The Internet of Things (IoT) is becoming an emerging trend and has significant potential to replace other technologies, where researchers consider it as the future of the internet. It has given tremendous support and become the building blocks in the development of important cyber-physical systems and it is being severed in a variety of application domains, including healthcare. A methodological evolution of the Internet of Things, enabled it to extend to the physical world beyond the electronic world by connecting miscellaneous devices through the internet, thus making everything is connected. In recent years it has gained higher attention for its potential to alleviate the strain on the healthcare sector caused by the rising and aging population along with the increase in chronic diseases and global pandemics. This paper surveys about various usages of IoT healthcare technologies and reviews the state of the art services and applications, recent trends in IoT based healthcare solutions, and various challenges posed including security and privacy issues, which researchers, service providers and end users need to pay higher attention. Further, this paper discusses how innovative IoT enabled technologies like cloud computing, fog computing, blockchain, and big data can be used to leverage modern healthcare facilities and mitigate the burden on healthcare resources.


Population's health status assessment is quite difficult, especially due to its multi-determinism. One of the indicators of health status assessment is avoidable death caused by diseases that are "preventable" (primary prevention) and "treatable" (secondary prevention) as specific indicators of the efficiency/inefficiency of health systems. European studies on avoidable mortality show that Romania ranks first in the European Union, regarding both genders. In order to highlight the dynamics of avoidable deaths in Romania, we analysed in this study all deaths which fall within this concept, recorded during 2006-2013. To establish the criteria for inclusion in the study, the list of Leveque et al. was used. Both categories of avoidable deaths, amenable to health care, respectively to health policies have recorded a downward trend, but with a greater reduction in percentage for those determined by conditions responding to healthcare. The study of the dynamics of avoidable deaths allows making comparisons nationally and internationally with a view to identify areas with a high incidence of this phenomenon, as well as the disparities between those areas, the ultimate goal being to identify root causes and to remove/mitigate them. Optimizing the health system in Romania would positively contribute to improve these figures and to a better ranking among EU countries.


Membrane lipoteichoic acid continues to be synthesized by an osmotically fragile, stabilized L-form of Streptococcus pyogenes. Chromatographic and electrophoretic comparisons indicate that the lipid componenent of lipoteichoic acid in this L-form and its parental streptococcus is glycerophosphoryldiglucosyl diglyceride and not phosphatidylkojibiosyl diglyceride. Based upon dry weight determinations, the yield of lipoteichoic acid from the L-form is 0.19%, as compared with 0.97% from the streptococcus. When grown with bacitracin the L-form contains the same amount of teichoic acid as when grown without this antibiotic; however, its lipoteichoic acid content is reduced by 85%. Similarly, the L-form grown with novobiocin for 10 h contains only 17% of the teichoic acid found in control cells.


A review is given of the neuropsychological conceptualizations of aphasia and apraxia in SDAT. In the beginning of this century localisationism was prevailing. Later, developmental and cognitive psychology gave an important impetus to reconsider these symptoms in an holistic framework. More recently, since the application of new brain imaging techniques, there is a revival of localizing conceptualizations.


Abstract In the plastic art and not only, colors have significant functions with regard to the perception or even to the symbolism of temperament. In many cultures on various geographical coordinates, the reception and the interpretation of colors is taken into consideration only when they are dynamically distinguished. Various types of expression that make us access various levels of perception, of rhetoric, of candidness, of sensation etc. Looking retrospectively on this empathic theory, generations of estheticians struggled with a large amount of pseudo-problems. This plea over expression (be it facial or gestural) in the context of plastic art or of theatrical art has a particular significance and, of course, it steadies both the receptor and the artist. We see nevertheless that, in the day-to-day life, the expression has a primary, unequivocal sense, and above all one takes into consideration the way in which a plastic artist and an actor treat and interpret reality. Let us not forget that the main attributes of communication are the expressive features. The expressive quality presents a real platform that rises the interest of a plastic artist or actor, because it allows him to grasp and to understand his own experience, which does nothing but contribute to the formal configurative that he will draw up.


The increasing autonomy and connectivity in cyber-physical systems (CPS) come with new security vulnerabilities that are easily exploitable by malicious attackers to spoof a system to perform dangerous actions. While the vast majority of existing works focus on attack prevention and detection, the key question is "what to do after detecting an attack?". This problem attracts fairly rare attention though its significance is emphasized by the need to mitigate or even eliminate attack impacts on a system. In this article, we study this attack response problem and propose novel real-time recovery for securing CPS. First, this work's core component is a recovery control calculator using a Linear-Quadratic Regulator (LQR) with timing and safety constraints. This component can smoothly steer back a physical system under control to a target state set before a safe deadline and maintain the system state in the set once it is driven to it. We further propose an Alternating Direction Method of Multipliers (ADMM) based algorithm that can fast solve the LQR-based recovery problem. Second, supporting components for the attack recovery computation include a checkpointer, a state reconstructor, and a deadline estimator. To realize these components respectively, we propose (i) a sliding-window-based checkpointing protocol that governs sufficient trustworthy data, (ii) a state reconstruction approach that uses the checkpointed data to estimate the current system state, and (iii) a reachability-based approach to conservatively estimate a safe deadline. Finally, we implement our approach and demonstrate its effectiveness in dealing with totally 15 experimental scenarios which are designed based on 5 CPS simulators and 3 types of sensor attacks.


Context. From a dynamical analysis of the orbital elements of trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs), Ragozzine & Brown (2007, AJ, 134, 2160) reported a list of candidate members of the first collisional family found among this population, associated with (136108) Haumea (a.k.a. 2003 EL61). Aims. We aim to distinguish the true members of the Haumea collisional family from interlopers. We search for water ice on their surfaces, which is a common characteristic of the known family members. The properties of the confirmed family are used to constrain the formation mechanism of Haumea, its satellites, and its family. Methods. Optical and near-infrared photometry is used to identify water ice. We use in particular the CH4 filter of the Hawk-I instrument at the European Southern Observatory Very Large Telescope as a short H-band (HS), the (JŠHS) colour being a sensitive measure of the water ice absorption band at 1.6µm. Results. Continuing our previous study headed by Snodgrass, we report colours for 8 candidate family members, including nearinfrared colours for 5. We confirm one object as a genuine member of the collisional family (2003 UZ117), and reject 5 others. The lack of infrared data for the two remaining objects prevent any conclusion from being drawn. The total number of rejected members is therefore 17. The 11 confirmed members represent only a third of the 36 candidates. Conclusions. The origin of Haumea's family is likely to be related to an impact event. However, a scenario explaining all the peculiarities of Haumea itself and its family remains elusive.


Cordless Global Positioning System (GPS) Applications to Multi-Path (CGAMP) is meeting the challenge of exploiting the L-band signals from the Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites for the measurement of the impulse response of radio transmission channels over space-Earth paths. This approach was originally suggested by E. K. Smith and has been pursued by J. Lemmon, without an affordable implementation being identifiable. In addition to the high cost of a suitable P code correlating GPS receiver, there is also the major impediment of the often announced Department of Defense policy of selective availability/anti-spoof (SA/AS) that clouds reliable access to the wideband (20 MHz) P channel of the GPS signals without cryptographic access. A technique proposed by MacDoran utilizes codeless methods for exploiting the P channel signals implemented by the use of a pair of antennas and cross correlation signal detection.


An analytical model is developed to describe the modal behavior of a class of coherent beam combining resonators based on laser beam superposition. This model is used to explore the interplay between modal discrimination and tolerance to gain element path length changes. Under certain conditions, the sensitivity to the random phase fluctuations of the individual gain elements can be substantially reduced.


The main goal of corporate knowledge bases (CKB) is to transform the knowledge and experience of employees into the intellectual capital of the enterprise. The Knowledge Base is an effectively managed centralized electronic archive of documents, reference books, classifiers and other formalized information materials of the company. An important part of the work on building a CKB is the identification, verbalization and machine representation of unformalized knowledge of employees, the central place among which is occupied by unique technological competences. In the paper it is developed a mathematical apparatus for representation of knowledge about UTC in information systems of decision-making, and the problem of its computer representation. The method of representation of knowledge about the unique technological competence on the basis of a network of finite automata is offered. The UTC representation given in the formats is designed, first of all, for the search for new directions of their use. Another use of the description of the UTC may require the addition of a knowledge representation with the necessary attributes. This approach makes it possible to effectively use knowledge about UTC in building information systems. © 2018 Published by Future Academy www.FutureAcademy.org.UK


Heterologous synthesis of triterpenoids in Saccharomyces cerevisiae from its native metabolite squalene has been reported to offer an alternative to chemical synthesis and extraction from plant material if productivities can be increased.Here, we physiologically characterized a squalene overproducing S. cerevisiae CEN.PK strain to elucidate the effect of cultivation conditions on the production of this central triterpenoid precursor. The maximum achievable squalene concentration was substantially influenced by nutritional conditions, medium composition and cultivation mode. Batch growth on glucose resulted in minimal squalene accumulation, while squalene only significantly accumulated during ethanol consumption (up to 59 mg/gCDW), probably due to increased acetyl-CoA supply on this carbon source. Likewise, low squalene concentrations were observed in glucose-limited chemostat cultivations and improved up to 8-fold upon increasing the ethanol fraction in the feed. In those experiments, a constant, growth-rate-independent specific squalene accumulation rate (2.2 mg/gCDW/h) was recorded resulting in a maximal squalene loading of 30 mg/gCDW at low dilution rates with longer residence times. Coenzyme A availability was identified as possible bottleneck as increased vitamin concentrations, including the Coenzyme A precursor pantothenate, improved squalene titers in batch and chemostat cultivations. This analysis demonstrates that thorough physiologic characterization of production strains is valuable for the identification of bottlenecks already in early stages of strain development and for guiding further optimization efforts.


