The early 1960s saw a string of popular Cold War spy movies and television shows that illuminated the complexities of life in Cold War America. Movies like Ian Fleming's Dr. No and From Russia with Love popularized the spy movie, while movies like Dr. Strangelove and The Manchurian Candidate grappled with the fear that the government couldn't be relied on to guarantee American safety. This paper draws upon these movies from the years 1962-1964, the events surrounding the release and consumption of the movies, previous historical research into the culture of the Cold War, and the reaction to and reception of these works. In doing this, this paper attempts to understand how Americans understood the fears and adversaries they faced, and investigates how the public confronted and coped with those fears. This paper consists of two primary narratives. The first explores the way in which the spy movies grappled with the new realities of the changing Cold War by introducing heroes who dealt with realistic crises in satisfyingly unrealistic ways. In that way, the spy movie became a  constructed coping mechanism to the randomness of the Cold War, wherein the actions of one person could single-handedly keep the country safe. The second part of the paper centers on films that explore the cultural fears that the spy movie comforts. Those movies confront the fear that Americans had just as much to fear from their own leadership as from the global communist threat. These movies present the antithesis of the spy movie, the truth that one person cannot save the world, but one could end it. My research brings together the study of American cultural history and the study of the history of media in America, expanding and complimenting both by understanding how film and television reflect, influence and public understanding of their place in the world and their own identity.


This study examined the effects of temperature and humidity variations on the bond strength of sand blasted Ni-Cr-Mo alloy (Talladium) cylinders cemented to etched bovine enamel using composite resin (Panavia Ex). Bonding was carried out in a humidity chamber under varying combinations of temperature (24 degrees C and 37 degrees C), and relative humidity (32% and 85%). After storage in water at 37 degrees C for 24 hours all specimens were shear tested to failure. The results showed that bond failure was consistently cohesive with resin shear strength at 37 degrees C being significantly reduced by high humidity. At 24 degrees C, resin shear strength was not significantly affected by humidity variations.


Does academic economic research produce material of general scientific value, or do academic economists write only for peers? Is economics scholarship uniquely insular? We address these questions by quantifying interactions between economics and other disciplines. Changes in the influence of economic scholarship are measured here by the frequency with which other disciplines cite papers in economics journals. We document a clear rise in the extramural influence of economic research, while also showing that economics is increasingly likely to reference other social sciences. A breakdown of extramural citations by economics fields shows broad field influence. Differentiating between theoretical and empirical papers classified using machine learning, we see that much of the rise in economics' extramural influence reflects growth in citations to empirical work. This growth parallels an increase in the share of empirical cites within economics. At the same time, some disciplines that primarily cite economic theory have also recently increased citations of economics scholarship. ( JEL A11, A14)


Technical and Vocational Education is imperative when considering the human resource development of a country. The challenges facing Technical and Vocational Education in the Eastern Region is the consistent diminution of students opting to pursue Technical and Vocational courses at the Secondary level of education. The study seeks to assess student's low interest in choosing Technical programme at the Second Cycle Institutions in the Eastern Region of Ghana. The sampling technique used was stratified and simple random sampling. The research was a cross–sectional studies and field questionnaire survey was used to collect information for the study. Data was collected from one thousand, one-hundred and six (1,106) respondents. Data were analyzed using frequency, charts and other relative important Indexes. It was found out that students 'have low interest in technical courses due to societal stigmatization against the programme. The concept of Vocationalization must be re–visited at the Basic levels of the educational system.
Citation: Akorli, S. K. and Gyamfi, T. A. (2021). An Assessment of Students' Interest in choosing Technical Programmes among First Cycle Institutions in the Eastern Region of Ghana. International Journal of Technology and Management.
Research. Vol. 6, Issue 1: 1-13.Received: April 15, 2020Accepted: March 30, 2021


This study estimated the variance and covariance components for growth (height and diameter) and wood density within a randomly selected population of Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis, (Bong.) Can.) trees known to derive from a single origin. Openpollinated progeny from the original ortets had previously been planted in a replicated trial and assessed periodically for height, diameter and wood density (indirectly using the Pilodyn) from ito 19-years old; 23-year diameter was collected during the study period. Increment cores were also collected from a representative sub-sample of trees identified using a genotypic selection ellipse. Ring-by-ring wood density analysis was carried out using X-ray densitometry. Variance and covariance components for all height, diameter and wood density assessments were estimated using Restricted Maximum Likelihood (REML). Family heritability for growth traits varied little over a 23-year period (1-year height = 0.61; 23-year diameter = 0.57). Individual tree heritability was more variable reaching a peak at 7-year height (0.38) and then falling with age to 17-year diameter (0.12). Optimum family and individual tree selection ages for growth were found to be 5-year and 9-year height (breeding goal of 23-year diameter), and 3-year and 7-year height (breeding goal of 40-year diameter) from planting respectively; the latter were estimated with the use of a Lambeth regression equation. Wood density was found to be more heritable than growth at equivalent ages, although estimates decreased with increasing age (individual tree heritability of the outer 4 rings at 9 and 22-years old of 0.85 and 0.34 respectively). Precision and accuracy of estimated variance components and heritabilities were unacceptable unless the traits used to calibrate the selection ellipse were included as covariates. Genetic correlations between all juvenile ring-groupings and the selection goal (outer 4-rings at 22-years from planting) were near unity. The optimum family and individual tree selection age for wood density was found to be the outer 4-rings at 9-years from planting. REML was used to investigate the genetic correlation between genotypic values for wood density and growth traits measured on the original ortets and grafted-ramets


The analysis in this Commentary provides strong evidence showing that the burden of the adjustments to the imbalances in the eurozone between the surplus and the deficit countries is borne almost exclusively by the deficit countries in the periphery. And although the European Commission has now been invested with an important responsibility of monitoring and correcting macroeconomic imbalances in the framework of the Macroeconomic Imbalance Procedure (MIP), the author finds that up to now it imposes a lot of pressure on the deficit countries but fails to impose a similar pressure on the surplus countries, with the effect that the eurozone is being kept in a deflationary straightjacket.


In order for a robot to follow a predetermined trajectory accurately, its position must be estimated accurately and reliably. This paper proposes a trajectory tracking control method for a nonholonomic mobile robot that utilizes both iGPS and odometry localization information to precisely calculate the robot's position. The iGPS is an indoor global positioning system that utilizes TV cameras mounted on the ceiling to locate the robot with respect to the world coordinate system. The iGPS localization information is sent to the robot via a wireless LAN, and the robot estimates its position from this information and the robot's internal odometry. The experimental results show that the proposed method enables robust trajectory tracking, even after experiencing a significant disturbance.


The concept of distributed execution of recovery blocks is examined as an approach for uniform treatment of hardware and software faults. A useful characteristic of the approach is the relatively small time cost it requires. The approach is thus suitable for incorporation into real-time computer systems. A specific formulation of the approach that is aimed at minimizing the recovery time is presented, called the distributed recovery blocks scheme. The DRB scheme is capable of effecting forward recovery while handling both hardware and software faults in a uniform manner. An approach to incorporating the capability for distributed execution of recovery blocks into a load-sharing multiprocessing scheme is also discussed. Two experiments aimed at testing the execution efficiency of the scheme in real-time applications have been conducted on two different multimicrocomputer networks. The results clearly indicate the feasibility of achieving tolerance of hardware and software faults. >


Elderly and disabled people have been led to expect great improvements in the quality of community care after April 1993. The choice to live safely at home is to be offered as an alternative to residential care. The financial and organisational relationships are all intended to support this in practice. The Tomlinson recommendations will create instability for providers, and much new and overdue investment in primary and community services is needed if the community care reforms are to work. There are, however, other obstacles looming which pose an even greater threat to the smooth transition after April 1993. The formula by which government money for implementation will be distributed discriminates against London. The sheer complexity of the organisational transformation has also been underestimated; the machinery of government both locally and centrally is ill equipped to maintain the precedence of the consumer. There are examples of good practice in London boroughs, but the dangers of Londoners ending up with the worst of all worlds are great.


The influence of the sprayed layer thickness on the rolling contact fatigue of a thermally sprayed alumina ceramics with a nominal composition of Al203-2.3 mass%TiO2 was investigated using a two-roller test machine under pure rolling contact condition with oil lubricant. The influence of undercoating of sprayed nickel based alloy on the rolling contact fatigue was also investigated. The thicknesses of the ceramics sprayed layer of the test rollers were O.2, 0.5 and 1.0 mm. The failure mode of the sprayed rollers was spalling caused by subsurface cracking. In case of the sprayed rollers without undercoating, the rolling contact fatigue strength of the rollers with 0.2 mm thickness sprayed layer was the smallest. The rolling contact fatigue strength of the sprayed roller with 0.2 mm thickness alumina sprayed layer was improved by undercoating. In case that the failure depth was small as compared with the thickness of the sprayed layer, the effect of undercoating on the rolling contact fatigue strength was little. The depths, where the maximum va1ues of subsurface shear stresses occurred, almost corresponded to the observed depths of spalling cracks.


INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES: Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is a quite common urological disease in aging men. But the pathophysiology remains unclear. Many interleukins (ILs) and related chronic inflammatory markers have been suggested to play a role in the development of BPH in recent decades. As a new member of ILs family, IL-21 receptor (IL-21R) could modulate cell proliferation. However, its role has never been determined in the prostate. The current study aimed to elucidate the roles of IL-21R in the development of BPH. METHODS: Human prostate tissues, cell lines and rats were used. The expression and localization of IL-21R were determined with quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR), Western Blot, and immunohistochemistry staining. BPH-1 cells with IL-21R silenced were cultured or co-cultured with macrophages (active THP-1, AcTHP-1). Apoptosis and cell cycles were tested with Flow Cytometry and Western Blot. Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) processes were detected with Western Blot and immunofluorescent staining. In vivo, rat prostatitis concomitant with BPH model was induced through intraprostatic injection of lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Rat prostate was observed with Hematoxylin and Eosin (H & E) staining and masson's trichrome staining. The expression and localization of IL-21R in rat prostate were also examined. RESULTS: IL-21R was found to be highly expressed in human, as well as rat, prostate, mainly in the epithelial compartment. BPH concomitant with prostatitis significantly upregulated the expression of IL-21R. Knockdown of IL-21R induced cell apoptosis and cycle arrest at G0/G1 phase, and blocked EMT processes in BPH-1 cells. When IL-21R silenced BPH-1 cells were co-cultured with AcTHP-1 cells, these aforementioned processes and IL-21R were completely reversed. Prostatic hyperplasia was associated with IL-21R upregulation in the LPS induced prostatitic rat. CONCLUSIONS: Our novel data suggests modulated expression functional activity of IL-21R in the development of BPH. IL-21R mainly localized in prostate epithelium and it was upregulated in hyperplastic prostate tissues. IL-21R enhanced proliferation of BPH-1 cells, via inhibition of cell apoptosis and modulating cell cycles, as well as EMT processes in the case of inflammatory stimuli. Source of Funding: This study was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (N.81160086, N.81270843 and N.81770757).


Natural killer (NK)6 cell activity of peripheral blood lymphocytes against human leukemia cell lines was measured in patients with chronic B‐cell lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and age‐ and sex‐matched controls. In order to remove the leukemia cells that interfere with the in vitro assay we (1) isolated lymphocytes that form rosettes with sheep red blood cells (SRBC) or (2) lysed the CLL cells with a monoclonal anti‐B cell antibody and complement. NK activity in either lymphocyte preparation from nine of 10 patients with advanced disease was not detectable and, when calculated in terms of lytic units per ml of blood, was at least seven times lower than in controls; only one of these patients exhibited activity within the control range. Two patients with early disease had measurable, but low, NK‐cell activity. Prolongation of the NK cell assay from 6 to 18h gave rise to significant killing in the CLL patients lacking NK cell activity in the 6‐h assay; however, the activity still was six times lower than in controls. Treatment of leukemia cell‐depleted lymphocytes from CLL patients with human fibroblast interferon or the interferon inducer poly I:C enhanced NK‐cell activity in the two early stage patients but this treatment was ineffective in three later stage patients. The percentage of cells with characteristics of NK cells, i.e. those with receptors for SRBC and Fc‐portion of IgG, was four times higher in CLL patients and the percentage of lymphocytes binding to NK‐sensitive target cells was equal to that in controls despite the fact that, in the majority of patients, lysis of the target cells by the lymphocytes does not ensue. The NK deficiency may be responsible for the increased incidence of secondary malignancies in CLL patients.


The main goal of this thesis is to investigate the extent to which a computer-based flashcard program, Anki, can help college-level ESL learners improve their vocabulary as well as the learners` perceptions about the program. The vocabulary targeted for the study consisted of Coxhead`s (2000) Academic Word List, including the most common words in university textbooks. An academic vocabulary dictionary which encompasses 210 academic words was designed for the study and thirteen students coming from two ESL classes used the Anki dictionary for ten minutes every day during the three week intervention process. Pretest and posttest scores of students were compared to evaluate the effectiveness of the learning process. Learners` perceptions about the training were investigated by means of surveys, interviews and observations. The results present the benefits that might be gained from the integration of flashcard programs into a language classroom, as well as the perceptions of learners about the process.


The study examines emotional labor in the Philippine call center industry. Surveys were administered to 507 Filipino call center agents to test the relationship of the two facets of emotional labor—surface acting and deep acting—with turnover intent. Using the theories of emotional and contextual dissonance, it was hypothesized that the mechanisms underlying the two facets of emotional labor are different. Support was found for the hypotheses that burnout mediates the relationship between surface acting and turnover intent whereas job satisfaction mediates the relationship between deep acting and turnover intent. Based on role identity theory, it was hypothesized that those with greater career commitment would utilize deep more than surface acting. This was supported by the findings. However, results also suggest a direct relationship between career commitment, job satisfaction, and burnout.


American feminist leader and suffragist Elizabeth Cady Stanton was also an outspoken critic of the Bible because the scriptures often portray women as inferior and have been used by men to justify unequal treatment of women in society. The 1870 revision of the Authorised English Version of the Bible prepared by an all-male committee from the Church of England so greatly dissatisfied Stanton that in response she courageously decided to compile a commentary by prominent feminists on the many Bible passages that refer to women. The result was "The Woman's Bible", a fascinating book that explores, among other things, the documentation that Jesus believed in equal rights for men and women; the ignorance, arrogance, and hypocrisy on the part of the church hierarchy; and the slaughter of women who were slaves, wives of drunkards, or were believed to be witches. The insight that Stanton and her fellow commentators provide into biblical writings and into the minds of women of her era is enlightening and serves as an inspiration to today's feminist movement.


A great disappointment in head and neck cancer surgery is that 10-30% of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) patients develop local recurrences despite histopathologically tumor-free surgical margins. These recurrences result from either minimal residual cancer (MRC) or preneoplastic lesions that remain behind after tumor resection. Distinguishing MRC from preneoplasic lesions is important to tailor postoperative radiotherapy more adequately. Here we investigated the suitability of quantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) using human Ly-6D (hLy-6D) transcripts as molecular marker to detect MRC in surgical margins. Submucosal samples of deep surgical margins were collected from 18 non-cancer control patients and 67 HNSCC patients of whom eight had tumor-positive surgical margins. The samples were analyzed with hLy-6D qRT-PCR, and the data were analyzed in relation to clinicohistological parameters. A significant difference was shown between the group of patients with histopathological tumor-positive surgical margins and the non-cancer control group (p<0.001), and the group of patients with histopathological tumor-free surgical margins (p=0.001). This study shows a novel approach for molecular analysis of deep surgical margins in head and neck cancer surgery. The preliminary data of this approach for detection of MRC in deep margins of HNSCC patients are promising.


The massive volume of data that now covers a wide variety of human behaviors offers researchers in psychology an unprecedented opportunity to conduct innovative theory- and data-driven field research. This article is a practical guide to conducting big data research, covering data management, acquisition, processing, and analytics (including key supervised and unsupervised learning data mining methods). It is accompanied by walkthrough tutorials on data acquisition, text analysis with latent Dirichlet allocation topic modeling, and classification with support vector machines. Big data practitioners in academia, industry, and the community have built a comprehensive base of tools and knowledge that makes big data research accessible to researchers in a broad range of fields. However, big data research does require knowledge of software programming and a different analytical mindset. For those willing to acquire the requisite skills, innovative analyses of unexpected or previously untapped data sources can offer fresh ways to develop, test, and extend theories. When conducted with care and respect, big data research can become an essential complement to traditional research. (PsycINFO Database Record


In this study, optical and surface properties of the optically transparent Li3 PO4 solid electrolyte layer for transparent solid battery have been investigated for the first time. To determine the optical properties, transmittance, absorbance, reflection, refractive index spectra, and optical band gap were determined by UV-Vis spectrophotometer and optical interferometer. The surface property of the transparent Li3 PO4 solid electrolyte was analyzed using atomic force microscopy. One another important parameter is contact angle (CA) surface free energy (SFE). CA and SFE were determined by optical tensiometer. These values probably are a most important parameter for polymer and hybrid battery performance. For the best performance, value of CA should be low. As a result, solid electrolyte layer is a highly transparent and it has a high wettability. SCANNING 38:317-321, 2016. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


The short-term use of indomethacin has been shown to be relatively safe and effective in halting premature labor. Its use has been associated with adverse renal effects in both the fetal and newborn periods that are generally transient and resolve on discontinuation of the drug. However, limited data suggest that prolonged prenatal exposure to indomethacin may be harmful to the fetus. We report a case of prolonged severe renal dysfunction characterized by oligohydramnios and postnatal anuria, azotemia, and ultrasonographic kidney abnormalities associated with the long-term prenatal use of indomethacin. Although partial resolution was observed, a moderate decrease in renal function persists. Prenatal maternal indomethacin use represents a potential cause of renal dysfunction in the newborn infant that may be only partially reversible.


The PEP7 gene from Saccharomyces cerevisiae encodes a 59-kD hydrophilic polypeptide that is required for transport of soluble vacuolar hydrolase precursors from the TGN to the endosome. This study presents the results of a high-copy suppression analysis of pep7-20 mutant phenotypes. This analysis demonstrated that both VPS45 and PEP12 are allele-specific high-copy suppressors of pep7-20 mutant phenotypes. Overexpression of VPS45 was able to completely suppress the Zn2+ sensitivity and partially suppress the carboxypeptidase Y deficiency. Overexpression of PEP12 was able to do the same, but to a lesser extent. Vps45p and Pep12p are Sec1p and syntaxin (t-SNARE) homologues, respectively, and are also thought to function in transport between the TGN and endosome. Two additional vacuole pathway SNARE complex homologues, Vps33p (Sec1p) and Pth1p (syntaxin), when overexpressed, were unable to suppress pep7-20 or any other pep7 allele, further supporting the specificity of the interactions of pep7-20 with PEP12 and VPS45. Because several other vesicle docking/fusion reactions take place in the cell without discernible participation of Pep7p homologues, we suggest that Pep7p is a step-specific regulator of docking and/or fusion of TGN-derived transport vesicles onto the endosome.


