Uncoupling protein-3 (UCP3) is a mitochondrial protein that can diminish the mitochondrial membrane potential. Levels of muscle Ucp3 mRNA are increased by thyroid hormone and fasting. Ucp3 has been proposed to influence metabolic efficiency and is a candidate obesity gene. We have produced aUcp3 knockout mouse to test these hypotheses. TheUcp3 (−/−) mice had no detectable immunoreactive UCP3 by Western blotting. In mitochondria from the knockout mice, proton leak was greatly reduced in muscle, minimally reduced in brown fat, and not reduced at all in liver. These data suggest that UCP3 accounts for much of the proton leak in skeletal muscle. Despite the lack of UCP3, no consistent phenotypic abnormality was observed. The knockout mice were not obese and had normal serum insulin, triglyceride, and leptin levels, with a tendency toward reduced free fatty acids and glucose. Knockout mice showed a normal circadian rhythm in body temperature and motor activity and had normal body temperature responses to fasting, stress, thyroid hormone, and cold exposure. The base-line metabolic rate and respiratory exchange ratio were the same in knockout and control mice, as were the effects of fasting, a β3-adrenergic agonist (CL316243), and thyroid hormone on these parameters. The phenotype ofUcp1/Ucp3 double knockout mice was indistinguishable fromUcp1 single knockout mice. These data suggest thatUcp3 is not a major determinant of metabolic rate but, rather, has other functions.


The purpose of this study was to implementation to test and analyze the effect on the performance of an employee empowerment, motivation on employee performance, organizational culture on employee performance, employee empowerment on performance with moderation organizational culture and work motivation on employee performance with organizational culture moderation The research was conducted at the Department of Finance and Asset Management Revenue District Trunk numbering 87. Sampling technique using census. The results of regression testing obtained results Adjusted R Square of 0.857, meaning that the change of variable performance can be explained by the variable employee empowerment, motivation and organizational culture at 85.7%, while for the F test showed that together empowerment, motivation and organizational culture affects employee performance. Based on the known partial regression testing empowering effect on performance with significance 0.014 <0.05, work motivation on performance with significance 0.014 <0.05 and organizational culture affect the performance of the significance 0.000. <0.05. It is identified that all the hypotheses accepted or proven. Testing moderation empowerment on employee performance with organizational culture moderation with significance 0.07 <0.05 and testing moderation motivation on the performance of the moderating organizational culture with significance 0.001 <0.05. It proved that organizational culture is a moderating variable. Key word : Empowerment, Motivation Work, Organizational Culture and Employee Performance


Scheelite-type NaEUW 2 O 8 (NEW) nanophosphors were synthesized from a tungsten source and acetates of sodium and europium(III) in 1,4-butylene glycol by a glycothermal reaction. When dodecatungstophosphoric acid hexahydrate (DPA) was chosen as a tungsten source, a glycothermal reaction at temperatures ranging from 200 to 300°C produced crystalline NEW nanophosphors in a single phase. The tetrahedral PO 4 unit derived from DPA plays a significant role in the formation of crystalline NEW. The photoluminescence intensity due to the 4f-4f transitions of Eu 3+ for the sample prepared at 200°C was over 80 times higher than that of the sample prepared at 300°C. The amount of organic species, determined by thermogravimetry, for the former was three times larger than that of the latter. We therefore conclude that the effect of surface passivation predominantly enhances the photoluminescence intensity of the scheelite-type NEW nanophosphor.


The energy transfer integral between radiating rectangular and detecting circular parallel plates having nonideal angular characteristics is solved for modeling the distance dependence of the irradiance signal. The equation derived for the irradiance signal, which is called the modified inverse-square law, depends on the position, shape, size, and angular characteristics of the light source and the detector. We apply the new model equation to the calibration of a spectroradiometer to determine accurately the distance offsets, which fix the positions of the effective receiving apertures of diffusers used in the entrance optics of spectroradiometers. Earlier measurement results, e.g., for solar UV irradiance, may include uncorrected effects and can be corrected reliably as diffuser offsets and other correction factors are determined with the modified inverse-square law. Simplifications of the modified inverse-square law for analyzing the distance offsets and the correction factors are studied. Simplified equations for the diffuser offset analysis may be used without losing the accuracy when the cosine response of the diffuser is reasonably good. However, for diffusers whose angular responsivities deviate much from the cosinusoidal angular responsivity, large approximation errors in the diffuser offset values may appear if the angular effects are not properly taken into account.


For the problem that manual adjustment of the parameters of controller in sensorless control system costs too much time, manpower and always can not get a good result, a new method based on improved particle swarm optimization algorithm is proposed to optimize the parameters. The improved algorithm is based on the standard particle swarm optimization with the simulated annealing algorithm and chaotic search brought in. The speed of motor is estimated by the extend Kalman filter. The error between measured speed and estimated speed of the permanent magnet synchronous motor rotor is used as the fitness function in order that the parameters in the covariance matrix is adjusted.The result of simulation indicates that high estimation precision can be got and the motor represents steadily with few of ripple of the actual speed.With this method, the time of adjustment is reduced and manpower is saved. In addition, the validity of the method is proved in experiment with dSPACE.


We studied student learning in the MOOC 8.MReV Mechanics ReView, run on the edX.org open source platform. We studied learning in two ways. We administered 13 conceptual questions both before and after instruction, analyzing the results using standard techniques for pre- and posttesting. We also analyzed each week's homework and test questions in the MOOC, including the pre- and posttests, using item response theory (IRT). This determined both an average ability and a relative improvement in ability over the course. The pre- and posttesting showed substantial learning: The students had a normalized gain slightly higher than typical values for a traditional course, but significantly lower than typical values for courses using interactive engagement pedagogy. Importantly, both the normalized gain and the IRT analysis of pre- and posttests showed that learning was the same for different cohorts selected on various criteria: level of education, preparation in math and physics, and overall ability in the course. We found a small positive correlation between relative improvement and prior educational attainment. We also compared homework performance of MIT freshmen taking a reformed on-campus course with the 8.MReV students, finding them to be considerably less skillful than the 8.MReV students.


In this paper, we propose a novel Deep Micro-Dictionary Learning and Coding Network (DDLCN). DDLCN has most of the standard deep learning layers (pooling, fully, connected, input/output, etc.) but the main difference is that the fundamental convolutional layers are replaced by novel compound dictionary learning and coding layers. The dictionary learning layer learns an over-complete dictionary for the input training data. At the deep coding layer, a locality constraint is added to guarantee that the activated dictionary bases are close to each other. Next, the activated dictionary atoms are assembled together and passed to the next compound dictionary learning and coding layers. In this way, the activated atoms in the first layer can be represented by the deeper atoms in the second dictionary. Intuitively, the second dictionary is designed to learn the fine-grained components which are shared among the input dictionary atoms. In this way, a more informative and discriminative low-level representation of the dictionary atoms can be obtained. We empirically compare the proposed DDLCN with several dictionary learning methods and deep learning architectures. The experimental results on four popular benchmark datasets demonstrate that the proposed DDLCN achieves competitive results compared with state-of-the-art approaches.


For its construction convenience and structure integrity, cofferdams are widely employed in port engineering. Past experience has shown that cofferdam are subjected to damage due to earthquake excitations. Numerical analyses with both response spectrum and step-by-step integration methods are conducted by using Lanczos eigenvalue extraction technique to obtain natural frequencies and modes, and solving dynamic equations with Newmark implicit method to consider geometric nonlinearity. The computational results show that the natural frequency of cofferdam system is low and the horizontal translation stiffness of cofferdam in positive direction is higher than that in negative direction. Under seismic excitation, the displacement response of inner steel sheet is much more obvious than that of outer one. And the distribution of horizontal displacements in steel sheets presents the characteristics that the corresponding values increase with their heights in the cofferdam system. On the contrary, the deviatonic stresses of cofferdam decrease with the augments of height.


Non-Oberbeck–Boussinesq (NOB) effects on the flow organization in two-dimensional Rayleigh–Bénard turbulence are numerically analysed. The working fluid is water. We focus on the temperature profiles, the centre temperature, the Nusselt number and on the analysis of the velocity field. Several velocity amplitudes (or Reynolds numbers) and several kinetic profiles are introduced and studied; these together describe the various features of the rather complex flow organization. The results are presented both as functions of the Rayleigh number Ra (with Ra up to 108) for fixed temperature difference Δ between top and bottom plates and as functions of Δ ('non-Oberbeck–Boussinesqness') for fixed Ra with Δ up to 60K. All results are consistent with the available experimental NOB data for the centre temperature Tc and the Nusselt number ratio NuNOB/NuOB (the label OB meaning that the Oberbeck–Boussinesq conditions are valid). For the temperature profiles we find – due to plume emission from the boundary layers – increasing deviations from the extended Prandtl–Blasius boundary layer theory presented in Ahlers et al. (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 569, 2006, p. 409) with increasing Ra, while the centre temperature itself is surprisingly well predicted by that theory. For given non-Oberbeck–Boussinesqness Δ, both the centre temperature Tc and the Nusselt number ratio NuNOB/NuOB only weakly depend on Ra in the Ra range considered here. Beyond Ra ≈ 106 the flow consists of a large diagonal centre convection roll and two smaller rolls in the upper and lower corners, respectively ('corner flows'). Also in the NOB case the centre convection roll is still characterized by only one velocity scale. In contrast, the top and bottom corner flows are then of different strengths, the bottom one being a factor 1.3 faster (for Δ = 40K) than the top one, due to the lower viscosity in the hotter bottom boundary layer. Under NOB conditions the enhanced lower corner flow as well as the enhanced centre roll lead to an enhancement of the volume averaged energy based Reynolds number $Re^E \,{=}\, \langle\frac{1}{2} \bu^2 \rangle^{1/2} L/\nu$ of about 4% to 5% for Δ = 60K. Moreover, we find $Re^E_{\it NOB}/Re^E_{\it OB} \,{\approx}\, (\beta (T_c)/\beta (T_m))^{1/2}$, with β the thermal expansion coefficient and Tm the arithmetic mean temperature between top and bottom plate temperatures. This corresponds to the ratio of the free fall velocities at the respective temperatures. By artificially switching off the temperature dependence of β in the numerics, the NOB modifications of ReE is less than 1% even at Δ = 60K, revealing the temperature dependence of the thermal expansion coefficient as the main origin of the NOB effects on the global Reynolds number in water.


