Introduction. Soft rot in crops is caused by a group of bacteria capable of secreting enzymes that degrade pectin
in the cell wall of the plants and causes significant economic losses in agriculture worldwide. In Costa Rica, there is
few data available about the distribution, hosts, and genetic diversity of the causal agents of disease. Objective. To
identify the presence of bacteria causing soft rot in vegetables located in Cartago and Alajuela using molecular and
enzymatic analysis, and pathogenicity techniques. Materials and methods. The study was carried out between July
and October 2017 in Cartago and Alajuela, Costa Rica. Plants with soft roth symptoms were collected: sweet chili
(Capcicum annum), onion leaves and bulbs (Allium cepa), zucchini plants (Cucurbita pepo), tomato fruits (Solanum
lycopersicum), and potato plants (Solanum tuberosum). Bacterial isolation was performed on a selective violet crystal
and pectate (CVP) medium. Hypersensitive reaction (RH) tests were performed, the isolates were inoculated into
sweet chili leaves and pathogenicity tests (Koch´s postulates) were carried out for the positive bacteria. The isolates
were identified by the 16S RNA-Ribosomal gene. Results. Five bacteria with pectinolytic activity were isolated:
Pt1-A, 6-M2, Ech2A, CfspA, and Cfsab. According to the pathogenicity analysis, CfspA, Cfsab, and Ech2A strains
were causal agents of soft rot in chile. It was not possible to reproduce the symptoms in onion and potato. According
to the molecular identification, CfspA and Cfsab strains were classified within the Pectobacterium carotovorum clade,
while Ech2A was classified as Raoultella terrigena. Conclusion. Raoultella and Pectobacterium carotovorum were
considered the causal agents of soft rotting of chili in the areas of Cartago and Alajuela respectively


During brain development, neural progenitors (NPs) need to balance their self-renewal with differentiation, in order to maintain the NP population while establishing the complex tissue architecture of the brain. NP fate is under the close scrutiny of plethora of fate determination factors, which can be divided into two groups based on their site of origin namely, intrinsic and extrinsic fate determinants. To date, a number of intrinsic factors, such as cell polarity and adhesion, and extrinsic factors including Notch, WNT and mTOR signaling pathways have been shown to regulate NP fate specification. Despite a modest understanding of how individual fate determinant pathways influence NP fate, number of significant and fundamental questions remains to be answered; many of which centre on the integration and regulation of distinct determinant factors. The current study focused on understanding how the posttranslational modification, deubiquitylation, contributes to NP fate determination. Conditional deletion of the deubiquitylating enzyme, Usp9x from mouse NPs results in perinatal lethality and diffused cortical cellular architecture during late embryonic stages signifying its importance in NP fate specification (Stegeman et al., 2013). In light of this previous study, the overarching aim of this project was to identify roles, if any, of Usp9x in neural progenitor fate specification.


Important to the development of dye-sensitized solar cells is the longevity and photo-conversion efficiency of the dye. To improve cost effectiveness, dyes of superior thermal and chemical stability are desirable to extend device performance. In this study, we examine a series of peripherally fluorinated Zinc-Phthalocyanines (F x ZnPc). Introduction of chemically inert fluorine and isopropyl fluoroalkyl groups on the periphery of the Pc improve the dye stability and allow for tunable photo-physical properties. Additionally, introduction of the bulky isopropyl fluoroalkyl groups help mitigate molecular aggregation in thin films which is known to be detrimental to maintaining the desired photo-physical properties of the surface coating. Using molecular dynamics and first principles modeling, various substituent effects on surface adhesion and aggregation over TiO 2 surfaces are characterized for both symmetric and asymmetric substitution.


Objective To determine the relationship between stimulation rate and adaptation in cochlear implant users. Study Design A prospective clinical study. Setting This study was conducted at Hacettepe University Medical Faculty, which is a tertiary care and cochlear implant center in Ankara, Turkey. Patients Seven patients (three women, four men) who were using Nucleus CI 24 M cochlear implants (Cochlear Corp., Lane Cove, NSW, Australia). Two of them had become deaf after developing language skills, and five had congenitally deafness. Results Six patients demonstrated no tone decay. Only one patient, who had congenital hearing loss, demonstrated tone decay at stimulation rates of 250, 500, 720, 900 pulses per second. There is no statistically significant relationship between the stimulation rate and the selected electrode. Conclusion The majority of the cochlear implant patients sustained the perception of a continuous electrical signal for 1 minute at 5 to 10 current levels above threshold.


In this paper, we study long cycles in induced subgraphs of hypercubes obtained by removing a given set of faulty vertices such that every two faults are distant. First, we show that every induced subgraph of Q(n) with minimum degree n - 1 contains a cycle of length at least 2(n) - 2(f) where f is the number of removed vertices. This length is the best possible when all removed vertices are from the same bipartite class of Q(n). Next, we prove that every induced subgraph of Q(n) obtained by removing vertices of some given set M of edges of Q(n) contains a Hamiltonian cycle if every two edges of M are at distance at least 3. The last result shows that the shell of every linear code with odd minimum distance at least 3 contains a Hamiltonian cycle. In all these results we obtain significantly more tolerable faulty vertices than in the previously known results. We also conjecture that every induced subgraph of Q(n) obtained by removing a balanced set of vertices with minimum distance at least 3 contains a Hamiltonian cycle.


This paper deals with the changes in Bulgarian after 1989. The establishment of the democratic society in Bulgaria provokes also a revolution in the language. Firstly, the features of the "official gobbledegook" (OED) (langue de bois) of the press before 1989 are compared with the new speak after 1989. After the democratic changes in Bulgaria, the yellow press dominates the mediatical space. Secondly, I analyze the lexical and morphosyntactical marks of the new speak. The lexicon of the press is now more individual, rich, "colored". Several loan words from English or Turkish supplies the Russian borrowings in Bulgarian. The morphosyntax is also concemed: more frequent verbal phrases, causative transitivation, subject-object inversion, etc. Ultimately a brief survey is given of the social and sociolinguistical reactions in the Bulgarian society in connexion with the new speak of the bulgarian press.


We recently found that starting intake of isoflavone genistein (GEN) present in soyfoods at the time when mammary tumors are treated with tamoxifen (TAM) increases de novo resistance to TAM and the risk of recurrence in a new rat model of estrogen receptor positive mammary tumor dormancy. However, rats which started consuming GEN before puberty and continued through their life time were highly responsive to TAM and exhibited reduced rate of mammary tumor recurrence. In this study, we investigated potential mechanisms that may explain the findings.

95 female Sprague-Dawley rats consuming AIN93G diet were supplemented with 0 or 500 ppm GEN between postnatal days (PND) 15 to 30 (prepubertal exposure) and then were fed AIN93G diet with no GEN between PND 30 and 55. On PND 48, rats received 10 mg DMBA to induce mammary tumors, and were then divided to four dietary groups on PND 55: prepubertal GEN-adult GEN group (GG, lifelong GEN, n=20); prepubertal GEN-adult control group (GC, prepubertal GEN, n=20); prepubertal control-adult GEN (CG, adult GEN, n=20); and control-control (CC, n=35). When mammary tumor reached a size of 1.4 cm in diameter, 337 ppm TAM citrate was added to rats' diet. GG and CG rats continued also consuming GEN, and all rats in GC and 20 rats in CC groups (post-diagnosis GEN) started consuming GEN one week after the TAM treatment started. 15 CC rats were never fed GEN (C, no GEN control, n=15).

Mammary tumor latency was longer in GG (p<0.003) and GC rats (p<0.095), compared to CC rats. The response of tumors to TAM treatment was classified as complete or partial response, or de novo resistant. Prepubertal and life-time GEN intake increased, and intake starting during TAM treatment reduced response to TAM (p<0.001). Mammary cancer recurrence rate was highest in the rats which started consuming GEN during TAM treatment, and significantly lower in life-time, prepubertal and adulthood only GEN intake groups (p<0.001).

In the mammary gland, no changes in estrogen receptor alpha (ERα) or HER2/ErB2 protein expression in the mammary gland were seen among the groups, but estrogen receptor beta (ERβ) protein level was significantly up-regulated (p<0.05) in the lifelong GEN exposed animals, when compared to no GEN control or prepubertal GEN exposed animals. We also investigated changes in the unfolded protein response (UPR) pathway. Surprisingly, the active form of ATF6, ATF6 p50, was highest in the mammary gland of lifelong GEN fed rats and lowest in that of CG and C animals (p<0.05). Target gene expression of ATF6 p50 was investigated in the mammary gland by quantitative real-time PCR and up-regulation of Xbp1 and GRP78 mRNA level was confirmed (p<0.05). In the tumor, ERα and progesterone receptor (PgR) protein expression did not differ among the five groups, but HER2/ErB2 and ERβ expression were higher in GC rats when compared with rats exposed to GEN lifelong (p<0.05). Further, protein levels of several important components in the UPR pathway - GRP78, IRE1α, ATF4 and Beclin -were significantly lower in the mammary tumors of lifelong GEN exposed rats than in the tumors of rats that started consuming GEN as adult (p<0.05).

Our findings suggest that the effect of prepubertal GEN exposure in increasing TAM responsiveness may be related to the differentially regulated UPR pathway: members of this pathway were activated in the normal mammary gland and downregulated in the tumors. Elevated expression of GRP78 and other UPR genes in the mammary tumors of rats that started consuming GEN for the first time during TAM treatment may be associated with high de novo resistance and recurrence rate.

Citation Format: Xiyuan Zhang, Leena A. Hilakivi-Clarke. Life-time and adult genistein consumption have opposing effects on tamoxifen's ability to prevent recurrence of mammary tumors and on unfolded protein response pathways in rats. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Third AACR International Conference on Frontiers in Basic Cancer Research; Sep 18-22, 2013; National Harbor, MD. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2013;73(19 Suppl):Abstract nr B66.


