This paper analyzes the determinants of partial ownership of the foreign affiliates of U.S. multinational firms and, in particular, the marked decline in the use of joint ventures over the last 20 years. The evidence indicates that whole ownership is most common when firms coordinate integrated production activities across different locations, transfer technology, and benefit from worldwide tax planning. Because operations and ownership levels are jointly determined, it is helpful to use the liberalization of ownership restrictions by host countries and the imposition of joint venture tax penalties in the U.S. Tax Reform Act of 1986 as instruments for ownership levels to identify these effects. Firms responded to these regulatory and tax changes by using wholly owned affiliates instead of joint ventures and expanding intrafirm trade and technology transfer. The implied complementarity of whole ownership and intrafirm trade suggests that the reduced costs of engaging in integrated global operations contributed substantially to the sharply declining propensity of American firms to organize their foreign operations as joint ventures over the last two decades. Estimates imply that as much as one-fifth to three-fifths of the decline in the use of joint ventures by multinational firms is attributable to the increased importance of intrafirm transactions. The forces of globalization appear to have diminished rather than accelerated the use of shared ownership.


Twospotted spider mites, Tetranychus urticae, are an important agricultural pest of many field crops worldwide. Insecticides and acaricides play a primary role in controlling T. urticae populations on agricultural crops. Here, we used greenhouse and field applied foliar spray tests and leaf dip bioassays to examine the susceptibility of T. urticae to glufosinate ammonium in cotton. Leaf dip bioassay results indicated that T. urticae is highly susceptible to concentrations of formulated glufosinate ammonium. The LC50 value was determined to be 10.31 ppm. Field-applied glufosinate ammonium at 1.61 and 3.14 L ha−1 provided 48.9 and 80.2% control, while fenpyroximate provided 89.6% control five days after treatment in 2015. Greenhouse applications resulted in 55.4% control 14 days after treatment with 0.73 L ha−1, while 1.61 L ha−1 resulted in 72.9% control and 3.14 L ha−1 resulted in 91.9% control of T. urticae populations. Treatment with glufosinate ammonium resulted in significant phytotoxic effects to drought-stressed cotton in the 2015 field trial. These results suggest that glufosinate ammonium may be a useful tool for integrated pest management of weeds and spider mites in cotton. Due to the high cost associated with glufosinate ammonium and possibility of phytotoxic effects under certain conditions, this herbicide it is not considered a viable treatment targeting spider mites but may prove useful for managing mites when utilized for weed management.


Herein, a reversible electrochemical mirror (REM) device was electrochemically tuned to achieve dual transmittance and reflectance modulations in a single device. Conventional REM devices reversibly switch between transparent and mirror states. However, it is a significant challenge to maintain the mirror state of the REM devices due to the diffusion of anions into the metal film at the open-circuit state. In this study, we report a Cu-based REM device that offers reversible switching between transparent, blue, and mirror states via a judicious selection of electrolyte and controllable electrodeposition. The blue state can be obtained through the formation of copper(I) chloride (CuCl) when copper(II) chloride (CuCl2) undergoes electrochemical reduction. Moreover, the polymer host PVA (polyvinyl alcohol) plays an important role in reducing the surface roughness of the electrodeposited mirror film, improving film uniformity, and maintaining the mirror state of the device during the voltage-off state.


This article contextualizes Philo Judaeus's treatise De Confusione Linguarum in rhetorical and intellectual history. While most interpretations of the Tower of Babel legend have found that its primary function is to explain the dispersion of the world's diverse nations and languages, Philo argues that the "confusion of tongues" signifies a more basic existential condition. For Philo, this confusion disrupted humankind's capacity for perfect communication, helping us value rhetorical action as an essential element of the confused, ongoing process of struggle that characterizes our everyday sociality. The confusion of tongues, therefore, simultaneously gave rise to rhetoric and the masses, as it imposed a principle of difference in language and discordant heterogeneity in the social order.


Convective and infared (IR) Halogen Drying processes are used in the woodchip biomass industry to test the moisture content of woodchip. Woodchip drying, though energy intensive, is necessary to increase the calorific content of woodchip, in turn increasing combustibility. The bulk process within the production of woodchip uses convective drying with agitation. Analysis of the diffusion in wood can be used to estimate the time to dry lumber to a specified moisture content value. Relationships between the effect of temperature and moisture content allow more accurate predictions and operational evaluations of driers. The aim of this study was to investigate constant heat source convective and IR drying by comparing the drying curves when batch drying a sample of woodchip biomass whilst controlling the heat source temperature at 328K, 338K, 348K and 358K. This was achieved through comparison of preexponential diffusion coefficients and activation energy, determining the temperature dependency of these terms in convective and IR drying of wetted wood. Lower temperatures increased drying time for both convective and IR drying, with convective drying taking up to 5 times longer than IR. The preexponential diffusion coefficient and activation energy found for IR drying were 3.555 ×10±0.824 ×10 m2.s-1 and 3.405 ×10±0.065 ×10 J.mol-1. The convective drying preexponential diffusion coefficient and activation energy calculated was 2.948 ×10±0.376 ×10 m2.s-1 and 1.619 ×10±0.037 ×10 J.mol-1 respectively.


