The actin cytoskeleton has for decades been known to be important in the process of T-cell recognition of antigen. Upon receiving stimulus from T-cell receptors (TCRs), the T-cell cytoskeleton adopts a pattern of radially symmetric, centripetal flow that imposes multi-micrometer scale organization on the protein complement of a T-cell membrane. Many of the details of the interactions between actin and cell surface receptors remain unknown; of particular interest are the connections to TCRs themselves. The actin cytoskeleton appears to modulate TCR-mediated signaling, and thus T-cell behaviors, on a number of levels. On the level of single TCR molecules and oligomers, the presence of actin affects TCR-antigen recognition by altering binding kinetics through mechanisms that are still unclear. On a larger spatial and longer temporal level, actin drives the formation and centripetal movement of small TCR assemblies whose radial distribution correlates with their signaling state. Little is known about the local organization and dynamics of the actin cytoskeleton around these assemblies. A more complete understanding of the process of T-cell activation depends on the ability to characterize the involvement of actin in detail.This thesis describes how the T-cell actin cytoskeleton locally reacts to TCR assemblies, how it modulates the kinetics of the TCR-antigen interaction, and what role myosin IIA plays in organization of and signaling by TCRs. Direct imaging of actin reveals that the cytoskeletal network transiently slows and compresses at sites of mobility-limited T-cell receptors. Actin disruption during direct observation of antigen peptide binding to TCRs shows that the presence of a functional cytoskeleton increases the rate of antigen unbinding from these receptors. Tracking and disruption of labeled myosin IIA indicates that the motor protein helps but is not required for proper establishment of T-cell membrane organization, but it is necessary for appropriate calcium influx into the T-cell cytoplasm during activation. For all of these observations and others, new experimental and analytical methods are developed or applied.


In their book Governing Security Les Johnston and Clifford Shearing argue that the state has lost its monopoly on the governance of security. Private security arrangements have formed a networked governance of security in which the criminal law of the state is just one of the many knots or 'nodes' of the security network. Johnston and Shearing consider On Crimes and Punishment, written by Cesare Beccaria in the 18th century, as the most important statement of the classical security program which has withered away in the networked governance of the risk society. This article critizes the way Johnston and Shearing analyze Beccaria's social contract theory and it formulates a Beccarian theory of the criminal law and nodal governance which explains the causes of crime and the rise of nodal governance and defends the central role of the state in anchoring security arrangements based on private contracts and property rights.


We report the first-principles evidence of a series of two-dimensional triferroics (ferromagnetic + ferroelectric + ferroelastic), which can be obtained by doping transition-metal ions in group-IV monochalcogenide (SnS, SnSe, GeS, GeSe) monolayers, noting that a ferromagnetic Fe-doped SnS2 monolayer has recently been realized (Li B et al 2017 Nat. Commun. 8 1958). The ferroelectricity, ferroelasticity and ferromagnetism can be coupled and the magnetization direction may be switched upon ferroelectric/ferroelastic switching, rendering electrical writing + magnetic reading possible. They can be also two-dimensional half-metals or diluted magnetic semiconductors, where p/n channels or even multiferroic tunneling junctions can be designed by variation in doping and incorporated into a monolayer wafer.


Nonprofit Organizations and Civil Society in the United States-Kelly LeRoux 2014-11-13 LeRoux and Feeney's Nonprofit Organizations and Civil Society in the United States makes a departure from existing nonprofit texts on the market: rather than focus on management, it focuses on nonprofit organizations and their contributions to the social, political, and economic dimensions of society. The book also covers the nexus between nonprofits and civil society. This text offers a theory-oriented undergraduate introduction to the nonprofit field and an examination of the multifaceted roles these organizations play in American society.


Aminoglutethimide is an investigational agent of proven benefit in the treatment of metastatic breast carcinoma. We report herein a case of aminoglutethimide-induced pancytopenia complicated by bleeding and gram-negative septicemia. Severe pancytopenia is a rare but important side effect of this new drug and is rapidly reversible when the agent is withdrawn.


In response to the growing market demand for high-performance wireless local area networks (WLANs) with quality-of-service (QoS) support, the IEEE 802.11 standard adopts the 802.11e as the medium access protocol and 802.11n-based products, which utilize multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) transmission systems. The medium access collision avoidance of IEEE 802.11e, even with IEEE 802.11n at the physical layer, still utilizes the enhanced distributed coordination function (EDCF) mechanism. It is known that collisions cause significant performance degradation in IEEE 802.11e EDCF-based systems. In this paper, we utilize the multiple spatial channels of MIMO technology to propose collision-mitigation enhancements to the IEEE 802.11e EDCF. The key idea of the scheme, which is called MIMO-based EDCF (M-EDCF), is the sharing of the spatial channels during the medium contention period, i.e., instead of accessing the medium using all the spatial channels, the accessing nodes use a subset of the available spatial channels. As the number of concurrent spatial channels used is less than or equal to the spatial degree of freedom, receivers can decode the transmitted signals of different medium access contenders and then coordinate their responses to avoid potential collisions. The spatial channel sharing also enables transmitters to sense the medium and terminate if they detect other ongoing medium access attempts. Simulation results show that the M-EDCF scheme substantially reduces medium access collisions. Based on the preliminary results, an adaptive optimized length of the collision-avoidance window is derived. The performance of the M-EDCF scheme based on optimized online spatial channel sharing demonstrates that the scheme further reduces medium access collisions and boosts medium utilization.


Power system deregulation and the shortage of transmission capacities have led to increased interests in distributed generation sources (DGs). The high penetration of distributed generation (DG) units at the distribution level have a profoundly influence on grid security, operation, planning, etc. Therefore, based on the back/forward sweep methods, this paper presents a power flow method for radial distribution networks with DGs. To improve robustness and enhance convergence rate of the solution method, we developed an efficient branch and nodal numbering scheme and employed variable step-size factor and next-linked branch matrix. Meanwhile, a computer program implementing the solution scheme was developed and successfully applied to several practical and complex radial distribution networks. The results show that the proposed method has excellent convergence rate and is simple, flexible, reliable and very robust while maintaining necessary accuracy. It is available to calculate power flow for radial distribution network with multi-source and multi-type DGs. The solutions are given and compared with the results acquired with existing software to verify the proposed approaches.


In a previous study by the authors, steady flow fields in a model of abdominal aorta with its seven peripheral branches were reported. In the present study, the some aorta model was simulated numerically with a pulsatile inlet waves for both the resting and exercise conditions. The baseline pulsatile flow field was presented in terms of velocity vectors and iso-velocity contours as well as the wall shear stress (WSS) distribution and the recirculation zones. The time-averaged behavior of the flow field represented by the fluid dynamic factors was discussed. The results were consistent with those obtained experimentally and numerically by other investigators. It was also found that under the present conditions, the steady flow behavior could adequately describe the time-averaged behavior of its corresponding pulsatile case, particularly in the regions where convective flow dominated. The present computer code may provide a platform for clinical simulations.


The total loss of identical 3-phase, 3-limb, mitred and staggered cores assembled from 0.3 mm thick, conventional high permeability and laser scribed grain oriented silicon iron have been compared. The croes built from conventional material produced the best improvements when staggered and these were chosen to carry out further investigation to examine the effect of the stacking number and the T-joint design on the power loss of the cores. The power loss generally increased as the stagger length was increased, but an optimum stagger length range was determined at which the power loss was lowest. The percentage improvement in the power loss due to the introduction of the staggered technique is dependent upon the orientation of the material and the T-joint design. The best loss reduction compared to a mitred core of the same rating was around 5% using a core assembled from conventional material.


A Poisson{Voronoi tessellation (PVT) is a tiling of the Euclidean plane in which centers of individual tiles constitute a Poisson (cid:12)eld and each tile comprises the locations that are closest to a given center with respect to a prescribed norm. Many spatial systems in which rare, randomly distributed centers compete for space should be well approximated by a PVT. Examples that we can handle rigorously include multitype threshold vote automata , in which (cid:20) different camps compete for voters stationed on the two-dimensional lattice. According to the deterministic, discrete-time update rule, a voter changes af(cid:12)liation only to that of a unique opposing camp having more than (cid:18) representatives in the voter's neighborhood. We establish a PVT limit for such dynamics started from completely random con(cid:12)gurations, as the number of camps becomes large, so that the density of initial \pockets of consensus" tends to 0. Our methods combine nucle- ation analysis, Poisson approximation, and shape theory.


The drag force of turbulence of flowing streams requires energy to overcome. Although the research reported is directed to the flow of water over a submarine or a ship there may be other applications such as air flow over an airplane or oil bubbling through a pipeline. Some drying applications, particularly for high value specialized products, might benefit with lower energy requirements and less effect on the product if the drag force could be reduced. An unique and creative approach is to use electromagnetic tiles or panels over which the fluid flows. These tiles consist of electrodes and magnets over which the flow occurs, utilizing a Lorentz field. Computer simulations of turbulent ocean-water flow illustrate that the drag force could be reduced by 30%.Other approaches to reducing drag force include vibrating the surface at a specific frequency using sensors to relate the turbulence and surface conditions. ''The favorable comparison between the power saved suggests that electromagnetic excitations with discrete tiles and an open-loop multiphase pulsing pattern can be an efficient way of suppressing wall turbulence and obtaining substantial drag reduction.''


