BACKGROUND
During surgery, ischaemic pre- (IPC) and post-conditioning (IPO) protects the liver against ischaemia/reperfusion injuries (I/R-injuries). The impact of ischaemic conditioning on liver regeneration has been less well studied. Angiogenesis is an important part of liver regeneration after hepatectomy. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of ischaemia/reperfusion and ischaemic conditioning on the expression of genes with angiogenic potential in a model of rat liver ischaemia.

METHODS
A model of total liver ischaemia (30 min) and reperfusion (30 min) was employed using Wistar rats. Rats were randomized into five groups: (C) control (IRI) ischaemic, IPC, IPO and IPC + IPO. Liver enzymes were sampled at the end of reperfusion. Liver biopsies were analysed using cDNA microarrays.

RESULTS
Alanine aminotransferase (ALT) increased significantly in all the ischaemic groups compared with controls (P= 0.000). Searching databases 99 genes involved in rat liver angiogenesis were identified. Compared with group (C) the number of genes significantly up-regulated was as follows: IRI (n= 5), IPC (n= 24), IPO (n= 33) and IPC + IPO (n= 18). No genes were down-regulated in the four groups compared with controls.

CONCLUSION
Ischaemic conditioning, as demonstrated in the present study, seems to be potent activators of angiogenic genes. This might be favourable to the regenerating liver.


We present NetAPI, a flexible communications interface. Although the ubiquitous Sockets API lets applications select among a number of mechanisms to accomplish networking tasks, it binds them tightly to their chosen mechanisms. Consequently, the network stack has little freedom in selecting the best protocols and mechanisms for each application, and innovating below the API is extremely difficult. NetAPI allows applications to specify their communication intents against an abstract interface that hides implementation mechanisms, encouraging innovation below the API. Application intents are combined with user policies and environmental conditions to let the network meet application goals in varied ways. We describe the design of NetAPI, comparing it to other system APIs that have supported evolution. We have also implemented a prototype of NetAPI called PANTS for the iPhone platform. We show that PANTS can provide innovative mobile networking features, such as disconnection tolerance, content quality adjustment and powersaving policies, without application modifications.


This article provides an overview of the problems of treatment and rehabilitation of patients with respiratory viral infections, including a novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), related to the issues of multiple etiologies, pathogenesis, clinical forms, limited evidence base on treatment and rehabilitation of patients with COVID-19. The questions of polypharmacy, unjustified prescription of antibacterial and antiviral therapy are discussed. Organizational difficulties of rehabilitation implementation in a pandemic are considered. Significant therapeutic and prophylactic properties of biologically active herbal medicines are presented as effective and safe means of treatment and rehabilitation of patients with respiratory viral infections. Their role in the stimulation of nonspecific resistance of the organism is considered. The combined herbal drug Carmolis drops, which has antiviral, antibacterial, bactericidal, antiinflammatory, immunostimulatory, adaptogenic and antistress effects, is presented. The potential of treatment and rehabilitation of patients with respiratory viral infections by using Carmolis drops are considered.


Introduction Chronic bronchitis (CB) symptoms are commonly reported in individuals without chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), but CB is rarely diagnosed in this population. Objectives We aimed to determine the prevalence and burden of CB, as well as its risk factors, in a population of patients without COPD. Patients and methods Data from the "Health Action" program (a lung cancer prevention and health care improvement program conducted in Proszowice County, Poland) were used. All county inhabitants aged 40 years or older without COPD were invited to participate. As part of the program, a questionnaire was administered to assess CB symptoms and risk factors. Spirometry at baseline and after the bronchodilator test was also performed. Results CB symptoms were present in 9.1% of the 3558 participants. The prevalence of CB in the study population was 7.12% (95% CI, 6.70-7.56). Patients with CB had more dyspnea and more often received medical treatment for lung disease or were hospitalized for respiratory disorders than patients without CB. CB was associated with worse lung function and a worse score in the modified Medical Research Council Dyspnea Scale even after adjustment for possible confounders. In a multivariate analysis, male sex, age over 70 years, current smoking, passive exposure to tobacco smoke, gas or wood heating, occupational exposure to chemical agents, lower forced expiratory volume in 1 second, and asthma correlated with an increased risk of CB. Conclusions CB symptoms are common in individuals without COPD aged 40 years or older and are associated with more dyspnea irrespective of lung function and comorbidities.


This paper investigates how to implement arbitrary global termination conditions and collect statistics in a parallel simulation. The problem is first discussed using Chandy and Sherman's space-time framework. Then termination conditions are categorized, and termination algorithms are given for several categories. The chief problem is that if one evaluates the termination condition asynchronously with respect to the simulation, when termination is detected the simulator has already modified old attribute values needed to compute output measures. The major conclusion is that minor modification of time warp permits use any termination condition. In contrast, conservative protocols permit limitied termination conditions unless they are modified to incorporate mechanisms present in optimistic protocols.


Elevated expression of survivin is observed in a number of cancer types, including human osteosarcoma. Few studies have demonstrated that survivin expression levels can be considered an independent predictor of survival for human osteosarcoma patients. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms of survivin in the process of human osteosarcoma carcinogenesis remain unclear. In the current study, we evaluated the biological effects of survivin knockdown on osteosarcoma cell proliferation, colony formation rate, and sensitivity to the chemotherapeutic agent cisplatin. We found that two different osteosarcoma cell lines, U2OS and Saos-2, have relatively higher expression levels of survivin, and specific knockdown of survivin resulted in a number of effects, such as inhibition of cell proliferation, decreased colony formation rate, cell cycle arrest at G2/M phase, induction of apoptosis, and increased sensitivity to cisplatin. In addition, we identified two microRNAs, miR-34a and miR-203, that are aberrantly expressed in human osteosarcoma cells and specifically target survivin by inhibiting its expression, therefore repressing osteosarcoma cell maintenance and proliferation.


The use of genetic algorithm (GA) integrated with method of moments (MoM), for the optimization design in electromagnetic engineering has gained much popularity in recent days [3]. Two of the main problems faced by designers during the optimization process are high computation time of the MoM analysis and limits to its searching capability. In this paper, the detailed discussion of some associated problems, as well proposed remedies will be presented. (4 pages)


Antioxidants are the innate or acquired molecules capable of slowing down or preventing the oxidative damage (damage due to reactive oxygen species) that caused by free radicals. The antioxidant enzyme activity in response to season as well as hydrocarbon pollution was attempted. Rayapuram fishing harbor of Chennai (Station-1) is highly oil contaminated with oil sleeks on the surface. The relatively moderate oil contaminated area (Station-2) is about 2 km away from the fishing harbor and the least contaminated Vellar estuary Parangipettai (Station-3) was considered as the reference site. The 2 year (2005-2007) observation was recorded seasonally; the antioxidant activity varied seasonally and organally (digestive gland, gill and mantle) in the marine green mussel Perna viridis. The common antioxidant enzymes such as Catalase (CAT), Superoxide Dismutase (SOD) and Glutathione Reductase (GR) activity were evaluated. The CAT and SOD are responded well with seasons (i.e., monsoon, pre-monsoon, post-monsoon and summer seasons). During monsoon period, both CAT and SOD activity are very low in all the Stations, in both pre-monsoon and post-monsoon period their activity were moderate and higher enzyme activity was noted during summer season. On contrary, the GR activity was noted as very low during summer and very high during pre or post monsoon and the activity was moderate during monsoon period. In addition the GR activity respond to temperature also but the other antioxidants CAT and SOD yielded no detectable activity. Among the organs liver showed higher CAT and SOD activity when compared to gill and mantle but the GR exhibited the increased activity in gill but not in liver.


This paper presents a distributed Demand and Response algorithm for smart grid with the objective of optimizing social-welfare. Assuming the power demand range is known or predictable ahead of time, our proposed distributed algorithm will calculate demand and response of all participating energy demanders and suppliers, as well as energy flow routes, in a fully distributed fashion, such that the social-welfare is optimized. During the computation, each node (e.g., demander or supplier) only needs to exchange limited rounds of messages with its neighboring nodes. It provides a potential scheme for energy trade among participants in the smart grids. Our theoretical analysis proves that the algorithm converges even if there is some random noise induced in the process of our distributed Lagrange-Newton based solution. The simulation also shows that the result is close to that of centralized solution.


The rapidly growing social phenomenon of texting has attracted researchers from diverse disciplines who seek to study its effects. Texting typically involves the use of abbreviations and other shortcuts to craft cell phone messages. Collectively, these abbreviations and shortcuts are referred to as "text speak." The authors observe that some mnemonics are very similar in form to various types of text speak. Based on the similarities, it is hypothesized that heavy texters will be more receptive to mnemonics and thus benefit more from them. The results of this study indicate that there is a significant relationship between heavy texting and the efficacy of mnemonics; however, the relationship is negative rather than positive as was hypothesized. Possible explanations, implications, and future research are discussed.


Abstract The Aberfan (Merthyr Vale) tip, which failed with disastrous consequences in 1966 (HMSO, 1969), was constructed above rocks subjected to artesian pressures. Two-thirds of the tip were removed after the failure and sub-surface drainage measures have been installed to secure the remainder. These include a drainage gallery, the construction and performance of which are the subject of this paper. The 'factor of safety' of a critical slope of the tip has been improved to an acceptable value by a reduction in the artesian pressures within the rock. Investigations before and during construction indicate that water moves towards the seat of the 1966 failure in a 20 m wide flexure in the rock adjacent to a hitherto unrecorded minor fault. It appears that tensional strains created by past mining have been concentrated within this structure the existence of which must be added to the other previously established factors which contributed to the failure. The profound anisotropy within the aquifer caused by this geological structure and mining history is demonstrated by the fact that an estimated 25% of the water entering the potential groundwater catchment is released from a length of aquifer equivalent to less than 1% of the available spring line.