: A study was made of hemostasis, fibrinolysis and platelet aggregation at rest and exercise in 32 healthy persons and 35 patients suffering from coronary heart disease (CHD) with a history of myocardial infarction that had occurred 2-3 months before. It has been discovered as a result that in healthy persons at exercise, the blood coagulation system and fibrinolysis are activated, the level of antithrombin-III rises and initial platelet aggregation decreases. In patients with CHD at exercise, hypercoagulation, deceleration of fibrinolysis, and the decline of the level of AT-III are detectable, with platelet aggregation being enhanced.


In this paper we estimate the impact of a conditional transfer program, the Bono de Desarrollo Humano, over several labor market outcomes in Ecuador. We use the BDH's targeting mechanism and rely on a regression discontinuity (RD) strategy to isolate the causal effects of the program over the duration of unemployment, the probability of transiting from unemployment to informal employment and the probability of separation from formal employment. We find that (i) mothers with BDH benefits and workers living in households having the BDH program experience a longer duration in unemployment than the comparable group of workers that do not have those benefits; (ii) the program does not had distortive effects on the finding probability of an informal job for mothers and workers living in households with BDH benefits while it seems to have financed the search process for workers living in households with benefits during the period 2005-2006; and (iii) the BDH program increases the probability of separation for mothers having the benefits with respect to the comparable group of mothers that do not have those benefits. These impacts suggest that the government has some room to intervene in the labor market to try to eliminate or at least reduce the negative effects of the program.


Introduction : Social problems among adolescents are on the increasing trend. Their involvement in different kinds of high risk behaviours could lead them into juvenile delinquency. Early adolescence is the stage where they are easily influenced. However, this is the period where they should be captured for health prevention enhancement.
Objectives : A cross-sectional study was carried out to identify factors associated with risk taking behaviours involving form one adolescents in selected secondary schools in Johor Bharu.
Methods : Using self administered questionnaires, a total of 280 respondents were recruited via multi-stage sampling.
Results : The prevalence of risk taking behaviour among respondents was 66.8%. Going to video games and karaoke centres was the most popular risk taking behaviour (46.8%) to be followed by truancy (30.7%). Among all the factors studied, being male (AOR=4.5, 95% CI 2.39-8.4), Malay (AOR=7.5, 95% CI 3.30-17.19), and having negative perception towards teachers (AOR 0.3, 95% CI 0.16-0.65) were risk factors for such behaviour among respondents. However, coming from an intact family (AOR=0.1), 95% CI 0.02-0.47) was found to be protective against risk taking behaviour.
Conclusion : Intact family structure and having positive perception towards teachers were found to be protective against risk taking behaviours among adolescents.


This chapter examines protection of the right to property in the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). It discusses the provisions of Article 1 of Protocol 1 and explains that all the provisions of the Convention, including Articles 13 to 18, apply equally to the rights guaranteed by the First Protocol. The chapter also suggests that the Strasbourg Court has come to approach the protection of property rights using much the same methodology as it adopts in relation to complaints of violations of the rights protected by Articles 8 to 11. It examines the application of the right to property to issues such as rent control and restitution, especially focusing on cases arising from the transition of post-Soviet States to democracy, and cases arising from armed conflict.


Abstract In order to provide prognostic information for gerontologists who regularly counsel families, we determined to measure the longevity of subacute patients who have feeding tubes and tracheostomies. This study compares two cohorts of patients: 2002-2006 and 2015-2019. T-tests were performed to compare the total days in acute care, the total survival days, and the number of hospital admissions between the two groups. Results revealed (2002-2006, 2015-2019), some variance in the acute care days between the two groups (M= 15.4186, 21.49438) and p= .66. There is a wide difference in the total survival days between the two groups with individuals from 2015-2019 living longer than 2002-2006 (M= 229.8198, 644.0449), p< .001. However, there is no statistically significant difference in the number of hospital admissions between the two groups (M= 0.994186, 0.7752809), p= .09754. We hypothesize that advances in technology, medicine, and care over the span of 17 years contribute to increased longevity. On average, patients in the 2015-2019 group survived 414 days longer than the first group. Yet, even with such advances, more days were spent in acute care in the second group (2015-2019). Our data show subacute longevity has nearly tripled in the last decade. Although patients are living longer, they are often in a vegetative state; in most instances, there is no apparent improvement in quality of life. This study provides current data which will help gerontologists improve prognostication and allow them to form a more realistic long view of care.


On the basis of optimizing the process conditions of molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), the GaN thin film with high quality was prepared by using sapphire (0001) vicinal substrate. HP-5000 type transistor characteristic tester was employed to measure the dark state current-voltage (I-V) characteristics of the GaN thin film metal–semiconductor–metal (MSM) structure grown on adjacent crystal surface by MBE. It was found that this kind of MSM structures had shown a rectifying contact characteristic. The dynamic photoconductive characteristics of the GaN based MSM structure and the transient photocurrent characteristics of the reverse bias diode were simulated by using PSPICE. The results showed that the transient photocurrent response time was in nanosecond level, under the condition of pulse width 800ps, wavelength 355nm light excitation.


In spite of the advantages of barley when compared to other cereals, in México there are few studies on whole-plant barley used as forage and its nutritive value for dairy cows. Twenty six (26) advanced awnless forage barley lines plus commercial varieties of oat (cv. Cuauhtémoc), triticale (cv. Eronga 83), grain barley (cv. Cerro Prieto) and one awnless experimental line of bread wheat (AN-266-99), were evaluated during 2005-2006 and 2006-2007, fall/winter cycles at the "Las Vegas" Ranch located in Francisco I. Madero municipality, Coahuila, México. Dry matter production and other agronomic variables were measured on two sampling dates in each cycle using a randomized complete block design with three replications and forage nutritive value in each sampling was determined also. Results indicated that wheat, oat and triticale were the high nutritive value genotypes in the first sampling due to their energy and protein contents together with less ADF and NDF concentrations, but yielding less dry matter than awnless barley genotypes. In the second sampling awnless barley genotypes kept an adequate nutritive value at later than milky dough stages through increased energy (NEl and NEm) and decreased fiber (ADF and NDF) contents. These data allows lengthening the period of use of awnless forage barley without losing quality, with the additional advantage that being awnless it will avoid animal damage in delayed grazing.


We consider the dynamics of a classical charge in flat spacetime of six dimensions. The mass shell relation of a free charge admits nonlinear oscillations. Having analyzed the problem of on eigenvalues and eigenvectors of Faraday tensor, we establish the algebraic structure of electromagnetic field in 6D. We elaborate the classification scheme based on three field's invariants. Using the basic algebraic properties of the electromagnetic field tensor we analyze the motion of a charge in constant electromagnetic field. Its world line is a combination of hyperbolic and circular orbits which lie in three mutually orthogonal sheets of two dimensions. Within the braneworld scenario, we project the theory on the de Sitter space of four dimensions. Actually, as it turns out, spins of elementary particles themselves are manifestations of extra dimensions.


The subsurface Lower Cretaceous (Comanche) of the East Texas basin is divided into formations by electric logs and microfossils. The Maness shale, post-Buda in age and highest known Comanche formation, is described. It occurs near the center of the basin and is unknown at the outcrop. Beneath it is the Buda limestone, which is thin or absent at the outcrop in northeast Texas, except at a few localities where it is present as outliers. A Buda outlier is described on the Hill-Johnson County line and another outlier in Denton County contains Budaiceras and other fossils so far known only from the Buda. The beveled top of the Comanche in this area constitutes a widespread unconformity, which is definite near the east, north, and west margins of this basin, but near the center of the basin the existence of an unconformity is improved. The overlying basal Woodbine ("Dexter beds" of R. T. Hill) contains ammonites none of which is known in the Lower Cretaceous (Comanche).


Prophylaxis is likely to be of increasing importance in the control of lung cancer. Areas already suggested as potential fields of investigation include the use of specific immunoprophylaxis or synthetic retinoids. Thorough evaluation of the effects and hazards of such prophylaxis will be required, and the most satisfactory approach is to conduct controlled prophylactic trials. Such trials must rest on the same basic principles as those established for therapeutic trials. However, new problems bearing on ethical requirements, the sampling procedure, and the practical conduct of the trials will arise. Compliance, adverse effects, end points for analysis of the prophylactic effects, and rules for when to stop a trial are discussed.


The experiences of female sports fans have largely been neglected in academic research to date with socio-historical accounts focusing almost exclusively on male fans. Through an excavation of the sporting histories of female football fans this article aims to make one contribution towards changing this. Drawing on Glaser and Strauss's 'grounded theory' approach, 21 semi-structured interviews were conducted with female football fans in England, aged between 50 and 80 years old. My findings begin by examining female fans' memories of the 1958 Munich air disaster. I move on to examine female experiences and interpretations of the 1966 World Cup finals, before finally discussing the rise of football players in England as sexualised national celebrities. To conclude, I call for further socio-historical research to explore female experiences of football in earlier decades.


The molecular architecture of acridine-9-carboxylic acid (ACA) grown on Ag (111) by physical vapor deposition was characterized by using UHV-STM and XPS. At lower coverage, ACA molecules exist in a 2-d gas phase on the surface at room temperature. With increased coverage (>0.4 ML), ACA molecules self-organize into distinctive adlayer structures that are correlated with underlying substrate morphology. On step-free Ag (111) regions, ACA molecules form large islands in coexistence with the 2-d ACA gas. These islands are commensurate with the Ag (111) substrate, indexed as (4 0, 2 4) in matrix notation, and can exceed 100 nm in size. There are two nonequivalent ACA molecules in each unit cell. XPS core level measurements reveal a hydrogen-bonding interaction between ACA molecules, with the ring nitrogen acting as the H-bond acceptor and the carboxyl proton acting as the H-bond donor. A structural model for this phase consists of chains of ACA molecules linked by head-to-tail hydrogen bonds along the substrate [10] direction. Alternating ACA tilting angles account for the two nonequivalent ACA molecules and the observed high packing density. Completely different molecular arrangements are observed on Ag (111) surface regions roughened by a higher density of crystallographic steps (terrace widths < or = 6 nm). Pairs of ACA molecules arrange in a zigzag pattern in a (12 2, 6 5) overlayer structure with a diluted packing density. The structural model for this lower density phase consists of carboxyl-carboxyl linked ACA dimers in a flat-lying molecular orientation.