Part 1 Classical and Marxian economics: expenditure patterns and international trade in Quesney's tableau economique the role of demand in Adam Smith's theory of natural price the labour theory of value in the Ricardian theory of international trade Ricardo and Morishima on machinery comments on Ekelund "Mill's Recantation of the Wages Fund" Thornton's criticism of equilibrium theory and mill on equilibrium and disequilibrium - a reply to Ekelund and Thommesen F.D. Longe and refutation of classical theory of capital Marx and Bohm-Bawerk in the theory of interest Marx and Bohm-Bawerk Samuelson, Saigal and Emmanuel's theory of international unequal exchange. Part 2 Marginal revolution and after: studies of von Thunen in Japan a note on Jevons's law of indifference and competitive equilibrium competition and the number of participants - lessons of Edgeworth's theorem Bertrand's duopoly considered as an Edgeworth's game of exchange non-Walrasian foundations of macroeconomics Wicksell's missing equation - a comment Wicksell's missing equation and Bohm-Bawerks three causes of interest in a stationary state economic structure and the theory of economic equilibrium on the non-existence of equilibrium comment, minisymposium, the history of economics and the history of science.


Careers in Medicine. By various authors. Edited by P. 0. Williams, M.A.(Cantab.), M.B., B.Chir., M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P. Foreword by Denis Brinton, D.M., F.R.C.P. (Pp. 265. 15s.) London: Hodder and Stoughton Medical Publications. 1952. Although there has been a good deal of talk about the selection of medical students, little has been said about their choice of careers after graduation. The present book is intended to fill this hiatus, and it fills it very well. It confines itself to describing the opportunities available, which is commendable in these days when so many people are infected with the desire to regulate other people's lives. Sociologists have discovered that in stable cultures the average man is capable of filling the different offices in society, and we have recently seen that it is all too easy to produce an excess of neurosurgeons or thoracic surgeons or other once rarae aves. This is not to say that men are equal but rather that the qualities which differentiate them and the manner in which these qualities are displayed will be different in the Welfare State from what they were in the acquisitive society. The process of self-selection for the higher posts in medicine has been less rigorous since the initial steps to specialization have become so deceptively easy, but the law of supply and demand continues to act, if anything more rigorously than before. The mistake of the men who have crowded into training posts since the wvar is that they have not shown enough awareness of the state of the market for consultants. There is still a sellers' market for psychiatrists, radiotherapists, casualty surgeons, and in several other branches, but general physicians and surgeons have long been in excessive supply. This is in part due to an out-of-date and layman's view of relative values in medicine. As this book shows, the clinical pathologist and the diagnostic radiologist are becoming the key figures in the practice of medicine, ro,und whom the hospitals and the work of consultation revolve, and the heyday of the Dawsons and Moynihans has passed. It is a defect in our medical education that the student entering medicine, usually with the idea of general practice, is kept for six to nine years in an artificial environment and is not shown the variety of work available. Here,' in this book, are nearly 50 authors writing about as many different careers-in the basic sciences and academic units; in medicine, surgery, obstetrics, and pathology, with their numerous specialties and ancillary services; in legal and social medicine, and in the Armed Forces and public services at home and overseas. The writers describe not only their work, but also training, prospects, and opportunities for travel and membership of societies. General practice is ably discussed by Dr. G. 0. Barber, but the subject is hardly given enough space in comparison with that devoted to the specialties. There is an appendix on higher qualifications, diplomas, and courses. The conclusion appears to be that with the coming of a comprehensive health service much has been gained and something lost for those making a career in medicine, and the contributors to this volume are all happy in their work. L. J. Wirrs.


Viscous dissipation is the production of heat due to the slip of fluid layers and can raise the temperature of the fluid that is affected by high shear stresses. This raise of temperature in fluids with explosive properties can cause the explosion during the processing. The present paper investigates the temperature distribution of an explosive fluid beside the wall of a converging tube. This study has been done by using the computational fluid dynamics and OpenFOAM software. The studied cases contain the fluid with two viscosities (50 and 500 kg/m × s) and two inlet conditions (constant and developed velocity profile). The results of this study show that at the end of a converging pipe, duo to the viscous dissipation effects, the temperature rise for high viscosity fluid is more intensive and this is a dangerous fact for high viscosity explosive fluids discharging. Also, it has been considered that the constant inlet velocity is safer in comparison with the developed profile, as the slope of temperature rise is less.


Introduction: The quality of education sector is worth considering as this system has a significant effect on the economic growth of the country. This study aimed to determine the quality gap and rank the student's expectation of educational services provided in Shiraz University of Medical Sciences in 2013.Method: This research included two cross-sectional phases. The sample size of both phases included 220 students selected using multistage sampling. Servqual questionnaire was used in the first study which was designed to find the quality gap of the education system's services. The data were entered into the SPSS statistical software and analyzed using descriptive statistics and Paired-Sample T-Test. Kano's two-dimensional questionnaire was used in the second phase. Each indicator of quality which had a negative gap at a significance level of 5% in the first study was introduced to Kano's two-dimensional questionnaire. Finally, better value and worse value formulas were used to analyze the data obtained in this step.Results: The results revealed that all quality items had a significance negative gap which were recognized as the voice of customers (P<0.05). Frequency analysis was done to determine the frequency of repetition. Accordingly, 11 out of the 30 requirements were identified as must be requirements and 19 as one-dimensional requirements.Conclusion: This study can help the authorities prioritize their policies, strategies and decisions in order to improve and guarantee the higher education quality and extremity obtains customer satisfaction.Keywords: Educational services, Expectations, Perceptions, Servqual, Kano model


Abstract Direct and indirect effects of industrial development have contributed, in part, to the threatened status of boreal ecotype caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) in Alberta and Canada. Our goal was to develop a model that would allow managers to identify landscape-scale targets for industrial development, while ensuring functional habitat for sustainable caribou populations. We examined the relationship between functional habitat loss resulting from cumulative effects of natural and anthropogenic disturbance, and the rate of population change (λ) for 6 populations of boreal caribou in Alberta, Canada. We defined functional habitat loss according to 2 variables for which we had a priori reasons to suspect causative associations with λ: 1) percentage area of caribou range within 250 m of anthropogenic footprint, and 2) percentage of caribou range disturbed by wildfire within the last 50 years. Multiple regression coefficients for both independent variables indicated significant effects on λ. The 2-predictor model explained 96% (R2) of observed variation in λ among population units (F2,3 = 35.2, P = 0.008). The model may be used to evaluate plans for industrial development in relation to predicted wildfire rates and goals for caribou population growth rates.


Femoral artery blood samples from 30 unanesthetized unrestrained nonpanting dogs were analyzed. Average normal pH was 7.42 (sd 0.03), mean Po2 89.5 mm Hg (sd 4.4), and Pco2 36.8 mm Hg (sd 2.4). pH was determined with a glass electrode. Pco2 was measured using a Severinghaus electrode. Po2 was determined with a Clark-type polarographic polypropylene-covered electrode. Measurements were made at 39 C (normal dog rectal temperature). blood gas; Clark electrode; Severinghaus electrode


I give an example of a skew-shift Schrodinger operator with positive Lyapunov exponent in the spectrum for all positive coupling constant with constant frequency. This is the first example of this kind.
The proof is based on CMV operators given by the skew-shift. Further results on these are derived.


IN THIS ISSUE of theArchives, Suetake et al 1 provide detailed results about barrier function in various types of healing wounds. While these data per se are of considerable interest, the authors also report that an abnormal permeability barrier persists over hypertrophic scars and keloids, long after reepithelialization of wounds is complete. Whereas their results do not address the potential mechanisms for the persistent functional defect, 3 possible explanations, which need not be mutually exclusive, should be considered: (1) a primary defect in the dermis of patients with hypertrophic scars and keloids leads to signals that negatively influence barrier homeostasis; (2) the excess collagen and glycosaminoglycans found in the dermis of keloids impede the ability of key nutritional ingredients, metabolic precursors, and/or growth factors to reach the epidermis; and (3) a defect in the epidermis leads to a persistent barrier abnormality, resulting in a sustained release of signaling molecules


On the origin of the cinematic odyssey Kubrick remarks: \'I do not remember when I got the idea to do the film. I became interested in extraterrestrial intelligence in the universe, and was convinced that the universe was *full* of intelligent life, and so it seemed time to make a film\'. But as to the confusion surrounding the film upon its release, and in particular many thinking Floyd had gone to the \'planet\' Clavius he said: \'Why they think there\'s a planet Clavius I\'ll never know. But they hear him [Floyd] asked, \'Where are you going?\', and he says, \'I\'m going to Clavius\'. With many people -- *boom* -- that one word registers in their heads and they don\'t look at fifteen shots of the moon; they don\'t see he\'s going to the Moon\'. At the same time he rhetorically asked: \'How could we possibly appreciate the Mona Lisa if Leonardo had written at the bottom of the canvas: \'The lady is smiling because she is hiding a secret from her lover\'. This would shackle the viewer to reality, and I don\'t want this to happen to _2001_\'.