Grasping the meaning of everyday visual events is a fundamental feat of human intelligence that hinges on diverse neural processes ranging from vision to higher-level cognition. Deciphering the neural basis of visual event understanding requires rich, extensive, and appropriately designed experimental data. However, this type of data is hitherto missing. To fill this gap, we introduce the BOLD Moments Dataset (BMD), a large dataset of whole-brain fMRI responses to over 1,000 short (3s) naturalistic video clips and accompanying metadata. We show visual events interface with an array of processes, extending even to memory, and we reveal a match in hierarchical processing between brains and video-computable deep neural networks. Furthermore, we showcase that BMD successfully captures temporal dynamics of visual events at second resolution. BMD thus establishes a critical groundwork for investigations of the neural basis of visual event understanding.


Spearfishing is practiced by a small fraction of younger recreational fishers and has received considerably less scientific attention than angling. This knowledge gap may negatively affect the ability for developing sustainable marine recreational fisheries. We address this through a global systematic review of the literature pertaining to marine spearfishing (both recreational and otherwise) and providing an integrative overview of key research topics of ecological, social, and economic dimensions. The systematic review indicated an increasing number of papers related to marine recreational spearfishing, with the majority exclusively focused on ecological impacts of spearfishing. The integrative review identifies the most relevant ecological impacts and possible strategies to minimize them to develop sustainable marine recreational spearfishing. Marine recreational spearfishing fosters connection with the underwater environment, but more research on the social aspects is needed. Results also show a growing research interest in assessing the economic contribution of marine recreational spearfishing. Finally, we argue that recreational spearfishers represent a widespread network of underwater observers whose extensive knowledge may help to identify and track changes in marine ecosystems. Overall, we highlight key points to consider when conducting multi- and interdisciplinary research regarding marine recreational spearfishing.


The article is devoted to the actual problem poisoning by calcium channel blockers. The case of the departure of the patient amlodipine, clinical picture, treatment and its effectiveness. In the discussion described pharmacological characteristics of the group of calcium channel blockers, mechanisms of development syndromes developing in this type of shipment and pathogenetic approach to therapy.


Islands are tightly connected to globalized material flows, with specific constraints and vulnerabilities. They are not closed metabolic loops of consumption, production, and waste, favorable to the circular economy. Small islands allow the observation of the material outcomes of circulation, from overflowing dumpsites to marine debris washing up on the shore. We argue that islands are key territories for better understanding the Capitalocene, precisely because of the ways in which they are connected to (rather than isolated from) globalized material flows. This article is a comparative geographical analysis of waste realities in three French island territories: Ndzuwani (Comoros), Réunion, and New Caledonia. It builds on metabolism analysis and waste studies—in particular waste colonialism—to address the different perspectives that these approaches open up for the study of island territories. The long-term sociohistorical context of each island helps to explain contemporary waste management policies and practices. A material flow analysis makes it possible to sketch out metabolic profiles that show the contribution of prevailing mining and agricultural industries to waste generation. The comparison of current situations regarding household waste discourses and economies shows how these territories are characterized by waste accumulation.


The B pillar structure, which affects automotive roof crashworthiness, must have a perfect surrogate model to satisfy the early design demands. This work aims to explore the proper approach of simplified model construction. To create the simplified B pillar, the collapse theories of thin-walled hexagonal and channel beams under bending collapse are reviewed and applied to simulate the deforming behavior. Meanwhile, the simplified model is constructed from parallel connection of curved hexagonal and channel section beams. After distributing different rotational nonlinear springs, the same crashworthiness analyses are performed on both simplified and initial FE models to verify the simplified effects. The results demonstrate the potential of the approach and process proposed in developing the simplified model for the concept design of autobody.


Lidar sensors are widely used in various applications, ranging from scientific fields over industrial use to integration in consumer products. With an ever growing number of different driver assistance systems, they have been introduced to automotive series production in recent years and are considered an important building block for the practical realisation of autonomous driving. However, due to the potentially large amount of Lidar points per scan, tailored algorithms are required to identify objects (e.g. pedestrians or vehicles) with high precision in a very short time. In this work, we propose an algorithmic approach for real-time instance segmentation of Lidar sensor data. We show how our method leverages the properties of the Euclidean distance to retain three-dimensional measurement information, while being narrowed down to a two-dimensional representation for fast computation. We further introduce what we call skip connections, to make our approach robust against over-segmentation and improve assignment in cases of partial occlusion. Through detailed evaluation on public data and comparison with established methods, we show how these aspects enable state-of-the-art performance and runtime on a single CPU core.


