Studying the spatial-temporal variation in net primary productivity (NPP) in terrestrial vegetation ecosystems and its driving forces in southwest China is of great importance for regional eco-environmental protection. The spatial and temporal changes in net primary productivity (NPP) in terrestrial vegetation ecosystems and its responding characteristics to climate change and human activities were explored in this study on the basis of the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) NPP from 2000 to 2021, in situ meteorological data from 1999 to 2021, and land use type datasets from 2000 to 2020 using principal component analysis, residual analysis, Theil-Sen Median analysis, and partial correlation analysis. The results showed that on a temporal scale, the vegetation NPP showed a fluctuating upward trend, with a rate of 3.54 g·(m2·a)-1in southwest China from 2000 to 2021. Meanwhile, under the influence of climate change and human activities, NPP of farmland, grassland, and forests all showed an upward trend, but the magnitude of the increasing trends of farmland NPP was the most significant. On the spatial scale, the areas with an upward trend in vegetation NPP accounted for 89.06% in southwest China, and the areas with significant and extremely significant increases were mainly distributed in southern Guangxi, eastern Sichuan, western Chongqing, and the junction areas of Yunnan and Guizhou. Climate change and human activities had dual effects on vegetation growth in southwest China, and the proportions of the areas with upward trends in farmland NPP were higher than that of grassland and forests both under the influences of climate change and human activities. The correlations between vegetation NPP and climate factors showed obvious regional differences in southwest China. On the regional scale, the areas with a positive correlation between vegetation NPP and temperature, precipitation, and sunshine duration were greater than that of the areas with a negative correlation. However, an opposite relationship could be found between vegetation NPP and biological aridity/humidity index. Among them, the areas with a positive correlation between vegetation NPP and temperature were greater than that with other climate factors. In terms of different vegetation ecosystems, temperature, precipitation, and sunshine duration had a stronger role in promoting NPP variation in the grassland ecosystem than in farmland and forest ecosystems. The transformation of other land use types to forest land had contributed to vegetation improvement in southwest China.


Nowadays, an increasing number of people worldwide use induction heating cookers to cook rice for consumption. This work reveals the influence of induction heating cooker heating modes on the quality attributes of cooked rice. Three heating modes, including bottom coil heating mode (mode 1), corner coil heating mode (mode 2), and side coil heating (mode 3), were used. Among the three modes, mode 2 allowed for an intermediate heating rate during rice cooking. For mode 2, the minimized temperature difference between the upper layer (including the central upper layer and peripheral upper layer) and the lower layer (including the central lower layer and peripheral lower layer) can reduce the effect of water absorption time difference on rice quality. Consequently, the rice cooked using mode 2 exhibited improved matrix uniformity, as indicated by the similar moisture content (59.92–61.89%), hardness (15.87–18.24 N), and water mobility (the relaxation time and peak area of the third relaxation peak) of rice samples at four different positions in the pot. The rice cooked by mode 2 showed better texture appearance and a more uniform porous microstructure. Consistently, the cooked rice samples by mode 2 at different positions did not show substantial differences in their starch digestion features.


Observing the positive effects of PRP (platelet-rich plasma) used in various pathologies, both in traumatology, orthopedics, sports medicine, and in plastic and reconstructive surgery, we decided to develop an improved product, using granular hyaluronic acid. The paper aims at establishing a protocol for obtaining PRP enriched with hyaluronic acid, which can be used in the current practice of treatment of skin defects, safely, with minimal side effects and limited possible, but to provide a shorter healing period as compared to native, "free" healing. The experiment aims to find an effective and rapid method of healing wounds with skin defects, by using a local adjuvant (PRP enriched with hyaluronic acid), which is available to any plastic surgeon. Following the combination of PRP with granular hyaluronic acid, we obtained a product that macroscopically has a gelatinous, viscous consistency, with a good adhesion to the tissues. The potential benefits of this experiment could be the basis for the development of treatment protocols for various pathologies, which result in wounds with skin defects, the most important aspect being the shortening of the classic healing period.


Background: Medical professionalism is a set of attitudes and behaviors that cause the physicians to prioritize the advantages of patients to theirs . The primary objective of this study was to assess the attitudes and behaviors of medicalprofessionalism among residentsof Guilan University of Medical Sciences, in the educational year of 2011-2012. Methods:  This descriptive study was conducted on all residents of Guilan University of medical students based on a questionnaire adjusted by the  culture and ethical considerations of Iran. The reliability and validity of the questionnaire were confirmed by some experts.  Data was analyzed by T-test and  Stata software. finding:  140 residents from 14 fields participated with  the mean age of 32.2±4.49 years old. In the  attitude part more than 80% of residents  agreed highly to moderately with nearly all of parameters and more than 75.5% of them declared that they applied professionalism principles  in their daily practices. Less than 50% of residents used computer software for medical decision making and participated in social services. More than 50% of them had used online journals, had readiness for being assessment with their new clinical knowledge, used the other physicians' notes for improving  their function quality in the past three years  and  considered the principles of professionalism during health care production. 11% of residents had changed their clinical decisions because of receiving gift from commercial departments. Conclusion: The residents had highly positive attitudes toward the principles of professionalism but didn't  use them in their behavior.