The thermal variation of the number of domains (nd) for Fe7S8 particles (within the size range 1-30 mm and between 20 and 300°C), has been inferred from the room temperature analytic expression between nd and particle size (L), the temperature dependences of the anisotropy energy constant (K) and the spontaneous magnetization (Ms) and, an assumed expression for the domain wall energy (Ew). It is found that nd increases or decreases with temperature rise depending on whether the inferred K(T) dependence is based on many defects in a domain wall, controlled by the volume reduction effect or the magnetostatic effect respectively. In either case however, nd is very weakly dependent on T which therefore points to a fixed domain multiplicity in the Fe7S8 particles within the temperature range specified. Based on this conclusion, it is suggested that the nucleation or denucleation of domain walls may be difficult processes in the acquisition of thermoremanent magnetization (TRM) in Fe7S8 particles. JOURNAL OF THE GHANA SCIENCE ASSOCIATION Volume 1 Number 1, July (1998) pp. 118-125


Background In a previous study, we reported clinical and radiographic results of our modified Salter innominate osteotomy technique in 16 hips affected by Legg-Calvé-Perthes disease (LCPD) with an average follow-up of 31.8 months. In this study, we present the long-term results of the osteotomy in LCPD patients followed until physeal closure. Methods Thirty hips of 29 patients were followed until skeletal maturation after modified Salter innominate osteotomy. The mean follow-up duration was 12.9 years (range, 9.1 to 16.0 years). Eleven hips (36.7%) were classified as Catterall group III and 19 (63.3%) as Catterall group VI. Stable interposition of a bone block was achieved using one biodegradable screw in nine hips and without any fixation device in 21 hips by simply changing the direction of osteotomy. The Harris Hip Score (HHS), Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) score, and hip function were evaluated at the last follow-up. Radiological outcomes were evaluated using Wiberg's center-edge angle, the Mose method, and Stulberg classification, and osteoarthritic changes were evaluated using the Tonnis classification. Results Mean HHS and WOMAC score were 80.2 points and 54 points, respectively, preoperatively and these were improved to 96.2 points and 28 points, respectively, at the last follow-up. Clinical results, according to Robinson's criteria, were good in 18, fair in seven, and poor in five hips. Radiological results assessed using the Mose method were good in 18, fair in six, and poor in six hips, and according to the Stulberg classification, nine hips were class I, nine were class II, eight were class III, and four were class IV. The mean center-edge angle improved from 19.7° preoperatively to 29.6° at the final follow-up. According the Tonnis classification, three hips were grade 2, five were grade 1, and 22 were grade 0. Of the three grade 2 hips, two underwent Chiari osteotomy 12.1 and 8.8 years postoperatively, and the other underwent total hip arthroplasty 12.9 years postoperatively. Conclusions The modified Salter innominate osteotomy produced relatively satisfactory long-term clinical and radiological results.


BACKGROUND
Pulmonary alveolar proteinosis (PAP) is a rare disease in children, characterized by intra-alveolar accumulation of large amounts of surfactant proteins, which severely reduce gas exchange. Whole lung lavage (WLL) is the preferred technique for the treatment of severe PAP.

CASE PRESENTATION
This report presents nine pediatric cases with advanced PAP who underwent WLL under general anesthesia during a 9 year period. One patient was treated with multiple unilateral WLL without employing cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) and eight cases were treated by simultaneous lavage of both lungs using partial CPB.

CONCLUSION
Our experience suggested that partial CPB was useful to support oxygenation during WLL in small children with severe PAP in whom lung separation and selective lavaging of each lung were impracticable.


The results of the research presented in earlier works with the participation of the authors (Klojzy-Karczmarczyk et al. 2016a, b, c) indicate the possibility of the use of mining waste from Janina Coal Mine (Upper Silesian Coal Basin, Poland, TAURON Wydobycie S.A.) or products (aggregates) produced on the basis of gangue for technical reclamation. It is essential for this process to obtain a material with low total sulfur, and it has been shown that the best quality parameters are obtained for the material subjected to modification by the rejection of fine fractions. In this work, the lower limit of the material's fraction was determined using statistical analysis, wherein with the predetermined but low probability of error, the content of contaminants (sulfur, as well as other elements) does not exceed the allowable limit (reference value). To solve this task, 3 different statistical methods were used: evaluation of guaranteed contents (the maximum for a given degree of probability) of the polluting components, the results of statistical hypotheses testing and analysis of correlation and regression. The applied statistical methods produce results very proximate to each other. In the presented case study for the Janina coal mine based on the results of a statistically small sample ( 20 mm may be considered as safe for the purposes of reclamation, and the material fraction >25 mm as very safe. It cannot be ruled out, however, that this limit may be reduced to a diameter of 16 mm. The content analysis of 11 elements (As, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Hg, Mo, Ni, Pb, V, Zn determined as total content in the secondary samples for the fraction 10-200 mm (the fraction >200 mm was not present) showed that they are lower than the allowable limits specified by relevant legal regulations. For this fraction, exceedance of the limit values of sulfur content is, however, highly probable. For this reason, the primary criterion for determining the suitability of the waste material for the purposes of reclamation should be the total sulfur content, and the determination of the lower limits of the material fraction that meets the environmental requirements should be conducted using statistical methods based on the results of experimental sampling of rock remaining after coal preparation. The use of advanced methods of statistical analysis may facilitate the design of technological processes, leading to obtain industrial quantities of high quality, appropriately graded reclamation material.


In order to model the solar sunspot cycle, Parker introduced the concept of dynamo waves. These waves owe their existence to two processes, the generation of poloidal field from toroidal by the α–effect, and the generation of toroidal field from the poloidal by the Ω–effect. In their simplest realization these waves are plane waves that propagate in latitude. In this paper we show that spatial inhomogeneities, whether due to variations in the driving α–effect, or simply through the imposition of boundaries in latitude to simulate the solar pole and Equator, have an anomalously important effect, and make it necessary to revise the usual notions of weakly nonlinear bifurcation theory. Two distinct cases are considered. In the first, the solution domain is infinite, but the α–effect is antisymmetric about the Equator at x=0. Both dipole and quadrupole states are considered. The linear problem reveals an unusual feature: the frequency spectrum is continuous and the neutral curve Nω, where N is the dynamo number, plays the role of the more usual neutral curve in the spatial domain. However, the critical dynamo number remains equal to that for an unbounded homogeneous layer. In the weakly nonlinear regime the resulting instability takes the form of dynamo waves that are slowly modulated in space, and is described by an evolution equation of Ginzburg—Landau type but with space and time interchanged. The second case, perhaps more appropriate to the Sun, deals with large but finite domains while including possible slow spatial variations of the α–effect. Surprisingly, in this case sustained dynamo action can only occur when the dynamo number exceeds a value somewhat higher than that for an infinite layer. The onset mode is now localized equatorially. At leading order this dynamo number is independent of the domain size and of the boundary conditions imposed at large ∣x∣, i.e. at the poles. This feature of the problem is related to the distinction between convective and absolute instabilities.


The maternal-to-zygotic transition (MZT) is a key developmental process in metazoan embryos that involves the activation of zygotic transcription (ZGA) and degradation of maternal transcripts. We employed metabolic mRNA sequencing (SLAMseq) to deconvolute the compound embryonic transcriptome in zebrafish. While mitochondrial zygotic transcripts prevailed prior to MZT, we uncover the spurious transcription of hundreds of short and intron-poor nuclear genes as early as the 2-cell stage. Upon ZGA, most zygotic transcripts originate from thousands of maternal-zygotic (MZ) genes that are transcribed at rates comparable to those of hundreds of purely zygotic genes and replenish maternal mRNAs at distinct timescales. Rapid replacement of MZ transcripts involves transcript decay features unrelated to major maternal degradation pathways and promotes de novo synthesis of the core gene expression machinery by increasing poly(A)-tail length and translation efficiency. SLAMseq hence provides unprecedented insights into the timescales, molecular features and regulation of MZT during zebrafish embryogenesis.


In the literature, a number of factors such as high risk, high expected return, the lack of alternate traditional sources of capital and other non-financial factors (e.g., management) have been identified as being important in the evaluation of venture capital proposals. The major objective of this paper was to determine primarily through a questionnaire survey how Canadian and U.S. venture capitalists implement these criteria in the evaluation of proposals (asset selection), Interesting results were obtained on the diversification and composition of portfolios held, on the selection criteria employed and on the riskiness, underlying physical security and duration of the investments evaluated.


Tree diameter at breast height (dbh) and height are the most important variables used in forest inventory and management as well as forest carbon-stock estimation. In order to identify the key stand variables that influence the tree height-dbh relationship and to develop and validate a suit of models for predicting tree height, data from 5961 tree samples aged from 6 years to 53 years and collected from 80 Chinese-fir plantation plots were used to fit 39 models, including 33 nonlinear models and 6 linear models, were developed and evaluated into two groups. The results showed that composite models performed better in height estimate than one-independent-variable models. Nonlinear composite Model 34 and linear composite Model 6 were recommended for predicting tree height in Chinese fir plantations with a dbh range between 4 cm and 40 cm when the dbh data for each tree and the quadratic mean dbh of the stand (Dq) and mean height of the stand (Hm) were available. Moreover, Hm could be estimated by using the formula Hm=11.707×ln(Dq)-18.032. Clearly, Dq was the primary stand variable that influenced the height-dbh relationship. The parameters of the models varied according to stand age and site. The inappropriate application of provincial or regional height-dbh models for predicting small tree height at local scale may result in larger uncertainties. The method and the recommended models developed in this study were statistically reliable for applications in growth and yield estimation for even-aged Chinese-fir plantation in Huitong and Changsha. The models could be extended to other regions and to other tree species only after verification in subtropical China.


Accurate determination of the input function is essential for absolute quantification of physiological parameters in positron emission tomography (PET) and single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) imaging. Uncertainties associated with the input function due to such factors as measurement errors and inappropriate sampling protocols can hamper reliable estimation of physiological parameters. Although intravenous bolus injection has been a widely used tracer administration schedule, it imposes a sampling requirement around the peak of the blood curve where rapid blood sampling is needed to capture the dramatic changes of tracer kinetics. By administering tracer as a short-time constant infusion, such a sampling requirement can be relieved. Fitting an analytical function or a series of functions to the blood data is a common strategy to reduce statistical fluctuations. However, abrupt changes in the blood curve and differed in the injection schedule can cause ill-conditioned fitting. A physiological model that incorporated the injection schedule should be more appropriate for this task. The focus of this paper is to evaluate one such model for fitting blood data obtained with a short-time infusion of [18F]fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG). It was found that common analytical functions failed to fit the blood data in majority cases, whereas the physiological model that incorporated the injection schedule provided reliable and reproducible fits to the blood data.