In order to utilise energy-rich solid waste, its liquid conversion into valuable hydrocarbon (HC) chains is one of the ways followed worldwide to decrease the oil processing and waste landfilling at the same time. The unique fixed bed updraft gasification reactor with an oscillating circular grate, situated in VŠB – Technical University of Ostrava, Czech Republic, can generate up to 90 m3·h−1 of CO and H2-rich synthetic gas. Such valuable mixture is suitable for the gas to liquid conversion in Fischer– Tropsch Micro Catalyst Bed (F-T MCB) unit, where more complex substances of higher temperature and pressure form in the environment. This article focuses on solid-recovered fuel (SRF) gained as a mixture of industrial and communal waste sources. Gasification of such material in the fixed bed reactor can produce approximately 600 and 250 m3 of CO and H2, respectively, per ton of SRF in the abided gasification conditions. The gas, retrieved from the process, undergoes a thermochemical reaction on the surface of a catalyst within the reactor of the Fischer–Tropsch unit. As a result, a highly valued HC liquid is achieved from the suitable, non-recyclable waste treatment. Cobalt and iron catalysts in their plain form, as well as the catalysts enriched with Mn/K enhancers are put in comparison in this study. The quality and quantity of the synthesis product are examined and the technological aspects of both units are described. The amount of HC synthesis product ranges from 18 to 45 kg per ton of fuel. The composition tends to form HC chains in favour of groups of alcohols and alkanes.


This report demonstrates the detachment of desmosomes in the microcystic area of a frontal convexity meningioma removed from a 69-year-old woman. Well-developed interdigitations of the tumor cell processes with numerous desmosomes and with narrow extracellular spaces were characteristic features of the solid area of the meningioma. By contrast, the microcystic area of the tumor had markedly distended extracellular spaces. Various stages in the separation of desmosomal attachments were seen in this area. The observed configurations ranged from the widening of opposing junctions to the formation of large cavities where hemidesmosome-like structures were evident. The latter lacked basal lamina, and are considered to represent a transition leading to the loss of desmosome, and thus involved in the enlargement of the extracellular space in microcystic meningiomas.


During the last decades, Finite Element (FEM) simulations
of metal forming processes have become important
tools for designing feasible production processes. In more
recent years, several authors recognised the potential of
coupling FEM simulations to mathematical optimisation
algorithms to design optimal metal forming processes instead
of only feasible ones.
Within the current project, an optimisation strategy is being
developed, which is capable of optimising metal forming
processes in general using time consuming nonlinear
FEM simulations. The expression "optimisation strategy"
is used to emphasise that the focus is not solely on solving
optimisation problems by an optimisation algorithm, but
the way these optimisation problems in metal forming are
modelled is also investigated. This modelling comprises
the quantification of objective functions and constraints
and the selection of design variables.
This paper, however, is concerned with the choice for
and the implementation of an optimisation algorithm for
solving optimisation problems in metal forming. Several
groups of optimisation algorithms can be encountered in
metal forming literature: classical iterative, genetic and
approximate optimisation algorithms are already applied
in the field. We propose a metamodel based optimisation
algorithm belonging to the latter group, since approximate
algorithms are relatively efficient in case of time consuming
function evaluations such as the nonlinear FEM calculations
we are considering. Additionally, approximate optimisation
algorithms strive for a global optimum and do
not need sensitivities, which are quite difficult to obtain
for FEM simulations. A final advantage of approximate
optimisation algorithms is the process knowledge, which
can be gained by visualising metamodels.
In this paper, we propose a sequential approximate optimisation
algorithm, which incorporates both Response
Surface Methodology (RSM) and Design and Analysis
of Computer Experiments (DACE) metamodelling techniques.
RSM is based on fitting lower order polynomials
by least squares regression, whereas DACE uses Kriging
interpolation functions as metamodels. Most authors in
the field of metal forming use RSM, although this metamodelling
technique was originally developed for physical
experiments that are known to have a stochastic na-
¤Faculty of Engineering Technology (Applied Mechanics group),
University of Twente, P.O. Box 217, 7500 AE, Enschede, The Netherlands,
email: firstname.lastname@example.com
ture due to measurement noise present. This measurement
noise is absent in case of deterministic computer experiments
such as FEM simulations. Hence, an interpolation
model fitted by DACE is thought to be more applicable in
combination with metal forming simulations. Nevertheless,
the proposed algorithm utilises both RSM and DACE
metamodelling techniques.
As a Design Of Experiments (DOE) strategy, a combination
of a maximin spacefilling Latin Hypercubes Design
and a full factorial design was implemented, which takes
into account explicit constraints. Additionally, the algorithm
incorporates cross validation as a metamodel validation
technique and uses a Sequential Quadratic Programming
algorithm for metamodel optimisation. To overcome
the problem of ending up in a local optimum, the
SQP algorithm is initialised from every DOE point, which
is very time efficient since evaluating the metamodels can
be done within a fraction of a second. The proposed algorithm
allows for sequential improvement of the metamodels
to obtain a more accurate optimum.
As an example case, the optimisation algorithm was applied
to obtain the optimised internal pressure and axial
feeding load paths to minimise wall thickness variations
in a simple hydroformed product. The results are satisfactory,
which shows the good applicability of metamodelling
techniques to optimise metal forming processes using
time consuming FEM simulations.