In Timelines: writings and conversations, Bonnie Marranca, co-founder, publisher, and editor of PAJ Publications, shares personal reflections on performance, visual arts, and writing. Many of the thirty-four short pieces are intimate dispatches from a working life consumed by interlocking topics: presence, reality, experimentation, spirituality, theatre, and arts institutions.


Machine learning application in the oil and gas industry is rapidly becoming popular and in recent years has been applied in the optimization of production for various reservoirs. The objective of this paper is to evaluate the efficacy of advanced machine learning algorithms in reservoir production optimization.
 A 3-D geological model was constructed based on permeability calculated using a machine learning technique which involved different architectures of algorithms tested using a 5-fold cross-validation to decide the best machine learning algorithm. Sensitivity analysis and a subsequent history matching were conducted using a machine learning workflow. The aquifer properties, permeability heterogeneity in different directions and relative permeability were the control variables assessed. Field development scenarios were exploited with the objective to optimize cumulative oil recovery. The impact of using a normal depletion plan to a secondary recovery plan using waterflooding was investigated. Different injection well placement locations, well patterns as well as the possibility of converting existing oil producing wells to water injection wells were exploited. Considering the outcome of an economic analysis, the optimum development strategy was realized as an outcome for the optimization process. Prior to forecasting cumulative oil production using artificial neural network (ANN) for the optimization process on the generated surrogate model, a sensitivity analysis was performed where the well location, injection rates and bottomhole pressure of both the producer and injector wells were specified as control variables. The water cut as part of the optimization process was utilized as a secondary constraint. Forecasting was performed for a 15-year period. The history-matching results from the constructed geological model showed that the oil rate, water rate, bottom hole pressure, and average reservoir pressure were matched within a 10% deviation from the observed data. In this study, the ANN optimizer was found to provide the best results for the field cumulative oil production. Using a secondary recovery development plan was observed to significantly increase the cumulative oil production. A machine learning based proxy model was built for the prediction of cumulative oil production to reduce computational time. In this study, we propose an approach applied to reservoir production optimization utilizing a machine learning workflow. This was accomplished by utilizing a surrogate model which was calibrated with a number of training simulations and then optimized using advanced machine learning algorithms. A detailed economic analysis was also conducted showing the impact of a variety of field development strategies.


This document describes two VME modules developed for MINERvA experiment at Fermilab. The Chain ReadOut Controller (CROC) module has four serial data channels and can interface with up to 48 front-ends using standard CAT5e networking cable. The data transmission rate of each channel is 160 Mbit/s. The maximum data transmission rate via VME bus is {approx}18 MB/s. The Chain Readout Interface Module (CRIM) is designed to provide various interface functions for the CROC module. It is compatible with MINOS MTM timing module and can be used to distribute timing signals to four CROC modules. The CRIM module also has a data port compatible with the CROC serial data interface. The data port can be used for diagnostic purpose and can generate triggers from front-end events. The CRIM module is a standard D08(O) interrupter module.


The number of community choirs continues to grow, and literature endorsing the benefits of choral singing for physical, mental and emotional health and well-being is rapidly expanding, meaning that the professional development of community choral conductors is in the public interest. However, research on choral conductor education remains limited. Theoretical perspectives on choral conductor training presented by Varvarigou and Durrant (2011) have provided a useful framework for conceptualizing a formal training model. As opportunities to study using such a model are not widely available in Australia and other locations, it is pertinent to consider alternative methods for community choral conductors to learn the craft and develop their skills. A design-based research model has been proposed as a possible format for learning choral conducting and the case study of the author's own practice reported here reveals its effectiveness. The design-based research structure, incorporating observation and interview with ten professional choral conductors, as well as cycles of design, intervention and evaluation is proposed as a possible informal learning approach for other choral conductors.