One hundred and sixteen cattle sera were randomly selected from 17 farms in five different states of Malaysia (Perak, Terengganu, Johor, Melaka and Sabah). All serum samples were tested by Indirect Flourescent Antibody Test (IFAT) using specific conjugates (from VMRD). The results showed that only 2.6% were positive for Toxoplasma gondii.


Background: the cool-season grass Achnatherum inebrians (drunken horse grass) is an important species in the northwest grasslands of China. This grass engages in a symbiotic relationship with Epichloë endophytes, which affect host plants by increasing growth, repelling herbivores, and increasing tolerance to stressful environments. Methods: in this work, we evaluated the interaction effects of the endophyte on various dormancy-breaking treatments on A. inebrians seeds from six different locations. We used both endophyte-infected plants and noninfected plants and applied four dormancy-breaking methods to test germination. Results: our results showed that the germination rate of endophytic Achnatherum inebrians seeds from the Xiahe site (with highest altitude) was significantly higher than that from other sites when water soaking was applied (p < 0.05). Endophytic seeds had a greater germination rate, and soluble sugar, indole acetic acid (IAA), and gibberellin (GA) contents, under any condition. There was a significant interaction among the method, endophyte status, and origin regarding germination (p < 0.001); particularly, the effects of warm water soaking and endophyte infection on the germination of seeds from the Xiahe site was significant (p < 0.05). Conclusions: the infection of Epichloë endophyte is able to increase the content of soluble sugar, IAA, and GA, and stimulate the seed germination of A. inebrians.


Author(s): Harris, Michael Joseph | Advisor(s): Miglio, Viola G; Gries, Stefan Th | Abstract: This dissertation addresses the methodology used in classifying speech rhythms in order to resolve a long-standing linguistic conundrum about whether languages differ rhythmically. There is a widespread perception, both among linguists and the general population, that some languages are stress-timed and others are syllable timed. Stress-timed languages are described as having less-regular rhythms, as syllable durations vary according to the placement of stress in the phrase. Meanwhile, syllable-timed languages are described as displaying less variation in rhythm, which syllable durations being more regular. This dissertation quantitatively evaluates these described rhythmic differences in Spanish,Portuguese, and English. The first chapter introduces speech rhythms and reviews past literature on their perception and production. The second chapter evaluates a widely used metric of speech rhythms, the PVI, and determines that it is not effective in distinguishing between two dialects of Spanish. The third chapter compares the speech rhythms of Mexican and Chicano Spanish. This chapter concludes that Chicano Spanish is more restricted in its vowel duration variability, while Mexican Spanish employs both highly variable durations (i.e. stress-timed) and highly uniform durations (i.e. syllable-timed). The fourth chapter describes a perception study used to compare the speech rhythms of Spanish, English, and Portuguese, and shows that these languages' rhythms do not always group according to language. In the fifth chapter, I describe a study of the production of the same utterances initially used in the perception experiment; this allows an analysis of what prompts the perceptual differences in speech rhythm described in Chapter Four. The sixth and final chapter discusses the implications and applications of these findings and gives direction for further investigation. Although both production and perception studies of speech rhythms have been performed in the past, my dissertation expands these methodologies by combining production and perception data is a single analysis. I use perception data to relatively classify the rhythms of utterances through low-pass speech filtering, then analyze the production of these data computationally to provide a more complete perspective of what prompts differences in speech-rhythms and how Spanish, Portuguese, and English data relate rhythmically. Thus, my dissertation is thorough, while still addressing traditional rhythm metrics and employing current computational methodology. It seeks to challenge linguists' methodologies in quantitatively addressing speech rhythms, and to further clarify the position of Spanish, Portuguese, and English on the speech rhythm continuum.


Innovation among food processing firms is their lifeblood and commonly referred to as PPD—product and process development. For others—including the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development [OECD] (2005) besides PPD innovation—this also includes marketing and organizational development. This paper examined the extent to which these other dimensions of innovation are evident in this sector based on eight actual commercialization experiences. Data was obtained from 61 in-depth interviews with senior executives of firms and those along their respective supply chains, including customers. The data revealed commercialization results from multiple advances, called innovative initiatives. This research found the presence of the PPD definition, but it alone is insufficient to explain the more robust nature of innovation. Food processors are successful when they co-invent with customers and seek expertise beyond their firms to those across their supply chains and engage specialists, such as researchers and industry organizations. Further research needs to examine how innovators balance both PPD with other business activities, the importance of trusted relations, and decisions about resource allocation over 2 to 12 years. These are all critical when commercializing innovation in the food processing sector.

Keywords: PPD innovation, multiple definitions of innovation, commercialization of innovation, agri-food processing sector, Manitoba Canada, case study research


Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a novel noninvasive optical imaging technique that enables cross-sectional imaging of highly scattering biological tissues at the axial resolution of 10 micrometers or less. Technological advances in our laboratory and others have permitted high-contrast and high-resolution OCT imaging of turbid biological tissues at depths of up to 2-3 mm, highly desirable for screening various kinds of superficial lesions and the invasion of these lesions. In this study, we will demonstrate the potential of OCT as a powerful tool of 'optical biopsy' or 'optical guided biopsy' for the purpose of noninvasive imaging diagnosis as well as the limitations of current OCT techniques in identifying and diagnosing malignancies in these tissues. We will present ex vivo OCT images of animal urinary bladders and lesions (including cancers) in these tissues in comparison with the corresponding histologic evaluations. Based on the comparative studies between OCT and histology, we will analyze the image contrast of OCT or the patterns in OCT images in relation to the micro morphologies in these tissues and their alternations or lesions at different stages of tumorigenesis. We will also analyze the image contrast of OCT related to the blood vessels as well as other tissue functions such as fluid penetration and buildup in these tissues. Our results demonstrate the utility of OCT in high-resolution imaging to delineate the micro morphology of highly scattering tissues such as urinary bladders and the clinical relevance of OCT in diagnosing alternations or tumor growth in these tissues. Because of limitations to specificity and resolution of current techniques, OCT is presently unable to provide distinctive diagnosis of malignancies that require subcellular imaging or identification of subtle changes in nuclear morphology. However, certain characteristics associated with malignancies in bladders such as heavy vascularization and proliferation within the urothelial tissue can be clearly demonstrated.


During the 19th century, Ottoman law was influenced by the West. The Tanzimat reforms marked the beginning of criminal codification in the Ottoman Empire, whose Penal Code was adopted in 1858. It was modern in terms of format and content, and it differed from the penal laws of 1840 and 1851. Its first article stated that it shall not repeal the provisions of Sharia law. This dual nature of the code caused a lot of confusion. The complete replacement of Sharia law with modern European law did not happen suddenly, but gradually. This was necessary for the government to embrace the new ideas and understandings of the modern societies at that time. Therefore, the attempts of the Ottoman authorities to modernize the Empire's laws, particularly the ONK, cannot be denied.


Abstract Heating glucose with lysine under alkaline conditions (pH 7.0–10.0) was found to take place with consumption of oxygen together with formation of brown-colored compounds. Highly reactive intermediary radicals were detected when lysine and glucose were heated at intermediate water activity at pH 7.0 and 8.0. The detection was based on initial trapping of highly reactive radicals by ethanol followed by spin trapping of 1-hydroxyethylradicals with α-(4-pyridyl N-oxide)-N-tert-butylnitrone (POBN) and Electron Spin Resonance (ESR) spectroscopy. The generation of reactive intermediary radicals from the Maillard reactions was favored by enhancing alkaline conditions (pH 8.0) and stimulated by presence of the transition metal ion Fe2+. The stability of the nitrone spin traps, N-tert-butyl-α-phenylnitrone and POBN was examined in buffered aqueous solutions within the pH range 1–12, and found to be less temperature dependent at acidic pH compared to alkaline conditions. A low rate (kobs) of hydrolysis of POBN was found at the used experimental conditions of 70°C and pH 7.0 and 8.0, which made this spin trap method suitable for the detection of radicals in the Maillard reaction system.


In this paper, we give an overview of our participation in the timeline generation task of SemEval-2015 (task 4, TimeLine: Cross-Document Event Ordering). The main goals of this new track are, given a collection of news articles and a so-called target entity, to determine events that are relevant for the entity, to resolve event coreferences, and to order the events chronologically. We addressed the
sub-tasks, in which event mentions were provided, i.e., no additional event extraction was required. For this, we developed an ad-hoc approach based on a temporal tagger and a coreference resolution tool for entities. After determining relevant sentences, relevant events are extracted and anchored on a timeline. The evaluation conducted on three collections of news articles shows that our approach – despite its simplicity – achieves reasonable results and opens several promising issues for future work.


Pseudopregnancy (PSP) was induced in rats by vaginal stimulation and the levels of MSH in serum and pituitary were examined. One hour after vaginal stimulation, the serum MSH level was increased, and a cyclical variation was observed by the second day of PSP. There were two surges of about 50 pg/ml, one in the morning and the other at night. On the sixth day of PSP, the pattern of serum levels still showed two peaks, but while the nocturnal peak remained at 50 pg/ml, the diurnal value was halved. The pituitary MSH content also underwent cyclical variations; the lowest levels coincided with the peak levels in serum. These observations raise the possibility that MSH is involved in PSP.


