Chondrocytes were isolated from adult laryngeal cartilage by an enzymic procedure that included 6 h digestion with collagenase. The level of 35SO4(2-) incorporation into cetylpyridinium chloride-precipitable material by these cells depended upon the subsequent culturing conditions. Suspension cultures incorporated more 35SO4(2-)/cell than monolayer cultures. Hyaluronic acid in the medium inhibited 35SO4(2-) incorporation only when the cells were in primary suspension cultures. It had no effect on monolayer cultures, or monolayers organized into nodules, or suspension cultures derived from monolayers. Mild pretreatment with EDTA, however, rendered these susceptible to hyaluronic acid inhibition. In contrast EDTA abolished the inhibitory effect of hyaluronic acid on primary suspension cultures. Oligosaccharides, derived from hyaluronidase digestion of hyaluronic acid that were larger than decassaccharide, had some inhibitor effect on 35SO4(2-) incorporation by monolayer cultures. The total 35SO4(2-) incorporation was less in primary suspension cultures of chondrocytes isolated after 12 h than after 6 h digestion of cartilage and the inhibition by hyaluronic acid was also less. These differences persisted during 12 days of culture. It is suggested that the method of isolating chondrocytes and subsequent culture conditions may modify the cell surface and mask or abolish specific binding sites for hyaluronic acid.


Pluripotent cells are defined by their ability to both self-renew and to differentiation into any cell type within the human body. As such, pluripotent cell lines are of great interest as starting material for drug screening and cell therapies for regenerative treatment of diseased tissues. Pluripotent cell lines were originally derived from germ cell tumors (embryonal carcinoma cells; EC), but have since been isolated and expanded from the inner cell mass of an early embryo (human embryonic stem cells; hESCs).
This project set out to investigate the relative ability of the pluripotent NTERA2 (EC) cell line and hESC lines: Shef3, HUES7 and RH5, to differentiate into neurons, using mechanical and enzymatic culture methods. Focus was placed on monitoring differentiation efficiency and function between the different lines.
The tumour origin, in addition to the poor reproducibility, low yield and reduced functionality of NTERA2 derived neurons, compared to primary neurons, makes their incorporation into regenerative therapies unlikely. As such, an enhanced neuronal differentiation protocol was developed for use in hESCs. Cell populations were monitored for relative changes in gene and protein expression at selected time points throughout differentiation using standard RT-PCR, Q-PCR and immuno fluorescence analysis. End stage neurons were screened for functionality using patch clamping and calcium imaging techniques. Monitoring of cellular behavior through differentiation was aided by the concurrent development of a portable microscope incubator stage in collaboration with Linkam scientific Ltd.
These data demonstrate a variation in the ability to generate neurons from pluripotent cell lines, and suggests a predetermined, preferential cell fate within each line, even at the level of pluripotency. This study also characterises in detail neuronal differentiation from pluripotent cells, adding to the understanding which is essential for translation into therapies for neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, and Huntingdon's disease.


A doubly-fed flywheel generator-motor consists of a wound-rotor induction machine and a cycloconverter or a voltage-source PWM rectifier-inverter which is used as an ac excitor. Adjusting the rotor speed makes the generator-motor either release the kinetic energy to the power system or absorb it from the power system. Thus, the generator-motor has the capability of achieving, not only reactive power control, but also active power control based on a flywheel effect of the rotor. A 200-MJ flywheel generator-motor for the purpose of line-frequency regulation on a 132-kV bus has been installed and commissioned by the Okinawa Electric Power Company. However, little literature has been published on control strategy and dynamic performance analysis of doubly-fed flywheel generator-motors. This paper proposes a new control strategy for a doubly-fed flywheel generator-motor, which is characterized by the combination of vector control and decoupling control. The control strategy enables the flywheel generator-motor to perform active power control independent of reactive power control even in transient states. The validity of the theory developed in this paper, along with the effectiveness of the control strategy, is confirmed by computer simulations using EMTDC. In addition, this paper discusses the transient behavior of a magnetizing current of the flywheel generator-motor. The flywheel generator-motor based on leading edge power electronics and electric machine technologies shows promise as a versatile power conditioner, in particular, being capable of repetitively absorbing or releasing electric energy for a short period of time less than a minute.


This study investigates the effect of trade liberalisation on export growth, import growth, the trade balance and the current account of the balance of payments in 17 Least Developed Countries (LDCs) over the period 1970 to 2001. The paper also assesses the marginal relation between capital flows (e.g. aid flows) and import growth, and the trade balance and the current account of the balance of payments. The higher import growth contrasts with the more modest export growth following trade liberalisation and that has fundamental policy implications, especially for the balance of trade and the balance of payments. However, the financing and sustainability of the trade deficit in the reforming countries will depend not only on the outcome of trade liberalisation, but also on other macroeconomic policies, developments in the real exchange rate and the inflows of foreign capital.


From reinforcing nursing skills to troubleshooting clinical problems on the fly, this dynamic video series follows nursing students and their instructors as they perform a range of essential nursing procedures. Ideal as a stand-alone learning tool or as a companion to textbooks in the Taylor Suite, these engaging videos parallel the skills in the textbooks and are organized in topical modules for easy reference.In addition to being available for individual student purchase and use, "this video series is also available for institutional purchase," to be available for all nursing students at anytime! To learn more about institutional access options and pricing, please contact your local publishing representative. "Features of the video series include: ." NEW! Interactive Quiz Engine: Questions included for each module allow viewers to check their understanding of the included skills and concepts.. Delivers consistent skill presentation across the videos, fundamentals book, and skills book - no conflicting information. Step-by-Step Nursing Skills: In realistic nurse-patient and student-instructor interactions, nursing instructors and student demonstrate skills that include effective patient communications. Talking through the skill, explaining the how s and. Discusses the why s of nursing and offers valuable tips, teaching students to avoid and manage potential problems"*Note" Versions of the individual student access products are for individual use only for institutional access or with any questions, please contact your local publishing representative."


Brick samples were prepared through vitrification process with two different kinds of EAF dust. Leaching concentrations of various metal ions and anions for the bricks(20wt% EAF dust-80wt% clay) were evaluated by ICP and IC analysis. The results of leaching test showed that the concentration of ions leached from bricks were proportional to the square root of time and saturated with leaching time. The saturated concentrations of alkali and alkali-earth metal ions were 0.1-250ppm; on the other hand, the heavy metal ions were 0-0.084ppm. The efflorescence mechanism of EAF dust-clay bricks was studied by quantitative analysis for the effects of various metal ions and anions. Efflorescence formed on the brick surfaces which were immersed in DI water and dried slowly in the air were characterized by SEM, EDS and XRD. The results of EDS and XRD showed that the main component of the efflorescence was water soluble Na2SO4 .


A heavy special vehicle is used in a steel mill. The failure and repair records of the vehicle are available. The study aims to identify main failure modes and areas needing improvement in the working device of the vehicle. The reliability bottlenecks are identified through analyzing the repair reports and the countermeasures for reliability improvement are suggested based on the analysis results. The approach presented in this paper is useful for periodically reviewing and continuously improving the reliability of complex repairable systems.


With a brief introduction to paint, pigments, color measurement and micro spectrophotometers, this article reviews some of the early applications of microspectrophotometric techniques in forensic science. Practical problems involved in making colour measurements are considered together with the experimental procedures which have been used. The uses which forensic scientists have made of both visible reflectance spectra and colour measurements in casework are discussed, and the advantages over visual comparisons are illustrated. Emphasis is also placed on the use of colour measurements on paint samples recovered from the scene for identifying vehicles involved in hit-and-run accidents. This approach shows advantages in speed as well as specificity over visual comparison. Area which are likely to prove valuable in the future are identified. It seems likely that the use of microtomed thin sections will extend the range of applications of microspectrophotometric techniques for paint examination.


The paradoxical features of transplantation specificity—its strict genetic control in transfers of tissue from strain to strain as compared with its malleability on tissue passage in foreign immunological environments where the host does not reject the implant (F1 hybrid passage, tolerance actively acquired by immature hosts, and so on)—present a challenge to genetic interpretation. The attempt is made in this article to show parallels between this behavior and such changes as the transformation of serotypes in Paramecium, in which the activity of genetic units becomes fixed as a cytoplasmic state—a cellular heredity persistent under specified environmental conditions but capable of change to an alternative state—while the genetic structure of the cell remains constant. The reactions appear to differ from those in the Paramecium case in that the diverse loci control a mosaic of different specificities, which change relatively independently of each other, in contrast to mutual exclusion of cytoplasmic states influenced by the different loci in Paramecium. The process of antibody formation is considered as a change in cellular phenotype from the same point of view. The primary response in the stem cells of the lymphoid tissues is interpretable as the establishment of a new cytoplasmic state in response to a nuclear stimulus by the foreign antigen. For the secondary response, the suggestion is made that a reaction of antigen with cellular antibody at the surface of stem cells exhibiting the primary response serves as the stimulus for specific proliferation of antibody-forming clones of cells. A parallel is drawn with the fertilization reaction, specifically with regard to the initiation of cleavage in eggs by antisera to them. Finally, a general chromosomal mechanism is sought for these phenomena, on the basis of activities of specific chromosome regions in response to special developmental stimuli, such as the disproportionate local synthesis of deoxyribonucleic acid demonstrated in the giant chromosomes of the Diptera. By a correlation of such activities with the nucleocytoplasmic system of ribonucleic acid granules on membranes, a possible mechanism appears for the formation, in response to environmental stimuli, of cytoplasmic states which might supply the persistent pattern required for this type of cell heredity. The analogies made, it is believed, provide a framework for the design of test experiments.


