This study examines the reaction of Australian firms, in terms of annual report disclosure, to five major social incidents. These incidents had significant implications for either the environment, or the safety of both employees and community members. The incidents reviewed are the Exxon Valdez and Bhopal disasters; the Moura Mine disaster in Queens-land; an oil spill, caused by the Iron Baron, off the coast of Tasmania; and the Kirki oil spill, off the coast of Western Australia. Studies of this nature have previously been restricted to the examination of US company disclosure (e.g. Patten 1992; Blacconiere and Patten 1994), or the stock market reaction to such events in the US (e.g. Blacconiere and Patten 1994). The results of this study indicate that, following four of the incidents, sample firms operating in the affected industries provided more social information in their annual reports than they did prior to the incidents occurrence. These results support a view that organizations utilize their annual report as a means of influencing society's perception of their operations, and as a means of legitimizing their ongoing existence. The strategic nature of voluntary annual report disclosures is emphasized.


Polyamory is an emerging sexual story that troubles mononormativity: the dominant discourse of monogamy which is reproduced and perpetuated in everyday conversation and saturates mainstream media depictions. Through an analysis of online discussions, websites and self-help books, this article explores the ways in which members of polyamorous communities construct their identities through language. We argue that the potentials of polyamory are, to some extent, constrained by the conventional mononormative language of partnerships, infidelities and jealousy. However, alternative languages are emerging which offer new discursive possibilities for the development of polyamorous identities, relationships and emotions.


Cardiac graft failure may require repeat heart transplantation (HTx). Outcomes of patients that undergo repeat HTx have not been well described. We compared patients that received repeat HTx with patients that received initial HTx by inquiring the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) database between 2015 and 2021. The primary endpoint was all-cause mortality, while the role of baseline characteristics was also investigated. Patients were stratified according to whether they received initial HTx (n = 19,727, 97%) or repeat HTx (n = 578, 3%). Among the study population, 10,860 (53.5%) patients received a HTx using the old UNOS allocation system, whereas 9445 (46.5%) patients received a HTx after the implementation of the new UNOS donor allocation system in October 2018. In this sub-group of HTx recipients in the new allocation system era, the adjusted 1-year survival of repeat HTx patients remained lower than that of initial HTx patients (hazard ratio (HR): 1.19; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.15, 3.18; p = 0.013). When we compared the 1-year survival of repeat HTx patients before and after the implementation of the new allocation system, the adjusted 1-year survival was similar between groups (HR: 1.14; 95% CI: 0.71, 1.84; p = 0.591). The unadjusted risk of 30-day mortality was not significantly different in the new vs old allocation system. Mortality associated with repeat HTx remained higher than initial HTx but the new donor allocation system implementation did not affect outcomes.


Proteasomes are intricate cellular proteases that are able to degrade many protein and peptide substrates in vitro. These particles are structurally complex; they are assembled from at least 14 small molecular mass polypeptide subunits to form mature 20S proteasomes. Recently, we demonstrated that proteasome subsets may be discriminated by serological criteria, and have found that subtle differences in the subunit composition of proteasomes can alter their cleavage specificity. Proteasome structural complexity is further enhanced when some proteasomes associate with additional proteins to form a 26S ATP- and ubiquitin-dependent protease. Herein we confirm the existence of distinct cellular forms of proteasomes, and show that they differ in their hydrophobic characteristics. We have reproducibly purified, using solely biochemical techniques, distinct proteasome subsets similar to the serologically defined LMP2+ and LMP2- proteasomes. These proteasome subsets differ in their expression of at least three polypeptides, and both lack several additional polypeptides as compared to the serologically defined LMP2+ and LMP2- proteasomes. Finally, we demonstrate that these structurally unique proteasomes differ in their capacity to cleave a defined panel of fluorogenic peptide substrates. It appears that mammalian cells might recruit and modify proteasomes to perform distinct cellular tasks.


from doped germanium. Techniques are described for producing improved infrared bolometers/ Ion implantation and sputter metalization have been used to make ohmic electrical contacts to Ge:Ga chips. This method results in a high yield of small monolithic bolometers with very little lôw-.frequency noise. When one of these chips is used as the thermometric element of a composite bolometer, it must be bonded to a dielectric substrate. The thermal resistance of the conventional epoxy bond has been measured and found to be undesirably large. A procedure for soldering the chip to a metalized portion of the substrate is described which reduced this resistance. The contribution of the metal film absorber to the heat capacity of a composite bolometer has been measured. The heat capacity of a NiCr absorber at 1.3K can dominate the bolometer performance. A Bi absorber has significantly lower heat capacity. A low-temperature blackbody calibrator has been built to measure the optical responsivity of bolometers. A composite bolometer system with a throughput of --0.1 sr cm2 has been constructed using our new techniques. In negligible background it has an optical NEP of 3.6 10-15 WfHi at 1.0K with a time constant of 20 ms. The noise in this bolometer is white above 2.5 Hz and is somewhat below the value predicted by thermodynamic equilibrium theory. It is in agreement with calculations based on a recent nonequilibrium theory. Introducti on Low-temperature semiconductor bolometers are coninonly used as detectors 16 of midand far-infrared radiation. They have high sensitivity, are easy to use, and are adaptable to a wide variety of experimental conditions. The bolometers constructed at Berkeley use germanium doped with gallium (Ge:Ga) and compensated with unknown shallow donors as the thermometric element. In applications where a large throughput is desired a composite structure is used.


The type of bleeding symptom has been evaluated in 35 Iranian patients with an inherited deficiency of factor V, with plasma levels between 1% and 10%. The most frequent symptoms included epistaxis and excessive bleeding after surgery. Haemarthroses and muscle haematomas were less common, even in severely deficient patients. More severe symptoms such as gastrointestinal and central nervous system bleeding were rare. The severity of bleeding symptoms was only partially related to the degree of factor V deficiency in plasma. On the whole, human factor V deficiency is characterized by a moderately severe bleeding phenotype.


The green sea urchin Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis plays an important ecological role as a consumer of kelp in temperate subtidal ecosystems, but is known to be omnivorous, and recent studies suggest it is potentially cannibalistic. This study ex- amined cannibalism of small juvenile S. droebachien- sis by larger conspecifics in the laboratory, and esti- mated rates of inter-cohort cannibalism in the field based on gut contents of adult sea urchins collected from subtidal sites in the Mingan Archipelago, St. Lawrence Estuary, Canada. Initial 48 h trials investi- gated factors (substratum, presence of food) that may influence cannibalism, and a subsequent 4 wk laboratory experiment found that adults and larger juveniles consumed 21 and 24% of small juveniles (3.5�6 mm test diameter), respectively, on cobble substratum when kelp was provided ad libitum. Fre- quencies of cannibalism from gut contents of urchins in the field were combined with an estimate of gut passage time determined in the laboratory and the densities of sea urchins at each site to estimate rates of cannibalism. The proportion of adults that had can- nibalized ranged from (mean ± SD) 0 ± 0 to 0.31 ± 0.12 across sites in 2013 and 2014, resulting in estimated rates of cannibalism from 0 ± 0 to 68.3 ± 0.60 small juveniles cannibalized m �2 wk �1 . This is the first study to report size-structured cannibalism among S. droe- bachiensis, and suggests that cannibalism can be a major source of mortality for small juvenile sea urchins in subtidal barren grounds.


Recently, the wind energy has been widely used as a renewable energy resource due to lack and environmental issues of the mostly used fossil fuel. This work is to develop a 500W class blade design of vertical axis wind turbine system which will be applicable to relatively low speed region like Korea and for the domestic use. For this wind turbine a high efficiency and low noise turbine blade was designed with the proposing aerodynamic design procedure, and a light composite structure blade. Structural analyses were performed using the Finite Element Method and fatigue life of the designed blade is estimated. Finally, in order to check its performance, the manufactured blade was tested by using truck and the results of test was good with respect to its analysis result.


In this paper, a model is proposed to predict the software Defects indicator of early phases of Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) using the top most reliability relevant metrics at each artifacts. Failure data is not available in the early phases of SDLC. Therefore qualitative values of software metrics are used in this model. Defect indicator predicated in the requirement analysis, Design and Coding phases are very helpful for testing and maintenance of the software. Requirement analysis phase Defect Indicator value is relatively greater than that of the design and coding artifacts. Model is validated with the existing literature. Validation result are satisfactory.


There is currently no universal standard for training or evaluating operational police performance during critical incident simulations. Accordingly, performance is typically judged on final outcomes (i.e., shoot/no-shoot decisionmaking) rather than a more detailed set of essential policing skills in both research and practical settings. The current study identifies six behavioural dimensions developed by expert use of force instructors: control of the environment, operational flexibility, initiative, critical decision-making, withdrawal, and target-oriented behaviour. To explore the possible relationship between inherent personality characteristics and primitive (i.e., untrained) police performance, 45 police recruits were assessed during stressful fieldwork simulations. Preliminary findings suggest several possible relationships; scores for control of the environment and operational flexibility were lower in more extraverted and flexible types. Initiative was also lower in more flexible types, and critical decision-making errors were related to higher extraversion. Withdrawal behaviour was greater among more emotional types, and target-oriented behaviour was higher in more extraverted participants. The behavioural dimensions developed in this study can be practically applied to standardize, tailor, and improve current training practices for essential policing skills. Understanding their possible connection to universal personality traits can identify inherent strengths and vulnerabilities that may need more attention and deliberate practice.


Obstructive jaundice is a clinical condition that indicates the possibility of a significant underlying disease process. This clinical
review considers the pathophysiology, investigation and management of patients with obstructive jaundice and considers the particular
challenges that medical personnel may face when deployed away from the United Kingdom (UK). It aims to give guidance
with regard to the short- and long-term investigation and management of such patients.


