Aim The objective of this study was to perform a systematic review and meta-analysis of the literature to evaluate efficacy and safety of therapies for cerebral toxoplasmosis in HIV-infected adults. Pyrimethamine plus sulfadiazine (P-S) combination is considered the mainstay therapy for cerebral toxoplasmosis and pyrimethamine plus clindamycin (P-C) is the most common alternative treatment. Although, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (TMP-SMX) has potential advantages, its use is infrequent. Methods Design: Systematic review and meta-analysis. We searched PubMed and 4 other databases to identify randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and cohort studies. Two independent reviewers searched and identified studies and extracted data. Risk ratios (RRs) were pooled across studies using random-effects models. Results Nine studies were included (5 RCTs, 3 retrospective cohorts, 1 prospective cohort). In comparison to P-S, treatment with P-C or TMP-SMX had similar partial or complete clinical response (P-C: RR 0.87, 95%CI 0.70–1.08; TMP-SMX: RR 0.97, 95%CI 0.78–1.21), radiological response (P-C: RR 0.92, 95%CI 0.82–1.03), skin rash (P-C: RR 0.81, 95%CI 0.56–1.17; TMP-SMX: RR 0.17, 95%CI 0.02–1.29), gastrointestinal impairment (P-C: RR 5.16, 95%CI 0.66–40.11), and drug discontinuation due to adverse events (P-C: RR 0.32, 95%CI 0.07–1.47). Liver impairment was more frequent with P-S than P-C (P-C vs P-S: RR 0.48, 95% CI 0.24–0.97). Conclusions The current evidence fails to identify one superior regimen in terms of relative efficacy or safety for the treatment of HIV-associated cerebral toxoplasmosis. Use of TMP-SMX as preferred treatment may be consistent with the available evidence and other real world considerations. Larger comparative studies are needed.


Hillslope morphology, material properties, and hydraulic heterogeneities influence the role of groundwater flow in provoking slope instability. We evaluate these influences quantitatively by employing the elastic effective stress model and Coulomb failure potential concept described in our companion paper (Iverson and Reid, this issue). Sensitivity analyses show that of four dimensionless quantities that control model results (i.e., Poisson's ratio, porosity, topographic profile, and hydraulic conductivity contrast), slope profiles and hydraulic conductivity contrasts have the most pronounced and diverse effects on groundwater seepage forces, effective stresses, and slope failure potentials. Gravity-driven groundwater flow strongly influences the shape of equilibrium hillslopes, which we define as those with uniform near-surface failure potentials. For homogeneous slopes with no groundwater flow, equilibrium hillslope profiles are straight; but with gravity-driven flow, equilibrium profiles are concave or convex-concave, and the largest failure potentials exist near the bases of convex slopes. In heterogeneous slopes, relatively slight hydraulic conductivity contrasts of less than 1 order of magnitude markedly affect the seepage force field and slope failure potential. Maximum effects occur if conductivity contrasts are of four orders of magnitude or more, and large hydraulic gradients commonly result in particularly large failure potentials just upslope from where low-conductivity layers intersect the ground surface.


On the grounds of an analysis of 1095 catheterizations carried out upon patients with gastrointestinal diseases the authors have shown that the use of the subclavian vein for the infusion therapy is a method of choice for such patients. To prevent the complications the authors consider it imperiable to improve training of subclavian vein catheterization and puncture methods and to improve the organization of carrying out the infusion into the main veins.


Purpose: In fractionated radiotherapy of prostate cancer, both online and offline image‐guided strategies have been used to manage uncertainties such as setup errors and organ motions. In general, online image guidance is more effective than offline image guidance and is currently widely implemented. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the dosimetric and geometric benefit of a hybrid strategy of online image guidance and offline adaptive replanning in terms of margin reduction. Methods: A hypofractionated treatment protocol was simulated with 28 patients each having at least 16 helical CT scans. Both low‐risk patient (LRP, CTV=prostate) and intermediate‐risk patient (IRP, CTV=prostate+seminal vesicles) were studied. The hybrid strategy consists of online image guidance and offline adaptive planning. The online positioning correction was simulated by the shift of CTV center‐of‐mass (COM). Two registration methods were performed for IRP: COM shift of entire CTV (Type A) and prostate only (Type B). In offline adaptive planning, the internal target volume was constructed from the CTVs in the first five fractions. Both 3D‐CRT and IMRT were investigated. The dosimetry was evaluated for CTV, bladder and rectum. Results: Compared with online image guidance only, the hybrid strategy improves the target dose coverage significantly for both 3D‐CRT and IMRT at small margin. As margin increase, the magnitude of improvement decreases. Type A registration is better than Type B registration for IRP. The dosimtric margin benefit depended on the criteria and varied from 0 to 1.3 mm. Doses to rectum and bladder were significantly lower in IMRT than in 3D‐CRT, also lower in hybrid than online image guidance. Conclusions: The hybrid strategy can effectively account for the residual and patient‐specific interfractional organ deformation. It can further reduce the margins safely from the online image guidance alone. However, the dosimetric margin is smaller than its geometric counterpart.


Abstract : One of the most important aspects of hospital administration is the medical consumable inventory process. The Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery (BUMED) hopes to improve the medical inventory process across the Navy Medicine enterprise with a new lean medical inventory system called two-bin Kanban. In 2014, BUMED implemented two-bin Kanban inventory systems in 22 Navy military treatment facilities (MTFs). This project analyzes the efficiency and effectiveness of the two-bin Kanban inventory system in three departments at Navy Medical Center San Diego (NMCSD).In this evaluation, over 163,000 medical consumable transactions worth a net value of $1.6 million were analyzed across two years (2013 and 2015). Inventory ordering patterns, cost savings/avoidance, and cost per relative value unit (RVU) are a few analyses that were conducted to determine what impact, if any, two-bin Kanban had on the Gastroenterology, Urology, and Oral Maxillofacial Surgery (OMFS) departments at NMCSD. The data is statistically significant in 2015 when compared to 2013. Procurement order costs decreased and procurement order efficiency improved across all departments. However, given the nature of the observations and the existence of other process improvement efforts, this research is unable to confirm if the two-bin Kanban was the cause for the performance improvements.


Based on gray scale vertical integral projection and wavelet decomposition, this paper presents a novel algorithm for hand vein feature extraction and recognition. Firstly, we design a hand vein image acquisition device, and Retinex method is used to enhance the image. Secondly, we analyze the performance of the four wavelet decomposition sub-band images and think that the low frequency sub-band image is the most suitable for hand vein features. We also think the image gray scale vertical integral projection is another very useful technique for hand vein feature extraction. Thirdly, the PCA transform matrix is built to reduce the dimension of the hand vein feature vector. Finally, we design a classifier based on SVM, and the experimental results demonstrate the high efficiency of the proposed algorithm in runtime and correct recognition rate.


A fully integrated 10-Gb/s optical receiver analog front-end (AFE) design that includes a transimpedance amplifier (TIA) and a limiting amplifier (LA) is demonstrated to require less chip area and is suitable for both low-cost and low-voltage applications. The AFE is fabricated using a 0.18-/spl mu/m CMOS technology. The tiny photo current received by the receiver AFE is amplified to a differential voltage swing of 400 mV/sub (pp)/. In order to avoid off-chip noise interference, the TIA and LA are dc-coupled on the chip instead of ac-coupled though a large external capacitor. The receiver front-end provides a conversion gain of up to 87 dB/spl Omega/ and -3dB bandwidth of 7.6 GHz. The measured sensitivity of the optical receiver is -12dBm at a bit-error rate of 10/sup -12/ with a 2/sup 31/-1 pseudorandom test pattern. Three-dimensional symmetric transformers are utilized in the AFE design for bandwidth enhancement. Operating under a 1.8-V supply, the power dissipation is 210 mW, and the chip size is 1028 /spl mu/m/spl times/1796 /spl mu/m.


BACKGROUND
When using traditional microbiological techniques to monitor cell proliferation and viability, stressed, sublethally injured, or otherwise "viable but nonculturable" cells often go undetected. Because of this, such cells often are not considered by mathematical models used to predict bioprocess performance on scale-up and inaccuracies result. Therefore, analytical techniques, decoupled from postsampling growth, are desirable to rapidly monitor individual cell physiologic states during microbial fermentations.

METHODS
Microbial cells, including Escherichia coli, Rhodococus sp., and Sacharomyces cerevisiae, were taken at various stages from a range of fermentation processes and stained with one of three mixtures of fluorescent stains: rhodamine 123/propidium iodide, bis-oxonol/propidium iodide, or bis-oxonol/ethidium bromide/propidium iodide. An individual cell's physiologic state was assessed with a Coulter Epics Elite analyzer based on the differential uptakes of these fluorescent stains.

RESULTS
It was possible to resolve an individual cell's physiologic state beyond culturability based on the functionality of dye extrusion pumps and the presence or absence of an intact polarized cytoplasmic membrane, enabling assessment of population heterogeneity. This approach allows the simultaneous differentiation of at least four functional subpopulations in microbial populations.

CONCLUSIONS
Fluorescent staining methods used in our laboratories have led to a functional classification of the physiological state of individual microbial cells based on reproductive activity, metabolic activity, and membrane integrity. We have used these techniques extensively for monitoring the stress responses of microorganisms in such diverse areas as bioremediation, biotransformation, food processing, and microbial fermentation; microbial fermentation is discussed in this article.


The subject of the research is the national banking system as part of the country's monetary system. The purpose of the research was to prove that the national banking system in its current state is fundamentally incapable of supporting business activities in the Russian economy. The paper reveals the reason for such incapability; it is due to the existing contradiction between the whole and the part where the whole is the monetary system of the country having a market nature, and the part is the national banking system that has not changed its structure with the transition from the gold standard to the above-mentioned nature of the monetary system. Within the framework of the latter, banks, in their essence, act as functioning "banknotes", and as such, they should not be in private ownership or have an interest in making a profit. Meanwhile, they actually behave as commercial companies pursuing their own private interests that do not coincide with the interests of the market (country). Therefore, the modern structure of the national banking system is hampering the country's economic development. The paper concludes that the current state of affairs must be overcome; the contradiction between the whole and the part should be removed through the conversion of the banking system to a state system in form, private in content and national in essence. In this case, the functioning of the banking system will be directed towards the realization of national interests, the actual support of business activities in the Russian economy.