The mutual predatory behaviour between Gammarus pulex (Linnaeus, 1758) and Gammarus duebeni celticus (Stock & Pinkster, 1970) is described. The implications of the predatory nature of these species are discussed in terms of the feeding ecology of Gammarus and other amphipods. Predation rates by males on moulted congeneric females are assessed and compared. When males are present at the moult of a congeneric female, 100%of females are eaten in both species/sex combinations. When females are allowed to recover from moulting prior to presentation to a congeneric male, predation rates are significantly reduced in both species. However, significantly more G. d. celticus females are eaten by G. pulex males compared with the reciprocal situation. The predatory 'clumping' behaviour of both species is described and shown to be a form of feeding frenzy upon congenerics. Clumping behaviour also results in significantly higher rates of congeneric predation on G. d. celticus females than on G. pulex females. Support is thus given to the hypothesis that differential predation by males on moulted females may be the primary mechanism by which the introduced G. pulex has displaced the native Irish species G. d. celticus. The implications of amphipod congeneric predation are discussed in terms of observed patterns of interspecific coexistence and exclusion.


The distribution, thickness, and mean grain size of surficial sediments on Sable Island Bank, Middle Bank, and Banquereau, Scotian Shelf, are used to re-evaluate interpretations made by others on mechanisms controlling long-term stability and net transport pathways of surface sand. A Holocene sand-ridge complex, the Sable Island Catena, extends 300 km across Sable Island Bank and Banquereau. This sand-ridge complex, which is up to 50 m thick, formed as a result of Holocene sediment transport on the outer banks and controls the modern-day distribution of bedforms and sediment size. A clockwise circulation of sand centred around Sable Island, which had been proposed as the mechanism maintaining the island, does not take place. Sand is transported from southwest to northeast across Sable Island Bank towards the Sable Island Catena; thereafter, sand is dispersed eastward. "Spillover" of sand from the banks to The Gully is not significant. Sand is trapped in depths less than 100 m. The processes proposed to ha...


This paper describes a hitherto unidentified adaptation in Grooved Ware pottery at the Ness of Brodgar, Orkney (Fig. 1). The technological technique adopted appears designed to cope with a common problem of Grooved Ware potters at the Ness: that of detached cordons, where applied decorative cordons on the exterior surface of the vessels are knocked off or simply fall off. The evidence shows that, in the case of one large pottery deposit from the site, some vessel exteriors were specially prepared in order to ensure cordon adhesion. The Ness of Brodgar site is introduced, issues surrounding pottery production and applied decoration in the Late Neolithic, particularly in Orkney, are noted and the problem-solving sherds are described. The paper is illustrated in part by the use of Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI).


Introduction: Screening silent myocardial ischemia in asymptomatic patients with type 2 diabetes is still controversial. The purpose of the present study was to define the value of diabetic foot ulcer (DFU) in the prediction of silent myocardial ischemia in asymptomatic men and women with type 2 diabetes. Methods: We performed a cross sectional study on 150 diabetic patients with DFU, as cases, and 90 diabetic patients, without the history of any type of DFU, as controls. Presence of silent myocardial ischemia was assessed by dipyridamole single-photon emission- computed tomography myocardial perfusion (SPECT) imaging with thallium-201. Results: Patients with DFU had longer diabetes duration, higher serum HbA1C, and lower serum high density lipoprotein cholesterol levels, compared to patients without DFU. There were a greater number of women with silent myocardial ischemia (28/63 (44.4%) vs. 28/87 (32.2%); p<0.05) in patients with DFU compared to men. There were a greater number of men with silent myocardial ischemia compared to women (10/47(21.3%) vs. 2/43 (4.7%); p<0.05) in patients without DFU. Logistic regression analysis demonstrated that the odds ratio of having silent myocardial ischemia was 2.96 in women with DFU, 0.18 in women without DFU and 1.75 in men with DFU compared to men without DFU, adjusting for HbA1c, HDL-C and diabetes duration. Discussion: Women with DFU are at an increased risk of having silent myocardial ischemia, compared to male counterparts.


Abstract The efficiency of a system containing silanol-terminated polydimethylsiloxane (silanol), a cross-linker and a catalyst for the conservation of waterlogged Neolithic archaeological wood has been evaluated. The conservation procedure presented in this work requires four main steps: dehydration of waterlogged wood with acetone, exchange of acetone with turpentine, silanol impregnation and curing. The final product of curing is a three-dimensional polysiloxane network, which in fact constitutes the conservation material. To optimize the procedure, the effect of artefact size, dehydration agent used, and curing conditions on the antishrink efficiency (ASE) have been studied. The pine and oak waterlogged archaeological wood samples treated accordingly preserved their identity perfectly. Their diagnostic attributes have been preserved well. No collapsing or shrinking was observed. The colour, weight and feel were those of natural wood.


Proteolytically degradable poly(ethylene) glycol (PEG) hydrogels have been investigated as tissue engineering scaffolds; however, cell invasion and tissue regeneration are limited by the rate of cell-mediated degradation due to the small mesh size of the resultant crosslinked network. Gelatin leaching is combined with photopolymerization to form porous matrix-metalloproteinase (MMP)-sensitive PEG scaffolds under cytocompatible conditions in the presence of cells. Gelatin leaching allows control over pore size and porosity through selectivity of gelatin bead particle size and porogen loading, respectively. Increases in porogen loading lead to increased porosity, decreased compressive modulus and degradation time, and enhanced proliferation of encapsulated vascular smooth muscle cells.


This paper analyzes how innovation in services is being organised in the telecommunication industry after the bubble burst in the beginning of the 2000's and how BT is applying the concept of 'open innovation' in order to sustain its competitiveness. The IP (Internet Protocol) has become an unprecedented agreement in the telecommunications industry for the transformation of its traditional PSTN (Public Switched Telecommunications Network) infrastructure. While this infrastructure transformation is under way, another huge challenge is service innovation: to change the way the traditional telecommunications operators create, integrate and deliver new services. Initial findings suggest that incumbent telecommunications firms will be increasingly extracting value from platform and software sharing, exposing its 'capabilities' to third parties and developing business models to interoperate with other companies. Thus, the ability to expose their capabilities in services, not to hide them, will be determinant of its success. And, in this context, the concept of open innovation and value innovation also find a fertile ground to be applied in services in the communication industry. Important dynamic capabilities identified in this context are strategic planning, project management, new product/service development (especially software development), supported by systems integration.


Compliance in actuation has been exploited to generate highly dynamic maneuvers such as throwing that take advantage of the potential energy stored in joint springs. However, the energy storage and release could not be well-timed yet. On the contrary, for multi-link systems, the natural system dynamics might even work against the actual goal. With the introduction of variable stiffness actuators, this problem has been partially addressed. With a suitable optimal control strategy, the approximate decoupling of the motor from the link can be achieved to maximize the energy transfer into the distal link prior to launch. However, such continuous stiffness variation is complex and typically leads to oscillatory swing-up motions instead of clear launch sequences. To circumvent this issue, we investigate decoupling for speed maximization with a dedicated novel actuator concept denoted Bi-Stiffness Actuation. With this, it is possible to fully decouple the link from the joint mechanism by a switch-and-hold clutch and simultaneously keep the elastic energy stored. We show that with this novel paradigm, it is not only possible to reach the same optimal performance as with power-equivalent variable stiffness actuation, but even directly control the energy transfer timing. This is a major step forward compared to previous optimal control approaches, which rely on optimizing the full time-series control input.


Background: Post-operative nausea and vomiting (PONV) is a ′big little′ problem especially after laparoscopic surgeries. Palanosetron is a new potent 5 hydroxy tryptamine 3 antagonists. In this randomized double blind clinical study we compared the effects of i.v. ondansetron and palanosetron administered at the end of surgery in preventing post-operative nausea and vomiting in patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy under general anesthesia. Materials and Methods: A total of 100 subjects between 18-60 years with Apfel score ≥2, were randomly assigned into one of the two groups, containing 50 patients each. Group A received ondansetron 4 mg i.v. and Group B received palanosetron 0.07 5mg i.v. both as bolus before induction. The incidence of nausea, retching and vomiting, incidence of total PONV, requirement of rescue antiemetics and adverse effects were evaluated during the first 24 h following end of surgery. Results: The incidence of nausea was significantly lower in patients who had received palanosetron (16%) as compared to ondansetron (24%). Need of rescue antiemetics was significantly higher in patients receiving ondansetron (32%) as compared to palanosetron (16%). The incidence of total PONV was also significantly lower in group receiving palanosetron (20%) as compared to ondansetron (50%). Among the side effects, headache was noted significantly higher with ondansetron (20%) as compared to palanosetron (6%). Conclusion: Palanosetron has got better anti-nausea effect, less need of rescue antiemetics, favourable side effect profile and a decrease in the incidence of total PONV as compared to ondansetron in 24 h post operative period in patients undergoing laproscopic cholecystectomy under general anesthesia.


Whereas the contribution of design thinking has already been appreciated both in academic literature and practice in the West, there have been little serious and comprehensive studies focusing on Hong Kong and China. This case study paper, therefore, reports about the design innovation practice in Fung Group, a Hong Kong-based company whose core businesses operate across the global supply chain for consumer goods including sourcing, logistics, distribution and retailing. The analysis (1) identifies and describes design practices that the company initiated to support service innovation (including new products, processes and business models) (2) identifies challenges in adopting and institutionalising such practices. The results show that the company supports both externally and internally oriented design practices – and loosens the boundary between the two – through the activities in the Fung Academy and a new innovation hub, Explorium, with a particular focus on utilising digital technologies. Specifically, the study demonstrates how the company empowers and involves a variety of stakeholders (individuals, groups, and organisations) in value co-creating practices involving absorptive, collaborative, and adaptive practices that aim to challenge or disrupt current practices. The study uncovers that some of the major challenges in such aspirations lie in the adaptation of design thinking organising logic and mindset to specifics of the Chinese socio-cultural context.