Human bone cells grown in culture, representative of a preosteoblastic stage of maturation, produce an extracellular matrix composed of collagen several noncollagenous glycoproteins, hyaluronan, and four distinct proteoglycans (PGs). The influence of donor age on the levels of expression of these molecules in vitro has not been well characterized. In this study, human bone cells derived from sources ranging from fetal to 60‐year‐old donors were grown in culture, radiolabeled for 24 h, and the amount of incorporation of [35S]sulfate into PGs, [3H]glucosamine into hyaluronan, [3H]leucine/proline into osteonectin, and [3H]proline into collagen was determined. Cell proliferation was most rapid in fetal‐derived bone cells and decreased with increasing age. Total protein and PG synthesis also decreased with increasing age, falling to 1/3 and 1/4, respectively, of fetal levels after age 30. A large chondroitin sulfate PG (Mr ∼ 600,000 Da) was the major fetal PG and its levels were highly correlated with cellular proliferation. [3H]Collagen and [35S]decorin levels increased with the increasing age of the donor, reached a maximum in puberty‐derived cells, and decreased to 1/3 maximal levels after age 20. The heparan sulfate PG (Mr ∼ 400,000 Da) exhibited steadystate levels regardless of donor age. [3H]Osteonectin and [35S]biglycan levels were high in fetal‐derived cells and in cells derived from pubescent donors. The percentage of collagen and four proteoglycans associated with the cell layer pool changed with donor age. All fetal‐derived PG core proteins possessed more N‐ and O‐linked oligosaccharides than newborn or adult derived PGs. © 1992 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are part of the naturally occurring chemicals in coal, crude oil, and gasoline. They are also produced by burning coal, oil, gas, wood, garbage and tobacco. PAHs produced from these sources can bind or form tiny particles in the air.Ambient particrate Jambo (PM) is a well-known air pollution and has a very positive effect on air quality and human health. PM with aerodynamic diameter ≤ 2,5 µm (PM2.5) is considered to be very dangerous because it can be enriched in toxic parts and clean particles that can penetrate deep into the lungs. PAHs are derived from fossil pressure and biomass fire. The PM2.5 is less than 2.5 mm wide and can be passed through the airway and inserted into the lung tissue. In addition, PM2.5 carries many harmful computers including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which result in incomplete combinations of organic compounds. For better information on PM2.5-PAHs-PAHs (p-PAHs) in Safai City, Osaka, we evaluated PAHs in the gas and particle class (PM2.5) and shared resources and assessed the risk of lung cancer risk (LLCR). PM2.5 can contain a variety of substances, including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which are organic compounds composed of many fragrant rings [4]. PAHs pose a health risk due to their potential toxicity, including carcinogenicity and mutagenicity. Several nitro-PAHs (NPAHs), such as 1-nitropyrene (1-NP), show higher toxicity than their parental PAHs due to their direct radiationMethodology and Theoretical Oriuction: Using a small air mass sample (LVAS) with a flow rate of 4 L min-1, particles and gas phase of PAH were collected in glass fiber (GFF) and polyurethane foam (PUF) , respectively. Samples were collected from the roof of a 3-story building at Osaka Prefecture University, Soyii City, Osaka, Japan. HPLC was used to analyze 11 PAHs including phenan Brotherse, anthracene, fluoranthene, pyrene, benz (a) anthracene, chrysene, benzo (b) fluoranthene, benzo (k) fluoran Brotherse, benzo (a) pyrene, dibenz (a, h) anthracene, indeno (1,2,3-cd) pyrene. Diagnostic Ratios (DR) is a PAH resource allocation method. The rear trajectory was used to track the location of the source.Findings: The main sources of PAHs were gasoline evaporation, vehicle leaks and coal burning. PAHs from fossil waste and biomass combustion There was no significant association between PAHs and air pollution (NOx, SO2, NMHC, etc.) at night. The results showed that gaseous PAHs originated from local sources while PAH-bound PAHs came from a distant region. The retrospective results have shown that East Asia is likely to be one of the outlets for the PAHs at PM2.5 in Sakai City, Japan. TEQ and MEQ meaning at the particle rate was higher than the standard 1 ng / m3 annual estimate of EPA. Conclusion and significance: Based on TEQ values, the spirit of Saui City is considered a threat to human health. Because air pollution is a global problem, there is a need for an international policy on PM2.5 and its hazards.


This paper reviews the second NTIRE challenge on image dehazing (restoration of rich details in hazy image) with focus on proposed solutions and results. The training data consists from 55 hazy images (with dense haze generated in an indoor or outdoor environment) and their corresponding ground truth (haze-free) images of the same scene. The dense haze has been produced using a professional haze/fog generator that imitates the real conditions of haze scenes. The evaluation consists from the comparison of the dehazed images with the ground truth images. The dehazing process was learnable through provided pairs of haze-free and hazy train images. There were ~ 270 registered participants and 23 teams competed in the final testing phase. They gauge the state-of-the-art in image dehazing.


• In this article, we describe the current state of affairs with respect to informal care for people with dementia. We focus on the impact of informal care on the caregiver, caregiving strategies and effective ways to support informal caregivers, including e-health and technological support. • Informal care for people with dementia is intense and has consequences, both positive and negative: 78% of informal caregivers has good feelings about the care they give, but 15% feels heavily burdened. • A stimulating and supportive approach creates a positive and safe environment. Person-centred interventions providing several types of support are most effective for people with dementia and their informal caregivers. • E-health and technological interventions have favourable effects on trust, concern and depressive symptoms of informal caregivers. • New interventions should focus more on social health: interactions between people with dementia and their informal caregivers and encouragement of both to use their abilities.