ABSTRACT This article aims to analyse the impact of the two terrorist attacks that occurred in France in 2015 on the construction of French national identity. Drawing on critical discourse analysis, it discusses the nation-affirming strategies implemented by President Hollande and the role they play in restoring the authority of the state. It reveals how Hollande used the figure of the terrorist Other to recreate an imagined community based on an idealised Republican model and how he constructed an exclusionary discourse of sameness, which led to a closure of identity that risks alienating large sections of the population.


High rates of loss of heterozygosity commonly affect multiple chromosomes in individual tumor types, yet the number of known tumor suppressor genes (TSGs) systematically mutated in the corresponding tumors is usually low. The search for homozygously deleted genome segments in tumor samples or cell lines has become a method of choice to identify major TSGs or to reveal their influence on the development of a given tumor type. Here, we report a detailed homozygous deletion (HD) profiling for 246 critical loci on a panel of 89 tumor cell lines containing significant subsets of lung, ovarian and head and neck squamous cell carcinomas. We found a total of 53 HDs affecting 17 loci. The major target for HDs was p16‐INK4A/p14‐ARF (23/89, 26% of cases). Among the remaining alterations, HDs affecting TP73 or telomeric markers have never been previously described, whereas other HDs represent the first examples associating lesions of certain TSGs with a given tumor type (NF2 in lung and ovarian cells, STK11 in HELA cells). Overall, tumor cell lines established from ovarian or lung carcinomas displayed a surprising diversity of loci targeted by HDs with 7 and 6 loci involved, respectively. Our data suggest that, beside allelotyping or transcriptome/proteome studies, extensive HD profiling represents a promising approach for the detection of hitherto not implicated signalling pathways of tumorigenesis. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


The 2018 midterm elections strengthened the Democrats' control of Oregon's state government. Governor Kate Brown won re-election with 50percent of the vote defeating moderate Republican Knute Buehler with 46.6percent of the vote.  Democrats also increased their seats in both the House and Senate, leading to super majorities in both houses. Governor Brown and the Democrats in Salem have taken fairly strong progressive policy stances in 2017 and 2018, particularly opposing President Trump's immigration and marijuana policies, reinforcing the West Coast carbon-reduction pattern, and strongly supporting health care coverage expansion. With a booming economy and unemployment at record lows, the state seems to be able to deliver on its progressive agenda for the 2017-19 biennium, but funding progressive policies in the future will be a challenge for the governor for a variety of reasons. The fate of this progressive vision depends on five elements: (1) the continuation of the favorable economy and the corresponding revenue growth in the approaching budget cycle; (2) the ability to manage the ongoing taxing and spending structures that include major obligations for the Public Employees Retirement System (PERS); (3) the constraints of ongoing dependency on income taxes; (4) the vicissitudes of Trump era politics and policy with declining federal funds; and (5) continued public support for expansive public policies.


The CAP reform and decoupling offer new opportunities to farmers to react to market signals. Therefore farmers have higher incentives to introduce innovative approaches, responding to emerging market needs, in terms of new products, markets, processes (including more environmentally- friendly ones) and forms of cooperation (stronger links with food chains). This is why the role of research must be strongly supported.


Method in reproducing the AVClip recorded in the BD-ROM, it is determined whether each of the elementary streams to be played back satisfies any one of a plurality of predetermined conditions. This condition elementary will exist in the playback apparatus capable of playing a stream (a), Eli will be the language attribute of the elementary stream matches the language setting of the playback apparatus side (b), Eli channel of streams and the property is to surround, and be capable of surround output that the playback apparatus (c), and playback apparatus according to the pattern of the conditions judged to meet to give priority to each elementary stream, the priority according to the high and low is reproduced by selecting the stream. Elementary streams, play skills, language attribute, and channel attribute, the priority


This study describes the fluid chemical compositions and related microbial diversity in geothermal systems of Taiwan. The fluid samples were collected from several geothermal springs located in northern and southern Taiwan. The pH values of the fluids showed diverse character of the geothermal systems, some are acidic in nature while few showed alkaline in nature. The fluids also contain high arsenic concentrations with As(III) as the dominant species. Yang-Ming-Shan and Beitou hot springs in northern Taiwan were characterized by sulfur spring type (contains H-SO 4). The 16S rRNA gene sequence of microbial community indicated the presence of thiosulfate-oxidizing, alkaliphilic, psychrotolerant and chemo-organoheterotrophy bacterium such as Limnobacter thiooxidans, Clostridium sulfidigenes and Des-ulfovibrio psychrotolerans, respectively.


The treatment of congenital clubfoot has been changing rapidly since the mid-1990s with the worldwide use of the Ponseti method for serial casting and limited operative interventions. This method was first applied for isolated clubfeet and later on for other types of clubfoot (teratologic, residual, and neurogenic). Premature babies sustaining clubfoot commonly suffer from additional congenital and acquired medical problems. These may postpone clubfoot management until urgent issues are resolved. The current study describes early initiation of treatment of clubfoot in premature babies at the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and their outcomes. The study group included all babies diagnosed with clubfoot and managed in the NICU (for any etiology) between 2006 and 2012. Management was based on the Ponseti protocol for serial casting. We also report on neonates who died in the NICU before or during treatment. We specifically describe adverse events of early casting and situations necessitating removal of casts or termination of treatment. We diagnosed and treated 20 neonates with clubfoot (four females and 16 males, 10 bilateral cases). Gestational age ranged from 27 weeks to term. Eight were identified with clubfoot by prenatal sonographic survey and 10 were diagnosed with a defined syndrome. Seven had respiratory support, including one with a chest drain (50%). Length of stay in the NICU ranged from 3 to 90 days. Four neonates died while in the NICU (all syndromatic). In the remaining 16 cases, treatment began as early as medically possible. The first cast was applied within the first week of life in 14 cases. A total of 75 casts were applied during the study period. Three casts (4%) were removed because of leg edema or a need for venous access. Casts were routinely replaced every 4–7 days. Achilles tenotomies were performed in the NICU for babies achieving satisfactory correction. At last follow-up, 10 children were independent walkers and six were nonambulatory; all showed successful correction of clubfeet. The results of this study show that in most cases, clubfoot treatment is feasible and effective within the first week of life. Instances necessitating immediate cast removal are highlighted. Although while facing acute life-threatening medical problems, the treatment of clubfoot may not be considered a priority, most neonates will grow up into independent individuals; thus, every effort should be made to initiate the best clubfoot management with minimal delay.


Fluorometric imaging plate reader membrane potential dye (FMP-Red-Dye) is a proprietary tool for basic discovery and high-throughput drug screening for G-protein-coupled receptors and ion channels. We optimized and validated this potentiometric probe to assay functional modulators of heterologous expressed GABAA receptor (GABAAR) isoforms (synaptic α1β3γ2, extrasynaptic α4β3δ, and β3 homopentomers). High-resolution mass spectrometry identified FMP-Red-Dye as 5,5′-(1-propen-1-yl-3-ylidene)bis[1,3-dimethyl-2-thio-barbituric acid]. GABAAR-expressing cells equilibrated with FMP-Red-Dye exhibited depolarized equilibrium membrane potentials compared with GABAAR-null cells. The channel blockers picrotoxin, fipronil, and tetramethylenedisulfotetramine, and the competitive antagonist bicuculline reduced fluorescence near the levels in GABAAR-null cells indicating that FMR-Red-Dye, a barbiturate derivative, activates GABAAR-mediated outward Cl− current in the absence of GABA. GABA caused concentration-dependent increases in fluorescence with rank order of potencies among GABAAR isoforms consistent with results from voltage-clamp experiments (EC50 values for α4β3δ, α1β3γ2, and β3 homopentamers were 6 ± 1, 40 ± 11, and >18 mM, respectively), whereas GABAAR-null cells were unresponsive. Neuroactive steroids (NAS) increased fluorescence of GABAAR expressing cells in the absence of GABA and demonstrated positive allosteric modulation in the presence of GABA, whereas benzodiazepines only exhibited positive allosteric modulator (PAM) activity. Of 20 NAS tested, allopregnanolone, (3α,5α,20E)-3-hydroxy-13,24-cyclo-18-norcholan-20-ene-21-carbonitrile, eltanolone, 5β-pregnan-3α,21-diol-20-one, and ganaxolone showed the highest potency. The FMP-Red-Dye–based assay described here provides a sensitive and quantitative method of assessing the activity of GABAAR agonists, antagonists, and PAMs on diverse GABAAR isoforms. The assay has a wide range of applications, including screening for antiseizure agents and identifying channel blockers of interest to insecticide discovery or biosecurity.


This article illuminates the ways that citizenship status and race enter into the making of precarity under social policies beyond the exclusions from labor protections, social security, and public assistance (the welfare we hear about) that historians commonly discuss to explain the workings of what I have named the "racialized gendered" state. That is, over the last quarter century, women and gender historians have reshaped the narrative of social politics to show the differential treatment of women by race and class that has reinforced and intensified, even while it has reflected, economic and social inequality. To explore how force generates a shadow, pushing some outside the law to live unnoticed and toil in low-waged and temporary jobs, I turn to immigration policy, especially the threat of deportation that has generated fear for those classified as "alien" or "illegal." In focusing on the violence of both immigration restriction and segregation, I argue that state power has particularly targeted racialized gendered bodies for the low wages of precarity.  That is, we cannot fully understand women and precarious labor without accounting for the ways that race, gender, and citizenship status work together.


