To make cost‐effective decisions regarding aquifer protection against chlorinated solvent contamination, a conceptual site model explaining the hydrodynamic behavior of these solvents needs to account for soil heterogeneities in sufficient detail. Among the key requirements, it is necessary to perform site‐specific characterization of (1) the architecture and type of chlorinated solvent sources, (2) the architecture, nature, and distribution of aquitards (bodies of low permeability), and (3) local groundwater dynamics. Local‐scale data are often lacking and regional descriptions are therefore adopted with the consequence of losing small‐scale features that control local chlorinated solvent migration which, in turn, limits the effectiveness of safeguard facilities. This article addresses these arguments, focusing on the Rho aquifer (Italy). We show that the local conceptual model must integrate small‐scale architectural and hydrodynamic anomalies of the aquifers and aquitards with regional trends and the sedimentary origin of the aquifers. New evidence was found by processing stratigraphic logs, piezometric heads and solute concentrations from local wells. The revised conceptual model should account for the occurrence of secondary chlorinated solvent sources located in depressions on the aquitard surface separating the two upper and most contaminated Rho aquifers. While the spatial distribution of depressions is in accordance with regional sedimentological dynamics, the direction of local groundwater flow at various levels within the main hydrogeological unit is remarkably opposite to the regional groundwater flow direction. These findings, along with evidence of vertical heterogeneous soil texture and stratification of chlorinated solvents in various phases, are supported by a simple particle‐tracking model and suggest how to redefine the conceptual model and, consequently, how to design safeguard facilities to effectively prevent further plume migration.


Emergency management due to partial collapse of facade elements is a great interest topic. The collapse often occurs in unexpected damage to building structures of architectural value within the historic urban centers. The actions often require a long time to implement. After an initial delimitation and isolation of the damaged surfaces are initiated, discovery and design of the restoration are started. The economic coverage, no less important, is often done over the years. We undertake a case study, developed in the intervention performed in front of the Cathedral of Reggio Calabria. The study covered aspects related to the organization of the first measures after the collapse of some decorative elements and the subsequent development of the site. The first phase involved the organization and implementation of protection measures to achieve tight deadlines to allow the use of space for an important and non-deferrable event. Authorization procedures for this first phase were expedited and operating procedure for the management of safety for temporary installations was established. The second phase, managed in a day, involved the intervention to ensure the practicability and ensure the safety of users. The preparation of the construction site optimized the execution time of the procedures. The design of the temporary works optimized the work of the teams involved in work sequencing, which resulted in reduced downtime and possible interference. The result of the design choices and operational programming optimized the execution time.


We present bounded dynamic (but observer-free) output feedback laws that achieve global stabilization of equilibrium profiles of the partial differential equation (PDE) model of a simplified, age-structured chemostat model. The chemostat PDE state is positive-valued, which means that our global stabilization is established in the positive orthant of a particular function space-a rather non-standard situation, for which we develop non-standard tools. Our feedback laws do not employ any of the (distributed) parametric knowledge of the model. Moreover, we provide a family of highly unconventional Control Lyapunov Functionals (CLFs) for the age-structured chemostat PDE model. Two kinds of feedback stabilizers are provided: stabilizers with continuously adjusted input and sampled-data stabilizers. The results are based on the transformation of the first-order hyperbolic partial differential equation to an ordinary differential equation (one-dimensional) and an integral delay equation (infinite-dimensional). Novel stability results for integral delay equations are also provided; the results are of independent interest and allow the explicit construction of the CLF for the age-structured chemostat model.


Background: Over the past 20 years or so, the drug misuse scenario has seen the emergence of both prescription-only and over-the-counter (OTC) medications being reported as ingested for recreational purposes. OTC drugs such as antihistamines, cough/cold medications, and decongestants are reportedly the most popular in being diverted and misused. Objective: While the current related knowledge is limited, the aim here was to examine the published clinical data on OTC misuse, focusing on antihistamines (e.g., diphenhydramine, promethazine, chlorpheniramine, and dimenhydrinate), dextromethorphan (DXM)- and codeine-based cough medicines, and the nasal decongestant pseudoephedrine. Methods: A systematic literature review was carried out with the help of Scopus, Web of Science databases, and the related gray literature. For data gathering purposes, both the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA) and PROSPERO guidelines were followed (PROSPERO identification code CRD42020209261). Results: After completion of the selection, eligibility, and screening phases, some 92 articles were here taken into consideration; case reports, surveys, and retrospective case series analyses were included. Findings were organized according to the specific OTC recorded. Most articles focused here on DXM (n = 54) and diphenhydramine (n = 12). When specified, dosages, route(s) of administration, toxicity symptoms (including both physical and psychiatric ones), and outcomes were here reported. Conclusion: Results from the systematic review showed that the OTC misusing issues are both widespread worldwide and popular; vulnerable categories include adolescents and young adults, although real prevalence figures remain unknown, due to a lack of appropriate monitoring systems. Considering the potential, and at times serious, adverse effects associated with OTC misusing issues, healthcare professionals should be vigilant, and ad hoc preventative actions should be designed and implemented.


In recent years, many efforts have been made to present optimal strategies for cancer therapy through the mathematical modelling of tumour‐cell population dynamics and optimal control theory. In many cases, therapy effect is included in the drift term of the stochastic Gompertz model. By fitting the model with empirical data, the parameters of therapy function are estimated. The reported research works have not presented any algorithm to determine the optimal parameters of therapy function. In this study, a logarithmic therapy function is entered in the drift term of the Gompertz model. Using the proposed control algorithm, the therapy function parameters are predicted and adaptively adjusted. To control the growth of tumour‐cell population, its moments must be manipulated. This study employs the probability density function (PDF) control approach because of its ability to control all the process moments. A Fokker–Planck‐based non‐linear stochastic observer will be used to determine the PDF of the process. A cost function based on the difference between a predefined desired PDF and PDF of tumour‐cell population is defined. Using the proposed algorithm, the therapy function parameters are adjusted in such a manner that the cost function is minimised. The existence of an optimal therapy function is also proved. The numerical results are finally given to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.


Thiswell written book is all about learning and interpreting the data evidence via graphs, charts, and pictures. A knowledge of college algebra is needed to read and appreciate the contents of this undergraduate level statistics book. The book is suitable for use in an undergraduate course. There are lots of data and case studies in the book as they will excite the students to learn and appreciate the importance of statistical thinking. There are twenty seven chapters illustrating the concepts and statistical methods covering a wide range of topics and they are


The precision chambers of the ATLAS Muon Spectrometer are built with Monitored Drift Tubes (MDT). The requirement of high accuracy and low systematic error, to achieve a transverse momentum resolution of 10% at 1 TeV, can only be accomplished if the calibrations are known with an accuracy of 20 μm. The relation between the drift path and the measured time (the socalled r-t relation) depends on many parameters (temperature T, hit rate, gas composition, thresholds,...) subject to time variations. The r-t relation has to be measured from the data without the use of an external detector, using the autocalibration technique. This method relies on an iterative procedure applied to the same data sample, starting from a preliminary set of constants. The required precision can be achieved using a large (few thousand) number of non-parallel tracks crossing a region, called calibration region, i.e. the region of the MDT chamber sharing the same r-t relation.


Abstract Hechtia chichinautzensis and H. colossa, morphologically related to H. podantha and to H. tehuacana, respectively, are described and illustrated. Hechtia chichinautzensis is endemic to the Mexican state of Morelos and is distinguished from H. podantha by its flexuous and lepidote rachis, ovate-triangular primary bracts, sparsely lepidote pedicels, and brownish to blackish anthers; anatomically its leaves are characterized by their square adaxial epidermal cells with undulate walls, one or two layers of adaxial hypodermic cells, discontinuous chlorenchyma, oblong palisade cells, and the presence of raphides. Hechtia colossa , from the states of Oaxaca and Puebla, differs from H. tehuacana by its larger habit, the lepidote peduncle and primary bracts, the length of the inflorescense branches and the larger foliar sheaths, blades, and floral bracts; anatomically its leaves are characterized by their irregular adaxial epidermal cells and by the number of vascular bundles.


Introduction Normal kidney size has been described as 11 to 14cm in standard text books. We studied kidney sizes in adults in a farming village in Anuradhapura. The participants had normal kidney functions, defined as absence of proteinuria and expected glomerular filtration rate above 60ml/min/1.73m2. Methodology Anonymised data was extracted from results of a chronic kidney disease screening programme held in Sandamaleliya, Thanthirimale, Anuradhapura. Demographic data, creatinine values and ultrasonically measured kidney sizes were documented. Ultrasonography had been performed by the consultant radiologist serving at teaching hospital Anuradhapura. Expected glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) was calculated using the MDRD formula. Results Of 285 participants, 56 were excluded due to missing data. Of the others, average age was 44.0 years and 72% were females. 79.2% had normal eGFR and their average kidney length was 9.54 (± 1.63) cm, with 9.42 (± 1.65) cm for right and 9.67 (± 1.57) cm for left kidneys. Average kidney length for males with normal eGFR was 9.83(± 1.49) cm and 9.46 (± 1.63) cm for females. Average kidney length for participants with normal eGFR and age below 40 years was 9.66 (± 1.70) cm, age 41 to 60 years was 9.47 (± 1.75) cm and over 60 years was 9.05 (± 1.50) cm. Average kidney length at eGFRs below 60ml/1.73m2/min was 8.57 (± 2.13) cm. 8.6% were detected to have renal stones. Conclusion Average kidney lengths in this rural farming population were less than generally accepted normal lengths. This finding may be of significance in an area known to have an endemic nephropathy


In the present study, diffusion bonding of titanium and micro-duplex stainless steel was investigated in vacuum. Diffusion interfaces were characterized using light microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction technique. The inter-diffusion of the chemical species across the diffusion interfaces were evaluated by electron probe microanalysis (EPMA). The maximum tensile strength of ~97% and shear strength of ~80% of those of Ti along with 6.9% elongation were obtained for the diffusion couple processed at 900°C joining temperature. Fracture surface observation in SEM using EDS demonstrates that, failure takes place through β-Ti phase when bonding was processed up to 850°C, however, failure takes place through λ+FeTi+β-Ti for the diffusion couples processed at 900°C and above bonding temperature.