Performing multiple reaction steps in "one pot" to avoid the need to isolate intermediates is a promising approach for reducing solvent waste associated with liquid phase chemical processing. In this work, we incorporated gold nanoparticle catalysts into polymer nanoreactors via amphiphilic block copolymer directed self-assembly. With the polymer nanoreactors dispersed in water as the bulk solvent, we demonstrated the ability to facilitate two reaction steps in one pot with spontaneous precipitation of the product from the reaction mixture. Specifically, we achieved imide synthesis from 4-nitrophenol and benzaldehyde as a model reaction. The reaction occured in water at ambient conditions; the desired 4-benzylideneaminophenol product spontaneously precipitated from the reaction mixture while the nanoreactors remained stable in dispersion. A 65% isolated yield was achieved. In contrast, PEGylated gold nanoparticles and citrate stabilized gold nanoparticles precipitated with the reaction product, which would complicate both the isolation of the product as well as reuse of the catalyst. Thus, amphiphilic nanoreactors dispersed in water are a promising approach for reducing solvent waste associated with liquid phase chemical processing by using water as the bulk solvent, eliminating the need to isolate intermediates, achieving spontaneous product separation to facilitate the recycling of the reaction mixture, and simplifying the isolation of the desired product.


Tumors cells are able to resist cell death and evade the immune system. This resistance can be caused by alterations in Trp53 itself or p19Arf loss and the reduced anti-tumor immune response may be caused by loss of interferon-β (IFN), an important immune-stimulatory cytokine. Here, we investigate the impact of p19Arf and IFN gene transfer in melanoma cells with regards to the expression profile of genes responsible for the induction of cell death. Recombinant adenoviral vectors with a p53-responsive promoter (PG) driving expression of p19Arf or IFN were applied alone or in combination in B16F10 cells in vitro (mouse melanoma, p53 wt). Cell death was evaluated by annexin/PI staining and MTT assays. LC3B expression was verified by western blot analysis of cells extracts. Caspase-3 activity was evaluated using a lentiviral vector which constitutively expressing luciferase protein linked to an ubiquitin site that can be cleaved by caspase-3. RNA expression profile was evaluated by microarray analysis of treated samples and validation of gene expression was performed by real-time PCR. We verified that combined gene transfer of p19Arf and IFN resulted in 74% hypodiploid cells whereas single gene transfer yielded only half of this number, as shown by cell cycle and MTT analysis. Although there was a high rate of cell death, only 25% of cells were stained for annexin/PI and activation of caspase-3 was reduced in cells treated with p19Arf and IFN combination compared to treatment of p19Arf alone. Also, there was no increase in LC3B expression when cells were treated with the p19Arf and IFN combination. These observations suggest that B16F10 cells are dying by other mechanisms rather than apoptosis or autophagy. Transduced cells were analyzed for gene expression profile and critical genes were selected for validation. Combination of p19Arf and IFN transduction in B16F10 cells revealed a synergistic effect modifying exclusively the expression of 1054 genes involved in cell death, immune system activation and cell cycle arrest. There was an increase of 4-20 fold in expression of MDM2, p53, p21Waf1, PUMA, MDM4, FOXO1, NR3C1, PHLDA3, RANBP9 and WDR46, and also an increase of 400-fold in p73 expression in cells treated with p19Arf and IFN combination. Conclusions: The use of p53-responsive vectors to express p19Arf and IFN promotes complementation of the p53/Arf and IFN pathways, resulting in a synergistic gene regulation of many essential functions in cancer cells, destabilizing cell cycle and cell organization in general, while promoting expression of genes related to cell death. As p73 is a transcription factor of caspase-1 expression, we hypothesize that this could be the major participant involved in death of these cells. Financial support: 2011/10656-5, 2011/50911-4 and 2013/25167-5 (FAPESP). Citation Format: Aline H. Ribeiro, Paulo R. Del Valle, Ruan F.V. Medrano, Daniel G. Ferrari, Daniela B. Zanatta, Bryan E. Strauss. Combined transfer of p19Arf and interferon-beta genes to mouse melanoma cells causes LC3B- and caspase-3-independent cell death and alters the expression of critical genes. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2015 Apr 18-22; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(15 Suppl):Abstract nr 1236. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2015-1236


April 2002 CHAIRMAN'S MESSAGE David Irwin  Siripong Malasri Fellow Scientists and Engineers: It is our pleasure to co-host the 4th Annual Memphis Area Engineering and Sciences Conference (MAESC) at Christian Brothers University. This year, we have embraced the broader definition of engineering, i.e., "the science concerned with putting knowledge to practical uses." This is the biggest MAESC conference ever with over 60 technical papers scheduled for presentation. Almost half of the presentations are on biotechnology. As in the past conferences, technical presentations will cut across various aspects of engineering and the sciences, from "Computational Neurodynamics: Studying Brains to Build Brains" to "Genetic Engineering of Defined Animal Models." At the opening, don't miss the opportunity to listen to G. Robert (Bob) Morris, Chairman, Tennessee Governor's Task Force on Biotechnology, on the direction that biotechnology in Tennessee is heading. At lunch, Dr. Robert (Rob) G. Webster, member, US National Academy of Sciences, will speak on "Influenza Bioengineering: A Natural Terrorism Agent." Memphis has the potential to become a nationally recognized "biotech" center. This will be a critical milestone in our local economic development. Together, we can make it happen. We look forward to seeing you at the conference! Regards, David Irwin , Ph.D., Vice President for Research Services, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital Siripong Malasri , Ph.D., P.E., Dean of Engineering, Christian Brothers University MAESC 2002 Conference Co-Chairs


[1] Complexity and resolution of global climate models are steadily increasing, yet the uncertainty of their projections remains large, particularly for precipitation. Given the impacts precipitation changes have on ecosystems, there is a need to reduce projection uncertainty by assessing the performance of climate models. A common way of evaluating models is to consider global maps of errors against observations for a range of variables. However, depending on the purpose, feature-based metrics defined on a regional scale and for one variable may be more suitable to identify the most accurate models. We compare three different ways of ranking the CMIP3 climate models: errors in a broad range of climate variables, errors in global field of precipitation, and regional features of modeled precipitation in areas where pronounced future changes are expected. The same analysis is performed for temperature to identify potential differences between variables. The multimodel mean is found to outperform all single models in the global field-based rankings but performs only averagely for the feature-based ranking. Selecting the best models for each metric reduces the absolute spread in projections. If anomalies are considered, the model spread is reduced in a few regions, while the uncertainty can be increased in others. We also demonstrate that the common attribution of a lack of model agreement in precipitation projections to different model physics may be misleading. Agreement is similarly poor within different ensemble members of the same model, indicating that the lack of robust trends can be attributed partly to a low signal-to-noise ratio.


In recent years, creating a conceptual system model using a formal modeling language has became an inseparable part of the system development lifecycle. As systems' complexity grows, system models are almost exclusively a result of a collaborative effort of a group of developers, who typically need to work simultaneously. This need calls for an efficient mechanism to enable the group of developers to collaborate while modeling the same system. The complexity of devising such a mechanism is primarily due to the need to maintain the model's consistency at all times. Consistency is achieved by validating the model against a schema, which defines the semantic rules of the modeling language. A modeling process that satisfies the model's consistency is one that allows only those modifications that yield a valid model to take effect. A method is therefore sought that takes a valid model and a modifier as input and applies the modifier only if it results in a new valid model. A common mechanism for enabling collaborative work is a version control application, such as SVN. Although SVN provides a rich environment for collaboration, it is not designed to handle the consistency requirement. Assuming the modeling language provides a validation procedure, we propose a protocol that enables a group of developers engaged in conceptual modeling of the same system to work simultaneously while maintaining the consistency of the shared model. The paper describes the protocol and the proof for its completeness.


Nonaqueous media have shown to be useful for CE separations. It is possible to obtain high selectivities of closely related compounds without using any additive in the electrophoresis medium. The physicochemical parameters of some selected solvents and their influence on separation are discussed. Separations of small compounds with equal or almost equal charge-to-mass ratios have been performed in both aqueous- and nonaqueous-based media and compared. Examples of the use of nonaqueous media for drug impurity testing are given, and precautions for obtaining quantitative and reproducible analysis in nonaqueous media are discussed.


Objectives : Tourette disorder is known to be a disease with a strong genetic trait. There has been some recent research on the relationship between the allelic frequency distribution and Tourette disorder. In Korea, the relationship between the genetic type and the alleles for the COMT gene has been studied in Tourette patients. Methods : Seventy two patients who were diagnosed with Tourette disorder according to the DSM-IV diagnostic criteria were selected for this study. The diagnosis and clinical features were confirmed by the Yale Global Tic Severity Scale. For the control group, the parents of the patients were chosen. Blood samples were taken from the 289 subjects. DNA was extracted from the blood lymphocytes and PCR was performed for assessing COMT gene. Results : On comparing the Tourette disorder transmitted group and the not-transmitted group, no significant difference was seen between the COMT genetic type and the allelic distribution. Conclusion : Even though this result is viewed that there is no relationship between Tourette disorder and the COMT gene, it is difficult to firmly accept this negative result. Follow up studies with a larger patient population or pure subgroups are expected in the future.


Background: Chimarrogale leander is a species of the family Soricidae and is mainly distributed in southern China. Methods: Here, a complete mitochondrial genome for C. leander was assembled via high-throughput sequencing technology. Results The results showed that the complete mitogenome of C. leander is 17,357 bp and includes 13 protein-coding genes, 22 transfer RNA (tRNA) genes, two ribosomal RNA (rRNA) genes and one control region. The nucleotide composition is A: 33.1%, T: 31.5%, C: 22.5% and G: 12.9%. Through the phylogenetic analysis of complete mitochondrial genome, it is found that C. leander has a close genetic relationship with Nectogale elegans. Conclusions: The new mitogenome will hopefully prove useful for systematic analyses of genus Chimarrogale .