In the article we offer a novel approach to calculating multichannel image histograms using hierarchical data structures. The proposed methods result in a histogram-tree which has many advantages over existing data structures traditionally used for multidimensional histograms. The suggested data structure requires a significantly smaller memory space for storage in comparison with a histogram that is presented as a frequency table for all possible brightness values (histogram-hypercube). The histogram-tree provides a dramatic decrease in speed in comparison with the list of unique brightness values and their frequencies (histogram-list). Moreover, the histogram-tree allows one to approximate the probabilities of brightness values which are not presented in the analyzed image in contrast with the histogram-list. The possibility of histogram approximation is very important for practical applications. Such approximation for histogram-tree is constructed by means of tree reduction. Nodes with frequencies lower than a given threshold are removed from the histogram-tree. The reduced histogram-tree benefits from the decrease of the required memory space while maintaining the accuracy of the original probability density distribution representation. We propose two algorithms for constructing a histogram-tree. The "depth" algorithm operates with image pixels sequentially. For each pixel it constructs appropriate branches and nodes until the maximum depth of the tree is achieved. This algorithm has a recursive realization and is more time efficient than the other one. The "across" algorithm performs a multiple scan of the image, each time filling just one tree level. This algorithm allows one to operate with images with a larger number of channels than the "depth" algorithm because it is more memory efficient in the runtime when approximating a histogram. Both algorithms build the histogram-tree significantly faster when compared with the construction of the histogram-list. The theoretical estimates and experimental results described in the article demonstrate that computing histogram of multichannel images using histogram-tree has many advantages over the histogram-hypercube and histogram-list.


BACKGROUND
Perinatal asphyxia is a major cause of mortality and morbidity. To date there are no reliable methods to detect which infants will develop brain damage after asphyxia insult. We investigated whether measurements of urine levels of S100B in asphyxiated full-term newborns may be a useful tool for early detection of postasphyxia brain damage.

METHODS
A prospective study of 38 infants with perinatal asphyxia and 96 control subjects, recruited at 3 tertiary departments of neonatology between April 1, 1999, and July 31, 2001. Routine laboratory variables, neurologic patterns, and urine concentrations of S100B protein were determined at 4 predetermined time points (first urination and 12, 24, and 72 hours after birth). The concentrations of S100B protein in urine were measured using an immunoluminometric assay. The results were correlated with the presence or absence of neurologic abnormalities at age 12 months.

RESULTS
S100B protein levels were significantly higher in samples collected at all monitoring times from new-borns with abnormal neurologic findings on follow-up (first urination, 1.92 +/- 0.33 micro g/L; 12 hours, 2.78 +/- 1.71 micro g/L; 24 hours, 4.75 +/- 4.08 micro g/L; 72 hours, 5.93 +/- 1.63 micro g/L) than in samples from those without (first urination, 0.24 +/- 0.06 micro g/L; 12 hours, 0.13 +/- 0.06 micro g/L; 24 hours, 0.21 +/- 0.07 micro g/L; 72 hours, 0.12 +/- 0.04 micro g/L) or from healthy infants (first urination, 0.11 +/- 0.01 micro g/L; 12 hours, 0.12 +/- 0.03 micro g/L; 24 hours, 0.12 +/- 0.02 micro g/L; 72 hours, 0.12 +/- 0.02 micro g/L) (P<.001 for all). An S100B concentration cutoff of 0.28 micro g/L at first urination had a sensitivity of 100% and a specificity of 87.3% for predicting the development of abnormal neurologic findings on follow-up. The sensitivity and specificity of measurements obtained between 12 and 72 hours were up to 100% and 98.2%, respectively.

CONCLUSION
Longitudinal S100B protein measurements in urine soon after birth are a useful tool to identify which asphyxiated infants are at risk of long-term neurologic sequelae.


In current practice, the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease is often delayed for several years after the initial onset of symptoms. Earlier diagnosis is desirable for several reasons. It allows the patient, family, and clinician to plan more effectively for the future, reduces the likelihood of catastrophic events such as motor vehicle accidents, and permits more effective administration of medications to delay symptom progression. Early detection of dementia can improve the quality of life for the patient and the caregiver and ultimately reduce total care expenditures by delaying the time to nursing home admission and other costly outcomes.