In clonogenic assays of hematopoietic progenitors, high concentrations (4 U/mL) of erythropoietin (epo) reduced the formation of granulocyte-macrophage (GM) colonies and diminished the number of granulocytes formed per culture plate. Fetal progenitors were more sensitive to these effects of epo than were progenitors from adults, displaying these reductions at greater than or equal to 1 U epo/mL. The mechanism was investigated by growing fetal progenitors stimulated by recombinant GM-CSF, in the absence of epo, and when eight-cell clones first appeared, mapping their location, then adding epo, and assessing its effect on the subsequent differentiation of the clones. In the absence of epo, the clones developed exclusively into GM colonies. However, if developing clones were presented with epo, 85% matured into GM colonies, but 15% became multilineage or normoblast colonies. In addition, developing clones that were presented with epo produced colonies that contained fewer neutrophils. These effects of epo on neutrophil generation were observed with each of three varieties of recombinant epo, and also with purified human epo, but were not observed using epo that had been neutralized with rabbit anti-epo antiserum.


This meta-analysis examined the influence of the task, environment and learners characteristics during motor skill learning situations for varying organizations of task presentations (Contextual Interference). Types of tasks (open and closed skills) were evaluated based upon settings (laboratory and real world) with diverse populations (gender, age groups, and level of expertise). The strength of the CI effect was investigated based on whether the skill variation was a variation of the same or different Generalized Motor Program (GMP). Effect sizes were calculated subtracting low (blocked) from high (random/serial) contextual interference schedules of practice during acquisition, retention and transfer phases. Seventy-five published studies were found in the literature search. A total of 309 effect sizes were computed from 51 studies. The overall treatment effect supported contextual interference for blocked and random comparisons but not for blocked and serial comparisons. Another important finding was that contextual interference is most strongly supported for variation in GMP than for variation in parameter when comparing blocked and random schedules of practice. Furthermore, similar effect sizes were demonstrated for ecologically valid and non-ecologically valid settings, reinforcing the applicability of contextual interference theory in teaching motor skills in real world situations. Effect size differences among varied levels of amounts of practice, internal validity, and knowledge of results were not significantly different but pointed to directions that are worth of discussion.


The concept of a "conical panorama" was introduced in an earlier paper, involving the view of an oblique down-look camera rotating about an axis, either directly through or at some distance from the center of projection. This provides the framework 1) to analyze multi-camera realizations developed for various underwater visual tasks, and 2) to develop methods for the computation of visual motion that are more robust relative to processing of images covering a finite field of view. This paper presented a stereo conical imaging system, comprising 12 cameras with relatively large overlap between pairs of neighboring cameras. This panoramic stereovision system is targeted for 3-D visualization and improved scene reconstruction by utilizing correspondences in more than 2 views of the scene at modest distances. The calibration of the system is addressed, and experimental results demonstrate the potential in the use of this system for 3-D mapping.


The present work provides a critical assessment of numerical solutions of the space-fractional diffusion-advection equation, which is of high significance for applications in various natural sciences. In view of the fact that, in contrast to the case of normal (Gaussian) diffusion, no standard methods and corresponding numerical codes for anomalous diffusion problems have been established yet, it is of importance to critically assess the accuracy and practicability of existing approaches. Three numerical methods, namely a finite-difference method, the so-called matrix transfer technique, and a Monte-Carlo method based on the solution of stochastic differential equations, are analyzed and compared by applying them to three selected test problems for which analytical or semi-analytical solutions were known or are newly derived. The differences in accuracy and practicability are critically discussed with the result that the use of stochastic differential equations appears to be advantageous.


The eight chapters of Understanding Boccherini's Manuscripts discuss various aspects of the study of the manuscript sources for the music of Luigi Boccherini (1743-1805), one of the foremost composers of the second half of the eighteenth century. This book begins by outlining the various types that can be distinguished among the manuscripts written by the composer himself or by his copyists, such as manuscripts for archival purposes, for publishers and for patrons. German Labrador continues with a discussion of the chronology of both Boccherini's works and their manuscript sources, and Loukia Drosopoulou describes the musical handwriting that we find in the manuscripts under discussion. Boccherini produced several catalogues of his works of which some are lost, while others have been preserved. Marco Mangani and Federica Rovelli review these documents. The second half of this book addresses more specific topics. Giulio Battelli pays attention to a recent addition to Boccherini's known oeuvre, the Laudate pueri, a very early work, preserved in the library of the Istituto Musical in Lucca. Rupert Ridgewell deals with the relations between Boccherini and the Viennese publishing house Artaria. Matanya Ophee considers the sources for Boccherini's Guitar Quintets recently come available, and, finally, Jaime Tortella comments upon some letters to the nineteenth-century collector Julian Marshall - one of them by Alfredo Boccherini, a great-grandson of the composer - that shed light on the adventures of Boccherini's manuscripts in the nineteenth century. Furthermore, a common bibliography following all the chapters is supplied, as are extensive indexes. In addition to regular indexes of subjects and names, indexes covering letters cited, catalogues, manuscript sources, early editions, and Boccherini's works are also provided. As such, this book is an altogether indispensable tool for everybody with a scholarly interest in the life and work of Luigi Boccherini, and a splendid model for similar work on other composers.


Anisotropic conductive adhesives (ACAs) are as promising interconnect materials for flip chip assembly in low cost, high-density, high-speed interconnection packages. We evaluated and compared several flip chip interconnects that use ACAs at the radio frequency (RF) and high-frequency range. The performance of high-speed circuits is limited by the package interconnect discontinuity which is due to large inductance and resistance in the high-frequency range. This discontinuity is determined by the interconnection geometry and materials used. For bumps on the integrated circuit (IC), we used Au studs, Au electroplated and electroless Ni/Au bumps, for the interconnection adhesives, we used two kinds of anisotropic conductive film (ACF) with a different dielectric constant. To evaluate the high frequency model parameters, which we based on an ACF flip chip model and network analysis, we took the high-frequency measurements of test flip chip vehicles that used different bonding materials. Furthermore, to demonstrate real applications for an ACF interconnection at the RF and high-frequency range, we applied ACF flip chip technologies to assemble a passive device that uses an RF integrated passive device. We also applied these technologies to an active device that uses a highly integrated monolithic microwave (IC) device on an RF module. Moreover, we compared the high-frequency characteristics of these devices with those of flip chip assemblies fabricated with conventional methods such as solder ball interconnection.


PURPOSE
Obesity, particularly visceral obesity, is associated with increased risk of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Therefore, cardiovascular risk should be determined by evaluating visceral fat tissue not only in obese individuals but also in non-obese individuals. We aimed to evaluate the comparison of visceral fat tissue measurement methods with computed tomography (CT).

MATERIALS AND METHODS
One hundred four participants, 19 to 58 years of age (21 males, 83 females) were enrolled in this study. Participants underwent anthropometric evaluation, bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA), ultrasonography (US), and CT examinations on the same day.

RESULTS
The mean body mass index (BMI) was 31.2 +/- 8.7 kg/m2 (73 individuals [70.2%] had BMI > or =30, and 31 individuals [29.8%] had BMI < 30). The non-obese group (BMI < 30) that showed the best correlation coefficient values were for visceral fat area (VFA) by BIA in all participants, males and women (r = 0.902, P < 0.001; r = 0.994, P < 0.001; r = 0.645, P = 0.01, respectively); in case of BMI > or =30 the best correlation coefficient values were for VFA by BIA (r = 0.774, P < 0.001) for all participants, and visceral fat thickness by US for males (r = 0.851, P < 0.001), and BMI (r = 0.786, P < 0.001) for females. Using multiple stepwise regression analysis, the methods best reflecting VFA by CT were as follows: In subjects with BMI < 25, BIA correlated best with CT measures of VFA; while in subjects with BMI > 30 waist-to-hip ratio showed the best correlation with CT measures of VFA. The method best reflecting VFA by CT was visceral thickness by US in males; and the method best reflecting VFA by CT in females was visceral thickness by US, BMI and waist circumference.

CONCLUSION
Anthropometric measurements and visceral fat tissue measurement methods such as US and BIA exhibit differences with respect to compliance with CT results in visceral fat tissue measurements by gender and BMI levels.


A total of 2,273 blood donors from various regions in China were tested for serum anti-HCV antibodies in a seroepidemiological study. The prevalence of anti-HCV in Volunteer blood donors was 0-1.10%, which was lower than that in professional blood donors from Liaoning and Anhui Provinces (1.49% and 3.14%, respectively), whereas the positivity rate of anti-HCV was as high as 30.13% in the professional blood donors from Hebei Province and 31.86% in those from Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The prevalence of anti-HCV was significantly higher in the blood donors with history of hepatitis and abnormal ALT levels than those without hepatitis and with normal ALT. Plasma donation was the main cause of HCV infection. However, the prevalence of anti-HCV showed no significant sex and age differences even though the anti-HCV activity profile showed geographic difference.


We introduce exact macroscopic on-line learning dynamics of two-layer neural networks with ReLU units in the form of a system of differential equations, using techniques borrowed from statistical physics. For the first experiments, numerical solutions reveal similar behavior compared to sigmoidal activation researched in earlier work. In these experiments the theoretical results show good correspondence with simulations. In ove-rrealizable and unrealizable learning scenarios, the learning behavior of ReLU networks shows distinctive characteristics compared to sigmoidal networks.