ABSTRACT
 We describe Prosictodon dubei, gen. et sp. nov., from the Abrahamskraal Formation, Karoo Basin, Middle Permian of South Africa. Diagnostic characters of P. dubei include postorbitals that slope ventrolaterally and overlap the parietals nearly completely; median anterior palatal ridges that converge with the posterior median palatal ridge, forming a V-shaped structure; caniniform process with an anterior edge that is set off from the palatal rim forming a notch; 'postcanine' teeth present on the maxilla; a ventrally directed transverse flange of the pterygoid with an obtuse posterior margin; a short interpterygoid vacuity that does not reach the level of the palatine pads; a dentary table that forms an elongate grooved surface on the dorsal surface of the dentary, bounded laterally by a low ridge and medially by a tall, thin, dorsally convex blade; 'postcanine' teeth present on the dentary blade; and the absence of a posterior dentary sulcus. A phylogenetic analysis confirms that P. dubei is a member of Pylaecephalidae, although we cannot corroborate that it is the sister taxon of Diictodon feliceps. The holotype of P. dubei was collected low in the Tapinocephalus Assemblage Zone in the northwestern Karoo Basin, near the contact between the Ecca and Beaufort groups, within the stratigraphic range of Robertia but above the ranges of Eodicynodon and Colobodectes. On-going research suggests dicynodonts in the Tapinocephalus Assemblage Zone appeared in sequence (Colobodectes first; Lanthanostegus, Robertia, Prosictodon second; Diictodon and Pristerodon third), in contrast to earlier works that portrayed Diictodon, Robertia, and Pristerodon as occurring throughout the zone.


Threshold of environmental elements in drainage basin sediment yield refers to, under effect of climate, underlying surface and human activity, a turning point of abrupt changes in drainage sediment yield related to environmental element characteristics. Previous studies on threshold of sediment yield of relevant drainage basins were mainly concentrated on impact of natural zones with a few researches on impact of other environmental elements. Particularly studies on compound environmental element threshold in drainage basin sediment yield remain blank today. Studies indicate that sediment yield in drainage basins is affected by compound interactions and complex actions. Based on single element analysis, the present paper gives quantitatively compound threshold of environmental elements affecting sediment yield of the drainage basin between Hekouzhen and Tongguan in the middle Yellow River by the method of multi-variant, polynomial formula regression analysis.


The paper presents the application of a heated inlet to mitigate against the influence of hygroscopic growth of particles on the imputed particle size distribution and mass loading by an OPC, in this case the 'lower-cost' OPC-R1. The paper is well written and the procedures are mostly clear, though considering that this seems to be an 'open-sourced' project, it would be helpful to have more specific information on the construction of the heater – more information on electronics is included in the linked Github page, but not sufficient to recreate the design without significant leaps. However, my main concern is that it the interpretation of results is such that it is difficult to know whether such a device will actually improve measurements by low-cost sensors, or introduce other, possibly more difficult to correct errors. Additional experiments that seek to separate 'drying' from 'particle evaporation' (by varying particle volatility or treatment mechanisms) could do this, but are a substantial extension beyond what is included here.


The Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) report on the "Science of Climate Change" in 2007 states that the Southeast Asia Region experienced a small increase in temperature (~ 0.3 oC ) and rainfall (~ 3%) for the last decade or so, however, there is general agreement amongst scientists that the changing behavioural patterns of the el-Nino ENSO , Monsoons and to a certain extent the Indian Dipole Oscillation circulation systems are triggering weather extremes and variability to influence changing behavioural patterns of hydro-meteorological and geomorphological events within the major river basins (for example, floods, droughts,haze pollution, slope failures and the emergence of certain diseases) in the country. In addition to these events, Malaysia are already exposed to increasing threats (directly or indirectly) from Low Pressure Oceanic Cells (LPOC's) that develops in the South
Indian Ocean (tropical storms and cyclones) and the Pacific – South China Sea Regions (tropical storms and typhoons). These events life cycles are thought to be governed by the increasing warming of ocean surface waters as a result of the global warming – climate change effect. Changing hydro-meteorological and geomorphological processes have increased in intensity, frequency and impacts to make Malaysia more aware and vigilant to the potential threat of global warming climate change and the need for effective solutions. To this date the impact of these changes can still be absorbed by the strong foundations of Malaysia's environmental management programmes and backed by stringent economic policies including effective poverty eradication and food production programs. However, it must be understood here that the environmental policies addresses only the environmental change threat and not specifically the climate change threat where in the long term the impact scenario would generally diverge, and the resilience of Malaysia to the climate change threat would generally decrease and her vulnerability increases. This scenario can change if the gradual increase in global warming is left unchecked and unabated because increasing global temperatures could lead to thresholds been breached where habitats and ecosystems could not recover to existing equilibrium and stable conditions. Climate change could well trigger national and international distributional conflicts and intensify problems already hard to manage in the region (inter and intra regional conflicts). Malaysia could be affected in future conflict scenarios as a result of climate change. Four conflict constellations can be identified in which critical developments can be anticipated as a result of climate change impact on Malaysia. These are, conflict constellations on (1) climate-induced degradation of marine and freshwater resources, (2) climate-induced decline in food production capacities and other environmentally driven economic systems, (3) climate-induced increase in certain hydro-meteorological and geomorphological events and (4) climate change ethical – justice issues such as environmentally induced displacements and migration and the deprivation and sustenance of certain livelihood activities. The social impacts of climate change will vary in the different parts of Malaysia. "Security risks associated with climate change", shows selected hotspots can be identified. The existence of these climate change conflict constellations threaten to overstretch the established national- regional - global governance system, thus jeopardizing international stability and regional security. The last half decade had witnessed a number of threatening environmental events that are climate change induced. These
events will steadily intensify and exacerbates existing environmental risks and have serious repercussions on Malaysia. Climate extremes, variability and anomalies will
threaten the bases of many of the country's populace livelihoods and her major economic systems, especially vulnerable are the poor and those living at the threshold
of the poverty line. The low income economic systems are especially vulnerable as their practices are dictated and sustained by climate – weather behavioral patterns. Any changes to these behavioral patterns would seriously affects the daily practices and livelihoods of highland farmers, traditional fishing and agriculture practices of coastal regions, and other forms of rural cottage industries. Malaysia's large scale economic systems such as agriculture, fishing, hydro-electric power generation and tourism related activities are also vulnerable to climate variabilities and extremes as these industries to a major extent are environmentally driven. Climate change will hit Malaysia hard. Timely adaptation measures should therefore be an integral element of her national policies. However, like most developing countries, Malaysia lacks the skills and capacities to implement effective adaptation measures at all levels of systems been threatened. Moreover, the impacts of climate change will increase the vulnerability of weak and the more fragile systems and further reduce their adaptive
capacities. The nature of vulnerability and resilience of these systems to the climate change threat needs to be assessed and understood. There's not much that Malaysia
can do in mitigating and curtailing green house gases emission, where her role lies mainly to provide a powerful voice in support of global efforts in green house gases
reduction and mitigation, however there's much that can be done in order to reduce vulnerability and resilience of her populace and livelihood systems. In general it can be said that the greater the warming, the greater the security risks to be anticipated, and Malaysia needs to adapt to these impending risks. The objectives of this paper is to discuss, (1) the importance and significance of global warming and climate change as emerging security issues (2) the application of a theoretical framework for climate
insecurity – vulnerability study, to examine (3) the potential stresses of global warming – climate change on regional environmental systems dynamics and potential security risks hotspots, (4), the potential "critical" systems that would be seriously affected and why these systems are vulnerable, (5)) the adaptation, mitigation and
future policy implications of Malaysia to address the climate change threat.


Anxious farmers and sodden picnickers may not believe it, but weather forecasts are actually getting better. Official U.S. daily forecasts reach only 5 days ahead, but meteorologists are now capable of making useful forecasts a week ahead of time. The National Weather Service plans to put the longer forecasts into practice in 1997, but its plans are being hampered by budget and personnel cuts.


Background: Poultry is the largest and rapidly growing sector of livestock in Pakistan. It is mainly influenced by viral pathogens such as the Newcastle disease virus (NDV) and Avian influenza virus (H7N3). These viruses cause severe disease in poultry and lead to heavy economic losses throughout the world. The outbreaks of these pathogens have been increased in the last few decades. Therefore, the study about antigenic prevalence is needed to know about the emergence of these pathogenic viruses and to get rid of severe ailments associated with reduced poultry production. Objectives: To determine the prevalence of Newcastle disease virus (NDV), Avian influenza virus (H7N3) and co-infections in poultry flocks at Karachi. Methodology: For detection of NDV and H7N3, a total of 200 tracheal swabs were collected and tested through Virus Isolation (V.I); the sample with positive virus isolation were tested through Agar gel precipitation (AGP) and then the RNA was isolated through TRI Reagent, which was further tested through Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Results: The virus isolation showed that 58% of samples were positive for various viruses. Agar gel precipitation (AGP) revealed that the occurrence of NDV, H7N3 and ND+H7 were 50%, 8% and 38%, respectively. RT-PCR for F and HA gene of NDV and H7N3 confirmed the presence of NDV and H7N3 in the poultry. Conclusion: It is concluded that NDV and H7N3 are circulating in the flocks causing co-infections, therefore it is important to know the field challenge of viruses and to prepare a vaccine of circulating serotype of the virus to mitigate the rate of infection.