Accreditation criteria require the use of planning committees for continuing nursing education activities. More than just meeting a requirement, though, these committees can be valuable tools in guiding development of helpful, effective continuing nursing education learning activities.


Abstract The economy of Latvia lags behind economically developed nations approximately fourfold in terms of labour productivity in the tradable sector, which is the key constituent of a modern economy, thereby affecting future sustainable development in the entire country, including the rural areas. The economic backwardness is characteristic of the entire Central and Eastern Europe. This is the heritage of a communist regime that lasted for about half a century and the economic system termed a (centrally) planned economy or a command economy. However, such a term for the communist-period economy is not correct, as it does not represent the purpose it was created for. Accordingly, the paper aims to assess the effect of the communism period on the economic backwardness of the Central and Eastern European region of the EU. A planned economy that existed in all communist countries, with the exception of Yugoslavia, was not introduced to contribute to prosperity. It was intended for confrontation or even warfare by the communist countries under the guidance of the USSR against other countries where no communism regime existed, mostly Western world nations with their market economies. For this reason, it is not correct to term it a (centrally) planned economy or a command economy; the right term is a mobilised (war) economy. An extrapolation of a geometric progression for GDP revealed that during the half a century, Latvia as part of the USSR was forced to spend on confrontation with the West not less than EUR 17 bln. (2011 prices) or approximately one gross domestic product of 2011. The research aim of the paper is to assess the effect of the communism period on the economic backwardness of the Central and Eastern European region of the EU.


Internal-migration is the process of displacement of people within a country, mostly for better employment. Pakistan is among those South-Asian countries who have high rate of internal-migration. Poverty is considered to be an important factor in this context. This study estimates the rural-household poverty in Pakistan's Faisalabad District and the impact of internal-migration on rural-household poverty. By using stratified random sampling technique, 180 respondents were selected and interviewed. Propensity Score Matching method was used to examine the causal effect of internal-migration on household-poverty level. Results reveal that the ATT estimates of 0.18 for poverty reduction which shows that the household participation in the internal-migration decreases the probability of poverty by 0.18 points, suggesting that internal-migration has a significant impact on poverty reduction among the rural-households. The study suggests the policy makers to focus on rural development and enhance labor productivity, so that internal-migration is discouraged, which will ultimately reduce poverty. Keywords: Internal-Migration, Rural-Poverty, Pakistan JEL Classifications: I320, J11, D310, D12


The miscibility in blends of polylactic acid (PLA) and poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) was investigated by means of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), polarized optical microscopy (POM) and rheology using a specifically designed thermal procedure. The direct observation of a phase separated morphology using phase contrast optical microscopy, is difficult because of the quite close refractive indices of the two components. Liquid–liquid phase separation (LLPS) was confirmed by the appearance of two glass transitions after the samples have been annealed at low temperatures (95–125 °C). Moreover, the accelerated crystallization rate after the sample annealing at high temperatures (140–160 °C) also indicated the existence of LLPS, according to a fluctuation-assisted nucleation mechanism. An upper critical solution temperature (UCST) type of phase diagram was derived using the combination of DSC and rheological methods. Furthermore, the effects of LLPS on the kinetics of the subsequent crystallization of PLA in blends with 15 wt% PEG and 30 wt% PEG were investigated. Considering the complex effects of LLPS on the crystallization, we proposed a new model that integrates the Lauritzen–Hoffman theory and the self-concentration theory to account for the influence of miscibility on the crystallization in blends with different thermal histories. It is suggested that the effect of acceleration or deceleration of LLPS on the subsequent crystallization in a highly asymmetric system, depends on the interplay between the fluctuation-assisted nucleation and the variation of mobility during LLPS.


This paper presents an analysis of the stress system in the Nahualá dialect of K'ichee' (a Mayan language spoken in Western Guatemala) and discusses the theoretical implications of K'ichee' stress. In K'ichee', quantity sensitivity is dependent on position within a word rather than syllable structure. The analysis of K'ichee' suggests the need for a uniform analysis of foot structure within OT so that stress is always dependent on foot structure rather than syllable structure (with the effects of quantity sensitivity resulting from the equation of a foot with a single syllable). The proposed analysis is applied to the case of Hixkaryana, which has been problematic for OT models of stress (cf. Halle and Idsardi 2000), showing that the analysis proposed here overcomes many of the problems found in Kager's (1999) analysis of stressed-syllable lengthening in Hixkaryana.


Proximal Policy Optimization (PPO) is a highly popular model-free reinforcement learning (RL) approach. However, we observe that in a continuous action space, PPO can prematurely shrink the exploration variance, which leads to slow progress and may make the algorithm prone to getting stuck in local optima. Drawing inspiration from CMA-ES, a black-box evolutionary optimization method designed for robustness in similar situations, we propose PPO-CMA, a proximal policy optimization approach that adaptively expands the exploration variance to speed up progress. With only minor changes to PPO, our algorithm considerably improves performance in Roboschool continuous control benchmarks. Our results also show that PPO-CMA, as opposed to PPO, is significantly less sensitive to the choice of hyperparameters, allowing one to use it in complex movement optimization tasks without requiring tedious tuning.


Online food delivery service (OFDS) has been widely utilized during the new normal of COVID-19 pandemic especially in a developing country such as Indonesia. The purpose of this study was to determine factors influencing customer satisfaction & loyalty in OFDS during the new normal of COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia by utilizing an extended Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) approach. 253 respondents voluntarily participated and answered 65 questions. Structural equation modeling (SEM) indicated that Hedonic Motivation (HM) was found to have the highest effect on customer satisfaction, followed by Price (P), Information Quality (IQ), and Promotion (PRO). Interestingly, this study found out that usability factors such as Navigational Design (ND) and Perceived Ease of Use (PEOU) were not significant to customer satisfaction and loyalty in OFDS during the new normal of COVID-19. This study can be the theoretical foundation that could be very beneficial for OFDS investors, IT engineers, and even academicians. Finally, this study can be applied and extended to determine factors influencing customer satisfaction and loyalty in OFDS during the new normal of COVID-19 in other countries.


In this paper we have presented a Public Key Infrastructure for wireless sensor networks. The scheme tries to solve the problem of security in WSN by the use of public key cryptography as a tool for ensuring the authenticity of the base station. RSA is composed of two phases, the first is the sensor to base station handshake in which the base station and a given sensor node setup a session key to secure end to end link between them, this handshake is protected and authenticated using the public key of the base station. The second phase is the use of this session key for data encryption to ensure confidentiality and ensuring the integrity of the exchanged data using the MAC joined to each packet.


A Physical activity is beneficial to children's health, yet academic pressures limit opportunities for students throughout the school day. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of a classroom PA intervention on student academic performance outcomes. Intervention participants (n=15) received daily PA breaks. Reading and mathematics fluency, PA, grades, and standardized test scores were collected. Effects of the intervention were examined using mixed-design ANOVAs. Intervention students had significantly higher reading fluency and mathematics scores postintervention and higher means for standardized reading and mathematics scores as well as grades. Short bouts of PA are important for improving CBM math and reading fluency scores. Classroom teachers should be encouraged to devote time during academic learning to incorporate PA.


Abstract Delay tolerant network (DTN) has been utilized for intermittent network, where no. of hosts are movable, there is no fixed topology and connection is opportunistic. It is challenging to transmit data in such opportunistic environment. DTN is also applied in Vehicular nodes known as Vehicular delay tolerant network (VDTN). The message transmission in VDTN using different routing protocols needs to be improved as VDTN suffers from the high speed of vehicles, short contact time and unstable topology and very high delay for message passing. The objective of this paper is to do comparative analysis of five different protocols of VDTN with variance of various parameters and suggest one protocol for optimum performance concentrating Overhead Ratio. Overhead Ratio is compared on parameters variation in no. of nodes, buffer size and transmission data rate. Rating system is used to analyze comparative study. All protocols are implemented using The ONE simulator.


We build on of the work of Henry-Labordµere and Lewis on the small-time behaviour of the return distribution under a general local-stochastic volatility model with zero correlation. We do this using the Freidlin-Wentzell theory of large deviations for stochastic differential equations, and then converting to a differential geometry problem of computing the shortest geodesic from a point to a vertical line on a Riemmanian manifold, whose metric is induced by the inverse of the diffusion coefficient. The solution to this variable endpoint problem is obtained using a transversality condition, where the geodesic is perpendicular to the vertical line under the aforementioned metric. We then establish the corresponding small-time asymptotic behaviour for call options using Holder's inequality, and the implied volatility. This avoids the use of possibly non-differentiable viscosity solutions, and we show that the distance function is actually a classical solution to the non-linear eikonal equation, which is analysed at length in Busca et al. We also derive a series expansion for the implied volatility in the small-maturity limit, in powers of the log-moneyness, and we show how to calibrate such a model to the observed implied volatility smile in the small-maturity limit. Finally, we introduce the hyperbolic stochastic volatility model, which satisfies the boundedness and Lipschitz conditions required to be able to apply the Freidlin-Wentzell theory, and we give numerical examples.


Due to the rapid development of science and techniques, people can remotely access computers over the networks. Thus, user authentication and key agreement become more and more important to ensure the legality of the user and the security of later communications, respectively. Because the number of servers providing the facilities for the user is usually more than one, the concept of multi-server protocols is introduced. On the Internet, each server usually provides various services, and each service provided by the server may not be accessed by the user. Hence, access control is required in the multi-service environment. In 2004, Juang proposed a multi-server authentication scheme with key agreement. However, access control is not taken into account in Juang's proposed scheme, so we propose an efficient multi-server password authenticated key agreement scheme with access control in this article.


