A brief history of the discovery of insulin and pancreatic tissue transplantation was given including the events that led to the introduction of pancreatic transplantation. This was followed by a detailed account of the different sites used in pancreatic tissue fragment and islet transplantation, and the fate of the grafts. Reinnervation of these pancreatic islet and tissue grafts have received little attention since pancreatic transplantation started in 1892 and it became apparent that only a couple of investigators have actually embarked on the systemic studies of the presence of different neurotransmitters and neuromodulators in the nerves reinnervating pancreatic islets and or fragments transplanted into different sites in the mammalian body. The nerves reinnervating pancreatic tissue and islets can be grouped into intrinsic or extrinsic nerves. The intrinsic nerves are the intrapancreatic neurons that survived and produced or stored neurotransmitters after transplantation. The extrinsic nerves are novel to the transplant and originate from the mixed nerve plexuses of the site of transplantation. These extrinsic nerves are carried into the transplant by the blood vessels revascularizing the pancreatic islet or tissue graft. The pattern of reinnervation by extrinsic nerves is depicted in diagrams


In this paper, we propose novel fractionally-spaced frequency-domain equalizers for the amplify-and-forward cooperative systems. In the proposed equalization schemes, the sampling rate of the received signal remains at least as high as the Nyquist rate within the digital processing chain of the relay node(s), upon which a true fractionally-spaced equalization becomes feasible at the destination. Based on minimum-mean-square-error (MMSE) criterion, different equalization structures (linear and non-linear) are designed, and approximations for their bit error rate (BER) performance are presented. The BER performance of the proposed schemes are further lower bounded through a matched-filter bound (MFB) analysis which provides insight into system design such as optimum power allocation and relay selection strategy. Our results show that, under certain channel realizations and sampling phase errors (that may occur in the relay and destination terminals), the performance of the conventional symbol-spaced cooperative systems reduces to that of no relay scenario. However, the performance of cooperative systems with the proposed fractionally-spaced equalizers is independent of the samplers' phases, and as a result, full benefit of cooperation is retained.


Low temperature ($\sim$ 20~K) electron irradiation with 2.5 MeV relativistic electrons was used to study the effect of controlled non-magnetic disorder on the normal and superconducting properties of the type-II Dirac semimetal PdTe$_2$. We report measurements of longitudinal and Hall resistivity, thermal conductivity and London penetration depth using tunnel-diode resonator technique for various irradiation doses. The normal state electrical resistivity follows Matthiessen rule with an increase of the residual resistivity at a rate of $\sim$0.77$ \mu \Omega$cm/$(\textrm{C}/\textrm{cm}^2)$. London penetration depth and thermal conductivity results show that the superconducting state remains fully gapped. The superconducting transition temperature is suppressed at a non-zero rate that is about sixteen times slower than described by the Abrikosov-Gor'kov dependence, applicable to magnetic impurity scattering in isotropic, single-band $s$-wave superconductors. To gain information about the gap structure and symmetry of the pairing state, we perform a detailed analysis of these experimental results based on insight from a generalized Anderson theorem for multi-band superconductors. This imposes quantitative constraints on the gap anisotropies for each of the possible pairing candidate states. We conclude that the most likely pairing candidate is an unconventional $A_{1g}^{+-}$ state. While we cannot exclude the conventional $A_{1g}^{++}$ and the triplet $A_{1u}$, we demonstrate that these states require additional assumptions about the orbital structure of the disorder potential to be consistent with our experimental results, e.g., a ratio of inter- to intra-band scattering for the singlet state significantly larger than one. Due to the generality of our theoretical framework, we think that it will also be useful for irradiation studies in other spin-orbit-coupled multi-orbital systems.


Iranian Chadormalu ore mine is located within 180 km northeast of Yazd, 65 km north of Bafgh. Under the present circumstances, this mine enjoys four production lines which produce almost 8.5 million ton/year iron concentrate via direct reduction process for the use of steel manufacturers. The Iron concentrate is shipped by freight trains and trucks to Esfahan's Mobarakeh Steel Company and Khouzestan Steel Company. The area has no resident (other than miners) while closest village is located within 60 km away from the mine. With respect to the mining business running in the respective region, and also given the establishment of this industrial complex close to the wildlife refuge of Anjir-Neybaz Valley, density of heavy metals (including Zn, Cu, Fe, Ni, Cd, Co) existing in the underground water resources of Chadomalu region was measured. The results then were matched to the standards declared by Institute of Standard and Industrial Research of Iran (ISIRI) and World Health Organization (WHO). The current survey indicates that mining operations in Chadormalu do not pollute the underground resources as far as heavy metals are concerned, and density of these metals is lower than the authorized standard maximum. Considering the significance of mining business in the area, an environmental management plan consisting of three elements of Training, Restrictions, and Monitoring was also provided in order to improve the environmental circumstances.


In this paper, a simple digital hysteresis current control (DHCC) with quasi-constant switching frequency (SF) for the current control of a single-phase grid-connected inverter (SPGI) is proposed. The hysteresis band is cancelled, and the SF is fixed by online adjusting the sampling period. The principle of the DHCC with constant sampling period is analyzed, and the distribution of the switching period (SP) corresponding to the phase angle of the grid is derived. The rule of online adjusting the sampling period to fix SF is then determined according to the former theoretical analysis results. Furthermore, the effect of variation of the filter inductor on the SP is analyzed. An online estimation of the filter inductor based on the linear model of the current increment within one switching cycle is developed to eliminate this kind of effect. The proposed scheme shows the features of simple control, easy implementation in a digital way, robust to the filter inductor, and excellent steady and dynamic performance. The detailed simulation and experimental results verify its accuracy and feasibility.


For future sustainable management of fisheries, we anticipate deeper and more diverse information will be needed. Future needs include not only biological data, but also information that can only come from fishers, such as real-time 'early warning' indicators of changes at sea, socio-economic data and fishing strategies. The fishing industry, in our experience, shows clear willingness to voluntarily contribute data and experiential knowledge, but there is little evidence that current institutional frameworks for science and management are receptive and equipped to accommodate such contributions. Current approaches to producing knowledge in support of fisheries management need critical re-evaluation, including the contributions that industry can make. Using examples from well-developed advisory systems in Europe, United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, we investigate evidence for three interrelated issues inhibiting systematic integration of voluntary industry contributions to science: (1) concerns about data quality; (2) beliefs about limitations in useability of unique fishers' knowledge; and (3) perceptions about the impact of industry contributions on the integrity of science. We show that whilst these issues are real, they can be addressed. Entrenching effective science-industry research collaboration (SIRC) calls for action in three specific areas; (i) a move towards alternative modes of knowledge production; (ii) establishing appropriate quality assurance frameworks; and (iii) transitioning to facilitating governance structures. Attention must also be paid to the science-policy-stakeholder interface. Better definition of industry's role in contributing to science will improve credibility and legitimacy of the scientific process, and of resulting management.


Abstract Aneurysm and pseudoaneurysm development is a known, albeit uncommon, complication after right ventricular outflow tract surgical reconstruction. Large right ventricular outflow tract aneurysms and pseudoaneurysms have not been extensively described in recent literature and we report our experience with this unusual complication in five patients at our institution over the last 8 years. Although uncommon, this complication has potentially important clinical implications. Thus, clinicians should be aware of its potential, particularly in certain anatomic conditions.


In order to solve the problem of general fins and rudders being lower at low moving speed, the moving mass technical is applied onto AUV, thus to radically solve the weakness of control method with fin and rudder. The space dynamics model of moving mass control is created for AUV. And based on this, the moving mass control system is designed with the sliding mode variable structure control method so as to ensure system tracking error zero convergence. By controlling the moving mass movement with moving mass control system, the attitude of AVU is previously controlled. And simulation result proves that moving mass control system will control the AUV attitude angle precisely and rapidly.


This paper describes the FPGA implementation of a specialized SIMD processor array for embedded applications. An alternative to traditional SoC or MPSoC architectures, this array combines the massive parallelism inherent in SIMD architectures with the search capabilities of associative computing, producing a SIMD Processor Array System on a Chip (PASoC) well suited for applications such as data mining and bioinformatics. This paper first describes the architecture of the system, and then the pipelining of the processing elements and the addition of a reconfigurable interconnection network. Finally, the paper concludes with a brief description of a string-matching algorithm that can be used for the applications cited above.


Abstract A field in which Brassica napus volunteers were not controlled by several applications of glyphosate was investigated in 1998. This field had been planted with glufosinate-resistant and imidazolinone-resistant B. napus in 1997 and was adjacent to a field that had grown glyphosate-resistant B. napus. Mature volunteer B. napus were collected on a 50- by 100-m grid in the field. Progeny from 34 volunteers were sprayed with glyphosate at 440 g ae ha−1, and the survivors were sprayed with either glufosinate or imazethapyr at 400 or 50 g ai ha−1, respectively. Where seed numbers permitted (14 volunteers), seedlings were also sprayed sequentially with glyphosate, glufosinate, and imazethapyr, at 440 g ae ha−1, 400 g ai ha−1, and 50 g ai ha−1, respectively. In total, 15 volunteers had progeny that were between 66 and 82% resistant to glyphosate, consistent with the predicted 3:1 resistant : susceptible ratio. Volunteer B. napus plants with glyphosate-resistant seedlings were most common close to the putative pollen source; however, a plant with glyphosate-resistant progeny was collected 500 m from the adjacent field edge. Seedlings from all nine volunteers collected from the glufosinate-resistant area showed multiple resistance to glyphosate and glufosinate, whereas seedlings from 10 of 20 volunteers collected from the imidazolinone-resistant area showed resistance to imazethapyr and glyphosate. DNA extraction and restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis of seedlings confirmed that mature B. napus volunteers were hybrids resulting from pollen transfer rather than inadvertent seed movement between fields. Two seedlings from the 924 screened were resistant to all three herbicides. Progeny from these self-pollinated individuals were resistant to glyphosate and glufosinate at the predicted 3:1 resistant : susceptible ratio and resistant to imazethapyr at the predicted 15:1 resistant : susceptible ratio. Sequential crossing of three herbicide-resistant varieties is the most likely explanation for the observed multiple herbicide resistance. Integrated management techniques, including suitable crop and herbicide rotations, herbicide mixtures, and nonchemical controls should be used to reduce the incidence and negative effect of B. napus volunteers with multiple herbicide resistance. Nomenclature:Brassica napus L., oil-seed rape; ALS, acetolactate synthase; EPSP, enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate; glufosinate; glyphosate; imazethapyr.