A new FePt nanostructure with stripe-like patterns has been prepared by direct current (DC) magnetron sputtering on anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) templates. AAO templates anodized under low voltages (7 V) demonstrate self-organized, maze-like patterns, different from the conventional porous structures obtained at high voltages. FePt thin films deposited on such templates tend to replicate the morphology of the templates. Although there is no obvious spatial ordering, the dimensions of the FePt nano-stripes are highly uniform, due to the constrained growth along the transverse direction of the AAO pattern. The magnetic properties are strongly influenced by this unique morphology. While continuous films demonstrate strong exchange coupling, the dominant interaction in FePt nano-stripes with the same nominal thickness is magnetostatic. The morphology also dictates the magnetization reversal behaviors, with thin films dominated by domain nucleation; while nano-stripes incline to reverse their magnetization by spin rotation. Our work demonstrates that self-organized AAO templates can be used to control the morphology and magnetic behavior of FePt materials.


Some parameters important for the process of tank design were considered in the paper. These parameters are related to the tank layout, armored protection armament, ammunition, basic dimensions, ground pressure and tank mass. The mutual arrangement of engine, transmission and crew was analyzed and the basic performances of power plant and the running gear were considered. Some aspects of human engineering were pointed out as well.


Pre-inflationary dynamics is known to have left observable imprints via the varied dynamics of the inflaton and the graviton fields during those epochs. It is highlighted here that other particle degrees of freedom, too, are capable of leaving their imprints on primordial observables if they transfer their entropies upon annihilation after becoming non-relativistic during a pre-inflationary epoch. Such annihilations of other particles would result in lowering of the tensor-to-scalar ratio at the pivot scale (and at length scales larger to that) which would help bring those potentials back in accordance with current observations which are otherwise disfavoured for yielding large tensor-to-scalar ratios at present.


https://doi.org/10.30574/wjarr.2022.14.3.0571 Abstract The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of remuneration and motivation on performance of government agency employees at The State Court of Sidoarjo. Indonesia. The population in this study is a population of all employees at The State Court with a total of 40 employees in 2021. This sampling technique uses a non-probability sampling technique. Data analysis was processed using SPSS version 24 software. The results showed that the variable of remuneration and motivation had an effect on employee performance. This study provides input to enrich the theory of the relationship between remuneration and motivation on


The article discusses examples of balance models: a model of balance and diversified model of equilibrium prices. Describes the possibility of using mathematical models of the economy. Shows the use of the method of case studies in teaching students of economic high school


Well-established cognitive models coming from anthropology have shown that, due to the cognitive constraints that limit our "bandwidth" for social interactions, humans organize their social relations according to a regular structure. In this work, we postulate that similar regularities can be found in other cognitive processes, such as those involving language production. In order to investigate this claim, we analyse a dataset containing tweets of a heterogeneous group of Twitter users (regular users and professional writers). Leveraging a methodology similar to the one used to uncover the well-established social cognitive constraints, we find regularities at both the structural and semantic levels. In the former, we find that a concentric layered structure (which we call ego network of words, in analogy to the ego network of social relationships) very well captures how individuals organise the words they use. The size of the layers in this structure regularly grows (approximately 2-3 times with respect to the previous one) when moving outwards, and the two penultimate external layers consistently account for approximately 60% and 30% of the used words, irrespective of the number of layers of the user. For the semantic analysis, each ring of each ego network is described by a semantic profile, which captures the topics associated with the words in the ring. We find that ring #1 has a special role in the model. It is semantically the most dissimilar and the most diverse among the rings. We also show that the topics that are important in the innermost ring also have the characteristic of being predominant in each of the other rings, as well as in the entire ego network. In this respect, ring #1 can be seen as the semantic fingerprint of the ego network of words.


We present OPUS, a framework that provides design guidelines for the systematic building of independent, and potentially heterogeneous, knowledge base programs for the domains of large physical structures. The term open-system refers to the integration of several of these programs to solve problems beyond their individual capabilities. The OPUS framework organizes data and knowledge about the domain into three layers. The kernel layer encodes primary domain knowledge into hierarchies of objects, the scenario layer contains autonomous knowledge programs for specific applications, and the utility layer supports system interface and inference methods. OPUS provides a focus for knowledge organization and rapid prototyping, supports multiple schemes of inference and representation, copes with the maintenance and reuse of knowledge, and enables different levels of abstraction and views of knowledge. An OPUS system BFC has been developed to cover wide-ranging applications in bridge evaluation. Examples are taken from this application to illustrate data constructs and reasoning schemes based on the OPUS framework. >


In the articles are showed the resulting data of different sources that point the questions of forages production for feeding, intensifications of pig's breeding industry in small and middle farms due to substituting of grain–growing forage by the full ration dry mixed fodders. On reason, that concentrates in feeding of pigs sharply violate the physiology process of digestion for them, considerably weaken their immunity, reduce natural resistance of animals, by a consequence what a fact, that all pig's farms with the term of exploitation more than three years is unhappy on various infections, the causative agents of that at the usual feeding do not cause pathology. One of accessible methods of correction of such state there is filling of deficit in vitamins and microelements premixes, and natural BAS and stimulators of digestion by addition to the feed the different plant–based supplements. The different sources of raw materials of the mixed fodders are considered with the different sources of nutritive. It will allow operatively choose the most advantageous raw material, optimally to use it and maximally decrease the cost of the mixed fodders without the loss of quality. There are showed forage's properties that are used in the pig breeding, rules of their preparation to feeding. The also result is given, got specialists that investigated efficiency of different rations of pigs feeding. Using the got results in development of forage preparation's technology for pigs feeding will assist the morbidity decreasing of internal no contagious diseases in pigs' stock.


We have observed the emission of two optical pulses as a result of a mode pushing and pulling phenomena of a thermal origin in the operation of a single-mode TEA CO2 laser. This effect arises from the intra-pulse temperature induced change of the refractive index and it can push the cavity mode, when appropriately located with respect to the centre of transition, out of lasing. Following the termination of lasing, as the temperature equilibrates, the mode is pulled back into the gain domain thereby causing the emission of the second pulse. We have provided experimental evidence in support of this mechanism and also discussed possible applications of this two-pulse laser.


Aim: Cytokine profile in occult HBV infection (OBI) was systematically investigated to identify the immunopathogenesis of OBI. Materials & methods: A total of 46 OBI, ten asymptomatic hepatitis B surface antigen carriers, ten chronic hepatitis B and 12 healthy blood donors were recruited. A total of 21 plasma cytokines were detected. Results: Compared with healthy blood donors, elevated plasma Th1, Th2, Th17 and immune regulatory associated cytokines were observed in OBI. Almost no significant difference was found for these cytokines among OBI, asymptomatic hepatitis B surface antigen carriers and chronic hepatitis B. OBI displayed the predominance of type 2 and regulatory immunity. Conclusion: OBI displayed the general cytokine profile of chronic HBV infection, which might contribute to virus persistence and the presence of the liver microinflammatory environment. The clinical implications of OBI deserve more attention.


COVID-19 is a global pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Being associated with high mortality rates, this pandemic has forced several countries worldwide to impose complete lockdowns to limit the spread of infection. Despite the development of various vaccines, there is still an urgent need to design novel treatments backed with safety data for fighting  SARS-CoV-2 and its various mutants. Currently, scientists are putting their strenuous efforts into finding the best treatment option for COVID-19. In this regard, metal complexes being active antiviral agents and immunity enhancers have great potential against SARS-CoV-2. Herein, metal complexes' therapeutic role and significance against treating SARS-CoV-2 or any of its target proteins are discussed.


Such a lecture series is prominent on many college campuses, made especially famous by Randy Pausch, a Carnegie Mellon professor whose lecture ironically was his last lecture having just been diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer. In Spring 2012, the inaugural UCSF Last Lecture received a warm and welcoming response. This year the student-initiated event will continue to build the tradition. This lecture will bring out stories intertwining various dimensions of the chosen faculty member's trajectory encompassing the professional, personal, spiritual, and cultural experiences that have brought them to where they are today.


With the goal of facilitating the creation of relaxing sound environments in stressful places, such as offices, we examined differences in the heart rate fluctuations of men and women induced by different sounds. Twenty-three healthy students (13 males and 10 females) aged between 18 and 23 listened to seven different sounds while we collected electrocardiogram data. We extracted the high frequency component (HF) and low frequency component (LF) of the signals using the wavelet method, and calculated LF/HF. We found no statistically significant differences between males and females in the frequency distribution of a no change group, increased group, and decreased group for any sound. However, certain sounds had somewhat similar patterns for men and women for all three groups. Additionally, the pairs of experimental sounds with highly similar effects on individuals were different for men and women.


In the Large Helical Device (LHD), upgrading of the key hardware system since the last EPS conference has led to (1) higher Te (Te(0) = 4.4 keV at ne = 5.3×1018 m-3 and Pabs = 1.8 MW); (2) higher confinement (τE = 0.3 s, Te(0) = 1.1 keV at ne = 6.5×1019 m-3 and Pabs = 2.0 MW); (3) higher stored energy Wpdia = 880 kJ; and (4) the highest β value in helical devices (2.4% at B = 1.3 T). The energy confinement was systematically higher than that predicted by the International Stellarator Scaling 95 up to a factor of 1.6. Ion cyclotron range of frequencies (ICRF) power up to 1.3 MW was reliably injected into the plasma without significant impurity contamination and a plasma with stored energy of 200 kJ was sustained for 5 s by ICRF alone. Long pulse discharges greater than 1 min in duration have been successfully achieved with ICRF power alone and with neutral beam injection (NBI) power alone. With NBI heating an 80 s discharge was achieved with a heating power of 0.5 MW at 2.75 T. The electron density was maintained at around 1.6×1019 m-3 by controlled gas puffing. The central electron and ion temperatures were kept around 1.5 keV. With ICRF heating, a similar long pulse discharge was achieved for 68 s with a heating power of 0.85 MW. The sustained plasma parameters are: Wp~110 kJ, Te(0)~Ti(0) = 2.0 keV and ne = 1.0×1019 m-3. During these discharges, no increase in radiation power has been observed.