ABSTRACT Although some skepticism has been expressed regarding the occurrence of displacive calcite, this type of growth occurs in the calcrete profiles in Lower Old Red Sandstone of Carnoustie, eastern Scotland. The calcretes are restricted both laterally and vertically, implying they formed on the tops of bars and other bed forms. Petrographic evidence that the calcite crystals are displacive in origin includes the following: 1) sparry calcite crystals occur between textural components (i.e., micas, rock fragments, fragments of a quartz grain) that have an "exploded" texture, and many of the fragments can be visually fitted back together; and 2) cathodoluminescence reveals that the calcite crystals are compositionally zoned, implying that the crystals are a cement and definitely are not due to replacement. The displacive calcite has variable crystal morphology and is restricted vertically to a maximum depth of I m below the subaerial exposure surface. In addition, the precipitation of displacive calcite concurrently with subaerial expansion and brecciation of detrital fragments indicates that displacive calcite was generated within the vadose zone. In the vadose zone, crystallization was promoted by rapid surface evaporation, leading to supersaturation. The recognition of displacive calcite provides evidence of supersaturated precipitating solutions.


This paper reports three experiments that investigate the influence of pragmatic, communicative factors on categorization. Little attention has been given to the role played by pragmatic factors such as the intended audience and purpose of communication. Experiment 1 establishes baseline measures of categorization and similarity for a range of exemplars of biological categories. Experiment 2 reveals that the judged categorization and similarity of these exemplars is affected by the audience to whom such judgments would be communicated. Experiment 3 reveals that these judgments are also affected by the communicative purpose of the categorization. In combination, these data suggest that pragmatic factors have systematic effects on similarity and categorization, and suggestions are made as to how these might be explained.


A planning methodology for nonholonomic mobile manipulators that employs smooth and continuous functions such as polynomials is developed. The method decouples kinematically the manipulator from the platform by constructing admissible paths that drive it to a final configuration and is based on mapping the nonholonomic constraint to a space where it can be trivially satisfied. In addition, the method allows for direct control over the platform orientation. The developed transformation also maps Cartesian space obstacles to transformed ones and allows for obstacle avoidance by increasing the order of the polynomials that are used in planning trajectories. The additional parameters required are computed systematically. It is shown how the method can be extended for avoiding obstacles of any number.


Organizational interventions have been suggested to be important instruments in order to improve working conditions as well as employee health and well-being. Even though such studies are relevant the effects are difficult to measure (Nielsen, 2013; Nielsen & Abildgaard, 2013). There is an ongoing discussion on why it is difficult to measure and how to do it. One aspect of this is when the effects are prevalent. In the present study we focus on long-term effects of an intervention. The study is a survey-feedback intervention directed at managers in public sector authorities. The purpose of the intervention, which was a participatory intervention, was to improve organizational prerequisites for the managers in the study.In a previous investigation of the effects of the intervention, the short-term effects where studied, implying mixed results. There was a tendency of a positive effect among those intervention organizations that also had a successful implementation process. On the other hand, in those organizations with an unsuccessful implementation process, the results came out negative. In the present study, the aim is to investigate long-term effects of the participatory intervention, regarding work conditions among public sector managers.In this study 720 managers participated. There were six intervention organizations and 22 controls, located in seven local authorities in Western Sweden. Questionnaires were answered pre and post intervention (in 2009 and 2011). In addition, register data were used and interviews made, providing a multi-method approach. During the intervention year, process support was provided. The focus of the quantitative measures was to investigate if working conditions improved as a result of the intervention. Variables such as resource problems, conflicts of logics, illegitimate tasks, supporting structures, hindrance, managerial problems but also factors such as span of control, performance and perceived stress were measured. In the present study, a follow-up questionnaire will be answered by one of the intervention organizations. Results from this third questionnaire will be analyzed and presented.


A programmable active load-pull measurement system using two six-port reflectometers and three passive two-port standards has been developed to obtain load-pull contours of the transistor's input-output phase shift variations over a wide dynamic range of the input power. The output power, gain, power-added efficiency, and phase shift are measured simultaneously at the transistor's input and output reference planes. The phase distortion versus input power, /spl phi//spl sim/P/sub in/, and the AM-PM conversion coefficient at various power levels, k/spl sim/P/sub in/, are obtained for different load impedances by post-measurement calculations. A NE8001 MESFET is tested at f=1.7 GHz for the class A operation. The experimental results are also given. >


OBJECTIVE
There is growing evidence that exposure to trauma prior to conception can affect offspring. The authors have reported that adult offspring of Holocaust survivors showed lower methylation of FK506 binding protein 5 (FKBP5) intron 7, site 6 compared with Jewish comparison volunteers. The present study sought to replicate this finding in a larger sample and to examine parental and offspring correlates of observed effects.

METHODS
Cytosine methylation was measured in blood using pyrosequencing. The independent replication sample consisted of 125 Holocaust offspring and 31 control subjects. Additional analyses, performed in a larger sample of 147 offspring and 40 control subjects that included the 31 previously studied participants, examined associations of parental trauma-related variables (i.e., sex of the exposed parent, parental posttraumatic stress disorder, age at Holocaust exposure) and offspring characteristics (i.e., childhood trauma exposure, lifetime psychiatric diagnoses, psychotropic medication use, FKBP5 rs1360780 genotype, FKBP5 gene expression, and neuroendocrine measures) with offspring FKBP5 methylation.

RESULTS
FKBP5 site 6 methylation was significantly lower in Holocaust offspring than in control subjects, an effect associated with maternal Holocaust exposure in childhood and with lower offspring self-reported anxiety symptoms. FKBP5 gene expression was elevated in Holocaust offspring. FKBP5 methylation was associated with indices of glucocorticoid sensitivity but not with basal FKBP5 gene expression.

CONCLUSIONS
This study replicates and extends the previously observed decrement in FKBP5 intron 7, site 6 methylation in Holocaust offspring. The predominance of this effect in offspring of mothers exposed during childhood implicates maternal developmental programming as a putative mechanism.


Purpose: The aim of this research study is to evaluate the implementation of Alternative Learning System (ALS) curriculum offered to juvenile delinquents in urban and rural areas in the Philippines. The study also aims to determine whether the current education programs meet the needs of the juvenile delinquents with reference to Juvenile delinquency acts. The study is an attempt to highlight the aspects of Alternative Learning System (ALS) that should be developed.
Approach/Methodology/Design: The study is qualitative and conducted in Marikina City and Rizal province, the Philippines. This study used exploratory study analysis. The respondents are the Alternative Learning System (ALS) teachers. For data collection, three semi-structured interviews were employed and the respondents' answers were categorized using analytical coding to compare and analyze the implementation of the ALS curriculum for juvenile delinquents.
Findings: The interpretation and analysis of the data collected shows that the ALS teachers from both the rural and urban areas have the same experiences on the implementation of the ALS program for juvenile delinquents in terms of curriculum, instruction and assessment. Furthermore, the teachers gave an emphasis that once the juvenile delinquents undergo the program, they are given a new hope and new direction in life to pursue their dreams. Lastly, the teachers from both areas have the same suggestions for the improvement of the implementation of the program, such as additional funds for the development of quality learning materials, increasing the number of learning centers, and designing various forms of assessment.
Practical Implications: The study will contribute positively to the understanding of Alternative learning System. The significance of this study lies in the comparison of the alternative learning system curriculum and how it is implemented to the juvenile delinquents in urban and in rural areas.
Originality/value: This study engages ALS teachers in assessing the ALS curriculum, reflecting actual experiences to meet the expectations and needs of the juvenile delinquents.


Downwelling longwave radiation is an important part of the surface energy budget. Spectral trends in the downwelling longwave radiance (DLR) provide insight into the radiative drivers of climate change. In this research, we process and analyze a 23‐year DLR record measured by the Atmospheric Emitted Radiance Interferometer (AERI) at the U.S. Department of Energy Atmospheric Radiation Program Southern Great Plains (SGP) site. Two AERIs were deployed at SGP with an overlapping observation period of about 10 years, which allows us to examine the consistency and accuracy of the measurements and to account for discrepancies between them due to errors associated with the instruments themselves. We then analyzed the all‐sky radiance trends in DLR, which are associated with the surface warming trend at SGP during this same period and also the complex changes in meteorological conditions. For instance, the observed radiance in the CO2 absorption band follows closely the near‐surface air temperature variations. The significant positive radiance trends in weak absorption channels, such as in the wings of the CO2 band and in the weak absorption channels in the H2O vibration‐rotational band, show earlier detectability of climate change. The magnitude of the radiance trend uncertainty in the DLR record mainly results from internal climate variability rather than from measurement error, which highlights the importance of continuing the DLR spectral measurements to unambiguously detect and attribute climate change.


Sector focused matched‐field processing is a technique that has been developed to stabilize high‐resolution estimators against random phase errors and environmental mismatch. This technique produces satisfactory high‐resolution matched‐field localization over a wider latitude of environments than does conventional high‐resolution techniques. Its implementation requires the selection of several parameters such as sector size, shape and dimensionality. In this work, general guidance is given for the use of this technique by establishing the properties of the small and large sector limits. Specifically, it is demonstrated that in the small sector limit, sector focusing behaves like replica correlator processing (robust and low resolution). Whereas, in the large sector limit, sector focusing behaves like reduced maximum‐likelihood processing (high resolution, but not as robust). The demonstration is accomplished by plotting signal gain degradation versus three sediment sound‐speed parameters. These plots show a small hot spot at the correct environment immersed in very cool surroundings for the conventional high‐resolution estimator (mvdr). Whereas, for sector focusing, the plots show a rather wide swath of acceptable environments. In most cases, the technique peaks on the correct environment. [This work was supported by the Office of Naval Research, with technical management provided by the Naval Research Laboratory, Stennis Space Center, MS.]