Hyponatraemia (HN) can be a life-threatening medical condition which may lead to severe neurological and psychiatric symptoms. The AMSP (Arzneimittelsicherheit in der Psychiatrie) is a multicentre drug surveillance programme that assesses severe or new adverse drug reactions during psychopharmacological treatment in psychiatric inpatients. We report on a total of 263 864 psychiatric inpatients monitored from 1993 to 2007 in 80 psychiatric hospitals in Germany, Switzerland and Austria. During this period plasma sodium levels below 130 mmol/l (severe HN according to AMSP) were reported in 93 patients (relative frequency 0.04%). On average, the plasma sodium levels of all cases were 119.7 mmol/l (±5.8 s.d.); median 121 mmol/l (range 104-129 mmol/l). Patients who showed no clinical signs (n=65, 70%) had a mean sodium level of 121.3 mmol/l (±5.0 s.d.); median 122 mmol/l (range 114-129 mmol/l). By contrast, patients with clinical symptoms (n=28, 30%) had a mean sodium level of 116.0 mmol/l (±6.0 s.d.); median 117 mmol/l (range 104-125 mmol/l). HN was mainly observed during treatment with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) (0.06%), Serotonin noradrenaline reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs) (0.08%), carbamazepine (0.10%) and oxcarbazepine (1.29%); the highest rate was found for oxcarbazepine. Antipsychotics, mirtazapine and tricyclic antidepressants were only rarely involved in HN (0.003-0.005%). Combinations of several drugs known to induce HN significantly increased the risk of HN, e.g. more than 10-fold for SSRI+diuretics+ACE inhibitors (0.37%) vs. SSRI given alone (0.02%). This is clinically relevant because such combinations, e.g. SSRI+diuretics may occur especially in elderly patients, who are in general at higher risk of developing HN.


The effect of SO2 on biochemical in (Brassica juncea [L.] Czern. and Coss. cv. Pusa Bold; Raphanus sativus L.cv. Mino Early Long White).In exposed seedlings SO2 concentration ranging (653, 1306, 2612&3918 μg m -3 SO2). Resulted accumulation of metabolites especially ascorbic acid is the adaptive mechanisms that operate in plants, when exposed to SO2 stress. Appreciable decrease due to SO2 was observed in ascorbic acid content of Raphanus sativus plants. Carbohydrate level in plant is also influenced by SO2 exposures, the possible reason for decreased sugar content in plants under SO2 stress. All four concentrations of SO2 caused reduction in carbohydrate in both crops except at 653 μg m –3 of SO2 where a rise in carbohydrate level was seen. A perusal of literature suggests that SO2 had a marked impact on protein content of leaves and seeds. They reported that protein degradation under SO2 stress was either due to decreased photosynthesis or due to inhibition of protein synthesis. Appreciable decrease due to 653 μg m –3 and 3918 μg m –3 of SO2 was observed in the protein content of leaves as well as seeds. A marked decline found in the nitrogen& phosphorus content of SO2 fumigated plants. Minerals like nitrogen and phosphorus in leaves of Brassica juncea and Raphanus sativus were recorded to be substantially reduced following the longterm exposures of 653, 1306, 2612 and 3918 μg m –3 of SO2. Out of the two crops, SO2 caused more decline in leaf nitrogen content of Raphanus sativus than that of Brassica juncea. The experimental crops, on exposure to SO2 had shown decline in their phosphorus content. The reductions in carbohydrate, protein and mineral content were directly related to decline in chlorophyll content of treated seedlings. Results indicate that calcium hydroxide treatments afforded protective effects against SO2 as evidenced by enhancement in plant length, biomass accumulation, leaf area and yield of both crops. When SO2 exposed plants were periodically sprayed with calcium hydroxide their growth performance was improved. The effect of SO2 on biochemical breakdown and rate of photosynthesis was due mostly to the specific direct action of SO2 and was not a function of increased acidity.


In this study, a multicriteria optimization is developed for a hybrid building integrated photovoltaic/thermal (BIPVT) system with a sensible rotary heat exchanger (SRHX) for both heating and cooling purposes. The BIPVT system is considered with and without considering the glass cover. Both the heat and electricity produced by the BIPVT‐SRHX system are determined according to the energy and exergy phenomena. The objective functions aimed to be maximized are the annual total amount of generated energy and exergy. The length and depth of SRHX, geometrical parameters of PV modules, and the air mass flow rate are the parameters considered in the optimization. The results reveal a high amount of produced energy for the optimized design; however, the total amount of generated exergy is low. The system with the glass cover shows a higher amount of gained heat and less generated electricity compared with the system without the glass cover. The total energy produced by the system with and without the glass cover is about 227 and 220 MWh, respectively, and the total produced exergy by the systems with and without the glass cover is 1207 and 1585 kWh for the optimized design, respectively.