THE use of liquid oxygen as an oxidizer for various fuels in liquid rocket propellent systems is not new. Professor Goddard used liquid oxygen in his rocket experiments and the well known German V‐2 rockets used this material as an oxidizer. However, its effect on non‐metallic materials ordinarily used in rocket systems was not investigated until recent years. This investigation was prompted by phenomena which had been experienced by rocket engine and rocket aircraft manufacturers and by suppliers of the material. It was observed that when some organic materials came in intimate contact with liquid oxygen they became prone to detonation when subjected to certain impact energies. This was undoubtedly due to the formation of unstable organo‐peroxide compounds which when impacted released high levels of energy resulting in an explosion. Specifically, when liquid oxygen was accidently spilled on asphalt and inadvertently stepped on, the asphalt would often explode. Also, leather gaskets immersed in liquid oxygen and subjected to surge impact detonated with disastrous effects.


Summary Lipids in foods play important roles in the improvement of their palatability as well as the supply of nutrition for energy. Lipids improve the food property which is decided by lots of factors such as taste, aroma, texture and so on involved in food palatability. In the case of taste, lipids enhance the intensity of sweetness and umami taste of foods, while they suppress their bitterness. Lipids also affect the food palatability related to aroma through the lipid oxidation in foods or the precursor of the aroma compounds such as linoleic acid and linolenic acid. In the case of texture, lipids in foods make them more tender and juicier. Recently, lipids were found to hold aroma compounds in foods and enhance the complexity, mouthfulness, and lingeringness in Koku attributes. Aroma compounds in foods are released from their lipids during chewing foods in oral cavity, and they enhance Koku attributes.


The virulence of a planthopper, Nilaparvata lugens (Stål) biotype 3, reared on rice cultivar ASD7and of N. lugens colonies collected on Mindanao Island in the southern Philippines and reared on the widely grown commercial cultivars IR36 and IR42 was compared. Based on plant damage, insect weight, population growth, and feeding activity, the Mindanao N. lugens colonies reared on IR36 and IR42 were more virulent than biotype 3, although ASD7, IR36, and IR42 have the bph 2 gene for N. lugens resistance. These results clearly indicate that in the screening of breeding lines for resistance to N. lugens , it is important to use insect populations reared on cultivars similar to those grown in farmers' fields. Failure to do so may result in the release of a cultivar that is susceptible to the N. lugens field population.


Background: There was a need to ascertain in a clinical trial the comparative efficacy of diacerein, an IL-1 inhibitor, vis-à-vis celecoxib, a COX-2 inhibitor, in relieving knee osteoarthritis (OA) symptoms. Objectives: The primary outcome of this study was to show that diacerein is non-inferior to celecoxib in terms of pain reduction (WOMAC A pain subscale) after 6 months of treatment in moderate-to-severe symptomatic knee OA patients. Methods: A randomised double-blind multicentre trial was conducted in four European countries (Spain, Belgium, Austria, Czech Republic) and in Canada evaluating treatment with diacerein versus celecoxib in patients with OA diagnosed according to ACR criteria, with KL grade 2-3 knee OA and moderate-to-severe pain (VAS pain score [0-100 mm] while walking on a flat surface ≥ 40 mm). Eligible patients were randomised to treatment for 6 months with either diacerein 50 mg once daily for the first month and twice daily thereafter, or celecoxib 200 mg once daily. The primary outcome was the change from baseline in WOMAC pain subscale (0-50 scale) after 6 months of treatment. Secondary outcomes included WOMAC function and stiffness, VAS pain, presence of joint swelling/effusion, rescue medication consumption, percentage of OMERACT-OARSI responders, and SF-36. A total of 380 patients were randomised in the study. The primary outcome assessment on the per protocol set (PPS) (n=288) was followed by sensitivity analysis on the ITT population (n=370). Exploratory statistical analysis on other efficacy criteria and safety were performed. Results: The analysis of the PPS population showed that the adjusted mean change in WOMAC pain was -11.14 (SEM, 0.91) with diacerein (n=140) and -11.82 (0.89) with celecoxib (n=148). Diacerein met the non-inferiority criterion, as the upper bound of the 95% CI is inferior to the pre-specified non-inferiority margin of 5 (inter-group difference 0.67; 95% CI -1.83 to 3.18; p=0.597). The sensitivity analysis using the ITT population was supportive of those results. All other exploratory outcomes demonstrated no difference between the two treatment groups. The OMERACT-OARSI responder rate (PPS) at 6 months was similar in the diacerein (62.1%) and celecoxib (60.1%) groups. The incidence of adverse events related to drug treatment was in general low and balanced between groups. The only exception was a greater incidence of gastrointestinal side effects (diarrhoea) in the diacerein vs. the celecoxib group (10.2% vs. 3.7%, respectively), but accounted for 4.8% of permanent discontinuation in the diacerein group compared to 1.6% in the celecoxib group. In all but one patient, this diarrhoea was considered to be of a mild-to-moderate grade with complete resolution in all cases. Conclusion: This clinical trial showed that in patients with moderate-to-severe knee OA pain, diacerein has comparable efficacy to celecoxib with respect to reducing pain and stiffness and improving function after 6 months in a clinically relevant manner. The drug also demonstrated a good safety profile with positive benefit to risk ratio. Disclosure of Interests: : Jean-Pierre Pelletier Shareholder of: Shareholder in ArthroLab Inc., Grant/research support from: Study funded by TRB Chemedica SA, Consultant for: TRB Chemedica SA, Jean-Pierre Raynauld Consultant for: ArthroLab Inc., Patrice Paiement Employee of: ArthroLab Inc., Johanne Martel-Pelletier Shareholder of: ArthroLab Inc., Consultant for: TRB Chemedica SA


Planar Catadioptric Stereo vision sensors (PCS) combine a pinhole camera with two or more planar mirrors. PCS have recently received an increasing attention since a stereo view can be easily obtained without the need of exact multi-camera synchronization and calibration. In this paper we present a rigorous analytical treatment of the imaging geometry of PCS, propose new mirror calibration algorithms and introduce new multi-view properties that can be used for eye-in-hand camera localization. The effectiveness of the algorithms is shown via extensive simulation and real-data experiments on a robotic manipulator.


The paper presents the results of experimental tests on a prismatic axis actuated by a brushless linear motor; standard high-precision linear bearings are used; an optical linear encoder provides 0.1 mm resolution along the 75 mm range of motion. A PID scheme with velocity and acceleration feedforward compensation is used for the position control loop. The aim of the work is to investigate the influence of friction on the system behaviour under different load conditions of the linear bearings. The results show that the linear motor orientation with respect to the gravity field influences both the dynamic and static behaviour; however, the system works properly, with positioning accuracy of about 1 mm, using the same set of gains in all the configurations.


Cross-country skiing is one of the most demanding endurance sports. It imposes extensive physiological challenges due to the perpetual changes between, and utilisation of, different skiing techniques, each involving the upper and lower body to various extents. Altogether, the uniqueness of the sport has over the years contributed to significant interest from researchers in physiology and biomechanics in their ongoing ambition to understand more about the limiting factors of performance. Compared to other endurance sports, cross-country skiing is a complex racing form with a comprehensive diversity of locomotion types on various types of terrains and different inclinations. This indicates that, in comparison to other endurance sports, the skier's aerobic capacity in all the skiing techniques is critical for performance. Maximal cardiac outputs in excess of 40 l min elite cross-country skiers, with maximal oxygen uptake values above 6 l min autonomic nervous system integrates the different regulatory factors of the cardiovascular system during exercise, i.e. blood pressure, heart rate and local/regional vascular resistance. The VO body exercise, than in running, but the difference is small. The slightly higher oxygen uptake is most likely explained by an enlarged oxygen extraction in the periphery and not by a larger stroke volume and cardiac output (Hermansen, 1973). A high central circulatory pumping capacity and well trained upper body muscles are crucial for performance and should be important targets when training. From a biomechanical perspective cross-country skiing is complex and the two main styles, freestyle and classical, are subdivided into nine different sub-techniques. These are used alternately during a race depending on the physical capacity and technical competence of the skier, the track profile and the friction between the skis and snow. One of the skiing techniques, diagonal skiing, is only used uphill and engages both upper and lower limbs and legs. Elite skiers adapt the DIA technique to increased inclinations through substantial changes in pole and leg kinetics and joint kinematics; the arm and leg actions show larger amplitudes, higher angular velocities, longer poling times, higher forces and impulses generated at higher frequencies. To achieve a better understanding of different cross-skiing techniques the use of an integrative biomechanical and physiological approach is an important tool in increasing knowledge, thus enabling further improvements.


So far the students of Le Hong Phong Junior High School have been taught grammar with GTM (Grammar-Translation Method), which just prepares learners for conventional grammar-paper tests. Despite their considerable knowledge of grammar, the students fail to use the language they have learnt to communicate in real-life situations. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the communicative grammar teaching method was effective in terms of students' grammatical knowledge and oral communication, and their attitudes towards this teaching method. The results of the study highlight the treatment on both grammatical knowledge and oral communication as well as positive attitudes from the students. These lead to two major conclusions that the communicative grammar teaching indeed helped the students improve their grammar competence and use it effectively in communication, at least in oral production. Besides, this implementation appealed the students' interest in grammar lessons.


