF receptor-associated factor 3 (TRAF3) gene, unique to HPV+ tumors. Deleterious nonsense and frame shift mutations of TRAF3 are also exclusively observed in HPV+ HNSCC. Structural interactions of TRAF3 with other signaling molecules were modeled three dimensionally using the PRISM algorithm (PRotein Interactions by Structural Matching). The interactions revealed that these TRAF3 mutations abolished key inhibitory interactions at the interface between receptors and NF-κB inducing kinase (NIK) in the alternative NF-κB pathway. Consistent with TCGA findings, we found varying TRAF3 expression in HPV+ HNSCC cell lines. Overexpression of TRAF3 in HPV+ cell lines suppressed the alternative NF-κB pathway and p52/p100 nuclear localization, and key target genes, while increasing expression of IFN genes implicated in anti-viral immunity. Further, overexpression of TRAF3 inhibited cell growth, colony formation, and migration, as well as sensitized cells to TNF-α and cisplatin induced cell death. Our data reveal that decreased TRAF3 promotes the malignant phenotype via alternative NF-κB signaling, and attenuates antiviral IFN expression, important in pathogenesis of HPV+ HNSCC.

Supported by NIDCD intramural project ZIA-DC-000016, 73, 74

Citation Format: Jialing Zhang, Hui Cheng, Xinping Yang, Emine Guven Maiorov, Ozlem Keskin, Attila Gursoy, Ruth Nussinov, Zhong Chen, Carter Van Waes. Alternative NF-κB pathway activation enhanced by deficient TRAF3 in human papillomavirus (HPV)-associated head and neck cancer. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2014 Apr 5-9; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2014;74(19 Suppl):Abstract nr 3170. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-3170


A 75 year-old man with a well known opioid abuse is described. Within the last 10 years the patient had 161 acute admissions to hospital--in total 942 in-hospital days. The diagnoses were either angina pectoris, low back pain or migraine. With time, the patient had become very skilled in mimicking these three diseases, knowing all subjective and objective signs even better than most of his doctors. In connection with all admissions he received the opioids he wanted. Nevertheless, he was astonished that it was so easy to fool the doctors. It is recommended that the patients' own doctor should be the coordinator and the only person responsible for prescription of opioids to these patients. In case of admissions to hospital, this should only be possible to a few selected departments who know the patient.


Version 2.0 of the Kenya Soil and Terrain database (KENSOTER) at scale 1:1 M. replaces version1.0. The KENSOTER dataset was compiled by the firstname.lastname@example.com">Kenya Soil Survey (KSS) and ISRIC according to the SOTER methodology. The update includes additional and new soil profile data, replacing synthethic profile data. The geographic database was made congruent to the Digital Chart of the World (DCW). The primary data (ver. 1.0) have been used for the assessment of water erosion risk (GEO1 Pilot Project). Subsequently, SOTER-derived soil data for Kenya have been used for the assessment of soil carbon stocks and change at national scale The primary data (ver. 2.0) have recently been used for the Green Water Credit (GWC) programme in the Upper Tana River Valley


Laparoscopic cardiomyotomy (LCM), or surgical disruption of the muscular fibers of the lower esophageal sphincter (LES), is the definitive operative management of achalasia. The workup of the patient includes a detailed history and physical, endoscopy, esophagogram, and high-resolution manometry. Confounding etiologies of pseudoachalasia are identified during this initial evaluation. Endoscopic interventions for achalasia, such as pneumatic dilation and botulinum toxin injection, may precede surgery; patients are often referred for operative cardiomyotomy after progressive treatment failure or, in younger populations, as a primary measure. When assessed together, high-resolution manometry and the patient's response to prior interventions offer prognostic value and guide further steps toward or away from surgery. While the treatment of achalasia has evolved dramatically throughout history, the general principles have remained the same: whether using a rigid whale bone or robotic-assisted hook cautery, therapy is aimed at permanently disrupting the thickened muscle fibers of the LES. Prior to the advent of minimally invasive techniques, formal cardiomyotomy was performed via open thoracotomy or laparotomy to complete both an anterior and posterior myotomy. Currently, a laparoscopic approach with anterior myotomy and partial fundoplication is the accepted standard of care. Robotic-assisted cardiomyotomy is a recent and valuable addition to possible operative approaches, providing improved visualization of the hiatus. We describe our operative approach and institutional experiences, and finally, discuss directions for the future of this