While many studies document the ambitious educational choices of immigrants across Europe, researchers have only recently begun to investigate the consequences of these ambitious choices. Our article extends this emerging literature by focusing on immigrants' success throughout tertiary education in Germany. We argue that after the transition into tertiary education, immigrants lose their advantages over native students regarding higher aspirations while retaining or even increasing their disadvantages regarding academic achievements, which ultimately results in a higher risk of dropping out. Analyses based on data from the German National Educational Panel Study (NEPS) confirm our hypotheses. Net of socioeconomic background and prior academic achievements, immigrants enter tertiary education with similar aspirations as their native peers. At the same time, immigrants, especially those of Turkish origins, have lower grades and competency levels. Furthermore, immigrants continue to receive lower grades during tertiary education and have a considerably higher risk of dropping out. We conclude that immigrants' high aspirations enable them to enroll in tertiary education at comparably low levels of academic achievement but ultimately increase the risk of academic failure. We discuss possible policy measures to improve the situation of immigrants.


Unanticipated events often occur in the development of an experiment, especially in field experiments, often causing data loss. Through the present study, we sought to verify whether there is a difference in the result of the analysis of variance (ANOVA) test for unbalanced data in the Completely Randomized Design (DIC) when the inclusion of data obtained from the data imputation technique was performed of Predictive Average. Experiments were simulated in the DIC with 5 treatments and 10 repetitions, generating complete databases. From each database, 10% of the plots were removed and after the imputation method was applied, comparing the ANOVA results in each step. The imputation yielded acceptable results, but not better than those obtained when performing the specific ANOVA test for unbalanced data.


Nowadays, aggressive scaling of transistor dimensions has led to the reduction of process geometries and thereby higher device density in DSM chips. Higher signal switching speeds and increased aspect ratios of interconnects in chips has enforced the attention towards non conventional faults due to the coupling noise between adjacent interconnects. Crosstalk is one such major Signal Integrity issue, that can occur intermittently or permanently, which may lead to functional problems and even occasionally for failure of the chip. Testing the chips for such faults is essential even after manufacturing with certain design constraints to ensure the quality of the chip. Predetermined test patterns are necessary for testing such crosstalk related faults. In this paper, an elitist genetic algorithm has been developed to determine the test patterns for worst-case crosstalk faults. Fitness functions for all basic gates also based on the level of the gates have been developed. The algorithm was performed on some benchmark circuits and the determined test patterns were also verified.


In recent years, compressed sensing techniques have been applied to the reconstruction of parallel magnetic resonance (MR) images. Particularly for 3D MR signal, it is crucial to acquire fewer samples to reduce the distortions caused by long-time acquisitions (e.g., motion, organ dynamics). Motivated by the recent success of ConvNet in 2D image reconstruction, we propose to extend the approach to 3D volume reconstruction and parallel MR imaging. The structure of the proposed network follows FBPConvNet with additional coil compression by SSoS and wavelet transform. A parallelism using two GPUs is also applied to overcome the memory shortage. The proposed method is able to reconstruct a (320 × 320 × 256 × 8) volume in less than 10s with 2 GPUs, while the iterative algorithm ℓ1-ESPIRiT takes over 5 min in CPU.


Correspondence to Katre Altmets; email@example.com ABSTRACT Objectives: Evidence about the health and quality-oflife outcomes of injuries is obtained mainly from follow-up studies of surviving trauma patients; population-based studies are rarer, in particular for countries in Eastern Europe. This study examines the incidence, prevalence and social variation in non-fatal injuries resulting in activity limitations and outcomes of injuries in Estonia. Design: A retrospective population-based study. Setting: Estonia. Participants: 7855 respondents of the face-to-face interviews of the second round of the Estonian Family and Fertility Survey conducted between 2004 and 2005 based on the nationally representative probability sample (n=11 192) of the resident population of Estonia aged 20–79. Primary and secondary outcome measures: The cumulative incidence and prevalence of injuries leading to activity limitations was estimated. Survival models were applied to analyse variations in the injury risk across sociodemographic groups. The association between injuries and the development of chronic conditions and quality of life was examined using survival and logistic regression models. Results: 10% (95% CI 9.4 to 10.7) of the population aged 20–79 had experienced injuries leading to activity limitations; the prevalence of activity limitations due to injuries was 4.4% (95% CI 3.9% to 4.9%). Significant differences in injury risk were associated with gender, education, employment, marital status and nativity. Limiting injury was associated with a doubling of the likelihood of having chronic conditions (adjusted HR 1.97, 95% CI 1.58 to 2.46). Injury exhibited a statistically significant negative association with most quality-of-life measures. Although reduced, these effects persisted after recovery from activity limitations. Conclusions: Substantial variation in injury risk across population groups suggests potential for prevention. Men and workers in manual occupations constitute major target groups for injury prevention in Estonia. The association of injury with the development of chronic conditions and reduced quality of life warrants further investigation. ARTICLE SUMMARY