Existing methods of gait recognition suffer from some shortcomings, which are discussed at the beginning of the full paper. In order to suppress these shortcomings as much as possible, we proposed a new automatic gait recognition approach based on the region variance feature. Firstly, the binary silhouette of a walking person is detected from each frame of the monocular image sequences. Then we divide the two dimensional silhouette of the walker into three regions (head region, trunk region and legs region). Next, the variance features of these regions are extracted respectively. Together with the ratio of the silhouette's height and width, the gait signature vectors are constructed to identify different subjects. Finally, similarity measurement based on the gait cycles and NN and KNN classifiers are carried out to recognize the different subjects. Experimental results show that the proposed novel method is very effective and correct recognition rates are over 92% and 97% on UCSD and CMU database, respectively


Abstract. We present an instrument for the measurement of total ozone
reactivity – the reciprocal of the chemical lifetime of ozone
(O3) – in the troposphere. The Total Ozone Reactivity
System (TORS) was developed with the objective to study the role of
biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs) as chemical sinks of
tropospheric ozone. The instrument was extensively characterized and
tested in the laboratory using individual BVOCs and small plants
(lemon thyme, Thymus citriodorus) in a Teflon bag and proved
able to measure reactivities corresponding to >4.5×10-5
s−1 (at 5 min averaging time), with an estimated total
uncertainty of ∼32%. Such reactivities correspond to >20 ppb of α-pinene or >150 ppb of isoprene in
isolation – larger than typical ambient levels but observable in
environmental chamber and enclosure experiments as well as in
BVOC-rich environments. The functionality of TORS was demonstrated
in quasi-ambient conditions with a deployment in a horticultural
glasshouse containing a range of aromatic plants. The measurements
of total ozone reactivity made in the glasshouse showed a clear
diurnal pattern, following the emissions of BVOCs, and are consistent
with mixing ratios of tens of parts per billion of monoterpenes and several
parts per billion of sesquiterpenes.


Most of the existing recommender systems assume that user's visiting history can be constantly recorded. However, in recent online services, the user identification may be usually unknown and only limited online user behaviors can be used. It is of great importance to model the temporal online user behaviors and conduct recommendation for the anonymous users. In this paper, we propose a list-wise deep neural network based architecture to model the limited user behaviors within each session. To train the model efficiently, we first design a session embedding method to pre-train a session representation, which incorporates different kinds of user search behaviors such as clicks and views. Based on the learnt session representation, we further propose a list-wise ranking model to generate the recommendation result for each anonymous user session. We conduct quantitative experiments on a recently published dataset from an e-commerce company. The evaluation results validate the effectiveness of the proposed method, which can outperform the state-of-the-art.


Content replication and distribution is an effective technology to reduce the response time for Web accesses and has been proven quite popular among large Internet content providers. However, existing content distribution systems assume a store-and-forward delivery model and is mostly based on static content. This paper describes the design, implementation, and initial evaluation of a network resource management system for real-time Internet content distribution called Sago, which provides facilities to provision and allocate network resources so that multiple bandwidth-guaranteed and fault-tolerant multicast connections can be multiplexed on a single physical network. Sago includes a novel network resource mapping algorithm that takes into account both physical network topology and dynamic traffic demands, a network-wide fault tolerance mechanism that supports both node-level and link-level fault tolerance, and a hierarchical network link scheduler that provides performance protection among multicast connections sharing the same physical network link. Moreover, Sago does not require any IP multicasting support from underlying network routers because it performs application-level multicasting. The technologies underlying Sago are important building blocks for real-time content distribution networks, end-to-end quality of service guarantee over global corporate intranets, and application-specific adaptation of wide-area network services.


Histamine is a toxic chemical and is the causative agent of food poisoning. This foodborne toxin may be degraded by the oxidative deamination activity of certain microorganisms. In this study, we isolated four histamine-degrading Lactobacillus plantarum bacteria from miso products. Among them, L. plantarum D-103 exhibited 100% degradation of histamine in de Man Rogosa Sharpe (MRS) broth containing 50 ppm of histamine after 24 h of incubation at 30°C. The optimal growth, histamine oxidase, and histamine-degrading activity of L. plantarum D-103 were observed in histamine MRS broth at pH 7.0, 3% NaCl, and 30°C. It also exhibited tolerance to broad ranges of pH (4 to 10) and salt concentrations (0 to 12%) in histamine MRS broth. Therefore, the histamine-degrading L. plantarum D-103 might be used as an additive culture to prevent histamine accumulation in miso products during fermentation.


The results of partial patellectomy as a treatment for displaced patellar fractures were assessed retrospectively with use of clinical, radiographic, and isokinetic strength-testing criteria. Forty patients who had been followed for an average of 8.4 years were studied. In the extremity that had been operated on, the mean active range of motion was 94 per cent, the circumference of the thigh was 100 per cent, and the strength of the quadriceps was 85 per cent of these measurements in the contralateral extremity. The over-all result was rated as excellent in twenty patients, good in eleven, fair in six, and poor in three. There was a significant statistical correlation between the type of fracture and the outcome. The results of this study indicate that partial patellectomy can be an effective treatment for selected patellar fractures.


the book concludes with an Appendix, written by S. Eilenberg, axiomatising in a categorical framework the author's construction for a group of groups. The text is not always easy reading and the reviewer must cavil at the use of the phrase " well-known principle " on p. 26. The only reference [73] is to a paper which is to appear in an unspecified journal; conceivably the reference should be [72] but there is no place of publication for this reference. The author has, however, written an illuminating account and-one which forms a valuable springboard for further study in the mathematical theory of knots. R. A. RANKIN


[1] This study evaluates the simulated cloud properties, especially the simulated raindrop size distribution, by the Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences bulk microphysics scheme (CAMS BMS) and two other two-moment microphysics schemes (Morrison and WDM6) in the Weather Research and Forecasting model (WRF v3.1). Measurements from a mesoscale convective system that occurred on 14 June 2008 during the Southwest Monsoon Experiment (SoWMEX) and Terrain-influenced Monsoon Rainfall Experiment (TiMREX) are used. The model reflectivity (ZH), differential reflectivity (ZDR), and microwave brightness temperature (TB) are compared with the corresponding observations by the S band dual-polarization Doppler radar (S-Pol) and the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Microwave Imager (TMI). Results show that the simulated ZDR, which is sensitive to the drop size distribution (DSD) of raindrops, from the original CAMS BMS and Morrison schemes are larger than those from the S-Pol observations. On the other hand, the simulated ZDR values from the WDM6 scheme are smaller than the radar observations. To improve the model results, modifications are made by controlling the intercept parameter of raindrop DSD and by increasing the raindrop breakup rates in the original CAMS BMS scheme. The modifications reduce the raindrop size and consequently increase the rain evaporation rate. The improved simulations of ZH and ZDR indicate that the modified CAMS BMS scheme adequately simulates the amount and size of liquid hydrometeors. Moreover, the simulated brightness temperatures at liquid water absorption frequency and the simulated surface precipitation rates are also significantly improved by using the modified CAMS BMS scheme.


Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) persists for life in the infected host. Little is known about EBV reactivation and regulation of virus persistence in healthy individuals. We examined tonsils of chronic tonsillitis patients to detect EBV transcripts, EBV genomes and lytic proteins. LMP1 transcripts were observed in 11 of 15 specimens and BZLF1 transcripts were detected in six. Multiple copies of EBV genome equivalents per cell, and ZEBRA- and viral capsid antigen-positive cells were also detected in tonsillar lymphocytes. These results indicate that EBV productively infected cells may survive in the face of immune surveillance in the tonsils. Thus, EBV replication may occur in tonsillar lymphocytes, and tonsillar lymphoid tissues may play a role in the maintenance of EBV load in vivo.


The COVID-19 pandemic has created additional barriers to accessing sexual health services among gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (GBMSM) in China. Yet, little is known about the frequency of HIV testing and how GBMSM get tested during the pandemic. We surveyed an online sample of GBMSM recruited on a gay networking app in China. Among 956 sexually active, 70.1% had received an HIV test in the past 6 months. Among these, 61.0% reported having undergone HIV self-testing (HIVST). Young GBMSM aged 18-24 years old were more likely to receive a recent HIV test, and the number of sexual partners was associated with recent HIV testing [adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 1.14, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.03-1.20]. Among those who had a recent HIV test, young GBMSM and those who had anal sex with both main partner and casual partners were more likely to utilize HIVST (AOR = 1.83, 95% CI: 1.16-2.84), as well as GBMSM who did not use a condom the last time engaged in anal sex (AOR = 1.57, 95% CI: 1.06-2.34). Among GBMSM never tested for HIV, a majority perceived low risk of HIV, while some suggested that they did not know where to get tested or they were scared of finding out they had HIV. HIVST has the potential to fill the gap in HIV testing among Chinese GBMSM, and future HIV testing programs should emphasize HIV education, accurate information dissertation, and timely point-to-care services.