Bacterial endotoxin (lipopolysaccharide), a commonly used model of immune/inflammatory stress, inhibits reproductive neuroendocrine activity and concurrently induces a profound stimulation of the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal axis. We employed two approaches to test the hypothesis that enhanced secretion of cortisol mediates endotoxin-induced suppression of pulsatile GnRH and LH secretion in the ovariectomized ewe. First, we mimicked the endotoxin-induced increase in circulating cortisol by delivering the glucocorticoid in the absence of the endotoxin challenge. Within 1-2 h, experimentally produced increments in circulating cortisol suppressed pulsatile LH secretion in a dose-dependent fashion. Second, we blocked the endotoxin-induced stimulation of cortisol secretion using the drug metyrapone, which inhibits the 11-beta hydroxylase enzyme necessary for cortisol biosynthesis. In the absence of a marked stimulation of cortisol secretion, endotoxin still profoundly inhibited pulsatile GnRH and LH secretion. We conclude that, although enhanced cortisol secretion may contribute to endotoxin-induced suppression of reproductive neuroendocrine activity, the marked stimulation of the glucocorticoid is not necessary for this response. Our findings are consistent with the hypothesis that immune/inflammatory stress inhibits reproductive neuroendocrine activity via more than one inhibitory pathway, one involving enhanced secretion of cortisol and the other(s) being independent of this glucocorticoid.


This study was conducted to determine the effects of vitamin C on zylazine anaesthesia in rabbits. Ten apparently healthy rabbits of both sexes, aged 6 months and weighing 0.8-1.3 kg were grouped into two of five each. Xylazine at a dose of 4 mg/kg was administered intramuscularly to rabbits in both groups. Ten minutes later, rabbits in group B were intramuscularly administered vitamin C at a dose of 200 mg/kg.Vital parameters (temperature, respiratory and heart rates) were taken before and after administration of xylazine. Time of onset and duration of anaesthesia and haematological parameters were determined. The results showed an increase in temperature and heart rate but a slight depression in the respiratory rate after anaesthesia. There was also a slight decrease in the blood cells with a corresponding decrease in the packed cell volume. The onset of sleep was shorter while the duration of sleep was longer when vitamin C was used in combination with xylazine than when xylazine was used alone. It is concluded that vitamin C may alters the clinical and haematological parameters, as well as prolongs the sleeping time of rabbits anaesthetized with xylazine. Therefore, vitamin C supplementation in animals undergoing xylazine anaesthesia may improve the chances of their survival.


Introduction. Sufficient and good quality sleep is crucial for shift workers because of its implications on performance and health. The aim of the study was to follow the effects of night shifts and overtime work on sleep and fatigue of hospital physicians in Bulgaria. Methods .The study was cross-sectional and comprised 719 physicians, 429 female and 291 male, of average age (44.4 ± 14.2) years from Sofia hospitals. Anonymous questionnaire survey included Karolinska Sleep Diary, demographic information, work place variables, working hours and shift system. The statistical analyses were carried out with SPSS. Results . 26 % of the physicians worked only in day shifts, 55 % from 1 to 4 night shifts, and 28 % more than 5 night shifts. Great deal of the physicians worked more than 40 hours weekly as follows: 38 % worked 41–50 hours per week, 27 % – 51–60 hours and 14 % > 61 hours. The quality of sleep, estimated by SQI was worse with the increase of the number of night shifts (F = 4.260, p = 0.01) and sleep duration and insufficiency of sleep with increase of the hours worked weekly. Discussion . Shift working with more night shifts monthly and overtime hours weekly contributed to impaired sleep in the studied group of physicians. The sleep impairment was more evident within the increase in the number of night shifts.


Herein, we aim to develop a facile method for the fabrication of mechanical metamaterials from templated polymerization of thermosets including phenolic and epoxy resins using self-assembled block copolymer, polystyrene-polydimethylsiloxane with tripod network (gyroid), and tetrapod network (diamond) structures, as templates. Nanoindentation studies on the nanonetwork thermosets fabricated reveal enhanced energy dissipation from intrinsic brittle thermosets due to the deliberate structuring; the calculated energy dissipation for gyroid phenolic resins is 0.23 nJ whereas the one with diamond structure gives a value of 0.33 nJ. Consistently, the gyroid-structured epoxy gives a high energy dissipation value of 0.57 nJ, and the one with diamond structure could reach 0.78 nJ. These enhanced properties are attributed to the isotropic periodicity of the nanonetwork texture with plastic deformation, and the higher number of struts in the tetrapod diamond network in contrast to tripod gyroid, as confirmed by the finite element analysis.


The objective of this research is to investigate improved methods for distributing certificate revocation lists (CRLs) in vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs). VANETs are a subset of mobile ad hoc networks composed of network-equipped vehicles and infrastructure points, which will allow vehicles to communicate with other vehicles and with roadside infrastructure points. While sharing some of the same limitations of mobile ad hoc networks, such as lack of infrastructure and limited communications range, VANETs have several dissimilarities that make them a much different research area. The main differences include the size of the network, the speed of the vehicles, and the network security concerns. Confidentiality, authenticity, integrity, and availability are some of the standard goals of network security. While confidentiality and authenticity at times seem in opposition to each other, VANET researchers have developed many methods for enhancing confidentiality while at the same time providing authenticity. The method agreed upon for confidentiality and authenticity by most researchers and the IEEE 1609 working group is a public key infrastructure (PKI) system. An important part of any PKI system is the revocation of certificates. The revocation process, as well as the distribution of revocation information, is an open research problem for VANETs. This research develops new methods of CRL distribution and compares them to existing methods proposed by other researchers. The new methods show improved performance in various vehicle traffic densities.


: The fibre pullout test was conducted to investigate the influence of the water stability on the bond behaviour between the Magnesium phosphate cement (MPC) matrix and the steel fibre. The composition of the MPC-matrix and the immersion age of the specimens are experimentally investigated. The average bond strength and the pullout energy are investigated by analysing the experimental results. In addition, the microscopic characteristics of the interface transition zone are investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The experimental results showed that the bond performance between the MPC-matrix and the steel fibre decreased significantly with the increase of the duration of immersion in water. The average bond strength between the steel fibre and the MPC-matrix reduced by more than 50% when the specimens were immersed in the water for 28 days. The effect of the water on the interface between the steel fibre and the MPC-matrix was found to be more significant compared to the composition of the MPC-matrix. In addition, the MgO-KH 2 PO 4 mole ratio of the MPC significantly influenced the water stability of the interface zone between the steel fibre and MPC-matrix.


This research examines the experiences of 15 preservice teachers as they refined their reflective skills over a period of 2 years. They elected to undertake a rigorous process of portfolio preparation and written reflections upon practice which was successful in providing positive feedback about quality of teaching. Beyond that, the preservice teachers discovered that reflecting on practice also led to recognition that there were aspects of teaching that could be improved. The findings suggest that through a reflective process, preservice teachers are able to identify a gap between their aspirations and the reality of their practice. This is professional learning that results in better learning opportunities for students.


Polypyrrole(PPy) nanowires were prepared by template-free method electrochemically. The effect of process parameters on the morphology of PPy was investigated. The electrocatalytic effect of PPy nanowire modified electrodes was characterized by its amperometetric response toward nitrate ions. The experimental results indicated that the process parameters of the modified electrodes such as concentration of pyrrole monomer, concentration of support electrolyte (LiClO4), and the pH of buffer solution have significant effects on the diameter the length and smooth of PPy nanowires, and thus have obviously effects on electroreduction current density of nitrate ions. Under the optimized conditions, the PPy nanowire modified electrodes have high electrocatalytic activity toward nitrate electroreduction.


In an efficient stock market, share prices fully and quickly reflect all available information. This implies that no excess returns can be made from buying and holding a given stock after new information about that given company reaches the market, since that information is already reflected in current prices. But because conditions for a perfect market do not exist in the real world, efficiency can only be achieved in degrees. Emerging stock markets especially tend to exhibit high price volatility, and may therefore offer opportunities for high buy and hold returns to speculators. This possibility is inconsistent with the efficient capital market assumption. The Nairobi Stock Exchange in particular has witnessed certain cases of extreme price volatility, which point to the possibility of underlying inefficiencies. Such inefficiency can distort the true shareholder value in a stock. The purpose of this study was to determine the speed of price . adjustment, and also the pricing efficiency of the Nairobi Stock Exchange market after earnings arfuouncements. The research findings not only add to the continuing debate on the validity of the Efficient Market Hypothesis, but are also useful to investors and to the Capital Markets Authority as a market regulator. The study was guided by the semistrong-form sub-hypothesis of the efficient market hypothesis. Efficiency was measured by the speed of price adjustment after earnings announcements. The study targeted all the companies listed at the Nairobi Stock Exchange, but an already constituted sample of 20 companies was used. Data consisted of the closing prices of the sampled stocks on the day of announcement, and on the 1t, 3rd, 7, 14111 and 28111 day before and after earnings announcements. Data was analysed quantitatively for excess returns using a single factor market model that is based on the Asset Pricing Model. The study found that excess returns were realised both before and after the day of announcement. Exces returns did not approach zero within the 28day window, which means that it takes more than 28 days for excess returns to cease. There was also evidence of the market anomalies of overreaction and underreaction. The study concludes that the Nairobi Stock Exchange is not semistrong-form efficient.