The recently developed room-acoustics diffusion model relies on the basic as-
sumptions of the Fick's law of diffusion, relating the acoustic intensity and the
energy density inside a room, through a constant diffusion coefficient. This study
investigates the relationship between these two acoustic quantities in the station-
ary state, for the particular case of long rooms with different amounts of boundary
scattering, by means of numerical simulations and experimental measurements.
The numerical study was performed with a sound particle-tracing code. The ex-
periments consist in measurements inside the scale model of a long room, where a
three-dimensional Microflown➤ probe (calibrated and equalized with digital filters)
was employed to collect data in terms of pressure and axial velocity components.
Then, for each receiver position, the intensity and the energy density gradient were
derived. Both numerical and experimental results show that inside long rooms the
diffusion coefficient is not a constant but increases with the distance from the
source, with a slope depending on the scattering coefficient of the walls. This re-
sult implies that, for such long enclosures, the diffusion model should consider a
space-varying diffusion coefficient to be more consistent with real phenomena.


We consider the collective behaviour of active particles that locally align with their neighbours. Agent-based simulation models have previously shown that in one dimension, these particles can form into a flock that maintains its stability by stochastically alternating its direction. Until now, this behaviour has been seen in models based on continuum field equations only by appealing to long-range interactions that are not present in the simulation model. Here, we derive a set of stochastic field equations with local interactions that reproduces both qualitatively and quantitatively the behaviour of the agent-based model, including the alternating flock phase. A crucial component is a multiplicative noise term of the voter model type in the dynamics of the local polarization whose magnitude is inversely proportional to the local density. We show that there is an important subtlety in determining the physically appropriate noise, in that it depends on a careful choice of the field variables used to characterise the system. We further use the resulting equations to show that a nonlinear alignment interaction of at least cubic order is needed for flocking to arise.


Towards a cyberfuture
By the end of the decade, there will be a massive expansion of 24/7 Web connectivity. This will increasingly lead to the interpenetration of cyberspace and the concrete world. The web user will be a cybernomad, with a fluid identity, lacking in commitment and focused on the now. Mediated through broadband access to cyberspace, this now will be multidimensional and richer in immediate possibilities than the concrete world. The increasingly networked lifeworld of the subject will be navigated by means of software agents. The subject will become an integral part of networks as the distance between man and machine decreases. It is proposed that data, technology and the human subject be conceptualized as interdependent elements of an organic system.


The integral formation of a qualified mechanical engineer for the professional's performance is today one of the fundamental goals of Higher Education. In the search of this purpose, has been proven the effectiveness of the experimental tasks for the teaching and learning process on General Chemistry that facilitates the integration of theoretical and practical knowledge from different subject of the career. In this article, the requirements for the selection of the tasks are stated, as well as, their structure, what allows it to reinforce the understanding and production of knowledge, so that they are significant for the professional's performance. The practical application of the proposal has favored the development of experimental abilities as well as the motivation toward the career in the future professional.  Keywords: experimental tasks, experimental abilities, focus investigative, mechanical engineer.


Mode shapes in the design of mechanical energy harvesters, as a means of performance increase, have been largely overlooked. Currently, the vast majority of energy harvester designs employ some variation of a single-degree-of-freedom cantilever, and the mode shapes of such beams are well known. This is especially true for the first bending mode, which is almost exclusively the chosen vibration mode for energy harvesting. Two-dimensional beam shapes (those which curve, meander, spiral, etc., in a plane) have recently gained research interest, as they offer freedom to modify the vibration characteristics of the harvester beam for achieving higher power density. In this study, the second bending mode shape of the "Elephant" two-dimensional beam shape is examined, and its interaction with the first bending mode is evaluated. A combinatory mode shape created by using mass loading structural modification to lower the second bending modal frequency was found to interact with the first bending mode. This is possible since the first two bending modes do not share common areas of displacement. The combined mode shape is shown to produce the most power of any of the considered mode shapes.


Issue is taken with a previously published report linking contraceptive (combined formulations) pills with liver hamartomas in this letter. The author wants to emphasize that the subjects reported on in the previous study had received high-dose estrogen formulations containing between 50 and 150 mcg of mestranol/day. Because of endogenous estrogen accumulation such dosage levels make the total of endogenous and exogenous estrogen dangerously high. Instead this author argues that treatment of menorrhagia would be better biased toward a major antiestrogenic effect; hence preparations using norethisterone or its acetate of high dose combined with low-dose estrogen would be indicated for therapy rather than traditional low-dose formulations. Additions of extra progestogen rather than augmentation of both estrogen and progestogen would be indicated in the case of bleeding difficulties in lieu of doubling up on low-dose pills. The additional progestogen would obviate the need to increase estrogen since progestogenic effects on the endometrium would control the bleeding.


Moriz Rosenthal in Word and Music: A Legacy of the Nineteenth Century. Edited and with an introduction by Mark Mitchell and Allan Evans. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2006. [xx, 184 p. ISBN 0-253-34660-6. $36.95.] Index, bibliographical notes, appendices, compact disc. As one of the foremost representatives of the so-called "golden age" of pianism, Moriz Rosenthal (1862-1946) earned esteem as much for his intellectual erudition and rapier wit as for the virtuosity and sensitivity of his playing. Born in what was then Poland, Rosenthal pursued studies with Chopin's pupil Karol Mikuli, then with Liszt's pupil Rafael Joseffy, and finally with Liszt himself at Weimar. He divided his performing career between Europe and the United States, but did not settle in this country until 1938, after which Rosenthal and his wife Hedwig Kanner devoted much time to teaching; their best-known pupil is Charles Rosen. (The book's preface contains Rosen's vivid personal recollections of Rosenthal.) Until now there has been no single or substantial source of information concerning Rosenthal's background and career or his attitudes toward music and piano playing. The present volume attempts to gather a selection of his more important writings, supplemented by additional material. Much appears in print, or in English translation, for the first time. Of the book's thirty-one chapters, eighteen are devoted to Rosenthal's own words, while the remaining thirteen contain reviews and observations by others, among them Eduard Hanslick, James Gibbons Huneker, and Kaikhosru Sorabji. (Disclosure: a copy of the original text of Rosenthal's "Mahleriana" chapter was furnished by the undersigned to co-editor Allan Evans in 2001 at his request.) Of prime interest is Rosenthal's unpublished autobiography, which unfortunately covers only the first fourteen years of his life. Later portions of the book offer the pianist's descriptions of his encounters with such notables as Anton Rubinstein, Johannes Brahms, Johann Strauss II, Gustav Mahler, and Ferruccio Busoni. Rosenthal's keen eye and ear for their individual peculiarities make these chapters particularly valuable. One of Rosenthal's own less-endearing qualities was his extreme sensitivity to criticism. Included is a caustic letter he sent to a critic who gave him a negative review, as well as the critic's published response to Rosenthal's letter. In 1922 Rosenthal became embroiled in an especially acrimonious situation that reflected Viennese musico-political intrigue at its zenith. Among the other players were critic Julius Korngold and his son, composer Erich Wolfgang Korngold, then in his mid-20s. The dispute had been festering for a number of years and involved the elder Korngold's shameless promotion of his son's music. The present volume confines the matter to a single attack on Julius Korngold in a Viennese newspaper, incorporating a sworn statement from Rosenthal. Unfortunately the co-editors have failed to provide the full context of the scandal, which reveals considerably more detail, not all of it flattering to Rosenthal. This information is readily available in Brendan G. Carroll's The Last Prodigy: A Biography of Erich Wolfgang Korngold (Portland, OR: Amadeus Press, 1997), pp. 72-75 and 150. A four-page chronology gives the reader further biographical data on Rosenthal, but it is not supported by any specific references or documentation of sources. Some entries are questionable: in 1888, for example, Rosenthal is said to have played in New York on 13 November, "during the Great Blizzard." Unfortunately it is an established fact that the Great Blizzard occurred between 11 and 14 March of that year. In general, source citations are hit-or-miss throughout the book, and the lack of a bibliography is a further liability. (Even the subject of the book is denied any listing of his published articles.) Endnotes for all chapters are gathered at the rear of the volume, and these provide, among other things, identification of most of the names mentioned in the text. …


OBJECTIVE: to study the effect of the motor component of the NIH Stroke Scale (NIHSS) on a patient's functional outcome at discharge.
 BACKGROUND: Predicting the patient outcome after a vascular event can be very challenging. The National Institute of Health (NIH) developed a standardized scale to evaluate the severity of a stroke at presentation.
 DESIGN/METHODS: This is a retrospective analysis of all patients (n= 97) that presented to our hospital with ischemic stroke and received mechanical thrombectomy between January 2009 and July 2012 and had all the components of NIHSS baseline documented at presentation. Statistical analysis was performed using the R statistical package and XLSTAT-Pro 2011. Spearman correlations (P value <0.05) for non-normally distributed data were used to independently evaluate the correlation of each of the NIHSS components with patient functional outcome at discharge using modified rankin scale (mRS). mRS of 2 or less represented a good functional outcome.
 RESULTS: Group analysis including gender, mean age, mean NIHSS and mortality at discharge was as follows: Female 49.5%, 72.9, 14.7 and 13.4%. All Motor components of NIHSS had a significant correlation (Rho=0.24, P value <0.05) with poor patient outcome at discharge, meaning a higher motor score at presentation represented a worse outcome at discharge. A higher NIHSS had a significant correlation with poor functional outcome (Rho=0.41, P value <0.05).
 CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion, admission motor grade may serve as a good predictor of disability and mortality in patients undergoing mechanical thrombectomy with acute ischemic stroke. Further validation by a prospective study with a larger sample size is warranted. Disclosure: Dr. Misthal has nothing to disclose. Dr. Haitham has nothing to disclose. Dr. Bashir has nothing to disclose. Dr. Hussain has nothing to disclose. Dr. Moussavi has nothing to disclose. Dr. Kirmani has nothing to disclose.