We have investigated the effect of different cap layers on the photoluminescence (PL) of self-assembled InAs/GaAs quantum dots (QDs). Based upon different cap layers, the wavelength of InAs QDs can be tuned to the range from 1.3 to 1.5 µm. An InAlAs and InGaAs combination layer can enlarge the energy separation between the ground and first excited radiative transition. GaAs/InAs short period superlattices (SLs) make the emission wavelength shift to 1.53 µm. The PL intensity of InAs QDs capped with GaAs/InAs SLs shows an anomalous increase with increasing temperature. We attribute this to the transfer of carriers between different QDs.


For a variety of di(cid:128)erent industrial sectors and across a range of di(cid:128)erent countries in sub-Saharan Africa, there is clear evidence that labour-intensive techniques generate not only substantially more employment than their capital-intensive alternatives, but more value-added as well. 1 There is just as much evidence, on the other hand that governments in the region tend to favour the latter over the former in those same sectors. 2 This apparent loss in output and employment was particularly important in the 1970s and early 1980s when the state occupied so dominant a position in the manufacturing sector of most African countries. Our purpose in this paper, however, is to suggest that the technological behaviour over the period in question was not as irrational as it is often depicted, because as we see it, the existing literature tends to ignore a crucial 'third dimension' of the choice between capital and labour-intensive techniques that then confronted decision-makers in the public sector. And although the bulk of the paper is addressed to the historical period of dominance by the state-owned sector, we shall nevertheless also suggest that the issues in question remain relevant in the 1990s, in spite of the many reforms that most African countries subsequently underwent in connection, largely, with the process of structural adjustment. Our discussion will be cast mainly in terms of Hirschman's concepts of 'trait-taking' and 'trait-making', because they reflect so keenly the issues on which the choice of technology in the public sector actually turn. 'Trait-taking' refers to a decision to accept some traits of a technology (or project) as 'temporarily unchangeable aspects of the environment', whereas 'trait-making' refers to a decision to change existing traits of a technology (or project). In these terms, what we shall argue below is that:


Tony Hallam, 2004, Oxford University Press, New York, 274 p. (Hardcover, US $24.95) ISBN: 0-19-852497-8.

Dateline Yucatan: Masters of the Mesozoic Massacred! Dino Demise! Massive Meteor Mayhem! Are We Next?!

Pretty much anyone who watches television, reads popular print articles, or surfs the web for a school project "knows" a gigantic meteorite struck Earth 65 million years ago and killed off all the dinosaurs. Some people even "know" that another meteor could strike Earth in the future, and that our own species would be among its victims. Quick! Make a movie—or two or three! E-mail your Congressional Representative: Protect Planet Earth!

Sensationalism sells, whether it is in movies, newspapers, politics, or your Historical Geology lecture. Don't get me wrong—I'm all for (almost) anything that will interest the general public, including my students, in science. The abysmal lack of understanding of the nature of science is all too evident among our neighbors, students, and politicians. If I can find that one hook to draw people into a discussion of how scientists "know" about Earth's past, I'm going to grab it. The problem, of course, is when all you get is the hook; the sexy science; the mile-wide-and-an-inch-deep science; the cool hypothesis-of-the-moment science. When it comes to extinction, alas, drama often trumps depth, and dinosaurs overshadow diatoms. Fortunately, there are exceptions …

Tony Hallam's Catastrophes and Lesser Calamities is a book for those willing to go …


Abstract Dynamic penetrometer testing offers considerable practical advantages over conventional ground investigation techniques; however experience with the method is very limited, and correlations with other exploratory methods have not been made available in the UK literature. The technique is much more widely used in Europe. A Swedish Dynamic Sounding apparatus is described, and some examples of the successful applications of the technique in Hertfordshire are described. Use in design of the penetration resistance values obtained from the test are hampered by the absence of a mechanical classification system for soils commonly encountered in the United Kingdom. The results of a large number of investigations in East Anglia during the period 1983–1988 have led to a tentative classification system for cohesive soil, granular soil and chalk, which may be used for correlation with geological materials in adjacent boreholes.