I review some selected situations in which order builds up from randomness, or a losing trend turns into winning. Except for Section 4 (which is mine), all cases are well documented and the price paid to achieve order is apparent.


Air Preheater (APH) is a regenerative heat exchanger employed in power plants for improving the boiler thermal efficiency. Fouling of APH is a serious problem as it deteriorates heat transfer efficiency and causes unplanned shutdowns. This complex physico-chemical phenomenon is governed by APH operating conditions, flue gas composition and ambient conditions. We propose a physics-assisted Long-Short-Term-Memory (LSTM) network model to forecast the fouling of APH. A physics-based soft sensor, indicative of chemical deposition within the APH, is used as an additional feature. The physics-assisted basic and autoregressive LSTM models are found to be more accurate than the basic and autoregressive LSTM models, owing to additional insights coming from the physics-based soft sensor. They can help in effective predictive maintenance of APH by preempting forced outages of the plant due to fouling, up to three months in advance. The proposed framework can be easily adapted for forecasting of fouling in heat exchangers used in diverse industries.


Transparent flexible transistor array requests large-area fabrication, high integration, high manufacturing throughput, inexpensive process, uniformity in transistor performance, and reproducibility. This study suggests a facile and reliable approach to meet the requirements. We use the Al-coated polymer nanofiber patterns obtained by the electrohydrodynamic (EHD) printing as a photomask. We use the lithography and deposition to produce highly-aligned nanolines (NLs) of metals, insulators, and semiconductors on large substrates. With these NLs, we demonstrate a highly integrated NL field effect transistor (NL-FET) array (105/(4 × 4 in2), 254 pixel-per-inch) made of pentacene and indium zinc oxide semiconductor NLs. In addition, we demonstrate a NL complementary inverter (NL-CI) circuit consisting of pentacene and fullerene NLs. The NL-FET array shows high transparency (~90 %), flexibility (stable at 2.5 mm bending radius), uniformity (~90 %), and high performances (mobility = 0.52 cm2/Vs, on-off ratio = 7.0 × 106). The NL-CI circuit also shows high transparency, flexibility, and typical switching characteristic with a gain of 21. The reliable large-scale fabrication of the various NLs proposed in this study is expected to be applied for manufacturing transparent flexible nanoelectronic devices.


Pour toujours, je seraietranger a moi-meme. ( Le Mythe de Sisyphe , Ess , 111) For ever I shall be a stranger to myself. ( MS , 18) After fifteen years I have progressed beyond several of the positions which are set down here; but I have remained faithful, it seems to me, to the exigency which promoted them. This book is in a certain sense the most personal of those I have published in America. ( MS , vi) History and resistance Le Mythe de Sisyphe may be the most historically dated of Albert Camus's major texts, the work most clearly marked by the conditions under which it was written and thus the one that might appear to have aged the least well and have the least to say to modern-day readers. The essay was written during what Camus in his 1955 preface to its American translation calls 'the French and European disaster' ( MS , v), and it is difficult not to relate its sense of tragic hopelessness to France's ignominious defeat at the hands of Nazi Germany, the Occupation and Vichy collaboration. The text that Camus also calls 'the most personal of those (he has) published in America' (MS, vi) could also be read as a reflection of his own struggle with tuberculosis during this period, since he was so seriously ill he expressed doubts at times that he would survive. But perhaps even more than these historical and personal factors Le Mythe may be dated by the concept of the Absurd itself to which Camus's name is still linked today, even though he admitted as early as 1955 that he had already 'progressed beyond' ( MS , vi) its propositions. The postwar generation in general quickly moved beyond the Absurd as well, which is why its interest today could be considered largely historical.


This is the first ultrastructural study of a neoplasm arising in a parovarian Müllerian (paramesonephric) cyst. By light and electron microscopy this tumour bore a close resemblance to the ovarian serous cystadenoma of borderline malignancy. This resemblance to serous neoplasms of the ovary and to other tumours of Müllerian duct derivation was the strongest claim to its origin. Other features which indicated Müllerian origin included the absence of a well‐defined basement membrane, the presence of distinct muscle coats and the relatively large size of the epithelial cells and their nuclei. We suggest that the same prognostic criteria used for ovarian serous tumours might be applicable to the present lesion and conclude that Müllerian adnexal tumours like their Wolffian counterparts can also be identified by their morphological characteristics.


The equations of electron acceleration, velocity, and displacement in time-varying fields are derived for the temperature-limited and the space-charge-limited diodes. These are written in a form making it possible to construct universal curves of electron displacement as a function of transit angle. Separate curves represent the direct-current and alternating-current components of electron displacement, the total displacement being obtained by adding the two components. The curves greatly expedite the solution of electron transit-time problems and aid in visualizing the physical processes at work.


We present EVN observations of hydroxyl (OH) main-line emission in two megamaser sources Mrk 231 and IC 694. The observations indicate that the broad maser emission lines originate within the nuclear regions. A single 1667 MHz main-line feature is seen at the nucleus of IC 694. In Mrk 231 both main-lines were observed in an extended "half-circular" region of 150 pc by 50 pc surrounding the radio nucleus.


We present a training framework for neural abstractive summarization based on actor-critic approaches from reinforcement learning. In the traditional neural network based methods, the objective is only to maximize the likelihood of the predicted summaries, no other assessment constraints are considered, which may generate low-quality summaries or even incorrect sentences. To alleviate this problem, we employ an actor-critic framework to enhance the training procedure. For the actor, we employ the typical attention based sequence-to-sequence (seq2seq) framework as the policy network for summary generation. For the critic, we combine the maximum likelihood estimator with a well designed global summary quality estimator which is a neural network based binary classifier aiming to make the generated summaries indistinguishable from the human-written ones. Policy gradient method is used to conduct the parameter learning. An alternating training strategy is proposed to conduct the joint training of the actor and critic models. Extensive experiments on some benchmark datasets in different languages show that our framework achieves improvements over the state-of-the-art methods.


Guidelines on primary spontaneous pneumothorax (PSP) management differ but commonly recommend intervention especially for larger PSPs. Evidence for recommending intervention over conservative management, even for large PSPs, appears scarce. We believe intervention is rarely required, that complications can and do ensue, and that conservative management of PSP has good outcomes without the risks associated with guideline-mandated intervention. Conservative management of large PSPs is outside current guidelines, despite a long international and local history of large PSPs being successfully managed in this way. We sought to examine the evidence base for compelling reasons to change our current conservative practice. We are conducting a Cochrane Review of management of PSP; this is ongoing. We have performed a retrospective review of PSP patients admitted to our hospital and mostly managed conservatively, with good outcomes, no complications, and no increased need for pleurodesis. Finally, here, we describe six consecutive PSP cases, all large, treated conservatively outside current guidelines but with no complications and good outcomes. Patient satisfaction with this treatment was high. Pain scores, hospital stays, subsequent need for surgery, and complication rates were low in this small series, although there were more outpatient follow up appointments during the recovery phase. Our review has found that current clinical guidelines on interventional PSP management have a limited evidence base. Our observations suggest that conservative management may be as safe and effective in many PSPs, regardless of size. We continue to study PSP cases prospectively.


We propose a new shallow fusion (SF) method to exploit an external backward language model (BLM) for end-to-end automatic speech recognition (ASR). The BLM has complementary characteristics with a forward language model (FLM), and the effectiveness of their combination has been confirmed by rescoring ASR hypotheses as post-processing. In the proposed SF, we iteratively apply the BLM to partial ASR hypotheses in the backward direction (i.e., from the possible next token to the start symbol) during decoding, substituting the newly calculated BLM scores for the scores calculated at the last iteration. To enhance the effectiveness of this iterative SF (ISF), we train a partial sentence-aware BLM (PBLM) using reversed text data including partial sentences, considering the framework of ISF. In experiments using an attention-based encoder-decoder ASR system, we confirmed that ISF using the PBLM shows comparable performance with SF using the FLM. By performing ISF, early pruning of prospective hypotheses can be prevented during decoding, and we can obtain a performance improvement compared to applying the PBLM as post-processing. Finally, we confirmed that, by combining SF and ISF, further performance improvement can be obtained thanks to the complementarity of the FLM and PBLM.


Removal of locally advanced right‐sided colonic carcinoma involving the duodenum can be challenging. There are few data on the optimal surgical approach. Adjacent organ involvement is associated with a poor prognosis and may be classified as inoperable with patients having palliative bypass procedures rather than primary resection. Survival is however improved after en bloc resection of adjoining viscera compared with intestinal bypass. We present a variety of surgical options depending on the extent of local invasion and the debility of the patient.


ABSTRACT Young adults from divorced families experience clear emotional distress despite most not meeting diagnostic criteria for emotional disorders. Laumann-Billings and Emery (2000) developed the Painful Feelings About Divorce (PFAD) scale to assess the emotional distress emerging adults feel regarding childhood parental divorce. The study sample is undergraduates predominately between the ages of 18 and 22. This study adds to the literature by (a) further demonstrating the PFAD scale reliability and validity, (b) including participants with both divorced and separated but never married parents, and (c) assessing generalizability of the PFAD with a more diverse socioeconomic sample.


The paper presents radiation models developed to investigate radiation in entry in Earth, Mars and Jupiter atmospheres. The capacity of ASTEROID computing code to simulate elementary radiative processes, calculate spectral and groups optical properties, and also solve simple radiative heat transfer problems is presented for Earth entry. The large number of radiative processes involved in the radiative flux is put forward. The contributions of the different radiative processes encountered in Mars entry are studied using the HTGR spectroscopic database. The validity of this database with respect to diatomic molecules systems and CO2 infrared radiation is illustrated through experimental validations. The accuracy of statistical narrow-band model to predict radiative flux is illustrated for an afterbody. Finally recent improvements of the model developed for the calculation of radiative properties of high-temperature H2/He mixtures representative of Jupiter atmosphere is presented. The model takes into account the most important radiative processes.