We study the promotion of positive social interactions in VR by fostering empathy with other users present in the virtual scene. For this purpose, we propose using affective haptic feedback to reinforce the connection with another user through the direct perception of their physiological state. We developed a virtual meeting scenario where a human user attends a presentation with several virtual agents. Throughout the meeting, the presenting virtual agent faces various difficulties that alter her stress level. The human user directly feels her stress via two physiologically based affective haptic interfaces: a compression belt and a vibrator, simulating the breathing and the heart rate of the presenter, respectively. We conducted a user study that compared the use of such a "sympathetic" haptic rendering vs an "indifferent" one that does not communicate the presenter's stress status, remaining constant and relaxed at all times. Results are rather contrasted and user-dependent, but they show that sympathetic haptic feedback is globally preferred and can enhance empathy and perceived connection to the presenter. The results promote the use of affective haptics in social VR applications, in which fostering positive relationships plays an important role.


Two species of earthworms were kept in Muck, Chicot and Ste-Sophie soils treated with captan 50 W.P. solutions of 700, 1 400 and 2 800 ppm. After a 42-day treatment period, L. terrestris had a 95% survival and A. turgida 100% survival. Using a gas chromatograph method, no captan was detected in tissue extracts of exposed earthworms. Based on the survival rate and the undetected presence of captan in earthworm tissues, we concluded that soil residues of this product are unlikely to be harmful to the animal's ecology.


Membrane-based microfluidic devices have been demonstrated in recent literature to show a significant potential in developing low-cost but high-efficient analytical devices. Usually, the step of sampling and sample preparation is the most importance processes in the whole analytical experiments. This study designed and manufactured a low-cost kit for water sampling and sample preparation of waterborne pathogens, especially protozoan parasites. Subsequently, Saccharomyces cerevisiae was employed as the model microbe to verify the function of kit. The concepts of green design and agile manufacturing were reflected throughout this work. In the devices, membrane filters were fixed and locked in a pair of disposable filter holders, and then the filter set would be assembled with a volumetric sample container to filter the microorganism in water samples. After the sampling process, the used filter holder with microbes on the membrane would be taken out and conserved in a preservation buffer, which could protect the DNA/RNA molecules inside the cells. When these filter holders were transported to a remote laboratory, the sample preparation cassette will be used in the on-site extraction of the DNA/RNA from the cells on the membrane. At last, the eluate was made for further identification, i.e. NASBA tests. Eight kinds of candidate membrane filters were evaluated in the kit, and the function of the kit was verified.


The simulative biominealization experiments were studied which performed under normal temperature and medium pH.Dextran and gelatin were used respectively as organic matrices in that mineralization systems.The purpose was to study the effects of gelatin and dextran modulating the mineralization behavior of Fe(OH)3 gel and its mechanism.The result shows that dextran molecule could inhibit the iron oxide nucleus to free diffusion and growth by being absorbed onto their surfaces and enwrapping the nucleus fimly,so nanoscale β-FeOOH and α-Fe2O3 were obtained.β-FeOOH would be the transition phase of Fe(OH)3 gel and α-Fe2O3.With the increasement of the concentration of gelatin(up to 1wt%) in solution,the formation of α-FeOOH in these mineralization systems were accelerated.The crystallites was arranged regularly in some certain direction and gelatin was absorbed on their surfaces.Dextran played an major role in the mineralization system with the mixture of gelatin and dextran(mole ratio is 1:1).It was related to the high hydrophily of dextran.


The combination of health care cost growth exceeding general inflation and the swelling of beneficiary rolls with baby boomers will create fiscal pressure for Medicare. Despite dramatic declines in the growth of hospital costs following the introduction of Medicare's prospective payment system (PPS), the growth in Medicare hospital spending per beneficiary has been close to three times the overall rate of inflation since 2000. This paper examines issues related to Medicare's using its pricing policies to more aggressively pursue hospital cost containment. I discuss the need to calibrate payments to reflect expected necessary costs to reduce potential effects on beneficiaries' access, quality of care, or technological improvements.


Great Expectations is a novel that is written by Charles Dickens, one of the greatest English novelists in the Victorian period. It tells about the struggle of its main character (Pip) to overcome his obstacles in reaching his great expectations to climb the social ladder. Therefore, climbing the social ladder is the main theme of this novel. I am interested in analyzing this novel because this novel gives me a clear picture of how people from the lower class struggle to change their life. I can see how they try hard to overcome their obstacles in order to have a better life. That is why in this thesis I would like to discuss how the main character struggles to overcome his obstacles in climbing the social ladder. Through the analysis I want to find out the effort of the main character in reaching his dream and how he overcomes the obstacles. In the analysis I will use literary approach, and the tools that I use are characterization and conflict. Besides that, I also use some concepts that are important in the analysis, such as poverty, climbing the social ladder, struggle, and also obstacles. Through the analysis, I find out some obstacles that Pip has to face, namely living in his poverty, his family?s condition and his low self esteem. Yet, through his efforts that is, getting good education or studying hard, winning his sister?s heart, and finding in fact, he has the ability to advance in his life, he is able to overcome the obstacles and reach his dream. He is successful in climbing the social ladder. From Pip?s experience, it can be seen that if people want to work hard and shave strong will, they will reach their dream.


Since the discovery of graphene, research on the family of 2D materials has been a thriving field. Metal phosphorous chalcogenides (MPX3 ) have attracted renewed attention due to their distinctive physical and chemical properties. The advantages of MPX3 , such as tunable layered structures, unique electronic properties, thermodynamically appropriate band alignments and abundant catalytic active sites on the surface, make MPX3 material great potential in electrocatalysis. In this review, the applications of MPX3 electrocatalysts in recent years, including hydrogen evolution reaction, oxygen evolution reaction, and oxygen reduction reaction, are summarized. Structural regulation, chemical doping and multi-material composite that are often effective and practical research methods to further optimize the catalytic properties of these materials, are introduced. Finally, the challenges and opportunities for electrocatalytic applications of MPX3 materials are discussed. This report aims to advance future efforts to develop MPX3 and related materials for electrocatalysis.


Summary A total of 200 pigs (DNA Line 200 × 400) with an initial body weight of 81 lb were used to determine the effects of feeding benzoic acid and an essential oil blend (Vevo-Vitall and CRINA Piglets AF, DSM Nutritional Products, Parsippany, NJ) to grower pigs. There were 10 pigs per pen and 10 pens per treatment in this 28-d grower trial. Pigs were allotted by BW and randomly assigned to 1 of 2 dietary treatments. Dietary treatments included a control diet, or the control diet with added benzoic acid (6.00 lb/ ton) paired with an essential oil blend (0.20 lb/ton). For overall growth performance (d 0 to 28), adding benzoic acid and an essential oil blend to the grower diet did not affect ( P > 0.05) ADG, ADFI, or F/G. Throughout the duration of this study, a trend ( P = 0.06) was found for an increased loss from death and removals in pigs fed the control diet compared to pigs fed a diet containing an acidifier and essential oil blend. Lawsonia was detected in all d 28 fecal samples collected, except for one, whereas Salmonella was not detected in any of the fecal samples. Although there was no hemolytic Escherichia coli detected, there were other coliforms that were sporadic in occurrence. When comparing fecal samples collected on d 14, there was a tendency ( P = 0.10) for pigs fed the control diet to have greater amounts of E. coli detected than those pigs fed the diet containing benzoic acid and an essential oil blend. More research is needed to confirm the reduced death loss found for pigs fed benzoic acid and an essential oil blend compared to pigs fed


OBJECTIVES This study sought to define the safety and durability of renal stenting after suboptimal/failed renal artery angioplasty in patients with suspected renovascular hypertension. BACKGROUND Few prospective multicenter studies have detailed the safety, efficacy, and long-term clinical benefits of renal artery stent revascularization in hypertensive patients with aorto-ostial atherosclerotic renal artery lesions. METHODS This non-randomized study enrolled 208 patients with de novo or restenotic 70% aorto-ostial renal artery stenoses, who underwent implantation of a balloon-expandable stent after unsuccessful percutaneous transluminal renal angioplasty (PTRA), which was defined as a 50% residual stenosis, persistent translesional pressure gradient, or a flow-limiting dissection. The primary end point was the nine-month quantitative angiographic or duplex ultrasonography restenosis rate adjudicated by core laboratory analysis. Secondary end points included renal function, blood pressure, and cumulative incidence of major adverse events and target lesion revascularization at 24 months. RESULTS The stent procedure was immediately successful in 182 of 227 (80.2%) lesions treated. The nine-month restenosis rate was 17.4%. Systolic/diastolic blood pressure decreased from 168 25/82 13 mm Hg (mean standard deviation) at baseline to 149 24/77 12 mm Hg at 9 months (p 0.001 vs. baseline), and 149 25/77 12 mm Hg at 24 months (p 0.001 vs. baseline). Mean serum creatinine concentration was unchanged from baseline values at 9 and 24 months. The 24-month cumulative rate of major adverse events was 19.7%. CONCLUSIONS In hypertensive patients with aorto-ostial atherosclerotic renal artery stenosis in whom PTRA is unsuccessful, Palmaz (Cordis Corp., Warren, New Jersey) balloon-expandable stents provide a safe and durable revascularization strategy, with a beneficial impact on hypertension. (J Am Coll Cardiol 2005;46:776–83) © 2005 by the American College of ublished by Elsevier Inc. doi:10.1016/j.jacc.2004.11.073


Walnut is an object-store being developed at Yahoo! with the goal of serving as a common low-level storage layer for a variety of cloud data management systems including Hadoop (a MapReduce system), MObStor (a multimedia serving system), and PNUTS (an extended key-value serving system). Thus, a key performance challenge is to meet the latency and throughput requirements of the wide range of workloads commonly observed across these diverse systems. The motivation for Walnut is to leverage a carefully optimized low-level storage system, with support for elasticity and high-availability, across all of Yahoo!'s data clouds. This would enable sharing of hardware resources across hitherto siloed clouds of different types, offering greater potential for intelligent load balancing and efficient elastic operation, and simplify the operational tasks related to data storage. In this paper, we discuss the motivation for unifying different storage clouds, describe the requirements of a common storage layer, and present the Walnut design, which uses a quorum-based replication protocol and one-hop direct client access to the data in most regular operations. A unique contribution of Walnut is its hybrid object strategy, which efficiently supports both small and large objects. We present experiments based on both synthetic and real data traces, showing that Walnut works well over a wide range of workloads, and can indeed serve as a common low-level storage layer across a range of cloud systems.