The study at hand provides an analysis of the energy input-yield ratios of a planned small-scale raw-tallow-fuelled biodiesel production plant. In the state of Guanajuato, the rendering activities generate roughly 150 tonnes of raw tallow that is refused into nearby pounds or rivers, a common practice that causes an irreversible environmental damage. So in order to make use of this residue, it is proposed here to use it as feedstock for a biodiesel production plant. The plant is assumed to be comprised of a separation process, an acid catalized pretreatment, a transesterification process, a steam generator and a storage zone. Hence a detailed energy analysis was carried out to evaluate the mass and energy transfer ratios of each subsystem as well as their energy efficiencies so as to decide whether the plant could be technical and economically feasible and competitive. The results of this former study must be seen as the base for an informed dialogue with important stakeholders and governmental organizations.Copyright © 2009 by ASME


A method for compensating polarization sensitivity of arrayed waveguide gratings (AWG's) based on silica-on-Si waveguide technology using stress release grooves and its realization are described. These stress release grooves compensate fabrication-induced waveguide birefringence without performance degradation. An advanced design for low-loss, low-channel imbalance, and low-crosstalk multiplexer is given and results of the realized modules are presented. The TE/TM passband shift could be reduced from 0.7 nm to below 0.05 nm. Insertion loss of the fully packaged wavelength multiplexer modules is <5 dB and adjacent channel crosstalk is as low as <-40 dB.


Background and objectives: The pod of Prosopis cineraria traditionally used in several ailments and key component of traditional food recipe of the Panchkuta of western Rajasthan, India. The current study was targeted to assess ability of phytoconstituents of aqueous pod extract of Prosopis cineraria to inhibit HMG-CoA reductase activity and regress atherosclerotic plaque were investigated in in-vitro, in-vivo, and in-silico studies. Material and Methods: LCMS, GCMS, and FTIR analysis were used to characterize the phytoconstituents of the test extract. Accordingly, the in-vitro, in-vivo and in-silico assessments were performed by following the standard methods. Results: The phytochemical results shown the presence of cloprostenol, cinecromen, and dirithromycin as leading compounds. Accordingly, in-vivo assay of test extract shown HMG-CoA inhibition activity by 78.1 % (IC50 was 0.03 μg/ml). Hypercholesterolemia was induced in rabbits through oral supplementation of a high fat diet (21 % fat) with cholesterol powder supplementation. Administration of the test extract caused significant (𝑃 ≤ 0.001) improvement in the lipid profile and antioxidant levels in the test rabbits, relative to the hypercholesterolemic control rabbits. Subsequently, the reductions in the atherosclerotic plaque and improvement in lumen volume were pointedly observed in the treated groups. In-silico analyses of molecular docking and ADMET revealed significant interactions and druggability profile. Conclusion: It can be stated that the phytoconstituents of aqueous pod extract of Prosopis cineraria have the capacity to inhibit HMG-CoA reductase and regress the atherosclerotic plaque which may be beneficial to the treatment of hypercholesterolemia.


The plant hormones ethylene and cytokinin influence many processes; sometimes they act cooperatively, other times antagonistically. To study their antagonistic interaction, we used the cotyledons of etiolated, intact seedlings of Arabidopsis thaliana. We focused on cell division and expansion, because both processes are quantified readily in paradermal sections. Here, we show that exogenous cytokinins modestly stimulate cell division and expansion in the cotyledon, with a phenyl-urea class compound exerting a larger effect than benzyl-adenine. Similarly, both processes were stimulated modestly when ethylene response was inhibited, either chemically with silver nitrate or genetically with the eti5 ethylene-insensitive mutant. However, combining cytokinin treatment with ethylene insensitivity was synergistic, strongly stimulating both cell division and expansion. Evidently, ethylene represses the growth promoting influence of cytokinin, whether endogenous or applied. We suggest that the intact etiolated cotyledon offers a useful system to characterize how ethylene antagonizes cytokinin responsiveness.


In this article, bistable laminates are statically and dynamically studied under the existence of nonlinear magnetic force. The bistable laminates with magnetic forces are considered as a nonlinear system for vibration energy harvesting. First, a semi-analytical model was established based on the energy approach for the bistable plate together with magnets. The magnetic force versus distance was measured, and then, an equation was fitted to the experimental data. The damping of the whole system was determined experimentally, and Rayleigh damping coefficients were extracted and used in all models. Next, a finite element model of the whole system was developed to compute the dynamic response of the system under different base excitations. Finally, a test rig was constructed, and the system responses were measured under various base excitations. The dynamic snap-through of the bistable laminate under magnetic forces was also measured and compared with the results obtained from the semi-analytical and finite element model. The analysis shows that adding a magnetic force will reduce the amplitude of base excitation that is needed for dynamic snap-through for %28.6. The analysis shows that the bistable plate with a magnetic force can be a good candidate for energy harvesting because the nonlinear magnetic forces under certain conditions reduce the snap-through force and consequently increase the harvested energy. This is because of the fact that the presence of the magnetic forces allows the system to vibrate between its two stable configurations under lower base excitation amplitudes.


In this paper I will reflect on the role of photographs in the works of Daša Drndić. Mixing fictional and documentary modes is a characteristic feature of her texts. It is achieved among others by utilizing visual representations of the past. In my paper I aim to outline the strategies of visualization applied by the authoress (especially the traumatic, Holocaust-related experience), which materialize through photographs included in her works of literature.
In the case of Drndić the visuals include for instance contemporary or archival photographs of places marked by the Holocaust and of Jewish inhabitants of Vienna as well as portraits of war criminals. Generally speaking, in her texts the photographs function as concretization (concretization) of the memory of injustice, of trauma and ultimately of the Holocaust. The photographs are by no means neutral images though they are commonly perceived as such. Interaction between the text (itself skirting the boundary between fact and fiction) and the image puts the latter in a position that is far from neutral. In Drndić's case, the photos are often used as an inventory (archival) practice, but they constitute predominantly a way of overcoming the crisis, related to the intention of giving an account of the past, particularly a testimony of the Holocaust.


We derive detailed and integral quantum fluctuation theorems for heat exchange in a quantum correlated bipartite thermal system using the framework of dynamic Bayesian networks. Contrary to the usual two-projective-measurement scheme that is known to destroy quantum features, these fluctuation relations fully capture quantum correlations and quantum coherence at arbitrary times. We further obtain individual integral fluctuation theorems for classical and quantum correlations, as well as for local and global quantum coherences.


In this paper, several experiences on adaptive learning at higher education are shown. Different contexts and methodologies such as Problems and Projects Based Learning, final works of Grade and Massive Open Online Courses, present different needs personalized attention by teachers. They require different techniques and all of them are based on Moodle, a learning contents management system that facilitates adaptive learning. The results of the presented experiences show that adaptive techniques improve final grades, motivation in students and also help teachers to personalize learning in their daily educational tasks.


The stone tenement is perhaps the most iconic type of housing in Scotland and to a large extent defines the built environment of its major cities and towns. However in the context of the climate change agenda which demands reduced energy consumption and CO2 production, such buildings are recognised to be a particular challenge in terms of both their poor energy performance, but also the limitations on improvement measures that do not have a detrimental affect on their form and appearance. As a result interventions that improve performance tend to less mainstream and it is therefore import to assess the effectiveness of these.

This paper describes the findings of a post occupancy evaluation that examined the user satisfaction and energy performance of a recently completed (2008) adaptive rehabilitation project of a listed 19th Century sandstone tenement block in Edinburgh city centre. The project incorporates low carbon technologies and high thermal performance into an existing and historic structure, including internal insulation, a ground source heat pump with underfloor heating, sunspaces and MVHR, which are intended to reduce energy consumption whilst maintaining the built form and appearance.

The paper discusses key outcomes of this performance evaluation, which identified some problems occurring with systems and users interaction with these, leading to incidences of poor environmental quality and increased energy use. The paper concludes by discussing limited improvements which could be made to this structure and future design considerations that could improve performnce.


On demand and autonomic computing will benefit from policy-based management systems which are responsive to new and ambiguous situations and learn from them. In a typical data center, there are thousands of different events reporting system faults, status, and performance information. Their occurrences are unpredictable. In addition, new events and conditions can occur as operating environment changes. Traditional approaches of authoring policies and techniques of implementing policy-based management systems, such as relying entirely on static authoring of simple "if [condition] then [actions]" rules, become insufficient. Hence, new approaches, such as goal policy, utility function etc., to the design and implementation of policy-based management systems have emerged. However, none of these approaches provides a systematic way to enable policies in a policy-based management system to be responsive to new and ambiguous situations. In this paper, we describe a novel method by which policies can be selected or created automatically based on events observed and knowledge learned. This new approach treats the observed event-policy relationship represented by an event-policy matrix as a statistical problem. Using singular value decomposition (SVD) technique, implicit higher order correlations among policies and their associated events are used to estimate the selection or creation of recommended policies based on events found in the observed event set. Initial results have indicated that this approach to policy-based management system is very promising


Considering Windows operating system has advantages such as good cross-platform-ability, supporting the network and multimedia, low request of hardware and its real-time function can be achieved by its kernel or establishing real-time system in the non real-time kernel, this paper selects Windows2000 to be the platform and utilizes Visual C++6.0 as the program language to realize the complete software type copying manufacturing CNC system. The function modules of the system are discussed. The function of parallel processing with time-sharing mode is achieved by distributing tasks with different real-time request to different threads. Through operation test, the designed complete software type copying manufacturing CNC system achieved the design requirements.