Recently, shockwave food processing is drawing much attention as a low-cost non-thermal food process technique. In shockwave non-thermal food processing, underwater shockwaves are generated by a high voltage generator. Therefore, high inrush currents and high voltage stress on circuit components significantly reduce the reliability and life expectancy of the circuit. However, to the best of our knowledge, stress reduction techniques and their experimental verification have not been studied yet in the shockwave non-thermal food processing system. In this paper, we propose a stress reduction technique for the shockwave non-thermal food processing system and investigate the effectiveness of the proposed technique experimentally. To achieve high reliability and life expectancy, a new high voltage multiplier with an exponential clock pulse generator is proposed for the shockwave non-thermal food processing system. By slowing down the rate at which the capacitors charge in the high voltage multiplier, the exponential clock pulse generator significantly reduces the inrush current. Furthermore, to perform shockwave non-thermal food processing continuously at a lower voltage level, we present a new electrode with a reset mechanism for wire electric discharge (WED), where a square-shaped metal wire swings on a hinge in the proposed electrode. The proposed electrode enables not only shockwave generation at a lower voltage level but also continuous non-thermal food processing, because the square-shaped metal wire is not melted in the WED process. To confirm the validity of the proposed techniques, some experiments are performed regarding the laboratory prototype of the shockwave non-thermal food processing system. In the performed experiments, reduction of inrush currents and effective food processing are confirmed.


This article begins with an explanation of how cultural conflict is in fact a problem of the law related to the protection of Native American sacred sites on public land. In these cases Native Americans must fight for the survival of their culture in the context of those sacred sites tied to their identity and spirituality. The author critically reexamines the Chimney Rock case, Lying v. Northwest Indian Cemetery Protective Association, the only one of the sacred site cases to the reach the United States Supreme Court. Throughout this article, it is argued that one needs to recognize these disputes as cultural conflicts between communities, arising from a clash between master stories, which inform the identity and understanding of the peoples who are the parties to these disputes, rather than simply as disputes involving conflict between individual rights and government powers. An alternative approach explored in handling these cases is the narrative approach. Listening to another's story can help to better understand the situation and help to reach a well-informed conclusion.


Riboflavin and nicotinic acid may be determined by (1) biological assay, using animals, (2) chemical methods, colorimetric or fluoro-metric, (3) microbiological assay, using bacteria of known nutritional requirements.


The identification of Listeria monocytogenes as a cause of bacterial meningitis often has been missed due to its morphologic similarity to nonpathogenic diphtheroids. This gram-positive-staining micro-organism was seen in the spinal fluid specimens from two of seven patients. Specific identification was made by colony study on cultures grown from spinal fluid samples of each of the seven patients. The leukocyte count in the spinal fluid was not of diagnostic value. The signs and symptoms of the three infants and four adults did not differ from those of meningitis due to other agents. This organism also causes granulomatosis of the fetus and newborn infant, conjunctivitis, urethritis, and a type of infectious mononucleosis.


In this first book-length treatment of Descartes' important and influential natural philosophy, Daniel Garber is principally concerned with Descartes' accounts of matter and motion the joint between Descartes' philosophical and scientific interests. These accounts constitute the point at which the metaphysical doctrines on God, the soul, and body, developed in writings like the "Meditations," give rise to physical conclusions regarding atoms, vacua, and the laws that matter in motion must obey. Garber achieves a philosophically rigorous reading of Descartes that is sensitive to the historical and intellectual context in which he wrote. What emerges is a novel view of this familiar figure, at once unexpected and truer to the historical Descartes. The book begins with a discussion of Descartes' intellectual development and the larger project that frames his natural philosophy, the complete reform of all the sciences. After this introduction Garber thoroughly examines various aspects of Descartes' physics: the notion of body and its identification with extension; Descartes' rejection of the substantial forms of the scholastics; his relation to the atomistic tradition of atoms and the void; the concept of motion and the laws of motion, including Descartes' conservation principle, his laws of the persistence of motion, and his collision law; and the grounding of his laws in God."


We study the dynamics of the quantum steering between two separated qubits trapped in a one-dimensional plasmonic waveguide. By numerical methods, we calculate the quantum steerability and other quantum correlations, i.e., entanglement, discord, and coherence, for both cases with and without laser driving fields. It is found that steerability may exhibit a sudden disappearance and sudden reappearance phenomenon. Specifically, there exist time windows with no steerability but finite entanglement. The effects of plasmon wave number and the distance between the two qubits on steerability are also examined. Furthermore, we show that quantum steerability is tunable by adjusting the laser driving fields.


Abstract. SL-AV (semi-Lagrangian, based on the absolute vorticity equation) is a global hydrostatic atmospheric model. Its latest version, SL-AV20, provides global operational medium-range weather forecast with 20 km resolution over Russia. The lower-resolution configurations of SL-AV20 are being tested for seasonal prediction and climate modeling. The article presents the model dynamical core. Its main features are a vorticity-divergence formulation at the unstaggered grid, high-order finite-difference approximations, semi-Lagrangian semi-implicit discretization and the reduced latitude–longitude grid with variable resolution in latitude. The accuracy of SL-AV20 numerical solutions using a reduced lat–lon grid and the variable resolution in latitude is tested with two idealized test cases. Accuracy and stability of SL-AV20 in the presence of the orography forcing are tested using the mountain-induced Rossby wave test case. The results of all three tests are in good agreement with other published model solutions. It is shown that the use of the reduced grid does not significantly affect the accuracy up to the 25 % reduction in the number of grid points with respect to the regular grid. Variable resolution in latitude allows us to improve the accuracy of a solution in the region of interest.


Macedonian criminal law legislation was subjected to some serious reform resulting in a nearly novel Law on Criminal Procedure (Official Gazette 150/10) adopted on 18.11.2010 with a suspended enforcement as of December 2013. This new law transformed domestic criminal procedure from a so-called mixed neo-inquisitorial procedure into a fully adversarial, thus almost fully abandoning the investigation principle and the court paternalism accompanying it. Court investigation was cancelled with trials now being held in an adversarial proceeding through cross examination of the defendant, witnesses and expert witnesses by the parties. Constrained by time, the legal reform failed to introduce practically any important novelties in the area of remedies, so this field went without any significant change compared to the former LCP of 1997. Hence, it must be acknowledged that not only in Macedonia, but throughout the entire Western Balkan region, the reform of criminal procedure legislation pays very little attention to remedies, their redefinition within the context of the parties, the emphasized adversarial concept, including the equality of arms of the parties, the scope of the remedies, the grounds underlying the remedy, the hearings before the second-instance court, etc. Practically speaking, this led to the preservation of the remedy system from the LCP of former Yugoslavia. The Macedonian system of criminal proceeding contains the following remedies: -Ordinary: appeal to a first-instance judgment, appeal to a second-instance judgment, complaint to a decision. -Extraordinary: Motion for the protection of legality; motion for extraordinary review of an effective judgment, and motion for a re-trial. The reform has made a small rationalization of the remedy system in the sense that the extraordinary remedy entitled 'Extraordinary mitigation of the sentence' has been taken out.


In two recent papers [1], [2], Oughstun et al. have claimed that the eigenvalues of the transverse modes traveling along opposite directions in ring cavities are different. Using very general arguments based on the symmetry of the free-space kernel, we show that the two sets of eigenvalues associated with the counterpropagating modes of ring cavities are formally identical. The two sets of counter-propagating eigenfunctions satisfy a biorthogonality relationship.


Several high-quality protocols exist that describe the methodological and technical aspects of the flow cytometric analyses of stem and progenitor cells. In addition, recent advances in automation and quantitative analyses show promising results. For further improvement of the test quality and more objective control, internal as well as external quality control is mandatory. In addition, cost aspects move into the focus of interest and have to be considered. Alternative methods such as volumetric capillary cytometry or haematological analyzers are of limited use for stem and progenitor cell analyses. Currently, flow cytometry represents the gold standard for monitoring the onset of apheresis and to evaluate the quality of stem and progenitor cell grafts. In the near future, only in vitro diagnostics that are CE-labelled or FDA-approved should be used for these analyses.


A new theoretical model is presented to study the nanoscale electronic inhomogeneity in highTc cuprates. In this model, we argue that the randomly distributed out-of-plane interstitial oxygen dopants induces locally the off-diagonal (i.e., hopping integral) disorder. This disorder modulates the superexchange interaction resulting from a large-U Hubbard model, which in turns changes the local pairing interaction. The microscopic self-consistent calculations shows that the large gap regions are registered to the locations of dopants. Large gap regions exhibit small and broader coherence peaks. These results are qualitatively consistent with recent STM observations on optimally doped Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ.


Immunotherapy has been increasingly used in the treatment of cancer. Compared with chemotherapy, immunotherapy relies on the autoimmune system to take effect with fewer side effects. Small molecule immune-oncological medicines usually have good bioavailability, higher tissue and tumor permeability, and a reasonable half-life. In this work, we summarize the current advances in the field of small molecule approaches in tumor immunology, including small molecules in clinical trials and preclinical studies, containing PD1/PD-L1 small molecule inhibitors, IDO inhibitor, STING activators, RORγt agonists, TGF-β inhibitors, etc. PD-1/DP-L1 is the most attractive target at present. Some small molecule drugs are being in clinical trial studies. Among them, CA-170 has attracted much attention as an oral small molecule drug. IDO is another popular target after PD-1/PD-L1. The dual IDO and PD-1 inhibitor can improve the low response of PD-1 and has a good synergistic effect. STING is a protein that occurs naturally in the human body and can enhance the body's immunity. RORγt is mainly expressed in cells of the immune system. It promotes the differentiation of Th17 cells and produces the key factor IL-17, which plays a key role in the development of autoimmune diseases. TGFβ signaling exhibits potent immunosuppressive activity on the coordinate innate and adaptive immunity, impairing the antitumor potential of innate immune cells in the tumor microenvironment. It is worth mentioning that immunotherapy drugs can often achieve better effects when used in combination, which will help defeat cancer.