Gold ore at the Dixie Comstock mine, Churchill County, Nevada, is composed of quartz breccia, quartz stockwork, incipiently crushed gabbro, and minor fault gouge. The ore zone forms a mullion within a range-bounding normal fault, the Dixie Comstock mine fault, which originated in the middle Miocene and separates Jurassic gabbro and Tertiary volcanic rocks of the Stillwater Range to the west from Quaternary colluvium of Dixie Valley to the east. Within the mullion, a potentially bulk mineable resource of several million tons grading approximately 0.06 oz of gold per ton has been defined by drilling.Within the fault zone, clasts of gabbro in quartz breccia, quartz stockwork gabbro, and incipiently crushed gabbro are altered to quartz, sericite, chlorite, montmorillonite, and sulfides. Gold occurs as electrum in quartz that cements quartz breccia, in quartz stockwork veins with quartz, pyrite, chalcopyrite, and montmorillonite in breccia clasts, and in veins in incipiently crushed gabbro. Fluid inclusion microthermometry and stable isotope analyses of mineralized quartz matrix and two later stages of quartz and calcite show that ore fluid was 180 degrees C, near-boiling meteoric water.An inverse stratigraphy of thermal spring silica detritus in hanging-wall colluvium, microthermometry and isotopic compositions of fluid inclusion water from quartz breccia, a subjacent geothermal reservoir, and radiometric ages of hydrothermal minerals in the fault cumulatively support a mid-Pleistocene age for gold mineralization. The lower average displacement rate on the Dixie Comstock mine fault that is required by the age and thickness of eroded thermal spring sinter and underlying quartz breccia and stockwork, compared to higher recent displacement rates along range-bounding faults on the western side of Dixie Valley, suggests that the current pattern of temporal clustering of fault displacements began by the mid-Pleistocene.


Use your smartphone to scan this QR code and download this article ABSTRACT Introduction: Colletotrichum species is responsible for anthracnose, a worldwide serious disease, causing an important loss in chili pepper production. Therefore, screening disease resistant and sensitive chili pepper cultivars in Vietnam is important not only for in-depth studies of disease resistance-associatedmolecular mechanisms but also for chili production improvement via molecular marker-assisted breeding in Vietnam. Methods: To this end, in this study, two Colletotrichum isolateswere obtained from the infected fruits collected fromchili pepper (Capsicumannuum) fields in Tra Vinh province. According to the morphology analysis and the sequencing results of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions, these isolates were identified as C. scovillei and C. acutatum. In order to identify the anthracnose-resistant chili pepper cultivars, the pathogenicity test was conducted by infecting fully developed green fruits of eleven chili pepper cultivars with the two isolated Colletotrichum strains. Results: CN404 and HNCS were the two strongest anthracnoseresistant cultivars. Two chili pepper cultivars, TV3 and PN400, showed different resistance tendencies to each Colletotrichum isolates. Four different SSRmolecular markers were used in this study to identify the potential molecular markers associated with anthracnose resistance traits in chili pepper cultivars. Among the four examined markers, HpmsE126 was detected in two anthracnoseresistant chili pepper cultivars, suggesting its close relation to the anthracnose resistance trait in chili pepper. Conclusion: Given that two of the three most anthracnose-resistant cultivars, CN404 and TV3, possess HpmsE126 marker, this marker can be used to detect anthracnose-resistant lines in chili pepper breeding in Vietnam.


How do we bring a sense of order and organisation to not only paperwork (whether it be paper-based or digital) but to collections of objects or equiment – tools in the garden shed – recipe clippings – or just everyday ephemera?
This book highlights how a collection of approximately 200 letterpress blocks have been categorised into seven sections. The classification of blocks should, in theory, enable users to easily locate a particular item, to make the process of printing quick, easy and effective.


Background:The diagnosis of Parkinson disease (PD) is based on clinical criteria but misdiagnosis is as high as 25% of cases as confirmed by anatomic-pathologic studies. Since the introduction of in vivo molecular imaging techniques using Single-Photon Emission Computed Tomography and Positron Emission Tomography, the diagnosis of PD became more reliable by assessing dopaminergic and even nondopaminergic systems. Review Summary:The purpose of this article is to critically review the current data on molecular neuroimaging focusing on the nigrostriatal circuitry and providing useful information on the role of these new imaging techniques in the management of clinically unclear cases of PD. Conclusions:Patients with essential tremor, psychogenic Parkinsonism or drug-induced Parkinsonism can be differentiated from PD in doubtful situations using molecular imaging techniques evaluating striatal dopamine transporters (DAT). However, in patients with vascular Parkinsonism, atypical Parkinsonism and Parkinsonism associated with dementia DAT scans have less diagnostic usefulness. Scans with non-DAT tracers (ie, D2 dopamine receptors) are necessary together with long-term clinical follow-up, and rescans to improve diagnostic accuracy.


Hydrogen gas can be produced from fermentation end products such as acetic acid through the electrohydrogenesis process in microbial electrolysis cells (MECs). In many MEC reactors, precious metal catalysts and expensive cation exchange membranes are often used. Here we examine Co- and FeCo-based alternatives to Pt, and compare the performance of an anion exchange membrane with that of a cation exchange membrane (Nafion 117). It is found that these alternative catalysts have 40-80% better performance than uncatalysed surfaces, but they do not equal the performance of Pt based on our electrochemical tests using cyclic voltammetry. It was also found that the anion exchange membrane (AEM) performance was equal to that of cation exchange membrane (CEM) at applied voltages of 600 mV or less in MEC tests, but that it exceeded performance of the CEM at voltages above 600 mV. These results demonstrate choosing catalysts will require both analysis of performance and materials costs, but that performance is improved for producing H(2) gas in MECs using AEMs.


Three dimensional, self-assembled organoids that recapitulate key developmental and organizational events during embryogenesis have proven transformative for the study of human central nervous system (CNS) development, evolution, and disease pathology. Brain organoids have predominated the field, but human pluripotent stem cell (hPSC)-derived models of the spinal cord are on the rise. This has required piecing together the complex interactions between rostrocaudal patterning, which specifies axial diversity, and dorsoventral patterning, which establishes locomotor and somatosensory phenotypes. Here, we review how recent insights into neurodevelopmental biology have driven advancements in spinal organoid research, generating experimental models that have the potential to deepen our understanding of neural circuit development, central pattern generation (CPG), and neurodegenerative disease along the body axis. In addition, we discuss the application of bioengineering strategies to drive spinal tissue morphogenesis in vitro, current limitations, and future perspectives on these emerging model systems.


Hierarchical Entity Extraction and Ranking with Unsupervised Graph Convolutions By Zhexiong Liu Entity extraction problems have been extensively studied in terms of investigating the capability of extracting entities from text using natural language processing (NLP). Most research involves training learnable models on a large amount of corpus to extract entities and determine their salience. Typically, these systems aim to retrieve an array of ranked entities from a set of documents while giving queries, which mainly measure the relevance between queries and entities. However, this thesis leverages semantic and syntactic information within the documents to perform entities extraction as well as entity ranking. In particular, given document corpus, constituency parsing trees are constructed to extract entity mentions (phrases) for each article. Meanwhile, dependency parsing trees and entity coreference clusters are employed to build a relation graph, of which nodes denote entity mentions and edges denote mention relations. Moreover, graph convolution is performed on the relation graph to normalize the mention representation with respect to mention embeddings. Hierarchical density-based clustering and ranking mechanism are applied to compute entity priors. To evaluate this work, three models are proposed and evaluated on 60 annotated articles. Preliminary results illustrate that the usage of parsing trees, along with entity coreference relations improves the effectiveness of entity extraction and ranking. The interesting hierarchical trees for entity extraction, the principles for graph construction, as well as the system architecture serve as main contributions of this thesis. Hierarchical Entity Extraction and Ranking with Unsupervised Graph Convolutions


Background Most prostate cancers express androgen receptor (AR), and our previous studies have focused on identifying transcription factors that modify AR function. We have shown that nuclear factor I/B (NFIB) regulates AR activity in androgen-dependent prostate cancer cells in vitro. However, the status of NFIB in prostate cancer was unknown. Methods We immunostained a tissue microarray including normal, hyperplastic, prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia, primary prostatic adenocarcinoma, and castration-resistant prostate cancer tissue samples for NFIB, AR, and synaptophysin, a marker of neuroendocrine differentiation. We interrogated publically available data sets in cBioPortal to correlate NFIB expression and AR and neuroendocrine prostate cancer (NEPCa) activity scores. We analyzed prostate cancer cell lines for NFIB expression via Western blotting and used nuclear and cytoplasmic fractionation to assess where NFIB is localized. We performed coimmunoprecipitation studies to determine if NFIB and AR interact. Results NFIB increased in the nucleus and cytoplasm of prostate cancer samples versus matched normal controls, independent of Gleason score. Similarly, cytoplasmic AR and synaptophysin increased in primary prostate cancer. We observed strong NFIB staining in primary small cell prostate cancer. The ratio of cytoplasmic-to-nuclear NFIB staining was predictive of earlier biochemical recurrence in prostate cancer, once adjusted for tumor margin status. Cytoplasmic AR was an independent predictor of biochemical recurrence. There was no statistically significant difference between NFIB and synaptophysin expression in primary and castration-resistant prostate cancer, but cytoplasmic AR expression was increased in castrationresistant samples. In primary prostate cancer, nuclear NFIB expression correlated with cytoplasmic NFIB and nuclear AR, while cytoplasmic NFIB correlated with synaptophysin, and nuclear and cytoplasmic AR. In castration-resistant prostate cancer samples, NFIB expression correlated positively with an AR activity score, and negatively with the NEPCa score. In prostate cancer cell lines, NFIB exists in several isoforms. We observed NFIB predominantly in the nuclear fraction of prostate cancer cells with increased cytoplasmic expression seen in castration-resistant cell lines. We observed an interaction between AR and NFIB through coimmunoprecipitation experiments. Conclusion We have described the expression pattern of NFIB in primary and castrationresistant prostate cancer and its positive correlation with AR. We have also demonstrated AR interacts with NFIB.


ABSTRACT This paper explains the puzzling fact that in organizing the management of surface water, village leaders have provided incentives to canal managers in some areas, but not in all. Our study indicates that the optimal contractual choice depends on the relative abilities of the leader and the manager, the design of the cultivated land, the characteristics of the canal system and the opportunity costs of the leader and the pool of managerial candidates. The unifying mechanism is the relative change in the ability of the leader and manager to perform the unmarketable activities that are needed to provide irrigation services.