This paper establishes methodology for the robust and stable design of infinite impulse response (IIR) digital filters using hybrid differential evolution method. Differential Evolution (DE) is undertaken as a global search technique and exploratory search is exploited as a local search technique. DE is a population based stochastic real parameter optimization technique relating to evolutionary computation, whose simple yet powerful and straight forward features make it very attractive for numerical optimization. Exploratory search aims to fine tune the solution locally in promising search area. This proposed DE method augments the capability to explore and exploit the search space locally as well globally to achieve the optimal filter design parameters by applying the opposition learning strategy and random migration. A multivariable optimization is employed as the design criterion to obtain the optimal stable IIR filter that minimizes the magnitude approximation error and ripple magnitude. DE method is implemented to design low-pass, high-pass, band- pass, and band-stop digital IIR filters. The achieved design of IIR digital filters by applying DE method authenticates that its results are comparable to other algorithms and can be effectively applied for higher filter design.


Henan University of Technology aims at cultivating innovative creative talent with all-round development of morality,intelligence physique.The university introduces a credit system and carries out a series of reforms in terms of the set-up of teaching plans,the system of electing courses and the system of managing the school roll.The paper analyzes the factors restricting the advancing of managing the credit system..


ABSTRACT
 Recent collecting in caves in the Ozark region of the USA produced a number of new scarab beetle records (Coleoptera: Scarabaeoidea). We report our collections and review literature records of scarabs reported from caves in the USA and Canada. Most of these records are accidental occurrences, but a few represent widespread species with known associations to host vertebrates that may occupy a cave. Two species, Onthophagus cavernicollis Howden and Cartwright (Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae), and Stenotothorax gardneri (Gordon) (Scarabaeidae: Aphodiinae), appear closely tied to woodrat, Neotoma floridana (Ord) (Rodentia: Cricetidae), nests. We consider the cave association of these two species, categorizing them as troglophiles. The distribution of O. cavernicollis is mainly in the Ozark region, but this pattern may be due to inadequate sampling in other locations. Stenotothorax gardneri is known only from caves in the Ozark region. All available collection records from recent work, museum specimens and literature accounts are presented for these species. Additional discussions are presented for O. cavernicollis because our materials contained the undescribed male and female minors and new insight into their habits.


EPA IS RECONSIDERING PARTS of a controversial air pollution regulation supported by the chemical industry and opposed by northeastern states and environmental activists. The rule, issued in late 2002, allows chemical and pharmaceutical makers and refineries to modify production facilities without obtaining a new air pollution control permit. The regulation revised the 26-year-old new source review (NSR) program that requires facilities to install up-to-date pollution controls if they increase air emissions through expansions or by altering production processes (C&EN, Dec. 2,2002, page 11). The agency said on July 25 that in response to petitions from state governments and environmental groups, it would accept comments through Aug. 29 on a handful of technical issues related to the rule. This includes an EPA supplemental analysis, not subject to public comment before the rule was issued, that concluded that the rule would lead to cleaner air than the original NSR standards. EPA will announce by Oct. 28 whe...


This transitivity study aims to delineate the 'verbs' employed in the introduction sections of students' English-major theses (IST) in reference to those of the introduction sections of research articles (ISRA) published by TESOL journal. To obtain this purpose, ten introduction sections from ISRA were analysed as the parameter, and 10 from its IST counterparts were evaluated. Both data sets were initially scrutinized for their categorization of process types. Then the analysis was followed by the categorization of specific processes in each process type. All data analysis was executed by employing the tables of analysis adapted from the transitivity framework of Halliday and Matthiessen. The transitivity analysis reveals that compared with the data of TESOL journal, the meaning making in the IST is inclined to be represented by less investigative processes of material, verbal, and mental clauses. Some less investigative processes are reflected from the verbs 'use', 'want', 'say', etc., while the knowledge building processes in the ISRA are shown by more investigative processes such as 'investigate', 'find', 'question',  etc. Overall, in reference to the clauses in the research articles (RA) of TESOL journal, the ones in the introduction sections of students' undergraduate theses still lack processes for supporting the basis of knowledge building. It is expected that the findings of this study contribute to the field of academic writing, that is, to give insight to student thesis writers into how to make meaning of their introduction functionally.