We have developed novel pressure-sensitive adhesives (PSAs) which could be peeled off easily on ultrasonic irradiation as external stimuli. The PSAs were composed of aciddegradable polyurethanes and microcapsules containing a thermal acid generator (TAG). Three layered (w/o/w) type microcapsules containing a TAG were prepared by coacervation method. Generation of acid from the microcapsules and PSA layers on ultrasonic irradiation in water was confirmed by pH changes. Peel strength of PSAs containing the microcapsules decreased from 10 to 1 N/20mm on ultrasonic irradiation in water at 28 kHz for 20 min. The peel strength of PSAs containing the microcapsules was constant on heating up to 80 °C for 1 h, while that decreased on heating above 80 °C. These results suggest that acid was generated but kept in microcapsules on heating up to 80 °C, and the acid was released from microcapsules when PSAs were ultrasonic irradiated or heated above 80 °C.


Objective: School-based vision programs provide care directly in schools. Parental consent is typically required for student participation. In this paper, we examine school-level factors associated with consent form return. Methods: We included 123 schools served by a vision program in Baltimore, Maryland between the 2016-17 and 2018-19 school years. Multiple linear regression modeling was used to examine the associations between consent return rate and school type (elementary, elementary/middle or middle school), school size, student attendance, student mobility, percent of students in special education, poverty (percent eligible for free and reduced-price lunch), teacher qualifications, parent response rate to annual school climate survey, vision screening failure rate, and year of vision program participation (cohort). Results: The final model explained 26.2% of variability in consent return rate. Overall consent return rate was 57.8% (range 9.4%-100%). School size (β = -2.419, p < .01) and cohort (βCohort2 = 11.988, p < .01) were significantly associated with consent rate. Whereas poverty (β = 0.225, p < .10) and mobility (β = -0.647, p < .10) were relevant, they did not reach statistical significance. Conclusions: School-level factors are significantly associated with consent form return rates. School-based vision programs should consider additional measures to increase consent form return, especially in larger schools and schools with high rates of student mobility.


Dendritic Cell (DC) Associated C-type Lectin Receptors (CLRs) play important roles in immunity through their abilities in antigen capturing and presentation, modulation of TLR signaling, co-stimulation and adhesion. Murine DCAL-2 (mDCAL-2/ mMICL/ mKLRL-1) is a type-II CLR with a cytosolic immunoreceptor tyrosine inhibitory motif (ITIM). Using a mAb we developed, we found that mDCAL-2 is expressed at high levels on plasmacytoid DCs (pDCs), CD8α+ DCs and a subset of CD8α- DCs, at moderate levels on immature CD4-CD8- T cells and low levels on a subset of B-cells, but not on mature T cells and NK cells. DCAL-2 expression subdivides CD8α- DCs into mDCAL-2High33D1- and mDCAL-2Low33D1+ populations. These two subsets of DCs express different levels of TLRs. In addition, these subsets have significantly distinct cytokine profiles in response to TLR ligands. Whereas mDCAL-2High33D1- produced high levels of TNFα, IL-6, IL-10 and IL-12, mDCAL-2Low33D1+ DCs produced extremely low levels of these cytokines. Thus, we hypothesize that mDCAL-2High DC subsets induce T-cell responses that are distinct from that of mDCAL-2Low DCs. To investigate what type of T-cell responses are induced through mDCAL-2 in an Ag specific manner, we developed an anti-mDCAL-2 single chain fragment variable (scFv) fused with antigens (OVA or HEL). We found that anti-mDCAL-2 scFv successfully targets mDCAL-2+ DC subsets in vivo. What type of T cell responses are induced by OVA-anti-mDCAL-2 scFv injection in OT-II transgenic mice will be presented.
 This study is supported by NIH grants AI52203, DE16381, and RR00166


To explore the differences in structure and diversity of nirK-type denitrifying microbial community in marsh soils at different invasion stages of Spartina alterniflora, the mudflat (MF, before invasion) and the S. alterniflora marsh after seaward invasion for 1-2 years (SAN) and 6-7 years (SA) in Shanyutan of the Minjiang River estuary were investigated by high-through put sequencing method. Results showed that the seaward invasion of S. alterniflora reduced the richness and diversity of nirK-type denitrifying microbial community in marsh soils. The nirK-type denitrifying microbial community in soils at different invasion stages included Proteobacteria and Actinobacteria, with Proteobacteria as the dominant one. The seaward invasion of S. alterniflora greatly altered the composition of nirK-type denitrifying microbial community in marsh soils. The highest relative abundance of genus in soils from different invasion stages were Bradyrhizobium, Mesorhizobium and Alcaligenes, respectively. The seaward invasion of S. alterniflora increased the spatial heterogeneity of nirK-type denitrifying microbial community composition in marsh soils. In SAN plot, the enhancement of spatial heterogeneity was primarily due to higher environmental disturbances in plots and the increased spatial heterogeneity of environmental variables caused by the seaward invasion of S. alterniflora. The seaward invasion of S. alterniflora altered the physico-chemical properties (e.g., grain composition, pH and moisture) and N nutrient conditions (total N, NH4+-N and NO3--N) in marsh soils, which greatly altered the structure and diversity of nirK-type denitrifying microbial community. Our findings reveal the microbial mechanism of denitrification process in marsh soils during the seaward invasion of S. alterniflora.


An acousto-optic tunable filter (AOTF) is a new type of mono-wavelength generator, and an AOTF imaging spectrometer can obtain spectral images of interest. However, due to the limitation of AOTF aperture and acceptance angle, the light passing through the AOTF imaging spectrometer is weak, especially in the short-wave infrared (SWIR) region. In weak light conditions, the noise of a non-deep cooling mercury cadmium telluride (MCT) detector is high compared to the camera response. Thus, effective spectral images cannot be obtained. In this study, the single-pixel imaging (SPI) technique was applied to the AOTF imaging spectrometer, which can obtain spectral images due to the short-focus lens that collects light into a small area. In our experiment, we proved that the irradiance of a short-focus system is much higher than that of a long-focus system in relation to the AOTF imaging spectrometer. Then, an SPI experimental setup was built to obtain spectral images in which traditional systems cannot obtain. This work provides an efficient way to detect spectral images from 1000 to 2200 nm.


The planar flexible manipulator undergoing large deformation is investigated by using finite element method (FEM). Three kinds of reference frames are employed to describe the deformation of arbitrary point in the flexible manipulator, which are global frame, body-fixed frame and co-rotational frame. The rigid-flexible coupling dynamic equation of the planar flexible manipulator is derived using the Hamilton's principle. Numerical simulations are carried out in the end of this paper to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed model. The simulation results indicate that the proposed model is efficient not only for small deformation but also for large deformation.


Coronavirus has caused a pandemic affecting both adults and children. Although mortality rates in adults are high, that in children has been low, with many children experiencing only mild disease. This article looks at the pathophysiologic mechanisms that may account for the differences observed in children, namely a strong immune response, a lower number of angiotensin-converting enzyme 2, and a lower inflammatory response. Though children in general have mild disease, there is a hyperinflammatory condition known as multisystem inflammatory syndrome, which is likely a postinfectious immunologic response, which is seen mainly in children and adolescents and not adults.


In this dissertation we apply the Circular Restricted Three - Body Problem to the Earth -- Moon system both for astrodynamical and astronomical purposes. We take advantage of the hyperbolic invariant manifolds associated with the central invariant manifold of the collinear equilibrium point either L_1 and L_2 to construct transfers from either
Moon and Earth to a nominal libration point orbit and to study some tracks leading to collisions events on the Moon. Also, we develop an effective methodology for the refinement of such trajectories into a more realistic vector field and we show the consequences of omitting the Sun. Throughout the work, we exploit the tools of Dynamical Systems Theory and optimal control strategies.


This paper  considersthe problem of  aliasing in information processing. The cubic spline method of interpolating the uniformly sampled signals and its effects on the autocorrelation estimation as well as the resulting spectral density function are studied by simulating random signals with known autocorrelation functions. Hence, by comparison of aliased and alias-free cases, indications are deduced from suspection to aliasing, especially in those situations that aliasing is present but the Nyquist frequency is not too far apart from the main peaks in the signal.


In this paper, we report research results on modeling the parameters of an improved time-frequency trajectory excitation (ITFTE) and spectral envelopes of an LPC vocoder with a long short-term memory (LSTM)-based recurrent neural network (RNN) for high-quality text-to-speech (TTS) systems. The ITFTE vocoder has been shown to significantly improve the perceptual quality of statistical parameter-based TTS systems in our prior works. However, a simple feed-forward deep neural network (DNN) with a finite window length is inadequate to capture the time evolution of the ITFTE parameters. We propose to use the LSTM to exploit the time-varying nature of both trajectories of the excitation and filter parameters, where the LSTM is implemented to use the linguistic text input and to predict both ITFTE and LPC parameters holistically. In the case of LPC parameters, we further enhance the generated spectrum by applying LP bandwidth expansion and line spectral frequency-sharpening filters. These filters are not only beneficial for reducing unstable synthesis filter conditions but also advantageous toward minimizing the muffling problem in the generated spectrum. Experimental results have shown that the proposed LSTM-RNN system with the ITFTE vocoder significantly outperforms both similarly configured band aperiodicity-based systems and our best prior DNN-trainecounterpart, both objectively and subjectively.


A series of previously conducted experiments pertaining to various chemicals and drugs uncover a natural linkage between the molecular structures and the bio-medical and pharmacological characteristics. The forgotten topological index computed for the molecular structures of various chemical compounds and drugs has proven significant in medical and pharmaceutical fields by predicting biological features of new chemical compounds and drugs. A topological index can be considered as the transformation of chemical structure into a real number. Dendrimers are highly-branched star-shaped macromolecules with nanometer-scale dimensions. Dendrimers are defined by three components: a central core, an interior dendritic structure (the branches), and an exterior surface with functional surface groups. In this paper, we determine forgotten topological indices of poly(propyl) ether imine, porphyrin, and zinc–porphyrin dendrimers.