Spatially dynamic distributed systems have been attracting increasing attention from researchers in the field of system modelling and control since their introduction as an alternative to simple systems to meet the ever-greater requirements to make industrial systems more precise and energy-efficient and to overcome process complexities. An approach whereby complex systems with multi-dimensional parameters, inputs or outputs are simply disregarded or simplified with the help of convenient mathematical models is no longer feasible. Therefore, the purpose of the present study is to contribute to the advancement of both theoretical and empirical knowledge in this field through the means of theoretical analysis, application simulations and case studies. From a theoretical perspective, this study focuses primarily on the design methodology of control systems. To this end, the first step is identification of requirements from the applications, followed by the implementation of an original approach underpinned by data prediction for type-2 T-S fuzzy control with the purpose of making the control system design more convenient. With this aim in mind, the study creates an interface/platform to link or anticipate spatially dynamic distributed system output from lumped system data by taking advantage of the threedimensional character of type-2 fuzzy sets. Moreover, on the basis of a decoupled spatially dynamic distributed system, this study applies Mamdani-type and interval type-2 T-S type fuzzy control, and extends a discussion about the results of simulation and analysis. With regard to application examination, the study contributes to primarily with system analysis and modelling. Along with the progress of physical analysis, a MIMO model is customized for the plant by expanding from the lumped physical character to a distributed system. Furthermore, the coupling feature of the object is addressed based on the decoupling approach and the pole placement approach, while the SISO approach is expanded to a universally acknowledged MIMO approach and Matlab is used to produce the simulation results.As a conclusion, in this research, firstly a state space model was established to expand the SISO system into a MIMO system and the interacted inputs and outputs have been decoupled using decoupling method; and then a Mamdani-type fuzzy control was designed for temperature control and an Interval Type-2 fuzzy control was designed for pressure control, using a simple state-space model instead of a fuzzy model, accordance with the practical plant in use, and very satisfied, very robust control performances were obtained.


The physics of non-linear phenomena has developed in a remarkable way over the last couple of decades and has accelerated over the last few years, in particular because of the recent progress in the study of chaotic behaviour. In particular the discovery of the universal properties of the transition into chaos for certain classes of systems has stimulated much recent work in different directions both theoretically and experimentally. Chaos theory has become a real challenge to physicists in many different fields and also in many other disciplines such as astronomy, chemistry, medicine, meteorology and economics and social theory. The study of chaos-related phenomena has a truly interdisciplinary character and makes use of important concepts and methods from other disciplines. For the description of chaotic structures one needs a new, recently developed geometry called fractal geometry. For the discussion of the enormous richness of ordered structures which appear, one uses the theory of pattern recognition. In order to study even the simplest theoretical models describing chaos, a computer is essential. It should finally be mentioned that important aspects of computer science are related to the theory of order and chaos. A Nobel Symposium provides an excellent opportunity to bring together a group of prominent scientists for a stimulating exchange of new ideas and results. The Nobel Symposia are very small meetings by invitation only and the number of key participants is typically in the range 20-40. These symposia are organized through a special Nobel Symposium Committee after proposals from individuals. This symposium was sponsored by the Nobel Foundation through its Nobel Symposium Fund with grants from The Tercentenary Fund of the Bank of Sweden and The Knut $ Alice Wallenberg Foundation. Additional support was obtained from the Royal Academy of Sciences, The Nordic Institute for Theoretical Atomic Physics (NORDITA), Chalmers University of Technology and Gothenburg University. The idea to arrange a Nobel symposium on the physics of chaos and related problems came up more than three years ago. The rapid progress in the field since then seemed a bit frightening, to say the least, in view of the small format of the meeting. Nevertheless, we found the idea attractive - provided that we could restrict the programme to a few selected topics of current interest in order to generate a strong interaction between the participants and produce an intensive discussion. I feel that I need to express my apologies to all prominent scientists who could not be invited as a result of our planning. In the first place we did not attempt to review areas which seemed to be well established and have reached a certain level of maturity or saturation, irrespective of how great the individual contributions might have been. We decided firmly to concentrate on just a few of the recent developments which seemed to be in the focus of interest, deliberately leaving out important areas equally exciting. These proceedings contain practically all the material presented in the papers given at the Symposium. We felt that some participants might have found it inconvenient to prepare a full-length paper, which in some cases would have been merely modified versions of material due to appear in regular journals. We therefore took a liberal attitude and accepted everything from a brief abstract with some key references, up to a full-length paper. We would like to place on record our sincere thanks to all the participants who have contributed substantially in the planning of the Symposium by making valuable comments and suggestions about participants and topics. In particular, Jerry Gollub and Pierre Hohenberg helped me in organizing the programme and they also did a beautiful job with the concluding session and the conference summary. My co-organizers played a crucial role in the planning and during the Symposium week and always seemed to show an outstanding patience with my often rather chaotic actions. Our secretary, Yvonne Steen, deserves very special thanks for her outstanding work for the symposium on top of all her regular duties. I would finally like to say something about Gräftåvallen and our hosts, Annica and Tommy Hagström. We decided to take this symposium out of the cities and away from the academic environment and found this charming tiny mountain resort on a mountain slope in the northern Swedish mountains about 20 miles from the nearest village. Annica and Tommy Hagström welcomed us with such a warm hospitality and offered us throughout the week the best of the local mountain specialities such as reindeer, bear and beaver and a variety of mountain fishes. Also the local community greeted us as some very special guests and arranged an afternoon programme at a nearby shieling with goats, sheep, dairy maids, folk music and folk dancing. They also arranged a wonderful concert in their beautiful church from the 12th century. Altogether it was a very special week also outside the lecture room. We, the organizers, experienced this symposium as an unforgettable scientific event thanks to the outstanding contributions of our participants. We hope that these proceedings will convey to the reader something of the excitement felt by the participants during the symposium week.


Biofilm formation on medical devices and implants is a major cause of patient illness leading it to be one of the key nosocomial problems worldwide. The infection caused by antibiotic resistant bacteria pseudomonas aeruginosa accounts for majority of hospital acquired infections. These infections have been one of the serious problems in the hospital in terms of morbidity, mortality and health care costs 1. The infections lead to a mortality rate of 18 to 60%, and the cost of treatment is considerably large ranging from ($20,000 to $80,000 per infection 1. Only limited progress has been made to prevent or eradicate this progressive issue in a safe and cost-effective mode. To address this, we propose to employ atmospheric pressure jet plasma to break down and inactivate bacterial biofilm in vitro. Moreover, to improve the antimicrobial effect on the biofilm, a treatment method using the combination of jet plasma and a biocide known as Chlorhexidine (CHX) digluconate was investigated.


Fibroblast growth factor (FGF) 21 has various functions, including glucose and lipid metabolism, yet the biology of FGF21 remains unclear. This study aimed to investigate specific conditions that might affect the functions of FGF21. Subjects included 398 healthy men who underwent health examinations to obtain information on physical and biochemical parameters and lifestyle behaviors. Associations of serum FGF21 levels with each parameter were assessed in the study. FGF21 levels correlated with age, body mass index, waist circumference (WC), systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure, aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase (ALT), gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (γ-GTP), uric acid, total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, fasting plasma glucose, and HbA1c. Moreover, FGF21 levels were significantly associated with lifestyle behaviors, including smoking status and breakfast and alcohol consumption frequency. Multivariable regression analysis showed that age, ALT, γ-GTP, smoking status, and breakfast and alcohol consumption frequency were independent variables for FGF21 levels. Assessment among the non-obese and obese groups showed that FGF21 levels correlated with WC, SBP, and TC only in the non-obese group. Thus, serum FGF21 levels were affected by several factors, including lifestyle behaviors, age, and liver function. To assess the functions of FGF21 in individuals, considering these factors would be essential. (199 words)


The study was conducted to estimate the performance of rams on a dry season ration formulated from agro-industrial by-products and compared with the animals on free range for a period of 10 weeks. Eight rams were fed the test diet while 8 rams were left on free range with supplemented wheat offal. Feed intake, weight gain, chestgirth, back-bone length and height at withers were observed. Serum glucose, cholesterol and total protein were determined before and at the end of the experiment. Significant (P<0.05) positive relationships were observed between feed intake and chestgirth (r=0.97213), feed intake and backbone length (r=0.947) and feed intake and height at withers (r=0.79049) for animals fed experimental diet. Significant increases (p<0.01) were observed in the levels of the serological parameters. The mean values (mg/dl) increased from 12.08 + 0.43 to 20.88 + 0.64 for serum glucose; 7.78 + 0.30 to 152.63 + 0.68 for serum cholesterol and 7.22 + 0.39 to 52.75 + 0.25 for serum total protein for rams on test diet. The mean value (mg/dl) for serum glucose, cholesterol and total protein also increased from 12.30 + 0.80 to 22.75 + 0.75, 7.97 + 0.12 to 154.50 + 1.89 and 6.15 + 0.45 to 53.75 + 0.85, respectively, for rams on free range. The rams on the test diet significantly (P<0.05) grew faster than those on free range (48.6 vs 13.4gld). There were also significant (P<0.05) dietary effects on chestgirth gain (0.71 vs 0.03 cm/d), back-bone length gain (0.045 vs 0.020cm/d) and height at withers gain (0.041 vs 0.029 cm/d) in rams fed experimental diet and those on free range, respectively.The results of the study suggest that when poultry droppings and sawdust ash are contained in forage-based diet for small ruminants, significantly (P<0.05) high growth rate, increases in chestgirth, backbone length and height at withers could be obtained than by the animals on dry season free range although with supplement.
Keywords: Performance, rams, dry season feed, agro-industrial, by-products.