E-cigarettes likely represent a lower risk to health than traditional combustion cigarettes, but they are not innocuous. Recently reported emission rates of potentially harmful compounds were used to assess intake and predict health impacts for vapers and bystanders exposed passively. Vapers' toxicant intake was calculated for scenarios in which different e-liquids were used with various vaporizers, battery power settings and vaping regimes. For a high rate of 250 puff day-1 using a typical vaping regime and popular tank devices with battery voltages from 3.8 to 4.8 V, users were predicted to inhale formaldehyde (up to 49 mg day-1), acrolein (up to 10 mg day-1) and diacetyl (up to 0.5 mg day-1), at levels that exceeded U.S. occupational limits. Formaldehyde intake from 100 daily puffs was higher than the amount inhaled by a smoker consuming 10 conventional cigarettes per day. Secondhand exposures were predicted for two typical indoor scenarios: a home and a bar. Contributions from vaping to air pollutant concentrations in the home did not exceed the California OEHHA 8-h reference exposure levels (RELs), except when a high emitting device was used at 4.8 V. In that extreme scenario, the contributions from vaping amounted to as much as 12 μg m-3 formaldehyde and 2.6 μg m-3 acrolein. Pollutant concentrations in bars were modeled using indoor volumes, air exchange rates and the number of hourly users reported in the literature for U.S. bars in which smoking was allowed. Predicted contributions to indoor air levels were higher than those in the residential scenario. Formaldehyde (on average 135 μg m-3) and acrolein (28 μg m-3) exceeded the acute 1-h exposure REL for the highest emitting vaporizer/voltage combination. Predictions for these compounds also exceeded the 8-h REL in several bars when less intense vaping conditions were considered. Benzene concentrations in a few bars approached the 8-h REL, and diacetyl levels were close to the lower limit for occupational exposures. The integrated health damage from passive vaping was derived by computing disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) lost due to exposure to secondhand vapor. Acrolein was the dominant contributor to the aggregate harm. DALYs for the various device/voltage combinations were lower than-or comparable to-those estimated for exposures to secondhand and thirdhand tobacco smoke.


We investigate the behavior of low-energy electrons in two-dimensional molybdenum disulfide when submitted to an external magnetic field. Highly degenerate Landau levels form in the material, between which light-induced excitations are possible. The dependence of excitations on light polarization and energy is explicitly determined, and it is shown that it is possible to induce valley and spin polarization, i.e. to excite electrons of selected valley and spin. Whereas the effective low-energy model in terms of massive Dirac fermions yields dipole-type selection rules, higher-order band corrections allow for the observation of additional transitions. Furthermore, inter-Landau-level transitions involving the n=0 levels provide a reliable method for an experimental measurement of the gap and the spin-orbit gap of molybdenum disulfide.


In a study that was based on a structural model of deservingness, 24 male and 80 female undergraduate students responded to scenarios in which either a liked or disliked unemployed stimulus person expended either high or low effort and then either obtained employment or remained unemployed. Results showed that, when the outcome was employment, judgements of responsibility, deservingness, and pleasure about the successful outcome were higher when the stimulus person expended high effort rather than low effort. When the outcome was unemployment, judgements of responsibility, deservingness, and reported pleasure about the unsuccessful outcome were higher when the stimulus person displayed low effort rather than high effort in seeking a job and participants reported feeling less sympathetic and more annoyed with the stimulus person and less inclined to provide financial assistance. Liking relations had most effects in the employed condition. The employed outcome elicited more reported pleasure and less resentment for the liked stimulus person and he or she was judged to be more responsible for and more deserving of employment than the disliked stimulus person. The results were discussed in relation to component balanced and unbalanced structures within the structural model and they also suggested some elaboration of the responsibility variable. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Unusual magnetoresistance observed in weak itinerant ferromagnetic metal Fe0.9Co0.1Si is addressed. We invoke localization effects significantly contributing to the positive magnetoresistance apart from quantum interference effects (QIE), a new mechanism for magnetoresistance at low temperatures. QIE are dominant only at very low temperatures while localization effects are progressive out of the sub‐Kelvin domain. Dominance of localization effects in Kelvin range with increasing applied magnetic field is demonstrated. An unconventional effect of magnetic field on resistivity, favors a least dominant role of ferromagnetic correlations. The H–T phase diagram explore the regions of H3/2 (paramagnetic region) and QIE (Δσ ∝ H1/2) and its extension into the paramagnetic region. A new region of linear field dependence of MC (Δσ ∝ H) is also found and reported. Qualitative analysis of thermopower and its correspondence with electrical resistivity strengthens the concept that the same electrons are responsible for both electrical and magnetic properties. It is also reported that the onset of magnetic and QIE effects is well above TC.


UNLABELLED
Enteral feeding is the preferred method of nutritional support in malnourished patients with inadequate oral intake but with intact gastrointestinal tract. In cancer patients, adequate nutrition plays an important role in the success of the treatment and hence the overall prognosis. Percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy proved to be an effective means for providing enteral nutrition with easy technique, less hospital stay and cost with less morbidity and mortality.

AIM OF WORK
It is a prospective study on 40 cancer patients with different indications for PEG which is done by pull technique under local anesthesia and sedation over a period of 12 months with a follow up period of 60 days.

RESULTS
The procedure was successful in 38 patients (95%), 22 patients (55%) with esophageal cancer, 16 cases (40%) with head and neck cancer, and 2 cases (5%) for gastric decompression due to prepyloric gastric cancer. Mortality rate was 2.5% (1 case) due to leakage and peritonitis, and morbidity occurred in 6 cases (15%) due to port infection and minor leakage managed by dressing and systemic antibiotics.

CONCLUSION
PEG is an easy procedure for providing enteral nutrition for cancer patients and associated with fewer rates of morbidity and mortality compared to gastrostomy procedures.


A new class of gold nanostructures has been fabricated on the (100), (111), and (110) surfaces of lattice-matched MgAl(2)O(4) substrates. The nanostructures were fabricated through a synthesis route where a thin gold film dewets, liquefies, and then slowly self-assembles. The supported nanostructures are intricately shaped, crystalline, and epitaxially aligned. Simulations based on a continuum elastic theory indicate that the self-assembly is driven by strained epitaxy and minimization of the surface free energy.


Throughout the twentieth century, many farm families in the Missouri Ozarks, USA, significantly changed their practices or abandoned agriculture as an occupation altogether. Researchers, farmers, and the general public assume the shift was an inevitable process of increasing economic efficiency. This article utilizes ethnoecology to demonstrate the importance of the overlooked cognitive aspects of agricultural modernization and to elucidate contemporary agricultural heterogeneity in the Ozark Mineral Area of southeast Missouri. Research included two years of participant observation, agro-ecosystem analysis, and ethno-ecological and semi-structured interviews to document Ozark farmers' perceptions of their farming environments and their agroecological practices. While some farmers' perceptions of their farming environments have changed with agricultural modernization, removing traditional morality from agricultural decisions, other farmers maintain traditional practices within their agroecological landscape.


Piezoelectric servo mechanism, with its existing nonlinear response and hysteresis, restricts the precision greatly when applied to manufacturing of non-axisymmetric optic mirror. On the basis of theory analysis and experiments, this paper builds three kinds of feed-forward model of piezoelectric servo cutting system. According to these mathematical models, we make the compensation control to the cutting tool position, which results the maximum displacement error less than 0.04μm. And based on this method, experiments on machining non-axisymmetric optic surface of wave front corrector shows the Zernike relative error is less than 10%. So the compensation control of feed-forward control model of cutting tools position can efficiently counteract the influence of nonlinear response and hysteresis, which improves machining precision of non-axisymmetric optic mirror surface.


Boronic acid (BA) derivatives have been exploited for their strong and reversible interactions with diol-containing compounds for the recognition of saccharides, such as glucose. Combining BA groups and fluorescent moieties can allow for sugar concentrations to be monitored by changes in fluorescence. In this thesis, two approaches based on BA sensing capabilities are investigated. In a direct sensing approach, the BA group is covalently attached to the fluorescent reporter group. Conversely, in an indirect sensing approach, a two-component system is created when the BA group and fluorophore are incorporated in to separate molecules. A direct sensing approach is described in Chapter 2, where the BA derivatives employed contain a quinoline-5-carboxylic acid functionality. These BA fluorescent sensors were investigated for their glucose sensing capabilities in solutions of various pH and when immobilised on to a 'lens-like' platform. An indirect sensing approach is described in Chapter 3, where a BA-cationic pyrimidinium molecule, induced fluorescence quenching in an anionic fluorophore (7-hydroxycoumarin). On introducing glucose, the fluorescence was recovered. This sensing system was investigated in solutions of various pH. Chapter 4 details the synthesis of a new family of BA-monomers. These monomers were characterised by 11B NMR and fluorescence in the absence and presence of glucose. In Chapter 5, the BA-monomers described in Chapter 4 were investigated for indirect sensing with the anionic fluorophore pyranine in solution and in hydrogels. Finally, in Chapter 6, additional strategies for the integration of a two-component sensing in to hydrogel matrices are investigated. The aim of this research is the development of novel sensing systems that could be integrated in to a continuous glucose-monitoring device. Such a platform could offer diabetics personal control over monitoring their glucose levels, to aid the prevention of the side effects associated with the disease.