Trade-offs between reproduction and survival are important determinants of life-history characteristics of lizards. Organisms cannot increase the allocation of limited resources to reproduction without diverting a proportional amount of energy from another trait. Locomotor performance is an ecologically relevant trait that potentially influences survival by affecting the ability to escape from predators. Most studies have used female lizards as subjects because pregnancy is known to reduce their locomotor abilities, whereas little is known on costs of reproduction in males. In this study we suggest that in males of the lizard Lacerta monticola reproductive investment in morphological traits that confer dominance (i.e. head size) might lead to a low probability of survival by decreasing investment in other traits that affect locomotor performance (i.e. limb symmetry). We staged laboratory agonistic encounters between males and measured their morphology and burst speed on a race track to examine possible relationships between morphology, social dominance and locomotor capacity. Our results indicate that social dominance was positively related to relative head height, and that escape speed was negatively related to levels of fluctuating asymmetry in femur length, but also negatively related to relative head height. Males with greater relative head height also had more asymmetrical femurs, thus dominant males suffered a decrease in locomotor performance. Males with higher heads tend to dominate male–male interactions and hence may gain access to reproductive females, thus increasing their current reproduction success. However, this might occur at the expense of future survivorship mediated by a decrease in escape speed. Therefore, in male L. monticola there might be a trade-off between current reproductive success and survival. © 2002 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2002; 77, 201–209.


We study the practical performance of quantum-inspired algorithms for recommendation systems and linear systems of equations. These algorithms were shown to have an exponential asymptotic speedup compared to previously known classical methods for problems involving low-rank matrices, but with complexity bounds that exhibit a hefty polynomial overhead compared to quantum algorithms. This raised the question of whether these methods were actually useful in practice. We conduct a theoretical analysis aimed at identifying their computational bottlenecks, then implement and benchmark the algorithms on a variety of problems, including applications to portfolio optimization and movie recommendations. On the one hand, our analysis reveals that the performance of these algorithms is better than the theoretical complexity bounds would suggest. On the other hand, their performance as seen in our implementation degrades noticeably as the rank and condition number of the input matrix are increased. Overall, our results indicate that quantum-inspired algorithms can perform well in practice provided that stringent conditions are met: low rank, low condition number, and very large dimension of the input matrix. By contrast, practical datasets are often sparse and high-rank, precisely the type that can be handled by quantum algorithms.


There are two main types of echinococcosis, namely alveolar echinococcosis (AE) and cystic echinococcosis (CE). They are zoonotic parasitic diseases caused by the metacestodes of Echinococcus multilocularis and Echinococcus granulosus. In order to explore the gut microbiome composition of patients with echinococcosis, we analyzed fecal samples of seven patients with AE, six patients with CE, and 13 healthy individuals from the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, China. Using metagenomic next-generation sequencing, we identified fecal bacteria in the patients with AE and CE. The gut microbiota was analyzed by next-generation metagenomic sequencing (mNGS) to compare patients with either AE or CE against healthy individuals. We found there were some differences between them in abundant bacteria. Our results led to five findings: (1) Between patients with echinococcosis and healthy individuals, the differential bacteria were from four phyla: Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Actinobacteria. (2) Rothia mucilaginosa, Veillonella dispar, Veillonella atypica, Streptococcus parasanguinis, Streptococcus salivarius, and Alistipes finegoldii were abundant in the feces of patients with AE. (3) Bacteroides dorei, Parabacteroides distasonis, Escherichia sp_E4742, and Methanobrevibacter smithii were abundant in the feces of the patients with CE. (4) At the phylum and class level, compared to the AE group, the healthy group was characterized by higher numbers of Actinobacteria. (5) At the family level, Lachnospiraceae and Eubacteriaceae were more abundant in the feces of healthy individuals than in AE patients. The genera Coprococcus, Eubacterium, and Bilophia were more abundant in the healthy group, while the genus Rothia was more abundant in the AE group. The results of this study enrich our understanding of the gut microbiome composition of patients with AE and CE in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau.


Micromycetes inhabiting the leaves of 20 cultivars of climbing roses ( Rosa L.), grown in Botanic Garden of the Jagiellonian University in Cracow was investigated in the three successive years of research. Sixty-five taxa of of micromycetes was recorded with a few species dominating: Alternaria alternata , Epicoccum nigrum , Pestalotia rosae , Penicillium brevicompactum and Sordaria fimicola , accompanied by various other microfungi. A high abundance of rose black spot caused by Diplocarpon rosae was also observed. The affected leaves revealed advancing necrosis, substantially enhancing at the end of the growing season. Defoliation took place from June to October. Micromycetes inhabiting the leaves of climbing roses in Botanic Garden of the Jagiellonian University in Cracow considerably deteriorated the decorative aspect of the plants.


This paper reviews the worldwide situation regarding avian influenza infections in poultry from 1997 to March 2004. The increase in the number of primary introductions and the scientific data available on the molecular basis of pathogenicity have generated concerns particularly for legislative purposes and for international trade. This has led to a new proposed definition of 'avian influenza' to extend all infections caused by H5 and H7 viruses regardless of their virulence as notifiable diseases, although this has encountered some difficulties in being approved. The paper also reviews the major outbreaks caused by viruses of the H5 or H7 subtype and the control measures applied. The zoonotic aspects of avian influenza, which until 1997 were considered to be of limited relevance in human medicine, are also discussed. The human health implications have now gained importance, both for illness and fatalities that have occurred following natural infection with avian viruses, and for the potential of generating a reassortant virus that could give rise to the next human influenza pandemic.


Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) is a condition characterized by recurrent episodes of obstruction of the upper airway. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether nasal obstruction due to allergic rhinitis constitutes a risk factor for OSAS. Patients (n = 119) presenting typical symptoms of sleep apnea were tested for OSAS using polysomnography. Additionally all patients were tested in vivo and in vitro (including nasal eosinophilic cationic protein) for allergic rhinitis. Examination for allergic rhinitis revealed that 88.3% of all patients had no allergic rhinitis, whereas only 11.7% were diagnosed as allergic. No significant differences in sleeping parameters were observed between allergic and non-allergic patients. Comparison of parameters indicative of relevant OSAS (apnea-hypopnea index [AHI] > 10) revealed that 60% of non-allergic patients had relevant OSAS, compared to only 50% of allergic patients. Investigation of allergic subgroups revealed similar results: no significant differences in sleeping parameters or elevated rates of relevant OSAS parameters were observed, especially in perennial allergic rhinitis due to house dust mites. No elevated rates of allergic rhinitis were observed in the studied cohort of patients suffering from sleep apnea or OSAS. Furthermore, no significant differences in sleeping behavior or polysomnography parameters were found on comparing allergic and non-allergic patients. In summary, our data rule out allergic rhinitis as a major risk factor for OSAS.


This document applies to anybody who wants to understand what is Experimental Economics and the benefits that can profit from this approach for empirical works which validity and scope can be evaluated in a scientific work. In a pragmatic way are described in this document the different steps to be followed methodologically to set out an experiment. Our goal is to give our readers a broad view of an experimental process in economics. Further to the logistics aspects and data collection, this guide also tackles the tools used to work with data and the methodological referees that allow analysing the first results. It also reviews various animation support of the experimentalist community in France.


The segregation effects of Nb and V on bcc FeSigma3[110](111) grain boundary cohesion are studied by the first-principles DMol method within the framework of density functional theory. The calculated segregation energy difference between the grain boundary and the corresponding free surface is -0.51 eV (-0.58 eV) for solute Nb (V), which indicates that both Nb and V could enhance the grain boundary cohesion in body-centred-cubic Fe. We found that the chemical effect and the geometry effect of Nb (V) play crucial but opposite roles in determining whether a material is brittle or ductile. The chemical effect is dominant and advantageous for grain boundary cohesion. Also, Nb and V show very different behaviours: in chemical effect, Nb is more conducive to ductility than V; while in the geometry effect, Nb is less conducive to ductility and more conducive to embrittlement than V.


The effects of steel and tungsten carbide burs have been studied under the scanning electron microscope on human enamel and dentin during preparation of mesio-occluso-distal cavities in vitro with cutting speeds varying from 5 000 to 120 000 r.p.m. All the cavities presented clean and regular walls. However, the final quality of the cavity borders, and in particular the cavo-surface angles of the box walls, was directly related to the speed and rotation direction of the bur. The cavo-surface angles at the gingival planes showed in all cases fractures of the superficial prisms. The cutting character displayed in dentine surfaces were mainly dependent on the orientation of the tubules in relation to the surface of the cavity preparation and the degree of sclerosed dentine. The cavities prepared in the absence of water and air showed the presence of tissue debris nd cracks; their number increased with increasing rotational speed.


Prospective investors of new projects consider the returns of implemented projects with similar (observed) attributes and invest if the empirical mean return exceeds the cost. The steady states of such economies result in suboptimal investment decisions due to the selection bias in the sampling procedure. Assuming higher attributes are associated with higher returns, there is systematic overinvestment as compared with the Bayesian benchmark, thereby illustrating that selection bias may explain entrepreneurial overconfidence. Various extensions are considered to illustrate the negative externality that rational investors exert on other investors, the effect of correlation between the attributes considered by various investors, and how trading may be affected by the sampling procedure.


A farm of two broiler flocks fed from one day old to 56 days of age a diet naturally contaminated with high level of Aflatoxin (AF), were suffered from caecal coccidiosis at 35 days of age Aflatoxin levels in feed commodities and mixed feed were determined using ELISA test. Results of ELISA showed that the average level of corn, soybean and mixed feeds contamination with aflatoxin were 1915, ppb, 229 ppb and 860 ppb respectively. Diagnosis of caecal coccidiosis was confirmed by clinical signs, post-mortem findings, fecal oocyst excretion per gram, oocyt size, morphological characteristic of eggs, lesion score and schizonts size. The significance of AF as predisposing factor to coccidiosis infection was discussed.