Objectives There are some studies to show that bone morphogenetic protein 7 (BMP7) is a key factor regulating brown adipogenesis and has a significan impact on the regulation of energy expenditure and obesity. And human BMP7 maps to chromosome 20q13, a susceptibility locus for obesity. BMP7 represents a strong biological and positional candidate for a susceptibility factor for obesity. Objective To investigate the association between the genetic variations of functional region in Bone Morphogenetic Protein (BMP7) gene and obesity in Uygur population. Methods The case-control study was conducted based on epidemiological investigation. The all exons, segmental introns and the promoter regions of BMP7 gene were sequenced in 48 Uygur obese patients. Representative variations were selected according to the minor allele frequency (MAF) and linkage disequilibrium and genotyped using the TaqMan PCR method in 1063 Uygur individuals, a relatively isolated general population in a relatively homogeneous environment and a case-control study was conducted to analyse the association between genetic variations of BMP7 gene and obesity. Results The five novel and eight known variations in the BMP7 gene were identified. All genotype distributions were tested for deviations from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (p>0.05). There were no significant differences of genotype distribution of rs6025422 between obese and control groups in general and young adults (age<60 years) p<0.0125), but there were significant differences in old adults (age≥60 years) (p>0.05).And the means of fasting body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC) and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) significantly decreased in individuals with AA, AG and GG genotypes of rs60254222 in old adults p<0.05), but not in general and young population (p>0.05). The logistic regression analysis showed that GG genotype of rs60254222 variation might be a obesity protective factor in old adults (OR=0.578, 95% CI 0.401 to 0.833, p=0.003). Conclusions The present study suggests rs60254222 polymorphism in the BMP7 gene may be associated with obesity in old Uygur Chinese.


A reconfigurable Substrate Integrated Waveguide Cavity-Backed Slot (SIW-CBS) antenna is presented with one octave tuning range and six different tuning states using a new tuning method. The method is based on loading the SIW cavity with shortening posts and manipulating the field distribution within the cavity. This tuning method shifts up the operating frequency of the antenna. Based on the number of the posts and their location, this frequency shift can be controlled. Benefiting from a two-layer structure and therefore being totally isolated from the biasing circuit, the CBS antenna can be easily tuned by switching the posts using p-i-n diodes. Using this technique a frequency tuning ratio (fTR = fup/flow) as high as an octave (1.1-2.2 GHz) is achieved. The impedance and radiation characteristics of the CBS antenna are presented and discussed. The antenna shows similar radiation patterns with low cross-polarization levels and high front to back ratio for all six states. To the authors' knowledge this is the first presentation of a SIW-CBS tunable antenna with one octave tuning and also the technique used for antenna tuning.


The population of South Asia lives almost entirely in one mega-country or two large ones. In contrast, the rather smaller population of sub-Saharan Africa is spread across some fifty countries. Does this political fragmentation have economic consequences? We suggest that both private economic activity and the provision of public goods benefit from powerful scale economies that confer advantages on the South Asian model. Paradoxically, although as a result Africa has a greater need than other regions for supra-national power structures, it has far less made less progress towards regional unity. Views expressed are those of the authors and do not represent institutional positions. Thanks to Mauro Caselli, Lisa Chauvet, Anke Hoeffler, Hyesung Kim and Jean-Louis Warnholz for statistical analysis. * Director, Centre for the Study of African Economies, Oxford University *** Oxford University and Chief Economist, UK Department for International Development.


A good correlation exists between zinc content and carbonic anhydrase activity of the red blood cells under all conditions studied, including anemia and polycythemia. In almost all patients with anemias other than pernicious anemia, both zinc and carbonic anhydrase levels were lowered in parallel fashion. These changes were proportional to decreases in hematocrit and hemoglobin levels and erythrocyte counts so that both zinc and carbonic anhydrase values per unit of RBC were in the normal range. In a few instances of anemia associated with leukemia and in one of sickle cell anemia, neither zinc content nor carbonic anhydrase activity was decreased in proportion to the anemia; in these cases the zinc and carbonic anhydrase levels per unit of blood were both elevated to the same degree.

Patients with pernicious anemia showed no decrease in absolute values for zinc and carbonic anhydrase activity in spite of marked lowering of hematocrit and hemoglobin levels and of erythrocyte count. Accordingly, both zinc concentration and carbonic anhydrase activity per unit of blood were elevated, often to a marked degree. These increases were parallel, varying inversely with the degree of anemia; when they regressed under treatment, both did so at the same rate.

There are no methods available for estimating carbonic anhydrase concentration; all methods now in use measure only the activity of the enzyme. It is suggested that zinc concentration could be used as an indicator of carbonic anhydrase content of the red blood cells.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Drs. Joseph C. Aub and Ira T. Nathanson were kind enough to refer several patients for study. Dr. Byrl J. Kennedy was most helpful in regard to obtaining samples of blood. The technical work was performed by Miss Mary Lou Roney, Betty Hickey and Marion Taylor.


Social distancing via shelter-in-place strategies has emerged as the most effective way to combat Covid-19. In the United States, choices about such policies are made by individual states. Here we show that the policy choice made by one state influences the incentives that other states face to adopt similar policies: they can be viewed as strategic complements in a supermodular game. If they satisfy the condition of uniform strict increasing differences then following Heal and Kunreuther ([6]) we show that if enough states engage in social distancing, they will tip others to do the same and thus shift the Nash equilibrium with respect to the number of states engaging in social distancing.


Regarding the purpose, the present study is an applied research and descriptive correlational in terms of procedure and aims to investigate the relationship between e-government and the performance improvement of the employees at Tax Affairs Organization in Ardebil province. Desk study and a questionnaire were used for data collection. The data collection tools in this study were standardized questionnaires, the validity and reliability of which were confirmed. The statistical population of this study included all male and female employees in Tax Affairs Organization in Ardebil province who were 320 individuals and the simple random sampling method was used to distribute the questionnaires. To investigate the hypothesis and analyze the data, the descriptive and inferential statistics were used in SPSS software. According to the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test results with the significance level obtained for the e-government and improving the performance of employees (P<0.05), the hypothesis of testing the normal distribution of the observations of this study were not confirmed. Based on these findings, the Spearman correlation coefficient was used to examine the hypotheses. The results indicated that there is a significant relationship between the e-government and its dimensions with the performance improvement of the employees in Tax Affairs Organization in Ardabil province.


Focus problem: The author is interested in researching this because with
the seaweed farming business, Mapin villagers in addition to improve the
economy can also create jobs for the community, because at this time seaweed
cultivation in demand many people both domestic and abroad so it can be an
opportunity good business.
The purpose of this study is to describe efforts to improve the economic
welfare of the community through seaweed farming in Mapin Village, Alas
District, Sumbawa Regency. And describe the results achieved in an effort to
improve the welfare of the economy through seaweed farming in Mapin Village,
Alas Sub-district, Sumbawa Regency
The research method used in this research is qualitative approach. This
study was conducted in June from June 20, 2017 to June 23, 2017. The data
collection was conducted through interviews with 4 informants, observation and
documentation. Data analysis using Triangulation data.
The results of research conducted on community empowerment through
seaweed cultivation efforts to increase the family economy, it can be concluded as
follows Efforts in improving the economy through seaweed cultivation is to
increase economic income to meet the needs of families and able to finance the
school children or grandchildren. With the cultivation of seaweed motivate people
to think to a more advanced direction, but it also changes their lifestyle that
initially has no vehicle so as to facilitate them in their daily activities. Supporting
factors include: human resources, supportive communities, government, and
geographical location. In addition, there are also factors inhibiting the
empowerment of the community through seaweed cultivation, among others:
Constraints related to the limitations of capital assistance, and government
assistance is considered less transparent and unfair to farmers is sometimes the
officers provide assistance to certain people who feel close with officers even
sometimes not farmers. Climatic conditions and nutritional content of the
declining seawater resulted in decreased seaweed production and production
quality below export standards. Constraints in marketing due to the absence of
KUD and also local companies make seaweed farmers depend entirely on local
collectors.


We provide a microscopic calculation of neutron-proton and neutron-neutron cross sections in symmetric nuclear matter at various densities, using the Brueckner-Hartree-Fock approximation scheme with the Paris potential. We investigate separately the medium effects on the effective mass and on the scattering amplitude. We determine average cross sections suitable for application in the dynamical simulation of heavy ion collisions, including a parametrization of their energy and density dependence. {copyright} {ital 1997} {ital The American Physical Society}


Rain has an important role in the hydrologic cycle. Rainfall (in mm) is the height of rain water which collected in a flat place and assuming that the water does not evaporate, does not sink in, and does not flow. This rainfall data is needed for agriculture and flood prevention, as used as an estimate for the construction of drainage channels, ditches, and irrigation.
A device to measure rainfall is called rain gauge. The rain gauge that is designed in this thesis are expected to measure rainfall automatically using AT89S51 microcontroller which organize and process data from the load cell sensor. Weight data will be generated by the load cell in any specific period, then it will be converted into data in units of millimeters according to standards specified by the WMO (World Meteorological Organization). The processed data will be stored in external memory such as an MMC (Multi Media Card) and sent to the user's computer by using a mobile phone.
The data that has been stored on the MMC in a ". txt" extention can be taken periodically by the user as a data back up and can be read directly by PC . If data is required from a remote area, the user can send instructions to a mobile phone that has been connected with a sensor to transmit the rainfall data at the time.
Keyword: rainfall, microcontroller, loadcell, MMC, mobile phone


Sino-Australian film co-production was founded on a treaty signed in 2007 and implemented in 2008. This article looks at the impetus for Australian and Chinese film-makers to work together and analyses the challenges of Sino-Australia treaty co-production. It addresses the question of why only a few low-profile films have been made after several years. The rewards from the Chinese market remains elusive, but valuable lessons have been learnt. The two case studies examined by this article illustrate Australia's junior partnership with China.