While large, systematic redshift surveys of galaxies have been conducted for decades, lack of information behind the Milky Way (the Zone of Avoidance) contributes uncertainty to our picture of dynamics in the local universe. Controversy persists for the dipole calculated from galaxy and redshift surveys compared to the CMB. Depth in redshift space is an issue, as is incomplete sky mapping, even of supposed all sky redshifts surveys. For instance, the wide-angle 2MASS Redshift Survey retains a gap of 5-8 deg around the Galactic plane. Fortunately, there is no ZOA at 21cm, except for velocities occupied by the Galaxy. This long-wavelength spectral line passes unimpeded through dust, and is unaffected by stellar confusion. With immediate redshift determination, a 21-cm survey produces a 3-dimensional map of the distribution of obscured galaxies which contain HI. It traces large-scale structure right across the Galactic Plane, and identifies obscured mass overdensities relevant to flow-field studies.ALFAZOA is a blind HI survey for galaxies behind the Milky Way covering more than 1000 square degrees of the Arecibo sky. It proceeds in two phases: shallow (completed) and deep (ongoing). The shallow survey (rms ~5-7 mJy) mapped the region within Galactic longitude l = 30 - 75 deg, and latitude b = -10 to +10 deg, detecting several hundred galaxies to about 12,000 km/s, tracing large-scale structure across the plane. The deep survey (rms ~1 mJy), in both the inner (Galactic longitude 30 - 75 deg and latitude plus/minus 2 deg) and outer (longitude 175 - 207 deg and latitude = +1 to -2 deg) Galaxy is ongoing, with detections reaching to 18,000 km/s. Analysis of detections to date, and large-scale structure mapped, will be presented.


Community diversity and the population abundance of a particular group of species are controlled by immediate environment, inter-and intra-species interactions, landscape conditions, historical events and evolutionary processes. Nestedness is a measure of order in an ecological system, referring to the order in which the number of species is related to area or other factors. In this study we have studied the nestedness pattern in stream diatom assemblages in 24 stream sites of central Western Ghats, and report 98 taxa from the streams of central Western Ghats region. The communities show highly significant nested pattern. The Mantel test of matrix revealed a strong relationship between species assemblages and environmental conditions at the sites. A significant relationship between species assemblage and environmental condition was observed. Principal component analysis (PCA) indicated that environmental conditions differed markedly across the sampling sites, with the first three components explaining 78% of variance. Species composition of diatoms is significantly correlated with environmental distance across geographical extent. The current pattern suggests that micro-environment at regional levels influences the species composition of epilithic diatoms in streams. The nestedness shown by the diatom community was highly significant, even though it had a high proportion of idiosyncratic species, characterized with high numbers of cosmopolitan species, whereas the nested species were dominated by endemic species. PCA identifies ionic parameters and nutrients as the major features which determine the characteristics of the sampling sites. Hence the local water quality parameters are the major factors in deciding the diatom species assemblages.


Among the counter-revolutionary figures who emerged after the French Revolution, the figure and works of Louis de Bonald (1754-1840), unlike those of Joseph de Maistre, remain shrouded in obscurity. Yet, he was in his own time recognised as the foremost critique of the excesses of the revolutionary period. His attempt at articulating a traditionalist philosophy of society and authority deserve to be better known among scholars if only because of the originality of his doctrine of the primitive revelation, which seeks to give an account of human knowledge based upon a particular understanding of human reason, and of the nature and function of language. His works also contain most invaluable insights about the ways in which societies are constituted, through a trifunctional and tripersonal understanding of the structure of social hierarchy. From his engagement on the questions of relations of the religious and the political, Louis de Bonald's works seems ideally framed for providing a fresh perspective to the study of political theology. The acknowledged indebtedness of some of the modern proponents of political theology, e.g., Carl Schmitt, is sufficient a motive for attempting a delineation of the main features of Bonald's political, social and epistemological doctrines in the light of an analogy of social forms. However, Bonald's vindication of the traditional social and customary institutions is also to be complemented by a commitment for a jusnaturalist understanding of the dignity, freedom and rights of human beings as put forward by the luminaries of the Aristotelean-Thomist school, namely Jacques Maritain and Charles Journet. The present attempt at redefining political theology, in the light of Bonald's thought, regards the social as a fundamental category of being. It is from the perspective of the permanence of society, in its immutable structure and logic of self-conservation, that man's social nature can be properly understood.


The main purpose of this project is to build a Simulation of Controller System for
Lighting and Temperature Device at home. Printer Parallel port will be modified and use
in order to connect the host computer with the prototype circuit. Basically this system
can be access locally via host PC and remotely through Internet Users can control their
home lighting and temperature electrical devices remotely as long as there is a line
connection through the mtemet. Users of this controller system will be able to set up
their lighting and air-condition device based on timer. This project used LEDs and
Electronic Fan Kit as a prototype for Ughting and air-conditioner components. The
application and circuit was built in other to complete this project.


This essay argues in favor of understanding tort law as a law of private redress, rather than public regulatory law. Part I uses the U.S. Supreme Court's 2003 decision on punitive damages in State Farm Mut. Ins. Co. v. Campbell to demonstrate some of the weaknesses of public law conceptions of tort, and some of the strengths of a private law conception. Part II maintains that a private law model need not be associated with formalist reasoning, an elevation of common law over statute, or political conservatism.


Fabric surface properties can be altered by modifying the molecular structure using electroless plating. In this work, polyester fabric is treated through electroless nickel–phosphorous (Ni-P) plating as a metallising treatment process. The modifications of Ni-P plated polyester fabric are evaluated. The surface microstructure of nickel-plated polyester fibre is studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results show that the deposited Ni-P films are nanostructured with dense grains uniformly. The increases in weight and thickness of the nickel-plated polyester fabric are determined through direct measurements. Systematic investigations, including bending rigidity, tearing strength, tensile strength, elongation at break, air permeability, surface wettability and absorbency, conductivity and anti-static properties are conducted on untreated and metallised polyester fabrics. The water angle results reveal that the surface wetting properties change after the electroless Ni-P plating process. A thorough discussion and quantitative report are made on the specific performances of the Ni-P plated polyester fabric.


We present spectropolarimetry, and 12- and 2-μm imaging polarimetry of the southern massive star-forming region G333.6−0.2. Spectro-polarimetry measurements show that the polarization observed towards the nebula contains a mixture of both absorptive and emissive polarizations. Model fitting to the spectra indicates that the temperature of the mid-infrared emitting dust grains is generally ∼200 K and the optical depth of the absorbing dust at 9.7 μm is ∼1.5. Fits are also made to the polarimetry spectra, which show a reasonably constant peak absorptive polarization (∼3.4 per cent at 43°) across the face of the H ii region. This absorptive polarization position angle is consistent with that found by the 2-μm imaging polarimetry and is most likely due to the Galactic magnetic field local to G333.6−0.2. When the absorptive polarization is subtracted from the 12-μm polarization image, the emissive polarization pattern that is intrinsic to the star-forming region is revealed. A probable magnetic field configuration implied by the intrinsic polarization suggests star formation initially influenced by the Galactic magnetic field which is eventually perturbed by the star formation process.


Fast neutron irradiation of germanium has been used to study vacancy reactions and vacancy clustering in germanium as a model system to understand ion implantation and the vacancy reactions which are responsible for the apparently low n-type doping ceiling in implanted germanium. It is found that at low neutron doses (~1011cm-2) the damage produced is very similar to that resulting from electron or gamma irradiation whereas at higher doses (> 1013cm-2) the damage is similar to that resulting from ion implantation as observed in the region near the peak of a doping implant. Electrical measurements including CV profiling, spreading resistance, Deep- Level Transient-Spectroscopy and high resolution Laplace Deep-Level Transient-Spectroscopy have been used in conjunction with positron annihilation and annealing studies. In germanium most radiation and implantation defects are acceptor like and in n-type material the vacancy is negatively charged. In consequence the coulombic repulsion between two vacancies and between vacancies and other radiation-induced defects mitigates against the formation of complexes so that simple defects such as the vacancy donor pair predominate. However in the case of ion implantation and neutron irradiation it is postulated that localized high concentrations of acceptor like defects produce regions of type inversion in which the vacancy is neutral and can combine with itself or with other radiation induced acceptor like defects. In this paper the progression from simple damage to complex damage with increasing neutron dose is examined.


Fighting Power: Interpretive Issues
The 1st Provisional Marine Brigade, 1950

Hammes, Thomas Xavier
Lincoln College
Submitted for Doctor of Philosophy in History
Trinity Term 2008

When the Korean War broke out on 25 June 1950, the Marine Corps was ordered to deploy an air-ground brigade from California in less than ten days. Due to five years of massive budget and manpower cuts, the Marine Corps did not have even a brigade immediately available. The only way to meet the sailing timeline was to organize, man and equip the force while actually embarking it. As it embarked, the brigade had to incorporate marines flown in from posts all over the western United States; draw equipment from war reserves held hundreds of miles away; reorganize many of the existing units under new tables of organization; and add an experimental helicopter detachment from the east coast of the United States. Despite these enormous handicaps and numerically superior enemy forces, the brigade won every engagement. This performance was in stark contrast to the performance of all other US forces at this stage of the war.

 The brigade's brief existence (7 July to 6 Sept 1950), combined with its exceptional combat record under adverse conditions, provides the opportunity to study the impact of institutional culture, education, doctrine, organization, training and leadership on performance in combat.

 Research showed that a key element of the brigade's success was the Marine Corps' institutional culture. In particular, the culture of remembering ensured marines understood the unchanging aspects of war and provided its men with the education, training, doctrine and organization to cope with its enduring friction, fog and chance. At the same time, the culture of learning ensured the marines understood what was changing in the character and tools of war so the brigade was well adapted to the realities of modern war from its first day in combat.