This year the Western Cape experienced rather warm temperatures during August, resulting in above normal maximum temperatures at various weather stations. For example more than 4°C above the historical long-term monthly mean of 21°C was observed at the Oudtshoorn Research Farm. In fact there were more weather stations that exceeded the same threshold (monthly average >4°C above long term), for instance Citrusdal recorded a monthly average of 26.2°C, which was 5.5°C more than the monthly average long term for August.


The Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 introduced the new offence of 'Possession of extreme pornographic images' (section 63) into English law. One aspect of the framework that section 63 uses to determine which images will fall within its scope is explicitly concerned with questions of morality: images must be deemed 'grossly offensive, disgusting or otherwise of an obscene character'. This article examines some of the justifications for, objections to, and implications of the inclusion of the moral component of section 63 and situates these arguments within long-standing debates about the relationship between law, sexuality and morality. Returning to the influential but much critiqued work of Patrick Devlin, it argues that the framework that section 63 offers for the moral evaluation of extreme images is an imperfect but appropriate method for determining the level of social toleration for the private possession of violent pornographic imagery. After considering some of the arguments made against the moral framework, and in favour of a harm-based approach, it concludes by arguing that the morality component offers both a practical way of evaluating images in relation to contemporary standards of obscenity and provides a protective mechanism for limiting the scope of the law's application.


A three-way saturated Doherty power amplifier (S-DPA) based on class-F topology is proposed to improve efficiency at large backed-off output power regions. The high efficiency is demonstrated by implementing the amplifier using Eudyna EGN010MK GaN HEMTs and testing it with a continuous wave (CW) signal and a forward-link wide-band code division multiple access (WCDMA) 1-FA signal at 2.14 GHz. The proposed S-DPA has a power-added efficiency (PAE) of 50% for the CW signal at 10 dB backed-off output power region, while a two-way S-DPA and class-F PA have PAEs of 39% and 25%, respectively. Also, the proposed S-DPA has a PAE of 46.7% for the WCDMA 1-FA signal with peak-to-average power ratio of 10 dB, while the two-way S-DPA and the class-F PA have PAEs of 42.7% and 28.7%, respectively. Moreover, the proposed S-DPA, when linearized by a digital feedback predistorter, delivers an adjacent channel leakage ratio of 49.2 dBc at a 2.5 MHz offset with a PAE of 45.9%.


Remedies for a new West: Healing landscapes, Histories, and cultures extends the concept of restoration from an exclusively ecological context to include social, cultural, linguistic, and community-based economic dimensions. Building on senior editor Patricia Limerick's quarter-century of scholarship and public debate that has redefined the West in refreshing but increasingly complex ways, this anthology continues that exercise, welcoming several new voices to the discussion. Although the book grew from a lecture series at the University of Colorado, which featured some of the best thinkers and writers in that university community, in a very real sense, the community of thought embodied in this book is the greater community of scholars and activists all over the Intermountain West. The themes featured in this collection are being discussed in nearly every small-town coffee shop and faculty lounge in the ten states west of the hundredth meridian and south of Canada. The editors of this book proposed a unifying theme of restoring environmental and social health to a multicultural region. Some of its various authors hold tightly to this theme, while others use it as a point of departure for discussing case studies that exemplify their own work in the West. In this collection, there are some stunning essays of relevance to more than one discipline. In particular, Sharon Collinge's discussion of "the uncertain promise of restoration" raises ethical and philosophical questions about the practice and premise of ecological restoration that will engage nearly every reader of this journal. Likewise, there is much to be learned by all environmental activists in Hannah Gosnell's "Healing with Howls" which takes a historical look at the Wildland Project's modest proposal to restore continental connectivity to the Southern Rockies by reintroducing carnivores (read more at www.rewilding.org). I still argue—as I have at gatherings of conservation biologists for over a decade—that basing a continentwide corridor system on the movements of carnivores alone is more a media stunt for charismatic species than a functional action plan that would work for habitats serving migratory pollinators, seed dispersers, and fish as well. But Gosnell captures the essence of the success of this initiative, which is that Michael Soulé and Dave Foreman's outlandishly grand idea has, to a large degree, already been integrated into bioregional planning by the Nature Conservancy, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and many grassroots conservation groups. What is most exciting about this anthology are the cultural dimensions. Linguist Andrew Colwell's discussion of native language revival and John-Michael Rivera's take on recasting Mexican-American presences in the West remind us how broadly the concept of restoration and renewal must extend if we are to live in a truly healthy place. The chapters on remediation of mined lands and endangered species recovery are just as compelling, reminding us that there is a lot of work to be done to remedy what has been undone. Perhaps the biggest gap in this book is a wound that Patricia Limerick has not only covered in her earlier writings but that has been a regular topic in town halls across the West: healing the urban-rural divide. Nowhere in this book is there sufficient attention to the urban-rural alliances that have formed to revitalize local food systems and to conserve or restore working landscapes to keep watersheds and foodsheds functioning. One of the most remarkable new social developments in the West since this book's release is the Alliance for Conservation through Ranching, which includes dozens of grassroots groups across the West that are focused on policy and practice to keep large working landscapes intact. These grazed wildlands are, more than the national parks which Soulé and Foreman used as their core conservation areas, the true matrix of connectivity that retains most of the biodiversity left in the West. The emergence of the "radical center" stance in the West, which brings ranchers and urban consumers together in support of more consistent and resilient land stewardship, has recast the dialogue in the West over the 20 years since the Sagebrush Rebellion, but none of the authors in this book appear to truly recognize its long-term historic significance. Perhaps they need to get out of the hallowed halls of academia long enough to see how groups like the Quivira Coalition, Malpais Borderlands Group, and Diablo Trust are now taking the lead in implementing remedies for a New West. Nevertheless, Limerick, Cowell, and Collinge have done their part to enrich the discussion with many perspectives that both complement and challenge the prevailing paradigms of ecological restoration. This book is worth its weight in native grass seed.


The purpose of this study is to analyze academic self-efficacy levels of university students studying in different departments according to their states of doing regular sports and some variables. 299 students, 153 females and 146 males, studying in different departments of Samsun Ondokuz Mayıs University participated in the study voluntarily. "Academic Self-efficacy Scale" which was developed by Owen and Froman (1988) and adapted to Turkish by Ekici (2012) and which included 33 questions and 3 sub-dimensions (social status, cognitive practices, technical skills) was used in the study to find out academic self-efficacy levels of students in terms of different variables. SPSS 22.0 program was used for statistical analysis. When the results were analyzed, statistically significant difference was found only in social status sub-dimension in terms of the variables of gender and grade (p<0.05). No significant difference was found in other subdimensions for both variables (p>0.05). When academic self-efficacy levels were analyzed in terms of students' states of doing regular sports, statistical significance was not found in any of the subdimensions (p>0.05). As a conclusion, it was found that the state of doing sports regularly did not have an influence on academic self-efficacy level. This result is thought to occur due to the fact that the experimental group in the present study does not consist of only students from the faculty of sport sciences, but also from students studying in different departments of the university.


Cassava tubers are main sources of calories and dietary fibre for Nigerians. Cassava tubers are highly perishable and need to be processed immediately after harvest. Cassava can be used for human consumption, livestock feed or industrial purposes. Cassava starch is one of the main industrial products of cassava processing. The long drying times for cassava starch production during sun drying have necessitated the need for alternative drying methods. However, the quality of the starch obtained from these alternative drying methods needs to be investigated. Starch was produced from four different varieties (TME 1, TMS 30572, TMS 01/1235 and TMS 01/1181) of cassava using two drying methods (sun and oven drying at 40oC). The physical (yield and moisture content), functional (water binding capacity, swelling power and solubility) and pasting properties of the starch produced were investigated. The moisture content varied from 9.24 to 10.48%, with oven dried TME 1 having the lowest values and sun dried TMS 01/1181 having the highest value. The yield of starch obtained from drying the four varieties using the two drying methods increased from 458.5 to 687.2g per kg of cassava tuber. The water binding capacity, swelling power and solubility increased from 97.97 to 99.83 g water/g sample, 11.69–14.19 g/ml and 10.20 – 12.96% (g soluble solids/ g DM of whole starch sample) respectively, for the different varieties dried using the two drying methods. Peak viscosity, trough, break down, final viscosity, peak time and pasting temperature values for the four cassava varieties were in the range of 335.76–619.89 RVU, 135.67–192.35 RVU, 199.38–433.99 RVU, 196.01–257.72 RVU, 3.23–3.91 min and 70.05–72.95oC, respectively for the two drying methods. The values obtained from the cassava varieties considered were generally significantly different (except colour) which shows significant effect of cassava variety used on starch properties. Also, cassava starch samples dried at lower temperature have better functional and pasting properties. This indicates that alternative drying methods should be used at temperatures lower than 40oC in order to obtain products of high quality. Key words : Physico-chemical properties, Drying, Cassava, variety


Recent genome-wide association studies have revealed genetic risk factors for Alzheimer's disease (AD) that are exclusively expressed in microglia within the brain. A proteomics approach identified moesin (MSN), a FERM (four-point-one ezrin radixin moesin) domain protein, and the receptor CD44 as hub proteins found within a co-expression module strongly linked to AD clinical and pathological traits as well as microglia. The FERM domain of MSN interacts with the phospholipid PIP2 and the cytoplasmic tails of receptors such as CD44. This study explored the feasibility of developing protein-protein interaction inhibitors that target the MSN–CD44 interaction. Structural and mutational analyses revealed that the FERM domain of MSN binds to CD44 by incorporating a beta strand within the F3 lobe. Phage-display studies identified an allosteric site located close to the PIP2 binding site in the FERM domain that affects CD44 binding within the F3 lobe. These findings support a model in which PIP2 binding to the FERM domain stimulates receptor tail binding through an allosteric mechanism that causes the F3 lobe to adopt an open conformation permissive for binding. High-throughput screening of a chemical library identified two compounds that disrupt the MSN–CD44 interaction, and one compound series was further optimized for biochemical activity, specificity, and solubility. The results suggest that the FERM domain holds potential as a drug development target. The small molecule preliminary leads generated from the study could serve as a foundation for additional medicinal chemistry effort with the goal of controlling microglial activity in AD by modifying the MSN–CD44 interaction.