Background Patients' growing interest in maintaining their own health and quality of life can certainly be linked to a significant increase in their knowledge of their rights. The Italian Ministry has published a series of documents that makes recommendations to support the management of drug treatment to reduce the risk of accidental exchange of one drug with another. Purpose At the European Institute of Oncology it has been decided to participate fully in the appreciation of the processes of prescribing, preparing and administering high-alert drugs, starting with an assessment regarded as central: the perception of the operator, which is at the forefront of having to deal with the drug in his/her department, with the aim of better understanding the day-to-day problems with which he/she has to cope. Materials and methods A questionnaire was written within an audit, which was designed to investigate nurses' knowledge of high-alert drugs and their training in handling. The questions sent to nurses evaluated what nurses considered high-risk medicines, investigated the sites where the drugs were reconstituted, and asked for suggestions for practical and hypothetical solutions to the definition of a common management procedure. Results 216 questionnaires were sent to nurses of all hospital units (medical oncology, intensive care, surgery, etc.). The survey concluded that the main issues to which attention should be paid were: proper storage in separate places (12%), drugs should be easily recognisable with the help of alert signals (15%), care should be taken with the procurement of materials that were LASA (look-alike/sound-alike) high-alert drugs so that packaging was not similar whichever pharmaceutical companies were involved (11%), physician prescriptions should be clear and readable and always active and specialties, dedicated sites should be created for the preparation of treatments (14%) without distractions/discomfort (6%), shift work and workload patterns should be reviewed (26%) in order to introduce double checks in the preparation and administration of drugs. Conclusions In the light of these opinions a procedure was defined that governs the management of EIO high alert drugs in order to reduce the occurrence of medication errors, improve the quality of service provided and patient quality of life.


This paper presents an overview of results from experimental research conducted at FSEC's Flexible Roofing Facility in the summer of 2002. The Flexible Roof Facility (FRF) is a test facility in Cocoa, Florida designed to evaluate a combination of five roofing systems against a control roof using dark shingles. The intent of the testing is to evaluate how roofing systems impact residential cooling energy use. Recent testing emphasizes evaluation of how increasingly popular metal roofing systems, both finished and unfinished, might compare with other more traditional roofing types. All of the test cells had R-19 insulation installed on the attic floor except in the double roof configuration which had R-19 of open cell foam blown onto the underside of the roof decking. The test results were used to determine relative thermal performance of various roofing systems under typical Florida summer conditions. Measured impacts included changes to ceiling heat flux and attic air temperature which influences loads from unintended attic air leakage and duct heat gain. We also develop an analysis method to estimate total cooling energy benefits of different roofing systems considering the various impacts. The results show that all the options perform better than dark composition shingles. White metal performs best with an estimated cooling energy reduction of about 15%, but the spectrally selective metal shingles (12%) and unfinished Galvalume roofs (11%) do surprisingly well. Galvanized roofing did less well than Galvalume (7% reduction) and worse performance in the second year of exposure was observed due to corrosion of the zinc surface. The sealed attic with a double roof produced an estimated cooling energy reduction of only 2% largely due to increases in ceiling flux.


In the post-truth era, research from scholars of color will serve greater utility due to their propensity to speak truth to power, counter inaccurate narratives about marginalized populations, and challenge the politics that emerge during the post-truth era. This paper will highlight how scholars of color have centered race and social justice within their research, and provide examples of how the educational research community should counter the current post-truth era.  We propose that scholars of color should be more prominent in our research agendas. This includes citing more of their work, supporting research agendas that positions 'race' at the center, and promoting critical scholarship that moves away from deficit language. If we are going to speak truth to power in today's post-truth climate, then educational researchers must produce critical scholarship that challenges the lies and myths that permeate in a post-truth era.


Many leukemic oncogenes form as a consequence of gene fusions or mutation that result in the activation or overexpression of a tyrosine kinase. To identify commonalities and differences in the action of two such kinases, breakpoint cluster region (BCR)/ABL and TEL/PDGFRβ, two-dimensional gel electrophoresis was employed to characterize their effects on the proteome. While both oncogenes affected expression of specific proteins, few common effects were observed. A number of proteins whose expression is altered by BCR/ABL, including gelsolin and stathmin, are related to cytoskeletal function whereas no such changes were seen in TEL/PDGFRβ-transfected cells. Treatment of cells with the kinase inhibitor STI571 for 4-h reversed changes in expression of some of these cytoskeletal proteins. Correspondingly, BCR/ABL-transfected cells were less responsive to chemotactic and chemokinetic stimuli than non-transfected cells and TEL/PDGFRβ-transfected Ba/F3 cells. Decreased motile response was reversed by a 16-h treatment with STI571. A phosphoprotein-specific gel stain was used to identify TEL/PDGFRβ and BCR/ABL-mediated changes in the phosphoproteome. These included changes on Crkl, Ras-GAP-binding protein 1, and for BCR/ABL, cytoskeletal proteins such as tubulin, and Nedd5. Decreased phosphorylation of Rho-GTPase dissociation inhibitor (Rho GDI) was also observed in BCR/ABL-transfected cells. This results in the activation of the Rho pathway, and treatment of cells with Y27632, an inhibitor of Rho kinase, inhibited DNA synthesis in BCR/ABL-transfected Ba/F3 cells but not TEL/PDGFRβ-expressing cells. Expression of a dominant-negative RhoA inhibited both DNA synthesis and transwell migration, demonstrating the significance of this pathway in BCR/ABL-mediated transformation.


Temporal coherence is crucial in content-aware video retargeting. To date, this problem has been addressed by constraining temporally adjacent pixels to be transformed coherently. However, due to the motion-oblivious nature of this simple constraint, the retargeted videos often exhibit flickering or waving artifacts, especially when significant camera or object motions are involved. Since the feature correspondence across frames varies spatially with both camera and object motion, motion-aware treatment of features is required for video resizing. This motivated us to align consecutive frames by estimating interframe camera motion and to constrain relative positions in the aligned frames. To preserve object motion, we detect distinct moving areas of objects across multiple frames and constrain each of them to be resized consistently. We build a complete video resizing framework by incorporating our motion-aware constraints with an adaptation of the scale-and-stretch optimization recently proposed by Wang and colleagues. Our streaming implementation of the framework allows efficient resizing of long video sequences with low memory cost. Experiments demonstrate that our method produces spatiotemporally coherent retargeting results even for challenging examples with complex camera and object motion, which are difficult to handle with previous techniques.


Twopatients with small cell lung cancer (SCLC)developed "web-like" mucosa that obstructed bronchi after concurrent chemoradiotherapy. It seemed that the orifice of the bronchi had disappeared. Since the patients were free of local recurrence and the histologic findings of "web-like" mucosa were negative for malignancy, we believe that "web-like obstruction" was additional sign of regional complete remission of SCLCafter concurrent chemoradiotherapy. (Internal Medicine 35: 732-735, 1996) following concurrent chemoradiotherapy. In report, we present 2 complete remission cases with "web-like after in


Macroeconomic strategies and policies have differed significantly among Asian countries over the last fifty years, and yet some common issues recur despite their immense diversity in inherited historical initial conditions, differences in political systems, geo-political situations, location and size, and natural resource endowments. The present paper examines from a comparative perspective some of the issues like unemployment, role of the state and market, domestic versus foreign market, degree of openness in trade, investment and finance, industrial and technology policy, and economic and social inequality. We attempt to ascertain why some countries have been more successful in dealing with these issues through policy and institutional innovations.Our comparative perspective presents developmental choices and challenges as moving targets requiring flexible institutional and policy response at each stage of development, which makes uniform guidelines misleadingly over-simplistic.


Escherichia coli O157: H7 (EHEC) is a major foodborne pathogen largely transmitted to humans through the consumption of undercooked ground beef. This study investigated the efficacy of two food-grade, plant-derived antimicrobials, namely rutin (RT), and resveratrol (RV) with or without chitosan (CH) in enhancing EHEC inactivation in undercooked hamburger patties. Further, the effect of aforementioned treatments on beef color and lipid oxidation was analyzed. Additionally, the deleterious effects of these antimicrobial treatments on EHEC was determined using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Ground beef was inoculated with a five-strain mixture of EHEC (7.0 log CFU/g), followed by the addition of RT (0.05%, 0.1% w/w) or RV (0.1, 0.2% w/w) with or without CH (0.01% w/w). The meat was formed into patties (25 g) and stored at 4°C for 5 days. On days 1, 3, and 5, the patties were cooked (65°C, medium rare) and surviving EHEC was enumerated. The effect of these treatments on meat color and lipid oxidation during storage was also determined as per American Meat Science Association guidelines. The study was repeated three times with duplicate samples of each treatment. Both RT and RV enhanced the thermal destruction of EHEC, and reduced the pathogen load by at least 3 log CFU/g compared to control (P < 0.05). The combination of RT or RV with CH was found to be more effective, and reduced EHEC by 5 log CFU/g (P < 0.05). EHEC counts in uncooked patties did not decline during storage for 5 days (P > 0.05). Moreover, patties treated with RV plus CH were more color stable with higher a∗ values (P < 0.05). SEM results revealed that heat treatment with antimicrobials (CH + RV 0.2%) resulted in complete destruction of EHEC cells and extrusion of intracellular contents. Results suggest that the aforementioned antimicrobials could be used for enhancing the thermal inactivation of EHEC in undercooked patties; however, detailed sensory studies are warranted.


A convenient representation for blob-like figures in an image consists of the orientation, length, and width of a bounding rect-angle. One fast algorithm for producing such a bounding rectangle is based upon a dot product space. The analysis of the dot product space shape representation is improved to handle certain pathological cases, and it is shown how to generalize this analysis to accommodate different criteria for the goodness of the representation.


Epstein-Barr (EBV) virus is a common contagious illness encountered during childhood. It is spread through oral secretions, however it has a low rate of transmission within a family. This article reports EBV illness among three children in the same family.