Diagnostic imaging for vertigo and dizziness has remarkedly advanced and has been used to diagnose the central origin.We investigated here, the quality of diagnostic imaging for vertigo and dizziness to improve the diagnostic accuracy using 67 patients.The examinations included brain CT, MRI, MRA, target CT, SPECT, vestibular function test and audiological tests.Of a total of 67 cases, the following conditions were identified: Menier's disease; 15 cases, vertebral basilar insufficiency (VBI); 16, benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV); 3, vestibular neuritis; 10, acoustic tumor (AT); 6, lateral medullary syndrome; 1, cerebellar infarction; 1, cerebellar degeneration; 1, and pontile glioma; 1, and others; 13.We found different advantages of diagnostic imaging compared to the vestibular function tests. For example, in 20% of cases of Menier' s disease, the distance between the posterior semicircular canal and the posterior proteus surface (P-P distance) on CT was significantly shorter in the affected side than that in the normal side. In 43% of VBI cases, multiple lacuna infarctions were found using MRI.It is important to choose the appropriate imaging technique to directly diagnose or differentiate between various diseases. We discused here, the importance and the merits of imaging for the diagnosis of vertigo and dizziness.


Managing the ability of agriculture to meet rising global demand and to respond to the changes and opportunities will require good policy, sustained investments, and innovation - not business as usual. Investments in public Research and Development, extension, education, and their links with one another have elicited high returns and pro-poor growth, but these investments alone will not elicit innovation at the pace or on the scale required by the intensifying and proliferating challenges confronting agriculture. Experience indicates that aside from a strong capacity in Research and Development, the ability to innovate is often related to collective action, coordination, the exchange of knowledge among diverse actors, the incentives and resources available to form partnerships and develop businesses, and conditions that make it possible for farmers or entrepreneurs to use the innovations. While consensus is developing about what is meant by 'innovation' and 'innovation system', no detailed blueprint exists for making agricultural innovation happen at a given time, in a given place, for a given result. The AIS approach that looks at these multiple conditions and relationships that promote innovation in agriculture, has however moved from a concept to a sub-discipline with principles of analysis and action. AIS investments must be specific to the context, responding to the stage of development in a particular country and agricultural sector, especially the AIS. This sourcebook contributes to identifying, designing, and implementing the investments, approaches, and complementary interventions that appear most likely to strengthen AIS and to promote agricultural innovation and equitable growth. It emphasizes the lessons learned, benefits and impacts, implementation issues, and prospects for replicating or expanding successful practices. The information in this sourcebook derives from approaches that have been tested at different scales in different contexts. It reflects the experiences and evolving understanding of numerous individuals and organizations concerned with agricultural innovation, including the World Bank. This information is targeted to the key operational staff in international and regional development agencies and national governments who design and implement lending projects and to the practitioners who design thematic programs and technical assistance packages. The sourcebook can also be an important resource for the research community and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).


Abstract. Lower-hybrid (LH) oscillitons reveal one aspect of geocomplexities. They have been observed by rockets and satellites in various regions in geospace. They are extraordinary solitary waves the envelop of which has a relatively longer period, while the amplitude is modulated violently by embedded oscillations of much shorter periods. We employ a two-fluid (electron-ion) slab model in a Cartesian geometry to expose the excitation of LH oscillitons. Relying on a set of self-similar equations, we first produce, as a reference, the well-known three shapes (sinusoidal, sawtooth, and spiky or bipolar) of parallel-propagating ion-acoustic (IA) solitary structures in the absence of electron inertia, along with their Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) power spectra. The study is then expanded to illustrate distorted structures of the IA modes by taking into account all the three components of variables. In this case, the ion-cyclotron (IC) mode comes into play. Furthermore, the electron inertia is incorporated in the equations. It is found that the inertia modulates the coupled IA/IC envelops to produce LH oscillitons. The newly excited structures are characterized by a normal low-frequency IC solitary envelop embedded by high-frequency, small-amplitude LH oscillations which are superimposed upon by higher-frequency but smaller-amplitude IA ingredients. The oscillitons are shown to be sensitive to several input parameters (e.g., the Mach number, the electron-ion mass/temperature ratios, and the electron thermal speed). Interestingly, whenever a LH oscilliton is triggered, there occurs a density cavity the depth of which can reach up to 20% of the background density, along with density humps on both sides of the cavity. Unexpectedly, a mode at much lower frequencies is also found beyond the IC band. Future studies are finally highlighted. The appendices give a general dispersion relation and specific ones of linear modes relevant to all the nonlinear modes encountered in the text.


ABSTRACT Ram, R.; Pavan-Kumar, A.; Jaiswar, A.K.; Gireesh-Babu, P.; Krishna, G., and Chaudhari, A., 2020. Identification of fish and shellfish larvae from mangroves using DNA barcodes. Journal of Coastal Research, 36(5), 1106–1110. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. Mangrove ecosystems support coastal and marine fisheries by providing feeding, breeding, and recruitment grounds for a great diversity of fish species. Globally, mangroves are declining from anthropogenic factors, causing a reduction in fish production. Baseline data of fish species that use mangroves as nursery or breeding grounds is a prerequisite for monitoring the health of mangrove ecosystems. However, identification of fish and shellfish larvae up to species level is difficult because of a lack of distinguishing morphological characters. In the present study, fish and shellfish larval diversity from selected mangrove zones of the northwest coast of India was characterized by the DNA barcoding approach. Around 53% (n = 33) of sampled individuals could be identified up to species level without ambiguity. The study concluded that many commercially and ecologically important fish and shellfish species, such as, Pampus argenteus, Pampus chinensis, Sillago sihama, Lutjanus johnii, Boleophthalmus boddarti, and Penaeus monodon, are utilizing mangroves of the northwest coast of India as nursery grounds. The results of the present study provide baseline data for fish diversity of mangroves of the northwest coast of India.


In this simulation study, an engineered point-spread function (PSF) with reduced depth variability (due to depth-induced aberrations) was applied to three-dimensional computational optical-sectioning microscopy (COSM) imaging to investigate its impact on image restoration. Intermediate synthetic images from PSF-engineered COSM in the presence of aberrations were computed and then processed using a depth-variant expectation maximization algorithm. The restored images were compared to images simulated for traditional COSM. Results show that PSF-engineered COSM achieves better image restoration than conventional COSM and has the potential to improve imaging in the presence of depth-induced aberrations.


The system consists of a partially aerated facultative pond with a polished area that treats the effluents of a soft drink industry in Brazil. This work concerns on the study of the longitudinal distribution as well as the analysis of the vertical profile of the main control parameters which exerts a direct influence on the metabolism of the system.

The results show the existence of a horizontal thermal gradient between aerated and polishing zones, which is more intense at the surface of the first 40 metres. The vertical profile did not identify a tendency to thermal stratification. The constant gradient vertical of 0.1°C in the aerated and polishing zones characterizes an almost isothermal condition.

The decrease of the effluent pH values was observed in the bottom layer of the pond. This indicates that the anaerobic digestion on the sedimented sludge incorporates acids in the liquid mass.

The dissolved oxygen vertical distribution presents negative clinographic profile. The isolines in the aerated zone indicate good efficiency of oxygen transfer. In the polishing zone, concentrations above 2.0 mg/l were observed down to a depth of 1 m, possibly caused by photosynthetic activities.


Late embryogenesis abundant (LEA) proteins are essential to the ability of resurrection plants and orthodox seeds to protect the subcellular milieu against irreversible damage associated with desiccation. In this work, we investigated the structure and function of six LEA proteins expressed during desiccation in the monocot resurrection species Xerophyta schlechteri (XsLEAs). In silico analyses suggested that XsLEAs are hydrophilic proteins with variable intrinsically disordered protein (IDP) properties. Circular dichroism (CD) analysis indicated that these proteins are mostly unstructured in water but acquire secondary structure in hydrophobic solution, suggesting that structural dynamics may play a role in their function in the subcellular environment. The protective property of XsLEAs was demonstrated by their ability to preserve the activity of the enzyme lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) against desiccation, heat and oxidative stress, as well as growth of Escherichia coli upon exposure to osmotic and salt stress. Subcellular localization analysis indicated that XsLEA recombinant proteins are differentially distributed in the cytoplasm, membranes and nucleus of Nicotiana benthamiana leaves. Interestingly, a LEA_1 family protein (XsLEA1-8), showing the highest disorder-to-order propensity and protective ability in vitro and in vivo, was also able to enhance salt and drought stress tolerance in Arabidopsis thaliana. Together, our results suggest that the structural plasticity of XsLEAs is essential for their protective activity to avoid damage of various subcellular components caused by water deficit stress. XsLEA1-8 constitutes a potential model protein for engineering structural stability in vitro and improvement of water-deficit stress tolerance in plants.


Abstract The nature of quality of life and its consensual definition has eluded researchers and philosophers ever since Aristotle. While social indicators researchers seek to model it in order to inform policy, it is used as an outcome measure of health care. Although studied from a variety of perspectives, the concept has, as yet, been largely untouched by postmodernists. In this thesis, quality of life is studied through the frame of long¬term conditions. Within this, I use the Deleuzo-Guattarian concepts of the body without organs, its territorialisation by societal forces and the emancipatory promise of nomadism. Three health service developments for people with multiple sclerosis, a sample of television programming, a Disney Classic feature and the National Service Framework for long-term conditions form the case material for the study. I take the reader through a deterritorialising textual journey, so that quality of life may be approached differently. Qualitative research chapters are alternated with those analysing the political and cultural background to their making. These texts are woven into a deconstruction of quality of life in the five oppositional pairs of life and death, health and illness, independence and dependence, empowerment and disempowerment and certainty and uncertainty. This deconstructive thread informs and is informed by the texts studied, in a (rhizomatic) dis-order used to blur boundaries between established categories. A temporary reterritorialisation of quality of life emerges, which highlights the construction of the self as an endless process. Powerful discourses, such as medicine, shape a quality of life text for people with long-term conditions. Deterritorialisation, as a process, enables the acknowledgement of such territorialising forces and encourages a different engagement with life. The body as a dys-organ-ised entity with erratically evolving possibilities becomes a territory, and quality of life the potential to engage in a liberating process of deterritorialisation.