Replication-selective oncolytic virotherapy provides a novel modality to treat cancer by inducing cell death in tumor cells but not in normal cells. However, the utilization of oncolytic viruses as a stand-alone treatment is problematic due to their poor transduction efficiency in vivo. H101 was the first oncolytic adenovirus (Ads) to be approved by the Chinese FDA, and exhibits modest antitumor effects when applied as a single agent. The multiple histone deacetylase inhibitor trichostatin A (TSA) has been demonstrated to potently enhance the spread and replication of oncolytic Ads in several infection-resistant types of cancer. The present study aimed to investigate the antitumor effects of H101 in combination with TSA on esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) in vitro and in vivo, and determine the mechanisms underlying these effects. H101 and TSA in combination increased the survival of mice harboring human ESCC cell line-tumor xenografts, as compared with mice treated with these agents individually. Therefore, TSA may enhance the antitumor effects of H101 in ESCC.


The aim of this study was to evaluate the properties of polymer dispersions prepared from hydrophobic monomers as barrier coatings. These dispersions were produced using a new emulsion polymerization process involving cyclodextrin as a phase-transport catalyst. Conventional emulsion polymerization techniques are not applicable due to the low water solubility of the monomers, such as lauryl and stearyl (meth)-acrylates. The experimental polymers showed improvements in water and water vapor barriers, as a result of the incorporation of hydrophobic monomers. The barrier properties could be further improved with functional groups, crosslinking, and chain-regulating agents, as well as fillers. Grease and water barriers were strongly affected by pinholes, and functional monomers appeared to be effective in enhancing the grease barrier property. Particle morphology, glass transition temperature, and drying affected the performance of these dispersions. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 101: 1958–1962, 2006


The author describes evaluating long-term care from the humanbecoming perspective. Three core ideas are presented related to dignity and living quality, and how the humanbecoming perspective can be incorporated into long-term care evaluations that make a difference to the residents, caregivers, management, and to the outcomes of long-term care. This approach from the humanbecoming perspective can enrich evaluative information, influence long-term care outcomes, and ensure human dignity for all concerned.


Firstly, it is briefly introduced that Guangxi characteristic economic agricultural products are currently characterized by typical regional features and strong competitiveness. Then, Guilin is taken as an example, the problems existing in constructing the supply chain and brand of Guilin characteristic economic agricultural products are pointed out after the analysis of its current situations, the problems include weak agricultural production infrastructure, weak deep products processing capacity, low modernization level of storage and transportation as well as short of fixed marketing channels; meanwhile, brand construction faces the problems of little top brands and few differentiated products. Finally, some measures are proposed to solve these problems from the perspectives of establishing the management idea of agricultural products supply chain and enhancing the awareness to protect agricultural products brand, it is also suggested that these measures be extended to the whole Guangxi autonomous region in order to explore the way of the development of Guangxi characteristic agriculture.


Abstract In this paper I demonstrate how certain contemporary atheists have problematically conflated atheism with agnosticism (knowingly or unknowingly). The first type of conflation is semantic fusion, where the lack of belief in God is combined with the outright denial of God, under the single label of 'atheism'. The second is morphological fission which involves the separation of atheism into two subcategories where lack of belief in God is labelled as negative atheism and outright denial of God as positive atheism – and while here they are more explicitly demarcated, they are still positioned under the broad notion of atheism. I argue in this paper that atheism should be better used as the propositional denial of God and that uncertainty and unknowability about God should be reserved to characterise agnosticism. Conflating these positions under the single term 'atheism' mischaracterises agnostics and inflates the territory of atheists. In clarifying these terms, I review how the nuances in the prefix a- in atheism have potentially contributed towards these misnomers. I also suggest the use of the categories 'local atheism' and 'global atheism' to clarify on whom the burden of proof lies within the discourse.


Background: Cardiovascular hyperactivity is a possible predictor for future development of hypertension. Cold stressor can help identify young healthy individuals who are at risk of developing hypertension in future. Instituting life style modifications in such at-risk individuals could help prevent hypertension related mortality and morbidity in later years. Method: In this study, 72 voluntary subjects in the age group of 19 to 25 years were selected. Using a standard mercury sphygmomanometer, mean of three pre-procedure blood pressure recordings was designated as the basal blood pressure. This was followed by application of a cold pressor and blood pressure readings were obtained at 1 minute and 5 minutes. Heart rate (HR), systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) were tabulate and statistical inferences were drawn. Results: Our data revealed sharp increase from pre-stressor to 1 minute post-stressor HR, SBP and DBP. From 1 minute post-stressor to 5 minutes post-stressor time, there was a sharp decrease in HR, SBP and DBP, but the values were significantly higher than the pre-immersion control values (p<0.05). Conclusion: Cold stressor test can easily identify apparently healthy individuals with cardiovascular hyperactivity. This information can be used to identify population at risk and design strategy to prevent hypertension and its related complications in later years


The biographical and artistic documents describing to the attempted assassination of the artist Andy Warhol are reviewed. The visible scars are interpreted as symbols of the damaged integrity of the skin.


Mmm1p is a protein required for maintenance of mitochondrial morphology in budding yeast. It was proposed that it is required to mediate the interaction of the mitochondrial outer membrane with the actin cytoskeleton. We report the cloning and characterization of MMM1 of the filamentous fungus Neurospora crassa, an organism that uses microtubules for mitochondrial transport. Mutation of the mmm-1 gene leads to a temperature-sensitive slow growth phenotype and female sterility. Mutant cells harbor abnormal giant mitochondria at all stages of the asexual life cycle, whereas actin filament-depolymerizing drugs have no effect on mitochondrial morphology. The MMM1 protein has a single transmembrane domain near the N terminus and exposes a large C-terminal domain to the cytosol. The protein can be imported into the outer membrane in a receptor-dependent manner. Our findings suggest that MMM1 is a factor of general importance for mitochondrial morphology independent of the cytoskeletal system used for mitochondrial transport.


This paper provides a sociocultural analysis of the factors predetermining escalation of anti-social models of behavior in the youth environment during the epoch of the information, post-industrial society. The author examines the basic risk generating determinants of a destructive choice and its causal relations with an individual system of belief.


To address chronically low primary school completion rates and the disconnect between learners' skills at the end of primary school and the skills learners need to thrive in secondary school identified in many low- and middle-income countries, more investment is needed to improve the quality of teaching and learning in upper primary grades. Accordingly, we provide guidelines for improving five components of upper primary education: (1) In-service teacher professional development and pre-service preparation to improve and enhance teacher quality;(2) a focus on mathematics, literacy, and core content-area subjects;(3) assessment for learning;(4) high-quality teaching and learning materials;and (5) positive school climates. We provide foundational guiding principles and recommendations for intervention design and implementation for each component. Additionally, we discuss and propose how to structure and design pre-service teacher preparation and in-service teacher training and ongoing support, fortified by materials design and assessment, to help teachers determine where learners are in developmental progressions, move learners towards mastery, and differentiate and support learners who have fallen behind. We provide additional suggestions for integrating a whole-school climate curriculum, social-emotional learning, and school related gender-based violence prevention strategies to address the internal and societal changes learners often face as they enter upper primary.


Field studies were carried out in 1997 and 1998 in northwest Italy with the aim of determining the effects of weedy rice competition on rice growth dynamics and yield. 'Arborio' (medium-high tall size, high early vigour) and 'Thaibonnet' (semi-dwarf size, low early vigour) rice cultivars were grown in competition with weedy rice at four densities (0, 10, 20, and 40 plants m-2). For both cultivars the plant height, the aboveground biomass and the number of tillers were determined at different intervals. With some exceptions, all the measured rice growth parameters were not remarkably affected by weedy rice interference. Weedy rice plants grown in competition with 'Arborio' were generally taller and produced more biomass. Weedy rice competition resulted in up to 50% (in 'Thaibonnet') and 48% (in 'Arborio') yield losses. The yield losses observed in both varieties were primarily related to the reduction of yield components, and of panicle density and number of filled grains per panicle, in particular.


Recombinant 1-deoxy-D-xylulose 5-phosphate synthase of Bacillus subtilis was used for the preparation of isotope-labeled 1-deoxy-D-xylulose 5-phosphate using isotope-labeled glucose and/or isotope-labeled pyruvate as starting materials. The simple one-pot methods described afford almost every conceivable isotopomer of 1-deoxy-D-xylulose 5-phosphate carrying (13)C or (14)C from commercially available precursors with an overall yield around 50%.


Worlds of Music is a unique introduction to ethnomusicology, the ideal text with which to experience and understand the meanings of music in the lives of diverse human communities. Writing about cultures they have studied at first hand, the authors describe and analyze the indigenous musics of Africa, North and South America, Eastern Europe, India, Indonesia, and Japan. They also show how ethnomusicologists "get inside" a culture to document its music. Free from excessive jargon and assuming no formal musical background, Worlds of Music conveys the excitement of ethnomusicology by focusing in depth on the music of a small number of representative groups; looks at music both on its own terms and as a human activity in diverse historical, social, and cultural contexts; features fascinating biographies and oral histories of musicians in diverse cultures; includes many original photographs, drawings, and transcriptions of musical examples; and encourages active student involvement by showing how a beginner may document, play, and even build the instruments used in the music of another culture.


Spermatozoa in the vas deferens of the hamster lose their fertilizing capacity 3 days after ligation of the initial part of the duct and after 2 days if the testes are removed at the time of ligation. Sham-ligation had no effect on the fertilizing life of vasal spermatozoa on the contralateral side even 3 days after bilateral castration. Unilateral castration for 3 days had no effect on the fertilizing capacity of spermatozoa from the ipsilateral unobstructed duct, whereas no eggs were fertilized by spermatozoa from the contralateral ligated duct associated with the remaining testis. Unlike testosterone, 5alpha-dihydrotestosterone injected daily or implanted subcutaneously in Silastic tubes maintained normal fertilizing capacity for 2 days in castrates and for 3 days in intact males. Within each group, ligation had no effect on the level of fructose in the seminal vesicle on that side compared with the level in the gland on the other side.