A project currently being implemented that is aimed at significantly enhancing the computer hardware design experience provided to undergraduate students through the use of industrial-grade CAD tools is discussed. A set of tools has been carefully chosen that can be used in a sequence of courses. The tool set is versatile and flexible and enables a designer to use different tools for different portions of a system design and then integrate the various parts together and simulate the overall system. Besides teaching logic design using MSI TTL components, instructors are able to use CAD tools for designing with PLDs, describing modules in VHDL, developing microcode, and designing microprocessor-based systems. >


In continental plate interiors, ground surface movements are at the limit of the noise level and close to or below the accuracy of current geodetic techniques. Absolute gravity measurements are valuable to quantify slow vertical movements, as this instrument is drift free and, unlike GPS, independent of the terrestrial reference frame. Repeated absolute gravity (AG) measurements have been performed in Oostende (Belgian coastline) and at 8 stations along a southwest-northeast profile across the Belgian Ardennes and the Roer Valley Graben (Germany), in order to estimate the tectonic deformations in the area. The AG measurements, repeated once or twice a year, can resolve elusive gravity changes with a precision better than 3.7 nm/s²/yr (95% confidence interval) after 11 years, even in difficult conditions. After 8-15 years (depending on the station), we find that the gravity rates of change lie in the [-3.1, 8.1] nm/s²/yr interval and result from a combination of anthropogenic, climatic, tectonic, and Glacial Isostatic Adjustment (GIA) effects. After correcting for the GIA, the inferred gravity rates and consequently, the vertical land movements, reduce to zero within the uncertainty level at all stations except Julich (due to man-induced subsidence) and Sohier (possibly, an artifact due to the shortness of the time series at that station).


We present the first practical algorithm for the optimal linear leaf ordering of trees that are generated by hierarchical clustering. Hierarchical clustering has been extensively used to analyze gene expression data, and we show how optimal leaf ordering can reveal biological structure that is not observed with an existing heuristic ordering method. For a tree with n leaves, there are 2(n-1) linear orderings consistent with the structure of the tree. Our optimal leaf ordering algorithm runs in time O(n(4)), and we present further improvements that make the running time of our algorithm practical.


In this paper, I begin by detailing how social researchers may use informed consent to protect the situational and informational privacy of those they study while gathering data by way of the method of participant observation. Next, I argue that the principle of informed consent should not be regarded as an absolute demand: under specified conditions, it is acceptable to make an exception to the principle. Finally, I demonstrate that the employment of informed consent does not suffice to protect individuals' privacy: social researchers must take a number of additional measures to prevent privacy invasions from occurring.


Background. The Dutch railway company ProRail is performing large-scale capacity upgrades to their infrastructure network. As part of these upgrades, ProRail uses gaming simulations to help prepare train traffic controllers for new infrastructure situations. Researching the validity of these gaming simulations is essential, since the conclusions drawn from gaming simulation use may result in decisions with large financial and social impact for ProRail and Dutch train passengers. Aim. In this article, we aim to investigate the validity of the gaming simulations for training traffic controllers for new situations in rail infrastructure. We also aim to contribute to the discussion on the minimum level of fidelity required to develop and conduct gaming simulations in a valid way. Method. We investigate the validity by using training sessions in conjunction with questionnaires. We based the approach and questionnaires on the earlier work of Raser. Results. Our results show that the validity of the gaming simulation ranges from medium to good. They also show that while the fidelity of the gaming simulation is not like the real-world operating conditions, this does not reduce validity to low levels. Conclusions. We conclude that the gaming simulation used in this study was of medium to good validity. We also conclude that maximum fidelity is not required in order to run a valid gaming simulation session.


In multiple sclerosis (MS), activated T and B lymphocytes and microglial cells release various proinflammatory cytokines, promoting neuroinflammation and negatively affecting the course of the disease. The immune response homeostasis is crucially regulated by the activity of the enzyme adenosine deaminase (ADA), as evidenced in patients with genetic ADA deficiency and in those treated with cladribine tablets. We investigated in a group of patients with MS the associations of a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) of ADA gene with disease characteristics and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) inflammation. The SNP rs244072 of the ADA gene was determined in 561 patients with MS. Disease characteristics were assessed at the time of diagnosis; furthermore, in 258 patients, proinflammatory and anti-inflammatory molecules were measured in the CSF. We found a significant association between rs244072 and both clinical characteristics and central inflammation. In C-carriers, significantly enhanced disability and increased CSF levels of TNF, IL-5 and RANTES was observed. In addition, lower CSF levels of the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10 were found. Finally, the presence of the C allele was associated with a tendency of increased lymphocyte count. In MS patients, ADA SNP rs244072 is associated with CSF inflammation and disability. The selective targeting of the ADA pathway through cladribine tablet therapy could be effective in MS by acting on a pathogenically relevant biological mechanism.


Reversibly glycosylated polypeptides (RGPs) have been implicated in polysaccharide biosynthesis. In plants, these proteins may function, for example, in cell wall synthesis and/or in synthesis of starch. We have isolated wheat (Triticum aestivum) and rice (Oryza sativa) Rgp cDNA clones to study the function of RGPs. Sequence comparisons showed the existence of two classes of RGP proteins, designated RGP1 and RGP2. Glucosylation activity of RGP1 and RGP2 from wheat and rice was studied. After separate expression of Rgp1 andRgp2 in Escherichia coli or yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae), only RGP1 showed self-glucosylation. In Superose 12 fractions from wheat endosperm extract, a polypeptide with a molecular mass of about 40 kD is glucosylated by UDP-glucose. Transgenic tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) plants, overexpressing either wheatRgp1 or Rgp2, were generated. Subsequent glucosylation assays revealed that in RGP1-containing tobacco extracts as well as in RGP2-containing tobacco extracts UDP-glucose is incorporated, indicating that an RGP2-containing complex is active. Gel filtration experiments with wheat endosperm extracts and extracts from transgenic tobacco plants, overexpressing either wheatRgp1 or Rgp2, showed the presence of RGP1 and RGP2 in high-molecular mass complexes. Yeast two-hybrid studies indicated that RGP1 and RGP2 form homo- and heterodimers. Screening of a cDNA library using the yeast two-hybrid system and purification of the complex by an antibody affinity column did not reveal the presence of other proteins in the RGP complexes. Taken together, these results suggest the presence of active RGP1 and RGP2 homo- and heteromultimers in wheat endosperm.


: Antipsychotic medication has proved to be of enormous value in the long-term treatment of schizophrenia. Maintenance medication has been shown to reduce rates of relapse and rehospitalization substantially and to enable patients to benefit from psychosocial treatments and vocational rehabilitation. At the same time, improving compliance while optimizing the benefits and minimizing the risks associated with long-term drug treatment has been a major challenge. Depot medications are a valuable part of a maintenance strategy for many patients. Considerable data are now available on dose-response relationships with depot drugs, improving our ability to use them judiciously.


In this thesis, the relationship between mooring line damping and system responses, due to varying environmental conditions, is investigated. The responses focus mainly on the low-frequency (LF) components and on the modelling capabilities of coupled and uncoupled analysis. Moored vessels are exposed to time varying environmental loads, such as wind, waves and current, which give rise to large dynamic motions. The presence of mooring introduces a low stiffness and a high natural period in the horizontal plane. Due to second order difference frequency effects, one will get a low frequency resonant excitation from the waves. This effect is enhanced by the slowly varying wind force. The total dynamic response will therefore be due to a combination of the first order wave frequency (WF) motion and of the resonant low frequency (LF) motion. The LF motion requires an accurate assessment of the damping in the system, and mooring lines will in many cases constitute a large portion of the damping. The dynamics of mooring lines can be analysed by different methods and one usually distinguish between frequency domain (FD) and time domain (TD) calculations, and between coupled and uncoupled analysis. The choice of method is usually a compromise between accuracy and computational effort, where a non-linear coupled simulation in TD will yield the most accurate results. The goodness of the results depends largely on the system, and approximate methods such as FD and uncoupled analysis must be handled with great care, as the accuracy of the results may be dissatisfactory. Coupled and uncoupled analysis models of a turret-moored FPSO at 320 meters water depth are established, and calculations are performed in TD. Damping from mooring lines are estimated from coupled analyses and applied to the corresponding uncoupled model as linear vessel damping coefficients. Mean current forces are also estimated from coupled analyses, and applied as constant forces acting on the vessel. Model applicability and limitations are discussed through a comparison of coupled and uncoupled results. The main case investigated is an extreme 100-year storm with head sea conditions. Parameter studies are also performed, in order to study the effect on the damping estimate and on the responses. Among these are a seed variation of the main case, a less severe condition with reduced peak period and significant wave height, an alternative current profile, an alternative heading, and a damping sensitivity study. The uncoupled model show a good agreement with the coupled model for the less severe condition. Discrepancies become more apparent as the current velocity is increased, or as WF motions becomes more prominent. This is because the uncoupled model uses a linear coefficient to represent the damping in the mooring lines, while in the coupled model the correct non-linear damping contributions from the lines are automatically included. The discrepancies caused by introducing such a linear coefficient becomes larger as the damping level increases. Both current velocity and WF excitation will increase the damping contribution from the mooring lines. Reducing the peak period and wave height results in a decrease in WF response and damping estimate. This confirms that WF motion is an important contributor to the damping in mooring lines. WF motion decreases both because of lower values in the first order transfer functions, and because the energy in the wave spectrum is proportional to the wave height and to the square of the peak period. Contrary to the WF motion, LF motion increases when the peak period is reduced, because of higher values in the drift coefficients. The increase in drift coefficient values outweighs the effect from a reduction in spectral energy. Interestingly, a reduction in peak period increases both the resonant LF motion and the accuracy in the uncoupled results. The accuracy in LF motion is greater despite an increase in motion magnitude because the overall damping is reduced. Therefore, an increase in LF motion does not itself necessarily lead to an increased sensitivity, or a poorer representation of this motion in the uncoupled model. Results from the sensitivity study show that a low uncertainty in the mooring line damping estimates may lead to large or moderate uncertainties in the LF response, and by consequence in the total response. Extreme response is affected through the uncertainties of the LF response, as LF constitutes a large portion of the total response. This confirms that the LF response is highly sensitive to mooring line damping. Accurate estimates are need for both LF and extreme response.


pericardiocen-ABSTRACT Background: Primary Malignant Pericardial Mesothelioma (PMPM) is an extremely rare aggressive malignancy with nonspecific symptoms; thus, cases of PMPM are usually found incidentally. Despite treatment, it is considered as extremely fatal. Case presentation: We encountered an asymptomatic 64-year-old woman diagnosed with PMPM by Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography (PET/CT). After 22 months of supportive treatment and chemotherapy, she presented to our facility with progressive dyspnoea. Surgery was performed. Excision biopsy showed thickening pericardium and many poorly circumscribed masses, and cut sections showed friable grey–white tissue with areas of necrosis. Pathological examination confirmed epithelium-like malignant mesothelioma. The patient was continuously treated with a previously prescribed chemotherapy regimen. The patient did not exhibit dyspnoea recurrence, and PET/CT showed no progression 7 months postoperatively. Conclusion: Comprehensive treatment, including chemotherapy, supportive treatment, and timely surgery, is effective for unresectable PMPM. When patients present with symptoms caused by PMPM that are not relieved by medication, we recommend prioritising urgent surgery.