This paper revisits and critically examines a number of methods used for analysis of in-bed pressure signals recorded in gas-solid fluidized beds. The goal is to obtain information on the time scales of dominant phenomena present in the pressure time series of four fluidization regimes. It is demonstrated that the average cycle time represents an effective alternative to spectral analysis. In addition, we give evidence that the average cycle time yields equivalent information as some of the advanced methods of non-linear analysis (e.g. the Kolmogorov entropy). Finally, by using wavelets and wavelet packets, we show how to obtain an accurate time localization of the different frequency components present in the pressure signal.


The effects of enhanced UV‐B radiation on the oogenesis and morpho‐anatomical characteristics of the European solitary red mason bee Osmia bicornis L. (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae) were tested under laboratory conditions. Cocooned females in the pupal stage were exposed directly to different doses (0, 9.24, 12.32, and 24.64 kJ/m2/d) of artificial UV‐B. Our experiments revealed that enhanced UV‐B radiation can reduce body mass and fat body content, cause deformities and increase mortality. Following UV exposure at all 3 different doses, the body mass of bees was all significantly reduced compared to the control, with the highest UV dose causing the largest reduction. Similarly, following UV‐B radiation, in treated groups the fat body index decreased and the fat body index was the lowest in the group receiving the highest dose of UV radiation. Mortality and morphological deformities, between untreated and exposed females varied considerably and increased with the dose of UV‐B radiation. Morphological deformities were mainly manifested in the wings and mouthparts, and occurred more frequently with an increased dose of UV. Cell death was quantified by the Terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) assay (DNA fragmentation) during early stages of oogenesis of O. bicornis females. The bees, after UV‐B exposure exhibited more germarium cells with fragmented DNA. The TUNEL test indicated that in germarium, low doses of UV‐B poorly induced the cell death during early development. However, exposure to moderate UV‐B dose increased programmed cell death. In females treated with the highest dose of UV‐B the vast majority of germarium cells were TUNEL‐positive.


Design and design thinking are becoming the hot topics and new business processes around the world - yes, business processes! Business schools are adding design thinking courses to their curricula and business professors are writing books on design thinking. Countries like Korea and Singapore are vying to be the leading Asian Design Nations. New, so-called Convergent courses, programs and schools are emerging globally that combine engineering, business and design disciplines and departments into integrated efforts. The Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Design Movement is gaining momentum and the personal discipline of Making things is coming back. DIY Prototyping and Manufacturing are gaining ground and opportunities with new technologies and innovations. User-Generated Design is becoming a common corporate process. Design process and design thinking are being applied cross-functionally to such global issues as clean water and alternative energy. And the old traditional view of design as art and decoration and styling is giving way to a broader and more comprehensive way of thinking and solving human-centered problems by other than just a few elite professionals. In light of all this and more, Bill is excited about the ideas of ubiquitous design education for everyone and DIY design as a universal human experience. He is passionate about an idea in what Victor Papanek said 40 years ago in his seminal book, Design for the Real World, "All that we do, almost all the time, is design, for design is basic to all human activity". Just as all humans are inherently businesspeople in many ways at many times, we are also all designers in many ways at many times - it is time to believe this and make the best of it.


B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) clones from different patients can express stereotyped BCR immunoglobulins (IGs) that share very similar IGHV-D-J rearrangements and HCDR3s, often with similar IGLV gene usage, suggesting that they were selected by common antigenic epitope(s). Patients bearing IGHV4-34/D5-18/JH6 / VK2-30/JK2 rearrangements belong to one of such stereotyped subsets, subset 4. In addition, subset 4 BCRs are always IgG switched and exhibit IGHV somatic mutations. The germline IGHV4-34 gene is inherently autoreactive and is often found in antibodies that bind to the surfaces of erythrocytes and B lymphocytes through the linear i blood group antigen, poly-N-acetyllactosamine (NAL). To test the reactivity of subset 4 monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) to auto and foreign antigens, we expressed a panel of CLL BCR IGs carrying IGHV4-34 , 1-69 , 3-21 , and 4-39 as recombinant human IgGs and tested the binding of these CLL mAbs to HEp-2 cells by intracellular immunostaining. Three subset 4 mAbs (183, 240 and 342) showed only weak binding to permeabilized HEp-2 cells compared to other CLL mAbs which often showed strong binding to cytoplasmic structures. Furthermore, because apoptotic cells are a source of autoantigens in autoimmune conditions, the reactivity of CLL mAbs to non-permeabilized, irradiated Ramos B and Jurkat T cell line cells was also tested by flow cytometry. Surprisingly, the average binding percentage to apoptotic Ramos B cells of subset 4 mAbs 183, 240, and 342 was only 6, 5, and 4%, respectively. Moreover, all three subset 4 mAbs exhibited minimum binding to live or apoptotic Jurkat T cells (1-10% and 4-6% to each population, respectively). We next tested the reactivity of subset 4 mAbs to i/I carbohydrate epitopes, the known targets of many non-stereotyped IGHV4-34 mAbs, using an i/I focused microarray containing 60 i/I related oligosaccharides. Notably, the subset 4 mAbs showed no binding at a concentration of 10 μg/mL. Together, the above results suggest that CLL subset 4 mAbs have weak or no interaction to the known autoantigens recognized by other non-stereotyped IGVH4-34 IGs. Hence we hypothesized that the restricted IGHV-D-J rearrangement, somatic mutations, and IgG switch of subset 4 were acquired by selection for other auto or foreign antigens. To test this possibility, we screened CLL mAbs against a library of over 8,000 full length human proteins, including an influenza A virus and some human viral gene encoded proteins. Each subset 4 mAb showed selective and strong binding to influenza A virus H3N2 Texas 1/77 at concentration of 50 μg/mL; this binding was 6-15 times higher than that of other non-subset 4 mAbs, which included two IGHV4-34 , non-stereotyped CLL mAbs. Because the binding to virus is usually mediated via its glycoprotein hemagglutinin (HA), we tested reactivity of subset 4 mAbs to the HA of influenza A H3N2 Texas 1/77. Subset 4 mAbs had on average 2 fold (1.8-2.2) higher binding signals than the two non-stereotyped IGHV4-34 mAbs. To explore if subset 4 mAbs recognize other influenza A virus strains, we tested the binding of a representative subset 4 mAb 183 to HAs from 11 strains that belong to 3 subtypes: H1 (4 strains), H2 (1 strain) and H3 (6 strains). Clear preferential binding to all 6 H3s and to some of H1s was found. mAb 183 did not bind to H2 (A/Japan/305/1957 H2N2). The average binding signal ratio to H3s, H1s and H2 was 2.4:1.6:1. Testing to another hemagglutinin subtype H7 (A/Anhui/1/13 H7N9) showed that mAb 183 did not interact with H7. Intrigued by the observation that CLL subset 4 BCR IGs are always the IgG isotype, we tested if isotype switching contributed to antigen recognition by expressing CLL 183 IGHV-D-J as divalent human IgM (mAb183M) and checked its reactivity to virus A H3N2 Texas 1/77. Switching isotype from IgG to IgM led to a 48% loss in reactivity to intact virus and 74% loss to hemagglutinin H3 (A/Philippines/2/1982 H3N2). Taken together, our results indicate that unlike other IGHV4-34 bearing IGs, CLL subset 4 mAbs have only limited reactivity to autoantigens, including linear NAL epitopes. Instead, this subset has acquired specific recognition of subtypes of an infectious agent, influenza A (H3 and H1), apparently via its envelope protein hemagglutinin. The shift in antigen recognition appears to be dependent upon both the stereotyped IGVH-D-J rearrangement and isotype switching to IgG. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), human herpes virus 4, has been classically associated with infectious mononucleosis, multiple sclerosis and several types of cancers. Many of these diseases show marked geographical differences in prevalence, which points to underlying genetic and/or environmental factors. Those factors may include a different susceptibility to EBV infection and viral copy number among human populations. Since EBV is commonly used to transform B-cells into lymphoblastoid cell lines (LCLs) we hypothesize that differences in EBV copy number among individual LCLs may reflect differential susceptibility to EBV infection. To test this hypothesis, we retrieved whole-genome sequenced EBV-mapping reads from 1,753 LCL samples derived from 19 populations worldwide that were sequenced within the context of the 1000 Genomes Project. An in silico methodology was developed to estimate the number of EBV copy number in LCLs and validated these estimations by real-time PCR. After experimentally confirming that EBV relative copy number remains stable over cell passages, we performed a genome wide association analysis (GWAS) to try detecting genetic variants of the host that may be associated with EBV copy number. Our GWAS has yielded several genomic regions suggestively associated with the number of EBV genomes per cell in LCLs, unraveling promising candidate genes such as CAND1, a known inhibitor of EBV replication. While this GWAS does not unequivocally establish the degree to which genetic makeup of individuals determine viral levels within their derived LCLs, for which a larger sample size will be needed, it potentially highlighted human genes affecting EBV-related processes, which constitute interesting candidates to follow up in the context of EBV related pathologies.