Abstract Two studies used 90 small, well-established decision teams to examine the effects of a one-time use of audioconferencing on group decision performance and status structure across two different problem-solving tasks - one intellective, the other value-laden. Audio did not affect performance or structural stability in either study. Audioconferencing groups were no more or less likely to produce high-quality solutions or to support their groups′ decisions than were face-to-face groups. Status differentiation and leader influence remained relatively stable regardless of medium. The results contradict popular wisdoms (mainly derived from studies of ad hoc groups) and provide a needed baseline for further research on EMS in established groups. The lack of disruption by audio has important practical implications.


There are not so many papers that the economic effects of tourism are examined in a general equilibrium framework. The features of those papers are that they assume that tourism is regarded as non-tradable goods and services and that tourism is consumed by not only foreign tourists but also domestic residents. However, since our purpose of this paper is to examine the economic effects of tourism promotion on low-income developing countries, we assume that most domestic residents cannot afford to consume tourism, which is considered as a luxury good. Under such assumptions, we examine the effects of two tourism promotion policies on a developing economy. The main result we obtain is that both the policies improve the standard of living for the farmers in a rural region while they worse the standard of living for the workers who are employed in an urban region.


Three patients with lung cancer have been cured by incomplete removal of the cancer, which has for 20 years been the policy of this unit when complete removal is not possible. In each patient residual cancer remained on the wall of the left atrial chamber of the heart at the end of an operation for pneumonectomy. Incomplete removal of cancer may, as a rare event, cure the patient. When residual cancer remained on any mediastinal structure other than the atrium cure has not been seen, though progress of the cancer seems to be retarted in some patients.


Positron emission tomography (PET) of glucose metabolism is often applied for the localization of epileptogenic brain regions, but hypometabolic areas are often larger than or can miss epileptogenic cortex in nonlesional neocortical epilepsy. The present study is a three‐dimensional brain surface analysis designed to demonstrate the functional relation between glucose PET abnormalities and epileptogenic cortical regions. Twelve young patients (mean age, 10.8 years) with intractable epilepsy of neocortical origin underwent chronic intracranial electroencephalographic monitoring. The exact location of the subdural electrodes was determined on high‐resolution three‐dimensional reconstructed magnetic resonance imaging scan volumes. The electrodes were classified according to their locations over cortical areas, which were defined as hypometabolic, normometabolic, or at the border between hypometabolic and normal cortex (metabolic "border zones") based on interictal glucose PET. Electrodes with seizure onset were located over metabolic border zones significantly more frequently than over hypometabolic or normometabolic regions. Seizure spread electrodes also more frequently overlay metabolic border zones than hypometabolic regions. These findings suggest that cortical areas with hypometabolism should be interpreted as regions mostly not involved in seizure activity, although epileptic activity commonly occurs in the surrounding cortex. This feature of hypometabolic cortex is remarkably similar to that of structural brain lesions surrounded by epileptogenic cortex. Cortical areas bordering hypometabolic regions can be highly epileptogenic and should be carefully assessed in presurgical evaluations. Ann Neurol 2000;48:88–96


Abstract : The reanalysis of data obtained from the experimental studies of two different trailing vortex pairs has been conducted to obtain a more complete understanding of the turbulence structure of these flows. Statistical and spectral results, as well as filtered results and estimates of the effects of vortex wandering on the characteristics of the flows are presented. The results of the vortex pair are compared with the data from the experimental study of an isolated vortex conducted under similar testing conditions and model configuration to distinguish between the structure and effects of the separate vortices from those of vortex interaction. The analysis of a counter-rotating vortex pair reveals that initially the vortices develop in a manner similar to an isolated vortex. The cores appear laminar and the turbulence structure outside them is dominated by the spiral wakes. After some distance, flow inside and outside the cores becomes much more turbulent. The cores begin to grow and decay. The results indicate that this change may be a result of wave instabilities developed in the cores. The analysis of the co-rotating vortex pair reveal that turbulence is present in the cores as they spiral about each other and move downstream. After a certain distance, the cores merge into a single core, which contains more turbulence and is over twice the size of the pair that created it. As merger comes to completion, a symmetric core is formed which has much less turbulence. Merger appears to cause an increased rate of vortex decay.


Chrysanthemum (Dendranthema grandiflorum) from San Pedro de Los Altos, Miranda State, was found infected with the foliar nematode Aphelenchoides ritzemabosi. Chrysanthemum leaves were distorted, smaller and discoloured with blackish brown spots. These irregular necrotic areas occupied 10 to 100 % of the leaf surface. All life stages of the nematode were extracted from infected leaves incubated in distilled water. The female body was slender, lateral field with four longitudinal incisures, excretory pore posterior to nerve ring, genital tract monoprodelphic, uterine sac present and containing sperm, tail conoid with two to four terminal minute processes. The number of males was approximately 20% of the population. Males with posterior end of body curved and a tail peg with 2-3 processes. Measurements of females, males and juveniles of the nematode are reported. This is the first report of A. ritzemabosi infecting chrysanthemum in Venezuela.