Two mixers for up-conversion from an IF frequency of 350 MHz to a RF frequency of 1835 MHz have been designed and simulated to be used in Ericsson.s radio link system MINI-LINK. One mixer uses diodes in a balanced structure, and the other one use resistive FET-mixers, also in a balanced structure.Both implemented in a GaAs MMIC process; for the diode mixer TriQuint HBT2 and for the resistive FET-mixer TriQuint 0.25 um pHEMT. The mixers were designed to work with input LO-power of 0 dBm and an IF-power of -20 dBm. For the diode based mixer with an active LO balun the conversion gain is 5.7 dB, P-1dB 15 dBm and the LO-suppression -22 dB. For the resistive FET-mixer the conversion gain is 11 dB, IIP3 26 dBm, P-1dB 15 dBm and the LO-suppression -49 dB. The data given is based on simulations; no wafers have been processed at this time. The chip-area the final design will occupy is approximated to 1.8 mm^2 for the diode mixer and approximately 1.9 mm^2 for the resistive FET-mixer. For both of the mixer types an off-chip balun for the IF-frequency is the only external component needed.


The objective of this study is to gain a clearer understanding of the role Persuasive Experience (PX) may play in wellness-oriented Web Based Learning (WBL) platforms in forming abilities to incite healthier lifestyle (or promoting health behavior) in technology-based systems use. Specifically, individual users' interactions with a particular corporate wellness WBL platform was examined in relation to their State of Mind and Behavior. The results of this study may assist in better predicting behavior change and sustainable adherence to increased physical activity routines that could reduce risk of behavior sensitive conditions such as cardiovascular disease and its sequelae in U.S. workplaces. The findings of this case study also offer further validation of PX Theory and insight into its potential to aid in developing and implementing more effective persuasive technologies. The hope is that PX might contribute to technological systems design that can measurably and meaningfully assist employees in changing to healthier behaviors to improve their individual health outcomes. The results of this case study also suggest the potential PX driven design for wellness oriented WBL systems may have in improving overall organizational wellbeing and outcomes related to unplanned health insurance expenditures.


The parvovirus Minute-Virus-of-Mice (MVM) was used to probe the DNA replication activities expressed by mouse fibroblasts. This sytem allowed us to study quantitatively the effect of UV-induced DNA lesions on the progression of DNA replication in vivo. MVM was UV-irradiated prior to infection. Pyrimidine dimers induced in the viral genome account for the reduced level of intracellular viral DNA synthesis, assuming that most of these lesions block viral DNA replication in unirradiated cells. The inhibition of damaged MVM DNA synthesis is less severe if the host cells themselves are irradiated prior to virus infection. This stimulation of viral DNA replication in pretreated cells might account for the UV-enhanced viral reactivation phenomenon, i.e., the increased survival of nuclear-replicating viruses propagated in cells preexposed to various genotoxic agents.


The relative concentrations of different phosphoinositide species may dictate whether actin comets or membrane ruffles are formed. Actin polymerization is fundamental to many cellular activities, including motility, cytokinesis, and vesicle traffic. Actin dynamics must be tightly regulated so that cells execute a response appropriate to need, which is achieved through coordination of the functions of a molecular toolkit of proteins and phospholipids. Among the latter, phosphoinositides have a particularly important role, and PI(4,5)P2 (phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate) generates distinct phenotypic outcomes such as actin comet formation and membrane ruffling. New evidence reveals that it is not just the production of PI(4,5)P2 that is important in determining outcome, but that changes in the abundance of other phosphoinositides also play a role.


BJECTIVES To assess safety and efficacy of 4 mg tolterodine extended release (TER) with 0.5 mg dutasteride (DUT) in men with persistent overactive bladder (OAB) symptoms and lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) unsuccessfully treated with DUT alone. TER is indicated for OAB and DUT is indicated for LUTS from benign prostatic hyperplasia. ETHODS A total of 51 men treated with DUT for 6 months with persistent OAB symptoms enrolled in a 12-week, open-label study, and given TER (4 mg q.h.s.). Inclusion criteria were international prostate symptom score (IPSS) 12, IPSS quality-of-life item 3, significant bother, frequency ( 8 voids/24 h), and urgency ( 3 episodes/24 h). Visits occurred at 4, 8, and 12 weeks. Efficacy was assessed by changes in diary endpoints and IPSS (total, storage, and voiding). Safety was assessed by changes in postvoid residual, peak flow rate (Qmax.), adverse events, and retention. ESULTS Baseline prostate volume was 54.3 mL. TER significantly reduced frequency and urgency: 24-hour micturition frequency ( 3.2, P .02), OAB episodes (19.2%, P .03), severe OAB episodes (71.4%, P .05), and nighttime voiding ( 0.9, P .003). IPSS decreased with DUT (19.3-14.3) and decreased with addition of TER to 7.1 (P .001). Storage symptoms decreased from 9.8 to 4.5 (P .001). Dry mouth occurred in 4 (7.5%) subjects, constipation in 1 (2%), and decreased sexual function in 2 (3.9%) subjects. Postvoid residual increased by 4.2 mL, Qmax. decreased by 0.2 mL/s, and no patients went into retention. ONCLUSIONS The combination TER and DUT was effective, safe, and well-tolerated in men with large prostates ( 30 mL) with persistent OAB symptoms and LUTS secondary to benign prostatic hyperplasia. UROLOGY 75: 1144–1148, 2010. © 2010 Elsevier Inc.


Concept of rural elite in China is introduced. And rural elites are classified into governing elite, economic elite, social elite and cultural elite with phenomenon of overlapping among the four types. Definitions of science nationalization and elite politicalization are introduced. Based on the review of previous research results, meaning of elite nationalization is defined: the state guides elites to join in its operation by means of controlling the elites' occupation, promoting their status, improving their warfare, assimilating their thought and so on, so that elites may serve the political objectives of the state. Predicaments of rural elites are analyzed. Firstly, some rural governing elites and economic elites are high combined, or they use each other to exchange power and money. Secondly, the state pays little attention to the nationalization degree of rural social elite and cultural elite. Thirdly, the rights of economic elites in rural areas are illegally deprived by governing elites when doing business. Based on this, this paper points out that elite nationalization in rural areas is the inevitable choice of promoting rural economic and social development. Concrete models of elite nationalization in rural areas are discussed. Firstly, give certain political status to rural economic elite and strengthen the way of guidance. Secondly, improve the economic income and strengthen the supervision and education on rural governing elite. Thirdly, give certain political status to rural social elite and improve their ability to become rich. Fourthly, improve the economic income and political status of rural cultural elite and offer them opportunities for upward mobility.


Background Drug rash with eosinophilia and systemic symptoms (DRESS) syndrome is one of severe adverse drug reactions. Aromatic anticonvulsants and sulfonamides are the most common causes of DRESS syndrome. However, there have been only 2 case reports of DRESS syndrome induced by antituberculous medication. This study was aimed to observe the clinical features of patients with DRESS syndrome caused by antituberculous medications. Methods We retrospectively revealed the clinical and laboratory data of the patients from September 2006 to August 2010 at a University Hospital. Our patients were diagnosed as DRESS syndrome if 3 criteria were present: (1) cutaneous drug eruption, (2) peripheral eosinophilia >1,500/&mgr;L, (3) systemic involvement (lymphadenopathy, hepatitis or fever). Results Nine patients (5 men, 4 women; mean age 50.5 years) were enrolled DRESS syndrome induced by antituberculous medications. The most common causative agent was ethambutol which was identified as the cause in 8 of 9 patients (88.9%). In the other patient, streptomycin was considered as the causative agent. Two out of 8 patients with DRESS syndrome caused by ethambutol were induced by rifampicin as well. Drug eruption developed 6.9 weeks after antituberculous drugs were first used. Skin eruptions were involved on the whole body in 8 patients and on only upper trunk in 1 patient. Diffuse maculopapular eruption was the most common type of skin lesions that was observed in 8 of 9 patients. Other types of skin eruption were identified; 4 exfoliative eruptions, 3 facial edema and 1 urticaria. The mean value of peripheral eosinophil counts was 3,354/&mgr;L. The cervical, axillary or inguinal lymphadenopathy was observed in 7 patients and fever was detected in 6 patients. Hepatitis was developed in 3 patients. All patients with DRESS syndrome recovered after corticosteroid therapy and the elimination of the culprit drugs. Conclusions The most common cause of DRESS syndrome induced by antituberculous medications was ethambutol in our study. Diffuse maculopapular eruption on the whole body was the most common type of eruption and lymphadenopathy was the most common involvement of internal organ in patients with DRESS syndrome caused by antituberculous drugs.