We are in the era called information age. In this era, the role of information and communication is very important because the role of education and training through communication is very effective, and an electronic name has been assigned to the new type of training and learning changes including information gathering, processing and distributing. Interaction of electronic training and knowledge management continuously increases due to unavoidable convergence of these two technologies. In one side, a desired output is the result of learning knowledge integrated with practical skills and experiences. On the other side, if staffs have been trained as well as possible, and be ready for using knowledge, applying and associating it, then knowledge can be managed easily. With regard to benefits of e-learning and its abilities for training, it seems that its integration with current training programs at universities, where common training is provided through integration of traditional learning and e-learning, is unavoidable. This is noticeable in training field that has too many addresses with various interests, experiences and training needs and skills.


Abstract To reduce plastic bag litter, China introduced a nationwide regulation requiring all retailers to charge for plastic shopping bags on 1 June 2008. By using the policy implementation as a natural experiment and collecting individual-level data before and after the implementation, we investigate the impacts of the regulation on consumers' bag use. We find that the regulation implementation caused a 49 per cent reduction in the use of new bags. Besides regulation enforcement, consumers' attitude toward the regulation and some consumers' socioeconomic characteristics also affected bag consumption. However, the regulation effects differ largely among consumer groups and among regions and shopping occasions.


Milgrom's recent revision of Newtonian dynamics was introduced to eliminate the inference that large quantities of invisible mass exist in galaxies. Simple examples show that a Milgrom acceleration, in the form presented so far, imply other far-reaching changes in dynamics. The momentum of an isolated system is not conserved, and the usual theorem for center-of-mass motion of any system does not hold. Naive applications require extreme caution. The model fails to provide a complete description of particle dynamics and should be thought of as a revision of Kepler's laws rather than Newton's. The Milgrom acceleration also implies fundamental changes in cosmology. A quasi-Newtonian calculation adapted from Newtonian cosmology suggests that a Milgrom universe will recollapse even if the classical closure parameter theta is less than 1. The solution, however, fails to satisfy the cosmological principle. Reasons for the breakdown of this calculation are examined. A theory of gravitation needed before the behavior of a Milgrom universe can be predicted.


: The isoelectric spectrum of albumin isolated from the liver and blood serum of 30-, 45- and 90-day rabbits was studied. By the method of isoelectric focusing in the boron-borate buffer--mannitol system. It is shown that the liver albumin displays heterogeneity ans is separated into four-five fractions, with pJ 4.8-6.0. Age peculiarities are found for the isoelectric spectrum of this protein. The serum albumin spectrum for rabbits of the studied age groups is characterized by the presence of a homogeneous peak with pJ 5.59, 5.57 and 5.47 corresponding to 30, 45 and 90-day age, respectively. Identity of serum albumin and protein of some liver albumin spectrum components is established by analyzing the pattern of the isoelectric spectrum for a mixture of preparations of 90-day rabbit proteins under comparison.


ABSTRACT The Reelin signaling pathway operates in migrating neurons and is indispensable for their correct positioning during embryonic brain development. Many biochemical and cell biological studies to dissect the Reelin pathway at the molecular level are hampered by the lack of a cell line harboring a functional Reelin signaling pathway. Here we present fibroblast cell lines in which all required functional components of the pathway have been reconstituted. These cells react upon Reelin treatment in the same way as primary neurons. We have subsequently used these cell lines to study the subcellular localization of ApoER2 and the VLDL receptor and could demonstrate that receptor-mediated Dab1 phosphorylation does not depend on lipid rafts and that phosphorylated Dab1 remains bound to the receptor tail when the pathway is activated by Reelin.


We set up the AdS/CFT correspondence for topologically massive gravity (TMG) in three dimensions. The first step in this procedure is to determine the appropriate fall off conditions at infinity. These cannot be fixed a priori as they depend on the bulk theory under consideration and are derived by solving asymptotically the non-linear field equations. We discuss in detail the asymptotic structure of the field equations for TMG, showing that it contains leading and subleading logarithms, determine the map between bulk fields and CFT operators, obtain the appropriate counterterms needed for holographic renormalization and compute holographically one- and two-point functions at and away from the ``chiral point'' (μ = 1). The 2-point functions at the chiral point are those of a logarithmic CFT (LCFT) with cL = 0,cR = 3l/GN and b = −3l/GN, where b is a parameter characterizing different c = 0 LCFTs. The bulk correlators away from the chiral point (μ ≠ 1) smoothly limit to the LCFT ones as μ → 1. Away from the chiral point, the CFT contains a state of negative norm and the expectation value of the energy momentum tensor in that state is also negative, reflecting a corresponding bulk instability due to negative energy modes.


The equations of electromagnetics are formulated for finite-element analysis using a novel time-integrated electric scalar potential in addition to the conventional magnetic vector potential. The resulting matrix equation is fully equivalent to Maxwell's equations in their general form. The matrices which represent dielectric, conduction, and reluctivity material properties are sparse, banded, symmetric, and positive semidefinite. An initial condition representing electrostatics is also introduced. An analysis of high-frequency charge relaxation in three dimensions is presented to demonstrate formulation generality. With this new formulation, it is possible to treat general behavior, including wave propagation, induction, and charge accumulation, using only four degrees of freedom per grid point in a matrix equation with attractive numerical properties. >


Studies in rodents have implicated various cytokines as paracrine mediators of increased osteoclastogenesis during estrogen deficiency, but increases in RANKL, the final effector of osteoclastogenesis, have not been demonstrated. Thus, we isolated bone marrow mononuclear cells expressing RANKL on their surfaces by two-color flow cytometry using FITC-conjugated osteoprotegerin-Fc (OPG-Fc-FITC) as a probe. The cells were characterized as preosteoblastic marrow stromal cells (MSCs), T lymphocytes, or B lymphocytes by using Ab's against bone alkaline phosphatase (BAP), CD3, and CD20, respectively, in 12 premenopausal women (Group A), 12 early postmenopausal women (Group B), and 12 age-matched, estrogen-treated postmenopausal women (Group C). Fluorescence intensity of OPG-Fc-FITC, an index of the surface concentration of RANKL per cell, was increased in Group B over Groups A and C by two- to threefold for MSCs, T cells, B cells, and total RANKL-expressing cells. Moreover, in the merged groups, RANKL expression per cell correlated directly with the bone resorption markers, serum C-terminal telopeptide of type I collagen and urine N-telopeptide of type I collagen, in all three cell types and inversely with serum 17beta-estradiol for total RANKL-expressing cells. The data suggest that upregulation of RANKL on bone marrow cells is an important determinant of increased bone resorption induced by estrogen deficiency.


Water appears in the atmosphere in a variety of forms, usually referred to by the term hydrometeor, which includes particles as diverse as cloud, rain drops, snowflakes, ice crystals, hail and graupel. Of these, rain, hail, graupel and snow are generally recognised as precipitation. The effects that hydrometeors have on communications systems are dependent both on the system frequency and the type of particle present. At any given instant, of course, more than one type of particle will affect a given link. For example, an earth-space link may often encounter rain over the lower part of the path, and snow at greater heights. We will consider first the various forms of hydrometeor, together with their relevance to radiowave propagation. A brief theoretical framework will then be presented as a background to the model development process and, finally, specific effects of hydrometeors on systems will be considered.


Compartmentalisation of the genome as topologically associating domains (TADs) may have regulatory role in development and cellular functioning, but the, mechanism involved in TAD establishment is still unclear. Here, we present the first high-resolution contact map of Drosophila melanogaster neuronal cells (BG3) and identified different classes of TADs by comparing this to genome organisation in embryonic cells (Kc167). We find new rearrangements during differentiation in neuronal cells reflected as enhanced long-range interactions, which is supported by pronounced enrichment of CTCF at cell type specific borders. Furthermore, we show the presence of strong divergent transcription corroborated with RNA Polymerase II occupancy and increased DNA accessibility at the TAD borders. Interestingly, TAD borders that are specific to neuronal cells are enriched in enhancers controlled by neuronal specific transcription factors. Our results suggest that TADs are dynamic across developmental stages and reflect the interplay between insulators, transcriptional states and enhancer activities.


A N-acetylneuraminate lyase gene (shnal) from Staphylococcus hominis was cloned into pET-28a and expressed in Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3) host cells. The recombinant enzyme was purified and characterized. It is a homotetrameric enzyme with the optimum pH at 8.0 for the cleavage direction and the optimum pH and temperature were 7.5 and 45 degrees C for the synthetic direction. The activity of ShNAL is stable when incubated at 45 degrees C for 2 h but decreased rapidly over 50 degrees C. ShNAL showed high stability in a wide range pH from 5.0 to 10.0 with the residual activity being > 70% when the enzyme was incubated in different buffers at 4 degrees C for 24 h. Its K(m) towards N-acetylneuraminic acid, pyruvate and ManNAc were (4.0 +/- 0.2) mmol/L, (35.1 +/- 3.2) mmol/L and (131.7 +/- 12.1) mmol/L, respectively. The k(cat)/K(m) value of Neu5Ac, ManNAc, and Pyr for ShNAL were 1.9 L/(mmol x s), 0.08 L/(mmol x s) and 0.08 L/(mmol x s), respectively.