The sources and steady-state concentration of singlet oxygen in the atmosphere are assessed in view of potential effects on the biosphere. Collision-induced absorption of sunlight by molecular oxygen in 1 atm of air produces O2 (a1 delta g) at a rate P = 1.6 x 10(9) cm-3 s-1 in bright sunlight. Less than 10% are added to this purely natural source by the photolysis of ozone, and by anthropogenic sensitizers (SO2, NO2, volatile aromatics). Collisional quenching of O2 (a1 delta g) by ground state oxygen establishes a steady-state concentration of ca. 1.7 x 10(8) cm-3. Reactions of singlet oxygen with other atmospheric pollutants are entirely negligible when compared with the concurrent reactions of ambient OH and O3. Potential effects of atmospheric singlet oxygen on the biosphere are limited by the deposition rate F less than or equal to 0.051 P, which depends on the production rate P of O2 (a1 delta g) in the air layer immediately above the flat surface.


A new method has been developed for the extraction and determination of zinc and nickel in liquid edible oils by using the complexation of these metals with [N,N′-bis(salicylidene)-2,2′-dimethyl-1,3-propanediaminato]. Zn(II) and Ni(II) complexes with a tetradentate Schiff base have been investigated spectrophotometrically. Experimental extraction conditions for these metals from liquid oil standards were optimized using central composite design. Optimum conditions for Zn(II) and Ni(II) extractions from oil have been found close to each other. The ratio of the volume of used Schiff base solution to the amount of oil (VLDM/moil; mL/g), the stirring time and the temperature were round about 1.00 mL/g, 55 min, 32°C, respectively, for simultaneous determination of both metals in same sample. The recovery percentages at the optimum experimental conditions were found 98.9 ± 2.8 and 101.8 ± 4.7 for Zn(II) and Ni(II), respectively. The proposed method was applied on the raw and spiked samples such as olive oil, sunflower oil, corn oil, canola oil and obtained recovery values were between 93.7–107.2 and 93.1–101.1% for Zn(II) and Ni(II), respectively.

Practical applications: There is interest in the determination of metals in liquid edible oils because of their catalytic effect on the oxidation reaction of oils. A new method for the determination of Zn(II) and Ni(II) in liquid edible oils which does not require any digestion or decomposition was developed. This study offeres a cheap, rapid, accurate, sensitive, risk-free, and practical metal determination method after the extraction.


This article examines community resilience in disaster recovery in Jialan Village, where many families lost their homes when Typhoon Morakot struck Taiwan in 2008. In-depth interviews were conducted with policymakers, social workers, resource coordinators, and leaders of the local aboriginal community. The main findings were (a) the village's recovery was due to the effective use and coordination of community resources; (b) partnership building between the public and private sectors was crucial in the community's recovery; and (c) the recovery was enhanced by values such as a strong sense of mutual help, good physical health, positive attitudes, and autonomy.


Behavioral‐variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) is a progressive neurodegenerative brain disorder, clinically characterized by changes in cognition, personality, and behavior. Marked disturbances in eating behavior, such as overeating and preference for sweet foods, are also commonly reported. The hypothalamus plays a critical role in feeding regulation, yet the relation between pathology in this region and eating behavior in FTD is unknown. This study aimed to address this issue using 2 complementary approaches.


In this paper, the effects of nanopolyacrylate (NP) in binder modification on the empirical and rheological characteristics of the conventional binder were explored. The empirical and rheological binder properties were characterized using penetration, softening point, viscosity and dynamic shear rheometer (DSR) respectively.  These testings have become useful methods in characterizing of the binder performance on the pavement. The results indicated that NP polymer modification improved the physical properties of the conventional binder such as; penetration, softening point and temperature susceptibility. The results of viscosity test show that the NP polymer modified binder is more viscous than unmodified binder where viscosity increases with the increment of polymer content. The DSR results indicate that the NP polymer improves rheological properties of conventional binder, i.e. increasing the complex shear modulus (G∗) values and rutting parameters (G∗/sin δ), as well as decreasing the phase angle (δ) values. Therefore, it can be concluded that NP polymers considerably improves elastic properties and rutting resistance of binder and thus could be used for enhancing the asphalt pavement performance.


The structural and magnetic order changes induced by mechanically assisted nitridation of Zr1−xFex alloys and compounds as a function of composition, initial structure and processing time have been studied. It was observed that at the applied conditions, as N is incorporated, phase transformations occur following the schematic sequence: Zr1−xFex→a-(Zr1−xFexNy)→δ-Zr1−xFexN→δ-ZrN+Fe (a = amorphous). In this way, regardless of the initial composition and structure, the final product after prolonged milling was a mixture of nanocrystalline δ-ZrN and almost pure iron and/or Fe–Zr complexes, evidencing the strong tendency of Zr to combine with N and that of transition metals to segregate. The formation of δ-Zr1−xFexN proceeds through the growth of δ-ZrN structure in the amorphous matrix keeping Fe inside, replacing some Zr. For Zr-poor samples the amorphization stage is practically unobservable, obscured by the dominating Fe segregation. This contrasts with the results of milling in Ar, where the steady state is an amorphous phase for Zr1−xFex compounds or mixtures in a wide compositional range. These findings are discussed in terms of possible basic mechanisms for the mechanically activated reaction and keeping in mind its application to the formation of nanoprecipitates of δ-ZrN in various Zr alloys.


Data stability of SRAM cells has become an important issue with the scaling of CMOS technology. SRAM arrays are also an important source of leakage in today's high performance microprocessors. A new six transistor (6T) SRAM cell based on independent-gate (IG) FinFET technology is presented in this paper for simultaneously reducing the active and standby mode power consumption while enhancing the data stability and the integration density. The new IG-FinFET SRAM cell activates only one gate of the data access transistors during a read operation. The disturbance caused by the direct data access mechanism of the standard 6T SRAM cell topology is significantly reduced by dynamically increasing the threshold voltage of the access transistors. All the transistors in the IG-FinFET SRAM cell are sized minimum without producing any data stability concerns. The read static-noise-margin (SNM) of the new circuit is enhanced by up to 2× as compared to the standard tied-gate FinFET SRAM cells. Alternatively, the IG-FinFET SRAM circuit reduces the leakage power and area by up to 51.7% and 10%, respectively, as compared to the standard tied-gate FinFET SRAM circuits sized for comparable data stability in a 32nm FinFET technology.


We present our developing intelligent space "Tagged World'', which provides services to reduce mistakes and dangers of users in homes. Services are activated by combining a user-active system and an environment-active system. First, the environment offers users candidates of services based on estimated user behavior and situation. Next, users activate only desirable services. Service activation by interaction can awaken users to something users are not aware of but does not provide inappropriate services based on misestimation of the environment.


Most programs to foster sustainable behavior continue to be based upon modelsof behavior change that psychological research has found to be limited. Although psychology has much to contribute to the design of effective programs to foster sustainable behavior, little attention has been paid to ensuring that psychological knowledge is accessible to those who design environmental programs. This article presents a process, community-based social marketing, that attempts to make psychological knowledge relevant and accessible to theseindividuals. Further, it provides two case studies in which program planners have utilized this approach to deliver their initiatives. Finally, it reflects on the obstacles that exist to incorporating psychological expertise into programs to promote sustainable behavior.


Reading Comprehension is the ability to read text, process it and understand the meaning. It relies on two, interconnected abilities: Word reading be able to decode the symbols on the page and language comprehension being able to understand the meaning of words and sentences . In fact, students generally feel bored and unmotivated in learning English especially in reading skill because English is different from Indonesian so that the students have difficulty in understanding reading English text. They do not know the meaning of some words in the text. Therefore, the teacher's role becomes important in the teaching and learning process especially in teaching reading. Therefore, appropriate media should be chosen to motivate their students not only to read the text but also comprehend what they read. One of the media that can be used and applied by the teacher is Composite Pictures. A Composite Picture is a large single picture which shows a scene in which a number of people can be seen doing several things. Thus, to know whether or not there was a significant effect of using Composite Pictures on reading comprehension achievement; Composite Pictures was used as media in teaching reading in this research.


OBJECTIVE
The aim: To analyze the levels of competence formation in parents of senior preschoolers with moderate ID and to substantiate the obtained indicators for practical use.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
Materials and methods: The sample of the study was 162 persons: experimental group (EG) - parents (or persons substituting them) of 53 preschoolers with moderate ID - 96 persons (out of the total number, 12 children are brought up by mothers without fathers); control group (CG) - parents (or persons substituting them) of 41 preschoolers with MID - 66 persons (out of the total number, 16 children are brought up by mothers without fathers).

RESULTS
Results: The use of Fisher's φ-criterion allowed to draw the following conclusions: first, at the ascertaining stage of the experiment the characteristics of the EG and CG according to certain indicators of parental competence were homogeneous (α=0.05). At the control stage - significantly different indicators of the experimental group (α=0.01). Secondly, positive changes in the identified characteristics in the EG and absence of such changes in the CG, gives grounds to argue about the effectiveness of implementation of the developed and presented in the experimental model forms, methods and conditions for the development of parental competence.

CONCLUSION
Conclusions: Thus, despite almost identical indicators of competence levels in parents of the EG and CG at the ascertaining stage of the experiment, the molding stage testified to the specific advantage of representatives of the experimental group over representatives of the control group on levels of development of motivational-personal, gnostic, communicative-activity criteria of competence of parents of children with moderate ID.


This paper describes the investigation of a corrosion behavior of bottom Plates of a potable water storage tank . The tank was internally inspected for the first time after fourteen years of service. Paint blisters and rust spots were observed on the bottom plates. Sand blasting and repainting the bottom plates and shell plates were to be used as a remedial work . However, during the sand blasting, holes and deep pitting were observed on the bottom plates. On-site visual inspection, magnetic flux leakage (MFL) inspection, ultrasonic testing (UT), and evaluation of the external cathodic protection (CP) system were used in the failure analysis. The failure is attributed to the ingress of water and its impoundment under the tank bottom along the periphery inside the ring wall and failure of water side epoxy coating.