RAM analysis forms an integral part in estimation of Life Cycle Costs (LCC) of passenger rail systems. These systems are highly reliable and include complex logistics. Standard Monte-Carlo simulations are rendered useless in efficient estimation of RAM metrics due to the issue of rare events. Systems failures of these complex passenger rail systems can include rare events and thus need efficient simulation techniques.
Importance Sampling (IS) are an advanced class of variance reduction techniques that can overcome the limitations of standard simulations. IS techniques can provide acceleration of simulations, meaning, less variance in estimation of RAM metrics in same computational budget as a standard simulation. However, IS includes changing the probability laws (change of measure) that drive the mathematical models of the systems during simulations and the optimal IS change of measure is usually unknown, even though theoretically there exist a perfect one (zero-variance IS change of measure).
In this thesis, we focus on the use of IS techniques and its application to estimate two RAM metrics : reliability (for static networks) and steady state availability (for dynamic systems). The thesis focuses on finding and/or approximating the optimal IS change of measure to efficiently estimate RAM metrics in rare events context. The contribution of the thesis is broadly divided into two main axis : first, we propose an adaptation of the approximate zerovariance IS method to estimate reliability of static networks and show the application on real passenger rail systems ; second, we propose a multi-level Cross-Entropy optimization scheme that can be used during pre-simulation to obtain CE optimized IS rates of Markovian Stochastic Petri Nets (SPNs) transitions and use them in main simulations to estimate steady state unavailability of highly reliable Markovian systems with complex logistics involved. Results from the methods show huge variance reduction and gain compared to MC simulations.


Large RF driven negative hydrogen ion sources are being developed at IPP Garching for the future neutral beam injection system of ITER. The overall power efficiency of these sources is low, because for the RF power supply self-excited generators are utilized and the plasma is generated in small cylindrical sources ("drivers") and expands into the source main volume. At IPP experiments to reduce the primary power and the RF power required for the plasma production are performed in two ways: The oscillator generator of the prototype source has been replaced by a transistorized RF transmitter and two alternative driver concepts, a spiral coil, in which the field is concentrated by ferrites, which omits the losses by plasma expansion and a helicon source are being tested.


ABSTRACT Despite the increasing need for neonatal palliative care, it is not adequately implemented in practice. This analysis aimed to clarify the dimension of the neonatal palliative care concept to increase understanding of the concept to give more insight into clinical practice. Using dimensional analysis methodology, 46 English language papers from 2001–2018 were analyzed. The coding of the literature for the perspective, context, conditions, process, and consequences of the concept was completed. Five dimensions informed the conceptualization of this concept and interrelationships among their themes/sub-themes were presented in the matrix named, "improving quality of life and death". Within the family-centered care perspective and under different conditions/contexts through the processes of neonate's comfort and providing holistic care, the consequences of this care were improving quality of life/a good death. Family-centered care was the fundamental dimension and essential to achieving the consequences. The other dimensions of context, conditions, and processes were also affected by the family's needs, preferences, culture, and expectations. This analysis reinforces that neonatal palliative care is a multidimensional concept. To provide the standard of neonatal palliative care an integrated plan to get together many stakeholders including community, parents, clinical staff, policymakers, insurance authorities, health care systems, and education system is required. All NICUs should have neonatal palliative care-trained nurses and protocols with a family-centered care approach to focus on the quality of life of neonates with life-threatening conditions from diagnosis of disease to death. Regular training and educational courses on neonatal palliative care and family-centered care principles can make nurses more sensitive to their advocacy role.


Abstract : Axial buckling tests on machined integrally stiffened cylindrical shells were carried out. Complete mappings of the shell imperfections and the prebuckling growth were obtained. The lightly ring-stiffened shells behaved in a manner similar to the isotropic shells that were previously tested. For these shells, the predominant prebuckling deformation consisted of a half-wave in the axial direction with several circumferential waves. The similarity of the lightly ring-stiffened shells and the isotropic ones suggests that the uniqueness of the buckling mode for stiffened shells may not greatly influence the prebuckling behavior. The heavily ring-stiffened shells showed a sizable amount of short wave length axisymmetric growth before buckling. Buckling in all cases resulted in an asymmetric pattern. The stringer-stiffened shells showed a prebuckling behavior also similar to the isotropic results. However, the buckling pattern consisted of longer axial wave lengths. Correlation of the experimentally obtained buckling loads with linear buckling theory showed good agreement in most cases. (Author)


In 1994, the DNA Identification Act permitted the government to establish a national database (CODIS) where it could collect DNA samples from those convicted of certain violent crimes. In the last few years, DNA collection statutes have been repeatedly expanded, to the point where some now require samples upon arrest. Not surprisingly, the federal DNA collection statute has been challenged repeatedly on Fourth Amendment grounds. In the Seventh Circuit, this issue was most recently addressed in United States v. Hook, a case in which a white-collar criminal on supervised release challenged the federal DNA collection statute. The court held that the collection was not an unconstitutional search under the Fourth Amendment. In doing so, however, the court used the special needs test - a test that the majority of other circuits do not use and, more importantly, a test that had been effectively disclaimed by the Supreme Court and by two prior Seventh Circuit panels. This Comment argues that the Seventh Circuit improperly applied the special needs analytical framework. Instead, the court should have used the reasonableness or totality of the circumstances balancing test endorsed by the Supreme Court. Further, this Comment argues that the Seventh Circuit must take a close look at the balancing required under the reasonableness test, since courts engaging in a reasonableness analysis have routinely overlooked considerations unique to DNA collection. In doing so, the court may conclude that DNA collection for those on federal supervised release or probation is unconstitutional under the Fourth Amendment.


ABSTRACT This prospective study examines the relationship between aspects of the neighbourhood social environment and subsequent depressive symptoms in over 7,500 participants of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA). Neighbourhood social environment at baseline was operationalised using four items capturing social cohesion and three items capturing perceived safety and associations with the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) at two-year follow-up were assessed. Friendship quality and personal sense of control were tested as mediators of this relationship using structural equation modelling. Neighbourhood social cohesion was found to be associated with reporting fewer depressive symptoms independent of demographic and socioeconomic factors and baseline depressive symptoms. Friendship quality and sense of control mediated this association. The study highlights that greater personal sense of control, higher quality friendships and fewer depressive symptoms are found in neighbourhoods seen to be characterised by higher social cohesion.


Despite increasing investment in cybersecurity initiatives, incidents such as data breach, malware infections, and cyberattacks on cyberphysical systems show an upward trend. I identify the technical, economic, legal, and behavioral challenges that continue to obstruct any meaningful effort to achieve reasonable cybersecurity. I also summarize the recent initiatives that various stakeholders have taken to address these challenges and highlight the limitations of those initiatives.


The airport runway frictional coefficient is one of the most important factors which affects the safety of airplane's landings and take-offs under the rain or snow weather. In this paper, each kind of factor which affects the precision of frictional coefficient measurement under the bad condition such as snow and ice covered, rubber pollution and wet runway have been analyzed, and then establish the model of frictional coefficient measurement. A new strategy which uses variable gain recursion least square algorithm has been used to eliminate the error caused by the rugged runway in the high speed measurement process, so as to assure system anti-jamming ability and fast track capacity. Use the vertical pressure pertinence analysis to eliminate the errors caused by the runway surfacing joint.


Orientation: Psychological capital (PsyCap) is a relatively novel construct measured with the Psychological Capital Questionnaire 24 (PCQ-24). Only one published South African study on the instrument exists, providing inconsistent psychometric results, when compared with other United States of America (USA) and non-USA studies. Research purpose: The objectives of this study were to investigate the internal validity (construct and discriminant validity), reliability and external validity (relationship with theoretically relevant variables, namely stress, burnout and work engagement) of the PCQ-24. Motivation for the study: Multiple studies have underscored the value of PsyCap within the workplace. In order to harness the full potential of the construct in the South African environment, sound measurement thereof, evidenced by a psychometrically sound instrument, is needed. Research design, approach and method: A cross-sectional survey design was used. The sample consisted of employees at managerial and non-managerial levels, from a medium-sized construction company in the Western Cape, South Africa. In addition to PsyCap, perceived stress, work-related burnout and work engagement were measured. Main findings: The results provided preliminary evidence of construct and discriminant validity, reliability and significant relations with external theoretically relevant variables. Practical/managerial implications: Researchers may confidently use the PCQ-24 to measure the construct of PsyCap and investigate relations with workplace outcomes in the South African environment, informing human relations practices. Contribution/value-add: Preliminary evidence of the psychometric properties of the PCQ-24, which measures the construct of PsyCap (consisting of hope, self-efficacy, resilience and optimism) on a South African sample, was provided in this study.


TiO2 nanoparticles doped with V, Mn or Zn, respectively, were synthesized from pure TiO2 and dopants calcinating at definite temperature. The physical properties of prepared TiO2 nanoparticles were characterized by TEM, XRD and UV-vis spectrum. The TEM images showed that the diameters of the particles were 20~50 nm. There was no peak of doping elements in the XRD spectrum of nano-sized TiO2 doped, but the peak of a little amount of rutile was observed, which demonstrated that V, Mn and Zn might locate in the TiO2 octahedral lattice, or might be highly dispersed within crystalline of TiO2. In the meanwhile, doping of the TiO2 decreased the temperature for TiO2 transforming from anatase into rutile, and promoted the transforming. It was found that a little amount of V5+ may take the place of Ti4+ in the lattice of TiO2. The red-shift was clearly observed in the UV-vis spectrum of TiO2 nanopowders doped with V. As a result, the band gap was changed and the TiO2 nanopowders doped with V enable to absorb visible light. The red-shift could be assigned to the charge transfer transition between the 3d orbital of V5+ and the TiO2 conduction or valance band. The red-shift was not observed in the UV-vis spectrum of TiO2 nanopowders doped with Mn and with Zn, the shape of which was similar to that of pure TiO2. The results of the minimum inhibition concentration (MIC) for Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus showed that vanadium ions doping intensely improved the antibacterial efficiency of nanocrystallites. This was attributed to the change of surface properties of metal ions doped semiconductor, such as O vacancies, Ti interstitial ions and vanadium ions which took the place of titanium.