There is uncertainty about the importance of visit-to-visit glycemic variability in cardiovascular disease (CVD) complications in type 2 diabetes (T2D) patients. Using the Veteran Affairs Diabetes Trial (VADT), we investigated this relationship, and assessed whether it is influenced by intensive or standard glucose control. During the VADT, fasting glucose and HbA1c were measured every 3 months for up to 84 months in 1791 individuals. Visit-to-visit variability measures included coefficient of variation (CV) and average real variability (ARV). By Cox proportional hazard models, variability measures of fasting glucose showed significant association with CVD even after adjusting for other risk factors, including mean fasting glucose. This relationship was evident in the intensive treatment group but not in the standard group (Figure 1). Additional adjustment for severe hypoglycemic episodes, did not alter the effect of glucose variability on CVD. Interestingly, HbA1c variability was not associated with CVD after adjusting for multiple baseline risk factors. Our analysis indicates that in the VADT, variability of fasting glucose plays a role in the development of CVD complications beyond the influence of the mean glucose measures. The adverse consequences of glucose variability on CVD appear greatest in those receiving intensive glucose control. Disclosure J. Zhou: None. D. Schwenke: None. P. Reaven: Research Support; Self; AstraZeneca, Amgen Inc., Bristol-Myers Squibb Company.


Objective: Lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM) is a rare, destructive disease of the lungs with a limited number of determinants of disease activity, which are a critical need for clinical trials. FGF23 has been implicated in several chronic pulmonary diseases. We aimed to determine the association between serum FGF23 levels and pulmonary function in a cohort of patients with LAM. Methods: This was a descriptive single-center study in which subjects with LAM and controls with unreported lung disease were recruited. Serum FGF23 levels were measured in all subjects. Clinical data, including pulmonary function testing, were retrospectively obtained from electronic medical records of LAM subjects. Associations between FGF23 levels and clinical features of LAM were explored via nonparametric hypothesis testing. Results: The sample comprised 37 subjects with LAM and 16 controls. FGF23 levels were higher in the LAM group than in the control group. In the LAM group, FGF23 levels above the optimal cutoff point distinguished 33% of the subjects who had nondiagnostic VEGF-D levels. Lower FGF23 levels were associated with impaired DLCO (p = 0.04), particularly for those with isolated diffusion impairment with no other spirometric abnormalities (p = 0.04). Conclusions: Our results suggest that FGF23 is associated with pulmonary diffusion abnormalities in LAM patients and elicit novel mechanisms of LAM pathogenesis. FGF23 alone or in combination with other molecules needs to be validated as a biomarker of LAM activity in future clinical research.


ABSTRACT Evidence supporting use of the Functional Movement Screen (FMSTM) to identify athletes' risk of injury is equivocal. Furthermore, few studies account for exposure to risk during analysis. This study investigated the association of FMSTM performance with incidence and burden of match-injuries in adult community rugby players. 277 players performed the FMSTM during pre-season and in-season time-loss injuries and match exposure were recorded. The associations between FMSTM score, pain, and movement-pattern asymmetries with match-injury incidence (≥8-days time-loss/1000hours), severe match-injury incidence (>28-days time-loss/1000hours), and match-injury burden (total time-loss days/1000hours for ≥8-days match-injuries) were analysed using Poisson regression. Multivariate analysis indicated players with pain and movement-pattern asymmetry during pre-season had 2.9 times higher severe match-injury incidence (RR, 90%CI = 2.9, 0.9–9.7) and match-injury burden (RR, 90%CI = 2.9, 1.3–6.6). Players with a typically low FMSTM score (mean – 1SD threshold) were estimated to have a 50% greater match-injury burden compared to players with a typically high FMSTM score (mean + 1SD threshold) as match-injury burden was 10% lower per 1-unit increase in FMSTM score. As the strongest association with injury outcome was found for players with pain and asymmetry, when implementing the FMSTM it is advisable to prioritise these players for further assessment and subsequent treatment.


OBJECTIVE Most of the endoscopes used for endonasal transsphenoidal surgery use 4-mm diameter lenses. The applicability of a newly developed neuroendoscope with a lens diameter of only 2 mm was tested in endonasal transsphenoidal pituitary surgery. METHODS The newly developed rigid-rod neuroendoscope with a 2-mm lens and an endoscope with a 4-mm lens were coupled with a navigation system and used for this comparative study. Comparison between the views obtained with these two devices was performed in a model and in formalin-fixed cadaver heads. A pure endonasal approach was used to reach and explore the sellar and parasellar regions. The navigation system was used to locate the same position in both lenses for image comparison. RESULTS The sellar and parasellar regions could be reached and explored using the new endoscope with the 2-mm lens and an oval-shaped irrigation and suction channel. The visual field appeared to be reduced compared with that of the 4-mm lens. However, this reduction was compensated by greater mobility and easier introduction and maneuvering of the instruments at the sellar level. Reduced image size and brightness were also found using the 2-mm lens compared with the 4-mm lens. These differences could be overcome by increasing the amount of light and enlarging the image but with subsequent reduction in image resolution. CONCLUSION The small diameter of this neuroendoscope resulted in good maneuverability and maintained a fine quality of vision. Children and patients with small nostrils are good candidates for the use of such a device.


The application of raw Bangalora (Totapuri) mango seed kernel powder (RMS) and surface‐modified Bangalora (Totapuri) mango seed kernel powder (SMMS) for the removal of methylene blue (MB) dye from aqueous solution was investigated under ambient conditions. The adsorbent was characterized by the FTIR and SEM analyses. Batch adsorption studies were conducted by varying the solution pH, adsorbent dose, initial MB dye concentration, and contact time. The optimum conditions for the adsorption of MB dye onto the adsorbent was found to be: pH (8.0), adsorbent dose (1.0 g: RMS and 0.4 g: SMMS), contact time (60 min: RMS and 30 min: SMMS), temperature of 30°C for an initial MB dye concentration of 100 mg/L. Adsorption isotherm data were analyzed by the Langmuir, Freundlich, Temkin, and Dubinin‐Radushkevich isotherm models. Experimental data was successfully applied to the Freundlich model than the Langmuir model, and the maximum monolayer adsorption capacity was found to be greater for SMMS than the RMS. Adsorption kinetics was tested with the pseudo‐first‐order and pseudo‐second‐order kinetic models. The kinetic results show that the adsorption process followed the pseudo‐second‐order kinetic model. Adsorption kinetic data were further applied to the intraparticle diffusion, Boyd kinetic and shrinking core models to explain the adsorption mechanism. Adsorption mechanism results shows that the adsorption process was controlled by both internal and external diffusion. The results of this study show that the SMMS could be used as an effective and low‐cost adsorbent for the removal of dyes from aqueous solution. © 2013 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Environ Prog, 33: 87–98, 2014


Using virtual reality nowadays not only includes applications in the entertainment industry as well as use in areas in which have not yet penetrated. Such area is the manufacturing process. Due to hardware that has been designed a priority for entertainment purposes can be realized serious simulation. Measurement of various parameters during the manufacturing process and after, helped by the creation of new working tools and also for their innovation. All values that are studied differ in based on the type of wear and also the basis for the selected device that examines wear it. Progress in terms of materials and production possibilities with new trends as in the measurement, as well as in examining and subsequent production of new tools


In this study, we developed a simple and one-step Pd separation technique based on photoreduction with Xe lamp irradiation for the determination of 107Pd in highly radioactive samples. A simulated high-level radioactive liquid wastes (HLLW) solution, consisting of 14 major elements in a 3 mol L−1 HNO3 solution, was used to evaluate the separation performance. The Pd precipitate was formed by Xe lamp irradiation, and recovered by centrifugation. The Pd recovery from the simulated HLLW solution reached up to 50%, while 99.5% of the other 13 elements was separated. These results indicate that the applicability of the proposed separation technique to HLLW samples. Keywords Palladium-107, ICP-MS, xenon lamp, photo reduction, precipitation


Megabodies are engineered nanobodies that help overcome two major obstacles that limit the resolution of single-particle cryo-EM reconstructions: particle size and preferential orientation at the water-air interfaces. Here we describe how nanobodies can be rigidly grafted onto selected protein scaffolds (HopQ or YgjK) to increase their molecular weight while retaining the full antigen binding specificity and affinity. We also describe the protocols to purify these chimeric molecules from the periplasm of E. coli.


Ferroelastic $\mathrm{La}\mathrm{Al}{\mathrm{O}}_{3}$ (space group $R\overline{3}c$) exists with two different microstructures: twins and tweed. Both microstructures contain electrical dipole moments. Polarity inside ferroelastic twin walls has been shown using two complementary experimental techniques and identical samples. PFM reveals a weak piezoelectric effect at the loci of the domain walls. In tweed samples, the PFM signal is finite but variable in the entire sample. PFM shows that same characteristic tweed microstructure as observed optically. The piezoelectric effect is of a similar magnitude inside twin walls and, space averaged, in the tweed microstructure (and approximately one order of magnitude smaller than in $c$-oriented $\mathrm{Pb}\mathrm{Ti}{\mathrm{O}}_{3}$ single crystals). Resonance piezoelectric spectroscopy proves that domain walls vibrate under the application of an external driving electric field. The resonance frequency is very close to stress induced vibrations. This is evidence for weak but finite coupling between the local dipole moments in the domain walls and the external electric field. The same coupling and the piezoelectric response are much stronger in the tweed sample. Symmetry breaking by dipolar vectors in a $\mathrm{La}\mathrm{Al}{\mathrm{O}}_{3}$ sample with tweed has been confirmed by the observation of optical second harmonic signals. The noncentrosymmetric point group is identified as $3m$ in agreement with earlier work on twinned $\mathrm{La}\mathrm{Al}{\mathrm{O}}_{3}$ but in contradiction with predictions of Landau-Ginzburg theory of simple ferroelastic wall structures.