Abstract. Assessment of changes in hydrological droughts at specific warming levels is
important for an adaptive water resources management with consideration of
the 2015 Paris Agreement. However, most studies focused on the response of
drought frequency to the warming and neglected other drought characteristics,
including severity. By using a semiarid watershed in northern China (i.e.,
Wudinghe) as an example, here we show less frequent but more severe
hydrological drought events emerge at 1.5, 2 and 3 ∘C warming levels.
We used meteorological forcings from eight Coupled Model Intercomparison
Project Phase 5 climate models under four representative concentration
pathways, to drive a newly developed land surface hydrological model to
simulate streamflow, and analyzed historical and future hydrological drought
characteristics based on the standardized streamflow index. The Wudinghe
watershed will reach the 1.5, 2 and 3 ∘C warming levels around
2015–2034, 2032–2051 and 2060–2079, with an increase in precipitation of
8 %, 9 % and 18 % and runoff of 27 %, 19 % and 44 %, and a drop
in hydrological drought frequency of 11 %, 26 % and 23 % as compared to the
baseline period (1986–2005). However, the drought severity will rise
dramatically by 184 %, 116 % and 184 %, which is mainly caused by the
increased variability in precipitation and evapotranspiration. The climate
models and the land surface hydrological model contribute to more than 80 %
of total uncertainties in the future projection of precipitation and
hydrological droughts. This study suggests that different aspects of
hydrological droughts should be carefully investigated when assessing the
impact of 1.5, 2 and 3 ∘C global warming.


The measurement of the axially lost electron energy distribution escaping from a minimum-B electron cyclotron resonance ion source in the range of 4-800 keV is reported. The experiments have revealed the existence of a hump at 150-300 keV energy, containing up to 15% of the lost electrons and carrying up to 30% of the measured energy losses. The mean energy of the hump is independent of the microwave power, frequency and neutral gas pressure but increases with the magnetic field strength, most importantly with the value of the minimum-B field. Experiments in pulsed operation mode have indicated the presence of the hump only when microwave power is applied, confirming that the origin of the hump is rf-induced momentum space diffusion. Possible mechanism of the hump formation is considered basing on the quasi-linear model of plasma-wave interaction.


SUMMARY 1. Viruses have been identified as an important component of plankton communities but their temporal dynamics remain poorly characterized, especially in littoral zones of lakes. Seasonal and diel dynamics of planktonic viruses and their main hosts (i.e. bacteria) were therefore assessed along four parallel transects of a lake, extending from within a littoral reed stand across the littoral shelf to the pelagic zone. 2. Viral abundance ranged from 1.9 to 9.7 · 10 7 virus-like particles (VLP) mL )1 with distinct seasonal peaks in spring at all locations. Seasonal variation in bacterial abundance varied more than 10-fold (0.85–12 · 10 6 cells mL )1 ) and was synchronized with changes in viral abundance. As a result, the ratio of viruses to bacteria (average of 12.5) varied much less over the year. 3. Bacterial production (0.11–0.98 l gCL )1 h )1 ) and growth rates (0.06–0.85 day )1 ) also varied seasonally but, in contrast to abundances, high production rates in spring were maintained in mid-summer, particularly in the reed stand, where growth rates were highest. 4. Variation among locations was small in most measured parameters, probably due to extensive exchange between pelagic and littoral water masses. Nevertheless, average bacterial growth and production rates in all seasons were consistently highest in the reed stand. 5. In the August of an exceptionally warm summer, viral and bacterial abundance varied little over a diel cycle (1.23–1.75 · 10 8 VLP mL )1 and 0.78–1.90 · 10 7 cells mL )1 , respectively) in spite of a trend towards higher values at night. Diel changes in bacterial production (0.23–0.69 l gCL )1 h )1 ) and growth rate (0.02–0.06 day )1 ) were more pronounced, with higher values also occurring during the night, possibly indicating that bacterio- and phytoplankton production were not tightly coupled during our diel study. 6. Overall these results indicate that seasonal changes of virio- and bacterioplankton were mainly driven by high microbial activity in spring and were more pronounced than either diel changes on a hot summer day or spatial differences at a scale of 10–100 m.


The common body infestations, their incidence, diagnosis and treatment are discussed. Pediculosis capitis still has a high incidence in Britain. The louse could probably be effectively eradicated provided a national campaign of treatment and education were undertaken. Intensive therapy with a malathion containing preparation should be used before the louse develops resistance to this new organophosphorus insecticide. Similarly, scabies can be effectively treated. All doctors should be aware of the signs and symptoms of this common dermatosis and its treatment.


Audio diarization is the process of annotating an input audio channel with information that attributes (possibly overlapping) temporal regions of signal energy to their specific sources. These sources can include particular speakers, music, background noise sources, and other signal source/channel characteristics. Diarization can be used for helping speech recognition, facilitating the searching and indexing of audio archives, and increasing the richness of automatic transcriptions, making them more readable. In this paper, we provide an overview of the approaches currently used in a key area of audio diarization, namely speaker diarization, and discuss their relative merits and limitations. Performances using the different techniques are compared within the framework of the speaker diarization task in the DARPA EARS Rich Transcription evaluations. We also look at how the techniques are being introduced into real broadcast news systems and their portability to other domains and tasks such as meetings and speaker verification


Traditionally steel is used as reinforcement in concrete. But because of cost and availability, replacement of steel with some other suitable materials as reinforcement is now a major concern. Though bamboo has been used as a construction material, especially in developing country, until today its use as reinforcement in concrete is very limited due to various uncertainties. Since bamboo is a natural, cheap and also readily available material, it can be a substitute of steel in reinforcing of concrete. In this paper, aptness of bamboo as reinforcement in concrete will be evaluated. To assess this, tensile strength test of bamboo having three and five nodes are performed. 1 m bamboo sticks of varying cross sections are used in this test. Also flexural strength test of bamboo reinforced beam is done to characterize the performance of bamboo as reinforcement. Singly and double bamboo reinforced beams of 750 mm length having 150 mm width and depth are compared with plain concrete beam to carry out in this test.


This manuscript engage in the examination and analysis of the use of marketing communication tools (MCTs) and techniques by government and public sector organisations (POs) in Kazakhstan in the contemporary digital environment. It furthermore considers the possibility of adoption of the effective MCTs for attraction of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) by Kazakhstan to entrepreneurial sector, with specific regard to possible improvements that could be made by using the MCTs utilised in developed countries (e.g., United States of America). The manuscript is written by using literature review and secondary information from various sources. The research revealed that Kazakhstan should place greater emphasis on the content of its MCTs and provide greater information about the advantages and benefits of FDI. Theoretically, it is our hope that this manuscript contributes somewhat to the clearer understanding of the role of MCTs in the context of investment promotion while adding to the growing body of knowledge in the field of nation branding. It is also our hope that the generic model for adoption of marketing communication tools that this manuscript has recommended for Kazakhstan also positively contributes to the Kazakhstan's brand strategy and to the growing body of theory in nation branding.


visceral perception understanding internal cognition is available in our digital library an online access to it is set as public so you can get it instantly. Our book servers saves in multiple countries, allowing you to get the most less latency time to download any of our books like this one. Kindly say, the visceral perception understanding internal cognition is universally compatible with any devices to read.


This paper introduces a continuous-time low-pass sigma-delta modulator operating with a seven-phase 400 MHz clocking scheme to control time-based processing in the 3-bit two-step quantizer and main digital-to-analog converter (DAC). An on-chip voltage-controlled oscillator and a complementary injection-locked frequency divider are utilized for low-jitter clock signal generation with multiple phases, allowing 3-bit pulse-width modulated feedback with a single-element DAC to avoid performance degradation from unit element mismatch problems associated with conventional multi-bit DACs. Fabricated in a standard 0.18 μm CMOS technology, the 5th-order modulator achieves a peak SNDR of 67.7 dB in 25 MHz bandwidth, consumes 48 mW from a 1.8 V supply, and occupies a die area of 2.6 mm2. The modulator has a measured SFDR of 78 dB and in-band IM3 under -72 dB with -2 dBFS two-tone signal power.


There is nothing that I would hold to more dearly in our past than the language of the Declaration of Independence, 'all men are created equal.' As Abraham Lincoln argued, this is in an important sense the foundation of our Constitution. The circumstance that the social facts of our world, then and now, are hideously inconsistent with this promise or ideal simply makes it all the more important. Yet upon what does this value of equality rest? Is it self-evident? Certainly not, and one may find oneself in deep trouble trying to rest it upon independent philosophical foundations. As a factual statement, it is obviously not true and cannot be true; as a matter of value no one thinks that we ought to equalize every aspect of life. So what can it mean? —James Boyd White, From Expectation to Experience


Teachers' observations, students' experiences, and the review of related literature indicate that language anxiety is a significant factor adversely affecting the language learning process. Thus, this study aims to investigate the sources and levels of fear of negative evaluation as well as language anxiety among Turkish students as EFL learners, and to determine the correlation between the two. A foreign language anxiety scale and a scale for fear of negative evaluation were administered to a sample group of 112 foreign language learners. The collected data were used to provide a descriptive and correlational analysis. The results of the analysis indicated that EFL learners suffer from language anxiety and fear of negative evaluation. Furthermore, fear of negative evaluation itself was found to be a strong source of language anxiety. In light of the findings of the research, the following recommendations were noted: Firstly, in order to cope with anxiety, learning situations and context should be made less stressful. Effective communication is another way to relieve language anxiety. Asian EFL Journal. Teaching Articles 2008 Asian EFL Journal 422


Millimeter-wave radar imaging is a promising technique in non-destructive testing. When a small material defect is located closely to the test object's surface, the strong reflection caused by the air-material interface can overlap with the defect's weak reflection and mask it. If the image resolution is not sufficient, the defect cannot be resolved and will not be recognizable in the reconstruction image. To solve this problem, surface echo compensation techniques have been invented. However, these techniques are usually restricted to planar surfaces, which for most applications is not the case. This article presents a technique for surface echo compensation of arbitrarily shaped objects. We propose to combine radar and air-coupled ultrasound. Since aircoupled ultrasound is not able to penetrate solids, an air-coupled ultrasound imaging system is only able to detect the surface of a solid object. The idea of our proposed concept is to employ the ultrasound signal to compensate for the surface echo in the radar signal. The proposed method is based on the idea of using signals of equal wavelengths for both wave types and an amplitude calibration. Then, the resulting signals for radar and ultrasound are formally equal, which makes it possible to directly combine them numerically. That way, a modified radar image can be obtained which only contains the reflections from the inside and highlights interior defects.