Biogas is an alternative fuel that can be used to replace fossil fuels which are non-renewable energy sources and their availability is decreasing. The use of biogas as fuel for gasoline engines can be done using a dual fuel system (Pertamax-Biogas). The combustion process in a gasoline engine with a dual fuel system is influenced by the temperature of the biogas and the ignition timing of the ignition system. The combustion process on a gasoline engine will affect the resulting performance. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of biogas temperature and ignition timing on the performance of a motorcycle engine with a dual fuel system (Pertamax-Biogas). The method used in this study is an experimental study by testing the performance of a motorcycle engine using a dual fuel system (Pertamax-Biogas) using fuel temperature variations of 30°, 40°, and 50°C and ignition timing variations at 11°, 13° and 15° before Top Dead Center (TDC). The results of the study it can be concluded that the biogas temperature and ignition timing affect the performance of the motor. The highest power is obtained by varying the biogas temperature to 40°C and the ignition time to 15° before TDC, meanwhile the best specific fuel consumption was obtained at a biogas temperature variation of 50°C and an ignition time of 15° before TDC. Keywords : Dual fuel, biogas temperature, ignition time, motor performance.


The interplay of structural and electronic properties on plasmon modes was investigated for a thin Ag film grown at room temperature on Cu(111). Surface plasmons are confined within Ag grains, as indicated by the analysis of their dispersion relationship, which is dispersionless up to a critical wave-vector. Surface plasmon confinement is removed upon annealing at 400 K. The thermal treatment induces a flattening of the Ag adlayer with a merging of Ag islands, and, moreover, a strong enhancement of surface conductivity.


The integral over a group of the Harish-Chandra measure has been known for a long time. On the other side, the moments of this measure (or correlation functions) are not known in general and a general formalism to compute them is lacking. I will present a formalism that allows us to compute correlation functions of the Harish-Chandra measure for any of the classical simple groups in terms of integrals over nihilpotent algebras (triangular matrices). This formulas are, in a sense, a generalization of the Duistermaat-Heckman theorem, in other words, a localization formula.


This paper analyses the ideas of Said Nursi (1876-1960) on the importance
of moderation (wasatiyyah) in the way of combatting extremism, racism and
radicalism, which are sharply escalating in our days both in the East and the
West. The first part of the paper finds that, according to Nursi, moderation was
the main principle of the Islamic way of life, capable to provide well-being and
happiness for humanity. The next part of the paper highlights the positive role
of moderation in creating unity and solidarity as a solution, which is capable
to provide happiness and security for all humans regardless of their religious,
ethnic or social backgrounds. It, also, suggests that Nursi identified nationalistic
and patriotic sentiments as radical and extremist, which were artificially evoked
among the Muslim nations and are alien to the Islamic approach of moderation.
After studying the Risale-i Nur approach towards the followers of other mazhabs
and non-Muslims, the paper concludes that Nursi condemned all types of
extremist ideas and actions as they were harmful for healthy progress and wellbeing of humanity.


A new class of biorthogonal wavelet filters and its design is presented in this work. The filters are even in length and are called Even-length Bernstein Filter Bank (EBFB). The new filter class is a modification of the Halfband Pair Filter Bank (HPFB, which only yields odd length filters) and is constructed using the Parametric Bernstein Polynomial. Perfect reconstruction is inherent in the structure of the filters, and the desired number of vanishing moments can be easily achieved by setting the appropriate parameters of the Bernstein Polynomial to zero. The design of the nonzero parameters is achieved through a least squares method that is noniterative. The design technique allows filters with different characteristics to be designed with ease.


Traditionally fault impact on fluid flow is included by assigning transmissibility multipliers to flow simulation grid cell faces co-located with the fault plane (Manzocchi et al. 1999). A new method, called Fault Facies modelling (Tveranger et al. 2004, 2005), captures fault impact by considering faults as deformed rock volumes rather than simple planes. Architectures and petrophysical properties of these deformed volumes (i.e. fault zones) are linked to a range of factors such as lithology, host rock petrophysical properties, tectonic regime, orientation, magnitude, and distribution of stress, as well as the burial depth at the time of faulting. By understanding these links and identifying bounding values for distributions and parameters, fault zone architectures and properties, as well as uncertainties attached to these, can be forecasted. The fault facies approach allows 3D features such as anisotropic permeability fields, capillarity effects and tortuosity of flow paths inside the fault zone to be explicitly represented in the reservoir models. Furthermore, on the simulation grid scale, flow between cells on opposite sides of faults, as well as any uncertainty attached to this, can be estimated a priori rather than set deterministically a posteriori using history matching. The paper compares fluid flow behaviour of conventional transmissibility multiplier-type fault property models and fault facies type models through a series of simple tests. The study demonstrates that the fault facies concept is a technically feasible methodology that represents an alternative or supplement to standard industrial fault modelling methods.


Data regarding the influence of prednisolone tapering on clinical outcomes among patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) are limited. We aimed to investigate the influence of different prednisolone tapering algorithms on the effectiveness of infliximab (IFX) among patients with UC.

 This Danish retrospective single-center study included all patients with UC who were treated with IFX between 2009 and 2019 at Herlev University Hospital. The patients were grouped according to the prednisolone tapering: standard (≤5 mg/week), fast (>5 mg/week), or direct discontinuation after an initial course of less than one week. Finally, we included a control group of patients treated with IFX monotherapy. The primary outcome was corticosteroid-free clinical remission at weeks 14 and 52 defined as a partial Mayo score ≤1. Variables with a p-value ≤0.20 in univariable regression analysis were included in multivariable analysis. A subgroup analysis containing patients with acute severe ulcerative colitis (ASUC) treated with at least 40 mg of prednisolone at initiation of IFX was performed.

 The study included 148 patients with UC of whom 81 (54.7%) were treated with prednisolone at the initiation of IFX. No association between prednisolone tapering and corticosteroid-free clinical remission with IFX at weeks 14 or 52 was observed (Figure 1 and Table 2). However, a higher proportion of patients in the standard tapering group achieved a C-reactive protein (CRP) level less than 5 mg/L at week 14 as compared with the fast-tapering group (23/23 (100%) vs. 14/18 (77.8%); p=0.03) and directly discontinuation group (6/10 (60%); p=0.03). This difference was not explained by prednisolone usage. In addition, none of the patients within the standard tapering regime (0/24; 0%) had severe activity at week 14 whereas this was seen in 4/19 (21.1%) in the fast tapering regime (p=0.03). In the subgroup analysis of 33 patients with ASUC, the standard tapering algorithm was associated with higher clinical remission as compared with the fast tapering regime at week 14 (9/14 (64.3%) vs. 5/19 (27.8%); p=0.02) and clinical response or remission at week 52 (12/14 (85.7%) vs. 7/19 (36.8%); p=0.01, Figure 2).

 This study demonstrated no overall impact of prednisolone tapering algorithms on short and long-term effectiveness of IFX in patients with UC. However, standard tapering resulted in lower CRP levels and fewer cases of severe disease activity in the overall cohort and higher rate of short and long-term clinical response among ASUC patients, as compared with fast tapering regimes. Taken together, the data indicate that longer corticosteroid exposure in patients with high disease burden might improve IFX responses.


We present a rationale and method for representing the vagueness in taxonomic class definitions in cases where classes are described by a set of characteristics, such as those sometimes used as the basis for land-cover category discrimination. We further describe methods to estimate the semantic similarity between any two classes by calculating semantic similitude metrics based on such parameterized class definitions. Our working hypothesis is that a large similitude would predict categories that will be more prone to confusion and hence image or map misclassification. We use two different existing data sets to demonstrate and evaluate the method, and the results support our original hypothesis. Consequently, we argue that classification schemes that are based on parameterized definitions could be assessed for problematic categories during their construction using our approach, and thus, enabling the identification of a thematic vagueness component to supplement the more traditional statistical measures derived from the error matrix.


The evolution of the Machine Learning (ML) has led to the emergence of Transfer Learning (TL) approach, which allows reusing pretrained industrial ML systems after their input data values or even an application domain has changed. In this paper, we investigate the TL process and its impact on the performance of ML-end systems with integrated network facilities. Especially, we focus on ML-systems designed for the classification of image media-files, transmitted over a network. Packet loss in a network is considered as a major input Data Quality (DQ) deterioration factor that can result in ML system classification performance degradation after pretraining on good inputs. To investigate the typical industrial TL process, we study the relationships between the ML model's last layer weights, hyperparameters, and classification performance throughout the retraining process. In addition, we conduct an empirical study to evaluate how the TL affects ML model performance in real application scenarios. For our experiments, we employ real image media-files, and transmit them over a real wireless network with inherent data losses for a classification on a remote ML-end system. According to our results, retraining ML models on corrupted data allows to enhance their robustness to a DQ degradation in the considered image classification scenarios. However, DQ influence on the ML system performance may vary depending on the data and system types.