Introduction: There are many classical cardiac risk factors leading to acute coronary syndromes (ACS): arterial hypertension (HA), diabetes mellitus (DM), lipid disorders, family history (FH), smoking (Sm), obesity. The one of risk stratification is an evaluation of biochemical cardiac markers demonstrating myocardial injury. Material and methods: The studied group included 124 patients (27% females, mean age 60.5±11.1 years) hospitalized with symptoms of ACS. In all patients the level of cardiac troponin T (cTnT) was measured in admission. In the case of a negative result a measurement was repeated after 6-12 hours. According to results the patients were stratified into: group 1 – with negative (<0.1 μg/L) and group 2 – with positive (≥0.1 μg/L) cTnT concentrations. In these groups results of coronarography and selected classical cardiac risk factors were analyzed. Results: The performance of: HA, Sm, FH, obesity and lipid profile was similar. The percentage of critical single and multivessel coronary stenoses did not differentiate both groups. In patients with a positive cTnT in comparison to the cTnT negative group diabetes, and the critical stenoses of the circumflex coronary artery (p<0.05) occurred more often. In diabetics with the positive cTnT compared to non-diabetics of group 2 frequently the elevated concentration of triglycerides (p<0.01) and the overweight in comparison to diabetics of the 1 group (p<0.05) were documented. Conclusions: In patients with acute coronary syndrome and a positive cTnT diabetes occurs more often compared to the cTnT negative patients. Diabetics belong to the group of high risk, so they require a detailed diagnosis and treatment.


Facing the reality of storage economics, NP experiments such as RHIC/STAR have been engaged in a shift of the analysis model, and now heavily rely on using cheap disks attached to processing nodes, as such a model is extremely beneficial over expensive centralized storage. Additionally, exploiting storage aggregates with enhanced distributed computing capabilities such as dynamic space allocation (lifetime of spaces), file management on shared storages (lifetime of files, pinning file), storage policies or a uniform access to heterogeneous storage solutions is not an easy task. The Xrootd/Scalla system allows for storage aggregation. We will present an overview of the largest deployment of Scalla (Structured Cluster Architecture for Low Latency Access) in the world spanning over 1000 CPUs co-sharing the 350 TB Storage Elements and the experience on how to make such a model work in the RHIC/STAR standard analysis framework. We will explain the key features and approach on how to make access to mass storage (HPSS) possible in such a large deployment context. Furthermore, we will give an overview of a fully 'gridified' solution using the plug-and-play features of Scalla architecture, replacing standard storage access with grid middleware SRM (Storage Resource Manager) components designed for space management and will compare the solution with the standard Scalla approach in use in STAR for the past 2 years. Integration details, future plans and status of development will be explained in the area of best transfer strategy between multiple-choice data pools and best placement with respect of load balancing and interoperability with other SRM aware tools or implementations.


The effect of supports and the addition of CS2 in the feed were studied on hydrodenitrogenation of Quinoline in a continuous flow reactor over ReS2/support catalysts at 300, 325 and 350 °C and 3MPa of H2. The ReS2 supported on TiO2 displayed the highest activity followed by ZrO2, γ-Al2O3 and SiO2 supports. The activity trend was correlated with the Re dispersion on the support. The effect of the addition of CS2 was increased activity until 2.5 v/v % content. At higher CS2 content the activity decreased due to competitive adsorption between CS2 and Quinoline on the active sites.


I. Introduction On March 3, 2006, Marine Lance Corporal Matthew Snyder died while serving a tour of duty in Iraq. (1) After hearing of his funeral, members of the Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church attended and protested the Maryland ceremony bearing graphic photos and signs declaring "Thank God for IEDs" and "Thank God for Dead Soldiers." (2) The church members did so in reflection of their religious belief that God has doomed America and its military missions because of the country's tolerance for homosexuality. (3) Following the protest, Matthew Snyder's father, Albert Snyder, sued the Westboro Baptist Church for a variety of civil wrongs, including intentional infliction of emotional distress, (4) thus setting up a conflict pitting free speech against tort liability that ultimately reached the united States Supreme Court. The tort of intentional infliction of emotional distress, commonly known as IIED, is a relatively new type of civil wrong, and one to which courts have not been terribly friendly. (5) An early problem with IIED was "the fear that the protection of interests in mental peace of mind would be 'the "wide door" which might be opened, not only to fictitious claims, but to litigation in the field of trivialities and mere bad manners.'" (6) While courts have allowed prosecutions under the tort since its recognition by the American Law Institute in 1948, (7) prosecutions based on speech have been relatively rare. Prior to the Court's decision in Snyder v. Phelps, it had only once, in Hustler Magazine, Inc. v. Falwell, considered an IIED claim based on speech. (8) The Court in Hustler decided against the plaintiff, using what appeared to be a modified defamation standard, (9) but the decision nonetheless left open a hole in speech jurisprudence. Hustler's plaintiff, televangelist Jerry Falwell, was a public figure, a kind of person the Court in other defamation rulings held to a higher standard than private figures like Albert Snyder. (10) The question remained whether the same IIED standard would apply to both public and private figures. (11) Although Albert Snyder succeeded at the trial level, the Supreme Court ultimately ruled against him. (12) The Court did so because the speech did not target the mourning family (13) nor did it "in any way interfere[] with the funeral service itself." (14) The Court did not, however, specify the standard under which Snyder's claim could have been successful. This Note attempts to fill the hole left by the Court's reticence to name an IIED standard for private figures. It argues that the public/private figure distinction on which many relied to dismiss Falwell as a precedent in Snyder is irrelevant in an IIED claim involving speech on a matter of public concern given the nature of the harm at issue. Building on the work of First Amendment scholars Christina Wells and Robert Post, (15) along with a thorough examination of the Court's relevant First Amendment cases, this Note argues that Hustler did not simply import the "actual malice" defamation standard into IIED cases involving public figures. (16) Instead, the IIED tort itself demands these elements be added to adequately protect speech on matters of public concern, regardless of the addressee's status. As the Court has long recognized, offensive speech requires significant protection to be free from censorship under community norms. (17) The very nature of the harm in IIED, emotional distress, is simply not capable, without more, of providing protection against such subjective censorship. Ultimately, the Court's standards in Hustler were not simply "defamation" standards; they are historically recognized tests necessary under an IIED claim to make potentially protected speech on matters of public concern actionable when made against any individual. II. Facts and Holding Following twenty-year-old (18) Matthew Snyder's death in Iraq, his father, Albert Snyder (Snyder), chose to have his son's funeral service in a Catholic church in their hometown of Westminster, Maryland. …


ABSTRACf ACYTthosiphon kondoi Shinji is a major pest of alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.). Susceptible seedling plants are killed by A. kondoi, and established plants suffer yield loss by stunting. Information is meager on the influence of A. kondoi infestation or host plant resistance on forage quality of alfalfa leaves and stems. In a controlled environment, the forage quality (including phenolic monomers)of alfalfa germplasmsKSI53P4and KS153BA3P4 (susceptible and resistant to A. kondoi, respectively) with and without A. kondoi infestation was compared. Leaves infested with A. kondoi had lower concentrations of crude protein and true in vitro digestible dry matter (TIVDDM) than uninfested leaves of controls, but infested stems had higher crude protein concentration. Stems and leaves infested with A. kondoi had higher neutral detergent fiber concentrations than did those of uninfested controls. Infested stems of KS153BA3P4had more syringic acid than did infested stems of KS153P4 and uninfested controls. However, A. kondoi infestation did not alter TIVDDM or digestible neutral detergent fiber of stems. The A. kondoi-resistant KS153BA3P4had more neutral detergent fiber in leaves but lower TIVDDM and digestible neutral detergent fiber in stems than susceptible KS153P4.Infestation of alfalfa for short time periods by A. kondoi decreased the nutritive value of leaves and stems.


Background: PCR-coupled single-strand conformation polymorphism (PCR-SSCP) is often used as a first line screening technique to facilitate mutation detection in large genes such as the DNAH5 gene. A modified protocol of PCR-SSCP by primers addition before denaturation may improve banding profiles. Objectives: The aim is to study the effect of primers addition and determine the optimal conditions to screen DNAH5 hotspot exons. Materials and Methods: Prior to SSCP screening, various concentrations of primers were added to PCR-products of DNAH5 hotspot exons. The resolution and intensity of the electrophoretic bands were then evaluated. Results: Herein we prove that specific primers addition at 4 μM concentration improves the resolution and efficiency of the method without altering the detection of the mutations. Moreover, an optimal result was obtained by adding both primers for some exons and only the reverse one for others. Conclusion: The modified PCR-SSCP protocol described in this present study could be used to screen the mutations in DNAH5 hotspot exons in patients with primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD).


The "high-performance" liquid-chromatographic method we report for measuring palmitate derived from saturated phospholipids in amniotic fluid is sensitive and precise and possesses a wide dynamic range. Palmitate from nonsurfactant sources is largely excluded. The procedure involves oxidation of the chloroform/methanol-extracted lipids with osmium tetroxide, precipitation of the resulting phosphatides with cold acetone, mild alkaline hydrolysis, derivatization of the liberated fatty acids to phenacyl esters, and reversed-phase chromatography. The method is no less convenient or more time-consuming than measurement of the lecithin/sphingomyelin ratio by thin-layer chromatography. The clinical usefulness of the procedure is indicated by results of a correlative study of 26 amniotic fluids evaluated by "lung profile" tests in a second laboratory. A value for dipalmitoyl lecithin of 13 mg/L or greater indicates fetal lung maturity.