To clarify if autonomic nervous system effects might be associated with exposure to organic solvents, 30 sandal, shoe and leather workers exposed to n-hexane, xylene, and toluene, and 25 unexposed controls were examined using the coefficient of variation in electrocardiographic R-R intervals (CVRR), combined with the distribution of nerve conduction velocities (DCV). The C-CVRSA and C-CVMWSA (two component CVs of the CVRR reflecting parasympathetic and sympathetic activities, respectively) were also computed from component spectral powers using autoregressive spectral and component analyses. Concentrations of the metabolites of the solvents in urine samples taken in the morning before work were 0-3.18 (mean 1.39) mg/l for 2,5-hexanedione, 0.10-0.43 (mean 0.19) g/g creatinine (Cn) for methylhippuric acid, and 0.05-2.53 (mean 0.41) g/g Cn for hippuric acid. In the solvent workers, the CVRR and C-CVRSA were reduced significantly when compared with the unexposed controls. The faster velocities of the DCV as well as the sensory median nerve conduction velocity (SCV) were significantly slowed in the solvent-exposed workers. The SCV was significantly correlated with the CVRR and C-CVMWSA among the solvent workers. These data suggest that chronic exposure to some organic solvents may affect cardiac autonomic function (mainly, parasympathetic activity) in addition to faster myelinated fibers of the peripheral nerves. However, the absence of significant dose-effect relations among the solvent workers makes it difficult to definitively attribute the differences to specific solvent exposures.


Two species of mosses in relation to nitrogen meta bolism were examined. This subject is little known in this group of plant. Investigations of nitrate r eductase activity in green tissues of Brachythecium rutabulum (Hedw.) Schimp. and Atrichum undulatum (Hedw.) P.Beauv. were performed. The study was conducted in two localities: heavy contaminated waste tip Skalny loc ated in Upper Silesia, and Blonia City Park in Biel sko-Biala which place was chosen as a control area. For both species high activity of the enzyme was detected. T he nitrate reductase activity varied between 99 to 9093 nmol p er g dry mass per hour for B. rutabulum and 265 to 5135 nmol per g d.m. per hour of nitrite syn thesized for A. undulatum respectively on Skalny waste tip. In the control area the results varied between 747 to 1077 for B. rutabulum and 171 to 518 nmol per g d.m. per hour of nitrite synthesized for A. undulatum, respectively. The differences were statistically s ignificant only between the two species but not between habitats pr obably due to high dispersion and small amount of replications. The levels of nitrate and nitrite in stream water in both areas were also measured. In t he Skalny waste tip there were high and reached 1.66 mg · dm -3 of nitrite and 65 mg · dm -3 of nitrate, respectively. In the control area these amounts were lower and reach zero level for nitrite and 4.5 mg · dm -3 of nitrate, respectively.


Reproduction in female tenrecs was studied on Praslin Island (4 degrees 20'S, 55 degrees 45'E) in the Seychelles from November 1977 to September 1980. Dissection and histological examination of reproductive tracts revealed that each ovary is encapsulated in a bursa. Polyovular follicles were abundant and contained up to 5 oocytes. The occurrence of more implanted fetuses than corpora lutea (CL) indicated successful polyovuly in 25% of pregnancies. No antrum was observed during follicular growth at oestrus, and follicles were relatively small at maturation, reaching a maximum diameter of 570 microns. Ovulation involves a gentle extrusion of the granulosa and ovum into the periovarian space. Spermatozoa were abundant in the female reproductive tract including the periovarian space at oestrus. Spermatozoa penetrated the loosely-packed theca of mature follicles and were present in CL, indicating that intrafollicular fertilization may occur. The relatively small CL formed by eversion, reaching a maximum size after implantation. Fusion of up to four CL occurred in the ovaries of 41% of pregnant females. Polyovulation in the tenrec was confirmed by the occurrence of 10.4 +/- 0.5 (mean +/- s.e.m.) CL and 9.7 +/- 0.5 (mean +/- s.e.m.) implantations. Resorption occurred in 74% of 19 dissectable pregnancies, occurring in both uterine horns in 26% of pregnancies. Coefficients of variation in weights of fetuses in each litter were 10.0-26.8%, with the largest value corresponding to 273% variation in fetus weights. Litter size in the Seychelles tenrecs was smaller than in the same species in Madagascar (17.1 +/- 1.9 implantations) where the tenrec is native.


This paper develops two parametric methods to detect low-rate denial-of-service attacks and other similar near-periodic traffic, without the need for flow separation. The first method, the periodic attack detector, is based on a previous approach that exploits the near-periodic nature of attack traffic in aggregate traffic by modeling the peak frequency in the traffic spectrum. The new method adopts simple statistical models for attack and background traffic in the time-domain. Both approaches use sequential probability ratio tests (SPRTs), allowing control over false alarm rate while examining the trade-off between detection time and attack strength. We evaluate these methods with real and synthetic traces, observing that the new Poisson- based scheme uniformly detects attacks more rapidly, often in less than 200 ms, and with lower complexity than the periodic attack detector. Current entropy-based detection methods provide an equivalent time to detection but require flow-separation since they utilize source/destination IP addresses. We evaluate sensitivity to attack strength (compared to the rate of background traffic) with synthetic traces, finding that the new approach can detect attacks that represent only 10% of the total traffic bitrate in fractions of a second.


STEM is a priority area of education in Ukraine. One of the innovative approaches in STEM education is the integration of academic disciplines through project-based learning using robotics. Therefore, the urgent problem is the development of training courses on educational robotics for teachers of natural sciences. The article presents the model of teaching the Education Robotics course for teachers of natural sciences, which includes the goal, objectives, principles, content, forms, methods, teaching aids. The educational robotics course is designed to introduce future teachers to the principles of creating robotic systems, programming systems, and learn how to create robotic devices based on educational designers, as well as control programs. The course has a modular structure, designed for 150 hours and provides for the study of robotics based on Lego EV3, MBot, Arduino designers and demonstrates scientific and technical solutions to global problems, such as environmental ecology, help with the elements, conservation of flora and fauna, creating favorable conditions for humanity in extraterrestrial conditions, eco-energy and etc. The article contains the rationale for the choice of programming platforms, the methodological basis for the selection of projects for conducting in the lessons at school in accordance with the curriculum. Particular attention is paid to the features of using the project methodology and the formation of soft skills. The importance of introducing the Education Robotics course in the professional training of teachers of natural sciences is due to the support of society for innovation in educational activities and is associated with the level of scientific and technological achievements


The present study investigated the effects of increased dietary sodium on the modification of cardiac baroreflex responses induced by acute sodium loading. Changes in blood pressure and heart rate during intravenous phenylephrine and nitroprusside administration were compared using a four-parameter sigmoid logistic function before and after a 30-min infusion of 0.6 or 1.0 M NaCl in conscious male Sprague-Dawley rats consuming only tap water (Tap) or isotonic saline (Iso) for 2-3 wk. In Tap animals, infusion of 1.0 M NaCl increased the baroreflex-induced heart rate minimum, reduced heart rate range, and increased the operating blood pressure. In contrast, infusion of 0.6 M NaCl in Tap rats reduced both heart rate minimum and maximum. However, infusion of 0.6 M NaCl in Iso animals produced responses similar to that shown in Tap rats infused with 1.0 M NaCl. In addition, the decreased heart rate minimum in Tap rats after infusion of 0.6 M NaCl was prevented by intravenous administration of a vasopressin V1-receptor antagonist. Furthermore, cardiac parasympathetic responses were similar in Tap and Iso rats before and after 0.6 M NaCl infusion. However, in animals receiving intravenous atropine, 0.6 M NaCl decreased heart rate minimum and maximum in Tap but did not alter the response parameters in Iso rats. These results demonstrate that the facilitation of cardiac baroreflex responses normally observed during moderate sodium loading is mediated by vasopressin and that increased dietary sodium ingestion reverses this facilitation by reducing sympathetic nervous system withdrawal.


Abstract. The acquisition of atmospheric wind profiles on a global scale was realized by the launch of the Aeolus satellite, carrying the unique Atmospheric LAser Doppler INstrument (ALADIN), the first Doppler wind lidar in space. One major component of ALADIN is its high-power, ultraviolet (UV) laser transmitter which is based on an injection-seeded, frequency-tripled Nd:YAG laser and fulfills a set of demanding requirements in terms of pulse energy, pulse length, repetition rate as well as spatial and spectral beam properties. In particular, the frequency stability of the laser emission is an essential parameter which determines the performance of the lidar instrument, as the Doppler frequency shifts to be detected are on the order of 108 smaller than the frequency of the emitted UV light. This article reports the assessment of the ALADIN laser frequency stability and its influence on the quality of the Aeolus wind data. Excellent frequency stability with pulse-to-pulse variations of about 10 MHz (root mean square) is evident for over more than two years of operations in space despite the permanent occurrence of short periods with significantly enhanced frequency noise (> 30 MHz). The latter were found to coincide with specific rotation speeds of the satellite's reaction wheels, suggesting that the root cause are micro-vibrations that deteriorate the laser stability on time scales of a few tens of seconds. Analysis of the Aeolus wind error with respect to ECMWF model winds shows that the temporally degraded frequency stability of the ALADIN laser transmitter has only minor influence on the wind data quality on a global scale, which is primarily due to the small percentage of wind measurements for which the frequency fluctuations are considerably enhanced. Hence, although the Mie wind bias is increased by 0.3 m·s−1 at times when the frequency stability is worse than 20 MHz, the small contribution of 4 % from all wind results renders this effect insignificant (


Experimental data concerning molecular and cellular mechanisms of the nonassociative and associative forms of learning (sensitization and classical conditioning) in snail Helix lucorum are reviewed. Results of our investigations and data obtained in other laboratories support hypothesis about activation during conditioning of complex metabolic reactions which are specific for each reflex. Integration of different neural signals by single neuron not only activates second messengers system in the neuron but initiates also synthesis of specific (during conditioning) or relatively specific (during sensitization) for definite synaptic inputs protein molecules with short time of half-life (1-3 hours). After weak consolidation effect of conditioning probably coincide with time of half-life of the protein molecules and disappears after catabolism of the molecules. Strong consolidation initiates selfsupport synthesis of the protein molecules and effect of conditioning lasts a long time.