Glucose and fluctose (400 g/24 h) were compared as sources of carbohydrate in parenteral nutrition in patients following major abdominal operations or following multiple injuries. Group A (n = 8) received glucose during the first 2 days and fructose for another 2 days thereafter. In group B (n = 8) the sequence of carbohydrate infusion was reversed (2 days' fructose follwed by 2 days' glucose). The additional infusion to amino acids and a fat emulsion remained constant (total calories: 2,700 kcal/24 h). The following results were obtained: 1. Mean blood glucose concentrations were elevated in both infusion periods. During infusion of glucose the values were about 10% higher than those obtained during fructose infusion. Insulin administration was not necessary any of the patients studied. 2. Urinary excretion of both monosaccharides was negligible. 3. Blood lactate concentrations were higher during the infusion of fructose when compared to the glucose infusion period. The concentration of ketone bodies in the blood was not significantly influenced by either regimen. No major changes in base-acid equilibrium were observed. 4. The serum concentration of uric acid and several other metabolites did not differ significantly during the two infusion periods. 5. Mean urinary urea excretion exhibited a 30% increase during fructose infusion when compared to the glucose infusion period (p less than 0.012). From the results of t;is study and earlier findings it is concluded that fructose in a dose up to 400 g/day has no proven advantages over glucose in postoperative parenteral nutrition.


Regulators have placed undue emphasis on liquidity and are penalising long-term commitments by banks, says Charles Dallara, who till recently headed the peak global body for the finance industry, the Institute of International Finance. He says there needs to be adjustment of regulatory measures taken since the Global Financial Crisis . . .


Proponents of the concept of the audit culture in UK higher education argue that from the late 1990s onward audit functioned as a form of power control and had a profound effect on academics and their work. Such arguments continued to be made into the early 2000s. Since then, however, the level of external scrutiny surrounding UK academics' teaching has decreased. This paper presents a case study of academics at a pre-1992 university to examine how they perceived the audit culture and audit-related quality assurance mechanisms. This paper reveals that nearly two-thirds of those interviewed considered audit and quality assurance mechanisms as a bureaucratic practice that had little impact on their work. Only about one-third found the audit useful for improving undergraduate classroom teaching practice, particularly increasing academics' awareness of the importance of good teaching.


Recently, interest in the use of projectiles in research on recycling waste materials for construction applications has grown. Using recycled materials for the construction of asphalt concrete pavement, in the meantime, has become a topic of research due to its significant benefits, such as cost savings and reduced environmental impacts. This study reports on comprehensive experimental research conducted using a typical mechanical milling waste, iron filing waste (IFW), as an alternative fine aggregate for warm mix asphalt (WMA) for pavement wearing surface applications. A type of IFW from a local machine workshop was used to replace the conventional fine aggregate, fine natural sand (FNS), at percentages of 25%, 50% 75%, and 100% by the weight of FNS of the size passing sieve No. 50. Experimental tests were conducted on the mixes to compare their Marshall properties, resilient moduli, rutting and fatigue resistance, and moisture susceptibility. Finally, a performance analysis was carried out using the VESYS 5W software on the constructed pavement using the IFW mixes. Both the experiment and the modeling work demonstrated that IFW can be an effective alternative resource for replacing natural fine aggregate in WMA concrete and provided details on the optimum rate based on the comprehensive data obtained first hand.


An in vivo translation system, the Xenopus laevis oocyte, was employed to study the synthesis and secretion of pancreatic proteins. RNA was purified from normal and diabetic rat pancreas and normal rat liver by use of guanidine isothiocyanate lysis and cesium chloride gradient centrifugation. The presence of functional mRNA was documented by translation in a reticulocyte lysate that yielded precursors of all major secretory proteins, i.e., slightly higher M, than proteins synthesized in situ by pancreatic acini. Mature X. laevis oocytes were then microinjected with either total RNA or purified mRNA. When oocytes were subsequently incubated with "S-methionine," pancreatic secretory proteins or hepatic albumin could be immunoprecipitated from oocyte lysate with specific polyclonal antibodies against amylase, trypsin, ribonuclease, and albumin. Amylase was shown to be enzymatically active. Moreover, oocytes released pancreatic secretory proteins into the medium when injected with pancreatic RNA in a time-dependent manner. Only the mature form of amylase was secreted and secretion was not regulated by secretagogues. When a comparison was made after injection of RNA from diabetic pancreas known to contain altered amounts of individual mRNAs, there was a decrease in amylase and an increase in trypsinogen synthesis in oocytes that was comparable to the results of cell free translation. The oocyte expression system, therefore, should be useful not only for studies of protein synthesis but also for processing and secretion.


Wavelength converters increase the traffic-carrying capacity of circuit-switched optical networks by relaxing the wavelength continuity constraints. We consider the problem of optimally placing a given number of wavelength converters on a path to minimize the call-blocking probability. Using a simple performance model, we first prove that uniform spacing of converters is optimal for the end-to-end performance when link loads are uniform and independent. We then show that significant gains are achievable with optimal placement compared to random placement. For nonuniform link loads, we provide a dynamic programming algorithm for the optimal placement and compare the performance with random and uniform placement. Optimal solutions for bus and ring topologies are also presented. Finally, we discuss the effect of the traffic model on the placement decision.


. We study the relation between metric entropy and escape of mass for the Hilbert modular spaces with the action of a diagonal element.


ABSTRACT Following copulation, females of many seabird species spend a prolonged period of time away from the colony, building up reserves for egg formation and incubation. Here, we report that the number of sperm associated with eggs of single-egg clutch seabirds was almost an order of magnitude greater than predicted from the relationship between ovum size and sperm numbers in multi-egg clutch non-seabirds. Sperm numbers were also several times greater than the estimated number necessary for maximal fertilization success. Our results are consistent with 3 unusual features of seabird reproduction: (1) single-egg clutches, (2) prolonged sperm storage, and (3) a lag period between the end of yolk formation and ovulation. We hypothesize that sperm release from storage is under precise temporal control in these species, with high sperm numbers acting as an insurance against infertility in single-egg clutches. If true, the lag period may have evolved to provide sufficient time for sperm to be released simultaneously from storage and accumulate at the site of fertilization prior to ovulation. LAY SUMMARY After copulation, female birds store sperm in their reproductive systems for some time before egg production and fertilization. It is thought that sperm are gradually lost during storage, meaning that later in the storage period, if there are no further inseminations, fewer sperm should be available for insemination. We studied the number of sperm reaching eggs in 6 seabird species, in which females spend a long time feeding at sea between mating and producing eggs. Surprisingly, we found that the number of sperm that reached eggs in these species was much higher than expected, based on a known relationship between egg size and sperm number. We suggest that, in these species, sperm are released simultaneously from storage just before ovulation. This may be particularly important in the species we studied, because they all lay only a single egg. Our hypothesis implies that female birds have greater control over sperm storage and use than previously thought.


We report the results of de Haas--van Alphen measurements in high magnetic fields on the anisotropic compound ${\mathrm{LaSb}}_{2}.$ Our measurements reveal three extremal orbits of the Fermi surface. One is very small and ellipsoidal, while the remaining two are larger and have a nearly cylindrical shape indicating a quasi-two-dimensional Fermi surface. We compare these measurements with the results of energy band calculations and find reasonable agreement with the measured Fermi surface areas, though the calculations show other multiconnected regions of the Fermi surface not observed in the de Haas--van Alphen spectra. The implications of our calculated and measured Fermi surfaces on the mechanisms proposed for the extraordinary large linear magnetoresistance in ${\mathrm{LaSb}}_{2}$ are discussed.


A large number of compounds are known to reduce the ATP-dependent efflux pump activity of multidrug resistant (mdr) tumor cells. Here we report that an infection of cancer cells with T. gondii reduced the multidrug resistance of the tumour cells against cytostatic drugs. Two mouse lymphoma cell lines (Mdr L 5718 and Par 5718) were infected with Toxoplasma gondii in vitro and the reduction of efflux pump activity of the cells was measured. The drug accumulation (Rhodamin-123) was increased in the infected mdr cell lines compared with non- infected mdr-cells, and no effect was shown after infection of the parental cell line. The same effect was also achieved by incubation of Mdr-tumor cells with cell lysate of Toxoplasma gondii. Mdr-1-gene expression was reduced in the infected cell lines 48 hours after infection. Co-cultivation of Toxoplasma gondii with mdr cell lines separated by a microfilter from tumor cells was performed, but this cocultivation did not change the mdr efflux activity. The effect of Toxoplasma gondii infection on the efflux pump activity and mdr-1 gene expression was also examined in the human gastric cancer cells. A sensitization of resistant gastric cancer cells was also achieved by parasite infection. This phenomenon is an evidence that a reduction of resistance in tumor cells can be achieved by a natural parasite infection. It is as yet unclear whether an active infection or another substance of T. gondii is responsible for this phenomenon.


Recovery after acute kidney injury is impaired in the elderly, but the precise mechanism for such age-related incompetence remains unclear. By in vivo bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) labeling, renal progenitor cells (label-retaining cells; LRCs) were identified in tubules of normal rat kidney and were shown to be the origin of proliferating cells after injury. In the present study, the involvement of LRCs in the age-related decline of tubular recovery after injury was examined. After 1 wk of BrdU labeling followed by a 2-wk chase period, ischemia-reperfusion injury was induced in 7-wk-, 7-mo-, and 12-mo-old rats. Age-related decreases in DNA synthesis and cell proliferation in renal tubules after injury were found. The number of LRCs also significantly declined with age. At 24 h after reperfusion, the number of LRCs significantly increased in all ages of rats tested. There was no significant difference in the ratio of LRC division among rats of different ages. The area of the rat endothelial cell antigen (RECA)-1-positive capillary network declined with age. When renal tubules isolated from rats treated with BrdU label were cocultured with human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC), the number of LRCs significantly increased compared with tubules cultured without HUVEC. These data suggest that the reduced capacity of tubular regeneration in the aging kidney is partly explained by the shortage of LRC reserves. The size of the LRC pool might be regulated by the surrounding peritubular capillary network.


The most frequent and devastating complication of the endovascular treatment of cerebral AVMs is hemorrhage. This report describes three patients with cerebral AVM who encountered bleeding during Onyx-18 embolization. The bleeding was discovered promptly during the procedure and hemorrhage quickly prevented using Onyx-18. All three patients recovered without any new neurological symptoms. Early detection and prevention of bleeding are very important during interventional procedures to avoid craniotomy and improve the prognosis of patients.