It is well-known that non-financial issues have financial consequences for a business. Many organisations recognise that there is a crucial connection between ethics and organisational success. They acknowledge that the passionate preservation of corporate reputation, respect for the preferences of ethically discerning consumers, and the protection of company assets against fraud and corruption, result in investor confidence and good business. Furthermore, these organisations recognise that the institutionalisation of business ethics is no longer a nice-to-have, but a strategic imperative. Instead of debating the point that business and ethics cannot mix, ethically aware corporate leaders continuously and actively endeavour to find optimal ways of creating ethical organisational cultures. The aim of this paper is to propose an approach by which business ethics principles and practices can be institutionalised.
If an organisation has chosen to make ethics a part of how it defines itself and how things are done, its ethics strategy should not only be comprehensive, but also pervasive. It is proposed that a multi-level ethics strategy, consisting of strategic, systems, and operational foci, be embraced, designed and implemented. The strategic focus consists of systematically embedding ethics in the corporate purpose and values as well as in strategic planning. The systems focus encompasses specific systems aimed at the formalisation, implementation, education and evaluation of standards of corporate ethical behaviour of the organisation's current as well as potential human resources. Interpersonal communication about ethics, making ethical behaviour a key performance indicator in every job in the organisation, and day-to-day ethical decision-making are facets of the operational focus. The three foci as proposed are analysed.


We experimentally studied the effect of an injection current on the Josephson current in a superconductor/two-dimensional electron gas/superconductor junction. The two-dimensional electron gas is realized by using an InGaAs/InP heterostructure while Nb is taken for the superconducting electrodes. The suppression of the Josephson supercurrent by injecting hot carriers from an additional Nb electrode is explained by the modification of the carrier distribution function. The differential conductance between the injector electrode and the Josephson junction is found to be enhanced if the junction is in the superconducting state. This effect is explained by an interference of the quasi-particles which are phase-coherently Andreev reflected between the superconducting junction electrodes. The dependence of this enhancement on an external magnetic field and on the injection current is studied in detail.


Swainsonine, a plant toxin, strongly inhibits certain alpha-D-mannosidases but has no effect on others [D. R. P. Tulsiani, T. M. Harris, and O. Touster (1982) J. Biol. Chem. 257, 7936-7939]. The reversible inhibition of jack bean and lysosomal alpha-D-mannosidases has previously been suggested to be similar in nature but quite complex. Specific differences in the action of swainsonine on these two enzymes and on Golgi mannosidase II are reported. (a) The inhibition of the jack bean mannosidase, but not rat liver lysosomal alpha-D-mannosidase or Golgi mannosidase II, is increased by preincubation with the alkaloid. (b) The inhibition of the jack bean and lysosomal enzymes, but not mannosidase II, is competitive at inhibitor concentrations of less than or equal to 0.5 microM. (c) The inhibition of jack bean alpha-mannosidase is largely irreversible, its very limited reversibility being partially dependent upon the swainsonine concentration used and on the time of preincubation with the inhibitor. On the other hand, the inhibition of lysosomal alpha-mannosidase is largely reversible, as shown by dilution experiments and by the use of [3H]swainsonine. Golgi mannosidase II shows intermediate reversibility, the results indicating two modes of binding; one rapid and irreversible, the other much slower and reversible.


The mineral deposits of the Panama microplate are hosted by a composite volcano-plutonic island arc of Late Cretaceous to Quaternary age developed on an oceanic plateau, the Caribbean Large Igneous Province (CLIP), on the western, trailing edge of the Caribbean Plate. Large igneous provinces are formed by gold and chalcophile element-enriched, mantle plume-related magmas, which may explain the strong metal endowment of Panama of about 32 Mt copper and >984 t gold. The progressive collision of the Panama arc with South America since the middle Eocene resulted in deformation and oroclinal bending of the arc and metallogenic belts. In western Panama, the copper-gold belts young from south to north away from the subduction zone, whereas in eastern Panama the belts young from north to south. An Early Arc of late Campanian to Eocene age (71-34 Ma) developed related to northerly subduction of the Farallon Plate. It has submarine Si-Mn-Fe exhalite deposits in the Nombre de Dios and Montijo belts with showings of Au-rich VMS Cu-Zn mineralization. The San Blas porphyry Cu-Au belt formed in eastern Panama (Rio Pito and other porphyry Cu-Au prospects), while the western continuation, offset by 200 km sinistrally to the Azuero Belt, hosts high sulphidation epithermal Au-Cu deposits (Cerro Quema and others) in porphyry lithocaps.The arc migrated to the northern Azuero-Soná belt in the middle to late Eocene with the formation of epithermal Au-Ag-Pb-Cu mineralization, and a porphyry Au prospect (Soná). A Middle Arc developed in the Oligocene to lower Miocene (31-18 Ma) related to the NE-dipping subduction of the Farallon Plate followed by the Nazca Plate. In eastern Panama, the arc formed intermediate sulphidation epithermal Au deposits in high grade breccias (Espiritu Santo de Cana mine) and carbonates (Rio Mogue prospect), and porphyry Cu mineralization (Ipeti). The eastern Panama arc shut down in the lower Miocene as a result of the change of the Nazca Plate convergence to strike slip. The Middle Arc in western Panama, on the northern side of the Central Cordillera, hosts the Petaquilla belt of porphyry Cu (the supergiant Cobre Panama porphyry Cu-Mo-Au-Ag deposit) and epithermal Au (Molejon) deposits, and probably the epithermal Au deposits of the Veraguas belt. The Later Arc of Miocene to Quaternary age (18-0 Ma) of the Central Cordillera of western Panama hosts low sulphidation epithermal Au vein and breccia-hosted deposits (Capira, Remance, Santa Rosa), high sulphidation epithermal Au deposits (Cerro Lloron, Rio Liri), and porphyry Cu deposits (the supergiant Cerro Colorado porphyry Cu-Mo-Au-Ag deposit and the Cerro Chorcha porphyry Cu-Au deposit). Uplift of the young porphyries in the western part of the belt is related to the subduction of the Cocos aseismic oceanic ridge. Deposits formed by Quaternary weathering include lateritic bauxite and iron ore in the Chiriqui-Veraguas belt; heavy mineral Fe-Ti sands in beach/marine placer deposits in the Gulf of Panama; and extensive placer Au deposits in Northern Darien, Darien, Chepo, Coclé, Veraguas, western Azuero-Soná, and many other small deposits.


In this study we employ the bounds testing procedure suggested by Pesaran (2001) and dynamic OLS (DOLS) proposed by Stock and Watson (1993) to test the robustness of the causal effect and long-run relationships between military expenditure and economic growth in ASEAN-5 countries from the year 1965 to 2006. Generally, our results suggest that: (1) there are only three (Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore) out of five countries analyzed exhibit long–run relationship between military expenditure and economic growth; (2) While for the case of Singapore, the causality is bidirectional, for Indonesia and Thailand it is unidirectional from military expenditure to economic growth; and (3) For the remaining countries, (Malaysia and Philippines), no meaningful relationship could be detected. The results are robust, producing similar results employing both ARDL and DOLS.


Bioactive sphingolipids including ceramides are involved in a variety of pathophysiological processes by regulating cell death and survival. The objective of the current study was to examine ceramide metabolism in preeclampsia, a serious disorder of pregnancy characterized by oxidative stress, and increased trophoblast cell death and autophagy. Maternal circulating and placental ceramide levels quantified by tandem mass spectrometry were elevated in pregnancies complicated by preeclampsia. Placental ceramides were elevated due to greater de novo synthesis via high serine palmitoyltransferase activity and reduced lysosomal breakdown via diminished ASAH1 expression caused by TGFB3-induced E2F4 transcriptional repression. SMPD1 activity was reduced; hence, sphingomyelin degradation by SMPD1 did not contribute to elevated ceramide levels in preeclampsia. Oxidative stress triggered similar changes in ceramide levels and acid hydrolase expression in villous explants and trophoblast cells. MALDI-imaging mass spectrometry localized the ceramide increases to the trophophoblast layers and syncytial knots of placentae from pregnancies complicated by preeclampsia. ASAH1 inhibition or ceramide treatment induced autophagy in human trophoblast cells via a shift of the BOK-MCL1 rheostat toward prodeath BOK. Pharmacological inhibition of ASAH1 activity in pregnant mice resulted in increased placental ceramide content, abnormal placentation, reduced fetal growth, and increased autophagy via a similar shift in the BOK-MCL1 system. Our results reveal that oxidative stress-induced reduction of lysosomal hydrolase activities in combination with elevated de novo synthesis leads to ceramide overload, resulting in increased trophoblast cell autophagy, and typifies preeclampsia as a sphingolipid storage disorder.


Syed Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr was a scholar, a philosopher and ideological founder of Islamic Dawah party ( Hizbul Dawat al Islamiah ) in al Kazimiya Iraq. He was born on Dhil Hajja 25, 1353 A.H. / 1 March 1934 C.E. He belonged to a religious family which had been a cradle for Islamic learning since decades. His father Haydar al Sadr was a well respected high ranking Shia cleric. Baqir al Sadr completed his religious education at religious seminaries under the guidance of Al-Khoei and Muhsin al Hakim. Eventually he emerged as a profile writer and wrote twenty six books and numerous articles, on various disciplines including; Jurisprudence, exegesis, philosophy, logic, history, theology, Islamic culture and economics. Some of these books (originally in Arabic) have been translated into Persian, English, Urdu and Turkish languages. In 1960-61 he wrote his most celebrated book on economics namely Iqtisaduna (Our economics). In this voluminous work he criticizes the existing economic doctrines; capitalism and socialism and presents Islamic economics as an alternative for both the systems. Baqir al Sadr holds the view that, every economic system has got two aspects; scientific aspect and doctrinal aspect. The scientific aspect of Marxist economy is the historical materialism, while as its doctrinal aspect comprises of Socialism and communism. Historical materialism as an interpretation of history in terms of single factor (economic) does not explain most of the historical and social events which are the results of social, political, religious and psychological factors. Capitalist economy like Marxist economy has also got two aspects; scientific aspect and doctrinal aspect. However, the laws of the capitalist economy are doctrinal in nature, because, they are influenced by human will and differ from society to society. The distinctive nature of Islamic economy is that it adopts a moderate approach, while solving man's economic problems. The edifice of Islamic economy comprises of dual form of ownership, judicious economic freedom and social Justice. The various aspects of the system are integrated together, besides the entire system is intimately related with other aspects of Islam such as social, political spiritual and Psychological. The present paper intends to highlight the contribution of Baqir al Sadr towards development of Islamic Economics in the twentieth century.