Purpose: To present our
experience with laparoscopic management of the non-palpable undescended testis. Patients
and Methods: Between Nov. 2010 and Oct. 2012, 47
non-palpable testes in 41 patients were evaluated prospectively by laparoscopy.
The age of the patients at the time of surgery varied from 1 to 9 years with a
mean age of 2.85 years. Testicular viability and location were evaluated by physical
examination and Doppler ultrasonography after 1 and 3 months. Results: Out of 49 testicular units, 47 (95.9%) were
successfully treated by laparoscopic orchiopexy. 45 testicular units (91.8%)
were treated by one-stage laparoscopic orchiopexy, 2 (4.1%) were treated by
two-stage laparoscopic orchiopexy and 2 (4.1%) diagnosed as vanishing testis
with detection of blind end spermatic vessels and vas deferens during
laparoscopy. Physical examination and Doppler study demonstrated that 46 of 47
testes (97.9%) were viable and 45 of 47 (95.7%) were located in the lower
scrotum and 2 of 47 (4.3%) in the upper scrotum at the end of follow-up. Conclusion: The laparoscopy is a reliable technique for
diagnosis and treatment of the non-palpable intra-abdominal testis with high
success and survival rates of the testes.


This thesis investigates the teaching and legacy of Leopold Auer; it addresses, in particular to what extent his promulgation of the 'German' School of Violin Playing was instrumental in establishing the 'Russian' and 'American' Schools. Recent research in late 19th-century violin performance-practice has focused mainly on the 'German' and 'Franco-Belgian' Schools, and on tracing 'genealogies' of violin playing, especially within the 'German' school itself. Auer, however, has been little studied, as remarkably is also true for descendents of the German school such as Ossip Schnirlin, Benno Rabinof, and Mischa Weisbord. This research will also briefly examine the authority of Joachim and Auer (who were both native Hungarians) on their students with regards to Hungarian musical gestures and Gypsy performance styles, in an era where violin playing was more uniform and the style hongrois gradually disappearing from Western music altogether. A clearer picture of Auer, his influence and the achievements of his students, allows us to form a more sophisticated image of late 19th-century to early 20th-century violin performance practice, and of the much disputed question of the existence of distinct national schools in this important transitional era.


Abstract The Classic Maya village of Joya de Cerén is extraordinary in that it was preserved by volcanic ash following the Loma Caldera volcanic eruption. The excellent preservation conditions offer a unique opportunity to understand plants in their primary use contexts, and to examine geospatial relationships between plants—both living and curated—in gardens, fields and households. The geospatial analysis of 'plantscapes' at Cerén presented here provides a template for interpreting botanical resource use and management at other contemporaneous Maya sites, and can contribute to a broader understanding of the use of space, plants and agriculture in the past.


Genetically modified (GM) cotton varieties have changed many aspects of cotton production in the United States. The rapid adoption of GM cotton varieties in Mississippi has allowed producers to alter certain production practices because of added benefits gained from GM varieties. This study analyses some of the effects of certain changes in some of the most relevant components of cotton production on yield that stem from the adoption of GM varieties in Mississippi by comparing production functions from 1996 and 2005.


Lifelogging technologies can capture both mundane and important experiences in our daily lives, resulting in a rich record of the places we visit and the things we see. This study moves beyond technology demonstrations, in aiming to better understand how and why different types of Lifelogs aid memory. Previous work has demonstrated that Lifelogs can aid recall, but that they do many other things too. They can help us look back at the past in new ways, or to reconstruct what we did in our lives, even if we don't recall exact details. Here we extend the notion of Lifelogging to include locational information. We augment streams of Lifelog images with geographic data to examine how different types of data (visual or locational) might affect memory. Our results show that visual cues promote detailed memories (akin to recollection). In contrast locational information supports inferential processes -- allowing participants to reconstruct habits in their behaviour.


This article discusses the hierarchy of regulation formation. The problem being discussed in this article is related to the regulations that are formed contrary to the rules above and therefore, they are canceled or revised. Although explicitly in the formation of regulations, it is mandatory to follow the regulation hierarchy. Hence, it causes financial problems because the regulations cannot be implemented. It is juridical normative based research. The result of this research suggests that it is necessary to reformulate the regulations hierarchy on the formation of state regulations. It also suggests that the hierarchy of the regulations formation has positive and negative values. It is positive because it can maintain orderliness in the formation of regulations, while negative values will occur in the formation of the regulations. Therefore, to strengthen the hierarchy of the formulation of laws and regulations, it is necessary to have specifically certified legal drafter to form the regulations. As in the principle of legal fiction, that person is considered to know the rule can be realized properly.


She made no response to deep painful stimuli. Initial blood results revealed a leucocytosis of48-9 x 109/1 with a differential of eosinophils 32-81 and neutrophils 12-18 x 109/l respectively. Her haemoglobin, biochemical screen and liver function tests were all normal. A full coagulation screen including platelets, KPPT, fibrinogen and Protein C were also normal. A chest radiograph showed cardiomegaly and old calcified apical foci. Her CT scan (figure) showed a right temporo-parietal haematoma with spread into the right lateral ventricle and associated mass effect, and a left cerebellar haematoma with compression of the fourth ventricle but without resultant hydrocephalus. She failed to regain consciousness and died 10 weeks later. Permission for a necropsy examination was refused. HES is a term which was introduced by Hardy and Anderson in 1968.' It is defined as persistent eosinophilia (> 1500 mm3) in a patient in whom no known underlying cause


This study examines motor cortical representation of hand position and its relationship to the representation of hand velocity during reaching movements. In all, 978 motor cortical neurons were recorded from the proximal arm area of rostral motor cortex. The results demonstrate that position and velocity are simultaneously encoded by single motor cortical neurons in an additive fashion and that the relative weights of the position and velocity signals change dynamically during reaching. The two variables--hand position and hand velocity--are highly correlated in the standard center-out reaching task. A new reaching task (standard reaching) is introduced to minimize these correlations. Likewise, a new decoding method (indirect OLE) was developed to analyze the data by simultaneously decoding both three-dimensional (3D) hand position and 3D hand velocity from correlated neural activity. This method shows that, on average, the reconstructed velocity led the actual hand velocity by 122 ms, whereas the reconstructed position signal led the actual hand position by 81 ms.


The present work aims at studying the tensile behavior and formability of pre-painted steel sheets. To this purpose, uniaxial tensile and hemispherical punch tests were performed in order to analyze the deformation behavior of pre-painted sheets under uniaxial stretching and biaxial balanced stretching conditions, respectively. Tests were interrupted in order to obtain different strain levels until fracture; at each strain level reached, the occurrence of superficial damages on the paint coating was detected; thinning of the different layers of the pre-painted sheet was also measured. It was observed that the degree of damage on the paint coating depends on the loading condition; in particular, under uniaxial stretching, the paint coating is able to follow the steel sheet during deformation up to the onset of the necking, whilst, under biaxial balanced stretching, coating exhibits superficial damages before fracture of the sheet.


Implementing complex and yet sound and effective accounting information systems known as enterprise resource planning systems, is an enormous project for the firms that want to streamline their information flow and increase their value. As the effects of these systems on the performance of the entities are both financial and non-financial, their success is of crucial importance. This study is an exploratory factorial analysis to identify the factors of successful implementation of ERP systems in the medium and big companies in Albania. We use in depth surveys and interviews with firms that have implemented enterprise resource planning systems and include twenty initial variables in the survey. Later these variables are combined in three factors that have the biggest impact on the success rate of ERP implementation: the overall quality and end-user satisfaction with the ERP system; the cost-benefit ratio of the ERP and the support from the ERP provider and ERP implementing consultant. This study contributes not only theoretically to the empirical literature, but also practically because it helps businesses of the region that are considering implementing ERPs in the future to pay attention to the most critical factors of success with ERPs.


In this work, Fe and Si powders were used to fabricate 6.5% Si silicon steel. The mixing powder was rolled into strip and then treated at 900°C in Ar. Sn was added into the mixing powder to investigate the effect of Sn on the sintering. The density, composition, and structure were examined. The results show that Fe almost does not react with Si at 900°C. But with the addition of Sn, Fe reacts with Si to produce Fe3Si at 900°C. Increasing the amount of Sn accelerates this reaction. When the amount of Sn addition is excessive, there will leave many pores in the alloy because the reaction rate is too fast to shrink. The proper amount of Sn addition can decrease the sintering temperature and shorten the sintering time.


Multiuser orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (MU-OFDM) is a promising technique for achieving high downlink capacities in future cellular and wireless LAN systems. The sum capacity of MU-OFDM is maximized when each subchannel is assigned to the user with the best channel-tonoise ratio for that subchannel, with power subsequently distributed by water-filling. However, fairness among the users cannot generally be achieved with such a scheme. In this paper, we impose a set of proportional fairness constraints to assure that each user can achieve a required data rate, as in a system with quality of service guarantees. Since the optimal solution to the constrained fairness problem is extremely computationally complex to obtain, we propose a low-complexity suboptimal algorithm that separates subchannel allocation and power allocation. In the proposed algorithm, subchannel allocation is first performed by assuming an equal power distribution. An optimal power allocation algorithm then maximizes the sum capacity while maintaining proportional fairness. The proposed algorithm is shown to achieve about 95% of the optimal capacity in a two-user system, while reducing the complexity from exponential to linear in the number of subchannels. It is also shown that with the proposed resource allocation algorithm, the sum capacity is distributed more fairly and flexibly among users than the sum capacity maximization method.


This paper presents an innovative insight into the complexities of the ways in which sense of place can be expressed and experienced. It particularly focuses on the phenomenological rapport participants have to the physicality of place and how it impacts on their ways of being, ways of seeing and on the construction of a sense of place (ways of knowing). In doing so it makes a case for conducting visual tours. Here I present the methodological framework that structured this approach and I give examples of how it can work. The narrative of this paper is constructed around three accounts of three different visual tours that were conducted in inner-city Nottingham. I argue that visual tours result in the combination of four types of intersecting narratives that give extra dimensions to the process of exploring ways of seeing and ways of being in the city: 1. the narrative of walking, 2. the visual narrative, 3. the narrative of the conversation in-situ 4. and finally the narrative of the written account by the researcher. All of these narratives are constitutive and constructive of a sense of place. In the case of my research on British Asian suburbanisation in Nottingham, these intersecting narratives brought to light a series of points on ways of seeing and ways of being and overall on ways of knowing the city. It highlighted a sense of place constructed around paradoxes, dichotomies and overall contrasted visions of the inner city where participants used to live and the suburbs of desirable housing where they now live. These kinds of observations are essential in understanding the way mobility and movements operate in the 'multicultural city'.