This paper analyzes international high-skilled migration caused by financial frictions in educational market. I develop a model of learning in which acquisition of skill is only possible through personal interaction with a skilled individual; the income of the skilled is sensitive to financial constraints for the unskilled. Cross-country differences in such constraints have a multiplicative effect on the skill premium, causing outmigration of skilled individuals from a less developed country. I study welfare implications of such brain drain for the sending and receiving countries. Although it makes more difficult skill acquisition in the sending country, the unskilled may still be better off: increased cost of skill acquisition is offset by higher income once the skill has been acquired. For the receiving country, I identify a phenomenon of immiserizing immigration: a depletion of the stock of skill in the sending country due to brain drain hinders further production of skill, which may hurt the receiving country. Additionally, I find that increased openness of the sending country to migration and the resultant accelerated brain drain increase the incentives of the country government to reduce financial frictions.


Presently, there are more than 22 million Americans older than 65 years, with 1.2 million in long-term care facilities, yet the medical school curriculums and standard textbooks are often devoid of information relative to the care of the aged. As if to mirror our youth-oriented society, there is neglect of the concept that geriatric care requires a special body of psychological, social, and scientific knowledge. This multiauthored volume, prepared under the auspices of the Public Health Service and the American Geriatric Society, is an ambitious and successful attempt to improve this situation. The subject is comprehensively covered, so that the book becomes a resource of information for family practitioners, internists, nurses, social workers, and all others involved with the care of the elderly. Chapters devoted to diagnosis and treatment span the entire range of medical and surgical specialties and focus on modifying the clinical approach so that it will accord


An on-axis plasma density depression channel was observed during and after the passage of a relativistically and ponderomotively self-guided laser pulse through a plasma. Optical interferometry was used to produce time-resolved plasma density distributions, revealing the formation of a plasma waveguide. These results were complemented by the guiding of a collinear trailing pulse.


5114 A clonal human tumor cell line expressing firefly luciferase, MCF-7-luc-F5, was developed from parental MCF-7 breast carcinoma cells and characterized for bioluminescence in vitro and in vivo. As few as twenty cells were detectable in vitro and average bioluminescence measured approximately 680 photons/sec/cell. Tumorigenesis of MCF-7-luc-F5 cells was assessed with and without estrogen supplement in vivo following injection of cells into the mammary fat pad of nude-beige mice. Continuous tumor growth was observed by weekly bioluminescent imaging in mice receiving a slow release (60 day) estrogen pellet implant (0.36 mg/pellet), while no tumor growth occurred in mice without estrogen supplement. Caliper measurements of tumor volume indicated similar results. A kinetic analysis of luciferase activity in vivo demonstrated that peak signals were evident approximately 12-15 minutes after injection of luciferin substrate and were maintained at a relatively stable level for at least another 20-25 minutes. Spontaneous metastasis from the primary mammary fat pad tumor to thoracic and axillary regions was observed in vivo in 50% of the animals. Subsequent ex vivo images and histology identified metastatic sites in lung, rib, or lymph nodes depending on the mouse. Standard drug treatment on primary and secondary tumor growth was also monitored by bioluminescent imaging.


To improve the machine tool accuracy, an integrated geometric error identification and prediction method is proposed to eliminate the positioning inaccuracy of tool ball for a double ball bar (DBB) caused by the rotary axis' geometric errors in a multi-axis machine tool. In traditional geometric errors identification model based on homogenous transformation matrices (HTM), the elements of position-dependent geometric errors(PDGEs) are defifined in the local frames attached to the axial displacement, which is inconvenient to do redundance analysis. Thus, this paper proposed an integrated geometric error identification and prediction method to solve the uncertainty problem of the PDGEs of rotary axis. First, based on homogeneous transform matrix (HTM) and multi-body system (MBS) theory, The transfer matrix only considering the rotary axes is derived to determine the tool point position error model. Then a geometric errors identification of rotary axis is introduced by measuring the error increment in three directions. Meanwhile the geometric errors of C-axis are described as position-dependent truncated Fourier polynomials caused by fitting discrete values. Thus, The geometric error identification is converted to the function coefficient. Finally, the proposed new prediction and identification model of PDGEs in the global frame are verified through simulation and experiments with double ball-bar tests.


This article extends the Margarbe formula such that it suitable for pricing an exchange option in incomplete markets. Despite the fact that prices of an exchange option are characterized by jumps, no study has explored those price jumps of an exchange option. The incompleteness of an exchange option is modeled under two scenarios; (1) Poisson process and (2) risk-neutral martingale measure Q. The results illustrate that incompleteness in an exchange option leads to a positive premium which in turn increases a value of an exchange option.


DLE (Dry Low Emission) techniques are widely used today to reduce the harmful NOx emissions associated with high combustion temperatures. In many DLE systems the fuel and air are pre-mixed which effectively keep the flame temperature as low as possible, ideally equal to the turbine inlet temperature. By using pre-mixing stability issues such as flash back and combustion driven dynamics may occur. Operating the engine with hydrogen diluted natural gas will decrease the flash back limits of the system due to the high diffusivity and highly reactive nature of hydrogen. In this study the stability effects of hydrogen diluted into methane in the Siemens SGT-800 combustor is studied. The SGT-800 combustor is an annular combustor where the flame is stabilized using a swirl burner combined with a sudden expansion combustor. The expansion gives rise to a vortex break down where the flame stabilizes in the local low speed zones. Here a single burner sector is studied using the flow solver Siemens PLM software STAR-CCM+. The turbulence is simulated through the use of LES (Large Eddy Simulation) where the largest energy carrying flow scales are resolved and only the smaller scales are modelled. The chemistry is coupled to the turbulent flow simulation by the use of FGM (Flamelet Generated Manifolds) which are integrated using presumed probability density functions. The FGM approach assumes that the local flame structure is laminar and that all species across a flame can be related to a set of control variables. The control variables in this case are the heat loss, the mixture fraction and its variance and a reaction progress variable. In this paper two effects are studied, first the transition from an atmospheric flame to a pressurized flame and second the effect of hydrogen enrichment. The flame shape and position are mainly affected by the transition from atmospheric to high pressure, where the power density increases by almost a factor of 20. The flame is moving further upstream closer to the burner in all pressurized cases. The hydrogen enrichment plays a strong role in how the combustion driven dynamics is coupling with the acoustics of the rig. The high pressure pure methane case show a strong pressure peak whereas the hydrogen enriched case dampens that peak and distributes the energy to other frequencies. This work shows that high fidelity CFD is capable of capturing complex flow and flame interactions such as thermoacoustic instabilities in industrial scale systems.


This paper describes the modeling and analysis of the dynamics of an electronic load sensing hydraulic system consisting of a load sensing pump, a flow control valve, a hydraulic cylinder and an effective mass representing the linkage inertia. Load sensing hydraulic circuits are prone to instabilities and frequently require hydraulic filters in the form of orifices and control volumes to remove unwanted oscillations. Closed loop controllers for such systems are difficult to design due to the nonlinearities and high order transfer functions. In this paper a linear model is derived from equations of motion, and validated against a nonlinear simulation model based on MATLAB. Then, a third order model is derived that can be used for controller design.


The present invention provides a film having a superior pigment dispersibility, and a high tensile strength and elongation characteristics, and a method for preparing such a film. Generally, the application is directed to a meth)acrylic pigmented film comprising a film forming resin. The film forming resin comprises a (meth)acrylic polymer containing a unit derived from a carboxyl group-containing monomer and a (meth)acrylic polymer containing a unit derived from an amino group-containing monomer. The pigmented film additionally comprises a dispersant selected from the group consisting of a (meth)acrylic polymer containing a unit derived from a hydroxyl group-containing monomer and a (meth)acrylic polymer containing a unit derived from an amino group-containing monomer. Also, the pigmented film comprises a pigment concentrate comprising a pigment dispersed in said dispersant.


Traditional synthetic aperture radar (SAR) autofocusing methods are based on the point-scattering model, which assumes the scattering phases of a target to be a constant. However, as for the distributed target, especially the arc-scattering target, the scattering phase changes with the observation angles, i.e., its scattering phase is time-varying. Hence, the compensated phases are a mixture of the time-varying scattering phases and the motion error phases in the traditional autofocusing methods, which causes the distributed target to be overfocused as a point target. To solve the problem, in this paper, we propose a SAR parametric autofocusing method with generative adversarial network (SPA-GAN), which establishes a parametric autofocusing framework to obtain the correct focused SAR image of the distributed targets. First, to analyze the reason for the overfocused phenomenon of the distributed target, the parametric motion error model of the fundamental distributed target, i.e., the arc-scattering target, is established. Then, through estimating the target parameters from the defocused SAR image, SPA-GAN can separate the time-varying scattering phases from the motion error phases with the proposed parametric motion error model. Finally, by adopting the traditional autofocusing method directly, SPA-GAN can obtain the correct focused image. Extensive simulations and practical experiments are carried out to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.


Asthma is a very significant health problem in children and adolescents, and it is disturbing that this problem is increasing despite recent advances related to asthma pathogenesis and treatment. In this age group, treatment of asthma may be especially challenging because of the need to deal with schools as well as the patient and family, and because of concern for the effects of asthma and asthma therapy on physical and psychological development. Successful asthma therapy in children and adolescents requires close attention to these issues, as well as efforts designed to transfer the responsibility of asthma care from the parent to the adolescent in an age-appropriate fashion.