The objective of this study is to determine the impact of fraud and related financial crimes on the growth and development of Nigerian economy. Data for the study were collected from secondary sources only. The research analyzed the data generated using regression analysis. The research findings revealed that, fraud and related financial crime has significant effect on the Nigerian economy while fraud and financial crime have no significant effect on inflation. The research therefore recommends that Auditors and Accountants in organizations and financial institutions should be trained on how to carry out forensic investigation since the fraudsters are now sophisticated in their act. Also internal control systems should be strengthened to block opportunities that attract fraud perpetrators and oversight function of the National Assembly be strengthened to make public office holders accountable.


In this paper, four different types of data are presented and their properties discussed. Also, presented is a brief summary of the statistical issues that need to be addressed when performing quantitative research.


Sorption-desorption of atrazine and simazine on montmorillonite, ferrihydrite, and humic acid was determined using the batch equilibration procedure. Sorption of atrazine and simazine was higher on humic acid than on montmorillonite. Ferrihydrite does not sorb triazine herbicides. Enhanced sorption of atrazine and simazine on montmorillonite was measured after increasing the surface acidity of the clay. Results indicate sorption of s-triazine herbicides on montmorillonite as protonated species must be preceded by sorption as molecular species on hydrophobic microsites of the clay unless the pH of the bulk solution is close to the pK a of the herbicide. In this latter case, cation exchange would be also operative. Sorption-desorption of atrazine and simazine was more hysteretic for humic acid than for montmorillonite, indicating that these herbicides desorb more difficultly from organic matter than from montmorillonite because of the contribution of hydrophobic interactions with humic acid. It is suggested that, besides organic matter, smectites of low charge density and high surface acidity should increase the retention of s-triazine herbicides in soils.


In this paper, the author investigates the role and contribution of pure and applied mathematics to architecture and fine arts in a unified manner. To this end, a thorough and explanatory historical overview of this diachronic and interdisciplinary topic, from the ages of ancient Mediterranean cultures to the so-called western civilization of the late twentieth century is presented. In this framework, the author first examines the fundamental role of traditional mathematics (e.g. Descriptive and Projective Geometry) in architectural design and fine arts, and in the sequel the discussion extends to the outstanding contribution of modern and computational mathematics (NURBS, Fractals, Boolean matrices, Graph Theory, etc.) to these issues. Besides, the important role of computer-aided design (CAD) is mentioned and emphasized. Indeed, CAD is an exceptional scientific and technological achievement, the scientific background of which is essentially a combination of Informatics, Discrete Mathematics and Descriptive Geometry. In addition, various existing problems that sometimes hinder the application of the science of mathematics to architecture and the fine arts are highlighted and demonstrated. Finally, given that the most appropriate mathematical background for the graduate studies in architectural schools along with the schools of fine arts is a very difficult and rather questionable issue, some suggestions are made in order to encourage and strengthen the relationship among applied mathematics, architecture and fine arts.