A edible cuttlefish(Zoological name : Sepia esculenta) bone has a porous structure with all pores interconnected The purpose of this research is to develop porous hydroxyapatite prepared by hydrothermal treatment from cuttlefish bone and evaluate the biocompatibility using undecalcified materials through the in-vivo test of rabbits. In this study, the phase and substructure of a porous hydroxyapatite, prepared by hydrothermal treatment using edible cuttlefish bone as a calcium source, has been confirmed by X-ray diffractometer and scanning electronic microscope. After preparing the specimens with 5mm diameter and 7mm length, the specimens were implanted into the femoral condyles of rabbits. Each rabbits were sacrificed at each time period of 1, 2, 3, 4 weeks after operation, respectively and the stained section was examined by a transmission light microscope. The X-ray diffraction patterns of the edible cuttlefish bone was confirm for aragonite phase and of the sample after hydrothermal treatment showed mostly into hydroxyapatite phase. There was more bone density increase in porous HA rod around implant site than natural edible cuttlefish bone. Because the edible cuttlefish bone is a very pure and good calcium source, porous hydroxyapatite developed from this study is expected to be a biomaterial having a good biocompatibility to be used as a suitable bone substitute.


Efficiency at maximum power is found to be of the same order for a feedback ratchet and for its open-loop counterpart. However, feedback increases the output power up to a factor of five. This increase in output power is due to the increase in energy input and the effective entropy reduction obtained as a consequence of feedback. Optimal efficiency at maximum power is reached for time intervals between feedback actions two orders of magnitude smaller than the characteristic time of diffusion over a ratchet period length. The efficiency is computed consistently taking into account the correlation between the control actions. We consider a feedback control protocol for a discrete feedback flashing ratchet, which works against an external load. We maximize the power output optimizing the parameters of the ratchet, the controller, and the external load. The maximum power output is found to be upper bounded, so the attainable extracted power is limited. After, we compute an upper bound for the efficiency of this isothermal feedback ratchet at maximum power output. We make this computation applying recent developments of the thermodynamics of feedback-controlled systems, which give an equation to compute the entropy reduction due to information. However, this equation requires the computation of the probability of each of the possible sequences of the controller's actions. This computation becomes involved when the sequence of the controller's actions is non-Markovian, as is the case in most feedback ratchets. We here introduce an alternative procedure to set strong bounds to the entropy reduction in order to compute its value. In this procedure the bounds are evaluated in a quasi-Markovian limit, which emerge when there are big differences between the stationary probabilities of the system states. These big differences are an effect of the potential strength, which minimizes the departures from the Markovianicity of the sequence of control actions, allowing also to minimize the departures from the optimal performance of the system. This procedure can be applied to other feedback ratchets and, more in general, to other control systems.


Antibiotic culture filtrates produced by Bacillus (CA5) and  Streptomyces spp. were tested for translocation and persistence when applied on snap beans inoculated with rust (Uromyces appendiculatus) in greenhouse pot experiments. The antibiotics were applied on the first trifoliate leaves and translocation was assessed as the number of rust pustules on non-treated leaflets or trifoliates while persistence was assessed as the number of rust pustules on rust infected plants at different times after antibiotic treatment. The treatments were replicated three times, each replicate consisting of a pot containing three plants. Antibiotics from both Bacillus and Streptomyces were found to have up to 100% trans-lamina and leaflet-to-leaflet translocation but no significant trifoliate-totrifoliate translocation. The antibiotic culture filtrates also retained significant rust control for up to 10 days after application on the bean plant. However, no significant rust control was found on the plants after 16 days of treatment. The study indicated that the antibiotics produced by antagonistic Bacillus and Streptomyces species possess systemic activity that can persist within the plant for over one week. These metabolites are potential bean rust control products that could be incorporated in integrated disease management programs


Speech enhancement systems aim to improve the quality and intelligibility of noisy speech. In this study, we compare two speech enhancement systems based on deep neural networks. The speech intelligibility and quality of both systems were evaluated subjectively by a speech recognition test based on Hagerman sentences and a translation of the ITU-T P.835 recommendation, respectively. Results were compared with the objective measures STOI and POLQA. Neither STOI nor POLQA reliably predicted subjective results. While STOI anticipated improvement, subjective results for both models showed degradation of speech intelligibility. POLQA results were overall hardly affected, while the subjective results showed significant changes in overall quality, both positive and negative, in many of the tests. One of the systems was trained to remove all noise; a strategy that is common in speech enhancement systems found in the literature. The other system was trained to only reduce the noise such that the signal-to-noise ratio increased with 10 dB. The latter system subjectively outperformed the system that attempted to remove noise completely. From this, we conclude that objective evaluation cannot replace subjective evaluation until a measure that reliably predicts intelligibility and quality for deep-neural-network-based systems has been identified. Results further indicate that it may be beneficial to move away from more aggressive noise removal strategies toward noise reduction strategies that cause less speech distortion.


Terrestrial mammals are strongly influenced by seasonal changes in environmental conditions. Studies of animal space use behaviour are therefore inherently seasonal in nature. We propose an individual-based quantitative method for identifying seasonal shifts in caribou movement behaviour and we demonstrate its use in determining the onset of the winter, spring dispersal, and calving seasons. Using pooled data for the population we demonstrate an alternate approach using polynomial regression with mixed effects. We then compare individual onset dates with population-based estimates and those adopted by expert consensus for our study area. Distributions of individual-based onset dates were normally distributed with prominent modes; however, there was considerable variation in individual onset times. Population-based estimates were closer to the peaks of individual estimates than were expert-based estimates, which fell outside the onetailed 90% and 95% sample quantiles of individually-fitted distributions for spring and winter, respectively. Both expertand population-based estimates were later for winter and earlier for both spring and calving than were individual-based estimates. We discuss the potential consequences of neglecting to corroborate conventionally used dates with observed seasonal trends in movement behaviour. In closing, we recommend researchers adopt an individual-based quantitative approach and a variable temporal window for data set extraction.


Trypanosomosis and tick-borne diseases (TBD's) have a profound impact on the livelihoods of agro-pastoralists in the ASAL areas of Kenya whose transhumance nature exposes livestock to tsetse-infested areas and also new ground may be sources of parasites. Both diseases are endemic and cause suboptimal production, which is enhanced in presence of endoparasites and nutritional stress. Trypanosomosis infected animals have pronounced immunosuppression and easily succumb to TBD's even in presence of endemic stability and perhaps trypanotolerant animals will show minimal loss in production. A trial was conducted in trypanosomosis endemic foci to assess productivity of three hundred Orma zebu (OZ) (trypanotolerant Orma boran x Maasai zebu) and Sahiwal zebu (SZ) (susceptible Sahiwal x Maasai zebu) crosses, which were monitored monthly from birth to 18 months for prevalence of trypanosomosis and TBDs, and body weight changes. Diagnosis was based on parasitology and serology. Growth rate and disease prevalence were used as outcome measures of productivity. Factors associated with these outcome variables were assessed using multiple regression [Proc Reg, SAS version 9.1, SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC, USA] and logistic regression [Proc Logistic] fitted at 95% confidence level. Daily weight gain for the O/Z and S/Z were 0.209 g/d and 0.212 g/d respectively and comparable. Prevalence of trypanosomosis, TBD and EPG counts were 1.9% and 2.5%; 59% and 62%; 48 and 42 in the O/Z and S/Z respectively. Factors significantly associated with disease distribution were season and age of calves. Enhanced trypanotolerance in O/Z crosses can be utilized for effective reclamation of tsetseinfested lands.


This paper presents a process for abstracting keywords from hypertext or text documents. The abstracted keywords, like keywords listed in a paper, identify the contents of a document. Our proposed process can be used, for example, to identify the contents of HTML documents returned from a search engine, to allow users to quickly find their needed information. The proposed process not only considers the occurrent frequency of a word in a document, like other related works, but also considers the occurrent frequency of its synonyms. It also considers key phrases consisting of two or three words. To increase the accuracy of the frequency count of words, a stemming algorithm is used to remove suffixes. Our tests show that the stemming algorithm consumed on average 56.7% of the total computation time, and that the proposed process can on average abstract 52% of the keywords provided by the authors of the tested documents.


Why do some students do well in College Algebra, but poorly in Trigonometry? Reasons include the array of new mathematical symbols, after years of working with the same symbols (+, –, ×, ÷), and the belief that trigonometry is unrelated to College Algebra and Calculus. Some students consider trigonometry to be a weed-out math course that expedites failure of Calculus courses and that their real downfall in mathematics is due to Trigonometry. Some calculus II students complain that: "As soon as I see a unit circle, or bizarre symbols such as sin θ or cos θ, my mind freezes" and "I failed your calculus course because I hate trig, otherwise I had no problems with the calculus." This paper tries to mitigate the students' fears about trigonometry by presenting it like college algebra. The ideas presented will seamlessly introduce algebra students to trigonometry.


This survey indicates that, although substantial computerization of MRD functions was found among survey respondents, use of KDE technologies is very limited. Opportunities exist for medical record practitioners to selectively exploit KDE technology where it can speed data entry and improve data accessibility and availability for patient care, billing, and the like while maintaining or improving accuracy. Appropriate incorporation of KDE technologies into medical record processing could thus benefit all participants in patient care--including MRDs, hospitals, patients, payors--a win-win situation found too infrequently in any setting.