The floating dry dock represents one of the most technologically advanced structures ever designed to operate in a maritime environment. These indispensable repair facilities provided necessary maintenance to commercial and naval fleets operating in waters where traditional graving dry docks were impractical or impossible to erect. As technological development allowed for construction of larger sailing and steam vessels a corresponding progression ensued within the floating dry docks contracted to service and maintain all vessels up to the largest ships of the day. By analyzing various models of technological evolution as they apply to developments within floating dry docks the author asks whether their historical advancements qualify as evolutionary or if individual docks developed solely in response to specific environmental constraints.


Microcystins constitute a serious threat to the quality of drinking water worldwide. These protein phosphatase inhibitors are formed by various cyanobacterial species, including Microcystis sp. Microcystins are produced by a complex microcystin synthetase, composed of peptide synthetases and polyketide synthases, encoded by the mcyA-J gene cluster. Recent phylogenetic analysis suggested that the microcystin synthetase predated the metazoan lineage, thus dismissing the possibility that microcystins emerged as a means of defence against grazing, and their original biological role is not clear. We show that lysis of Microcystis cells, either mechanically or because of various stress conditions, induced massive accumulation of McyB and enhanced the production of microcystins in the remaining Microcystis cells. A rise in McyB content was also observed following exposure to microcystin or the protease inhibitors micropeptin and microginin, also produced by Microcystis. The extent of the stimulation by cell extract was strongly affected by the age of the treated Microcystis culture. Older cultures, or those recently diluted from stock cultures, hardly responded to the components in the cell extract. We propose that lysis of a fraction of the Microcystis population is sensed by the rest of the cells because of the release of non-ribosomal peptides. The remaining cells respond by raising their ability to produce microcystins thereby enhancing their fitness in their ecological niche, because of their toxicity.


Previous work on the resonant modes of GaAs junction lasers operating near threshold is extended to include spectra obtained at currents 1.5 to 3 times the threshold level. At these currents, two families of modes are shown to oscillate simultaneously with different center frequencies. The modal families are demonstrated to correspond to different mode numbers in the direction perpendicular to the junction plane. These observations are found to be in agreement with a previously reported theory for the GaAs laser cavity, which allows a dielectric constant variation in both directions transverse to the laser axis. The general characteristics of the observed spectra are explained qualitatively in terms of a derived mode dependence of the steady-state gain function. It is suggested that the strong frequency dependence of the spatial gain distribution perpendicular to the junction plane can allow two modal families with different mode numbers perpendicular to the junction to oscillate simultaneously with different center frequencies.


This study is based on research conducted for a Master's thesis, with a focus on the criteria for leadership selection at the Youth With A Mission centre in Newcastle, Australia. The study reviews literature on leadership selection and analyzes particularly the example of Jesus in choosing most of the disciples from rural Galilee. The study posits that leaders with calloused hands have acquired a particular set of character traits deemed essential in transformational leaders. Secondly, this study posits that these traits can only be confirmed as being present through exposure within specific settings — where a leader candidate is tested and given opportunity to demonstrate the essential traits. Candidates with calloused hands have been tested and proven by both adversity and opportunity, and have procured both resilience and initiative. In contrast, today's digital and suburban young people have been isolated from many of the conditions of hardship and opportunity important in the preparation of society transformers. This study recommends additional strategic consideration to how this generation may be proven in preparation for transformational leadership.


This paper describes experimental results from a research facility which experimentally models hot-gas ingress into the wheel-space of an axial turbine stage with an axial-clearance rim seal. Thermochromic liquid crystal (TLC) was used to determine the effect of ingestion on heat transfer to the rotating disc; as far as the authors are aware, this is the first time that the measured effects of ingestion on adiabatic temperature have been published. An adiabatic effectiveness for the rotor was defined, and this definition was used to determine when the effect of ingress was first experienced by the rotor. Concentration measurements on the stator were used to determine the sealing effectiveness of the rim seal, and transient heat transfer tests with heated sealing air were used to determine the adiabatic effectiveness of the rotor. The thermal buffer ratio, which is defined as the ratio of the sealing flow rate when ingress first occurs to that when it is first experienced by the rotor, was shown to depend on the turbulent flow parameter. The local Nusselt numbers, Nu, which were measured on the rotor, were significantly smaller than those for a free disc; they decreased as the sealing flow rate decreased and as the ingress correspondingly increased. The values of Nu and adiabatic effectiveness obtained in these experiments provide data for the validation of CFD codes but caution is needed if they (particularly the values of Nu) are to be extrapolated to engine conditions.Copyright © 2012 by ASME


Nowadays media has developed broadly and it consists of several television networks, press, radio, etc. On the one side, such media development has positive impact, but on the other side, it has negative impact which affects education and formation of new generations. As a basketballer and trainer of young ages I will focus in the role of media in the education of children from the sports point of view. Technological and economic development after the '90s brought with it a new approach: - unequal broadcasting of television programmes for all the sports disciplines, because in our country, for economic interests, only football is covered and such abuse goes to the point of using the term "sports news" and the only news is about football, or even Albanian sports newspaper in which the only information is about football. Wouldn't it be better to say "Albanian football" instead?! The contrary one finds in the "Albanian sports" which pages cover all sports. Moreover, such phenomenon has negative impact on the education of generations that increasing are dreaming about football, spend money about football, avoid other alternatives thinking that football is the only way to have a luxury living, being rich and famous.