This work analysed the effects of para- phenylenediamine (p-PD), a component in permanent hair dyes products on the osmotic stability of human's erythrocytes. Hemolysis was monitored by measurement of absorbance at 412 nm following addition of erythrocytes to NaCl solutions of varying concentration. Absorbance was fitted to sigmoid regression curves given by Boltzmann equation, and hemolysis was characterized by the NaCl concentration leading to lyses of 50% of cells (H50), and by the intensity (H) and the amplitude of the lyses (dS). The parameters were determined in the absence and the presence of different doses of p-PD and at different times from 30 min to 2 h. The low doses of p-PD used in this study (5 µg/ml) protected human erythrocytes against hypotonic shock as evidenced by a decrease of H and H50 values compared to the control solution (p<0.05) for  2 h. However, the higher doses of p-PD used (2.5 and 3 mg/ml) enhanced hemolysis, since their H50 values were higher than in the control group (p<0.05). In conclusion, it seems that the p-PD has simultaneously protector and haemolytic effects depending on the concentration used and the time of exposure.

 Key words: Erythrocytes, hematotoxicity, membrane stability, p-phenylenediamine.


This interesting hook by the author of "The Background of the Bilble" gives a popular and readable description of the social, religious, intellectual and economic world in which Jesus grew up. The history of the times, on account of the eustoms and the sympathetic look into what Jesus said and did, combine to make this book useful to teachers and students alike. The author is quite at home with his sources and evinces the necessary wide study and keen discrimination required for producing a book that meets the exactions of the scholar and yet makes its appeal to the average reader. One is fascinated from first to last, wishing to read it all at a sitting. At the same time one can begin at almost any place and find definite and permanent value. While not at all "scrappy", yet almost every topic connected with the life, times and surroundings of Jesus is discussed in brief but comprehensive treatment. It should become a "desk volume" to all students, and especially to Sunday-school teachers. The printing is excellent, the style is both clear and rich. F. M. POWELL.


Since its invention, phased array has been extensively applied in both military and civil areas. The applications include target detecting and tracking, space probe communication, broadcasting, human-machine interfaces, and remote sensing. Although the phased array applications show a broad range of potential market, there are some limitations of phased array's development: high cost, complex structure, narrow bandwidth, and high power consumption. Therefore, novel ideas are needed to reduce these constraints. In this thesis, several new approaches about the design and application of phased array are presents. First, the principle of phased array and fundamental design equations are introduced. Second, a new application of phased array antenna for radar respiration measurement is presented. By integrating a 4×4 Butler matrix with four-element antenna array, there will be four distinct main beams in radiation pattern. This new approach can improve the measurement accuracy and realize a high detecting rate. Third, a compact phased array antenna system based on dual-band operations is introduced. Dual-band function can make N-antenna system obtain 2N unique radiation beams (N is an integer) and achieve a significant size reduction compared to the conventional single-band system. To verify the design concept, a four-element phased array antenna working at 5GHz and 8GHz is designed and fabricated. The measurement results make a good agreement with the simulations. Finally, a novel architecture of steering phase feeding network by using bi-directional series-fed topology is presented. This bi-directional series-fed network needs less phase shifters and realizes steering phase function by applying control voltage.


The $\mu$-limit set of a cellular automaton is a subshift whose forbidden patterns are exactly those, whose probabilities tend to zero as time tends to in- finity. In this article, for a given subshift in a large class of subshifts, we propose the construction of a cellular automaton which realizes this subshift as $\mu$-limit set where $\mu$ is the uniform Bernoulli measure.


In August 1987, a letter, informational pamphlet and order coupon for free mail-order condoms were sent to an experimental group of teenage males 16-17 years of age. An experimental design was used to measure the impact of the mailing on teenagers' knowledge, attitudes and behavior. Approximately five weeks after the mailing, 985 members of this group and 1,033 members of the control group (who received no mailing) were interviewed by telephone. About seven months after the mailing, members of the experimental group who claimed they had ordered the free condoms were reinterviewed by phone. The results of the initial interviews revealed that about three-fourths of the teenagers in the experimental group had received the materials, and about two-thirds had read them. Moreover, males in the experimental group, particularly those who reported having received and read the pamphlet, were slightly but statistically significantly more knowledgeable about sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), pregnancy and contraceptives. On the other hand, there were no differences between males in the experimental and control groups in attitudes toward STDs or birth control, nor were there differences in actual sexual activity or in the use of birth control. However, the experimental group was significantly more likely to have ordered condoms by mail, presumably as a result of having received the free mail-order condom offer. Many of those who ordered condoms had previously had sex and had used condoms. However, a sizeable portion of those who ordered condoms did so prior to first intercourse, suggesting a possibly important early intervention.