As new and old media articulate with each other, it is possible to find traces of each media in the other one. Although new media is fed from old media by re-telecasting [rebroadcasting] what has been telecasted [broadcasted] in old media, old media subject new media in to its various programs or products. As it is known, cinema, which can be considered as old media and as an ideological state apparatus, is one of the influential medium in the process of naturalizing and normalizing 'dominant' as dominant. Because of this, representation of new media in old media is explored to understand how the dominant power relations or old mainstream media represent or portray new mainstream or new (?) dominant power relations. During the present study, "unchanging political economic structures in the field of media industry" and the way they legitimate and naturalize their superiority is the main argument that has been taken for granted. For the purpose of the present study, the motion-picture "The Social Network" is analyzed in terms of investigating how the messages were coded and how the reality of Facebook as a new product of dominant power relations was constructed.


Worldwide, rotaviruses account for 600,000 to 870,000 deaths per year among infants and young children. In Brazil, rotaviruses were first seen in 1976 by scanning electron microscopy of stool samples from diarrheic infants in Belém, Pará. Hospital-based studies have shown that rotaviruses are associated with 12-42% of cases of acute diarrhea. In addition, community-based studies yielded an average of 0.25 rotavirus-related diarrheal episodes per child per year. G types 1 to 4 account for about two-thirds of circulating strains, but the (unusual) P[8],G5 genotype has been claimed to cause over 10% of rotavirus diarrheal episodes. It has been shown that over 70% of children develop rotavirus antibodies by the age of 4-5 years. The tetravalent rhesus-human rotavirus vaccine (RRV-TV) conferred 35% protection according to a two-year follow-up study in Belém, Pará, Brazil, but reached an efficacy of 60% during the first year of life. RRV-TV was also shown to be 75% protective against very severe gastroenteritis in northern Brazil. Vaccination with RRV-TV has been suspended recently in the United States because of the detection of intussusception as a side effect. Therefore, further vaccine trials in Brazil will probably involve rotavirus candidate vaccines other than RRV-TV.


This paper describes the initial steps towards the development of a foam concrete-aerogelcomposite for thermal insulation in lightweight sandwich facade elements. Fire safety is an important issuepertaining insulation materials. Therefore, the need for low-density inorganic, non-flammable materials israpidly increasing. Foam concrete is a lightweight material with good thermal characteristics; densities aslow as 400 kg/m3 and thermal conductivities as low as 100 mW/m·K can easily be achieved. The mainadvantage when compared to typical inorganic insulations (e.g. autoclaved aerated concrete or mineralwool) is that foam concrete has a much lower embodied energy, in particular due to the simplicity of themanufacturing process. However, in order to be competitive as an effective insulation material, thethermal conductivity needs to be drastically reduced which can be achieved by reducing the density andby incorporating silica aerogels (both measures affecting the compressive strength).


Abstract. Soil erosion is a highly complicated phenomenon consisting of many component processes. On upland areas, these processes are usually thought of as detachment and transport of soil particles by rainfall and surface flow. One of the most difficult processes to quantify is sediment transport. This process depends on a host of factors including sediment type, size, size distribution, and concentrations on one hand and the flow regime relative to rates and velocities on the other hand. The effect of all of these factors is influenced by soil surface cover and surface roughness conditions. The National Sedimentation Laboratory has in recent years conducted a series of basic laboratory studies to better understand sediment movement in shallow overland flow. These experiments involved super-critical flow regimes in a 7 m long and 10 cm wide channel in which sand-size material was seeded at the upstream end at controlled rates in a super-critical flow regime with Froude numbers >1. Particle sizes were coarse sand (1000 to 1400 I¼m), medium sand (600 to 850 I¼m), and spherical glass beads (600 to 1000 I¼m). Measurements included particle velocity and particle concentrations using photonic probes. Three modes of transport were noted: a saltation mode at low concentrations, sediment waves in which sediment moved in regularly spaced waves, and a meander mode. The latter two modes were attributed to particle interactions. The transported sediment was continuously collected at the downstream end by a rotating sampler. A curvilinear increase in transport rate was noted with an increase in seeding rate until a critical saltation limit was reached, after which a decrease in sediment movement occurred with the formation of organized sediment structures. The small structures were waves with spacings of the order of magnitude of tens of particle diameter, while the larger-scale meander had wavelengths of hundreds of particle diameters. The measured pseudo-equilibrium transport rates were smallest in the meander mode, followed by the wave mode. A relationship was obtained that described the transition from the saltation mode to the wave mode in terms of a critical solid concentration.


This paper validates the performance of wideband CDMA UE modem under the propagation conditions specified in 3GPP TS25.101. The performance graphs in this paper are obtained via Monte-Carlo simulation over a finite measurement period using the HW-equivalent fixed-point model. Employed top-down design methodology and corresponding work efforts on each task are stated to demonstrate the effectiveness of the methodology.


Attribute grammars constitute a formal mechanism for specifying translations between languages; from a formal description of the translation, a translator can be automatically constructed. This process is taken one step further; given an attribute grammar specifying the translation from language L1 to language L2, the question of whether the inverse attribute grammar specifying the inverse translation from L2 to L1 can be automatically generated is addressed. It is shown how to solve this problem for a restricted subset of attribute grammars. This inversion process allows compatible two-way translators to be generated from a single description. To show the practical feasibility of attribute grammar inversion, experience in inverting an attribute grammar used as an interface for a formal database accessing language, SQL, is related. The attributed grammar is used to paraphrase SQL database queries in English.


To the Editors:

The following statement was adopted unanimously at the May 17, 2009, meeting of the International Respiratory Journal Editors Roundtable.

In our collective experience as editors of international peer-reviewed journals, we propose that the impact factor calculated for individual journals should not be used as a basis for evaluating the significance of an individual scientist's past performance or scientific potential. There are several reasons not to equate …


Physicians are the most pivotal players in the pharmaceutical market. Physician plays the part of backhanded purchaser for the patients by diagnosing, selecting a particular therapy segment and prescribing the particular brand of the separate medication. There are many conditions which lead or advance the relationship between the pharmaceutical companies and medical practitioners. The requirement for knowledge about the pharmaceutical products requires the high involvement of the physicians in the product field. Physician's perceived need for training and eventually develops an association with pharmaceutical companies in terms of continuing medical education. This paper based on the review of several pieces of literature like research papers of different scholars and industrial experts, industry forecast reports, government reports and several other studies which describe the impact on Physician Prescribing Behavior. The main goal of this paper is to find new faces of enquiry, gain methodological ideas, and discover important variables which have their high impact on Physician Prescribing Behavior.


Purpose. The growth of social media in society has the effect that almost every citizen is using it. Social media are both used in the private field, and the work field. Social media makes it possible to place. Social media makes it possible to post content on the internet without further control. This does not only provide possibilities but also brings risks with it. The context of this research will focus particularly on potential risks of social media for the police, if social media is used by police officers. It examines whether negative posts from police officers affect both the citizens' confidence in the police as well as the willingness to cooperate. This is checked both at the level of individual as well as organizational.
Methods This study is a 2 (Source: Organization versus individual) x 2 (Message: neutral vs. negative) between subjects factorial design study. To measure trust the trust-scale of Mayer, Davis, and Schoormann (1995) is used. Willingness to cooperate is measured using the Black and Minority Ethnic Survey (BME).
Results. For general trust both source and message had no significant main effect. But an interaction-effect was found for source and message. It was found that neutral or negative value of a message has a statistically significant effect on trust that is experienced when the post comes from a police organization. When the message is sent by a police officer it does not affect the experienced trust. Measuring the sub-constructs ability, benevolence and integrity, only ability had a marginally significant main effect for message. For negative messages trust was lower than for neutral messages. For the construct willingness to cooperate no significant effect could be found.
Conclusion. This study shows that private messages from police officers have no impact on citizens' trust in the police. Messages from an organizational resource appear to diminish the trust of citizens in the police. Willingness to cooperate was not altered by this experiment.


Because a switched reluctance motor has inherently nonlinear magnetic characteristics and a doubly salient pole structure, a finite-element analysis approach (FEA) is often adopted to obtain accurate magnetic representation. However, the solution time can be large for a FEA simulation if the mesh is detailed and/or many simulations are required. We propose a rapid analytical solution for determining the aligned and unaligned flux linkage using a magnetic circuit model. We present a simple method for obtaining the air-gap permeance for unaligned linkage. The results of our method agree well with FEA solutions.


Whole cell and single-channel patch-clamp techniques were used to identify and characterize the Cl- currents responsible for adenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate (cAMP)-mediated Cl- secretion in the rectal gland of the spiny dogfish (Squalus acanthias). During whole cell recordings, in cultured rectal gland cells forskolin (10 microM) and 8-(4-chlorophenylthio)adenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate (400 microM) stimulated a 28-fold increase in Cl- conductance (n = 10). This cAMP-activated conductance pathway had a linear current-voltage (I-V) relationship that was time and voltage independent. Substitution of 235 meq Cl- with I- in the bath inhibited the cAMP-activated current at both positive and negative voltages (64%). Glibenclamide (60 microM) abolished the cAMP-stimulated current, and its effect was irreversible (n = 3). During cell-attached recording, increased cellular cAMP activated single Cl- channels in nine previously quiet patches. These channels had a linear I-V relationship with an average single-channel conductance of 5.1 +/- 0.2 pS (n = 6). Similar properties were observed in excised inside-out patches, permitting further characterization of the single-channel properties. Excised quiescent patches could be activated by the addition of ATP and protein kinase A. Replacing bath Cl- with I- inhibited both inward and outward currents (n = 3). In three inside-out patches, glibenclamide (300 microM) reversibly reduced open probability by 74%, with no effect on single-channel current amplitude. Similar results were obtained in four outside-out recordings. These results suggest that increased cellular cAMP in dogfish rectal gland activates a small linear Cl- channel that resembles human cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator in its biophysical and pharmacological properties.