The Seyitomer basin, which is one of the most productive coal basins of western Anatolia-Turkey, contains two seams, lower and upper, in the Lower-Middle Miocene lacustrine Seyitomer Formation. The lower seam in this basin is only extensively exploited by open-cast methods and produced lignites are mainly consumed in coal-fired power plants. A total of thirty-six lignite samples, of which thirty-one are from the lower seam and five from the upper seam, were collected from the two locations (DK and S30), and have been subjected to chemical and petrographic analyses. The chemical analyses of the coal ash samples with XRF show that the lignite samples on a whole-coal basis are enriched for Cr and especially Ni, and Bi, Co, Cu, Mo, Sc and V, and also exceed the range values of the most world coals. The most abundant maceral group of all the samples is huminite, in which textinite, ulminite and especially densinite are rich. Liptinite group macerals in all the samples, which are considerably higher than the inertinite group macerals, include mainly sporinite and liptodetrinite. The mean values of maximum reflectance (av. 0.29%) in oil of ulminite from the lignite samples in the Seyitomer Basin show a lignite stage (soft brown coal) in rank. In addition, vertical variations of some results in the two lignite seams have been also considered in this study.


In real-world environments it is usually difficult to specify target operating conditions precisely. This uncertainty makes building robust classification systems problematic. We show that it is possible to build a hybrid classifier that will perform at least as well as the best available classifier for any target conditions. This robust performance extends across a wide variety of comparison frameworks, including the optimization of metrics such as accuracy, expected cost, lift, precision, recall, and workforce utilization. In some cases, the performance of the hybrid can actually surpass that of the best known classifier. The hybrid is also efficient to build, to store, and to update. Finally, we provide empirical evidence that a robust hybrid classifier is needed for many real-world problems.


The purpose of the study was to describe the extent to which a formal mentoring relationship met psychosocial needs of beginning agriculture teachers and to describe the extent of satisfaction with the dyad relationship. The accepting sample consisted of Missouri agriculture teachers (n = 40) in their first year of teaching during the 2003-2004 school year, and their formal mentors (n = 40) provided by school districts. Data were collected using the Mentoring Relationship Questionnaire (MRQ) developed by Greiman (2002). This instrument consisted of both a beginning teacher version and mentor version. From the findings of the study it was concluded that formal mentors provide psychosocial assistance to beginning agriculture teachers. Psychosocial assistance was intended to enhance a sense of competence, identity, and effectiveness in beginning teachers and consisted of support encompassing the functions of acceptance, counseling, friendship, role modeling, and social. It was found that beginning agriculture teachers and formal mentors who perceive they are similar to their dyad partner are more likely to have a satisfying mentoring experience. Dyad partners who recognize that they have similar values, attitudes, working styles, and teaching philosophies are more likely to have a positive mentoring experience, successful relationship, and satisfactory interaction.


This paper presents the design and operation of three-stage buck-boost converter with high gain soft switching using closed loop proportional integral (PI) controller. The proposed converter is designed by arranging three identical buck-boost converters working in parallel. The converter units are connected to each other by an inductor as a bridge. This inductor plays a vital role in soft switching operation of converter by maintaining the voltage applied to switches at zero voltage at switching intervals, i.e., the zero-voltage switching (ZVS). The closed-loop system is designed by PI controller, and it maintains the output constant irrespective of changes in input, and the system becomes stable. The proposed converter is efficient in reducing switching losses, leading to improved converter efficiency. Due to parallel operation of three identical converters, the output voltage and input current contain fewer ripples than those of a single converter with same specifications. Proposed converter is more economical and reliable with simpler structure as it utilizes only two inductors as extra elements. The design and analysis of proposed circuit has been carried out in MATLAB Simulink by operating the circuit in various modes.


We describe a set of rendering techniques for an autostereoscopic light field display able to present interactive 3D graphics to multiple simultaneous viewers 360 degrees around the display. The display consists of a high-speed video projector, a spinning mirror covered by a holographic diffuser, and FPGA circuitry to decode specially rendered DVI video signals. The display uses a standard programmable graphics card to render over 5,000 images per second of interactive 3D graphics, projecting 360-degree views with 1.25 degree separation up to 20 updates per second. We describe the system's projection geometry and its calibration process, and we present a multiple-center-of-projection rendering technique for creating perspective-correct images from arbitrary viewpoints around the display. Our projection technique allows correct vertical perspective and parallax to be rendered for any height and distance when these parameters are known, and we demonstrate this effect with interactive raster graphics using a tracking system to measure the viewer's height and distance. We further apply our projection technique to the display of photographed light fields with accurate horizontal and vertical parallax. We conclude with a discussion of the display's visual accommodation performance and discuss techniques for displaying color imagery.


Background The diverse array of phenotypes and lekking behaviors in birds-of-paradise have long excited scientists and laymen alike. Remarkably, almost nothing is known about the genomics underlying this iconic radiation. Currently, there are 41 recognized species of birds-of-paradise, most of which live on the islands of New Guinea. In this study we sequenced genomes of representatives from all five major clades recognized within the birds-of-paradise family (Paradisaeidae). Our aim was to characterize genomic changes that may have been important for the evolution of the group's extensive phenotypic diversity. Results We sequenced three de novo genomes and re-sequenced two additional genomes representing all major clades within the birds-of-paradise. We found genes important for coloration, morphology and feather development to be under positive selection. GO enrichment of positively selected genes on the branch leading to the birds-of-paradise shows an enrichment for collagen, glycogen synthesis and regulation, eye development and other categories. In the core birds-of-paradise, we found GO categories for 'startle response' (response to predators) and 'olfactory receptor activity' to be enriched among the gene families expanding significantly faster compared to the other birds in our study. Furthermore, we found novel families of retrovirus-like retrotransposons active in all three de novo genomes since the early diversification of the birds-of-paradise group, which could have potentially played a role in the evolution of this fascinating group of birds. Conclusion Here we provide a first glimpse into the genomic changes underlying the evolution of birds-of-paradise. Our aim was to use comparative genomics to study to what degree the genomic landscape of birds-of-paradise deviates from other closely related passerine birds. Given the extreme phenotypic diversity in this family, our prediction was that genomes should be able to reveal features important for the evolution of this amazing radiation. Overall, we found a strong signal for evolution on mechanisms important for coloration, morphology, sensory systems, as well as genome structure.


The complete molecule of the title compound, C18H24N2O2, is generated by a crystallographic inversion centre. The torsion angles in the hexamethylene chain are consistent with an antiperiplanar conformation, whereas the conformation of the O—CH2—CH2—CH2 unit is gauche. The three-dimensional crystal packing is stabilized by N—H⋯O and N—H⋯N hydrogen bonding.


Although it has been assumed that synchronized firing of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) neurons is necessary for pulsatile GnRH secretion, there is no clear evidence for this. In the present study we simultaneously recorded spontaneous action potentials from multiple cells. Immortalized GnRH neurons (GT1-7 cells) were cultured on a multi-electrode dish (MED) and action potentials recorded by an extracellular recording method. One to two weeks after the beginning of culture, spontaneous action potentials appeared, exhibiting bursts composed of 5–10 action potentials. Burst activity was intermittent and periodic with mean burst intervals of 13.3 s. Furthermore, burst activity was recorded almost simultaneously from several micro-electrodes, suggesting that electrical activities of GT1-7 cells were synchronized with each other. Periodic bursts were completely and reversibly blocked by 1–5 µM tetrodotoxin, indicating that voltage-dependent Na+ channels are involved in their generation. γ-Aminobutyric acid (GABA) given at a 10-µM concentration shortened inter-burst intervals, whereas 10 µM bicuculline lengthened them. Finally, the gap junctional blockers n-octyl alcohol (1 mM) and carbenoxolone (100 µM) reversibly blocked periodic burst activity. The present study provides direct evidence that the electrical activity of GT1-7 cells exhibits synchronous and periodic bursts composed of action potentials. In addition, endogenous GABA is involved in GT1-7 cells in determining burst frequency. Although the precise mechanism of synchronized burst activities needs to be clarified, gap junctional communications among GT1-7 cells are at least partially involved.


The article deals with the possibility to impose restrictions on human and civil rights and freedoms as one of the constitutional principles of the legal status of an individual in the Russian Federation. It defines the role of the above principle.


Early Precambrian granitic gneiss, mafic schist, and granite, outlined by prominent east-northeast-trending magnetic and gravity anomalies, are extensive in the buried basement of northeastern South Dakota, the southwestern-most extension of the Superior geological province. These rocks were involved in widespread orogenesis about 2500 m.y. ago. In central and western South Dakota equally prominent geophysical anomalies define the trend of middle Precambrian rocks. A middle Precambrian sedimentary succession in the Black Hills was deformed and intruded by granite approximately 1700 m.y. ago. Four distinct metamorphic belts which possibly date mainly from middle Precambrian time are recognized. A large granite terrane in southern South Dakota is tentatively interpreted as having formed 1430 to 1460 m.y. ago. The basement complex in southeastern and central South Dakota is overlain by a sheet of Sioux Quartzite. A new Rb-Sr age determination on a rhyolite suggests that the Sioux Quartzite is at least 1470 m.y. old.


A study of indium-incorporated copper selenide thin-film deposition on a glass substrate using the successive ionic adsorption and reaction method (SILAR) and the resulting properties is presented. The films were formed using these steps: selenization in the solution of diseleniumtetrathionate acid, treatment with copper(II/I) ions, incorporation of indium(III), and annealing in an inert nitrogen atmosphere. The elemental and phasal composition, as well as the morphological and optical properties of obtained films were determined. X-ray diffraction data showed a mixture of various compounds: Se, Cu0.87Se, In2Se3, and CuInSe2. The obtained films had a dendritic structure, agglomerated and not well-defined grains, and a film thickness of ~90 μm. The band gap values of copper selenide were 1.28–1.30 eV and increased after indium-incorporation and annealing. The optical properties of the formed films correspond to the optical properties of copper selenide and indium selenide semiconductors.