A series of heteroleptic bis-alkynyl-diimine mononuclear Pt(II) complexes with alkynylphosphonium and di-tert-butyl-2,2'-bipyridine (dtbpy) ligands have been prepared and characterized by spectroscopic methods and single-crystal XRD. The Pt(II) complexes obtained in the present study demonstrate triplet emission in solution, which originates from 3MLCT/3LC states where the nature of the π-conjugated linker in the alkynylphosphonium ligand manages the contributions of each transition, and this conclusion is supported by DFT calculations. Additionally, the presence of the phosphonium group connected to alkynyl through the π-conjugated linker enhances nonlinear optical properties of the Pt(II) complexes increasing two-photon absorption cross section up to 400 GM. In the solid state, the Pt(II) complexes demonstrate emission that is attributed to 3MMLCT transitions due to the presence of Pt-Pt metallophilic interactions, and the reversible assembly and disassembly of these interactions by grinding and solvent treatment are responsible for the mechanochromic luminescence. It has been experimentally shown that stimuli-responsive emission of the Pt(II) complexes is the result of a "monomer/dimer" transformation; this conclusion is confirmed by DFT calculations for discrete complexes and different dimers with or without Pt-Pt interactions.


BACKGROUND
Exposure to socioeconomic adversity is hypothesized to impact hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis activity and cortisol secretion, but existing evidence is inconsistent. Yet, few studies have investigated this association using a developmental approach that considers potential protective contextual factors. This study examined the role of stability and changes in family socioeconomic status (SES) in the prediction of multiple cortisol indicators and tested whether social support moderated these associations.

METHODS
Participants were part of a population-based sample of twin pairs recruited at birth. Family SES was assessed in early childhood (ages 0-5) and mid-adolescence (age 14). Social support was assessed at ages 14 and 19. Diurnal cortisol (n = 569) was measured at age 14 at awakening, 30 min later, in the afternoon and evening over four non-consecutive days. Hair cortisol concentration (HCC, n = 704) was measured at age 19. All data were collected before the pandemic and multilevel regression models were conducted to account for the nested data structure.

RESULTS
Youth exposed to lower family SES levels in childhood and mid-adolescence had a flatter diurnal slope and higher HCC compared with those who experienced upward socioeconomic mobility in mid-adolescence. Contrastingly, mid-adolescence SES showed no association with the diurnal slope or HCC for youth from higher-SES households in early childhood. Moreover, youth raised in higher-SES families in early childhood had a higher CAR in mid-adolescence if they reported greater social support in mid-adolescence. Social support also moderated the SES-cortisol association in mid-adolescence, with higher-SES youth showing higher awakening cortisol secretion when reporting more social support.

CONCLUSIONS
Our findings support the hypothesis that early socioeconomic adversity sensitizes HPA axis activity to later socioeconomic disadvantage, which may bear consequences for socioemotional and behavioral functioning.


In the 2018 comprehensive update of the national income and product accounts, the Bureau of Economic Analysis released not seasonally adjusted data, and modified its seasonal adjustment procedures. I find some indication of residual seasonality in the seasonally adjusted data as published before this update. The evidence for residual seasonality is weaker in the seasonally adjusted data after the update. I also directly seasonally adjusted the aggregate not seasonally adjusted data, and this entirely avoids residual seasonality. The average absolute difference between my seasonally adjusted real GDP data and the current official published version is 1.1 percentage points in quarter-over-quarter annualized growth rates.