In 1987, George Soros introduced his concepts of reflexivity and fallibility and has further developed and applied these concepts over subsequent decades. This paper attempts to build on Soros's framework, provide his concepts with a more precise definition, and put them in the context of recent thinking on complex adaptive systems. The paper proposes that systems can be classified along a 'spectrum of complexity' and that under specific conditions not only social systems but also natural and artificial systems can be considered 'complex reflexive.' The epistemological challenges associated with scientifically understanding a phenomenon stem not from whether its domain is social, natural, or artificial, but where it falls along this spectrum. Reflexive systems present particular challenges; however, evolutionary model-dependent realism provides a bridge between Soros and Popper and a potential path forward for economics.


Organizational culture and organizational innovativeness are viewed as important factors for improving the organizational effectiveness in institutions of higher education. The aim of this study was to examine the correlations among organizational culture, organizational innovativeness and organizational effectiveness. Moreover, the mediating role of organizational innovativeness between organizational culture and organizational effectiveness was studied.The method used in the study was survey research. Based on the cluster sampling method, all full time faculty members from five branches of Islamic Azad University (IAU), Pars Province, Iran, were included in the sample of the study. The number of respondents was 369 participants. For measuring variables, three questionnaires were employed. The findings indicated that the adhocracy culture, market culture and clan culture were found to have significant positive correlations with organizational innovativeness and organizational effectiveness. However, hierarchy culture showed no significant relationship with either organizational innovativeness or organizational effectiveness. Additionally, organizational innovativeness partially mediated the relationships among clan, adhocracy and market cultures with organizational effectiveness.Therefore, organizational culture not only directly influences both innovativeness and effectiveness but also influences effectiveness through innovation. The university administrators should be aware of the benefits from the implementation of a culture that supports innovation in order to assure the effectiveness of universities.


ABSTRACT Active learning and group-based processes in higher education are central to student engagement strategies. Forms of assessment regarded as evidencing student engagement, including attendance, class participation grading and group-based projects, have become commonplace in the university curriculum on an international basis. Whilst the literature has focused on evaluating such forms of assessment in terms of learning gain, analysis of their impact from a student rights perspective has been largely overlooked. This paper will analyse student perspectives of three forms of assessment entailing the measurement of observable student attitudes and behaviour: attendance, class participation and group work grading. The evidence from a survey of undergraduates based in a Hong Kong university suggests that the majority of students are concerned about whether such practices are appropriate and fair, potentially undermining their freedom of choice to learn as adults.


Comments are made on an article by Funk, et al. about children and electronic games. This author argues the cross-cultural differences and developmental effects must be taken into account and that the categorization system of videogames based on content is incomplete or too general to cover the complex actions of contemporary videogames. These factors alone may have implications for research.


The paper is devoted to the trailer combination starting, in particular to the method of determining the trailer acceleration while starting. The characteristics of the combination, in particular those related to the joint of a towing vehicle and a trailer affect the trailer combinations while starting. While starting, both vehicles start oscillating and the trailer acceleration can reach high values. We have determined the value of the first maximum acceleration of the towing vehicle and the trailer maximum acceleration both numerically and graphically. Moreover, the paper attempts to identify how the characteristics of both the combination and joint may influence the maximum acceleration rate of the trailer. Last but not least, the applied experimental method is explained.


The number of entrepreneurs in Indonesia is still quite low compared to countries in Asia. Efforts to increase the number of entrepreneurs should continue to bring economic progress to a country. In the process of development is also needed efforts to increase a sense of concern for social problems. The concept of entrepreneurship that combines business activities and social activities and has a goal to solve social problems known as the term Social Entrepreneurship. The object chosen in this research is Warung Kopi Kiwari. This store belongs to Social Entrepreneurship and engages in marketing strategies to enhance the experience. It was chosen because it saw a rapid growth in the coffee business. In a tight business competition, certainly every social entrepreneur needs to think about ways to keep his business running and the goal to solve social problems can be achieved. The purpose of this study is to determine the influence of Social Entrepreneurship and Experiential Marketing toward Corporate Image on Warung Kopi Kiwari Bandung. Data collection was done through questionnaires with a sample of 100 respondents and using path analysis. The results showed that Social Entrepreneurship and Experiential Marketing partially and simultaneously affect Corporate Image with standardized cofficient on Social Entrepreneurship variable of 30.1% and Experiential Marketing of 59.9% and probability value below 5%.
Keyword:  Social Entrepreneurship, Experiential Marketing, Corporate Image,and Kopi Kiwari Bandung


The overall project objective is to conduct a strategic analysis to assess the state of macroalgae as a feedstock for biofuels production. The objective in FY11 is to develop a multi-year systematic national assessment to evaluate the U.S. potential for macroalgae production using a GIS-based assessment tool and biophysical growth model developed as part of these activities. The initial model development for both resource assessment and constraints was completed and applied to the demonstration areas. The model for macroalgal growth was extended to the EEZ off the East and West Coasts of the United States, and a plan to merge the findings for an initial composite assessment was developed. In parallel, an assessment of land-based, port, and offshore infrastructure needs based on published and grey literature was conducted. Major information gaps and challenges encountered during this analysis were identified. Also conducted was an analysis of the type of local, state, and federal requirements that pertain to permitting land-based facilities and nearshore/offshore culture operations


Currency is very important to our life as it facilitates the needs of common man. Paper currency is widely exchanged for goods and services in countries worldwide. It is used for all type of commerce. Paper currency provides a large surface area as a breeding ground for pathogens. Coins and currency notes could carry potentially pathogenic organisms. In India, most types of trades depend on currency, with lower-denomination notes receiving the most handling because they are exchanged many times. Mokhada is a rural area where peoples mostly depend upon cash trading. Currency notes and coins are handled by persons of varying health and hygienic standards and are also stored under varying environmental and personal hygienic conditions. Some of the associated fungal species are potential pathogens of human beings and plants. Moreover, money on which pathogenic microorganisms might survive represents an often overlooked reservoir of diseases. Therefore, adequate care must be taken while handling these currency notes and coins for the safety of human health. There should be public awareness of the fact that currency notes could be a source of infection and can be dangerous to health. Public enlightenment campaigns on proper money handling practices should be organized. Although there is no direct evidence for the presence of pathogenic microorganisms over currency which results in infection, yet their understanding could provide strategies to reduce the contamination of currency. This study will help people to avoid infections via currency notes.


Research on near-term quantum machine learning has explored how classical machine learning algorithms endowed with access to quantum kernels (similarity measures) can outperform their purely classical counterparts. Although theoretical work has shown a provable advantage on synthetic data sets, no work done to date has studied empirically whether the quantum advantage is attainable and with what data. In this article, we report the first systematic investigation of empirical quantum advantage (EQA) in healthcare and life sciences and propose an end-to-end framework to study EQA. We selected electronic health records data subsets and created a configuration space of 5–20 features and 200–300 training samples. For each configuration coordinate, we trained classical support vector machine models based on radial basis function kernels and quantum models with custom kernels using an IBM quantum computer, making this one of the largest quantum machine learning experiments to date. We empirically identified regimes where quantum kernels could provide an advantage and introduced a terrain ruggedness index, a metric to help quantitatively estimate how the accuracy of a given model will perform. The generalizable framework introduced here represents a key step toward a priori identification of data sets where quantum advantage could exist.


Distributed software support has become increasingly common especially due to the rampant globalization of the software development process. Transfer of contextual knowledge across stakeholders involved in such distributed environments is critical to successful product development and support. Timely transfer of appropriate knowledge about issues faced in production environments to support teams and within support teams can result in significant economic benefits. Failure to share contextual knowledge and lack of common understanding significantly impact the quality of support. We draw from the literature on knowledge transfer and adaptive structuration theory to develop a theoretical basis and an approach to knowledge transfer in distributed software support contexts. Based on a multi-site case study, we develop a traceability framework to enhance shared understanding among team members. A qualitative evaluation of the usefulness of our traceability-based approach to knowledge transfer is presented.


In this fast life, everyone is in hurry to reach their destinations. In this case waiting for the buses is not reliable. People who rely on the public transport their major concern is to know the real time location of the bus for which they are waiting for and the time it will take to reach their bus stop. This information helps people in making better travelling decisions. This paper gives the major challenges in the public transport system and discuses various approaches to intelligently manage it. Current position of the bus is acquired by integrating GPS device on the bus and coordinates of the bus are sent by either GPRS service provided by GSM networks or SMS or RFID. GPS device is enabled on the tracking device and this information is sent to centralized control unit or directly at the bus stops using RF receivers. This system is further integrated with the historical average speeds of each segment. This is done to improve the accuracy by including the factors like volume of traffic, crossings in each segment, day and time of day. People can track information using LEDs at bus stops, SMS, web application or Android application. GPS coordinates of the bus when sent to the centralized server where various arrival time estimation algorithms are applied using historical speed patterns.


1 Assistant Professor, Mechanical Department, Cmrtc, Jntuh, Hyderabad, Telangana, India 2 Professor & Director , Cmrtc Mechanical Department, , Hyderabad, Telangana ,India 3 Professor, Mechanical Department, Jntuceh Hyderabad, Telangana, India _________________________________________________________________________________________ Abstract : The heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) system is arguably the most complex system installed in a building and is responsible for a substantial component of the total building energy use. A rightsized HVAC system will provide the desired comfort and will run efficiently. Right-sizing of an HVAC system is the selection of equipment and the design of the air distribution system to meet the accurate predicted heating and cooling loads of the house. Right-sizing the HVAC system begins with an accurate understanding of the heating and cooling loads on a space; however, a full HVAC design involves more than just the load estimate calculation; the load calculation is the first step of the iterative HVAC design procedure. This strategy guideline discusses the information needed to design the air distribution system to deliver the proper amount of conditioned air to a space. Heating and cooling loads are dependent upon the building location, sighting, and the construction of the house, whereas the equipment selection and the air distribution design are dependent upon the loads and each other.