This article discusses ethical and diversity challenges involved in implementing ecologically sensitive, systems-oriented research. These issues are considered with reference to a series of community-based interventions dealing with stigma and chronic illness, recovery from substance-use disorders, and prevention of tobacco use. Each of these ecological interventions incorporates a systems approach, which allows an understanding of how individuals affect and are influenced by their social environments. In addition, issues of diversity with respect to underrepresented and marginalized groups are considered, including overcoming obstacles to gaining access to resources and promoting increased opportunities and empowerment. Throughout, the central importance of developing relationships with key gatekeepers and stakeholders, as well as timely and effective communications with various coalition members, is highlighted. By bringing into the research and policy process diverse citizen/participant suggestions and input regarding the need for, or design and implementation of ecologically and systems-based interventions, researchers can build collaborative relationships that fuel trust and partnerships, leading to more ethically responsible research. (PsycINFO Database Record


Background: Despite a rich literature on the cognitive processes underlying spelling, there is little known about the neural substrates of these processes. Aims: The study aimed to identify regions of brain dysfunction associated with impairment of each cognitive process underlying spelling. It was hypothesised that impairments of distinct components of the spelling task would be associated with different areas of low blood flow or infarction in acute stroke patients. Methods & Procedures: Associations between impairment of each component of the spelling process and hypoperfusion and/or infarct of any of 11 Brodmann's areas (BAs) were identified in a consecutive series of 80 patients studied within 24 hours of onset of left hemisphere stroke. Impairment of each component of spelling was identified with tests of written naming, word comprehension, spelling words and pseudowords to dictation, direct and delayed copying, and case transcoding. Infarct and/or hypoperfusion in each BA was identified with MR diffusion-weighted imaging and perfusion-weighted imaging. Significant associations were identified with a correlation matrix, and the strongest associations were confirmed with chi square analysis. Outcomes & Results: Impairments of various cognitive processes were associated with separate regions of tissue dysfunction. Conclusions: It was concluded that spelling involves a network of relatively independent processes that rely on different brain regions.


The world is producing more food than ever. However, the current global food system is failing to provide healthy, sustainable, and affordable choices for everyone, contributing to food insecurity, obesity, and related diseases, environmental problems, and violating the right to adequate food and nutrition. Welthungerhilfe's vision is a world in which everyone has the chance and the right to lead a self-determined life in dignity and justice, free from hunger and poverty. To achieve this, governments must transform current food systems in the public interest, so they connect the well-being of the people to the well-being of our planet. This transition must be centered on the fulfillment of the human right to adequate food and on the understanding that human and planetary health are interdependent.


Quantum phase-slips, which are the exact duals of Josephson junctions (JJs), are promising for several applications in classical and quantum superconducting electronic circuits. The experimental testing of the phase-slip phenomena and identifying these applications has been challenging. In this reported work, the use of a dual to a JJ model to implement a SPICE model of a quantum phase-slip junction (QPSJ) in JSPICE3, in order to explore possible circuit applications, is demonstrated. A transient analysis model of the device is presented and an example of an I–V curve simulation of the device, along with a simulation of a possible circuit application of the device, are also shown.


Purpose: Describe hearing aid use by the elderly population in the city of São Paulo and identify associated factors. Methods: A cross-sectional, descriptive, quantitative study integrated with the SABE (health, wellbeing and aging) project developed in 2006. A total of 1.115 individuals aged 65 or over were interviewed. Sample selection occurred in two stages, with replacement and probabilities proportional to the population to complement those aged 75 or over. Structured questionnaires and validated instruments were used. The data were weighted, the Rao-Scott test was used for univariate analysis and backward stepwise logistic regression was used for multivariate analysis, performed on Stata 10 software. Results: Three hundred and seventy-seven subjects (30.4%) were classified as hearing impaired and 10.1% of these reported using hearing aids. To acquire the devices, 78.8% used their own resources and 16.9% acquired them through the Brazilian public health system (SUS). Among non-users of hearing aids, 16.6% reported prior indication; however, 8.6% were unable to adapt to the device and 8.0% could not afford to acquire one. Hearing aid use was associated with lower prevalence of probable dementia. Conclusion: The low number of hearing aid users indicates the difficulties elderly people face in acquiring them and/or that the health services face in effectively helping them to adapt. These findings may influence the quality of life of elderly with hearing impairment, given the association with probable dementia revealed by this study.


This work outlines the design and implementation of an algorithm to simulate two-polarisation bowed string motion, for the purpose of realistic sound synthesis. The algorithm is based on a physical model of a linear string, coupled with a bow, stopping fingers, and a rigid, distributed fingerboard. In one polarisation, the normal interaction forces are based on a nonlinear impact model. In the other polarisation, the tangential forces between the string and the bow, fingers, and fingerboard are based on a force-velocity friction curve model, also nonlinear. The linear string model includes accurate time-domain reproduction of frequencydependent decay times. The equations of motion for the full system are discretised with an energy-balanced finite difference scheme, and integrated in the discrete time domain. Control parameters are dynamically updated, allowing for the simulation of a wide range of bowed string gestures. The playability range of the proposed algorithm is explored, and example synthesised gestures are demonstrated.


Salicylate intoxication has been investigated in young baboons. The results of these studies are similar to these previously obtained in man. Acidosis appears to be of considerable importance in the pathogenesis of infantile salicylism as it enhances the passage of salicylate into the CSF. The CSF concentration of salicylate seems to be of major physiologic importance in this condition. Moreover, the serum concentration of free salicylate correlates more closely with the CSF concentration of salicylate than does the total serum concentration of salicylate.


Today's science campaigns consist of multiple tasks with wide-ranging data and computing requirements, and rarely are all the required capabilities found in current in situ workflow systems. In this work, we explore providing increased capabilities for scientific computing by bringing new capabilities to in situ workflows: a flexible interface for workflow specification, heterogeneous task placement, and dynamic changes to the workflow task graph. We evaluate our approach using materials science and cosmology use cases. Our results show that our approach (i) can save time and resources in science workflows exhibiting dynamic patterns by enabling dynamic workflow changes during their lifetime; (ii) enables easier specification of large-scale workflows consisting of subgraphs and ensemble computations; (iii) efficiently coordinates heterogeneous tasks by enabling free intermixing of time and space partitioning, thus resulting in time and space savings.


The prototypic member of the acetylcholine receptor family, the muscle nicotinic receptor, is a heteromeric complex with five subunits but only two ligand-binding sites. However, some members of this receptor superfamily are homomeric, containing five seemingly identical binding sites. Whether activation actually requires binding of five agonist molecules in this situation is unclear. Such questions cannot be answered using classical pharmacological methods. Thus Beato et al. analyzed the single-channel activity of recombinant glycine receptors containing five 1 subunits, the principal juvenile form of this inhibitory synaptic receptor. The channels opened more efficaciously as the glycine concentration increased, but gating saturated when three glycine molecules were bound. They could not resolve whether the fourth and fifth bindings occur or are silent. The three out of five odds may be a general rule, because similar results have been suggested for homomeric GABAC and 5-HT3 channels. ΠDevelopment/Plasticity/Repair The Mouse Repulsive Guidance Molecule (RGM) Family


The volume of deadwood increases annually because of changes in environmental, climatic, and hydrological conditions. On the other hand, during the last decade, manufacturers of wood-based boards have been facing an acute problem of a shortage of conventional raw materials. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the possibility of using wood particles from deadwood in the production of particleboards. Three-layer particleboards with different content of deadwood particles (0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, 100%) were produced. Conventional urea-formaldehyde (UF) resin was used for gluing the particles. The physical and mechanical properties of the boards, as well as the formaldehyde content in the boards, were determined. In addition, the effect of adding melamine-urea-formaldehyde (MUF) resin to UF adhesive on the properties of the boards was investigated. Replacing conventional sound wood particles with deadwood particles leads to deterioration of the physical and mechanical properties of the boards. The boards from deadwood particles absorb more water and swell more. The bending strength (MOR), modulus of elasticity in bending (MOE), and internal bonding (IB) values for boards with 100% deadwood particles are reduced by 26.5%, 23.1%, and 72.4%, respectively, compared to reference boards from sound wood particles. Despite this, a significant advantage is that boards made from 100% deadwood particles are characterized by 34.5% less formaldehyde content than reference boards made from conventional sound wood. Moreover, adding 3% of MUF resin to UF adhesive increases MOR, MOE, and IB by 44.1%, 43.3%, and 294.4%, respectively.


Using a radioimmunological method performed in the presence and absence of the acetylcholine agonist decamethonium (DC), it was demonstrated that 98% of myasthenia gravis (MG) patients' sera (positive for anti-acetylcholine receptor (anti-AChR) antibody titres in the conventional assay) contain antibodies that block the binding of alpha bungarotoxin (alpha Bgt) to human AChR. The positive effect of myasthenic immunoglobulins against the alpha Bgt toxicity was revealed by a test devised to investigate the biological significance of these blocking antibodies in vivo in Balb/c mice. IgG from sera containing blocking antibodies, detected either directly or in the presence of DC, protected the mice treated (24 of 25); nevertheless no overt clinical signs of a myasthenic syndrome were observed. Control IgG, from normal human sera or from a systemic lupus erythematosus patient, provided no protection (22 dead out of 26). IgG from MG sera devoid of anti-AChR antibodies (eight out of eight) and IgG from serum containing anti-AChR antibodies but devoid of blocking antibodies offered no defence against alpha Bgt toxicity (13 dead out of 15). The pathological role of blocking antibodies, cell mediated immunity or other mechanisms is discussed.