They are primordial factors so that if it can more evaluate the intensity the pain in the possible way adjusted the search of information on the physical and emotional causes that influence the perception of the individual related with the painful perception and to know to monitor its pain. The objective was to identify to the scientific production of nursing, determining the best available evidence for the care of the critical customer with pain in intensive therapy. It was a computerized bibliographical research and manual, of studies of the period of 2003 the 2008, the disinformation of the nurse on the results of the methods of control of chronic pain can take not to evaluate it it of systematic form, to subestimar the frequency of occurrence of pain and to ignore the devastador impact of pain for the individual.


We describe a very simple framework for deriving the most-well known optimization problems in Active Appearance Models (AAMs), and most importantly for providing efficient solutions. Our formulation results in two optimization problems for fast and exact AAM fitting, and one new algorithm which has the important advantage of being applicable to 3D. We show that the dominant cost for both forward and inverse algorithms is a few times mN which is the cost of projecting an image onto the appearance subspace. This makes both algorithms not only computationally re-alizable but also very attractive speed-wise for most current systems. Because exact AAM fitting is no longer computationally prohibitive, we trained AAMs in-the-wild with the goal of investigating whether AAMs benefit from such a training process. Our results show that although we did not use sophisticated shape priors, robust features or robust norms for improving performance, AAMs perform notably well and in some cases comparably with current state-of-the-art methods. We provide Matlab source code for training, fitting and reproducing the results presented in this paper at http://ibug.doc.ic.ac.uk/resources .


A new method for analysing social representations from sentences in natural language is presented. The basic nuclei of the social representation of "eating" are extracted from two corpuses, one coming from a large set of definitions from a dictionary, the other from free associations of 2000 French adult subjects. The method shows that "eating", as a mental model, is the connection of "libido", "intake", "foodstuffs", "meal", "filling up" and "living". Further analysis on free associations on "eating well" yields some pragmatic scripts, showing how consumers assemble the basic nuclei into action rules. Results uncover an archaeology of social knowledge, showing some psychological and cultural bases on which lie the contemporary representations of eating. As important marketing issues in the food business today are concerned with the psychological determinants of food behaviour, our method may bring some new tools for market research, and open new data fields to systematic investigation. A paper from an international symposium 'Enjeux actuels du marketing dans l'alimentation et la restauration' held in Montreal, Canada, May 24th to 27th, 1994.


Respiratory mask contains a number of components made of materials like rubber, plastics, and metals. Out of all the components, face piece is the main component exposed to the external environment. This study aims to evaluate degradation of bromo-butyl rubber. The experiments were carried out for thermal exposure, swelling study, saline exposure, etc. It is observed that the elongation at break was increased by 10 per cent when these were exposed to 100 oC. However, the tensile strength has been observed to decrease by 50 per cent when exposed to 55 oC. It is decreased to around 63 per cent when exposed to 80 oC and 100 oC. The morphological appearance of unaged sample was intact. Only samples at 120 oC aged for 48 h appeared to have developed minor cracks of <0.01 µm. There were no significant changes observed when the samples were exposed to saline (3 % NaCl) and artificial sweat solution.Defence Science Journal, 2009, 59(5), pp.505-511, DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.14429/dsj.59.1552


Free energy perturbation (FEP) calculations can predict relative binding affinities of an antigen and its point mutants to the same human leukocyte antigen (HLA) with high accuracy (e.g., within 1.0 kcal/mol to experiment); however, a more challenging task is to compare binding affinities of wholly different antigens binding to completely different HLAs using FEP. Researchers have used a variety of different FEP schemes to compute and compare absolute binding affinities, with varied success. Here, we propose and assess a unifying scheme to compute the relative binding affinities of different antigens binding to completely different HLAs using absolute binding affinity FEP calculations. We apply our affinity calculation technique to HLA-antigen-T-cell receptor (TCR) systems relevant to celiac disease (CeD) by investigating binding affinity differences between HLA-DQ2.5 (enhanced CeD risk) and HLA-DQ7.5 (CeD protective) in the binary (HLA-gliadin) and ternary (HLA-gliadin-TCR) binding complexes for three gliadin derived epitopes: glia-α1, glia-α2, and glia-ω1. Based on FEP calculations with our carefully designed thermodynamic cycles, we demonstrate that HLA-DQ2.5 has higher binding affinity than HLA-DQ7.5 for gliadin and enhanced binding affinity with a common TCR, agreeing with known results that the HLA-DQ2.5 serotype exhibits increased risk for CeD. Our findings reveal that our proposed absolute binding affinity FEP method is appropriate for predicting HLA binding for disparate antigens with different genotypes. We also discuss atomic-level details of HLA genotypes interacting with gluten peptides and TCRs in regard to the pathogenesis of CeD.