Conditional graphic layout generation, which generates realistic layouts according to user constraints, is a challenging task that has not been well-studied yet. First, there is limited discussion about how to handle diverse user constraints flexibly and uniformly. Second, to make the layouts conform to user constraints, existing work often sacrifices generation quality significantly. In this work, we propose LayoutFormer++ to tackle the above problems. First, to flexibly handle diverse constraints, we propose a constraint serialization scheme, which represents different user constraints as sequences of tokens with a predefined format. Then, we formulate conditional layout generation as a sequence-to-sequence transformation, and leverage encoder-decoder framework with Transformer as the basic architecture. Furthermore, to make the layout better meet user requirements without harming quality, we propose a decoding space restriction strategy. Specifically, we prune the predicted distribution by ignoring the options that definitely violate user constraints and likely result in low-quality layouts, and make the model samples from the restricted distribution. Experiments demonstrate that LayoutFormer++ outperforms existing approaches on all the tasks in terms of both better generation quality and less constraint violation.


The oxidation reaction of regenerated cellulose fibers mediated by N-hydroxyphthalimide (NHPI) and various cocatalysts at room temperature for different time intervals and various amounts of low concentration sodium hypochlorite solution has been investigated to produce oxidized cellulose (OC), a biocompatible and bioresorbable polymer. The results revealed that the nonpersistent phthalimide-N-oxyl (PINO) radical generated in situ from NHPI in both, metallic or metal-free systems, is a powerful agent in this kind of transformation. Moreover, the reaction converts highly selectively C(6) primary hydroxyl groups to carboxylic groups under mild reaction conditions and shorter reaction times than previously reported. The amounts of negatively charged groups in OC were determined by means of potentiometric titration. Further characterization of the products were accomplished by using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy/attenuated total internal reflection spectroscopy (FT-IR/ATR), environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM), and X-ray and energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopy. Notably, water retention values of the oxidized fibers increased by 30% in comparison with the original nonoxidized sample, as a result of the introduction of hydrophilic carboxylate groups.


The authors present some results of a study of 85 patients with brain strokes which were preceded by transient cerebral ischemic attacks. In most of the cases the brain stroke developed on the background of an ischemic cardiac diabetus, atheroscleorosis of the peripheral vessels, etc. It was established that in patients with atherosclerosis, the strokes developed at earlier periods after the first ischemic attack, than in the group of patients where atherosclerosis developed in combination with arterial hypertension. In disturbance of circulation in the basin of the carotid arteries, the strokes with preceding ischemic attacks developed not only more frequently, but earlier than those due to insufficiency of the circulation in the vertebro-basillar basin. It was also established that crude focal symptomatology appears as a rule in those cases when the stroke develops after the first ischemic attack. In frequent attacks which are repeated during several years, the appearing stroke is characterized by a more light focal symptomatology.


Shared Spectrum Company developed Dynamic Spectrum Access (DSA) technology that enables military radio communication systems to deliver robust, non-interrupted wireless connectivity to tactical networks technology. DSA allows network operators to adapt to last minute spectrum assignment planning changes as well as changes made after deployment. DSA also allows the radios to overcome even unplanned, unexpected interference sources. The technology was initially developed for the DARPA XG program, and now several military radio platforms are currently being extended to integrate the technology. We present a case study of dynamic spectrum access software technical and operational integration challenges. We also present the benefits from developing and deploying a single core radio software application that follows commercial iPhone-like solutions. We describe an approach that obviates many problems by abstracting radio components into a set of device classes. We also define an open application-programming interface for interacting between the device classes and the dynamic spectrum access components. We have defined an open management interface for allowing consistent spectrum management across all platforms. This approach supports a scalable proliferation of the technology, future enhancements across platforms, and provides compatible spectrum management paradigm across platforms. This also enables upgrades performed in a consistent fashion. Our experience and results show that the approach performs well across heterogeneous military radio platforms with vastly varied hardware and software features. This software-only extension is achieved via adaptively collecting, analyzing, and responding to radio's spectral environment at runtime. This paper is a case study of lessons learned, challenges with network and waveform integration, and a roadmap for other dynamic access spectrum developers to consider in future applications.


Socially interacting robots will need to understand the intentions and recognize the behaviors of people they come in contact with. In this paper we look at how a robot can learn to recognize and predict people's intended path based on its own observations of people over time. Our approach uses people tracking on the robot from either RGBD cameras or LIDAR. The tracks are separated into homogeneous motion classes using a pre-trained SVM. Then the individual classes are clustered and prototypes are extracted from each cluster. These are then used to predict a person's future motion based on matching to a partial prototype and using the rest of the prototype as the predicted motion. Results from experiments in a kitchen environment in our lab demonstrate the capabilities of the proposed method.


: The effects of the aqueous root extract of Plumbago zeylanica (PLZ, family, Plumbaginaceae) on the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) function was evaluated in normal intestinal transit and gastric ulcer-induced models in rodents. The extract PLZ given orally at 250 and 500 mg kg -1 produced a significant (p<0.05) decrease in the gastric lacerations induced by both indomethacin and alcohol, similar to that of cimetidine 100 mg kg -1 . The extract in selected dose range of 250-2500 mg kg -1 were administered intraperitoneally (i.p) to groups of overnight fasted mice (n = 5) an hour before intragastric administration of charcoal meal and the results obtained showed that only high doses of 1250 and 2500 mg kg -1 produced significant (p<0.05) dose-dependent decrease in intestinal propulsion in rodents. A similar inhibitory effect on the rhythmic contraction of rabbit ileum was obtained in-vitro with concentrations of 28.8-344.0 µg ml -1 of PLZ. The latter observed effect was similar to that produced by adrenaline (3.9×10 -7 M) and the adrenergic antagonists- prazosin and propranolol used together with the herbal drug, revealed that PLZ effect is partly mediated through the adrenergic mechanism. The effects of atropine and carbachol on PLZ did not show any cholinergic involvement. Phytochemical analysis revealed the presence of alkaloids, tannins, cardiac glycosides, phlobatanins, anthraquinones, reducing sugars, saponins and flavonoids and the i.p route produced an LD 50 value of 5296.6 mg kg -1. The study established the scientific basis for the use of PLZ in the treatment of gastric ulcer and diarrhoea, as well as its possible mechanism of action and relative safety when ingested.


The reactions of 181 respiratory neurons of solitary and ambiguous nuclei were studied on 64 cats in the course of stimulation of inspiratory and expiratory zones of gigantocellular nuclei. A study was also made of the reactions of 224 reticular and 9 respiratory neurons of these zones during stimulation of solitary and ambiguous nuclei. Various reactions were recorded in response to the stimulation. Therefore the nuclei of the respiratory center possess various information. In the course of stimulation of the gigantocellular nucleus there predominated an increase in the neuronal electrical activity. On the contrary, inhibition of respiratory and reticular neurons of the gigantocellular nucleus was predominant in the course of stimulation of solitary and ambiguus nuclei. It is suggested that the interactions described underlie the formation of circular rhythms of respiratory center stimulation.


To secure a stable supply of petroleum gas, underground storage caverns for liquified petroleum gas (LPG) are commonly used in many countries worldwide. Storing LPG in underground caverns requires that the surrounding rock mass remain saturated with groundwater and that the water pressure be higher than the liquid pressure inside the cavern. In previous studies, gas containment criteria for underground gas storage based on hydraulic gradient and pressure have been discussed, but these studies do not consider the physicochemical characteristics and behavior of LPG such as vaporization and dissolution in groundwater. Therefore, while these studies are very useful for designing storage caverns, they do not provide better understanding of the either the environmental effects of gas contamination or the behavior of vaporized LPG. In this study, we have performed three-phase fluid flow simulations of gas leakage from underground LPG storage caverns, using the multiphase multicomponent nonisothermal simulator TMVOC (Pruess and Battistelli, 2002), which is capable of solving the three-phase nonisothermal flow of water, gas, and a multicomponent mixture of volatile organic chemicals (VOCs) in multidimensional heterogeneous porous media. A two-dimensional cross-sectional model resembling an actual underground LPG facility in Japan was developed, and gas leakage phenomena were simulated for three different permeability models: (1) a homogeneous model, (2) a single-fault model, and (3) a heterogeneous model. In addition, the behavior of stored LPG was studied for the special case of a water curtain suddenly losing its function because of operational problems, or because of long-term effects such as clogging of boreholes. The results of the study indicate the following: (1) The water curtain system is a very powerful means for preventing gas leakage from underground storage facilities. By operating with appropriate pressure and layout, gas containment can be ensured. (2) However , in highly heterogeneous media such as fractured rock and fault zones, local flow paths within which the gas containment criterion is not satisfied could be formed. To eliminate such zones, treatments such as pre/post grouting or an additional installment of water-curtain boreholes are essential. (3) Along highly conductive features such as faults, even partially saturated zones possess certain effects that can retard or prevent gas leakage, while a fully unsaturated fault connected to the storage cavern can quickly cause a gas blowout. This possibility strongly suggests that ensuring water saturation of the rock surrounding the cavern is a very important requirement. (4) Even if an accident should suddenly impair the water curtain, the gas plume does not quickly penetrate the ground surface. In these simulations, the plume takes several months to reach the ground surface.