Gold (Au) is one of the metals that is widely used for jewellery and electroplating. Although in the nanoparticle form, the waste that produced still has high economic value. Since its belong to heavy metals, gold nanoparticle waste need to be removed even in the very low concentration. One of the alternatives is utilized gold-resistant bacteria, namely Bacillus cereus S1. The purpose of our study was to determine the ability of B. cereus S1 to accumulates gold. Reconfirmation test of B. cereus S1 gold resistant ability was figured out using Minimal Salt Medium (MSM), 2% glucose and 0.1 ppm gold. The bioaccumulation process was used 1 ppm, 5 ppm, and 10 ppm concentration of gold; and the incubation periods were 6, 12, and 24 hours. Gold bioaccumulation performed by B. cereus S1 was measured using Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-EOS). The results showed that the longer incubation periods of B. cereus S1, the higher gold concentration will be accumulated at exposure concentration 1 ppm, 5 ppm and 10 ppm. B. cereus S1 showed good viability after 24 hours metal exposure.


A new empirical equation for predicting the thermal-fatigue life of wafer level chip scale package (WLCSP) solder joints on printed circuit board (PCB) is presented. The solder joints are subjected to thermal cycling and their crack lengths at different thermal cycles are measured. Also, the average strain energy density around the crack tip of different crack lengths in the corner solder joint is determined by a time-dependent nonlinear fracture mechanics with finite element method. The solder is assumed to be a temperature-dependent elastic-plastic and a time-dependent creep material.


Any deviation between treated and planned volumes for 3‐D conformal therapy, such as IMRT, may cause an adverse clinical outcome. It is therefore critical to minimize all potential deviations using an on‐board (or real‐time) imaging procedure immediately prior to radiation delivery. At present, conventional 2‐D radiographicimaging and state‐of‐the‐art 3‐D cone‐beam CT(CBCT) are typically employed for treatment verification. However, 2‐D radiographic verification is mainly based on bony structures and/or implanted fiducials, and is sub‐optimal for soft‐tissue targets. While on‐board CBCT can provide 3‐D soft tissue information, it has three potential limitations: 1) The acquisition time is limited to a minimum of 60 seconds (≈15 breathing cycles) for on‐board CBCT, making single breath‐hold imaging impractical for organs which exhibit respiratory motion; 2) 360° mechanical clearance for CBCT acquisition may limit the use of CBCT for large patients, those with tumors at peripheral locations (e.g. breast), or those with substantial immobilization or support devices; 3) A high radiationdose (2–9 cGy) is delivered to the imaged volume with current imaging techniques, which is undesirable for daily imaging and may be a particular problem for those who are at high risk of developing second malignancies. To overcome these limitations, innovative digital tomosynthesis (DTS) imaging technologies are being developed for 3‐D and 4‐D target localization. Although DTS technology has been used for digital chest and mammography, its use in target localization is new. DTS only requires limited gantry rotation (e.g., a scan angle of 40° or less) to reconstruct 3‐D anatomic information. Thus, imaging time and dose are substantially reduced compared to CBCT, making breath‐hold DTS a simple solution for daily imaging of moving organs. 4‐D DTS can also be generated much faster than 4‐D CBCT, which is desirable for on‐board 4‐D tomographic imaging. Further, the reduced mechanical clearance needed for DTS makes it more widely applicable than CBCT. At present, limited information has been published regarding the fundamentals of DTS for target localization, and/or preliminary clinical DTS localization results. The purpose of this presentation is to provide updated information about these topics, including the following objectives: 1. To understand the technical challenges and clinical potentials of using DTS technologies for target localization in radiation therapy 2. To understand the latest developments in DTS reconstruction and registration methods 3. To understand the clinical feasibility and efficacy of kV DTS compared to kV CBCT 4. To learn about the latest developments in MV DTS and brachytherapy DTS applications Work is partially supported by grants from NIH, Varian Medical Systems, and GE Health Care.


The article covers algorithm to calculate individuals who are subjects for periodic medical examinations in Occupational medical centers. The algorithm involves assessing workers exposed to chemical and occupational hazards and counting repetition factor of thorough medical examinations according to Russian Health Ministry Order No 90 (March, 14, 1996).


Background: Chronic inflammation predisposes patients to develop tumors. In particular, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients have a high risk of developing colitis associated cancer (CAC). Inflammatory cells produce cytokines that stimulate the growth and survival of malignant cells. In the case of CAC, several cytokines that contribute to cell transformation have been identified including IL-6, TNF-a and NF-kB dependent signaling, but additional cytokines and pathways likely also contribute. Stability and secretion of IL-6, IL-8, TNF-a and IL-1, along with recruitment of innate immune cells into the tumor are regulated by the p38/MAPKAPK2 (MK2) pathway. MK2 inhibition has been proposed previously as an anti-inflammatory strategy for treating IBD patients, but the exact role p38 pathway, and in particular MK2, in the development of inflammation-associated tumors remains to be elucidated. Methods: We have used a widely accepted method for modeling colitis in mice which consists in the administration of 2.5% DSS (dextran sodium sulfate) in the drinking water for 5 days followed by 4 days of recovery. This treatment results in mucosa ulceration and acute gut inflammation with high leukocyte infiltration. To mimic a chronic disease, this treatment is repeated from 3 to 5 cycles with resting periods of 21 days in between. AOM (azoxymethane) is administered as well at the beginning of the treatment to induce colitis associated cancer. Results: MK2 inhibition significantly inhibits tumor progression in a model of colitis-associated cancer in mice. MK2 KO animals develop smaller tumors in AOM/DSS driven colon cancer. However, MK2 depletion results in a dramatic increased susceptibility to DSS in the acute phase of the treatment, in contrast to expected from its pro-inflammatory role in other contexts. Conclusions: These preliminary results discourage MK2 inhibition to treat acute colitis, but support the use of MK2 inhibitors to prevent tumor progression under chronic inflammation.


Today, the main problems faced are waste disposal and fuel crisis. But we can relate the above two by making use of appropriate technologies. "Wealth from waste" is promising option to solve these problems. Looking for alternative energy sources, the idea of fermenting lactose in surplus Whey (which traditionally has been regarded as a waste product) to produce fuel ethanol (bio-fuel) has gained attention. It is estimated that in India the paneer production is about 16,000 t/year (MoFPI, annual report, 2010) which yields 135 x10 6 L of whey. It has an ethanol production potential of 4.08x10 6 L/year. In this study, the characterization of whey namely, pH, Total Solids, Volatile Solids, Biological Oxygen Demand, Chemical Oxygen Demand and lactose content, was carried out. We found that pH was 5.5, Total Solids as 5 mg/l, Volatile Solids 55 mg/l, Biological Oxygen Demand 1600 mg/l, Chemical Oxygen Demand 6560 mg/l and lactose content 1.56 g/ 100 g. As the lactose content is very less the ethanol was produced in a laboratory scale. The ethanol produced was estimated using the calorimetric method. The result revealed that the ethanol production was around 6 % .


We want to shed light on some discussed aspects of the principle of equivalence. We consider two different phases in the evolution of the principle. We pay attention to the fact that some textbooks do not dwell on the mathematical meaning of 'locally flat spacetime', which can confuse students and, occasionally, can also lead to misinterpretations. For example, the non-eliminability of tidal forces, not even locally, may suggest that the equivalence principle is wrong. By contrast, we want to show that this is in perfect agreement with the Einstein geometrical interpretation of spacetime. Finally, in order to check the approximations used in the Gedankenexperiment of an elevator, we estimate explicitly the magnitude of the deflection of light and the effects of tidal forces in a 'real lift'.


Background To our knowledge, data are lacking on the role of 18F-FDG PET/CT in the localization and prediction of neuroendocrine tumors, in particular the pheochromocytoma/paraganglioma (PCC/PGL) group. Purpose To evaluate the role of 18F-FDG PET/CT in localizing and predicting the malignant potential of PCC/PGL. Material and Methods Twenty-three consecutive patients with a history of PCC/PGL, presenting with symptoms related to catecholamine excess, underwent 18F-FDG PET/CT. Final confirmation of the diagnosis was made using the composite references. PET/CT findings were analyzed on a per-lesion basis and a per-patient basis. Tumor SUVmax was analyzed to predict the dichotomization of patient endpoints for the local disease and metastatic groups. Results We investigated 23 patients (10 men, 13 women) with a mean age of 46.43 ± 3.70 years. Serum catecholamine levels were elevated in 82.60% of these patients. There were 136 sites (mean SUVmax: 16.39 ± 3.47) of validated disease recurrence. The overall sensitivities for diagnostic CT, FDG PET, and FDG PET/CT were 86.02%, 87.50%, and 98.59%, respectively. Based on the composite references, 39.10% of patients had local disease. There were significant differences in the SUVmax distribution between the local disease and metastatic groups; a significant correlation was noted when a SUVmax cut-off was set at 9.2 (P < 0.05). Conclusion In recurrent PCC/PGL, diagnostic 18F-FDG PET/CT is a superior tool in the localization of recurrent tumors. Tumor SUVmax is a potentially useful predictor of malignant tumor potential.


Papillon–Lefèvre syndrome (PLS; OMIM 245000) is an autosomal recessive condition characterized by palmoplantar hyperkeratosis and periodontitis. In 1997, the gene locus for PLS was mapped to 11q14‐21, and in 1999, variants in the cathepsin C gene (CTSC) were identified as causing PLS. To date, a total of 75 different disease‐causing mutations have been published for the CTSC gene. A summary of recurrent mutations identified in Hungarian patients and a review of published mutations is presented in this update. Comparison of clinical features in affected families with the same mutation strongly confirm that identical mutations of the CTSC gene can give rise to multiple different phenotypes, making genotype–phenotype correlations difficult. Variable expression of the phenotype associated with the same CTSC mutation may reflect the influence of other genetic and/or environmental factors. Most mutations are missense (53%), nonsense (23%), or frameshift (17%); however, in‐frame deletions, one splicing variant, and one 5′ untranslated region (UTR) mutation have also been reported. The majority of the mutations are located in exons 5–7, which encodes the heavy chain of the cathepsin C protein, suggesting that tetramerization is important for cathepsin C enzymatic activity. All the data reviewed here have been submitted to the CTSC base, a mutation registry for PLS at http://bioinf.uta.fi/CTSCbase/.