Garlic is widely used as food flavouring, and China is the world's largest garlic producer and exporter. To develop a convenient technique for evaluation of garlic cultivars would be worthwhile, and it would have wide application in such a huge market. In this research, 3D front-face fluorescence data of 8 garlic cultivars were recorded, and independent component analysis was used to decompose the overall fluorescence spectra into six independent components. The first, second, and fourth independent components showed a big difference among the cultivars, and the chemical fluorophores behind these three components were specified as protein, vitamin B6, and ATP, respectively, as fluorescent markers for evaluation. The result showed that all 8 cultivars cluster separately. The cultivar "YNQJ" have the highest quality in terms of protein and vitamin B6, "NXYC" and "SDHB" have the highest content of ATP, while "SXXA" is the poorest in terms of protein and ATP, and "HNJZ" has the lowest content of vitamin B6. Therefore, rapid evaluation of garlic cultivars can be accomplished successfully by using only the proportion values of three properly selected fluorescent markers.


Two monosomic alien substitution lines (MAS lines, 2n=41=40+5R) of wheat Triticum aestivum L. cv. 'Saratovskaya 29' were used as recipients in the development of inter-varietal substitution lines for chromosomes 5A and 5D. In the MAS lines, chromosomes 5A or 5D of 'Saratovskaya 29' were replaced by homoeologous univalent chromosome 5R of rye Secale cereale L. cv. 'Onokhoiskaya', which bears the Hp marker gene coding for hairy peduncle. The donors included 18 spring and winter wheat varieties. The MAS lines were developed by crossing monosomic lines of 'Saratovskaya 29' for chromosomes 5A and 5D to a wheat-rye substitution line of 'Saratovskaya 29' 5R(5D) followed by cytological and morphological selection of plants with chromosome configuration 20II +5RI in metaphase I of pollen mother cells from F 1 and F 2 plants with slightly hairy peduncles. It was shown that MAS lines could be maintained during long-term propagation (18 generations). Use of MAS lines with the Hp marker gene allows acceleration and abbreviation of cytological analysis and elimination of the probability of 'univalent switch' in the course of the development of substitution lines. The method was applied to the development of 22 'Saratovskaya 29' lines with inter-varietal substitution for chromosomes 5A and 5D. Fourteen and thirteen microsatellite markers located in chromosomes 5A and 5D, respectively, were used to prove the authenticity of the inter-varietal substitution lines. According to these markers, 21 substitution lines from 22 studied were correct.


Since many foods consumed by human are from animal, the risk of germs transmission through the consumption of products from animals like pig and poultry nourished with contaminated flours remains high. This study aims firstly to access the hygienic quality of two flours Moringa oleifera and Azolla filiculoides and then to select best stocking conditions for their conservation. Those flours were produced and stored in three packing in three different environments for microbiological and phytochemical analyses. On the whole, 36 samples of each flour were followed and analyzed during two months time, according to standardized methods ISO and AFNOR to research anaerobes sulphito-reducers (ASR), coliforms thermotolerants, Escherichia coli, yeasts, moulds and Staphylococcus aureus germs presence. The results showed that storing in plastic bag and tin in refrigerated and non-ventilated environments are suitable for conservation during two months without anaerobes sulphito-reducers (ASR) and Staphylococcus aureus presence.


An approach to modelling an Oracle database is presented for both single instance and parallel server versions. A modified queueing network is used which is extended to include traditional transaction locks which achieve serialisation and the new PCM locks of Oracle which ensure coherency in the distributed database buffers. The latter are not enqueue locks and so require different techniques. Both locks require an iterative solution to a fixed point model. The numerical results produced by the model can be validated largely using data maintained in Oracle tables and the distributed lock manager, and we identify the relevant entries.


measure of cross-allergenicity with the penicillins is debatable. Are not penicillin-allergic patients liable to show increased incidences of hypersensitivity to many substances ? How does one use a cephalosporin "with caution" ? Does this mean the use of an oral cephalosporin rather than an injectable one ? (5) The importance of t3-lactamase is unfortunately obscured by generalisation; certain r3-lactamase enzymes have a high capacity to hydrolyse certain compounds. But these antibiotics are indifferent to other enzymes. The key questions are: (a) To what extent is ~3-lactamase produced in vivo ? (b) To what extent does this 3-lactamase damage the antibiotic in vivo ? (c) To what extent do laboratory sensitivity testing methods reflect the milieu of the patient as far as ;'-lactamase is concerned ? Much of the confusion over the cephalosporins has come from the use of loose terms such as "activity" and the failure of the manufacturers and others to perform controlled trials showing superiority of a newly introduced product. At a very recent promotional meeting about a new cephalosporin that I attended the results of treatment of 1400 patients were given, yet not a single trial comparing it with other cephalosporins was cited. I suggest that in the use of cephalosporins, unless a specific indication exists for another agent, the drug for routine use should be selected on (1) availability as both an oral and a parenteral compound and (2) cost. It is hoped that before further agents are introduced in the future not only will they appear improved on selected il vitro evaluation but patients will also be seen to have benefited.


The ZrO2 coatings were deposited by sol-gel techniques on copper and steel. The film morphology has been investigated by AFM technique. The performance of ZrO2 films as protective layers was investigated by electrochemical techniques and optical microscopy. Firstly, the electrochemical behaviour of the uncoated copper and steel substrates was investigated by cyclic voltammetry in HCl (1 M) and NaOH (0.4 M) solutions having various pH values. Secondly, the anticorrosion protective effect of sol-gel ZrO2 coatings was evaluated by potentiodynamic measurements in degrading media in which substrates were immersed for 1-90 days. The comparisons of electrochemical parameters allow an explanation of the role of the ZrO2 coatings in the increased resistance of steel and copper against corrosion in moderately aggressive environments..


African swine fever virus is highly contagious, and mortality rates reach up to 100% depending on the host, virus dose, and the transmission routes. The main objective of this study was to develop a network-based simulation model for the farm-level transmission of ASF virus to evaluate the impact of changes in farm connectivity on ASF spread in Vietnam. A hypothetical population of 1,000 pig farms was created and used for the network-based simulation, where each farm represented a node, and the connection between farms represented an edge. The three scenarios modelled in this way (baseline, low, and high) evaluated the impact of connectivity on disease transmission. The median number of infected farms was higher as the connectivity increased (low: 659, baseline: 968 and high: 993). In addition, we evaluated the impact of the culling strategy on the number of infected farms. A total of four scenarios were simulated depending on the timing of culling after a farm was infected. We found that the timing of culling at 16, 12, 8, and 6 weeks had resulted in a reduction of the number of median infected farms by 81.92%, 91.63%, 100%, and 100%, respectively. Finally, our evaluation of the implication of stability of ties between farms indicated that if the farms were to have the same trading partners for at least six months could significantly reduce the median number of infected farms to two (95th percentile: 413) than in the basic model. Our study showed that pig movements among farms had a significant influence on the transmission dynamics of ASF virus. In addition, we found that the either timing of culling, reduction in the number of trading partners each farm had, or decreased mean contact rate during the outbreaks were essential to prevent or stop further outbreaks.


Air permeability is one of the very important factors which need to be considered at the development stage of textile fabrics because it affects the comfort of the clothing. During normal and extreme environmental conditions human body releases heat and the heat can be controlled by the air exchange between the body and clothing microclimate and the external environment; the exchange phenomena depends on the air permeability of the fabric. The air permeability of fabric can be evaluated by both the experimental and computational methods. In this work, a computational method is used for the prediction of air permeability of fabrics. The geometrical model of weft knitted structures was generated by using the actual dimensional parameters of the fabric and was further analysed by applying appropriate boundary conditions. The simulated results obtained from computational analysis were compared to the experimental results. Furthermore, the validated models were further used to predict and analyse the effect of stitch length, stitch density and fibre volume fraction on the air permeability of the fabric.


Clinical treatment for colorectal cancer (CRC) thus far encounters a huge challenge due to oxaliplatin-resistance. As crucial rate-limiting enzymes in aerobic glycolysis and glutaminolysis, pyruvate kinase M2 type (PKM2) and kidney-type glutaminase (GLS1) are proposed to carry important implications in colorectal carcinogenesis and drug-resistance. This study aimed to explore the possible association of oxaliplatin-resistance with aerobic glycolysis/glutaminolysis indexed by PKM2/GLS1 expression. PKM2 and GLS1 expression was quantified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and Western blot techniques in CRC cell lines. The abilities of cell formation, kinetics, migration, invasion, survival and apoptosis, as well as permeability glycoprotein (Pgp) expression were inspected before and after knocking-down PKM2/GLS1 expression. In addition, the influence of knocking-down PKM2/GLS1 expression was evaluated in vivo. Differentiated PKM2 and GLS1 expression in both THC8307 and THC8307/Oxa cell lines was identified. In the THC8307 cell line, PKM2 and GLS1 can accelerate malignant behaviors, increase oxaliplatin-resistance, upregulate Pgp expression, and inhibit cell apoptosis. Contrastingly in the THC8307/Oxa cell line, knockdown of PKM2/GLS1 expression can restrain malignant behaviors, reestablish oxaliplatin-sensitivity, downregulate Pgp expression, and induce cell apoptosis. In xenograft, knockdown of PKM2/GLS1 expression can significantly inhibit tumor growth, reduce Pgp expression, and increase tumor apoptosis. Taken together, the present findings enriched our knowledge by demonstrating a significant association of PKM2 and GLS1 with oxaliplatin-resistance in CRC. We further propose that knockdown of PKM2/GLS1 expression may constitute a novel therapeutic strategy toward effective treatment for CRC.