: Among disadvantaged minorities, due to the unique nature of their mental and physical situation, may experience more inconvenience and insecurity with the environment or certain products. If proper care is not given, their right to survival and basic dignity will be seriously undermined. Therefore, how to make exclusive plans for the disadvantaged minorities and progressively improve their living quality and welfares, according to their physical and mental characteristics, is believed to be an important issue for advanced nations. The study focuses on blind people's ability to recognize three-dimensional patterns and tactile icons. Using the experimental facilities designed by the researcher, this case study is intended to clarify blind people's sensing and perceptual characteristics. In the experiments, the major findings are as follows: (1) Blind people's ability to recognize basic patterns is similar to sighted people's ability to visually recognize objects. (2) When blind people "touch-read" the tactile icons in basic patterns, dimensions of icons is the major factor that affects their recognition rate. (3) The subjects with adventitious blindness outperformed those with inborn blindness in the recognition of icons on stereo systems. (4) In the experiment with tactile icons in symbolic signs, it was found "providing hints" was the major factor affecting the blind subjects' recognition rate. The study aims to progressively unveil the characteristics of the blind people's cognition of product interface and assist product designers to develop more products that are friendly to minority groups. Therefore, minority groups can also enjoy equal benefits and live with comfort and confidence as ordinary people.


Abstract Current work refers to the effort of our group to extend abilities and functionalities of embodied agents closely connected in a communication network. The capability to develop a collective and social intelligence in poor communication conditions, demands for an effective sharing of knowledge among the agents. The key is to optimize the communication and the information/knowledge flow from the source towards the target nodes. Alarm management, cooperative target recognition, shared learning, imitation learning all take advantage of an effective knowledge sharing management. Being the timing controlled by the external events, the challenge becomes to define the reaching limit of information and knowledge: this limit is critical for the best reaction of the system to the environmental solicitations. The Knowledge Horizon concept is the consequence: a spatial region and its relevant set of nodes/agents that is the limit of data propagation, determined by the communication channel, by the timing of external events and by the payload to be transferred. In this first stage of the work we propose a shortest path approach that, given an estimate of the delays on each arc of the communication network and an estimate of the dynamics of an external event, can determine both the set of nodes in the knowledge horizon and a multicast strategy to efficiently forward the information to it.


This paper investigates the origin of the observed large variety in dust-to-gas ratio, D, among blue compact dwarf galaxies (BCDs). By applying our chemical evolution model, we nd that the dust destruction can largely suppress the dust-to-gas ratio when the metallicity of a BCD reaches 12 + log (O=H) 8, i.e., a typical metallicity level of BCDs. We also show that dust-to-gas ratio is largely varied owing to the change of dust destruction eciency that has two eects: (i) a signicant contribution of Type Ia supernovae to total supernova rate; (ii) variation of gas mass contained in a star-forming region. While mass loss from BCDs was previously thought to be the major cause for the variance ofD, we suggest that the other two eects are also important. We nally discuss the intermittent star formation history, which naturally explains the large dispersion of dust-to-gas ratio among BCDs.


Abstract Prothoracicotropic hormone (PTTH) is a neuropeptide that triggers a cascade of events within the prothoracic gland (PG) cells, leading to the activation of all the crucial enzymes involved in ecdysone biosynthesis, the main insect steroid hormone. Studies concerning ecdysteroidogenesis predicted PTTH action using brain extract (BE), consisting in a complex mixture in which some components positively or negatively interfere with PTTH-stimulated ecdysteroidogenesis. Consequently, the integration of these opposing factors in steroidogenic tissues leads to a complex secretory pattern. A recombinant form of prothoracicotropic hormone (rPTTH) from the tobacco budworm Heliothis virescens (F.) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) was expressed and purified to perform in vitro tests in a standard and repeatable manner. A characterization of rPTTH primary and secondary structures was performed. The ability of rPTTH and H. virescens BE to stimulate ecdysteroidogenesis was investigated on the third day of fifth larval stage. rPTTH activity was compared with the BE mixture by enzyme immunoassay and western blot, revealing that they equally stimulate the production of significant amount of ecdysone, through a transduction cascade that includes the TOR pathway, by the phosphorylation of 4E binding protein (4E-BP) and S6 kinase (S6K), the main targets of TOR protein. The results of these experiments suggest the importance of obtaining a functional pure hormone to perform further studies, not depending on the crude brain extract, composed by different elements and susceptible to different uncontrollable variables.


In this paper, a novel resource management approach is presented for publish-subscribe middleware for sensor/actuator networks. The resource management was designed with the possibility to add non-functional requirements at runtime to subscription messages. This approach allows utilizing service level agreements that can then be employed in order to guarantee a certain quality of service or to reduce the energy consumption of a sensor node in a sensor/actuator network. As an example, a sensor/actuator network for facility logistics system (a conveyor belt system) is evaluated with respect to energy consumption. This sensor/actuator network is mostly controlled by image processing based sensor nodes. It is shown that an adaptive processing interval for these sensor nodes can reduce the energy consumption of the entire network. The utilization of non-functional requirements allows the system to adapt -after software development -to context changes such as the extension of the conveyor belt systems topology.


We present a study of the flight path trajectory of a three stage rocket launched from colombian territory with the purpose of placing a small satellite in Low Earth Orbit (LEO). Various forces that affect the motion of the rocket were considered such as thrust, gravity an those that arise from the movement through the atmosphere. Taking into account specific values related with the performance of rockets that could be derived from the output of the national industry, we calculated the mass and size of each one of the three stages by means of an optimization procesa. The differential equations were integrated using a Fortran code written by the authors which permits to calculate the dynamic state of the payload (and stages when discarged) at the desired time. The integration was extended until orbit insertion which permits to know the orbital elements of the satellite.


Jojoba [Simmondsia chinensis (Link) Schneider] is evergreen, perennial and drought resistant shrub belongs to the family of Simmondsiaceae. It is a multipurpose oil seed crop mainly grown in desert regions of world. This plant has unique oil among plant kingdom which is chemically a liquid-wax. The liquid-wax is made up of an ester of long chain fatty acids and alcohols. The liquid-wax is unique in nature because have no traces of glycerine and easily modified via hydrolysis, hydrogenation, halogenation, sulfurization, phosphosulfurization and ozonization techniques. The main uses of liquid-wax in various industries like cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, petrochemicals and lubricants. It is a potential seed oil crop for desert region so it is well known as the gold of desert. The main purpose of this chapter is to review the complete information about this plant so that it can produce and utilized maximally. Moreover, the review focuses on biology, biogeography, physico-chemical properties of jojoba oil and propagation techniques of the plant of desert regions.


Musculoskeletal disorder (MSDs) is a disorder in workers. This work-related disease has a high prevalence globally. MSDs occurs in work environment that exposes workers to non-ergonomic posture. The disorder triggers fatigue and indirectly adds to the workload among workers. This study aims to analyze the relationship between work tenure, sex and work attitudes with musculoskeletal complaints in general refueling station operators in Kupang City. The research was an analytical survey with a cross-sectional design. The research were conducted at 15 General Refueling Stations in Kupang from October to November 2019. A sample of 69 people were selected from the population of 222 operators. Data were analyzed by using chi-square (X2) with p-value = 0,05. The results showed that there was a relationship between musculoskeletal complaints and length of work (ρ-value= 0,004), gender (ρ-value 0,007) and work attitude (ρ-value= 0,001).


ABSTRACT Following the post-Maidan political urge to align Ukrainian legislation to European Union standards, churches and religious organisations strongly oppose the legal introduction of terminology relating to gender and sexual orientation. This contribution discusses two cases: the contested bill on the Labour Code and the difficult process of ratification of the Istanbul Convention. It presents an analysis of the position and strategy of the Ukrainian churches in view of their relation to the state leadership, wider society, Europe, and transnational alliances on 'traditional values'. Using the concept of 'multiple modernities', the churches' traditionalist stance is interpreted as deeply paradoxical: while their social (and political) capital draws on their support for the Euromaidan's modernising thrust, they now try to reinforce it by a politics of traditional morality. Finally, by way of evaluation, methodological questions of normativity and the interdisciplinarity of theology, social science, and the humanities are addressed.


In this study, the effects of different bottom friction coefficient (BFC) parameterization schemes on the modelling of four principal tidal constituents (M2, S2, K1, O1 tides) in the macrotidal East China Seas were investigated by using a high-resolution model based on FVCOM (Finite Volume Community Ocean Model). The applied BFC schemes include: the empirical constant (EC-BFC), sediment-dependent form (SD-BFC), and spatial varying BFC obtained from adjoint data assimilation (SV-BFC). The comparisons between the simulated results and the observations from satellite altimeters and tidal gauge stations indicated that the SV-BFC scheme is superior to others. The locations of amphidromic points calculated with EC-BFC and SD-BFC were in the northwest of those from SV-BFC. The variations in tidal dynamics between different BFC schemes were closely related to the spatial distributions of BFCs, especially in high-valued BFC areas, e.g., the West Korea Bay, the South Yellow Sea, and the eastern coasts of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Fujian provinces. The tidal energy flux transporting into Bohai and Yellow Seas increased under the SV-BFC scheme, while smaller tidal energy flux transporting from the Korea Strait was generated by SV-BFC as compared to those from EC-BFC and SD-BFC. The high-valued BFC areas in the SV-BFC scheme dissipated larger amounts of tidal energy, and the average values of Simpson-Hunter numbers were lower than those with the other two schemes. However, the values of Simpson-Hunter numbers increased in the West Korea Bay and Jianghua Bay with high-valued BFCs because of the decreasing current velocity under the headland-shaped topography.