The use of internet and social media for health information sharing is expanding among public, pharmacists and other healthcare professionals over the past few years. Research investigating the use of internet and social media in the practice of pharmacy is growing, however, little is known on the delivery of pharmacy services through these media platforms. Hence, this study aimed to investigate the roles of pharmacist in media in providing healthcare information, to evaluate public perception and acceptance towards pharmacist using media as a platform information sharing and to find out public expectation towards pharmacy services in media. A total of 200 respondents were involved by random sampling in this cross-sectional study. Study duration was from October until November 2019. The self-administered questionnaire was adapted from previous study investigating the public preferred source of healthcare advices. Majority of the respondents agree that media platforms can be used by pharmacist to improve patient-pharmacist communication with 76.5% expected that social media has the potential to become an established channel for patient-pharmacist communication. 61.0% of the respondents also acknowledged pharmacist to be very knowledgeable on health-related information by providing accurate information. This study provided insights into the public view towards the roles of pharmacist and their expectation towards pharmacist sharing health-related information in media platforms. Participants recognized the potential use of media platforms for healthcare information sharing. To enhance pharmacist presence and impact on public health through digital media platforms, it is important to start incorporating digital medium into their pharmacy services. Keywords : pharmacist; media; role; health information; perception DOI : http://dx.doi.org/10.17576/JSKM-2021-1901-18


The length of this stream, taking Blairpark, which is about equidistant from Largs and Kilbirnie, as a starting point, may be roundly stated as seven miles to the town of Dalry. Its course, for the first 2½ miles to the Howrat toll-bar is south-east, from whence it runs south for about two miles, and then taking a sharp turn, almost at a right angle, shortly resumes nearly its former course of south-east into Dalry. Its upper reaches run nearly along the line of the Largs and Kilbirnie road as far as the toll-bar above mentioned, but it has comparatively little interest for the geologist, as the ground through which it winds its course, although of igneous character, is generally covered with verdure and wanting in any marked features to attract attention. I therefore confine the description to about two miles of the stream below the toll, where the first important section of volcanic rocks occurs, to the upthrown strata of the carboniferous system, about 2¼ miles from Dalry, where it again ceases to possess any novel or more marked character. As developed at this first section below Howrat toll-bar, water and weathering have worn out considerable cavities, and there are in succession, from the water surface, or rather a little under it, beds of hard porphyritic greenstone, trappean ash, eight feet thick, of a blackish grey colour, graduating into a plain compact amorphous greenstone, ten feet thick, capped by eight feet of dolerite, being a well-defined prismatic trap of rhomboidal This 250-word extract was created in the absence of an abstract


T he times they are a'changing," at least in the . social sciences, where calls have recently been made for theoretical and empirical attention to what is best about life. In this essay, I discuss positive social science by using as points of departure three recent books that each exemplifies this approach. Honesty compels me to say that this is not a dispassionate book review. The authors and editors of the books on focus are not strangers to me-they are valued colleagues and close friends, fellow travelers in this new field of positive social science. Indeed, I contributed two chapters to the book edited by Cameron, Dutton, and Quinn, and some of my ongoing research on character strengths is featured in the book written by Seligman. With these entanglements made clear, I start by saying that all of these books are worth owning and more importantly worth reading. If positive social science indeed becomes a viable enterprise, then each


CD8+ cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) are critical for eliminating virally infected cells. Upon target recognition, CTLs reorganize their actin cytoskeleton to facilitate the polarized secretion of specialized granules containing lytic proteins that kill cells. Because a single CTL can kill multiple targets, granule secretion must be tightly regulated, ensuring only appropriate cells are killed, and preserving granules for serial killing. However, how CTLs regulate secretion remains unclear. Here, we used live confocal and TIRF microscopy to evaluate how cortical actin affects granule secretion at the membrane. While previous work has shown that clearance of actin at the synapse precedes granule secretion, we find that after granule fusion, cortical actin recovers and no further secretion is observed. Depolymerization of recovered actin led to resumed granule fusion, suggesting that recovered actin acts as a barrier to prevent further lytic granule secretion. We further show that CTLs from mice unable to secrete granules due to a Rab27a mutation that prevents granule fusion, failed to recover cortical actin at the synapse. This suggests that granule fusion itself triggers actin recovery in CTLs. Thus, cortical actin both regulates, and is regulated by, secretion. Finally, using fluorescent reporters, we correlated the clearance and recovery of actin with PIP2. PIP2 binds numerous actin regulatory proteins, suggesting phosphatidylinositol distribution in the membrane as a potential mechanism through which CTLs regulate the density of cortical actin during killing. Our work provides insight into actin-related mechanisms regulating CTL secretion that may serial killing capacity during immune responses.


The transdisciplinary National Academies Keck Futures Initiative (NAKFI) conference on the Deep Blue Sea sparked a collaboration between sonification expert Mark Ballora and marine biologist and sound artist Heather Spence. Research involving long-term Marine Passive Acoustic Monitoring (MPAM) of the MesoAmerican Reef system forms the basis for a gradient of audio products: 1) layering a tour guide acoustic instrument over raw and manipulated soundscape recordings; 2) layering of multiple acoustic instruments over duty cycle interpretation sampling; and 3) layering of data sonification over the original data, with additional acoustic instrument layers. The audio products are designed to promote data exploration and understanding by researchers and students, as well as an emotional impact musically with conservation themes. Presentations have included live and virtual performances and workshops. Next steps include sonification of other correlated environmental data with the original sound data in raw, manipulated, and sonified forms.


The purpose of this paper is to describe variety of strategic performance measurement indicators. In addition, this paper also discuss challenges and implications of the company's strategic measurements with other scale. Discussing begin with review on literature from various sources which related to strategic performance measurement. The objective of strategic performance measurement is to determine the level of adaptation strategies adopted by the company. From literature, researcher  know that Known from literature that the strategic performance initially measured by financial indicators only. In fact, increasingly competitive world of business, these indicators are not sufficient to measure the strategic performance of the business. For example, strategic performance measured by financial and non-financial indicators. Recent developments of this indicator measured by integrating the working system. In the implication, strategic performance measures to deal with various challenges including: human resources, processes, systems and culture. The wide range of these challenges will lead to the application of different measurement indicators for companies of various scales


The European Telecommunications Standard Institute (ETSI) plans to release the standard for a system known as TETRA (Trans-European Trunk Radio). The design of the radio interface is reported. After a brief explanation of the adopted time division multiple access (TDMA) frame structure and mapping of traffic and control channels, a detailed discussion is presented on: power control of the mobiles during the access to network; the achievable bit error rate (BER) on various propagation channels (including hilly and urban area); and an original scheme to improve the immunity against the cochannel interference.


While it is widely accepted that lead-based paint and leaded gasoline are primary sources of elevated concentrations of lead in residential soils, conclusions regarding their relative contributions are mixed and generally study specific. We develop a novel nonlinear regression for soil lead concentrations over time. It is argued that this methodology provides useful insights into the partitioning of the average soil lead concentration by source and time over large residential areas. The methodology is used to investigate soil lead concentrations from the 1987 Minnesota Lead Study and the 1990 National Lead Survey. Potential litigation issues are discussed briefly.


Pose-guided person image synthesis aims to synthesize person images by transforming reference images into target poses. In this paper, we observe that the commonly used spatial transformation blocks have complementary advantages. We propose a novel model by combining the attention operation with the flow-based operation. Our model not only takes the advantage of the attention operation to generate accurate target structures but also uses the flow-based operation to sample realistic source textures. Both objective and subjective experiments demonstrate the superiority of our model. Meanwhile, comprehensive ablation studies verify our hypotheses and show the efficacy of the proposed modules. Besides, additional experiments on the portrait image editing task demonstrate the versatility of the proposed combination.


Abstract In Alligator mississippiensis (American Alligator), body length increases with age, but body length can be used as an accurate estimator of age only up to about 6–7 years, when growth rates slow considerably. Telomeres are repetitive DNA sequences that cap the ends of each chromosome. Telomeres shorten with age in most animals, but telomere shortening has not been examined in reptiles. We measured telomere length in erythrocytes of A. mississippiensis varying between ≈ 5 and 240 cm in body length and found a negative relationship between telomere length and body length (P < 0.01). Assuming that erythrocyte telomeres continue to shorten with time, even after growth rate declines, those individuals with the shortest telomeres should be the oldest members of the population. This method of estimating age, even in animals of similar body size, should allow questions about age structure and senescence to be addressed.


The radiolytic degradation of vector molecules is a major factor affecting the shelf life of therapeutic radiopharmaceuticals. The development of time-stable dosage forms of radiopharmaceuticals is the key to their successful implementation in clinical practice. Using [177Lu]Lu-PSMA-617 molecule as an example, the time dependence of the change in radiochemical purity (RCP, %) under radiolysis conditions was studied. The dependence of [177Lu]Lu-PSMA-617 radiolysis on parameters such as time, radionuclide activity, buffer agent concentration, precursor amount, and preparation volume was evaluated. It was shown that the absorbed dose was the dominant factor influencing the RCP. The RCP value is inversely proportional to the absorbed dose in the [177Lu]Lu-PSMA-617 preparation and has an exponential dependence. The lutetium-177 dose factor ψ (Gy·mL·MBq−1) and PSMA-617 concentration-dependent dose constant κ (Gy−1) were evaluated for absorbed dose estimation via computer modeling, chemical dosimetry, and radiochemical purity monitoring under various conditions. The further refinement and application of the dependencies found can be useful for predicting the RCP value at the stage of optimizing the composition of the finished dosage form of therapeutic radiopharmaceuticals. The influence of the buffer agent (sodium acetate) concentration on [177Lu]Lu-PSMA-617 radiolytic degradation was shown and should be considered both when developing a dosage form, and when comparing the results of independent studies. The effectiveness of the addition of various stabilizing agents, such as DMSA, cysteine, gentisic acid, vanillin, methionine, adenine, dobesilic acid, thymine, uracil, nicotinamide, meglumine, and mannitol, in suppressing the effects of radiolysis was evaluated.