Economic growth in Korea has slowed down dramatically after the Asian financial crisis of 1997. The average growth rate of real GDP of Korea before the crisis (1981-1996) was 9.3%, while it was reduced to 3.7% during the period (2003-2014) after the credit card lending boom following the financial crisis. Coincidentally, the patterns of domestic demand growth before and after the crisis were similar to the GDP growth: the average growth rate of Korean real domestic demand was 8.8% and -0.3%, in the respective periods. This remarkable decline in both growth rates should not be attributed to the factors that are linked to the short-run economic fluctuations because these phenomena have lasted more then 10 years after the Asian financial crisis. Instead, structural factors related to the domestic market or exports are more likely to induce the significant declines in the growth of these two variables. In this study, we focus on identifying those structural factors that are responsible for the decline in the growth rate of domestic demand after the Asian financial crisis, which may result in the decrease in economic growth. Motivated by observing dramatic changes in the growth rates of the relevant variables such as GDP, domestic demand, investment, and exports, we consider two structural problems that the Korean economy faced after the Asian financial crisis: i) one is the dampened ripple effects of exports on domestic demand and thus on GDP; ii) the other is the decrease in the growth of household disposable income. First, exports can contribute to the economic growth via two channels. One is the direct contribution to the GDP. The other is the indirect contribution to the GDP through the domestic demand (that is, the ripple effect of exports on GDP). As firms export more, they tend to use more production inputs and thus are more likely to increase investment and employment, which results in the increase in domestic demand. In fact, the data reveal that about one third of GDP growth can be accounted for by exports directly in the period of 1981-1996. This implies that two third of GDP growth can be explained by the domestic demand. In contrast, the Korean economic growth after the Asian financial crisis is entirely driven by export growth, that is, the growth of export sector does not boost domestic demand after the crisis. In other words, the ripple effect of export sectors on GDP has significantly dampened after the Asian financial crisis. Furthermore, we found two potential reasons for the dampened ripple effect from the export sector. These reasons are closely related to changes in investment behaviors of large-sized Korean exporting firms before and after the Asian financial crisis: i) the large-sized exporting firms do not invest their earnings from exports any more to create new industries; ii) they tend to use more foreign value added contents for their exports and to increase outward FDI by participating in the Global Value Chains (GVCs). Second, another structural factor that affects the pattern of domestic demand before and after the Asian financial crisis is closely associated with the decrease in the growth of household real disposable income. Its growth rate was 10.3% in the former period (1981-1996), which is higher than the GDP growth rate. Its growth rate, in contrast, was 2.3% after the financial crisis, which is lower than the GDP growth rate. This remarkable decrease in the growth of household income may influence household consumption, and hence economic growth. In fact, the data reveal that the real consumption growth rate was 8.4% in the former period and 2.4% in the latter period, respectively. These patterns of consumption growth rates before and after the crisis were similar to the patterns of both the GDP and the income growth rate. In addition, the decrease in household disposable income is more likely to induce increase in household debts and thus an increase in the burden of debt service. This will further restrict consumption and domestic demand growth, which may result in an overall decline in economic growth. To be more specific, we pointed out three potential factors that are closely linked to the decrease in the growth of household disposable income. These reasons are related to the labor market reforms after the Asian financial crisis: i) a seizable number of necessity-driven entrepreneurs (i.e., self-employed households) whose income are relatively low, ii) a large proportion of temporary workers whose wages are about 70 to 80% of the regular workers, and iii) a relatively low wage in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) which employ a large portion of total workforce. In the two subsequent chapters, we examined the two issues related to the structural problems of the Korean economy using the micro-level data: i) a link between temporary employment contract and firms' productivity and ii) a difference in consumption behavior between wage workers and self-employed households. Motivated by concerns that an increase in the share of temporary workers in total employment can potentially harm firm productivity, we empirically investigated the relationship between temporary employment and firms' productivity. The estimated results show that using temporary workers decreases firms' productivity. Besides, we found some evidence that a higher conversion rate from temporary to permanent worker leads to the increase in firm's productivity. Finally, we looked into the seriousness of the self-employed household debt that may negatively affect consumption, and thus the overall domestic demand. To do this, we examined the different patterns of consumption behavior between wage workers and self-employed households using the household-level panel survey data. The key finding is that the financial debt of self-employed households is negatively associated with consumption expenditure, while this relationship is positive for wage workers. That is, the self-employed households tend to make a loan (i.e., business loans) that is not directly related to consumption itself. Rather, they tend to reduce their consumption due to a heavy debt burden from business loans. To the extent that the dampened ripple effects from the export sectors after the Asian financial crisis are mainly due to the changed investment behaviors of large exporting firms, policy makers should develop policies which aim at providing a better environment where small and medium-sized firms can participate in global value chains more actively. Those firms are not likely to use more foreign value added contents or invest in foreign countries because of their small sizes and limited capabilities. Instead, they may participate in global value chains by attracting multinational firms. To do this, those firms should develop better technologies or produce high quality goods and/or services which can be differentiated from foreign small- and medium-sized firms so that they can have comparative advantages. And policies should be able to encourage small and medium-sized firms to develop those technologies and to produce those goods and services. Most importantly, polices should be aimed at attracting foreign multinational firms so that domestic firms benefit from the active participation in global value chains. To the extent that the decrease in the growth of household disposable income is due to the presence of significant share of necessity-driven entrepreneurs and non-regular workers, and their relatively low income, policy makers should reform labor markets to deal with these issues. In particular, policies should be aimed at reducing the use of temporary workers by raising the conversion rate from temporary to permanent employment. In addition, alternative job opportunities which may absorb those self-employed workers should be created. There is a large degree of human capital mismatch: retired workers, in general, are more likely better matches for new businesses such as food and beverage franchise and agency for selling mobile phones. If there exist jobs where they can take advantage of their human capital, they would have less incentive to open those businesses which contribute to decreasing labor productivity in the service sector.


Ionol, alpha-tocopherol and its analogues (tocoferenquinones with C6 and C1 in the side chain, tocopherol without the side chain and two tocopherols with shortened to C6 side chain both with saturated and with unsaturated bond at the end) were studied for their effect on the formation rate of malonaldehyde in the tissue and liver mitochondria of vitamin E-deficient rats in vitro. Preparations were used in two concentrations: 35 mg per 1 ml of the medium--in a dose suppressing processes or lipid peroxidation; and 5 mg per 1 ml of the medium--in a dose activating biosynthesis of ubiquinone in the animal tissues. Tocopherol effect on lipid peroxidation processes in the liver tissue and mitochondria is shown to be different and to depend on its concentration in the medium. Ionol is efficient only in high doses under the conditions in vitro. Tocopherol analogues (their side chain being shortened to six carbon atoms) display maximum activity when they inhibit lipid peroxidation both in the liver tissue and mitochondria in the both concentrations under study which supposes their high efficiency under the conditions in vivo.


Voltage flicker refers to a slow-0.5 to 30 Hz-modulation of the power system voltage magnitude. This periodic fluctuation can be modelled as an amplitude modulated signal, where the fundamental power frequency represents the carrier signal and the voltage flicker represents the modulating signal. An algorithm based on this premise is developed to estimate the instantaneous magnitude and frequency of the voltage flicker. The algorithm, which is based on Kalman filter estimation, can also be used to predict the instantaneous flicker level. >


This article is the first of a two-part series that develops and experimentally demonstrates a first-of-its-kind hierarchical control solution for optimally dispatching thousands of deferrable loads and distributed energy resources (DERs) across a distribution feeder to provide fast frequency response (FFR) within 500 ms to the bulk power system. This approach rapidly coordinates resources online after a frequency event occurs, allowing fast-changing, behind-the-meter (BTM) resources to be incorporated and aggregate FFR power set points to be achieved more quickly and accurately than existing approaches. We also present a solution for determining the optimal amount of headroom to operate solar inverters with to minimize opportunity cost while ensuring the FFR response viability of a building with the inverter and deferrable loads. In Part I, we develop practical algorithms for fast, cost-based optimal dispatch at multiple aggregation scales (single building, multiple buildings, and full distribution feeder), establish their optimality, and demonstrate via simulation that they are faster than state-of-the-art, coordinated frequency response approaches. In Part II, the entire platform is implemented and experimentally verified using a unique power hardware-in-the-loop demonstration, including more than 100 powered loads and DERs connected to a real-world distribution network model and over 10,000 net-load resources dispatched.


Presented are alternate designs for two existing bridges in Virginia - one with steel beams and the other with prestressed concrete beams - whereby the pier caps are recessed within the depth of the longitudinal beams. The purpose of this recession is to provide cleaner aesthetic lines for these bridges. At the same time, the recessed caps (transverse girders) are designed to "float '' or slide on TFE bearings fixed to the tops of the piers. This arrangement allows the number of bearings needed to be greatly reduced. Design calculations and drawings prepared for each bridge permit an economic comparison to be made between the original designs and the. modified designs. The conclusion reached is that the alternate design is completely feasible for the steel bridge; but for the concrete bridge, the alternate design would be more expensive.


The classical and quantum motion of ions in a Kingdon trap (Orbitron) is studied for nearly circular orbits. The frequencies of small axial and radial oscillations are derived for both the logarithmic potential and the actual potential. A numerical comparison with the asymptotic approximation and with exact energy eigenvalues shows that the small oscillation method is adequate for most purposes.


Although locomotory performance in vertebrates is related to fitness, most performance tests are conducted in a laboratory setting, or in a manner that forces the organism to move not of their own volition. Biotelemetry offers the possi- bility to measure voluntary activity in a natural setting and provides the opportunity to combine laboratory-derived data with field studies on wild fish. In this study, it was found that laboratory- and field-based measurements of swimming per- formance and voluntary activity resulted in similar general seasonal trends, though each measurement assessed a different swimming type. In the field, all swimming metrics were lower at cooler water temperatures and were lowest during early winter (mean daily activity = 0.016 BL/s; mean voluntary swimming activity = 0.04319 BL/s; maximum swimming speed = 0.17 BL/s). In the laboratory, fish acclimatized to 25.0, 14.0, and 7.5 8C decreased swimming performance (Ucrit) with water temperature (25.0 8C (2.17 BL/s); 14.0 8C (1.69 BL/s); 7.5 8C (1.17 BL/s). Although some species and tissues have been shown to exhibit different degrees of thermal adaptation, these results show that swimming, one of the most im- portant functions in fish, is largely dependent on environmental temperature, at least in largemouth bass (Micropterus sal-


Medication errors can cause substantial harm to patients. Automated patient medication systems with RFID technology is purposely used to reduce the medication error, to improve the patient safety, to provide personalized patient medication and identification and also to provide counterfeit protection to the patients. In order to enhance medication safety for patients we propose a new dynamic ID based lightweight RFID authentication protocol. Due to low storage capacity and limited computational and communicational capacity of tags, only pseudo random number generator function, one way hash function and bitwise Xor operation are used in our authentication protocol. The proposed protocol is practical, secure and efficient for health care domain.