In the past few years, there has been a growing amount of research on economic quantifications and valuations of ecosystem services (ES) in agricultural systems. However, little attention has been given to cultural ESs (CES) in general and their link to the landscape in particular. This paper tries to tackle this gap with a case study on the Ifugao Rice Terraces of the Philippines. The study aims to understand the interrelations between the different CESs and their relationships with the landscape. Besides contributing to knowledge about the degradation of the rice terraces, this study was conducted in order to discuss at a theoretical level how CESs and their relationship with the landscape must be addressed in ES management and policy decisions. The methodological approach includes a combination of semi-structured interviews (n = 60) and a perception survey (n = 66). The results reveal that CESs, apart from being interrelated, are also responsible for and affected by the degradation of the rice terraces, which is why they are important factors to consider in ecosystem conservation. This paper finally provides policy recommendations for the empirical case and demonstrates the importance of connecting CES analysis with landscape studies looking at agricultural systems.


To ensure the code integrity in secure embedded processors, most previous works focus on detecting attacks without paying their attention to recovery. This paper proposes a novel hardware recovery approach allowing the processor to resume the execution after detecting an attack. The experimental results demonstrate that our scheme introduces a very low impact on the performance while requiring a reasonable hardware overhead.


According to decision 2/CP.17, developed country Parties are requested to submit their second biennial reports by 1 January 2016, that is, two years after the due date for submission of a full national communication. This report presents the results of the technical review of the second biennial report of the Russian Federation, conducted by an expert review team in accordance with the "Guidelines for the technical review of information reported under the Convention related to greenhouse gas inventories, biennial reports and national communications by Parties included in Annex I to the Convention". United Nations FCCC/TRR.2/RUS


A certain new type of tracked vehicle has exposed the problem of insufficient braking force. Especially when tracked vehicle climbing the ramp, insufficient braking force is very harmful .The brake problem to a large extent affect the driving and mobility performance of the tracked vehicle .In this paper, using Pro/Engineer software to create braking system of a tracked vehicle mechanical linkage virtual prototype. And through the mech/pro interfaces the virtual prototype into ADAMS and is put up for dynamic analysis. On the basis of the kinematic analysis of the mechanical linkage, the link length of mechanical linkage was optimized to improve the braking force and obtain better optimization results.


Any explanation of the emerging polyphonic chanson in the years before 1330 must negotiate varied repertories and compositions. One of the central genres in such a study would be the polyphonic rondeau. It is characterised by a musico-poetic structure more or less analogous to the rondeau of the later fourteenth century, but also by three-part music – mostly syllabic, note-against-note – that is copied in score. Our view of these sorts of compositions is dominated by the works of Adam de la Halle, whose sixteen score-notated polyphonic settings of vernacular lyrics are preserved in a manuscript now in the Bibliothèque Nationale (F-Pn), MS fr. 25566.


"HIGH-TEMPERATURE ELECTRONICS provides expert coverage of the applications, characteristics, design, selection, and operation of electronic devices and circuits at temperatures above the conventional limit of 125 degrees Celsius. This edited volume contains approximately 100 key reprinted papers covering a wide range of topics related to high-temperature electronics, eight invited papers, extensive references, and a comprehensive bibliography. Containing more than 200 pages of new material, it brings the reader a well-rounded review of high-temperature electronics from its beginnings decades ago through the present and beyond to possible future technologies. The scope of HIGH TEMPERATURE ELECTRONICS includes active components from standard and advanced semiconductor materials, passive components, as well as technologies for metallizations, interconnections, and the assembly and packaging of electronic components. This book will provide active researchers, technology developers, managers, materials scientists, and advanced students with a sound fundamental grounding in high-temperature electronics technology." Sponsored by: IEEE Components, Packaging, and Manufacturing Technology Society.


The Getchell veins are lenticular replacement bodies lying along arcuate branches of a complex range-front fault system. The fault zone cuts all rocks of the district and is tentatively dated as late Tertiary.The more intensely mineralized portions of the deposit form a shallow blanket with roots that project downward into areas of sparse mineralization. The gold shoots are restricted to areas of intense mineralization.Native gold and native silver are the only economic minerals. The great bulk of the gold occurs in minute but microscopically visible particles. Some gold may also occur in submicroscopic particles and some may be in solid solution in pyrite and carbon.The ore minerals, dissolved in alkali sulfide solutions, are believed to have been deposited when the sulfide ion concentration in the hydrothermal liquid decreased, making unstable the double sulfides of gold, iron, and arsenic.The Getchell deposit is similar in many ways to the Nevada quicksilver deposits and present-day hot-spring deposits. The Getchell ore occurrence may represent a gradation from the common epithermal gold deposit to the cinnabar deposit. It is therefore placed close to the feeblest end of the epithermal group.


Despite an inherent share of unpredictability, asset prices such as in stock and Bitcoin markets are naturally driven by significant magnitudes of memory; depending on the strength of path dependence, prices in such markets can be (at least partially) predicted. Being able to predict asset prices is always a boon for investors, more so, if the forecasts are largely unconditional and can only be explained by the series' own historical trajectories. Although memory dynamics have been exploited in forecasting stock prices, Bitcoin market pose additional challenge, because the lack of proper financial theoretic model limits the development of adequate theory-driven empirical construct. In this paper, we propose a class of autoregressive fractionally integrated moving average (ARFIMA) model with asymmetric exponential generalized autoregressive score (AEGAS) errors to accommodate a complex interplay of 'memory' to drive predictive performance (an out-of-sample forecasting). Our conditional variance includes leverage effects, jumps and fat tail-skewness distribution, each of which affects magnitude of memory both the stock and Bitcoin price system would possess enabling us to build a true forecast function. We estimate several models using the Skewed Student-t maximum likelihood and find that the informational shocks in asset prices, in general, have permanent effects on returns. The ARFIMA-AEGAS is appropriate for capturing volatility clustering for both negative (long Value-at-Risk) and positive returns (short Value-at-Risk). We show that this model has better predictive performance over competing models for both long and/or some short time horizons. The predictions from this model beats comfortably the random walk model. Accordingly, we find that the weak efficiency assumption of financial markets stands violated for all price returns studied over longer time horizon.


We study the lattice thermal conductivity of two-dimensional (2D) pentagonal systems, such as penta-silicene and penta-germanene. Penta-silicene has been recently reported, while the stable penta-germanene, made up of another group IV element, is first revealed by our ab initio calculations. We find that both penta-silicene and penta-germanene at room temperature have ultra-low lattice thermal conductivities, κ, of 1.29 W m-1 K-1 and 0.30 W m-1 K-1, respectively. To the best of our knowledge, penta-germanene may have the lowest κ in 2D crystal materials. We attribute the ultra-low κ to the weak phonon harmonic interaction and strong anharmonic scattering. A small phonon group velocity, a small Debye frequency, a large Grüneisen parameter, and a large number of modes available for phonon-phonon interplay together lead to the ultra-low κ of penta-silicene and penta-germanene. These discoveries provide new insight into the manipulation of ultra-low κ in 2D materials and highlight the potential applications of silicon and germanium based high thermoelectric materials.


Classification of paddy crop diseases in prior knowledge is the current challenging task to evolve the economicgrowth of the country. In image processing techniques, the initial process is to eliminate the noise present in the dataset. Removing the noise leads to improvements in the quality of the image. Noise can be removed by applying filtering techniques. In this paper, a novel data repository created from different paddy areas in Vellore, which includes the following diseases, namely Bacteria Leaf Blight, Blast, Leaf Spot, Leaf Holder, Hispa and Healthy leaves. In the initial process, three kinds of noises, namely Salt and Pepper noise, Speckle noise, and Poisson noises, were removed using noise filtering techniques, namely Median and Wiener filter. Theinterpretation made over the median and Wiener filtering techniques concerning noises, the performance of the methods measured using metrics namely PSNR (peak to signal to noise ration), MSE (mean square error), Maxerr (Maximum squared error), L2rat (ratio of squared error). It is observed that the PSNR value of the hybrid approach is 18.42dB, which produces less error rate as compared with the traditional approach. Results suggest that the methods used in this paper are suitable for processing noise.


The main issue of this paper is to measure the impact of segregation of workers with fixed-term contracts into low-paying firms and low-paying occupations within the same firm to explain wage gaps between these workers and those with indefinite contracts. Once segregation is removed, I analyze the sources of their wage gaps within occupations in the same firm. The data used are the Spanish data from the Survey of Earnings Structure, which was carried out in 1995 in most countries of the European Union, and contains very detailed information on wages and other individual characteristics of around 130,000 full-time workers. The raw wage gap between workers with fixed-term and indefinite contracts is 0.43. Results indicate that segregation of fixed-term workers into low-paying firms and into low-paying occupations within the same firm accounts for 51 percent of the overall wage gap between these two types of worker. The remaining 49 percent of the overall wage gap (0.22) arises from better outcomes of workers with indefinite contract relative to workers with fixed-term contracts within occupations in the same firm. Furthermore, 57 percent of this gap (0.12) is due to higher observed skills of workers with indefinite contracts relative to their fixed-term counterparts that work in the same occupation within the same firm. A remaining gap of 0.09 (0.11 for men and 0.04 for women) remains to be explained once differences in observed skills are taking into account. Selection of workers into different types of contracts is not found to be an important factor in explaining average wage gaps between these two types of worker.


OBJECTIVE
To assess outcomes 24 months after treatment start for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB).

METHODS
Cohort study of all culture-positive MDR-TB cases notified in Switzerland from 01/2003 to 07/2010.