Over the last 20 years or so, many studies have revealed the deleterious effect of the environment on fatigue life of austenitic stainless steels in pressurized water reactor (PWR) primary water. The fatigue life correlation factor, so-called Fen, has been standardized to consider the effect on fatigue life evaluation. The formulations are function of strain rate and temperature due to their noticeable negative effect compared with other factors [1,2]. However, mechanism causing fatigue life reduction remains to be cleared.As one of possible approaches to examine underlying mechanism of environmental effect, the authors focused on the effect of plastic strain, because it could lead microstructural evolution on the material. In addition, in the case of stress corrosion cracking (SCC), it is well known that the strain-hardening prior to exposure to the primary water can lead to remarkable increase of the susceptibility to cracking [3,4]. However, its effect on fatigue life has not explicitly been investigated yet.The main effort in this study addressed the effect of the prior strain-hardening on low cycle fatigue life of 304L stainless steel (SS) exposed to the PWR primary water. A plate of 304LSS was strain hardened by cold rolling or tension prior to fatigue testing. The tests were performed under axial strain-controlled at 300 °C in primary water including B/Li and dissolved hydrogen, and in air. The effect on environmental fatigue life was investigated through a comparison of the Fen in experiments and in regulations, and also the effect on the fatigue limit defined at 106 cycles was discussed.Copyright © 2012 by ASME


Vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) form contractile layers around larger blood vessels in a process that is essential for the formation of a fully functional vasculature. Here, we show that integrin-linked kinase (ILK) is required for the formation of a unitary layer of aligned VSMCs around arterioles and the regulation of blood vessel constriction in mice. In the absence of ILK, activated Rho/ROCK signaling induces the elevated phosphorylation of myosin light chain leading to abnormally enhanced VSMC contraction in vitro and in vivo. Our findings identify ILK as a key component regulating vascular wall formation by negatively modulating VSMC contractility.


Spontaneous switching of the rotation sense of the flagellar motor of the archaebacterium Halobacterium halobium and modulation of the switch by attractant and repellent photostimuli were analyzed by using a computerized cell-tracking system with 67-ms resolution coupled to electronic shutters. The data fit a three-state model of the switch, in which a Poisson process governs the transition from state N (nonreversing) to state R (reversing). After a reversal, the switch returns to state N, passing through an intermediate state I (inactive), which produces a ca. 2-s period of low reversal frequency before the state N Poisson rate is restored. The stochastic nature of the H. halobium switch reveals a close similarity to Escherichia coli flagellar motor properties as elucidated previously. Sensory modulation of the switch by both photoattractant and photorepellent signals can be interpreted in terms of modulation of the single forward rate constant of the N to R transition. Insight into the mechanism of modulation by the phototaxis receptor sensory rhodopsin I (SR-I) was gained by increasing the lifetime of the principal photointermediate of the SR-I photochemical reaction cycle, S373, by replacing the native chromophore, all-trans-retinal, with the acyclic analog, 3,7,11-trimethyl-2,4,6,8-dodecapentaenal. Flash photolysis of analog-containing cells revealed an eightfold decrease in the rate of thermal decay of S373, and behavioral analysis showed longer periods of reversal suppression than that of cells with the native chromophore over similar ranges of illumination intensities. This indicates that attractant signaling is governed by the lifetime of the S373 intermediate rather than by the frequency of photocycling. In this sense, SR-I is similar to rhodopsin, whose function depends on an active photoproduct (Meta-II).


In Narrative and Dramatic Sources of Shakespeare, Geoffrey Bullough observes that The Tempest's "didactic nature," as well as Prospero's "masterful aloofness" and "use of the supernatural" have encouraged some critics to treat the play as an allegory. The whole piece, ... permeated with Christian feeling, ... has been interpreted as a Mystery play in which Prospero, if not the Deity, is "the hierophant or initiating priest" in a rite of purification which the Court party must willynilly undergo.... Caliban ... becomes the Monster to be overcome, and Miranda Wisdom, the Celestial Bride. Though wary of such allegorizing, Bullough has "no doubt that in The Tempest, more than in the other 'romances,' Shakespeare was thinking of human life in a cosmic way," eliciting "a moral perfection in which reason and the affections would be united with grace." (1) Grace Tiffany notes that in the romances "grace" appears more often and with deepening meaning as Shakespeare moves "away from a dramaturgy emphasizing tragic choice to one focusing on divine rescue." (2) Divine activity is, however, complexly portrayed in The Tempest. Certainly Pericles, Cymbeline, and The Winter's Tale show central characters rescued from tyrants or their own tyranny, and innocents resurrected from death, by an intervening deity (Diana, Jupiter, Apollo) as well as by wise counsel or medical-magical ministry (Helicanus and Cerimon in Pericles; Belarius, Pisanio, and Cornelius in Cymbeline; Camillo and Paulina in The Winter's Tale) and by the talismanic power of a chaste maid (Marina, Innogen, Perdita). In The Tempest, however, "divine rescue" occurs with a difference. Unlike previous protagonists (Pericles, Posthumus, Leontes) who steadily decline in moral agency, Prospero is a benevolent magus who uses supernatural power (or a theatrical simulacrum thereof) to redeem an entire ship of state. Though he too has engaged in a neglectful quest, received aid from a wise counselor, and been inspired by an angelic daughter, he now shows virtuoso control of "spirits" who can alter both settings and to some degree souls by means of magical/theatrical productions. The opening tempest, with Prospero's choric follow-up, displays the magus's power via the tour-de-force acting and nonillusionist staging at Blackfriars and the Globe. (3) An explicit theatricality will make the presentation of divinity (as well as the final resurrection/reunion) quite different from the previous romances--indeed, polar opposite to the miraculous ending of The Winter's Tale. Like Jupiter in Cymbeline (5.4), Juno in The Tempest (4.1) mechanically "descends," and her masque extensively displays the beneficent role of divinity (and implicitly, of royalty) in human life; but since Juno, Ceres, and Iris are emphatically "enacted" by Prospero's spirits, they are far less shrouded in mystery than Diana, Jupiter, and Apollo in the previous plays. (4) Spirits, which by mine Art I have from their confines called to enact My present fancies.... Thou and thy meaner fellows your last service Did worthily perform; and I must use you In such another trick. (5) As with the tempest and the vanishing banquet, Prospero explicitly creates and controls each spectacle. Implicitly, these ornately clad "Spirits" execute the monarch's power as a viceroy of God, yet in this play their masque-function fails. Instead of banishing vulgarity and evil, these artificial deities are themselves dispelled by the encroaching baseness of Caliban's conspiracy. These events acutely show the gods as artful projections of the magus's mind and "spirits." Accompanied by a "strange, hollow, and confused noise," they "heavily vanish" at Prospero's command: "Avoid; no more!" (4.1.139 s.d., 142). This dispersal of pagan deities (and of masque elements) in The Tempest makes us question the nature of its supernatural dimension. …


In February 2016, students at Jesus College, Cambridge voted unanimously to repatriate to Nigeria a bronze cockerel looted during the violent British expedition into Benin City in 1897. The college, however, decided to temporarily relocate Okukor to the University's Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. This article outlines the discussions that occurred during this process, exploring how the Museum was positioned as a safe space in which uncomfortable colonial legacies, including institutionalized racism and cultural patrimony rights, could be debated. We explore how a stated commitment to postcolonial dialogue ultimately worked to circumvent a call for postcolonial action. Drawing on Ann Stoler's and Elizabeth Edwards's discussions of colonial aphasia, this article argues that anthropology museums risk enabling such circumvention despite confronting their own institutional colonial legacies.


This treatise represents both a philosophical and an historical approach to the development of medicine. The author, who is a renowned scholar in the history of medicine, has set out to show the changes that have evolved in medicine and their relationship to the developments around them. Although these concepts appear initially to be a foregone conclusion, they actually disclose a great deal of insight into the changes and advances in the techniques of diagnosis and treatment. To quote the author: Each era was searching for enlightenment. In the early stages the searchers had, for illumination, only a candle, but gradually the mode of illumination increased massively. What were the investigators able to see in the available light? I suggest that through the centuries the acuity of vision was the same. The difference is laid in the mode of illumination. The author illustrates his thesis by frequently discussing tuberculosis. This


The most important part of the researches on 802.11 wireless technologies for Ethernet and their achievement are summarized, and the shortcomings of 802.11 specifications family are focused, some schemes for overcoming these problems are also discussed. In this position paper, we verify not only that context-free grammar and fiber-optic cables can agree to achieve this mission, but that the same is true for fiber-optic cables. This follows from the development of architecture


Chitosan and its derivative, chitosan oligosaccharide (CO), possess hypolipidemic and anti-obesity effects. However, it is still unclear if the mechanisms are different or similar between chitosan and CO. This study was designed to investigate and compare the effects of CO and high-molecular-weight chitosan (HC) on liver lipogenesis and lipid peroxidation, adipose lipolysis, and intestinal lipid absorption in high-fat (HF) diet-fed rats for 12 weeks. Rats were divided into four groups: normal control diet (NC), HF diet, HF diet+5% HC, and HF diet+5% CO. Both HC and CO supplementation could reduce liver lipid biosynthesis, but HC had a better effect than CO on improving liver lipid accumulation in HF diet-fed rats. The increased levels of triglyceride decreased lipolysis rate, and increased lipoprotein lipase activity in the perirenal adipose tissue of HF diet-fed rats could be significantly reversed by both HC and CO supplementation. HC, but not CO, supplementation promoted liver antioxidant enzymes glutathione peroxidase and superoxide dismutase activities and reduced liver lipid peroxidation. In the intestines, CO, but not HC, supplementation reduced lipid absorption by reducing the expression of fabp2 and fatp4 mRNA. These results suggest that HC and CO have different mechanisms for improving lipid metabolism in HF diet-fed rats.