Copy module has been widely equipped in the recent abstractive summarization models, which facilitates the decoder to extract words from the source into the summary. Generally, the encoder-decoder attention is served as the copy distribution, while how to guarantee that important words in the source are copied remains a challenge. In this work, we propose a Transformer-based model to enhance the copy mechanism. Specifically, we identify the importance of each source word based on the degree centrality with a directed graph built by the self-attention layer in the Transformer. We use the centrality of each source word to guide the copy process explicitly. Experimental results show that the self-attention graph provides useful guidance for the copy distribution. Our proposed models significantly outperform the baseline methods on the CNN/Daily Mail dataset and the Gigaword dataset.


This qualitative study reports in some detail the experience of a small group of distance learners as they progress through their courses at Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM). An initial literature review suggested that while a number of studies had been completed in the past two decades that report student characteristics, motivations, and prior experiences of study, most of these studies had been carried out from the point of view and perspective of the providing institutions, not from the perspective of students.This paper looks at distance learning as described by the learners- it is their story, their experience, and their perspective.In particular, this paper looks at learning support in distance learning at UUM, an issue that arose from discussions with the students, rather than being preordained by the research design or derived directly from my own initial interest as a distance educator and as a researcher. From these findings conclusions have been drawn regarding the role of learning support and guidelines to improve future learning support services to facilitate and provide a better ODE educational experience and outcome in Malaysia.


PurposeTelecommunication (telecom) fraud is one of the most common crimes and causes the greatest financial losses. To effectively eradicate fraud groups, the key fraudsters must be identified and captured. One strategy is to analyze the fraud interaction network using social network analysis. However, the underlying structures of fraud networks are different from those of common social networks, which makes traditional indicators such as centrality not directly applicable. Recently, a new line of research called deep random walk has emerged. These methods utilize random walks to explore local information and then apply deep learning algorithms to learn the representative feature vectors. Although effective for many types of networks, random walk is used for discovering local structural equivalence and does not consider the global properties of nodes.Design/methodology/approachThe authors proposed a new method to combine the merits of deep random walk and social network analysis, which is called centrality-guided deep random walk. By using the centrality of nodes as edge weights, the authors' biased random walks implicitly consider the global importance of nodes and can thus find key fraudster roles more accurately. To evaluate the authors' algorithm, a real telecom fraud data set with around 562 fraudsters was built, which is the largest telecom fraud network to date.FindingsThe authors' proposed method achieved better results than traditional centrality indices and various deep random walk algorithms and successfully identified key roles in a fraud network.Research limitations/implicationsThe study used co-offending and flight record to construct a criminal network, more interpersonal relationships of fraudsters, such as friendships and relatives, can be included in the future.Originality/valueThis paper proposed a novel algorithm, centrality-guided deep random walk, and applied it to a new telecom fraud data set. Experimental results show that the authors' method can successfully identify the key roles in a fraud group and outperform other baseline methods. To the best of the authors' knowledge, it is the largest analysis of telecom fraud network to date.


One approach to measuring the performance of intelligent systems is to develop standardized or reproducible tests. These tests may be in a simulated environment or in a physical test course. The National Institute of Standards and Technology has developed a test course for evaluating the performance of mobile autonomous robots operating in an urban search and rescue mission. The test course is designed to simulate a collapsed building structure at various levels of fidelity. The course will be used in robotic competitions, such as the American Association for Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) Mobile Robot Competition and the RoboCup Rescue. Designed to be highly reconfigurable and to accommodate a variety of sensing and navigation capabilities, this course may serve as a prototype for further development of performance testing environments. The design of the test course brings to light several challenges in evaluating performance of intelligent systems, such as the distinction between "mind" and "body" and the accommodation of high-level interactions between the robot and humans. We discuss the design criteria for the test course and the evaluation methods that will be used.


Although bacterial genomes are usually densely protein-coding, genome-wide mapping approaches of transcriptional start sites revealed that a significant fraction of the identified promoters drive the transcription of noncoding RNAs. These can be trans-acting RNAs, mainly originating from intergenic regions and, in many studied examples, possessing regulatory functions. However, a significant fraction of these noncoding RNAs consist of natural antisense transcripts (asRNAs), which overlap other transcriptional units. Naturally occurring asRNAs were first observed to play a role in bacterial plasmid replication and in bacteriophage λ more than 30 years ago. Today's view is that asRNAs abound in all three domains of life. There are several examples of asRNAs in bacteria with clearly defined functions. Nevertheless, many asRNAs appear to result from pervasive initiation of transcription, and some data point toward global functions of such widespread transcriptional activity, explaining why the search for a specific regulatory role is sometimes futile. In this review, we give an overview about the occurrence of antisense transcription in bacteria, highlight particular examples of functionally characterized asRNAs, and discuss recent evidence pointing at global relevance in RNA processing and transcription-coupled DNA repair.


Abstract. Tropospheric ozone is an air pollutant that substantially harms vegetation and is also strongly dependent on various vegetation-mediated processes. The interdependence between ozone and vegetation may constitute feedback mechanisms that can alter ozone concentration itself but have not been considered in most studies to date. In this study we examine the importance of dynamic coupling between surface ozone and leaf area index (LAI) in shaping ozone air quality and vegetation. We first implement an empirical scheme for ozone damage on vegetation in the Community Land Model (CLM) and simulate the steady-state responses of LAI to long-term exposure to a range of prescribed ozone levels (from 0 to 100 ppb). We find that most plant functional types suffer a substantial decline in LAI as ozone level increases. Based on the CLM-simulated results, we develop and implement in the GEOS-Chem chemical transport model a parameterization that computes fractional changes in monthly LAI as a function of local mean ozone levels. By forcing LAI to respond to ozone concentrations on a monthly timescale, the model simulates ozone–LAI coupling dynamically via biogeochemical processes including biogenic volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions and dry deposition, without the complication from meteorological changes. We find that ozone-induced damage on LAI can lead to changes in ozone concentrations by −1.8 to +3 ppb in boreal summer, with a corresponding ozone feedback factor of −0.1 to +0.6 that represents an overall self-amplifying effect from ozone–LAI coupling. Substantially higher simulated ozone due to strong positive feedbacks is found in most tropical forests, mainly due to the ozone-induced reductions in LAI and dry deposition velocity, whereas reduced isoprene emission plays a lesser role in these low-NOx environments. In high-NOx regions such as the eastern US, Europe, and China, however, the feedback effect is much weaker and even negative in some regions, reflecting the compensating effects of reduced dry deposition and reduced isoprene emission (which reduces ozone in high-NOx environments). In remote, low-LAI regions, including most of the Southern Hemisphere, the ozone feedback is generally slightly negative due to the reduced transport of NOx–VOC reaction products that serve as NOx reservoirs. This study represents the first step to accounting for dynamic ozone–vegetation coupling in a chemical transport model with ramifications for a more realistic joint assessment of ozone air quality and ecosystem health.


In a developing economy like India taxation is a main source of public finance. Indian taxation system always suffered from problems such as tax evasion, inefficient administration etc. Administration of taxation always needs such a system which will be less in error and prompt in decision making. Indian taxation system is suffering from lack of manpower to perform tedious tasks such as data entry, scrutiny of return, tax audit etc.
To manage the changing tax landscape alongside use of analytics recently Indian government announced the use of Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning in tax assessment system. Artificial Intelligence or known as AI is a relatively new phenomenon in tax. Recently the government of India announced to use faceless tax assessment system empowered by AI/ML.
In the Present paper we attempt to find out the role of AI/ML in Indian taxation system and on the basis of factors such as tax knowledge, tax education, legal sanction, complexity of tax system, relationship with tax authority, perceived fairness of the tax system, ethics and attitudes towards tax compliance, awareness of offences and penalties, tax education, possibility of being audited etc. we want to know about the perception of taxpayers towards adoption of Artificial Intelligence based tax system.