Background Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the most common cause of cancer-death due to early metastatic spread, in many cases primarily to the brain. Organ-specific pattern of spread of disease might be driven by the activity of a specific signaling pathway within the primary tumors. We aimed to identify an expression signature of genes and the relevant signaling associated with the development of brain metastasis (BM) after surgical resection of NSCLC. Methods Rapidly frozen NSCLC surgical specimens were procured from tumor banks. RNA was extracted and analyzed by RNA-sequencing (Illumina HiSeq 2500). Clinical parameters and gene expression were examined for differentiating between patients with BM, patients with metastases to sites other than brain, and patients who did not develop metastatic disease at a clinically significant follow up. Principal component analysis and pathway enrichments studies were done. Results A total of 91 patients were included in this study, 32 of which developed BM. Stage of disease at diagnosis (P=0.004) and level of differentiation (P=0.007) were significantly different between BM and control group. We identified a set of 22 genes which correlated specifically with BM, and not with metastasis to other sites. This set achieved 93.4% accuracy (95% CI: 86.2–97.5%), 96.6% specificity and 87.5% sensitivity of correctly identifying BM patients in a leave-one-out internal validation analysis. The oxidative phosphorylation pathway was strongly correlated with BM risk. Conclusions Expression level of a small set of genes from primary tumors was found to predict BM development, distinctly from metastasis to other organs. These genes and the correlated oxidative phosphorylation pathway require further validation as potentially clinically useful predictors of BM and possibly as novel therapeutic targets for BM prevention.


This article, which is based upon the findings of a seven-year research project concerning the social world of climbing, discusses climbing as an organized social practice that possesses a strong historical dimension and collective character. It examines the relation between individual participants and that social world as a whole, and it accepts that an individual's personal life may be inscribed in the development and formation of that world in two ways. These are 1) a given social world imposes the behavioral patterns, normative rules, institutional schemes of actions, and careers upon participants that characterize their identities and actions; and 2) the actions of an individual participant trigger significant change in that world. I am particularly interested in those unique situations in which when a participant induces a change that affects a given social world (or a sub-world) as a whole, and discuss two examples of this relation, namely, the history of designing and creating climbing equipment, and setting new standards of climbing performance. Briefly stated, innovative solutions are born in conjunction with particular climbing actions that are either promoted or hindered depending on whether or not the vision of the primary activity associated with those solutions was accepted by the majority of participants. The dynamics and transformations of the social world in question thus rely upon the activities of exceptional individuals who, as pioneers, innovators, and visionaries, attain mastery in performing the primary activity of that world and set new standards of performance for others. A new mode of acting—in order to be collectively adopted—must be accepted as both valuable and morally justified by all participants.


This paper aims to compare three Monte Carlo (MC) burnup based codes, i.e. MCNP6, Monteburns and Serpent on a future prototype reactor, named ALLEGRO, based on Gas cooled Fast Reactor (GFR) technology. GFR reactors are one of the proposed Generation-IV fast reactors; ALLEGRO facility is scheduled to be built in Europe as a GFR demonstrator, so its deepened simulation can help in its future development. The present study follows other researches already performed and aims to exhibit the different approaches in burnup calculations applied to a gas cooled fast reactors, i.e. this paper would like to show and to compare some results concerning nuclear parameters as keff and flux spectra, as well as the mass inventories versus burnup for some nuclides evaluated with different Monte Carlo codes. From obtained results, it seems to exist some differences in evaluation of nuclear parameters, mainly in effective multiplication factor and in mass inventories. The remaining differences are mainly related to calculation time: indeed between the fastest, that is SERPENT, and the slowest, that are MCNP6 and MONTEBURNS, the differences are about one order of magnitude. As far as precision is concerned, it was considered the standard only for effective multiplication factor and it seems that all codes are in good agreement.


Box-Behnken, Central-Composite, D and I-optimal designs were compared using statistical tools. Experimental trials for all designs were generated. Random uniform responses were simulated for all models. R-square, Akaike and Bayesian Information Criterion for the fitted models were noted. One–way ANOVA and Tukey's multiple comparison test were performed on these parameters. These models were evaluated based on the number of experimental trials generated in addition to the results of the statistical analyses. D-optimal design generated 12 trials in its model, which was lesser in comparison to both Central Composite and Box-Behnken designs. The R-square values of the fitted models were found to possess a statistically significant difference (P<0.0001). D-optimal design not only had the highest mean R-square value (0.7231), but also possessed the lowest means for both Akaike and Bayesian Information Criterion. The D-optimal design was recommended for generation of response surfaces, based on the assessment of the above parameters.


Background Vitamins involved in one-carbon metabolism are hypothesized to influence breast cancer (BC) risk. However, epidemiologic studies that examined associations between B vitamin intake and BC risk have provided inconsistent results. We prospectively examined, in the Italian ORDET cohort, whether B vitamin consumption was associated with risk of BC and BC subtypes. Methods After a mean follow-up of 16.5 years, 391 BCs were diagnosed among 10,786 cohort women. B vitamin intakes were estimated from food frequency questionnaires. Cox proportional hazard models adjusted for energy intake and confounders, estimated hazard ratios (HR) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for BC according to intake. Results RRs were 0.61 (95% CI 0.38–0.97 highest vs. lowest quartile; P trend 0.025) for thiamine; 0.48 (95% CI 0.32–0.71; P trend <0.001) for riboflavin; 0.59 (95% CI 0.39–0.90; P trend 0.008) for vitamin B6, and 0.65 (95% CI 0.44–0.95; P trend 0.021) for folate. As regards risk of BC subtypes, high riboflavin and folate were significantly associated with lower risk of estrogen receptor positive (ER+) and progesterone receptor positive (PR+) cancers, and high thiamine was associated with lower risk of ER-PR- cancers. High riboflavin was associated with lower risk of both HER2+ and HER2- cancers, high folate with lower risk of HER2- disease, and high thiamine with HER2+ disease. Conclusions These findings support protective effects of thiamine and one-carbon metabolism vitamins (folate, riboflavin, and vitamin B6) against BC in general; while folate may also protect against ER+PR+ and HER2- disease; and thiamine against ER-PR-, and HER2+ disease.


Morphological studies are crucial to investigate the connections between active galactic nucleus (AGN) activities and the evolution of galaxies. Substantial studies have found that radiative-mode AGNs primarily reside in disk galaxies, questioning the merger-driven mechanism of AGN activities. In this study, through Sérsic profile fitting and nonparametric morphological parameter measurements, we investigated the morphology of host galaxies of 485 optical variability-selected low-luminosity AGNs at z ≲ 4.26 in the COSMOS field. We analyzed high-resolution images of the Hubble Space Telescope to measure these morphological parameters. We only successfully measured the morphological parameters for 76 objects and most AGN hosts (∼70%) were visually compact point-like sources. We examined the obtained morphological information as a function of redshift and compared them with literature data. We found that these AGN host galaxies showed no clear morphological preference. However, the merger rate increased with higher host star formation rate and AGN luminosity. Interestingly, we found ongoing star formation consistent with the typical star-forming populations in both elliptical and spiral galaxies, while these two types of galaxies were more symmetric than normal star-forming galaxies. These results suggest that optical variability-selected AGNs have higher probabilities to reside in elliptical galaxies than infrared-selected AGNs, whose host galaxies have a strong disk dominance, and support recent findings that the AGN feedback can enhance star-forming activities in host galaxies.


In 1973 Gass1recorded the occurrence of combined pigment epithelial and retinal hamartoma (CPERH) in a patient with cutaneous signs suggesting neurofibromatosis (NF). It has now been proven that NF consists of at least two distinct diseases, each caused by a unique chromosomal defect: NF-1 (the von Recklinghausen type) and NF-2 (the bilateral acoustic neuroma type).2We report herein a case of CPERH associated with NF-2. Report of a Case. —A 16-year-old girl was hospitalized in Caracas, Venezuela, in 1982 with symptoms of progressive spastic quadriparesis, dysphagia, dysphonia, headache, and a recent spell of unconsciousness lasting 1 hour. She had multiple cafe-au-lait spots, multiple neurofibromas, bilateral hyposmia, right corneal hypesthesia, right-sided facial weakness, right-sided deafness, left-sided hypacusis, diaphragmatic palsy, and right-sided lingual palsy with atrophy. Visual acuity was finger counting in the right eye and 20/25 OS. Both lenses had mild posterior subcapsular opacities. In the right fundus


In this paper, a new control scheme called repetitive control is proposed, in which the controlled variables follow periodic reference commands. A high accuracy asymptotic tracking property is achieved by implementing a model that generates the periodic signals of period L into the closed-loop system. Sufficient conditions for the stability of repetitive control systems and modified repetitive control systems are derived by applying the small gain theorem and the stability theorem for time-lag systems. Synthesis algorithms are presented both by the state-space approach and the factorization approach. In the former approach, the technique of the Kalman filter and perfect regulation is utilized, while coprime factorization over the matrix ring of proper stable rational functions and the solution of the Hankel norm approximation are used in the latter one.


Hydroseeding is a technique increasingly used to establish vegetation on degraded areas in order to perform environmental protection. The objective of this paper was to evaluate the effectiveness of four different hydroseeding methods on a degraded artificial slope in the southern Mediterranean area determining total vegetation cover, hydroseeding vegetation cover, hydroseeding success index (HSI), natural and hydroseeded vegetation height. The test area does not allow the use of any operating machine for soil and vegetation management, the only applicable technique is therefore hydroseeding. After hydroseeding was applied (December 2010), 21 checks were carried out every 15 days (from January 2011 till December 2011) to verify the occurrence and development of the hydroseeded species in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the different hydroseeding techniques in the study area. The results of the first experimentation performed in Sicily show that hydroseeding has good prospects of application on degraded areas in semiarid Mediterranean environments. In our study HSI > 0.8 was obtained only in test 2 (thick hydroseeding, period February-June 2011) where there was the contemporary presence of earthworm humus and mulch in addition to the components present in the other tests.