New-Delhi metallo-β-lactamase1 (NDM-1) Enterobacteriaceae are increasing worldwide. Herein, we describe a single patient who carried three unusual NDM-1 carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae – Enterobacter cloacae (E. cloacae) yielded from a urine specimen and Klebsiella pneumoniae (K. pneumoniae) and Escherichia coli (E. coli) from stool specimens. For E. cloacae, its bla NDM-1-encoding plasmid was pKP04NDM with a size of ~54 kb replicons with an IncN backbone. For K. pneumoniae, its blaNDM-1-encoding plasmid was pNDM-BTR with a size of ~59.6 kb and belonged to IncN. For E. coli, its main blaNDM-1-encoding plasmid was pIMP-HK1500, and the NDM-1 gene was obtained from a part of pNDM-BTR (8439 bp). These three clinical strains are reported for the first time and are assumed to be imported from mainland China to Taiwan. The three different plasmids were never reported in K. pneumoniae, E. coli, and Citrobacter spp before. Owing to their associated multidrug resistance, appropriate measures of periodic, targeted surveillance, and development of new antimicrobial agents are urgently needed.


In their case report in the April 1993 issue of theArchives, Dailey et al 1 misinterpret the morning glory disc anomaly shown in Figure 1 as an optic disc coloboma. The stereoscopic photograph shows a large optic disc surrounded by an annular zone of retinal depigmentation, an elevated glial tuft overlying the center of the disc, and anomalous retinal vessels that arise from the periphery of the optic disc and extend radially over the peripapillary retina. These typical features of the morning glory disc anomaly differ from those of the optic disc coloboma in which there is a discrete, focal, glistening white, bowl-shaped excavation decentered inferiorly within an enlarged optic disc, and minimal, if any, pigmentary disturbance surrounding the disc. 2 The importance of this distinction lies in the fact that optic disc colobomas are often familial, often accompanied by retinochoroidal or iris colobomas, and commonly associated with congenital


We use the EAGLE cosmological hydrodynamic simulation suite to study the specific angular
momentum of galaxies, j, with the aims of (i) investigating the physical causes behind
the wide range of j at fixed mass and (ii) examining whether simple, theoretical models can
explain the seemingly complex and non-linear nature of the evolution of j. We find that j
of the stars, jstars, and baryons, jbar, are strongly correlated with stellar and baryon mass,
respectively, with the scatter being highly correlated with morphological proxies such as gas
fraction, stellar concentration, (u-r) intrinsic colour, stellar age and the ratio of circular velocity
to velocity dispersion.We compare with available observations at z = 0 and find excellent
agreement. We find that jbar follows the theoretical expectation of an isothermal collapsing
halo under conservation of specific angular momentumto within � 50%, while the subsample
of rotation-supported galaxies are equally well described by a simple model in which the disk
angular momentum is just enough to maintain marginally stable disks. We extracted evolutionary
tracks of the stellar spin parameter of EAGLE galaxies and found that the fate of their
jstars at z = 0 depends sensitively on their star formation and merger histories. From these
tracks, we identified two distinct physical channels behind low jstars galaxies at z = 0: (i)
galaxy mergers, and (ii) early star formation quenching. The latter can produce galaxies with
low jstars and early-type morphologies even in the absence of mergers.


Existing web image search engines are mainly designed to optimize topical relevance. However, according to our user study, attractiveness is becoming a more and more important factor for web image search engines to satisfy users' search intentions. Important as it can be, web image attractiveness from the search users' perspective has not been sufficiently recognized in both the industry and the academia. In this paper, we present a definition of web image attractiveness with three levels according to the end users' feedback, including perceptual quality, aesthetic sensitivity and affective tune. Corresponding to each level of the definition, various visual features are investigated on their applicability to attractiveness estimation of web images. To further deal with the unreliability of visual features induced by the large variations of web images, we propose a contextual approach to integrate the visual features with contextual cues mined from image EXIF information and the associated web pages. We explore the role of attractiveness by applying it to various stages of a web image search engine, including the online ranking and the interactive reranking, as well as the offline index selection. Experimental results on three large-scale web image search datasets demonstrate that the incorporation of attractiveness can bring more satisfaction to 80% of the users for ranking/reranking search results and 30.5% index coverage improvement for index selection, compared to the conventional relevance based approaches.