We have developed a new capacitive transimpedance amplifier (CTIA) that can be operated at 2 K, and have good performance as readout circuits of astronomical far-infrared array detectors. The circuit design of the present CTIA consists of silicon p-MOSFETs and other passive elements. The process is a standard Bi-CMOS process with 0.5 /spl mu/m design rule. The open-loop gain of the CTIA is more than 300, resulting in good integration performance. The output voltage swing of the CTIA was 270 mV. The power consumption for each CTIA is less than 10 /spl mu/W. The noise at the output showed a 1/f noise spectrum of 4 /spl mu/V//spl radic/Hz at 1 Hz. The performance of this CTIA nearly fulfills the requirements for the far-infrared array detectors onboard ASTRO-F, Japanese infrared astronomical satellite to be launched in 2005.


SUMMARY Alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and aminopeptidase (AMP) distribution has been investigated histochemically in the digestive tract of Eutardigrada of the genera Macrobiotus and Hypsibius, in relation to cell features, to pH values inside the gut and to different life conditions. In the salivary glands, ALP seems to play a role in secretory activity, rather than in digestion. ALP and AMP are most active in the midgut epithelium, localized in the brush border and in the cytoplasm, but have different distributions. In the brush border, ALP may be involved mainly in absorption, and AMP both in secretion of proteolytic enzymes for extracellular digestion, and in the final breakdown and absorption of proteins; cytoplasmic ALP and AMP may participate in intracellular digestion. A peritrophic membrane-like structure is often found. In the anterior hindgut, ALP at the cell membrane infoldings of the rectal pads may play a role in active transport related to osmoregulation. Distinct cell types cannot be identifi...


Typical dimensionality reduction methods focus on directly reducing the number of random variables while retaining maximal variations in the data. In this paper, we consider the dimensionality reduction in parameter spaces of binary multivariate distributions. We propose a general Confident-Information-First (CIF) principle to maximally preserve parameters with confident estimates and rule out unreliable or noisy parameters. Formally, the confidence of a parameter can be assessed by its Fisher information, which establishes a connection with the inverse variance of any unbiased estimate for the parameter via the Cram\'{e}r-Rao bound. We then revisit Boltzmann machines (BM) and theoretically show that both single-layer BM without hidden units (SBM) and restricted BM (RBM) can be solidly derived using the CIF principle. This can not only help us uncover and formalize the essential parts of the target density that SBM and RBM capture, but also suggest that the deep neural network consisting of several layers of RBM can be seen as the layer-wise application of CIF. Guided by the theoretical analysis, we develop a sample-specific CIF-based contrastive divergence (CD-CIF) algorithm for SBM and a CIF-based iterative projection procedure (IP) for RBM. Both CD-CIF and IP are studied in a series of density estimation experiments.


This paper presents the fabrication and characterization of single-element ultrasonic transducers whose active elements are made of lead-free piezoceramic, 1-3 PZT/polymer composite and PVDF film. The lead free piezoelectric KNNLT- LS(K0.44Na0.52Li0.04)(Nb0.84Ta0.10S0.06b)O3 powders and ceramics were prepared under controlled humidity and oxygen flow rate during sintering. Due to its moderate longitudinal piezoelectric charge coefficient (175 pC/N) and kt of 0.50, the KNN-LT-LS composition may be a good candidate for high frequency transducer applications. PZT fibers with 25 mum diameter formed by the viscose suspension spinning process were incorporated into epoxy to fabricate 1-3 composites with the averaged kt = 0.64 and d33 = 400 pC/N. Using KNN-LS-LT ceramic, 1-3 PZT fiber composite, and PVDF film, 3 different unfocused single element transducers with center frequencies of 25 MHz were fabricated. The acoustic characterization of the transducers demonstrated that wideband and low insertion loss could be obtained employing KNN-LS-LT ceramic. The -6 dB bandwidth and insertion loss were 70% and -21 dB, respectively. In comparison, the insertion loss of the ceramic transducer was much smaller than those made with 1-3 composite and PVDF film. This was attributed to closer electrical impedance match to 50 Omega and higher thickness coupling coefficient of the ceramic transducer.