Hydrogen energy is considered as the fuel of the future and it is already being introduced in the energy markets of more developed regions; however, it remains uncertain its potential impact in developing countries such as Peru. On the other hand, the Peruvian energy sector has being growing during the last decade but electricity production has also been shifting from a renewable energy source, such hydropower toward a fossil fuel namely natural gas. The paper examines the potential for hydrogen production from solar and wind power and also the potential substitution of natural gas by hydrogen produced by renewable energy sources. A potential carbon emission reduction is also estimated as a preliminary approach.


The disease burden of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is substantially more prevalent among residents of the sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. The availability and affordability of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) have significantly reduced the mortality among HIV-1 infected population, increase their life expectancy and quality of life. However, the poor financial conditions and lack of costly infrastructure in the developing countries hinder regular monitoring of HIV-1 RNA (viral load) and CD4+ T-lymphocyte cell count (TCD4+ cell count). Under these circumstances, there is an increasing need for alternate biomarkers for monitoring the progression of the disease and patient management. Albumin, hemoglobin (Hb), dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEA-S), red blood cell (RBC) count, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), plasma highly-sensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), hematocrit (Hct), total lymphocyte count (TLC) are some of the alternate biomarkers with proven utility in the assessment of disease progression.


Background: The Texas A&M College of Medicine was traditionally a small 2+2 institution where students spent 2 years on one campus for basic science study and 2 years on another campus for clinical study. Purpose: To answer calls for an increased physician workforce, we more than doubled our class size and our number of fully matriculating branch campuses. This article describes the 1st full year's experience with expansion. Distance learning was a key part of the experience. Methods: After extensive planning and pilot study, 1st-year students were fully matriculated at 1 of 2 campuses. Year-end comparisons were made on students' achievement and a satisfaction questionnaire. Results: No statistically significant differences were found on any achievement measures and only several questionnaire items. Conclusions: Expansion from the 2+2 system to 2 fully-matriculating campuses with a larger student body was successful during its 1st year. Some persistent problems and planned solutions are reported.


This research is to determine the manufacture of bolu substitution basic flour banana goroho. this study using the design of randomized complete (RAL) with three treatment three times replay, a1 formulated flour banana goroho 150gr and wheat flour 50gr, a2 formulated flour banana goroho 100gr and wheat flour 100gr, a3 formulated flour banana goroho50 grams and wheat flour 150gr. parameters analyzed is water content, ash content, level of carbohydrate and test organoleptic (color, taste, aroma and texture). the results showed that the treatment a2 with the formulation of flour banana goroho 100gr and wheat flour 100gr is the best treatment which can produce bolu preferred by panelists terms, taste, aroma and texture. scent that 4,00, sense that 4,23, and texture that 4,37. and have ash content meet the standards of quality National Indonesia and has a level of carbohydrate 18,37%., water content 27,71% and ash content 1,30% Keywords : sponge, wheat flour, flour banana goroho


Objective: Hypertension is a major health problem leading to high rates of mortality, morbidity and impaired quality of life. Due to high costs of hypertension and low adherence to treatment and lifestyles changes, the tasks of developing maximally beneficial treatment programs for individuals with this health problem have received growing emphasis in recent years. Patients with hypertension need appropriate information in order to take meaningful choices about their future, but information should be focused on patient's peculiar needs to be really effective. Research has highlighted the importance of the identification of information needs and their psychological correlates, in order to create tailored health communication interventions aimed at enhancing the effectiveness of the information provided. A promising construct in this field is Locus of Control (LOC), that refers to the extent to which individuals believe they can control and have power over events affecting their life. In the health context, LOC describes the belief that one's health is dependent upon internal (e.g. behavior) versus external factors (e.g. chance). This study was designed to investigate possible relationships between need for information and health LOC in patients with essential hypertension. Design and method: One hundred seventy-five patients (48.8% women; mean age = 63.68, SD = 10.90, range 26–86) completed an assessment questionnaire evaluating Multidimensional Health Locus of Control (MHLC) and the need for further information on topics related to disease management. Correlation analysis were conducted to explore the relationship between variables. Results: Positive and significant correlations were found between "Internal", "Doctors", "Other People" locus of control and need for information, while negative, but not significant, relationships were found between need for information and "Chance" locus of control. Conclusions: Taking into account patients' types of locus of control could enhance the quality of health communication interventions, leading health-care system to move toward a patient-tailored care.


A simple, accurate, precise and sensitive First order derivative Spectrophotometric method was developed for the estimation of Stavudine in bulk and pharmaceutical dosage forms. The estimation of Stavudine was carried out at maximum absorbance of 250 nm. The method was found to be linear and obeys Beer's law in the concentration range of 2-20 mcg / ml. The developed method was validated according to ICH guidelines and was found to be accurate and precise. Thus the proposed method can be successfully applied for the estimation of Stavudine in bulk and pharmaceutical dosage forms.


The quality of a conical yarn package depends on the winding tension of the yarn wound onto the package. The problems of tension variation control during cone winding are different from those in cheese winding. In cone winding the peripheral speed of the package is varying and this results in the yarn tension changing during package building. This effect can be eliminated by storing and releasing a quantity of yarn by means of a compensatory system. An analysis of the problem and the result of reducing variations in winding tensions are described.


This paper reports a study of the situations of disadvantaged older people in contemporary South African townships. It draws from their own accounts that were collected through ethnographic research in day centres and care homes. Most of the informants had experienced a succession of serious material, psychological, social and cultural losses. Their lives had been characterised by violence, inequality, disruption and poverty. A dominant theme in their accounts is that they can hardly 'get through' their lives. Their thankless, even alienated, situations are not only a function of personal losses but also have much to do with the recent political and social history of South Africa. The colonial and Apartheid eras have by and large been excluded from the country's collective memory, with the result that older people's experiences of those times are not valued as affirmational reminiscence or for shaping a kin group's common identity. Expressed recollections have acquired a different function, of being a means of articulating moral judgements on the present. The result is that memories, rather than bringing the generations together, have the opposite effect and widen the gap in understanding between the older and younger generations. This in turn has serious effects on older people's wellbeing. The silencing of memories reflects the society's radical break with the past, which has made it difficult for younger people to mourn or sympathise with older people's losses. While far from helpless victims, many of the older township residents lack meaningful frames by which to locate themselves in contemporary South African society.


Perineuronal nets (PNNs) are the key regulators of neuronal plasticity and regeneration in the mature central nervous system (CNS). They are a unique and highly organised extracellular matrix (ECM) structure, found around sub-population of neurons, composed mainly of chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan (CSPG). Chondroitin sulfate (CS) is a linear polysaccharide belonging to glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) family. The sulphation pattern defines different types of CS, which interact with different signalling proteins including those regulating axonal outgrowth and guidance such as semaphorin 3A (Sema3A). Sema3A is a secreted chemorepulsive protein found accumulated in the PNNs through its interaction with CS. This process is believed to potentiate Sema3A signalling through plexin A1 (PlxnA1) and Neuropilin 1 (Nrp1) and regulate plasticity and regeneration. The aim of the thesis project is to characterise the interface of Sema3A- CS interaction.For this purpose, Sema3A is expressed in eukaryote cells and purified. Interestingly, two major forms were obtained: a full length Sema3A (90 kDa) which remains attached to the cell surface GAGs and a truncated form without the C-ter part (65 kDa) which is released to the culture medium. With the use of surface plasmon resonance (SPR), we observed that full length Sema3A binds selectively to CS-E (4,6-disulfated chondroitin) and heparan sulfate with a high affinity (KD in the sub pM range), while the truncated Sema3A does not bind to any GAG. Four putative GAG binding sequences were identified in the C-ter of Sema3A and mutated using site directed mutagenesis. SPR analysis then revealed that two out of these four sites are required for the binding to CS-E. The importance of these GAG-binding sequences in inhibition of neurites outgrowth of dorsal root ganglion neurons in culture was also reported, indicating thus the importance of GAG-binding in Sema3A signalling. In parallel, the minimal required sequence of Sema3A-binding of CS-E was determined as being a tetrasaccharide. The Sema3A-CS interface was thus characterized. Furthermore, quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring analysis suggested that Sema3A could crosslink GAG chains. This suggests Sema3A could be involved in stabilising the PNN network and induces mechanical changes on neuronal surface.The detail characterization of Sema3A-CS interaction may enable the design of new strategies aiming at enhancing plasticity and regeneration for neurodegenerative diseases or spinal cord injury.