13 Understanding the past climate at regional scale, the impact of natural variability and sensitivity by studying the 14 underlying dynamics and processes, can provide a point of reference for future climate conditions under anthropogenic 15 forcing. The Eastern Mediterranean (EM) and Nile River basin (NR) regions are of particular interest for the study of past 16 climate due to their location under the influence of major atmospheric teleconnections. We developed a high-resolution 17 regional model for paleoclimate applications, COSMO-CLM, by integrating all external forcings and conducted a 18 transient simulation from 500 BCE to 1850 CE. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was applied for winter/summer 19 precipitation and temperature to validate the model set up and showed very good agreement between simulated and 20 observational/reanalysis data. Further, 400-362 BCE and 1800-1850 CE have been selected for the comparison of the 21 mean climate conditions of the early Roman period (ERP) and pre-industrial times (PI). The comparison of temperature 22 and precipitation suggests comparable mean climatic conditions with spatial differences in terms of variability within the 23 study regions. Over the Eastern Mediterranean (EM), ERP is wetter and warmer in both winter and summer compared to 24 PI, with higher variability in temperature and precipitation in summer than in winter. In the Nile River basin (NR), ERP 25 summers were wetter and more variable compared to PI. The ERP over NR is warmer by approximately 0.5 °C in winter 26 and cooler by 0.5 °C in summer, with low variability in winter and high variability in summer compared to PI. The 27 relevant large-scale circulation of the two periods shows consistent spatial structures with the corresponding 28 precipitation/temperature EOF patterns, albeit with varying amplitudes. The 2500 years transient simulation sheds light 29 to the paleo climate conditions and relevant atmospheric circulation as well as processes of periods of interest in complex 30 areas with detailed output and comprehensive forcing allowing for better representation of the regional climate variability 31 and change. Comparison of simulated output with proxy records, reconstructions and detailed studies of specific events, 32 e.g., volcanic eruptions, can help to capture the spatiotemporal extent of these events and their impact on climate 33 variability and change, in addition to providing insights into their impact on societal change and human history.


Nowadays, an increasing number of people with stroke are suffering considerably from a loss of physical mobility. Various traditional interventions have been developed to restore survivors' normal motor function following a stroke, but their effects are considerably limited. Many of these techniques require physical therapist's observation, specifically designed preparatory exercises and direct control of the lower limbs' position. Therefore, we propose a novel automatic gait training system for gait rehabilitation of hemiparetic patients. It integrates a split belt treadmill with a functional electrical stimulation (FES) device, which is used to improve gait quality by delivering electrical stimuli to the muscles. The delivery of the stimulus from the FES device is triggered automatically during gait cycle. As subjects walk on the separated treadmill, the gait phases are estimated by an algorithm that observes variation in the current values of the treadmill motors. Finally, we have preliminarily tested the feasibility of the proposed method through experiments on simulated hemiparetic subjects, by comparing with experimental results using force plates.


As of late, orthopedic embed research has been driven by organic obsession. In this sort of obsession, a layer of naturally dynamic material on the embed surface produces interfacial holding between the embed and bone. The nearness of bio-dynamic material with proper degree of porosity and crystallinity impacts have bone recovery by making a situation considering cell spreading, multiplication and resulting bone arrangement coordinating the embed into the body. Their clinical applications are restricted to non-load bearing inserts because of fragility and generally poor mechanical properties. Multilayered covering of a precisely intense substrate is an elective course to lessen the danger of early embed disappointment. Quicker and less expensive creation of such embeds is normal with laser-helped densification of different materials by means of added substance producing (AM) innovation. The procedure is being created to manufacture inserts made of numerous materials in a single activity without part-explicit tooling and human intercession. Such embeds having expanded life span give progressively secure obsession utilizing custom-made properties, which can't be accomplished by traditional assembling strategies. There are numerous variables that can impact a laser helped AM of the inserts reflecting in improvement of their organic obsession. There has all the earmarks of being no away from of the agreeable connections between various physical marvels occurring in the assembling procedure on various sizes of thought. There is additionally absence of numerical models, which could anticipate and interface them with the large scale reaction of the multi-layered structures. This absence of applicable information is the genuine impediment in transit towards dependable assembling and effective clinical utilization of such multilayered inserts made by AM strategies. The paper presents loathe propels on improvement of an incorporated model including explicit mechanical, optical, warm, thermo-mechanical, metallurgical and synthetic wonders occurring in the laser-helped multi-material AM. Above all, the improvement of such multiscale numerical model, which can bolster the structure and assembling of such novel inserts, is multidisciplinary endeavor including material plan, embed plan and creation, organic and clinical appraisal among others. A foundation of a fitting stage for collaboration between applicable establishments including colleges, medical clinics and undertakings to encourage research, improvement, preclinical and clinical examinations is vital. Numerical coordination techniques can by and large be depicted as consolidating assessments of the integrand to get a guess to the indispensable. The integrand is assessed at a limited arrangement of focuses called reconciliation focuses and a weighted entirety of these qualities is utilized to estimated the fundamental. A speculation of the trapezoidal guideline is Romberg incorporation, which can yield exact outcomes for some less capacity assessments. In the event that the capacities are known systematically as opposed to being classified at similarly divided spans, the best numerical strategy for reconciliation is called Gaussian quadrature. Such techniques are important due to the inalienable numerical solidness of any brought together model, including MATMOD. The firmness of these conditions emerges from the coupling of nonelastic and flexible strains to figure the complete strain, and the way that �? is a solid capacity of σ.