An acute contagious viral disease caused by Rhabdovirus carpio, spring viraemia of carp, was described for the first time by Fijan in 1972. Carp is the most important susceptible species in all age categories, although other species of cyprinid fish also contract the disease. As the name suggest, the disease typically appears in spring, when the water temperature increases. The disease is often complicated by the secondary appearance of bacterial and parasitic infections. The clinical symptoms include and presume gathering of infected fish near the sides of the pond, uncoordinated swimming, darkening of body color, pale gills, petechial bleeding (of the skin, eyes, gills, and fin bases), exophthalmus, and the appearance of pseudofecal expulsions from the infected anus. Pathoanatomical examination sometimes reveals only oedematous organ enlargement and intestinal inflammation. A varying degree of haemorrhaging is present in the bladder, internal organs, and fluid-containing cavities. Diagnosis is based on isolation and identification of the virus and ELISA in the laboratory. More than 1664 samples were analyzed in the course of the 10-year investigation (from 1992-2002) from different carp hatchery localities in the Republic of Serbia. Rhabdovirus carpio was isolated and identified at more than a third of the tested fish hatcheries (31,57%) infected with the spring viraemia virus. Although the disease was known earlier, it now represents an urgent problem in many European countries, and has been causing great damage in intensive and semi-intensive carp production in our country during the last few years. Therefore, special attention has been paid to it.


In the present paper we intend to rethink the "Jewish question", in the context of religion's secularization and the modern nation-state crisis, in Hannah Arendt's political thought. She writes, on the other hand, in and over the decline of modern nation-states that expel and denationalize both foreign citizens and their own depending on the case. She also thinks as a Jew from birth who suffers persecutions and particularly theorizes on her Jew condition and the future of Judaism before and after the creation of the State of Israel. As we will see during this paper we can identify these three issues all together, particularly in the Zionist experience: modern secularization, decline of the nation-state and the "Jewish question". And it is from these intertwined elements that we can draw a critical thinking for a politics of pluralism.


We observe the transformation of fractal ice islands grown at 96 K to compact ones annealed at 118 K and compare those to compact islands grown directly at 118 K. The low-temperature grown islands form a four bilayer high wetting layer. The annealing causes a crystallization and reshaping of the islands and a substantial increase in height and roughness in particular at higher coverage. Moreover, it leads to a dewetting of the ice film. The islands grown at the higher temperature show qualitative similarities to the annealed ones at smaller nucleation density. However, their orientation with respect to the surface differs by 30° as compared to the annealed islands.


In this study, we proposed a two-staged, transparent, planar solar concentrator composed of stacked waveguide sheets with an arc-segment structure array and movable receiving assemblies, which operated in a hybrid tracking approach. The stacked waveguide sheets carrying the arc-segment structures as TIR collectors could provide high concentration ratios and coupling efficiency with wide angular tolerance in the first stage. The following movable receiving assembly composed of light guide channels (LGCs) and compound parabolic collectors (CPCs) laterally slid according to the incidence angles to receive the earlier concentrated light for further concentration and provide the PV cells on the ends of CPCs with uniform irradiance in the second stage. The simulation results demonstrated that the optimal model could provide an average efficiency of 0.87, an average uniformity of 0.875, and an average concentration ratio of 738 over a whole year regarding the light source with AM 1.5D wavelengths in the working range of PV cells.