A phase-controlled lower hybrid wave (LHW) multi-junction (MJ) coupler (3(rows)×4(columns)×4 (subwaveguides)) has been developed in the HT-7 tokamak. Simulations show that it is more effective for driving plasma current than an ordinary phase-controlled LHW antenna (3(rows)× 12(columns)) (traditional coupler). The plasma–wave coupling experiments show that the reflection coefficient (RC) is below 10%, implying that the MJ grill can launch the wave into the plasma effectively. The effect of power spectrum launched by the MJ coupler on RC indicates that an optimal condition is requisite for a better coupling in the lower hybrid current drive (LHCD) experiments. Studies indicate that the drive efficiency of the MJ antenna is higher than that of the traditional one, which is mainly ascribed to the discrepancy in impurity concentration, plasma temperature, and spectrum directivity. An improved confinement with an electron internal transport barrier is obtained by LHCD. The analysis shows that the modified negative (low) magnetic shear and the change of radial electric field profile due to LHCD are possible factors responsible for the eITB formation.


A three phase medium voltage (MV)/medium frequency (MF) power collection grid for megawatt (MW) scale photovoltaic plant (PV) is proposed. The proposed ac collection grid is shown to increase power density and improves system modularity while maintaining high efficiency levels. The PV panels power standard three phase PWM voltage source inverters (VSI) to generate MF ac voltage. Various VSI outputs are combined in series via MF transformers to form the proposed MF ac collection grid. A three phase ac-ac cycloconverter interfaces the MF grid with the 60Hz mains. An 80MW PV power plant located in Eggebek/Germany is used for comparison in the design example. Detailed simulation and calculations of the proposed system demonstrates size/weight reduction and overall efficiency improvement of 2%.


Hydraulic geometry exponents may be used to discriminate between types of river section. This is illustrated by a discriminant analysis of data from riffle and pool sections. The complexity of most natural channels, however, precludes the use of a single index to cover a wide range of discharges. This is demonstrated in an analysis of several width-discharge curves defined up to, but not beyond, bankfull stage.


Reinforced concrete structures are often subjected to fire of various degrees. After fire if the structure does not collapse during the fire there is need for post-fire assessment of its structural integrity before the fate of the structure can be determined. With the knowledge of the temperature of the fire, thickness of concrete cover, residual strength of concrete and tensile strength of embedded reinforcement after fire exposure, we can predict the residual carrying capacity of the beams after fire. The experimental procedure involves some specimens of reinforcing steel bars (∅16mm) enclosed in varying concrete covers in concrete beams which were exposed to ISO 834 furnace temperatures for 2hrs. After fire, the steel bars were removed and tested for tensile strength characteristics and the reduction in strength trend compared with the current code predictions for stress strain relationship of hot-rolled reinforcing steels at elevated temperatures. The variation in the residual moment and shear capacities of the reinforced concrete beams with temperature were evaluated. The experimental residual strength index was found to be greater than the theoretical prediction in the code. The variation in cover thickness of concrete to embedded reinforcement in beams was also noticed to be of no significance to the post-fire tensile strength of the steel reinforcement if the fire temperature is below 700oC. Keywords: Post-fire, flexure, residual strength, concrete cover, tensile strength, iso834 fire.


The Ginzburg-Landau theory on ferroelectrics with random field induced by dipole defects is studied by using Monte Carlo simulation, in order to investigate the dipole configuration and the dielectric relaxation of relaxor ferroelectrics. With the increase of random field, the dipole configuration evolves from the long-range ferroelectric order into the coexistence of short-range dipole-clusters and less polarized matrix. The dipole-cluster phase above the transition temperature and superparaelectric fluctuations far below this temperature are identified for the relaxor ferroelectrics. We investigate the frequency dispersion and the time-domain spectrum of the dielectric relaxation, demonstrating the Vogel-Fulcher relationship and the multi-peaked time-domain distribution of the dielectric relaxation.


Recent advances in non-contact atomic force microscopy (nc-AFM) have led to the possibility of achieving unprecedented resolution within molecular structures, accomplished by probing short-range repulsive interaction forces. Here we investigate C60 molecules adsorbed on KBr(111) and Cu(111) by tuning-fork-based nc-AFM. First, measurements of C60 deposited on KBr(001) were conducted in cryogenic conditions revealing highly resolved nc-AFM images of the self-assembly. Using constant-frequency shift mode as well as three-dimensional spectroscopic measurements, we observe that the relatively weak molecule–substrate interaction generally leads to the disruption of molecular assembled structures when the tip is probing the short-range force regime. This particular issue hindered us in resolving the chemical structure of this molecule on the KBr surface. To obtain a better anchoring of C60 molecules, nc-AFM measurements were performed on Cu(111). Sub-molecular resolutions within the molecules was achieved which allowed a direct and unambiguous visualization of their orientations on the supporting substrate. Furthermore, three-dimensional spectroscopic measurements of simultaneous force and current have been performed above the single molecules giving information of the C60 molecular orientation as well as its local conductivity. We further discuss the different imaging modes in nc-AFM such as constant-frequency shift nc-AFM, constant-height nc-AFM and constant-current nc-AFM as well as three-dimensional spectroscopic measurement (3D-DFS) employed to achieve such resolution at the sub-molecular scale.


Autophagy is a key pathway utilised by the cells to clear the dysfunctional cellular components and maintain homeostasis. However cancer cells having defective apoptosis, deploy autophagy as a survival mechanism by limiting tumor necrosis and metabolic stress. Autophagy has been reported to be upregulated in triple negative breast cancers which are categorized as the most aggressive breast cancers with poor prognosis. Nevertheless the exact mechanism of autophagic upregulation in TNBC is still elusive. Therefore analyzing pathways specifically altered in these tumors might provide better targets for therapeutic intervention. Results: In the present study we observed higher basal autophagy in TNBC cell line MDA MB 231 as compared to triple positive MCF7 cells as analyzed by the presence of higher number of GFP-LC3 puncta in the former. Treatment with 20μM of autophagy inhibitor chloroquine for 48 hrs led to significant cell death in TNBC cell line as compared to MCF7 whereas treatment with 20μM of PI3K inhibitor wortamannin did not significantly affected the survival of TNBC and MCF7 cells. Further the analysis of autophagy markers revealed higher LC3B and Beclin1 levels as compared to ATG5 and ATG7 levels in MDA MB 231 cells both at mRNA and protein levels as analyzed by qPCR and western blot. Also the knockdown of ATG7 by ATG7 shRNA did not significantly affected the survival of TNBC cells. Conclusion: Thus in this study we aim to highlight the difference in the expression of autophagy markers and the effect of autophagy inhibitors wherein only late phase of autophagy seems to significantly upregulated in TNBC. The difference can be attributed to the dependence of TNBC cells upon 'late phase autophagy' or particularly 'mitophagy' that is crucial for rapid clearance of misfolded proteins and dysfunctional mitochondria as has been reported in TNBCs. Further study to dissect the mechanism of selective upregulation of 'late phase autophagy'or 'mitophagy' in TNBC might provide novel targets for treatment strategies in these breast cancers. Citation Format: Bhawana Dikshit, Aakansha Rai, Soumya Sinha Roy. Triple negative breast cancer cells have higher dependence on mitophagy for their survival as compared to hormone positive breast cancer cells. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2015 Apr 18-22; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(15 Suppl):Abstract nr 988. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2015-988


Iron-based diluted magnetic semiconductors having the cubic zinc-blende structure display unusual responces to external magnetic fields. For low fields, B, the magnetic susceptibility is isotropic as expected for cubic crystals. However, when the magnetic field is sufficiently high so that the Zeeman energy cannot be neglected in comparison to the spacing of the low lying levels of Fe2+ (owing to the spin orbit interaction), the nonlinear magnetization exhibits a striking anisotropy. This phenomenon is related to the Van Vleck paramagnetism primarily due to the nature of the ground state of the (3d)6 configuration of Fe2+, namely a singlet in the crystal field of tetrahedrally coordinated semiconductors. We are concerned with Fe2+ in a tetrahedral environment and the concomitant Van Vleck type of paramagnetism. We present an analytic investigation of the magnetic moment of a Fe2+ ion in a Td field. In this approach the spin-orbit interaction and the Zeeman energy are treated as small compared to the crystal field spitting but are themselves viewed as of comparable magnitudes. We obtain expressions for the effective number of Bohr magnetons per ion for B along the ⟨001⟩, ⟨111⟩ and ⟨110⟩ directions. The anisotropy of this quantity is of the order of 15% at liquid helium temperatures in a magnetic field of 150 kG. Corrections proportional to the ratio of the spin-orbit interaction and the crystal field spiltting are also evaluated in first order.


This article focuses on the term enhypostaton. It makes the case that this term was originally coined in order to express three modes of being: "by itself", "with another" and "in another". The first and third of these modes could not explain the status of the flesh as a nature, which does not have a hypostasis of its own, since they denoted full-blown hypostases and mere accidents. By contrast, the second mode was tailored to the specific case of the human being where soul and body as complete natures come together to form a single hypostasis, which had traditionally served as a paradigm for the incarnation.