In this work, we introduce a new variant of online gradient descent, which provably converges to Nash Equilibria and simultaneously attains sublinear regret for the class of congestion games in the semi-bandit feedback setting. Our proposed method admits convergence rates depending only polynomially on the number of players and the number of facilities, but not on the size of the action set, which can be exponentially large in terms of the number of facilities. Moreover, the running time of our method has polynomial-time dependence on the implicit description of the game. As a result, our work answers an open question from (Du et. al, 2022).


Mechanical property of bone is inhomogeneous and the range of its variation depends on individual. It influences on the total stiffness and stress condition of the bone. Therefore, mechanical analysis considering inhomogeneous property of the bone is necessary for patients oriented evaluation of bone in clinic. If the finite element method is used, the inhomogeneous analysis is possible by giving a material property to an element one by one. So that, extreme fine meshing is required for precise analysis of bone with inhomogeneous property. In this study, we improved the "ADVENTURE system", which had developed by JSPS (Japan Society for the Promotion of Science) as a large-scale finite element analysis system, to be applicable to stress analysis of inhomogeneous bone problems. We applied the improved program to a composite beam model with graded material property and ensured is validity by comparing between the theoretical and calculated results. Furthermore, it was applied to stress analysis of proximal femur based on CT images and its efficiency was discussed.


The pioneering work in the area of millimeter waves, performed by J. C. Bose, a physicist from Calcutta, India, during 1894-1900, is reviewed and appraised. Various measurement techniques and circuit components, developed by him a hundred years ago, are still being used. The development of the electromagnetic horn, the point-contact detector, and the galena (semiconductor) detector of electromagnetic waves are attributed to the original research of J.C. Bose.


To understand how decisions to invest in stocks are taken, economists need to elicit expectations relative to expected risk-return trade-off. One of the few surveys which have included such questions is the Survey of Economic Expectations in 1999-2001. Using this survey, Dominitz and Manski find an important heterogeneity across respondents that can hardly be accounted for by simple models of expectations formation. This paper claims that much of the heterogeneity derives from pathologies affecting respondents. Adapting a principle of dual-reasoning borrowed from Kahneman, we classify respondents according to their sensitivity to these pathologies, and find a strong homogeneity across the less sensitive respondents. We then sketch a model of expectation formation.


Tumors arising within the cranial cavity are, without doubt, of far more frequent occurrence than is generally believed. Not infrequently postmortem examinations reveal the presence of a growth involving the brain which gave few or no symptoms antemortem. It has long been conceded that the brain is a favorite site of new formations, and that among the more frequent type of tumors found in new growths of the brain, glioma holds a very high percentage. Glioma may vary in size from that of a hazelnut to that of a fist, or even larger. There is no sharply defined line of demarcation from the surrounding brain substance as a rule, and, in contradistinction to many other types of neoplasm involving the brain, this type of tumor does not extend by pressure, but rather by infiltration of the brain substance, destroying normal nerve cells and fibers and replacing them by pathologic tissue.


The contribution of inflammation to the progression of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and prion diseases is poorly understood. Brain inflammation in animal models of these diseases is dominated by chronic microglial activation with minimal proinflammatory cytokine expression. However, these inflammatory cells are "primed" to produce exaggerated inflammatory responses to subsequent lipopolysaccharide (LPS) challenges. We show that, using the ME7 model of prion disease, intracerebral challenge with LPS results in dramatic interleukin-1β (IL-1β) expression, neutrophil infiltration, and inducible nitric oxide synthase expression in the brain parenchyma of prion-diseased mice compared with the same challenge in normal mice. Systemic inflammation evoked by LPS also produced greater increases in proinflammatory cytokines, pentraxin 3, and inducible nitric oxide synthase transcription in prion-diseased mice than in control mice and induced microglial expression of IL-1β. These systemic challenges also increased neuronal apoptosis in the brains of ME7 animals. Thus, both central and peripheral inflammation can exacerbate local brain inflammation and neuronal death. The finding that a single acute systemic inflammatory event can induce neuronal death in the CNS has implications for therapy in neurodegenerative diseases.


Recently the pre-salt development is a great challenge for Petrobras regarding the offshore exploration and production activities. The pre-salt area comprises several ultra-deepwater fields located far off the Brazilian coast.In order to flow the produced gas of these pre-salt fields, Petrobras has planned to install large diameter gas export pipelines as trunklines. The design of large diameter gas pipelines in ultra-deepwater of about 2200m has hydrostatic collapse and installation loadings being the major issues to be faced by the technical team. Reduction of pipeline wall thicknesses may improve the technical and economic feasibility of its installation in ultra-deepwater and sometimes can also increase the number of laying barges / vessels able to perform the installation. However, reduction in wall thickness is only feasible if the pipeline integrity under external pressure as well as under combined loadings is ensured in accordance with the applicable design code and the engineering best practices.This paper presents the assessment of some design parameters able to reduce the wall thicknesses along the pipeline length, while keeping the commitment to the engineering good practices and complying with all requirements of the DNV-OS-F101 design code. In order to illustrate the assessment, this paper presents results of two gas pipelines designed in accordance with DNV standards, one of them being optimized. The benefits of this optimization are emphasized in this work.© 2013 ASME


Protists engaging in photo- and phago- mixotrophy (mixoplankton) are common members of the global plankton community. They are involved in primary production and contribute to the carbon and nutrient cycling. Two major mixoplankton functional types (MFTs) are considered based upon the origin of their photosynthetic abilities: innate for constitutive-mixoplankton (CM) and obtained from prey for non-constitutive mixoplankton (NCM). Regardless of their significance, little attention has been paid to their diversity and temporal succession. We performed a metabarcoding survey of the V4-18S rRNA gene in 92 surface water samples collected during 2018–2019 in five fixed stations of the Belgian Coastal Zone. Environmental data such as nutrients, sea surface temperature, salinity, Chl-a and light were collected to understand their influences over mixoplankton community changes. The temporal diversity of mixotrophs, autotrophs, and heterotrophs was analyzed and the distinct seasonal patterns were evidenced. Results showed that dinoflagellates and ciliates were the major mixoplankton contributors. There were no significant differences among protist communities between the stations sampled. The time-series showed high proportional abundances of CM, accounting in average for 24.4% of the reads, against the low contribution of NCM, 4.8%. CM dinoflagellates belonging to Heterocapsa, Alexandrium, Karlodinium, and Tripos genus were the most abundant, and co-occurred with strict autotrophic plankton. Strombidium genus ciliates were the most representative organisms for NCM. Mixoplankton showed lower diversity than autotrophs and heterotrophs throughout the time series, however, the environmental factors controlling the seasonal community shifts (β-diversity) were similar. Overall, the metabarcoding approach allowed to depict with high resolution the composition of mixoplankton and its diversity among auto- and heterotrophs in the Belgian Coastal Zone.


Staphylococcal enterotoxin B is a potent mitogen for mouse and human lymphocytes. Mitogenic activity was retained after detoxification of the enterotoxin by formaldehyde at pH 5.0, 7.5, OR 9.5. The most active toxoid (pH 7.5) was separated into a monomeric, a dimeric, and a polymeric fraction (1 x 10(5) to 3 x 10(5) molecular weight) by gel filtration, and although each fraction demonstrated mitogenic activity, the polymeric fraction was clearly the most efficacious. These data show that mitogenicity of staphylococcal enterotoxin B does not depend on toxicity. This suggests that the mitogenic and toxic activities are effected by different sites on the molecule.


A remarkable characteristic of earthquakes is their clustering in time and space, displaying their self‐similarity. It remains to be tested if natural and induced earthquakes share the same behavior. We study natural and induced earthquakes comparatively in the same tectonic setting at the Coso Geothermal Field. Covering the preproduction and coproduction periods from 1981 to 2013, we analyze interevent times, spatial dimension, and frequency‐size distributions for natural and induced earthquakes. Individually, these distributions are statistically indistinguishable. Determining the distribution of nearest neighbor distances in a combined space‐time‐magnitude metric, lets us identify clear differences between both kinds of seismicity. Compared to natural earthquakes, induced earthquakes feature a larger population of background seismicity and nearest neighbors at large magnitude rescaled times and small magnitude rescaled distances. Local stress perturbations induced by field operations appear to be strong enough to drive local faults through several seismic cycles and reactivate them after time periods on the order of a year.


Photolysis of solutions of M(CO)(6) (M = Cr, W) at low temperature in the presence of hydrogen gas affords Cr(CO)(5)(H(2)) (1) and W(CO)(5)(H(2)) (2). Complexes 1 and 2 are characterized as dihydrogen complexes based on short T(1) values for the hydride resonances and the observation of a large HD coupling in the HD derivatives. Irradiation of a phosphine-substituted derivative (PMe(3))Cr(CO)(5) in the presence of hydrogen gas gave similar results. Thus cis-(PMe(3))Cr(CO)(4)(H(2)) (3) and trans-(PMe(3))Cr(CO)(4)(H(2)) (4) were prepared and characterized by (1)H and (31)P NMR spectroscopy. When the photolysis reactions were carried out in methylene chloride, solvent binding competitive with hydrogen binding was observed. This was not observed in less coordinating solvents such as alkanes. Subsequent displacement of solvent by H(2) leads to the dihydrogen complexes. Complexes 1 and 2 are moderately acidic, with deprotonation effected by mild bases.