This paper presents a digital controller using a novel complex modulation method for the metal halide lamp ballast. The proposed controller has an ability to prevent acoustic resonance more effectively than the conventional modulation controller. Furthermore, the proposed controller includes some useful functions such as soft starting, lamp fault protection, power control for dimming, overload protection, real-time acoustic resonance detection, and so on. To accommodate future application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), the proposed controller has been designed with erasable programmable logic devices (EPLDs). In this paper, detailed complex modulation algorithms and digital control schemes are described, and experimental results of the prototype 150-W metal halide lamp ballast with the proposed digital controller are finally discussed.


This article examines stakeholders' engagement in attaining food security and reducing poverty in the rural areas endowed with water natural resource. The main purpose of the article is to find evidence of appropriate approaches to overcome food insecurity and poverty in areas having abundant natural resources but engulfed with food and income poverty. It reviews the principles of stakeholders' engagement to examine the extent to which Magozi village leadership applies in agricultural transformations. Data were collected using ethnographic techniques of key informant interviews, focus group discussions, and documentary review. Findings from the study show that Magozi village has moved from food-aid dependency to food self-sufficiency by engaging stakeholders in the entire process of problem definition (recurring hunger and poverty), planning, resource mobilization to implementation. The main finding is the success stories of moving from food-aid to food self-sufficiency attributed to the irrigation scheme that came as a result of engaging various stakeholders including the Anglican Church, Tanzania Social Action Fund, Local Government Authority, and the community. The article recommends the adoption and implementation of many irrigation schemes for transforming rural agriculture in Tanzania

 Key words: Food security, irrigation, poverty reduction, stakeholders' engagement.


With the collection of excessive amounts of movement data, the analysis of routes has become very important in the exploration of these datasets. To reveal the hidden information in the data, many visualization approaches are proposed according to analysis type. The analysis in this thesis involves visualization of route deviations which occur due to several reasons such as traffic congestion, accidents, weather conditions, or operational issues. The proposed system integrates two visualization techniques for multiple routes visualization: circle-glyph representation and route coloring. While route coloring emphasizes deviations on general trends, circle-glyph visualization concentrates on the detailed analysis of deviations. Level of detail is applied in some visualization parts. A usability study with statistical analysis of its results is performed to evaluate the success of the proposed approaches.


We present an RF-powered transponder with temperature sensor for environmental monitoring. The transponder gathers power from the ISM (860-960 MHz) band RF signal. A temperature-compensated ring oscillator and an oversampling synchronizer are proposed for low power and robust system clock generation. The simple structure of the temperature sensor is achieved by sharing major reference signals with the ring oscillator. The generated clock frequency has a variation of less than 5% for 1-V supply voltage and 90/spl deg/C temperature changes. The temperature sensor has a resolution under 1/spl deg/C in the range from -10/spl deg/C to 80/spl deg/C. The transponder dissipates only 8-/spl mu/W during the active state and occupies 0.3 mm/sup 2/ with a 0.25-/spl mu/m CMOS process.


Vapour adsorption cooling system does not require the electric power or any other mechanical power for working. It uses waste heat from exhaust of automobile engine to power the adsorption cooling cycle to produce cooling effect. Parameters affecting the working of cooling cycle are discussed and working of experimental system with composite adsorbent and refrigerant pair is also discussed and studied in this review paper.


BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES
Lyme borreliosis is the most common tick-borne disease in Europe and the USA. However, a great variety of pathogens are transmitted by ticks, which results in mixed infections, with Lyme borreliosis. The aim of the present study was to show the incidence of Borrelia burgdorferi, Anaplasma phagocytophilum, and Babesia microti coinfections among the population of foresters and farmers, as these people, due to their profession, are particularly exposed to tick contact.

METHODS
The study was carried out in eastern Poland (the northern part of the Lublin Province) in 2013. The study was performed in a group of 93 individuals occupationally exposed to tick bites (foresters and farmers), whose blood serum showed the presence of IgG anti-B. burgdorferi antibodies. Blood serum in this group were evaluated for IgG anti-A. phagocytophilum and IgG anti-B. microti antibodies by means of IFA IgG indirect immunofluorescence tests. Information related to age, sex, number of tick bite episodes, presence of various symptoms related to the tick bites, and antibiotic therapy applied as treatment for diagnosed Lyme borreliosis were obtained from the subjects through a structured questionnaire. The results were analyzed in Statistica v. 7.1 statistical analysis software.

RESULTS
The presence of IgG antibodies against the analyzed pathogens revealed B. burgdorferi and A. phagocytophilum coinfection in 26 (28%) of the examined subjects and B. burgdorferi and B. microti coinfection in one person (1.1%). No coinfection with all the three pathogens was observed in any individual. The co-occurrence of headache plus bone, joint and muscle pain was noted significantly more often among individuals diagnosed with B. burgdorferi and A. phagocytophilum coinfection.

INTERPRETATION & CONCLUSION
Foresters and farmers are exposed to B. burgdorferi and A. phagocytophilum coinfection in the study area. Therefore, it is probable that these pathogens may severely interfere with the clinical course of Lyme borreliosis.


The scientific and technical problems with which Congress must deal are becoming increasingly complex. The issue is not lack of information--Congress is deluged with facts. What is needed is balanced, nonpartisan analysis and synthesis that sorts, integrates, and analyzes information in order to frame the issues, extract knowledge and insight, and lay out the range of policy options. This can best be done by a nonpartisan dedicated organization that works exclusively for Congress. Scientists and engineers, their professional societies, the business community, and individual citizens need to become actively engaged in supporting the creation of such an organization.


Cardiac allograft hemodynamics were compared with respect to donor and recipient body weights to determine whether recipient: donor body size match played a significant role in subsequent recipient hemodynamics. Thirty-four stable outpatients underwent resting right-sided cardiac catheterizations 3 months after heart transplantation. As expected, resting cardiac output correlated positively with recipient body weight (r = 0.50, p = 0.002), and mean cardiac index (2.7 +/- 0.6 L/min/m2) was normal. There was, however, only a weak and statistically insignificant correlation between recipient body weight and stroke volume (r = 0.31, p = 0.072). There was a statistically significant negative correlation between donor: recipient body weight ratio and right arterial pressure (r = 0.41, p = 0.017), pulmonary wedge pressure (r = 0.38, p = 0.027), and heart rate (r = 0.39, p = 0.024). These data demonstrate that although cardiac output is maintained at levels appropriate for recipient size after heart transplantation, patients who receive small hearts rely on an increased heart rate and elevated filling pressures to achieve this end. These data suggest that the cardiac allograft may not adapt to recipient body size by 3 months after transplantation.


This paper presents a low-overhead controller-based power management technique that redesigns control logic to reconfigure the existing data path components under idle conditions so as to minimize unnecessary activity. Controller-based power management exploits the fact that though the control signals in a register-transfer level implementation are fully specified, they can be respecified under certain states/conditions when the data path components that they control need not be active. We demonstrate that controller-based power management is often better-suited to control-flow intensive designs than comparable conventional power management techniques such as operand isolation. We present an algorithm to perform power management through controller redesign that consists of constructing an activity graph for each data path component, identifying conditions under which the component need not be active, and relabeling the activity graph resulting in redesign of the corresponding control expressions. We provide a comprehensive analysis of the potential side effects of controller-based power management on circuit delay, glitching activity at control and data path signals, and formation of false combinational cycles. Our algorithm avoids the above negative effects of controller-based power management to maximize power savings and minimize overheads. We present experimental results which demonstrate that (1) controller-based power management results in large power savings at minimal overheads for control-flow intensive designs, which pose several challenges to conventional power management techniques and (2) it is important to consider the various potential negative effects while performing controller-based power management in order to obtain maximal power savings.


The problem of casting Aluminium or Magnesium alloys is a big deal for researchers since molten alloys while casting causes the occurrence of various defects. The defects arise when grain particles are settling down during normal solidification by irregular arrangement and leading to dendrite forming structure along with solidification shrinkage and hot tearing. In 1970, it is found that semi solid metal casting can sort out the above mentioned defects which utilize the thixotropic behavior of the Aluminium and Magnesium alloys. In this paper, an attempt has been made to review the properties of the Aluminium and Magnesium alloys, the SSR technique and DCRC process for the aluminium and magnesium alloys.


Domain generalization (DG) aims to improve the generalization performance for an unseen target domain by using the knowledge of multiple seen source domains. Mainstream DG methods typically assume that the domain label of each source sample is known a priori, which is challenged to be satisfied in many real-world applications. In this paper, we study a practical problem of compound DG, which relaxes the discrete domain assumption to the mixed source domains setting. On the other hand, current DG algorithms prioritize the focus on semantic invariance across domains (one-vs-one), while paying less attention to the holistic semantic structure (many-vs-many). Such holistic semantic structure, referred to as meta-knowledge here, is crucial for learning generalizable representations. To this end, we present COmpound domain generalization via Meta-knowledge ENcoding (COMEN), a general approach to automatically discover and model latent domains in two steps. Firstly, we introduce Style-induced Domain-specific Normalization (SDNorm) to re-normalize the multi-modal underlying distributions, thereby dividing the mixture of source domains into latent clusters. Secondly, we harness the prototype representations, the centroids of classes, to perform relational modeling in the embedding space with two parallel and complementary modules, which explicitly encode the semantic structure for the out-of-distribution generalization. Experiments on four standard DG benchmarks reveal that COMEN exceeds the state-of-the-art performance without the need of domain supervision.