RESULTS
Fifty-one cases were observed, with a median age of 26 years (range 2-56). Twenty-seven were male, five of Swiss origin, 46 of foreign origin (Asia 18, Africa 13, former Soviet Union 8), including 21 asylum seekers and refugees. Twelve had received a previous treatment for TB and 24 had not (15 unknown). Forty-four cases were pulmonary of which 25 were known to be sputum smear positive. All but two strains showed additional resistances: 29 to ethambutol, 27 to pyrazinamide, 6 to a fluoroquinolone, 5 to amikacin. None was resistant to both of the latter two classes. Molecular analyses showed three pairs of identical strains. Fluoroquinolones were used in 48 patients and second-line injectable drugs in 37. The median duration of MDR treatment was 18 months (range 1-26). The outcome after 24 months was successful in 39 (76%) and unsatisfactory in 12 (24%) patients: two deaths from TB; two treatments terminated owing to side effects of drugs and one owing to pregnancy; four defaults from treatment at months 0, 4, 8, and 21; two transfers abroad with unknown outcome; one outcome unknown. There was no significant association of unfavourable outcomes with age, sex, origin, previous treatment, treatment delay, resistance pattern, and classes of drugs used.

CONCLUSIONS
MDR-TB in Switzerland occurs mostly in persons of foreign origin. Results of decentralised treatments were satisfactory.


The availability of choices for housing in different life phases is essential. The critical valuation from consumers becomes instrument to the quality control of housing supplied by producers. However, some consumers like students have unique characteristics, which potentially bound their housing choices. This paper describes the spatial bounded-choice phenomena from the situation of the students' behaviour in Bandung, Indonesia as a Case Study. The factual and perceptual conditions of the students' rental housing situated around the university in Bandung; the conditions of the housing choice; the factors which bound the student's housing choice; and the formulation strategies of intervention to overcome the bounding factors are explored.
Keywords: bounded choice, students' behaviour, rental housing, housing quality
© 2017. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BYNC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia.


Abstract The Australian backyard mosquito, Aedes notoscriptus, is a highly urbanised pest species that has invaded New Zealand and the USA. Importantly, Ae. notoscriptus has been implicated as a vector of Ross River virus, a common and arthritogenic arbovirus in Australia, and is a laboratory vector of numerous other pathogenic viruses, including West Nile, yellow fever, and Zika viruses. To further explore live viruses harboured by field populations of Ae. notoscriptus and, more specifically, assess the genetic diversity of its virome, we processed 495 pools, comprising a total of 6,674 female Ae. notoscriptus collected across fifteen suburbs in Brisbane, Australia, between January 2018 and May 2019. Nine virus isolates were recovered and characterised by metagenomic sequencing and phylogenetics. The principal viral family represented was Flaviviridae. Known viruses belonging to the genera Flavivirus, Orbivirus, Mesonivirus, and Nelorpivirus were identified together with two novel virus species, including a divergent Thogoto-like orthomyxovirus and an insect-specific flavivirus. Among these, we recovered three Stratford virus (STRV) isolates and an isolate of Wongorr virus (WGRV), which for these viral species is unprecedented for the geographical area of Brisbane. Thus, the documented geographical distribution of STRV and WGRV, both known for their respective medical and veterinary importance, has now been expanded to include this major urban centre. Phylogenies of the remaining five viruses, namely, Casuarina, Ngewotan, the novel Thogoto-like virus, and two new flavivirus species, suggested they are insect-specific viruses. None of these viruses have been previously associated with Ae. notoscriptus or been reported in Brisbane. These findings exemplify the rich genetic diversity and viral abundance within the Ae. notoscriptus virome and further highlight this species as a vector of concern with the potential to transmit viruses impacting human or animal health. Considering it is a common pest and vector in residential areas and is expanding its global distribution, ongoing surveillance, and ecological study of Ae. notoscriptus, together with mapping of its virome and phenotypic characterisation of isolated viruses, is clearly warranted. Immanently, these initiatives are essential for future understanding of both the mosquito virome and the evolution of individual viral species.


Glycyrrhiza inflata has been used as a traditional medicine with anti-inflammatory activity; however, its mechanism has not been fully understood. Licochalcone A is a major and biogenetically characteristic chalcone isolated from G. inflata. Here, we found that licochalcone A strongly inhibited tumor necrosis (TNF)-α-induced nuclear localization, DNA binding activity, and the transcriptional activity of nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB). Whereas licochalcone A had no effect on the recruitment of receptor-interacting protein 1 and IκB kinase β (IKKβ) to TNF receptor I by TNF-α, it significantly inhibited TNF-α-induced IκB kinase complex (IKK) activation and inhibitor of nuclear factor-κB degradation. It is interesting that we found that the cysteine residue at position 179 of IKKβ is essential for licochalcone A-induced IKK inhibition, because licochalcone A failed to affect the kinase activity of the IKKβ (C179A) mutant. In contrast, a structurally related compound, echinatin, failed to inhibit TNF-α-induced IKK activation and NF-κB activation, suggesting that the 1,1-dimethy-2-propenyl group in licochalcone A is important for the inhibition of NF-κB. In addition, TNF-α-induced expression of inflammatory cytokines CCL2/monocyte chemotactic protein-1and CXCL1/KC was clearly inhibited by licochalcone A but not echinatin. Taken together, licochalcone A might contribute to the potent anti-inflammatory effect of G. inflata through the inhibition of IKK activation.


The professional values of teachers in the Turkish education system have been discussed in terms of competencies of professional standards. It is important to describe the adoption level of the professional values of elementary teachers based on the views of experts. The aim of this study was to investigate and analyze the professional values of elementary teachers in the Turkish education system. The elementary teachers' professional values were determined with a qualitative approach. For this purpose, data were collected by using semi-structured interviews with faculty members, school inspectors, school principals, and elementary teachers. According to the findings, the elementary teachers' professional values were: recognition of students and individual-centered education, planning and organization of the learning and teaching environment, evaluation and monitoring of students, professional development and responsibility, and cooperation with the school, families and community.


This study investigated the effects of adding grape, mulberry and carob molasses (Pekmez) at 6%, 10% or 14% on titratable acidity, pH, viscosity, whey separation, water holding capacity (WHC), gel firmness, acetaldehyde, volatile fatty acids, colour values, mineral profile and sensory properties of set-type yoghurts. Increasing concentration of the molasses decreased whiteness value, viscosity and WHC, but increased redness/greenness and yellowness/blueness values, whey separation and mineral contents of the samples significantly (P < 0.05). Nevertheless, the yoghurts produced by adding grape molasses had the highest points in the sensory evaluation, followed by mulberry and carob molasses.


The separation of magnetically-labeled bioparticles in a microfluidic system is dependent on the characteristics of the particles and the carrier fluid as well as the external magnetic field. To discuss the influence of these factors, a microfluidic design is proposed for implementing greatly enhanced capture efficiency using two arrays of soft-magnetic elements. One array of the elements are integrated into the bottom of the microfluidic separation chamber, while the other array of elements are encapsulated above the chamber. The combination of these two arrays of the soft-magnetic elements, which are magnetized using an external permanent magnet, greatly enhances the capture efficiency as compared with the conventional system wherein only one array of elements are used. The magnetic field provided by these two arrays of elements is reciprocal to each other, which enables the Kelvin force with the same complementarity. This novel peculiarity narrows the chamber size and enhances separation as well. The enhanced capture efficiency is analyzed using a computational model that takes the particle-fluid momentum transfers into account. Besides, a closed-form magnetic analysis, which is more efficiency and accurate than other numerical methods in calculating Kelvin force, is adopted to describe the spatial distribution of the magnetic field. Furthermore, the influence of the flow rate and the volume fraction of the particles on the capture efficiency is also discussed.


We study a finite horizon optimal control problem for a class of linear systems with a randomly varying time-delay. The delay value is treated as an unknown variable but with known statistical properties, modelled by a Markov process with a finite number of states. The probabilistic delay averaging approach is employed to determine the optimal control in the form which is independent of the delay value.


Context. Solar flares are associated with intense soft X-ray emission generated by the hot flaring plasma in coronal magnetic loops. Kink-unstable twisted flux-ropes provide a source of magnetic energy that can be released impulsively and may account for the heating of the plasma in flares. Aims. We investigate the temporal, spectral, and spatial evolution of the properties of the thermal continuum X-ray emission produced in such kink-unstable magnetic flux-ropes and discuss the results of the simulations with respect to solar flare observations. Methods. We computed the temporal evolution of the thermal X-ray emission in kink-unstable coronal loops based on a series of magnetohydrodynamical numerical simulations. The numerical setup consisted of a highly twisted loop embedded in a region of uniform and untwisted background coronal magnetic field. We let the kink instability develop, computed the evolution of the plasma properties in the loop (density, temperature) without accounting for mass exchange with the chromosphere. We then deduced the X-ray emission properties of the plasma during the whole flaring episode. Results. During the initial (linear) phase of the instability, plasma heating is mostly adiabatic (as a result of compression). Ohmic diffusion takes over as the instability saturates, leading to strong and impulsive heating (up to more than 20 MK), to a quick enhancement of X-ray emission, and to the hardening of the thermal X-ray spectrum. The temperature distribution of the plasma becomes broad, with the emission measure depending strongly on temperature. Significant emission measures arise for plasma at temperatures higher than 9 MK. The magnetic flux-rope then relaxes progressively towards a lower energy state as it reconnects with the background flux. The loop plasma suffers smaller sporadic heating events, but cools down globally by thermal conduction. The total thermal X-ray emission slowly fades away during this phase, and the high-temperature component of the emission measure distribution converges to the power-law distribution EM ∝ T-4.2. The twist deduced directly from the X-ray emission patterns is considerably lower than the highest magnetic twist in the simulated flux-ropes.