The first two parts of this monograph document that areas of the human neocortex heavily used to cope with a complex, language-driven society have been expanding rapidly and suggest strongly that this is linked with the huge upsurge that's occurred in myopia, and with the large gradual 20th-century increase in measured intelligence. Part III proposes mechanisms capable of supporting such rapid changes, without violating the basic precepts of Darwin's thinking. Part IV discusses the social and evolutionary ramifications of our apparent proclivity for rapid, progressive, adaptive neocortical change, and suggests areas for productive research.


This project discussed primarily on the geological study of Lenggong area, from Lata Kekabu, up to Lenggong Town with geological map as the end product. Observation of formation, sampling and some data collection on dip and strike reading are being taken throughout fieldwork that being conducted by road traversing, as well as river traversing method. Based on the stress analysis, the major force direction is from NE-SW direction.The second objective of this dissertation is to investigate the possibilities of meteorite ejecta from Bukit Bunuh that occur 1.83 million years ago, being trapped within the doline at Bukit Pecah Batu, 7km away. Samples of rocks are collected around the doline area for further analysis by conducting three experiments; thin section, X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), and X-Ray Fluorescent (XRF). Initial finding suggest that one of the sample collected from the doline area is a metallic meteorite due to the high amount of ferum in the sample. Nevertheless, a thorough study that is done reveals it as a hematite, based on the Mineral Resources Map of Perak. This remark is further supported by studying the nickels contain because there is no metallic meteorite with less than 5% content of nickel (Ni) while the sample only contains 0.05% of it.


Orbital-selective phenomena in mutliorbital systems have received much attention due to their uniqueness as well as possible connections to other phenomena. As orbital-selectiveness is mostly related to the crystal structure, finding a new control parameter other than structure would be of significant importance. Here we report discovery of an orbital-selective doping effect in ${\mathrm{Sr}}_{2}{\mathrm{Ru}}_{1\ensuremath{-}x}{\mathrm{Ir}}_{x}{\mathrm{O}}_{4}$ (SRIO). Our systematic electronic structure study of SRIO reveals an anomalous orbital-selective doping effect and concomitant Lifshitz transitions (LTs) in the $\ensuremath{\gamma}$ band. With the help of a tight-binding calculation, we find that the orbital-selective doping effect is due to variation in the spin-orbit coupling (SOC) strength. Our findings not only elucidate the mechanism of LTs in the $\ensuremath{\gamma}$ band in SRIO but may also open new avenues for novel SOC-controlled orbital-selective phenomena.


Scientists are faced with many challenges along their international trajectory as they balance professional and family goals. Certain theoretical frameworks support the concept that career paths are shaped by social and institutional forces in science, whereas other theories point to family constraint factors as the reasoning behind scientists' decisions to either go abroad or return home. Commonly, women scientists report many challenges when deciding to move internationally.
In this paper we aim to exploit data from the Survey on Human Resources in Science and Technology, carried out by the Spanish Statistical Office in 2010, by analysing the life course of 4,123 Spanish doctorate holders. The results indicate there is a strong influence of institutional forces constituting a scientific culture which promotes rules and certain habits about how scientists should progress in their careers. Such forces lead to increasing rates of international mobility. At the same time, the data reveal that decisions about leaving and returning depend on the life course of the doctorate holder, and usually involve some family and personal considerations. Women have adopted a similar career track to men regarding international mobility, although women with children present low rates of high mobility and, by contrast, childless women present higher rates of high mobility than childless men.


Abstract : Consider an array of Processing Elements (PEs), connected by a 2- dimensional grid network, and holding at most one operand of an expression in each PE. Suppose that each PE is allowed, in any one parallel step, to receive one item of data from any of its 4 immediate neighbors, and to transmit one datum, as well. How can an associative operator, such as addition, combine all the operands, using as little time for communication as possible? An expression using such a single operator is termed a uniform expression. When the total number of communication links used is the measure of goodness, this problem becomes a Steiner Tree problem, in the Manhattan Distance metric. When the measure is minimizing the parallel time to completion, a method for solving this problem is given which is optimal to within an additive constant of 2 time- steps. The method has applications when the operands are matrices, spread over an array of PEUs, as well. Some lower bounds for this problem, in more general networks, are also proven.


OBJECTIVE
To investigate the technique and its therapeutic effect of synchronous correction of lip and nasal deformity in complete bilateral cleft lip.

METHODS
29 patients with complete bilateral cleft lip underwent synchronous correction of lip and nasal deformity with the modified Mulliken method for Asians. The philtral flap was 6-7 mm in length, and 3-4 mm in width at the collumellar-labial junction. The distance between the peaks of cupid's bow was 4-5 mm. The bilateral edge of philtral flap was de-epithelialized and advanced to form philtrum column. The lateral lip was advanced to the medial site, and the central vermilion tubercle was constructed with the bilateral vermilion-mucosal flap. Through the alar rim incision, the displaced cartilage was dissected and repositioned to raise the nasal tip. The follow-up period was 6 months to 6 years.

RESULTS
Satisfactory results were achieved in all patients. The reconstructed upper lip had invisible scar with natural philtrum and column. The vermilion had good appearance with tubercle. The length of nasal column was not decreased and depression of nasal tip and alar was greatly improved.

CONCLUSIONS
Our modified Mulliken method is effective in synchronous correction of lip and nasal deformity in bilateral cleft lip.


Understanding and predicting climate change have recently acquired a sense of urgency with the advent of serious climate-related food shortages and with the realization that human activities may have an influence: on climate. Unfortunately, there is no comprehensive theory of climate to explain its variability, nor are there physical models that can adequately simulate the climate system. Hence there is a serious need for the development of quantitative mathematical models of climate, first to derive better understanding and ultimately to allow some degree of predictive capability. Many modeling approaches are available, ranging from simple one-dimensional representation of the vertical radiative processes in the atmosphere up to very complex mathematical systems that describe the three-dimensional behavior of the circulation of the atmosphere and ocean along with the chemical and thermodynamical processes that control the hydrological cycle and the existence of sea ice. Since the simpler models isolate the important physical processes that determine the climate, we weigh our discussion more heavily toward these but also discuss many aspects of the more complex models. We try to stress the fundamental physical basis of each kind of model and its contribution to the understanding of the simultaneous interactions (or feedbacks) of the many coupled processes that determine the climate. One difficulty in predicting climate change is the large degree of cancellation that occurs between many of the climatic feedback mechanisms. Considerable discussion is included of the applications of theories of baroclinic disturbances to the parameterization of eddy heat fluxes. Also stressed are basic energy balance approaches to the calculation of the surface temperature. Finally, we give our view of the future of climate modeling and argue that a flexible plan that vigorously pursues many avenues of approach is preferable. Although this review is often critical, we hope that it serves (1) to illustrate the multidisciplinary nature of climate simulation modeling and (2) to clarify the relative importance of individual contributions to the broader problems of understanding and (ultimately) predicting .climate change.


Mass Spectrometry- It is an analytical technique that generates charged particles in the form of ions from the substance to be analysed to measure its mass to charge ratio. Ion Source plays an important role for generation of charged ions which further travels through analyser and ends at detector. The production of intact molecular ions can be achieved under adequate experimental conditions, with minimal fragmentation known as soft ionization method. Neutral species either loss or gain of charge to generates ions. This paper covers an information about various type of mass ion Source (Electron impact, Chemical ionization and field ionization, Desorption-Field desorption, Electro spray ionization, matrix assisted desorption ionization, Plasma desorption) are in use for mass spectroscopy. Ions get affected by change in electrical, magnetic and radiofrequency effect as they containing either positive or negative charges this leads to better resolution of ions.


It will be shown that the affine fullerene C 60 , which is defined as an affine image of buckminsterfullerene C 60 , can be obtained only by means of the golden section. The concept of the affine fullerene C 60 will be constructed in a general GS-quasigroup using the statements about the relationships between affine regular pentagons and affine regular hexagons.The geometrical interpretation of all discovered relations in a general GS-quasigroup will be given in the GS-quasigroup C((1/2) (1 + √5)).


This paper shows how to obtain accurate and efficient trajectory calculations for spherical geodesic grids in Cartesian space. Determination of the departure points is essential to characteristic-based methods that trace the value of a function to the foot of the characteristics and then either integrate or interpolate at this location. In this paper, the departure points are all computed in relation to the spherical geodesic grids that are composed of a disjoint set of unstructured equilateral triangles. Interpolating and noninterpolating trajectory calculation approaches are both illustrated and the accuracy of both methods are compared. The noninterpolating method of McGregor results in the most accurate trajectories. The challenge in using McGregor's method on unstructured triangular grids lies in the computation of the derivatives required in the high-order terms of the Taylor series expansion. This paper extends McGregor's method to unstructured triangular grids by describing an accurate and efficient method for constructing the derivatives in an element by element approach typical of finite element methods. An order of accuracy analysis reveals that these numerical derivatives are second-order accurate.


We investigate the scattering of a particle from a trapping potential that is subjected to weak, parity–time symmetric periodic drivings. Using the Floquet theory, we derive the scattering matrix and calculate the transmittance of the incident particle. When the driving is purely coherent, our calculation recovers the known result and the transmission spectrum shows the familiar, bound-state-induced Fano resonances. When the driving is purely incoherent, we find the Fano resonances still occur, but the lineshape of each resonance is reversed compared to the coherent-driving counterpart. Intriguingly, the transmission resonances disappear when both the coherent and incoherent driving fields are present with equal amplitudes. This phenomena can be seen as a manifestation of the non-reciprocal coupling of Floquet channels in the frequency domain. Notably, when the frequency up-conversion is absent, the transmission is such as if there is no driving at all, even when the driving strength increases.