For a long time detection of volatile chemicals traces contained in the atmosphere, especially NO2 has been a serious problem. Strict environmental standards restricted acceptable limits of atmospheric traces, furthermore it brought in an obligation of constant atmospheric traces monitoring. That is why a special method that enables different requirements has to be created. One of a few methods that enables to fulfill requirements in range of detection limit of volatile chemicals traces, moreover one that gives results in the real time is CRDS. The cavity ring down spectroscopy (CRDS) is a sensitive "in situ" laser absorption spectroscopy method developed by O 'Keefe (1988). It is the youngest spectroscopy technique nearly unknown in Poland. All over the world it has been applied for several years in laboratory conditions to perform measurements of very low absorption cross section values of volatile chemicals (10-19+10-18 cm2). Recent years a significant progress in GaN / InGaN blue diode laser technology has been made. Moreover, great progress in multilayer dielectric mirrors based on technology of interference stacks has been made. Thanks to it super reflection coefficient has been received. Those discoveries make CRDS technique possible to both detect and monitor volatile chemical traces contained in the atmosphere at limit of single ppb. This paper describes modern optoelectronic methods of atmospheric trace detection. Their advantages and disadvantages have been shown. Special attention has been paid to CRDS method (pol. Spekrtoskopia Strat We Wnece). Intensive research on CRDS are being taken in Laboratorium Sygnalow Optycznych, Instytut Optoelektroniki WAT.


OBJECTIVE
To investigate the role of connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) in pulmonary fibrosis in rats with hyperoxia-induced chronic lung disease (CLD).

METHODS
Eighty premature rats were randomly exposed to hyperxia (FiO2=0.90) or room air (control group) (n=40 each). CLD was induced by hyperoxia exposure. The expression of CTGF mRNA and transforming growth factor-beta 1 (TGF-beta 1), the levels of type I collagen and the proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) index were assayed with enzyme linked immunoadsorbent (ELISA), immunohistochemistry and reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) on days 1, 3, 7, 14 and 21 after exposure.

RESULTS
There were no differences in the levels of type I collagen, PCNA index, TGF-beta 1 protein and CTGF mRNA between the CLD and the control groups within 3 days after exposure. In the CLD group, the expression of TGF-beta 1 protein increased on the 7th day, remained at a higher level on the 14th and 21st day after exposure; the higher levels of type I collagen, PCNA index and CTGF mRNA were detected on the 14th day and peaked on the 21st day after exposure when comparing the control group. CTGF mRNA expression was positively correlated with type I collagen levels in the CLD group (gamma=0.89, P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONS
The expression of CTGF in lung tissues is associated with pulmonary fibrosis in CLD rats.


A Demonstration Reaction Clarifier - Gravity Filtration System with a 1600 GPM throughput capability was in operation at the joint DOE-SDG and E-MAGMA test facility located in the Salton Sea Geothermal Field, southern California, during the summer of 1979. The system, which was designed to condition spent effluent from a 10 MWe-size geothermal power plant, removes supersaturated dissolved species and residual suspended solids from brine prior to subsurface brine disposal via injection wells. The post-processing chemical stability of conditioned effluents was established by means of anaerobic incubation tests at 90/sup 0/C. The effect of residual dissolved polymer, that might be used for the purpose of scale control in upstream power plant components on the efficiency of reaction clarification, was also evaluated. Membrane filtration and core tests were used to assess the injectability of processed brine. It was found that the clarifier-filter operational procedures and system design permitted oxygenation of the brine by air intrusion. This resulted in partial stabilization of dissolved silica and precipitation of oxides of iron. As a consequence, conditioned brine injectability was poor. However, elimination of the air intrusion problem would result in a substantial improvement in brine quality. Residual amounts of dissolved polyaminoethylene (20 ppm, bymore » weight), a powerful antisilica precipitant, in brine was shown by means of bench-scale tests carried out at approx. 90/sup 0/C to improve the efficiency of the clarification process where the additive appears to function as a flocculant.« less


This research was to investigate the effect of Snowball Throwing Technique (STT) application in teaching speaking to the eleventh grade students of a senior high school in Banda Aceh. The topic given to the students was the expression of asking and giving opinion and suggestion. A number of 29 students were randomly selected for the experimental class (EC) and another 29 students for the control class (CC). The data of this research was collected by giving the pre-test and post-test, and analyzed using statistical formula including mean, standard deviation, and t-test. The results showed that the mean of the post-test of EC was 48.51, while the mean of CC was 42.43. The mean score of the pre-test of EC was 38.58, and the mean score of CC was 38.89. In order to prove the hypothesis, the t-test score of EC was compared with the t-table score, and the result of t-test of the post-test of EC and CC was 1.38 while the result of t-table at a level of significance with α=0.05 is 2.048. It indicates that the t-test score<t-table, 2.048. It means that the alternative hypothesis (Ha) was accepted and the null hypothesis (Ho) was rejected. It can be concluded that the students who were taught by using the STT have a better performance than those who were not. As a follow up for this research, it is suggested that English teachers should use various techniques in teaching. In teaching speaking, the STT can be an alternative technique to be applied by the teachers.


Grid impedance is an important parameter in the impedance-based stability analysis method for analyzing the interaction between the power electronic inverters and the power grid. However, the existing measurement technique is deteriorated by narrow-bandwidth sensors, large perturbation injections, and inaccurate response components extraction based on the fast Fourier transform (FFT) algorithm. To overcome these problems, a magnetic-sensing-based wide-bandwidth grid impedance measurement technique with a small perturbation injection is proposed in this article. A novel impedance extraction algorithm based on the quadrature delay estimator (QDE) is developed to overcome the spectral leakages and frequency aliasing effect of the existing FFT-based impedance extraction algorithm. The proposed grid impedance measurement technique is implemented on a digitally controlled inverter system, and its effectiveness is verified through the experimental results.


A physical model of the quantum information exchange between two qubits is studied theoretically. The qubits are two identical two-level atoms, the physical mechanism of the quantum information exchange is the mutual dependence of the reduced density matrices of two qubits generated by their couplings with a multimode radiation field. The Lehmberg-Agarwal master equation is exactly solved. The explicit form of the mutual dependence of two reduced density matrices is established. The application to study the entanglement of two qubits is discussed.


A hypothesis about the biogeography of Isistius brasiliensis in the north-eastern Atlantic is formulated through the study of frequency, size and geographic distribution of crater wounds, produced by this shark on swordfish (Xiphias gladius) and other large pelagic vertebrates. The results suggest that the bulk of the population of adult I. brasiliensis is found between 11° N and 16° N. Probably there are nursery areas in more southern latitudes. Large individuals would be frequent northwards of 16° N parallel.


In this paper experiences of partial discharge measurements on medium voltage power cables in the field are discussed. Several examples are used to indicate different aspects of diagnosing service aged power cables. It is shown that the PD activity in power cables usually originates from cable accessories, but sometimes from the cable insulation too. Furthermore, it is shown that measured PD activity may not always originates from a clear location in the cable sections.


Calcium ions (Ca2+) regulate plant growth and development during exposure to multiple biotic and abiotic stresses as the second signaling messenger in cells. The extracellular calcium-sensing receptor (CAS) is a specific protein spatially located on the thylakoid membrane. It regulates the intracellular Ca2+ responses by sensing changes in extracellular Ca2+ concentration, thereby affecting a series of downstream signal transduction processes and making plants more resilient to respond to stresses. Here, we summarized the discovery process, structure, and location of CAS in plants and the effects of Ca2+ and CAS on stomatal functionality, photosynthesis, and various environmental adaptations. Under changing environmental conditions and global climate, our study enhances the mechanistic understanding of calcium-sensing receptors in sustaining photosynthesis and mediating abiotic stress responses in plants. A better understanding of the fundamental mechanisms of Ca2+ and CAS in regulating stress responses in plants may provide novel mitigation strategies for improving crop yield in a world facing more extreme climate-changed linked weather events with multiple stresses during cultivation.


The fatigue characteristics of glass fiber reinforced plastic (GFRP) composites were studied under repeated loads using the finite element method (FEM). To realize the material characteristics of GFRP composites, Digimat, a mean-field homogenization tool, was employed. Additionally, the micro-structures and material models of GFRP composites were defined with it to predict the fatigue behavior of composites more realistically. Specifically, the fatigue characteristics of polybutylene terephthalate with short fiber fractions of 30wt% were investigated with respect to fiber orientation, stress ratio, and thickness. The injection analysis was conducted using Moldflow software to obtain the information on fiber orientations. It was mapped over FEM concerned with fatigue specimens. LS-DYNA, a typical finite element commercial software, was used in the coupled analysis of Digimat to calculate the stress amplitude of composites. FEMFAT software consisting of various numerical material models was used to predict the fatigue life. The results of coupled analysis of linear and nonlinear material models of Digimat were analyzed to identify the fatigue characteristics of GFRP composites using FEMFAT. Neuber's rule was applied to the linear material model to analyze the fatigue behavior in LCF regimen. Additionally, to evaluate the morphological and mechanical structure of GFRP composites, the coupled and fatigue analysis were conducted in terms of thickness.


This paper analyzes the use of wide-area measurement technologies including satellite-based methods for the command and control of power systems. The methods studied include the global positioning system (GPS) and low earth orbit satellites (LEOS). Satellite technologies have been used in a variety of applications requiring precise timing between geographically diverse locations. The deregulation of the electric power industry is placing increased demands on power transmission system utilization. Because deregulated power systems utilize long-distance high-power exchanges, satellite-based communication systems are useful in control of geographically large interconnected power systems. In this paper, the satellite-based measurements and commands are introduced for wide-area control. With the support of wide-area signals, a multiagent supervisory-level power system stabilizer is proposed here as a potential wide-area control structure. Increased loading of transmission facilities is an impetus for accurate dynamic thermal overhead electrical conductor ratings. The application of satellite-based measurement for improving the dynamic thermal rating of overhead transmission circuits is suggested.