This article examines the discursive construction of visual imaginations of Italian East Africa through visual and textual materials associated with fascist colonial civil aviation from 1934 through 1940. Analysis of materials produced by Ala Littoria, the fascist regime's main airline, reveals discursive strands and themes that contributed to the deeply modern depiction of Ethiopia, Italian Somaliland, and Eritrea (the constituent colonies within Italian East Africa) as "natural" landscapes that could be accessed, consumed, and dominated through the air, and in particular through aviation technology and the institution of a colonial civil aviation network in East Africa. Aviation was as a hybrid technology that contributed to the discursive, and therefore material, imaginative construction of Italian East Africa through aviation's material and technological basis as well as its visual representation.


Climate change has been widely recognized as a key factor driving changes in species distributions. In this study we use a metapopulation model, with a window of suitable climate moving polewards, to explore population shifts and survival of woodland birds under different climate change scenarios and landscape configurations. Extinction vulnerability and expansion ability are predicted for the middle spotted woodpecker Dendrocopus medius and two alternative r-K strategies under west European climate change scenarios of 1, 2 and 4°C temperature increase per century, corresponding to isotemperature velocities of ca 2, 4 and 8 km yr-1. The simulated northward expansion of the bird's distribution is typically in the range of only 0–3 km yr-1, in spite of 10–20 times larger maximum dispersal distances. This is too slow to track the climate change-driven range contraction of 4 or 8 km yr-1 in the south resulting in metapopulation extinction. Especially K-selected (large-bodied) species are vulnerable in the simulations. With a temperature increase of 4°C per century bird species go extinct within 104–178 yr. We present a simple approximation formula to predict the mean time to metapopulation extinction using 1) the rate of climate change, which determines the speed of range contraction in the south, 2) the size of the distribution range, which serves as a buffer against extinction, and 3) the northward expansion velocity, determined by species traits and landscape properties. Finally, our results indicate that the northward expansion rate is not constant. It will be initially lagged suggesting that recently observed expansion rates might be underestimations of future northward expansion rates


This paper presents and evaluates the performance of a MAC protocol for wireless ATM networks which is capable of delivering wireless ATM cells of asymmetric multimedia traffic with different service priorities on both channels. This type of traffic includes voice, data, MPEG-2 video and traffic generated by World Wide Web browsers. Due to highly unbalanced traffic between uplink and downlink channels, a time division duplex system with dynamic contention period and moveable boundaries between sub-intervals inside a fixed frame length is the technology proposed for a high speed wireless ATM (WATM) accessing system. The performance of this system is investigated with different combinations of traffic types and traffic intensities on both uplink and downlink channels. The performance results show that our proposed system provides great flexibility to accommodate unbalanced multimedia traffic with different service priorities for the users of wireless ATM terminals at an acceptable quality-of-service (QoS).


A new mathematical model is proposed for the analysis of thermo-mechanics effects during isochoric cryopreservation. In that process, some ice crystallization in a fixed-volume container drives pressure elevation, which may be favorable to the preservation of biological material when it resides in the unfrozen portion of the same container. The proposed model is comprehensive, integrating for the first time concepts from the disparate fields of thermodynamics, heat transfer, fluid mechanics, and solid mechanics. The novelty in this study is in treating the cryopreserved material as having a pseudo-viscoelastic behavior over a very narrow temperature range, without affecting the mechanical behavior of the material in the rest of the domain. This unique approach permits treating the domain as a continuum, while avoiding the need to trace freezing fronts and sperate the analysis to liquid and solid subdomains. Consistent with the continuum approach, the heat transfer problem is solved using the enthalpy approach. The presented analysis focusses on isochoric cooling of pure water between standard atmospheric conditions and the triple point of liquid water, ice Ih, and ice III (-22°C and 207.4 MPa). The proposed model is also applicable to isochoric vitrification, by substituting the pseudo-viscoelastic material model with the real viscosity model of the vitrifying material. Results of this study display good agreement with phase-diagram data at steady state, and with experimental data from the literature. Furthermore, this study provides a venue to discussing experimentation aspects of isochoric cryopreservation. The proposed model is further demonstrated on a 3D problem, while discussing scale considerations, crystallization conditions, and transient effects. Notably, the new model can be used to bridge the gap between limited pressure and temperature measurements during cryopreservation and the analysis of the continuum. Arguably, this study presents the most advanced thermo-mechanics model to solve practical problems relating to isochoric cryopreservation.


The PAMELA space experiment is aimed at precise measurements of the charged light component of the cosmic ray spectrum in the energy range spanning from the sub-GeV region to the TeV region, with a particular focus on antimatter. The instrument consists of a magnetic spectrometer, an electromagnetic sampling calorimeter,a time-offlight system, an anticoincidence shield, a tail-catcher scintillator and a neutron detector. Launched in June 2006 and hosted on the Resurs-DK1 satellite, PAMELA has been taking data for more than eight years, providing scientific results with unprecedented statistics and a continuous monitoring of the sun activity and the heliosphere.


In this talk we will review new findings of the solar wind interaction with Moon and with Phobos based on the recent observations by the SARA instrument on board Chandrayaan-1 and the ASPERA instrument on board Mars Express. We also discuss potential future contributions of the space plasma investigation to lunar sciences. High backscattered proton flux of the solar wind from the lunar surface was first reported by Saito et al. (2008) from Kaguya's plasma observations. The flux of the backscattered protons was 0.1-1%. The high backscattering was a big surprise because the lunar surface had been believed a complete absorber of the solar wind. Energetic neutral atom (ENA) observations by the CENA (Chandrayaan-1 Energetic Neutral Analyzer) sensor on board Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft consistently provided data of extremely high ( ̃20%) neutral atom flux of the solar wind origin. The observed reflection efficiencies of backscattered particles both in forms of neutral atoms and ions are too high to be explained by theoretical predictions developed in laboratory experiences. On the other hand, the ratio of the backscattered fluxes between the backscattered neutrals and the ions are in the range of the expectation (10-100). Not only from the Moon's surface, we also have tried to search for the backscattered protons in the Martian moon Phobos for comparison. We found significant proton flux during a flyby of the Mars Express spacecraft close to Phobos (Futaana et al. 2010). After careful removal of noise counts and comparing with the calculated ray tracing of the observed signals, we concluded that the detected signal can be explained by 0.6-10% reflection of the solar wind at the surface of Phobos. This result indicates that the solar wind backscattering is a general feature of the solar wind-regolith interaction in space. Even though the interaction mechanism is not yet fully known, such high backscattering fluxes of the ENAs and plasma can be used to monitor solar wind proton access to the lunar surface remotely. We also analyzed the CENA data when the spacecraft flew over magnetic structures of crustal origin (called magnetic anomalies). By inverting the ENA flux obtained by CENA in orbit, we obtained a map of the backscattered ENAs (Wieser et al. 2010). The backscattered ENA flux shows a depletion inside the magnetic anomaly with an enhancement around the anomaly. This observation indicates that the magnetic anomaly deflectes the solar wind protons, and that the lunar surface inside the lunar magnetic anomaly is partially shielded from the solar wind. Consistently, we found clear correlation between the map of magnetic anomalies and the flux of charged protons, which are deflected by the magnetic anomaly (Lue et al. 2011). More than 50% of the solar wind flux are deflected by the strongest magnetic anomalies. The map also showed that even weak and distinct small magnetic anomaly could deflect the solar wind. The deflection of solar wind by the magnetic anomalies indicates a strong reduction of the solar wind access to the surface in the magnetic anomalies, reducing the space weathering effect at the upper crust of the magnetized regions.


A significant quantity of chromite ore is available in form of fines and is friable in nature. Agglomeration is necessary for utilizing these fines. Briquetting gives green agglomerates with inferior high temperature properties. Pelletization requires further grinding of the naturally available ore fines and the subsequent firing of the green pellets for strength development which make it energy-intensive and complex process. In contrast, sintering can be done directly on the as-received friable chromite ore in the presence of coke breeze (as in case of iron ore sintering), which is likely to be free from the above limitations. In the current work, an optimum combination of temperature, flux (added to increase the relative quantity of molten phase required for sintering) and coke (added as fuel to attain the sintering temperature in a sinter pot) was computed using the thermochemical software, FactSage 6.1 and enthalpy balance calculation. Sintering of a mixture of chromite ore fines and flux with the optimum composition at 1600 C was carried out in; (i) resistance furnace (100-g scale), without using carbon and (ii) a pot sintering set-up (10-kg scale), using the computed quantity of carbon. A good correlation between experimental result and predicted equilibrium phases has been observed. The characterization of the sinters prepared in pot sintering set-up was done by conducting shatter, tumbler, and abrasion tests, and their phase identifications by XRD and EPMA/EDS. The developed sinter was found to possess adequate handling strength that would be well acceptable to produce ferrochrome in the SAF.