Discovery of an intact burial chamber in the rock-cut tomb of Nefer (AS 68d) During the spring season of 2014 in Abusir, the Czech mission focused on further archaeological exploration of the tomb complex of Nefer, dating to the second half of the Fifth Dynasty. Working inside his rock-cut chapel, two more shafts (out of four) were explored. Shaft 1, located in the southernmost part of the room, belonged to Nefer himself. The shaft opening corresponds with the principal false door of the room, that of Nefer. The shaft is 6 m deep, with a buri al chamber opening to the south. The room was entered from the north. The entrance was originally blocked by a wall built of smaller and larger limestone chips, limestone blocks and mud bricks joined with mud mortar. The wall was broken by ancient tomb robbers in the eastern part. The burial chamber was found with the ceiling largely collapsed. Thus it was impossible to work inside the chamber but for a few hours. Therefore only very few measurements could be taken. The room measures roughly 3.67 × 2.25 m in ground plan. Most of the room was occupied by a large limestone sarcophagus (its chest mea suring 2.25 × 1.05 × 0.75 m). Inside the sarcophagus, a completely destroyed burial was found, pushed to the south part of the sarcophagus (380/AS68/2014). It belonged to a male person of about 40–60 years of age. From the buri al equipment, only a group of miniature model vessels made of limestone was found, consisting of 70 plates and 16 cups. Shaft 4, which is 4.5 m deep, is located close to the entrance into the chapel. The east wall of the shaft was shaped into a "manoeuvring recess" across the last 1.90 m of its length and so cut away the corner of the west wall of the shaft above the entrance into the burial chamber. The burial chamber is located to the west of the shaft and was found sealed with an intact stone wall. The burial chamber itself measures 2.96 × 2.14 × 0.80 m and it is orientated in the north-south direction. Most of the space was taken up by a limestone sarcophagus which is 2.50 m long, 1.10 m wide and 0.80 m high (chest). Remains of very limited intact burial equipment were discovered during the course of archaeological documentation inside the chamber. It consisted of four canopic vessels originally placed on the southern end of the sarcophagus lid (388/AS68/2014). These were originally placed in a wooden box which was found completely decayed. Due to post-depositional processes, one canopic vessel and two lids were found in the fill on the south side of the sarcophagus. Apart from this, only one beer jar was found lying on the floor of the chamber, in the southwest corner, and some small fragments of miniature copper vessels originating from the fill of the chamber could be documented. Since the sarcophagus was found sealed, it was officially opened in collaboration with the representatives of the Saqqara Inspectorate of Antiquities, the director Mr. Allah Shehata and chief inspector Mr. Sabri, on March 19. After the lid was pushed aside, a well preserved skeleton (not a mummy) (389/AS68/2014) was discovered inside. It belonged to an anonymous official of 40–60 years of age. He was lying in an outstretched position, head to the north. Along his eastern side a decayed wooden stick could be seen. Otherwise only small faience amulets and tiny pieces of golden foil were found. The faience amulets were found on the ankles and wrists of the deceased and included three different shapes, very close to the hieroglyphic signs "n", "r" and "nb". 6 P E S X I I I / 2 0 1 4 BA H R Í JA 2 0 1 4 – Š T U D I J NÁ S E Z Ó NA V M Ú Z E U V BAW I T I Bahríja 2014 – študijná sezóna v múzeu v Bawiti


The consideration of the Committee of Ministers' of the Council of Europe practice, concerning the execution of the judgements of the European Court of human rights in part of just satisfaction payment. The definition of main problem questions which the respondent states face more often in a process of the execution of the judgements of the European Court of human rights. The solutions of the outlined range of questions.


Two-dimensional (2D) boron sheets (i.e., borophene) have a huge potential as a basic building block in nanoelectronics and optoelectronics; such a situation is greatly promoted by recent experiments on fabrication of borophene on silver substrates. However, the fundamental atomic structure of borophene on the Ag substrate is still under debate, which greatly impedes further exploration of its properties. Herein, the atomic structure and electronic properties of borophene on an Ag(111) surface have been studied using first-principles calculations and ab initio molecular dynamics simulations. Our results reveal that there exist three energetically favorable borophene structures (β5, χ1, and χ2) on the Ag(111) surface and their simulated STM images are in good agreement with experimental results, suggesting the coexistence of boron phases during the growth. All these stable borophene structures have a planar structure with slight surface buckling (∼0.15 Å) and relatively high hexagonal vacancy density (1/6 and 1/5) and exhibit typical metallic conductivity. These findings not only can be applied to solve the experimental controversies about the atomic structure of borophene on the Ag substrate but also provide a theoretical basis for exploring the fundamental properties and applications of 2D boron sheets.