In this experimental study broiler birds were fed in a randomized block design for 32 days on a control diet (C) based on wheat and soy bean meal and two experimental diets containing 2% (C2) and 4% ciona meal (C4) to examine the suitability of Ciona intestinalis in poultry feed as a source of fibre and its effects on growth performance, microbial composition and digestive traits. Luminal content was taken from caeca at day 12 and 32 and analysed for microbiota profile and short chain fatty acids (SCFA). Diversity and abundance of microbial population was determined by sequencing of amplicons generated from 16S rRNA (bacteria) genes. Effect of inclusion of ciona meal on growth performance and digestive traits were analysed by weighing the birds and visceral organs at different ages and comparing it with control diet. In addition, the analysis of different feeds and sticky dropping tests were also performed.
The results indicate that there was no significant effect (P ≥ 0.05) of any dietary treatments on individual weight gain and feed intake while feed conversion ratio was higher for C4 diet than C2 diet. No difference in occurrence of sticky droppings were observed and all modules had good condition during assessment of litter scoring. Birds fed with C4 showed lower dry matter of excreta. No effect of any treatment on relative weight of different organs were observed except for liver and spleen, where an interaction between treatment and day was observed. There was no significant effect of treatments on lactic acid and SCFA concentrations.
The effect of diet on similarities and dissimilarities of microbial profile was tested with principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) and showed no clear pattern for any treatment. There was effect of age but no effect (P ≥ 0.05) of any dietary treatment on caecal microbial composition except Lachnoclostridium, where effect of treatment was observed and an interaction between age and treatment for unclassified Lachnospiraceae1.
Generally, all birds stayed healthy but a decreased dry matter (DM) of excreta in C4 diets were observed. In conclusion, inclusion of C. intestinalis in poultry diets showed no clear effects as a source of fibre.


This work aims to tackle the challenging heterogeneous graph encoding problem in the text-to-SQL task. Previous methods are typically node-centric and merely utilize different weight matrices to parameterize edge types, which 1) ignore the rich semantics embedded in the topological structure of edges, and 2) fail to distinguish local and non-local relations for each node. To this end, we propose a Line Graph Enhanced Text-to-SQL (LGESQL) model to mine the underlying relational features without constructing meta-paths. By virtue of the line graph, messages propagate more efficiently through not only connections between nodes, but also the topology of directed edges. Furthermore, both local and non-local relations are integrated distinctively during the graph iteration. We also design an auxiliary task called graph pruning to improve the discriminative capability of the encoder. Our framework achieves state-of-the-art results (62.8% with Glove, 72.0% with Electra) on the cross-domain text-to-SQL benchmark Spider at the time of writing.


Two closely related mathematically sophisticated "neoclassical" models of economic growth (first with hidden, second, more general, with intended) economies of scale are considered. The main variables are relative wage and employment ratio, whereas a ratio of investment to profit is constant. The efficiency wage hypothesis supports equations for a growth rate of output per worker. Workers' competition for jobs is stabilizing and their fight for increased wages is destabilizing as revealed. In each model, a stationary state is locally asymptotically stable in a system of two ODEs. There is no possibility for endogenous industrial cycle. Reality requires negation of this incorrect denial. A third extended model, containing the greed feedback loops, reflects destabilizing cooperation and stabilizing competition of investors. In a system of three ODEs, rate of capital accumulation becomes the new main variable. Its targeted long-term decrease raises profit rate together with reducing relative wage and capital-output ratio. Oscillations imitating industrial cycles are endogenous. Crisis is a manifestation of relative and absolute over-accumulation of capital. Limit cycle with a period of about 6.75 years results from supercritical Andronov – Hopf bifurcation. The reality disagrees with the efficiency wage hypothesis applied in the analyzed models.


Electronic decision support systems are an important tool for improving performance and improving quality of care. We investigated the relationship between physicians' estimated resolution times for computerized clinical reminders and adherence rates in VA outpatient settings. We surveyed 10 expert physician users to assess the resolution times of four targeted CCRs for three cases: pessimistic (worst case), expected (average), and optimistic times (best case). ANOVA test shows that physicians' adherence rates for the four CCRs differed significantly (p = 0.01). CCR adherence rate and resolution time were highly linearly correlated (R-square= 0.876 for the best case, R-square= 0.997 for the average case, and R-square= 0.670 for the worst case). This study suggested that future efforts in designing CCRs need to take resolution time into consideration during design, usability testing and implementation phases.


Describes a technique based on the hydraulically driven deposition of adhesion molecules for patterning populations of neurons on silicon micromachined substrates. First, the design and fabrication process of the silicon micromachined substrates and the design of a flow-through chamber for the localised deposition of adhesive proteins are described. The experimental protocol for the deposition of the adhesive proteins is then described. Finally, the results of experiments of "entrapment" of chick embryo spinal cord neurons in microstructures of the silicon substrates and of formation of patterned biological neural networks are shown.


We developed pymfinder, a new software to analyze multiple aspects of the so-called network motifs—distinct n-node patterns of interaction—for any directed, undirected, unipartite or bipartite network. Unlike existing software for the study of network motifs, pymfinder allows the computation of node- and link-specific motif profiles as well as the analysis of weighted motifs. Beyond the overall characterization of networks, the tools presented in this work therefore allow for the comparison of the "roles" of either nodes or links of a network. Examples include the study of the roles of different species and/or their trophic/mutualistic interactions in ecological networks or the roles of specific proteins and/or their activation/inhibition relationships in protein-protein interaction networks. Here, we show how to apply the main tools from pymfinder using a predator-prey interaction network from a marine food web. pymfinder is open source software that can be freely and anonymously downloaded from https://github.com/stoufferlab/pymfinder, distributed under the MIT License (2018).


: Erwinia aroideae carries a cryptic plasmid with 30 S sedimentation coefficient. Plasmid F'ColVColBtrpcys does not dissociate in E. aroideae and is replicated under stringent control since the number of plasmid copies per chromosome does not exceed one. The behaviour of F'ColVColBtrpcys plasmid in E. aroideae is characterized by (1) instability observed at both spontaneous and after EB treatment, (2) depression of plasmid genes that determine colicin synthesis.


The glucoamylase activity was compared with certain properties of glucoamylase preparations immobilized on silochrome and obtained with the use of glucoendomycopsin G15x, gluconigrin G20x and Asp, awamori 466 culture fluid as sources of native enzymes and 2,4-toluylendiisocyanate, cyanurchloride, glutaric aldehyde and gossypol as cross-linking agents. The most active immobilization of the enzyme by silanized silochrome is obtained when the Asp, awamori 466 culture fluid is used as soluble glucoamylase and gossypol--as a cross-linking agent.


STUDY OBJECTIVE--To examine geographical variation in limiting long-term illness in England and Wales and assesses the extent of its similarity with the distribution of mortality rates and of deprivation. DESIGN--A geographically based study using data from the 1991 census on limiting long term illness. Maps and regression analysis are used to compare the distribution of standardised illness ratios with standardised mortality ratios and indicators of social deprivation. SETTING--A total of 401 local authority districts in England and Wales. PARTICIPANTS--The population of England and Wales enumerated in the 1991 census. MAIN RESULTS--The geographical pattern of limiting long term illness shows many similarities with that of mortality but there are also some differences. Both are positively associated with indicators of social deprivation, with limiting long term illness tending to show stronger correlations, particularly in the elderly. Most of Wales and many industrial areas of northern England have higher rates of long term illness than would be expected from their mortality rates, while much of south eastern England has lower than expected rates. CONCLUSIONS--Moves towards using data on limiting long term illness instead of standardised mortality rates would have important implications for NHS resource allocations. Further assessment of the reliability of these data on self reported morbidity is required. in particular, there is a need to assess how much they reflect real differences in ill health rather than the influence of socioeconomic or cultural factors affecting the likelihood of a positive answer to the census question on limiting long term illness.


Groundwater dependent ecosystems (GDEs) must have access to groundwater to maintain their ecological structure and function. The rapid expansion of humans has increased demands on groundwater for consumption, industry and agriculture, these demands alter groundwater regimes of natural GDEs, resulting in the degradation of ecosystem health. In order to improve the conceptual understanding of the role of groundwater in such ecosystems, this study examined key aspects of GDEs (hydrogeology, hydrogeochemistry and biodiversity) in the Langxi river watershed, North China. Results indicate that the karst in Langxi river watershed is well developed. The water chemistry types in the watershed were mostly HCO3-Ca type with different clustering characteristics, which indicate different degrees of interaction between surface water and groundwater, and that the recharge processes and flux of GDEs are different. Land use type and humidity maps were obtained by remote sensing interpretation, and combined with the groundwater isolines, it can be seen that in the dry season, when the groundwater level higher than the maximum depth of vegetation root system, and areas with high humidity, were the GDEs distribution areas. Water quality of the Longchi and Zhangxia Group aquifer is good and the content of Sr is high, suggesting that it can be used as a partial strontium type natural mineral water. It was also found that there are several types of stygofauna in the GDEs of the Langxi river watershed, indicating that the water quality of the sampling points has not been contaminated.


The group IIF iron meteorites and Eagle Station pallasites (PES) have highly siderophile element abundances (HSE; Re, Os, Ir, Ru, Pt, and Pd) of metal that are consistent with formation in planetesimal cores by fractional crystallization with minor to major solid metal–liquid metal mixing. Modeling of HSE abundances of the IIF irons indicates a complex formation history that included the mixing of primitive and evolved solid and liquid metals. By contrast, modeling of HSE abundances of PES metal suggests these meteorites formed mainly as equilibrium solids from a common liquid. Abundances of some of the siderophile elements in the IIF irons and PES are permissive of a common core origin; however, the abundances of W and Ni indicate the PES ultimately formed on a more oxidized body. The PES most likely formed by the injection of olivine present at the core–mantle boundary into a metallic core liquid as a result of impact. The core then crystallized inward, trapping the olivine.