A unique ecosystem composed of liverworts, diatoms, bacteria and argillaceous sediments is able to thrive in spite of acidic, sulfur and heavy metal contaminated water below the abandoned Ogoya Copper Mine in Ishikawa, Japan. Sample analyses by optical microscope, ED-XRF, XRD, SEM, TEM and FE-TEM revealed that Fe and Cu were taken up by benthic organisms and sediments. Metal uptake and precipitation, including adsorption by clay minerals, improves the water quality for surrounding organisms. Liverworts shelter diatoms and bacteria, also trapping sediments and precipitates that would otherwise be washed away. Meanwhile bacteria are involved in metal accumulation and converting toxic aqueous metals to minerals. Liverworts displayed Cu and occasionally Fe and Zn content. Clay sediments were enriched in Fe and sometimes S, with traces of Ti, Mn, Cu, Zn, and occasionally As, Br, Sr and Zr. Based on XRD analyses, chlorite, mica minerals, feldspar, quartz and chloritoid were predominant in the < 2 μm fraction of the river sediments, along with traces of the sulfate minerals melanterite, chalcanthite and despujolsite. Mine drainage has compromised the health of surrounding communities and damaged river ecosystems. Clarification and optimization of natural metal uptake processes and the fate of mine-related elements could hold keys to sustainable remediation methods for use in the Ogoya mine area.


Focal adhesion kinase (FAK) is a cytoplasmic tyrosine kinase that plays a fundamental role in integrin and growth factor mediated signalling and is an important player in cell migration and proliferation, processes vital for angiogenesis. However, the role of FAK in adult pathological angiogenesis is unknown. We have generated endothelial-specific tamoxifen-inducible FAK knockout mice by crossing FAK-floxed (FAKfl/fl) mice with the Pdgfb-iCreER mice. Tamoxifen-treatment of Pdgfb-iCreER;FAKfl/fl mice results in FAK deletion in adult endothelial cells (EC) without any adverse effects. Importantly however, endothelial FAK-deletion in adult mice inhibited tumour growth and reduced tumour angiogenesis. Furthermore, in in vivo angiogenic assays FAK-deletion impairs vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) induced neovascularisation. In addition, in vitro deletion of FAK in ECs resulted in reduced VEGF-stimulated AKT phosphorylation, and correlating reduced cellular proliferation and increased cell death. Furthermore, using a combination of genetic ablation and inhibition of FAK we are studying a new role of endothelial FAK in the regulation of the vascular barrier function with implications on the metastatic process. Our data suggest that FAK is required for adult pathological angiogenesis and suggests a possible role of endothelial FAK in the regulation of the vascular barrier function. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 102nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2011 Apr 2-6; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2011;71(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 3472. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2011-3472


Abstract We examine the emergence of the 'postfeminist' sensibility from feminist theory and praxis, and its relation and relevance to education. Analytical frameworks such as postfeminism and intersectionality have given equal weight to recognition-based struggles, such as those based on sexual, racial, class-based, gender-related identities. We follow Nancy Fraser's argument that these identity-based movements have been co-opted by neoliberal politicians and bureaucratic policy-makers, and become a divide and rule strategy, neglecting the subjugating power of capital. Beginning with third-wave feminism's emphasis on individual identity, women's struggles have been become a part of the greater parisitic neoliberal project. We consider the implications of this docile and domesticated feminism for the education of women.


New interventional options especially for patients with HCC and BCLC scores B and C give rise to disputes about the optimal therapeutic management. CT-guided brachytherapy complements established interventional techniques like RFA and TACE since it may also be used successfully in tumors much greater than 5 cm in diameter. In addition, unlike thermal ablation, the brachytherapy technique may be applied in tumors located nearby risk structures such as liver hilum or gallbladder and it is independent of cooling effects such as through large blood vessels or strong tumor perfusion. Depending on tumor size, geometry and visibility, MRI or CT guidance may be used. 15 Gy minimal target dose can be applied safely in a single or – in case of very large tumors – a sequential approach targeting different tumor portions. Local recurrence rates will be very low, and the rate of complications is moderate despite the fact that most patients present with underlying cirrhosis and related comorbidities. Preliminary data suggest a positive impact on overall survival. Randomized controlled trials are on their way to assess combination schemes with systemic treatments such as sorafenib.


Where does precipitation come from? It is not easy to answer this question because of the complex and energy-intensive processes that bring moisture to a certain location and cause moisture to precipitate highly heterogeneously in space and variable over time. Part of the precipitation comes from so-called "moisture recycling", which is moisture from land evaporation that returns to the land surface as precipitation. It is widely accepted that land-atmosphere interactions play a crucial role in the global climate, but the importance of moisture recycling specifically had, before the research presented in this thesis, not yet been fully quantified. It is, however, important to do so as the magnitude of moisture recycling can be used as an indicator for the susceptibility of our water resources to local and remote land-use change. The main research question of this thesis is: "How important is land evaporation in the hydrological cycle over continents?" Chapter 2 presents the offline Eulerian numerical atmospheric moisture tracking model WAM-2layers (Water Accounting Model-2layers), which is being used throughout the thesis. The underlying principle of this model is simply the water balance. WAM-2layers can be used to track tagged moisture on both the regional and global scale, and both forward and backward in time. The focus of this thesis is the moisture recycling over continents and therefore a near global grid is used, which includes all continents except Antarctica. The ERA-Interim reanalysis, from which evaporation, precipitation, humidity and wind speed is used, is the main data source for input to the tracking model. WAM-2layers provides a fast computation of large scale atmospheric moisture tracking while the two layers ensure that problems such as wind shear are still adequately dealt with. Chapter 3 presents new definitions for continental moisture recycling. The continental precipitation recycling ratio identifies regions that are dependent on upwind evaporation and the continental evaporation recycling ratio identifies the importance of evaporation to sustain downwind precipitation. Global maps showing the spatial distribution of two ratios are presented and together they provide a new way to describe continental scale moisture feedback within the hydrological cycle. It is estimated that on average 40% of all terrestrial precipitation is derived from continental sources and 57% of all terrestrial evaporation returns as precipitation to continents. Mountain ranges can play an important role in continental moisture recycling by either "blocking" moisture from entering the continent or by "capturing" the moisture from the atmosphere to enhance recycling. Overall, this chapter demonstrates the important role of global wind patterns, topography and land cover in continental moisture recycling patterns and the distribution of global water resources. Chapter 4 presents a novel approach to quantify the spatial and temporal scale of moisture recycling, independent of the size and shape of the region under study. As such, this approach overcomes the previously existing problem of scale- and shape dependency of regional moisture recycling ratios. It is shown that in the tropics or in mountainous terrain the local length scale of recycling can be as low as 500 to 2000 km. In temperate climates the length scale is typically between 3000 to 5000km whereas it amounts to more than 7000km in desert areas. The local time scale of recycling ranges from 3 to 20 days, with the exception of deserts, where it is much longer. Analysis of both the length and times scales identifies several hot spots of high local moisture recycling, in particular, in and around mountainous areas. It is also found that local moisture recycling plays a much more important role in summer than in winter. Chapter 5 present a new image of that global hydrological cycle over land, which, in contrast to traditional images of the hydrological cycle includes a quantification of moisture recycling, partitioned evaporation and the lifetime of all these processes separately. It is demonstrated that evaporated interception is more likely to return as precipitation on land than transpired moisture. On average, direct evaporation (essentially interception) is found to have an atmospheric residence time of 8 days, while transpiration typically resides 9 days in the atmosphere. Interception recycling has a much shorter local length scale than transpiration recycling, thus interception generally precipitates closer to its evaporative source than transpiration, which is particularly pronounced outside the tropics. The results suggest that the effect of land-use change on moisture recycling is very different during wet and dry seasons, and also during summer and winter, indicating that seasonality is important to consider when analysing effects of land-use change. During the wet season, increased or decreased interception could amplify or attenuate the local moisture recycling signal, but land-use change needs to be drastic to influence the evaporative fluxes in a way that this signal would have continental scale influence. During the dry season, land-use change (in particular deforestation), could lead to reduced transpiration, hence reduced moisture recycling, and therefore a drier dry season. Chapter 6 describe the concept of atmospheric watersheds. Precipitationsheds show how precipitation depends on upwind evaporation and evaporationsheds show how evaporation sustains precipitation downwind. The biggest sources and sinks are generally found close to the region of interest. However, for West Africa it is shown that, outside the rainy season, more distant sources, of in particular transpiration, are very important for the hydrological cycle as well. As such, this chapter illustrates how land-use change in one region alters evaporation and moisture recycling, and hence, influences precipitation, in a geographically separate region. It is concluded that land evaporation plays a major role in the hydrological cycle over continents as on average more than half of it returns as precipitation over land. Strong local moisture feedback is generally found in very wet regions, or in regions where it is enhanced by topography. Interception and transpiration are found to have contrasting roles in the hydrological cycle. While interception mainly works as an intensifier of the local hydrological cycle during wet spells, transpiration remains active during dry spells and is transported over much larger distances downwind where it can act as a significant source of moisture. The concepts of the precipitationshed and evaporationshed can be effectively used as tools to study the moisture recycling effect of land-use changes in specific regions of interest.


Recently, as IT Compliance becomes more diverse, companies have to take a
 great amount of effort to comply with it and prepare countermeasures.
 Especially, E-Discovery is also one of the most notable compliances for IT
 and law. In order to minimize the time and cost for E-Discovery, many service
 systems and solutions using the state-of-the-art technology have been
 competitively developed. Among them, Cloud Computing is one of the most
 exclusive skills as a computing infrastructure for E-Discovery Service.
 Unfortunately, these products actually do not cover all kinds of E-Discovery
 works and have many drawbacks as well as considerable limitations. This
 paper, therefore, proposes a new type of E-Discovery Service Structure based
 on Cloud Computing called EDaaS(E-Discovery as a Service) to make the best
 usage of its advantages and overcome the limitations of the existing
 E-Discovery solutions. EDaaS enables E-Discovery participants to smoothly
 collaborate by removing constraints on working places and minimizing the
 number of direct contact with target systems. What those who want to use the
 EDaaS need is only a network device for using the Internet. Moreover, EDaaS
 can help to reduce the waste of time and human resources because no specific
 software to install on every target system is needed and the relatively exact
 time of completion can be obtained from it according to the amount of data
 for the manpower control. As a result of it, EDaaS can solve the litigant's
 cost problem.