D O I: 10 .2 51 79 /t je m .2 01 758 63 2 Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the risk factors of neck nodal metastasis on papillary thyroid microcarcinoma patients. Material and Methods: About 123 patients diagnosed with thyroid papillary microcarcinoma, who had undergone total thyroidectomy, between January 2012 and December 2014, were analyzed retrospectively for neck nodal metastasis and distant metastasis risk factors. Laboratory and surgical data were collected for these patients. Other factors such as gender, age, levels of anti-thyroid peroxidase and anti-thyroglobulin antibodies, thyroid stimulating hormone, level of thyroglobulin on thyroid stimulating hormone suppression, size of tumor, presence of capsular invasion, extrathyroidal extension, metastasis of central neck lymph node, vascular invasion, multifocality, bilateral involvement, size of preoperative node, duration of the disease, radioactive iodine therapy, metastasis of lateral neck lymph node and histopathological type were investigated. Results: Among the cases that were studied, there were 104 (84.6%) females and 19 (15.4%) males. Their average age was 48.60±12.05 years and the mean tumor size was 6.06±2.63 mm. In patients with lateral neck lymph node metastasis and capsular invasion, the thyroglobulin levels after thyroid stimulating hormone suppression were higher. The rate of total neck lymph node metastasis was found to be higher in patients with capsular invasion. Furthermore, the Anti-thyroid peroxidase levels were higher in thyroid papillary microcarcinoma patients who did not have lateral lymph node metastasis. Conclusion: The thyroglobulin levels after thyroid stimulating hormone suppression and capsular invasion are important risk factors for neck nodal metastasis, in papillary thyroid microcarcinoma patients.


This paper draws on work from cognitive psychology and human-computer interaction to inquire into the extent to which assessments of web interface design are contaminated by the halo effect. The halo effect is a human cognitive bias in which a person's overall affect toward an entity produces overtly positive or negative distortions in evaluations of the entity's individual characteristics. These delusions and distortions in judgment can directly erode one's capacity to make rational decisions or perform objective evaluations, and therefore have critical implications for managers and organizations alike. Inquiry into the halo effect was carried out by means of a controlled, randomized experiment which incorporated 3 polarizing issues, 7 web interface design variations, and more than 300 research subjects. After controlling for other cognitive biases and several additional factors that are known to influence judgment and decision-making, the results revealed substantial halo-based contamination in assessments of web interface design.


Background: Little kinematic or kinetic information is available to understand risks associated with water skier falls. The present study assessed accelerations during low-speed falls and then contrasted these data against information obtained from automotive crash tests to better delineate risk of injury. The goal was to establish baseline impact information for low-speed falls during water skiing. Methods: Twenty-seven experienced skiers were asked to deliberately make replicate forward falls at 20 miles per hour. A three-axis, electronic, waterproof accelerometer monitored either the torso or head during these maneuvers and recorded the magnitude of impacts in multiples of the force of gravity (e.g., 'g's'). Both anatomical sites were assessed for each participant. Data were averaged for the replicate runs. Using these averages, grand means were calculated for accelerations encountered along each of the three orthogonal axes measured. As well, 95% confidence intervals of these grand means were calculated. Peak accelerations were identified for each of the three orthogonal axes measured and plotted against time to estimate durations of acceleration events (impulse). Results: Grand means for torso accelerations ranged from 2.7 g's (95% CI: 1.6-3.9) to 3.6 g's (95%CI: 2.5-4.6). Grand means for head accelerations ranged from 2.5g (95%CI: 1.6-3.4) to 2.6g (95%CI: 1.4-3.8). Peak accelerations did not exceed 44 g's for any participant. The average duration of these accelerations was approximately 110 milliseconds. Conclusions: The average magnitude of accelerations during low-speed water skier falls approximates 2-4g's for either the head or torso. Based on a recent report of a 50-g threshold for brain injury, these impacts pose little risk of serious injury.


Twenty four hour blood glucose profiles were compared in two groups of insulin dependent adolescent diabetic patients who were beyond their initial partial remission phase. In the group with persistent endogenous insulin secretion, blood glucose profiles were significantly lower but the difference was small and not reflected in average 24 hour concentrations of glucose nor glycosylated haemoglobin. Endogenous insulin secretion must be considered in studies of metabolic control after the remission period but the effect on overall glucose control is probably clinically unimportant.


This paper presents a new broadband ocean bottom seismograph (OBS) developed by the SUSTech OBS lab for passive-source seafloor seismic observations. This instrument, called Pankun, has several key features that set it apart from traditional OBS instruments. In addition to the seismometer-separated scheme, these features include a unique shielding structure to minimize current-induced noise, a compact gimbal for accurate leveling, and low power consumption for extended operation on the seafloor. The design and testing of Pankun's primary components are thoroughly described in this paper. The instrument has been successfully tested in the South China Sea, demonstrating its ability to record high-quality seismic data. The anti-current shielding structure of Pankun OBS has the potential to improve low-frequency signals, particularly on the horizontal components, in seafloor seismic data.


Wireless sensor networks have been considered as an effective solution to a wide range of applications due to their prominent characteristics concerning information retrieving and distributed processing. When visual information can be also retrieved by sensor nodes, applications acquire a more comprehensive perception of monitored environments, fostering the creation of wireless visual sensor networks. As such networks are being more often considered for critical monitoring and control applications, usually related to catastrophic situation prevention, security enhancement and crises management, fault tolerance becomes a major expected service for visual sensor networks. A way to address this issue is to evaluate the system dependability through quantitative attributes (e.g., reliability and availability), which require a proper modeling strategy to describe the system behavior. That way, in this paper, we propose a methodology to model and evaluate the dependability of wireless visual sensor networks using Fault Tree Analysis and Markov Chains. The proposed modeling strategy considers hardware, battery, link and coverage failures, besides considering routing protocols on the network communication behavior. The methodology is automated by a framework developed and integrated with the SHARPE (Symbolic Hierarchical Automated Reliability and Performance Evaluator) tool. The achieved results show that this methodology is useful to compare different network implementations and the corresponding dependability, enabling the uncovering of potentially weak points in the network behavior.


Biosaline agriculture has been a viable alternative for agricultural production in regions with lack of good quality water. To enable the cultivation of vegetables in high electrical conductivities, seed priming has been used to increase tolerance to stress caused by use of brackish water. We aimed to evaluate the efficiency of osmo and hydropriming in cucumber seeds cv. Caipira germinated biosaline in water, regarding germination and biochemical changes during the germinative process. The experimental design was totally randomized, with four replications of 50 seeds or 10 seedlings, in a factorial scheme 6x3; with six priming conditions (control, osmopriming during 24 and 48 hours, hydropriming with 1, 2 and 3 cycles of hydration-dehydration) and three biosaline water (fish farming biosaline wastewater) concentrations in distilled water (0, 50 e 100%). We evaluated the kinetics and percentage of germination; germinative metabolism and activity of antioxidant enzymes. According to the results, one hydropriming cycle is faster and more efficient to improve the performance of cucumber seedling in biosaline water and this can be used in substrate for germinating seeds of cucumber cv. Caipira.


This paper studies different types of segmental lengthening in Mandarin Chinese by clarifying temporal structure of various lengthened syllables. The discussion is mainly based on an investigation to a discourse speech corpus. The results show that there exist three types of syllable lengthening in spoken Chinese, and each type is matched with certain prosodic events and characterized by certain profile of temporal variation. Therefore, segmental lengthening may be a valuable source of information in understanding prosodic organization of speech. It should be of benefit to recognize the mechanism of speech production and perception, as well as improving in speech recognition, synthesis and natural language understanding.


The contractile response of the myometrial longitudinal muscle of pregnant and estrogen-treated rats to adenosine triphosphate (ATP) was investigated. ATP (10(-5)-4 X 10(-3) M) added to Krebs solution caused a generation of spontaneous activity consisting of phasic contractions and an elevation of muscle tone in a dose-dependent manner. Effects of the "test solution" consisting of isotonic K, 4(mM) ATP, 4 Mg, 1-20 EGTA, 20 tris(hydroxymethyl)aminomethan (Tris) maleate (pH 6.8) on the contractile response was then investigated. An initial phasic and a following tonic contraction was evoked by the application of the test solution, when applied after the equilibration of the muscle with Krebs solution. ATP was proved to be an agonist to evoke the Ca-free contraction. The phasic contraction was depressed when the muscle was incubated with Ca-free Krebs solution. The amplitude of the tonic contraction became progressively larger when application of the test solution was repeated. The amplitude was 15-70% as large as the tonic component of the K-contracture induced by 40 mM K. Theophylline (10 mM), 0.1 mM papaverine and 1 microM isoprenaline nearly abolished, and 1 mM cAMP partly depressed the tonic contraction of K-contracture, whereas the tonic contraction induced by the test solution was unaffected. A calmodulin antagonist, W-7 (100 microM) strongly suppressed both the K-contracture and the contraction induced by the test solution, whereas trifluoperazine (10-200 microM) preferentially depressed the K-contracture. The tonic contraction induced by the test solution was strongly depressed when Mg was removed and 20 mM EDTA was applied. From these results, it is discussed that some Ca-independent process is involved in the generation of tonic component of Ca-free contraction developed by the application of the test solution.


We consider a multi-pair amplify-and-forward relay network where the energy-constrained relays adopting the time-switching protocol harvest energy from the radio-frequency signals transmitted by the users for assisting user data transmission. Both one-way and two-way relaying techniques are investigated. Aiming at energy efficiency (EE) fairness among the user pairs, we construct an energy consumption model incorporating rate-dependent signal processing power, the dependence on output power level of power amplifiers' efficiency, and nonlinear energy harvesting (EH) circuits. Then, we formulate the max-min EE fairness problems in which the data rates, users' transmit power, relays' processing coefficient, and EH time are jointly optimized under the constraints on the quality of service and users' maximum transmit power. To achieve efficient suboptimal solutions to these nonconvex problems, we devise monotonic descent algorithms based on the inner approximation (IA) framework, which solve a second-order-cone program in each iteration. To further simplify the designs, we propose an approach combining IA and zero-forcing beamforming, which eliminates inter-pair interference and reduces the numbers of variables and required iterations. Finally, extensive numerical results are presented to validate the proposed approaches. More specifically, the results demonstrate that ignoring the realistic aspects of power consumption might degrade the performance remarkably, and jointly designing parameters involved could significantly enhance the EE.