Intersections often experience severe rutting in the asphalt concrete layers due to slow moving, high loads, acceleration, deceleration and turning. This thesis aims to investigate the effectiveness of grouted macadam, open graded asphalt with its voids filled with cement grout, as a pavement material at intersections. This was done by investigating the properties of grouted macadam through a literature review and performing a life-cycle cost analysis comparing grouted macadam and asphalt concrete as pavement materials at an intersection.Grouted macadam is found to be similar to asphalt concrete concerning the relation between stiffness and temperature and frequency as well as fatigue behaviour. The main differences are that grouted macadam is stiffer, stronger and not prone to rutting. Thus it would be suitable to address rutting problems. The main drawbacks are that construction demands extra time and precision and that it is expensive compared to asphalt concrete.The life-cycle cost analysis showed that assuming that the grouted macadam has a service life of twenty years and rehabilitation of the asphalt concrete in the form of mill and refill takes place every fourth year the life-cycle costs are approximately the same. A sensitivity analysis was performed that showed that local variations can have large impact on the life-cycle costs.The main conclusion is that grouted macadam can be effective as a pavement material at intersections that experiences severe rutting and frequently reoccurring rehabilitations.


Oxygen gas dissolved in seawater has been studied as a tracer of physical and biological processes in the ocean for nearly half a century. Analysis of historical oxygen data has revealed widespread changes in subsurface oxygen concentrations over the past few decades, providing important constraints on the impact of late 20th century climate change on the circulation and biological productivity of the ocean. We report results from a hind cast ocean circulation/biogeochemical model that reproduces the spatial patterns of observed subsurface O2 variability in the North Pacific, where inferred O2 trends are strongest. We find that decadal North Pacific O2 variations in the lower ventilated thermocline primarily reflect changes in the basin's large‐scale circulation. A southward expansion of the model subtropical gyre explains the observed subtropical O2 increase from the 1980s to the 1990s, while the simultaneous O2 decreases seen throughout the midlatitude Pacific are driven largely by reduced communication between the atmosphere and the ocean interior. Similar O2 decreases are pervasive among mid‐ and high‐latitude water masses, but further research is needed to determine whether these changes reflect a global response to 20th century climate change.


PURPOSE
To evaluate our experience with the LithoTron lithotripter (Healthtronics, Atlanta, GA), a dry portable system that utilizes a spark-gap electrode as an energy source.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
We prospectively evaluated the first 312 treatments performed on 199 men and 99 women with an average age of 43.5 years (range 4 months-80 years), over a 25-month period between May 1999 and June 2001. Of the 468 stones treated, 136 were located in the ureter, 52 in the renal pelvis or ureteropelvic junction, and 230 in the kidney; the sites of 50 were not specified in our database. The average stone size was 8.0 mm (range 1-40 mm). Follow-up included a plain (KUB) film, CT scan, or intravenous urogram (IVU) and was available for 256 patients. "Stone free" was defined as no fragments visible on postoperative images. The mean radiographic follow-up was 74 days (range 0-866 days). Data collection was initially done manually by data sheets, but a Web-based medical database application was developed in order to enter, store, retrieve, and analyze the data more efficiently.

RESULTS
The average number of shocks delivered per renal unit was 2689 at 25.8 kV. Seventy-five percent of the procedures were performed with intravenous sedation. Two thirds (169/256) of the patients were rendered stone free with one treatment. According to size, 71% (209/294) of stones <1 cm, 57% (39/68) of stones between 1.0 and 1.5 cm, and 22% (8/36) of stones >1.5 cm were eliminated. There were 23 patients who required further treatment; from the available data, 18 of them are currently stone free. Perioperative complications occurred in 6 patients (2%). No patient had worsening renal function or new-onset hypertension. The effectiveness quotient was 59.3%.

CONCLUSION
The LithoTron lithotripter is satisfactory for stones <1 cm.


While complicated acute cholecystitis (ACH) course the focus of infection constitutes one of the main causes of the endogenic intoxication (EI) occurrence, what leads to ischemic and hypoxic myocardial damage. There were presented the treatment results analysis in 213 patients, ageing 60 years old and older, managed for an ACH, complicated by peritonitis, paravesical abscess, with concurrent cardiac insufficiency of ischemic genesis, to whom laparoscopic cholecytectomy (LCHE) was conducted. Microflora of the abdominal cavity exudates in the patients, suffering an ACH of various severity, was studied. More rapid regression of inflammatory process, the EI severity and the ischemic-hypoxic myocardial affection reduction, positive impact on hemodynamics, reduction of myocardial ischemia severity were noted while local affection, when bacteriophages for treatment were applied.


Prestressed structures are used in civil engineering and other sectors of industry for the production of pressure vessels of the reactors and protective shells for nuclear plants, storage tanks for liquefied gas, etc. In such structures, pretension may reach great magnitudes depending on the manufacturing process during the fabrication or later with the addition of the operational loads. Therefore, it is necessary to address the prestressed state in order to predict optimal loading for the structural elements in the design process of these structures. In this study, the prestressed states of these structures are investigated using an analogy between the prestressed state and the thermoelasticity problems by the photothermoelasticity. Detailed information about the stress distribution in entire structures, locations, and magnitudes of the maximum stresses and bond stresses was obtained. Simultaneously, analytical relations were developed for the normal and shearing stress components between dissimilar materials in the joint zone.


Social work has been a player in the international arena since 1928 when the International Association of Schools of Social Work (IASSW) was founded alongside its sister organisations, the International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW) and the International Council for Social Welfare (ICSW). These divided their remit into education, practice and policy respectively. Their development has been an interesting one, but the details of it need not detain us here. I only want to lay aside the argument that having an interest in the international domain is a new phenomenon in social work. At the same time, I want to emphasise how impressive it is that a profession that has been so tied into modernity, linked to the modern nation-state (Lorenz, 1994) and rooted in local legislation and traditions has such a long-standing history of involvements that have crossed borders to promote understanding and knowledge-building. In these encounters, social work educators and practitioners have engaged with others who were different from them while struggling to make their interactions egalitarian and respectful ones.


Structure and Properties of Nano-Crystalline Ti-Base Alloys Obtained by Vacuum Hot Pressing The cp-Ti and Ti-base alloys with additions of Ta and Nb were ball milled and consolidated using vacuum hot pressing. This novel technique allowed to obtain a high level of densification of milled powders up to about 98% and the nanometric grain size level. In the samples of vacuum hot compacted cp-Ti grain size of a single α phase was estimated at 140 nm. With the increase of content the β-stabilizing elements in alloys such as Ta and Nb, structure and a grain size has been changed. In the case of Ti-5Ta-5Nb alloy, also single α phase was observed but with grains size was much smaller, close to 85 nm. The further increasing of the content of Ta and Nb caused further refinement of grain size down to 60 nm and change of structure into two phase α+β and β in case of Ti-10Ta-10Nb and Ti-15Ta-15Nb alloys respectively. The hardness and Young Modulus were measured using the dynamic hardness tester and calculations of hardness and elastic modulus values were based on Oliver and Pharr model.


Proteins, as their name indicates, occupy the prime place in Nature's architecture. I t is worth remarking th a t Nature uses the structural type for diverse purposes, in addition to those familiar in enzymology, immunology, etc. A striking example is provided by the recent publication (Bradbury et al. 1976), showing tha t the C fragment of lipotropin (residues 6191) is firmly bound by opiate receptors and is an analgesic 200 times as potent as morphine in molar terms. The pentapeptide comprising residues 61-65 of this sequence is already well known as enkephalin (Hughes et al. 1975). Reference should also be made to the host of hormones from the pituitary gland, hypothalamus, and intestinal tract. An example of the last is gastrin which has been studied a t Liverpool, principally by R. A. Gregory in the Department of Physiology. Recently the structure of the big gastrins, isolated by Gregory & Tracy (1972), has been elucidated by Harris & Runswick (1974) following preliminary work in the Robert Robinson Laboratories (Barton, Choudhury, Dancsi & Kenner 1973) (figure 1). This structure typifies the way in which small fragments are carved from a protein chain in order to provide an active hormone (Smyth 1975). Thus the gastrins originally described (Gregory & Tracy 1964; Kenner & Sheppard 1968) correspond to the sequence 18-34 of the big gastrins. The lysyl glutaminyl bond is enzymically cleaved, as can be achieved in the laboratory by trypsin, and then the N-terminal glutaminyl residue cyclizes to the pyroglutamyl structure (pyrrolidone carbonyl). The pyroglutamyl structure at the N-terminus of the big gastrins must have arisen in the same way. I t should also be noted tha t the C-terminal amide, which is essential for biological activity (Tracy & Gregory 1964), very likely arises from enzymatic aminolysis of a protein chain extending further to the right; the extensive studies by Morley (1968) of structureactivity relations in the gastrin tetrapeptide indicate that the gastrin tetrapeptide embedded in a protein chain would not have hormonal activity until aminolysis had occurred, and therefore the gastrin sequence can be stored in a prohormone. The sequence of human big gastrin 1 (figure 1) has been synthesized by a colla borative effort between our laboratory a t Liverpool and tha t of Professor E. Wunsch in the Max Planck Institute at Munich (Choudhury et al. 1976).


It is well established that both the Sympathetic and the Parasympathetic divisions of the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) control the diameter of the pupil in humans. Accordingly, changes in pupil diameter reflect the response of human subjects to changes in the environmental illumination and also to affective stimuli capable of triggering sympathetic or parasympathetic activation. In the past, pupil diameter variations had to be evaluated by manual measurements on individual movie frames. Currently, measurements of pupil diameter are frequently available from an Eye Gaze Tracking (EGT) system. However, the resolution of the imaging systems used in these instruments is not optimized for pupil diameter measurements. This paper reports the development of a new head-mounted system for the imaging of the pupil of a human subject. This system provides images at a higher resolution than in EGT systems, yielding a more usable pupil diameter signal. This signal is useful in discriminating relatively small changes in pupil size, which may reflect changes in the affective state of a computer user. The paper outlines the design and construction of the first prototype of our system and includes some sample images that confirm that a higher resolution in pupil imaging is achieved.