Important advancements in preventive maintenance of rotor-craft gear transmission systems are currently being sought for the development of an accurate machine health diagnostic system. Such a diagnostic system would use vibration or acoustic signals from the gear transmission system for (1) rapid on-line evaluation of gear wear or damage status, will (2) prediction of remaining gear life. Such health diagnostic capabilities would be essential for effective machine event/life management and advance warning before critical component failures. This paper demonstrates the use of vibration signature analysis procedures for health monitoring and diagnostics of a gear transmission system. The procedures used in this paper include (i) the numerical simulation of the dynamics of a gear transmission system with single and multiple tooth damage, (ii) the application of the Wigner-Ville Distribution (WVD) and the Wavelet transform in damage identification and quantification of damaged tooth based on the numerically generated vibration signal, and (iii) the application of both WVD and the Wavelet transform on experimental data at various stage of gear failure obtained from an accelerated gear damage test rig. This paper demonstrates that the developed signature analysis procedure can successfully detect faulty gears in both numerically simulated and experimental tested transmission system. General conclusions on identification and quantification of gear tooth damage are drawn based on the results of this study.


General formulas are given for propellers for the rate of change of side-force coefficient with angle of yaw and for the rate of change of pitching-moment coefficient with angle of yaw. Charts of the side-force derivative are given for two propellers of different plan form. The charts cover solidities of two to six blades and single and dual rotation. The blade angle ranges from 15 degrees or 20 degrees to 60 degrees.


The Romanian Language Dictionary is a centralized text repository which contains detailed biographies of all Romanian authors and can be used to perform various subsequent analyses. The aim of this paper is to introduce a novel method to recommend authors based on their biography from the Romanian Language Dictionary. Starting from multiple PDF input files made available by the "G. C?linescu" Institute of Literary History and Theory, we extracted relevant information on Romanian authors which was indexed into Elasticsearch, a non-relational database optimized for full-text indexing and search. The relevant information considers author's full name, their pseudonym (if any), year of birth and of death (if applicable), brief description (including studies, cities they lived in, important people they met, brief history), writings, critical references of others, etc. The indexed information is easily accessible through a RESTful API and provides a powerful starting point which may contribute to future Romanian cultural findings. Based on this consistent database, our aim is to create an interactive map showing all Romanian literature contributors, enabling the identification of similarities and differences between them based on specific features (e.g., similar writing styles, time periods, or similar text descriptions in terms of semantic models). In order to have a clearer image on how authors relate one to another, we employed the k-Means and agglomerative clustering algorithms from the Scikit-learn machine learning library. The results depict the distribution of Romanian authors throughout history and enable the identification of correlations between them based on the emerging clusters. This paper is a proof of concept that makes use of only the first volume of the Romanian Language Dictionary and represents the first step for follow-up analyses performed using the indexed dictionary.


Hydrogen-detected NOE-relayed heteronuclear correlation via single-quantum coherence spectra (SQC-NOESY) may be affected by second-order anomalies when |(ωI ± πJIS) − ωI′| ≤ 20πJII′, where I and I′ are protons and S the heterospin coupled only to I. When the above condition applies, coherences of type SαIβ (α, β = x, y, z) undergo oscillatory transfer to SαI′β coherences without the need for any pulse perturbation. Thus the INEPT transfers, as well as the t1 precession step of the SQC-NOESY scheme, will no longer be effective in sorting out only antiphase or transverse coherences of the proton spin directly coupled to the heteronucleus S. In practice the process leads to measurable amplitude contributions to both auto- and cross-peak volumes, despite the fact that the effects developed during the INEPT steps are often negligible and the theoretical net transfer expected from the t1 evolution is null. Since during tm and t2 (provided heteronuclear decoupling is applied) no effect is expected from the direct-heteronuclear-coupling operator, any strong-coupling contribution arising in these conditions can be computed using the specific parameters of the system under investigation. Thus auto- and cross-peak volumes can be corrected before internuclear distances are evaluated, In natural-abundance or slightly enriched 1H-13C biopolymer systems, assuming JII′/JIS = 0.06 and t1 = 10-20 ms, a correction amounting to 0-7% of the auto- and cross-peak volume sum should be applied to the connectivities of the strongly coupled pair, depending on ΔωI.


Microbial decay and pericarp browning are the major concerns that limit the postharvest life of longan fruit. The most effective and inexpensive way to prevent these limitations is SO2 fumigation, however, due to its safety and regulatory issues other alternatives should be tested. Thymol is a natural antimicrobial compound reportedly being effective against a wide range of microorganisms. However, due to its highly volatile and peculiar taste in food, there is a need to develop a technique that effectively releases the vapors without affecting its sensory quality. In this study a device was designed for the controlled release of thymol and then evaluated for its ability to prevent the decay and pericarp browning of longan. Thymol vapors were obtained from the slurry prepared from 5 g of thymol with 5 mL of distilled water in 180 mL glass jar. Jar was hermetically sealed and allowed for 24 h to accumulate the required amount of vapors in the headspace. Thymol fumigated fruit were packaged with a specific high gas permeable film that creates the desired modified atmospheres (MAs) were compared with non-fumigated fruit packaged in similar packaging and stored in air at 27 °C. In-package gas composition, decay incidence (DI) and pericarp browning (BI) were evaluated during storage. Equilibrium MAs of reduced O2 and elevated CO2 were established in all packages. Thymol significantly (P 0.05) prevented DI and BI and resulted in the longer shelf life of 8 d as compared to non-fumigated fruit in packaging (6 d). The combined effects of thymol fumigation and modified atmosphere packaging can be used as alternative to SO2 treatment which may also be applied to other fruits. Combination with low temperature storage will enhance the effectiveness of thymol for long-term storage.


Because of the many changes that have occurred in Georgia in recent years, a new paradigm has emerged. We now have an equal and parallel commitment to encourage a healthy and productive economy and to preserve our natural systems. Business leaders and citizens alike understand that these goals are not mutually exclusive; in fact, all evidence points to the fact that they are internally consistent. But our promotion of these simultaneous goals is being constrained, because we have isolated our economic from our environmental planning. As Georgia considers a statewide water management plan, the strategy should integrate environmental with economic planning, and include comprehensive land use and ecosystem protection, dependence on sound science, and active solicitation of public participation. A regional environmental management strategy integrated with regional economic planning improves social equity, environmental health, and promotes sustainable economic development.


A multiple regression method (MRM) is used for the first time with Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data to estimate formaldehyde (HCHO) column over Asia in two categorized areas: (1) anthropogenic areas in East Asia (east-central China, Beijing, Seoul, and Tokyo) and (2) biogenic and pyrogenic areas (Indochina and South Borneo). In order to determine the multiple regression equations (MREs) for each study area, monthly mean and daily values of Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) level, land surface temperature (LST), enhanced vegetation index (EVI), and fire radiative power (FRP) from 2005 to 2006 were used as independent variable candidates and monthly mean and daily HCHO measured by OMI (HCHOOMI) for the same period was used as the dependent variable. The MREs estimated HCHO (HCHOMRM) with inputs of independent variable data for from 2005 to 2006 whereas they estimated HCHO (HCHOVAL) with inputs of independent variable data in 2007. The agreement between HCHOOMI and HCHOVAL is comparable with that between HCHOOMI and HCHOMRM in both monthly and daily scale. The average correlation coefficient, slope, mean bias, mean absolute error, root mean square error, and percent difference between monthly HCHOOMI and monthly HCHOVAL (between daily HCHOOMI and daily HCHOMRM) are 0.89 (0.58), 0.77 (0.34), -0.82 × 1015 molecules cm-2 (-0.91 × 1015 molecules cm-2), 1.28 × 1015 molecules cm-2 (3.01 × 1015 molecules cm-2), 1.75 × 1015 molecules cm-2 (4.32 × 1015 molecules cm-2), 10.2% (24.1%). MRM can be a useful tool to provide HCHO in certain area in Asia.


Abstract The atomic structure of ammoniojarosite,[(NH4)Fe3(SO4)2(OH)6], a = 7.3177(3) Å, c = 17.534(1) Å, space group R3̅m, Z = 3,has been solved using single-crystal X-ray diffraction (XRD) to wR 3.64% and R 1.4%. The atomic coordinates of the hydrogen atoms of the NH4 group were located and it was found that the ammonium group has two different orientations with equal probability. Hydronium commonly substitutes into jarosite group mineral structures and samples in the ammoniojarosite -hydronium jarosite solid-solution series were synthesized and analysed using powder XRD and Rietveld refinement. Changes in unit-cell dimensions and bond lengths are noted across the solidsolution series. The end-member ammoniojarosite synthesized in this study has no hydronium substitution in the A site and the unit-cell dimensions determined have a smaller a dimension and larger c dimension than previous studies. Two natural ammoniojarosite samples were analysed and shown to have similar unit-cell dimensions to the synthetic samples. Short-wave infrared and Fourier transform infrared spectra were collected for samples from the NH4-H3O jarosite solid-solution series and the differences between the end-members were significant. Both are useful tools for determining NH4 content in jarosite group minerals.


Built-in self test (BIST) scheme simplifies the detection of crosstalk faults in deep-submicron VLSI circuits in the boundary scan environment. The scheme tests for crosstalk faults with a periodic square wave test signal under applied random patterns generated by a linear feedback shift register (LFSR), which is transconfigured from the embedded circuit's boundary scan cells. The scheme simplifies test generation and test application while obviating the fault occurrence timing issue. Experimental results show that coverage for the induced-glitch type of crosstalk fault for large benchmark circuits can easily exceed 90%.