THE STUDY OF CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM INVOLVEMENT IN MITHOCHONDRIAL DISORDERS WITH MITOCHON-DRIAL DNA MUTATION. (ABSTRACT)*. THESIS. SAO PAULO, 2001.SUELY KAZUE NAGAHASHI MARIE**Mitochondrial disorders are a heterogeneous groupof diseases characterized by the dysfunction of the oxida-tive phosphorilation. As the protein complexes of the res-piratory chain are coded by both nuclear and mitochon-drial genomes, there are additional difficulties on the clini-cal and diagnostic approaches to those disorders.The RRF detected on muscle biopsy, a hallmark of mi-tochondrial proliferation, is not always present on thoseconditions, neither is the increase of lactic acid level.Since the first description of pathogenic mutation ofmitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), in 1988, a molecular crite-ria has been used for the classification of mitochondrio-pathies.Among 377 patients with clinical diagnosis of mito-chondrial disease and patients with maternal inheritanceof diabetes mellitus, and patients with maternal risk fac-tors of dementia, followed-up between the period of 1991to 2001, by our group, 145 met the clinical criteria forMELAS (40cases), MERRF (27 cases), Leigh Syndrome (LS)(32 cases), Kearns-Sayre Syndrome (KSS) (14 cases), andChronic Progressive External Ophthalmoplegia (CPEO) (32cases).Measurements of lactic acid level, muscle biopsy, andneuroimaging were performed on the majority of thecases. Molecular analysis were done on all patients look-ing for 8 point mutations of mtDNA in MELAS, 3 in MERRF,6 in LS, 1 in KSS/CPEO, and mtDNA rearrangements onKSS/CPEO.A3243G point mutation of mtDNA was detected in 18cases with MELAS, including 10 asymptomatic proband'sfamily members.A8344G mutation was observed in 5 cases with MERRF;T8993G and T8993C in two cases with LS; 14 differentmtDNA deletions in KSS and 11 deletions in CPEO, includ-ing 3 multiple deletions.Phenotypic variability was observed in all 5 groups,with overlap of MELAS, MERRF and LS in one patients,and MELAS and LS in another.An autopsy study of MELAS case showed an universaldistribution of A3243G mutation on all tissues studied.The neuropathological findings showed a diffuse degene-ration of cerebral cortex with neovascularization, a simi-lar picture observed on LS. Surprisingly the neurons wereapparently well preserved even when surrounded by de-generation.Atrophy and deep grey matter lesion were the mostfrequent neuroimaging findings, particularly in KSS andLS, when compared to MELAS and MERRF.The characteristic distribution of lesion on the tegmenof brain stem was observed in KSS and LS, which is similarto the presentation of Wilson's disease. Interestingly, those3 diseases share a common alteration: mutation in genecoing for the complex V of the respiratory chain.Although the central nervous system is diffusely lesio-ned on mitochondriopathies, as show the most sensitivediagnostic methods as functional imaging, and immuno-histochemical methods, the order, the degree, and thevelocity of those alterations seen to present some differ-ences between the groups, as observed in our cases.A careful analysis concerning those parameters couldreveal new details for better understanding of the patho-genesis of the mitochondriopathies.KEY WORDS: KEY WORDS: mitochondrial disorders, mitochondrialDNA, encephalopaty, molecular biology, neuroimaging.


Epichlorohydrine crosslinked chitosan cinnamaldehyde Schiff base (Epy-Chit-cin) had been synthesized by the reaction of epichlorohydrine, chitosan and trans-cinnamaldehyde (weight ratio 1:1:1) and characterized by FT-IR, UV-Vis, TG-DTA, DSC and XRD. The efficiency of the prepared Epy-Chit-cin was studied for the methyl green (MG) dye removal from aqueous solutions. The effects of pH, adsorbent dosage and contact time on the adsorption process were evaluated. Results showed that the equilibrium of MG adsorption by Epy-Chit-cin was reached at 120 min contact time and the maximum adsorption capacity obtained 98.47 at the presence of 0.02 g of Epy-Chit-cin.


The nuclear hormone receptors liver X receptor α (LXRα) and LXRβ function as physiological receptors for oxidized cholesterol metabolites (oxysterols) and regulate several aspects of cholesterol and lipid metabolism. Seladin-1 was originally identified as a gene whose expression was down-regulated in regions of the brain associated with Alzheimer's disease. Seladin-1 has been demonstrated to be neuroprotective and was later characterized as 3β-hydroxysterol-Δ24 reductase (DHCR24), a key enzyme in the cholesterologenic pathway. Seladin-1 has also been shown to regulate lipid raft formation. In a whole genome screen for direct LXRα target genes, we identified an LXRα occupancy site within the second intron of the Seladin-1/DHCR24 gene. We characterized a novel LXR response element within the second intron of this gene that is able to confer LXR-specific ligand responsiveness to reporter gene in both HepG2 and human embryonic kidney 293 cells. Furthermore, we found that Seladin-1/DHCR24 gene expression is significantly decreased in skin isolated from LXRβ-null mice. Our data suggest that Seladin-1/DHCR24 is an LXR target gene and that LXR may regulate lipid raft formation.


[1] Fengyun-2C (FY-2C), launched in October 2004, is the first operational geostationary meteorological satellite in China. It can provide 1-h interval cloudiness products with a spatial resolution of 0.04° latitude × 0.04° longitude. The main characteristics of the regional-scale clouds from a 2-year FY-2C data set (from July 2005 to June 2007) are presented, including the spatial distribution and the annual and diurnal cycles of cloudiness. The reliability of FY-2C cloud products over Southeast Asia is investigated through comparisons to cloud cover from the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer on board Terra and Aqua satellites, and conventional ground observations. It is shown that the FY-2C cloud mask performs consistently with other cloud mask products over Southeast Asia. In the boreal winter, the whole domain is dry with little cloudiness. More extensive cloudiness can be observed over the Sichuan Basin, in the East China Sea and the South China Sea, along the northwestern border of China, and around the ITCZ in the Southern Hemisphere. In the boreal summer, the summer monsoon is the dominant system for the studied domain, which is generally humid with extensive cloudiness, corresponding to zones of strong convective activities. Results also reveal considerable discrepancies among different cloud products over extended areas of north China and Mongolia. The Sichuan Basin is another region of large discrepancies among the four cloud products. Diurnal cycles of FY-2C cloudiness for the four seasons of a year are analyzed. The diurnal range of cloudiness is generally larger over land than over ocean. Remarkable diurnal variation is found over the Tibetan Plateau, the northern part of the Indian Peninsula, and central Asia where there is generally less precipitation. The peaks of diurnal cycle of cloudiness appear around local noon over the subtropical land, in the morning over the Indian Peninsula, and in the afternoon near the equator.


In the development and assessment of critical gas turbine components, simulations have a crucial role. An accurate life prediction approach is needed to estimate lifespan of these components. Nickel base superalloys remain the material of choice for gas turbine blades in the energy industry. These blades are required to withstand both fatigue and creep at extreme temperatures during their usage time. Nickel-base superalloys present an excellent heat resistance at high temperatures. Presence of chromium in the chemical composition makes these alloys highly resistant to corrosion, which is critical for turbine blades. This study presents a flexible approach to combine creep and fatigue damages for a single crystal Nickel-base superalloy. Stress and strain states are used to compute life calculations, which makes this approach applicable for component level. The cumulative damage approach is utilized in this study, where dominant damage modes are capturing primary microstructural mechanism associated with failure. The total damage is divided into two distinctive modules: fatigue and creep. Flexibility is imparted to the model through its ability to emphasize the dominant damage mechanism which may vary among alloys. Fatigue module is governed by a modified version of Coffin-Manson and Basquin model, which captures the orientation dependence of the candidate material. Additionally, Robinson's creep rupture model is applied to predict creep damage in this study. A novel crystal visco-plasticity (CVP) model is used to simulate deformation of the alloy under several different types of loading. This model has capability to illustrate the temperature-, rate-, orientation-, and history-dependence of the material. A user defined material (usermat) is created to be used in ANSYS APDL 19.0, where the CVP model is applied by User Programmable Feature (UPF). This deformation model is constructed of a flow rule and internal state variables, where the kinematic hardening phenomena is captured by back stress. Octahedral, cubic and cross slip systems are included to perform simulations in different orientations. An implicit integration process that uses Newton-Raphson iteration scheme is utilized to calculate the desired solutions. Several tensile, low-cycle fatigue (LCF) and creep experiments were conducted to inform modeling parameters for the life prediction and the CVP models.


Early diagnosis and accurate treatment is crucial in increasing the survival rate of diseases that can result in death, such as breast cancer. Therefore, there is a greater need for artificial intelligence systems that will help doctors make decisions in health care, especially in fatal diseases. Because these systems are not affected by human nature factors such as distraction, stress etc. so that they can distinguish small and important issues that could be overlooked, especially in the scan results of the patient. The aim of this study is to predict whether a mass can be identified in breast and whether the mass found in the breast is benign or malignant with the help of machine learning which is a sub-study area of artificial intelligence. In this study, the images in the mini-MIAS database are used. Firstly, unwanted areas were eliminated. Then Gauss, Average, Median and Wiener filters were applied to reduce noise and smoothing the images and an algorithm based on Contrast-Limited Adaptive Histogram Equalization (CLAHE) was applied to make suspicious areas more visible. New data sets were created by using HOG (Histogram of Oriented Gradients), LBP (Local Binary Pattern), GLCM (Gray Level Co-occurrence Matrices) for feature extraction and correlation (COR) for feature selection. Selected features were classified in three different categories (normal, benign, malignant) and two different categories (normal, abnormal) using. Different machine learning algorithms (C5.0 (normal and boosted), Naive Bayes, CART and Random Forest) were applied to the data sets and the performances were compared. According to the research findings, to decide whether there was a breast mass, the highest accuracy value was calculated by applying Median and Wiener filters together, equating histogram with CLAHE and using the GLCM feature extraction method on the data set and the accuracy was found 0.657 with Naive Bayes algorithm. When trying to find out whether the mass found in the breast is benign or malignant, Median was applied together with Weiner Filter, equating histogram with CLAHE and HOG feature extraction method was used, and the accuracy was calculated as 0,660 with Random Forest algorithm.


Summary: Common behavioral alterations associated with epilepsy include increased interest in philosophical and religious concerns, increased and extensive writing of a cosmic or philosophical nature, changes in sexual behavior, and aggressiveness. Psychological stress, the effects of anticonvulsant therapy, and the actual occurrence of seizures or convulsions can be ruled out as possible causes of the syndrome. It is speculated that these behavioral alterations are the result of an intermittent spike focus in the temporal lobe that leads to an alteration in the responsiveness of the limbic system. Thus, there is a heightened emotional response to many stimuli as well as a decrease in sexual responsiveness. In an effort to discover the cause of the high incidence of sexual alterations, abnormalities in response to luteinizing hormone‐releasing hormone (LHRH) were found in a group of patients with partial complex seizures, some of whom had no overt sexual dysfunction and had never received anticonvulsant therapy.