Hoarding can be a symptom of multiple neurological and psychiatric disorders, including obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Recent evidence suggests that, in many cases, hoarding can also be a standalone problem that presents independently from other conditions; this has led to the proposal of a new diagnostic entity named hoarding disorder. This article reviews the neuropsychological and neuroimaging research on pathological hoarding. Most research in humans has been conducted in the context of individuals with brain damage, dementia, or OCD. Studies of well-characterized samples of individuals with hoarding disorder are extremely rare. Although not possible to establish firm conclusions at this stage, we conclude with a series of observations and recommendations for clinical practice.


What causes deep recessions and slow recovery? I revisit this question and develop a macro-finance model that quantitatively matches the salient empirical features of financial crises such as a large drop in the output, a high risk premium, reduced financial intermediation, and a long duration of economic distress. The model has leveraged intermediaries featuring stochastic productivity and a regime-dependent exit rate that governs the transition in and out of crises. A model without these two features suffers from a trade-off between the amplification and persistence of crises. I show that my model resolves this tension and generates realistic crisis dynamics.


The themes of awareness and influence within the innovation diffusion process are addressed. The innovation diffusion process is typically represented as stages, yet awareness and influence are somewhat under-represented in the literature. Awareness and influence are situated within the contextual setting of individual actors but also within the broader institutional forces. Understanding how actors become aware of an innovation and then how their opinion is influenced is important for creating a more innovation-active UK construction sector. Social network analysis is proposed as one technique for mapping how awareness and influence occur and what they look like as a network. Empirical data are gathered using two modes of enquiry. This is done through a pilot study consisting of chartered professionals and then through a case study organization as it attempted to diffuse an innovation. The analysis demonstrates significant variations across actors' awareness and influence networks. It is argued that social network analysis can complement other research methods in order to present a richer picture of how actors become aware of innovations and where they draw their influences regarding adopting innovations. In summarizing the findings, a framework for understanding awareness and influence associated with innovation within the UK construction sector is presented. Finally, with the UK construction sector continually being encouraged to be innovative, understanding and managing an actor's awareness and influence network will be beneficial. The overarching conclusion thus describes the need not only to build research capacity in this area but also to push the boundaries related to the research methods employed.


This paper is concerned about effective incorporation of a limited number of phasor measurement unit (PMU) measurements into the state estimation solution in order to enhance the state tracking accuracy and speed. This is particularly important for fast changing system conditions when rapid control action may be necessary based on the onset of voltage instability due to an unexpected event. Under such conditions, SCADA-based state estimators may be too slow in capturing the changes in system state due to the low scan rates of the order of seconds. PMU measurements on the other hand provide refresh rates of milliseconds; however, they may not provide full system observability. In this work, a solution is proposed in order to address the lack of observability by the PMU measurements while maintaining fast tracking capability as well as estimation robustness against pseudo-measurement and PMU errors. Robustness is accomplished via the use of the so-called least absolute value estimator which minimizes L1 norm of the residuals. Simulation results are provided to illustrate the expected benefits of this implementation on test systems.


A study of the morphological structure of the thyroid was made at the acute (1, 3, 6 hours) and remote periods (1, 4, 24, 48 weeks) following the external gamma-irradiation at doses of 0.25-5.0 Gy using histologic and electron microscopic methods. At the acute period, morphological changes prevailed, which reflect the functional alterations (changes of the nucleic and of the follicular diameters and of the colloid density). Frequently they hare a non-synchronous character. At more remote periods, destructive (colloidorrhage, desquamation, hemorrhage) and reparative changes reveal in thyroid, which and by the development of the sclerotic processes and of the morphological signs of decreased functional activity of the gland (increased follicular size and colloidal density, flatness of follicular epithelium and pronounced decreasing of the thyrocytes ultra structure number). The presence of such morphological changes after high and low-dose irradiation (<1.0 Gy) shows high sensitivity of the thyroid to single external radiation.


Sixteen upland rice varieties, comprising of some interspecific New rice for Africa (NERICA) hybrids, established varieties and some breeding lines, were raised in the greenhouse and used to expound drought response under varying moisture conditions, as a guide for breeding genotypes with appreciable drought tolerance and grain yield. Varieties were subjected to different levels of drought stress through different combinations of moisture regime and times of water application at different stages of growth. Varieties, moisture regime and times of water application espoused significant mean squares (MS) for root, vegetative and grain production. Times of water application consistently accounted for the largest percentage of mean squares (PMS) for most characters. Significant interaction was also obtained between variety, moisture regime and times of water application for most of the characters. There were significant correlations between times of water application and all the root, shoot and grain yield character. Fresh shoot weight, dry shoot weight, tiller number and leaf number were also positively correlated to moisture regime. WAB 880 recorded the largest mean value for root volume and thickness and hence better drought adaptation but this failed to translate to superior grain production. ITA 150, an established variety, however recorded the highest panicle number and grain production compared to WAB 880 and the NERICA varieties. The need for further introgression of genes from ITA 150 into newly developed NERICA varieties through an intricate combination of favourable genes for improved drought tolerance and better grain production was canvassed.


Energy efficiency and fault tolerance are two important features required for sustained and reliable operations of wireless sensor networks deployed in unstructured environments. This paper investigates an approach to prolonging network lifetime and ensuring sensing reliability by organizing the sensors into several disjoint subsets, each of which takes shift to cover the entire region. This strategy is made possible by the enormous redundancy in large-scale sensor network applications where many small and inexpensive sensors are deployed to achieve quality through quantity. However, such energy savings through shift taking in time and fault tolerance via redundant coverage require an appropriate network partition in space: each on-duty subset must (i) cover the entire region, (ii) maintain its own connectivity, and (iii) cover every point with multiple sensors. Based on a general sensor network model, we formulate this problem as an NP-complete Connected M-SET k-Coverage problem. We rigorously derive a necessary and sufficient condition for checking the sensor coverage of a continuous two-dimensional space based on geometric reasoning, and analytically derive the upper bounds on both M and k for any given sensor network. We further propose a heuristic approach to this problem and evaluate its performance through extensive simulations.


Problem statement: Most of the information retrieval systems used only client-server architectures. The client-server model though powerful, had some limitations. In mobile computing environment which has both wired network and wireless networks with limited communication capabilities, the performance of the system was very low. Approach: Mobile agents are considered a suitable technology to develop applications such as information retrieval system for mobile computing environment. Mobile agents are autonomous and dynamic entities that can migrate between various nodes in the network. They offer many advantages over traditional design methodologies like: reduction in network load, overcoming network latency and disconnected operations. Since the mobile agents do not need continuous communication with the mobile host, they are not affected by the sudden disconnection of wireless network and the situation of turning mobile host off for power saving. In order to get the complete benefit of mobile agent system, the system must be fault tolerant. In the context of mobile agents, fault-tolerance prevents a partial or complete loss of the agent. Results: Our system in mobile computing environment ensured that the agent arrived at its destination with result and performance of the system improved by the way of reduction in the response time. And also, the system allowed sending more requests by the way of creating many mobile agents without affecting the performance. Conclusion: Our research compared the performance of client-server architecture and fault tolerant mobile agent information retrieval system and proved that our system solved the limitations faced by the client server architecture. The system can also be extended to adhoc networks.


Abstract Feedforward networks have powerful approximation capabilities without the "explosion of parameters" problem faced by Fourier and polynomial expansions. This paper first introduces feedforward networks and describes their approximation capabilities, then we address several practical issues faced by applications of feedforward networks. First, we demonstrate networks can provide a reasonable estimate of a Bermudagrass hay fertilizer response function with the relatively sparse data often available from experiments. Second, we demonstrate that the estimated network with a practical number of hidden units provides reasonable flexibility. Third, we show how one can constrain feedforward networks to satisfy a priori information without losing their flexible functional form characteristic.


Background: Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) is an acute viral hemorrhagic fever caused by the Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus (CCHFV). Nuclear factor (NF)-κB regulates the expression of hundreds of genes, including inflammatory and immunoregulatory, cell cycle regulating, and anti-apoptotic genes. NF-κBIA (IκBα) encodes an inhibitory version of the NF-κB proteins. Methods: This study is the first to investigate the association between NF-κB1 − 94W/D and NF-κBIA 3→UTR A→G polymorphisms and CCHF using the polymerase chain reaction–restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR–RFLP) method. Results: There was a significant difference in NF-κB1 − 94W/D genotype distribution between CCHF patients and control populations (p = 0.001). Comparison of the WW genotype with both WD and DD genotypes revealed that the difference between CCHF patients and controls was statistically significant (p = 0.043 for WD genotype, p = 0.018 for DD genotype). However, a significant deviation was found between patients with fatal CCHF and control populations (p = 0.025). The results show that patients with fatal CCHF with the DD genotype have a 4.06-times higher risk for CCHF compared to patients in the control group (odds ratio (OR) 4.06, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.11–14.87). A significant difference in NF-κBIA 3→UTR A→G polymorphisms was observed between CCHF patients and controls in both AA vs AG and AA vs GG (OR 2.04, p = 0.019; OR 2.01, p = 0.049, respectively). Conclusions: Our findings suggest that NF-κB1 − 94W/D and NF-κBIA 3→UTR A→G polymorphisms may be valuable predictors of the clinical course in CCHF disease.


A mixed approach (GA-BEM) based on the genetic algorithm (GA) and the boundary element method (BEM) is presented to reconstruct the shapes of conducting cylinders. The forward scattering of a conducting cylinder is analyzed by BEM, then the objective function is constructed in terms of the maximum difference between the computed scattering fields and the measured fields, where the optimization variables are the shape parameters of the conducting cylinder. Finally the objective function is minimized based on GA. Numerical results are presented to demonstrate the validity of this approach.