This essay analyzes popular culture in the era of global monopoly capital. Through symbolic capitals, the violence of globalization is misrecognized as emergent global cultures in and through which popular culture functions as a field of struggle and as a way to attain cultural legitimacy. This tendency for empire to articulate and legitimize its stakes in popular culture through the use of various capitals is demonstrated in the Global Pinay beauty pageant segment featured in the now defunct noontime television show Magandang Tanghali Bayan (ABS-CBN). However, the articulation is not directly experienced since it is mediated by the discourse of a globalized culture. This essay affirms the mediatedness of cultural products and hence their non-reducibility to their economic conditions of possibly through an exposition of the operations of various capitals in the Global Pinay pageant. The economic field is not reducible to the functions of a symbolic system by historically locating the discourse of globalized culture that frames the Global Pinay pageant.


Heliciculture produce snails that are eaten in many regions of Spain, especially in some areas where they are considered a delicacy. The fact of producing large snails would allow to maximize profits and for this reason to find the factors that regulate the weight of these mollusks is economically very interesting. In recent years, microbiota has been linked to weight in several species, including humans. The aim of this study was to evaluate the possible differences in the intestinal microbiota between snails (Helix aspersa) of different weights to establish the relationship between both. To do this, Aerobic Mesophilic, Lactic-Acid bacteria and Enterobacteriaceae counts were compared in stool samples from two groups of animals, distributed by weight. Furthermore, the evolution of the counts of these bacterial groups was observed from the waking from hibernation until the end of the study, after 22 days. The results showed no statistically significant differences between the two study groups in bacterial counts. In addition, no clear trend was observed in these counts during the course of the experiment. Additional studies could explain the differences found in this study compared with what is found in other papers.


It is shown that the recombinant protein GST-HSV2gG, containing the immunodominant regions of glycoprotein G of HSV-2 is accumulated in the form of inclusion bodies or in soluble form in the Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3) cells. The ratio between protein fractions varied depending on the physiological state of cells before biosynthesis. The kinetic parameters of bacterial populations were determined by mathematical modeling of growth curves based on the Verhulst logistic function. It was established that the induction of biosynthesis in the growth acceleration phase (at OD600 = 0.3) with 0.1 mM IPTG gives the maximum yield of soluble protein (26.75 mg/l or 17.6 mg/g biomass). The target protein was purified using the immobilized metal ion affinity and affinity chromatography technologies. Antigenic activity of the soluble form of recombinant protein GST-HSV2gG, was significantly (three times) higher than that of the protein purified from inclusion bodies (p < 0.05) and was comparable with the activity of the commercial analog (p > 0.05), that allows using this product in the immunosorbent test kits for diagnosis of IgG to HSV-2.


An important security challenge is to protect the execution of security-sensitive code on legacy systems from malware that may infect the OS, applications, or system devices. Prior work experienced a tradeoff between the level of security achieved and efficiency. In this work, we leverage the features of modern processors from AMD and Intel to overcome the tradeoff to simultaneously achieve a high level of security and high performance. We present TrustVisor, a special-purpose hypervisor that provides code integrity as well as data integrity and secrecy for selected portions of an application. TrustVisor achieves a high level of security, first because it can protect sensitive code at a very fine granularity, and second because it has a very small code base (only around 6K lines of code) that makes verification feasible. TrustVisor can also attest the existence of isolated execution to an external entity. We have implemented TrustVisor to protect security-sensitive code blocks while imposing less than 7% overhead on the legacy OS and its applications in the common case.


To avoid detrimental environmental impacts from climate change, the world community needs to push for the use of clean energy technologies.
 Development of proposed advanced technology nuclear fuels supports efforts to ensure nuclear energy is included as a non-carbon emitting source
 of electricity generation. Advanced technology nuclear fuels, also referred to as accident tolerant fuels (ATFs), have received renewed interest
 for use in the current nuclear reactor fleet as well as in advanced reactor technologies due to their high uranium loading, desirable thermophysical
 properties, and performance under irradiation as compared to the benchmark oxide fuel. A limiting consideration for the implementation of these ATFs
 is their poor performance in oxidative and corrosion conditions, as well as challenges associated with synthesis and fabrication. As a full understanding
 of these ATFs has not been achieved, this work aims to advance the state of knowledge related to these fuels and their composites in corrosion conditions,
 their grain growth mechanisms, and includes efforts to improve thermal conductivity in the benchmark oxide fuel using these ATFs. Chapter Two presents a
 study of uranium mononitride (UN) and UN composites with uranium dioxide (UO2) under hydrothermal corrosion conditions to assess the mechanism
 of degradation at elevated temperatures, identified as secondary phase formation at the grain boundaries leading to pellet collapse. Chapter Three combines
 experimental and theoretical studies of composite systems, UN-Zr and UN-Y, for the purposes of improving the corrosion resistance of monolithic UN.
 The results indicate the formation of undesirable secondary phases in the sintered materials and provided insight to the atomic level structural changes
 which occurred due to the addition of the metallic constituents. An extensive review (included as Appendices A, B, and C) of the state of the literature
 for oxidation performance of UN, triuranium disilicide (U3Si2), uranium carbide (UC), and uranium diboride (UB2), was performed to identify the challenges and opportunities to alloyed and composite architectures of these ATF candidates to mitigate corrosion behavior.
 In addition, an understanding of the microstructural evolution during the fabrication of various fuel forms, such as grain growth, is important in
 predicting its performance under irradiation (e.g., fracture, creep, fission gas release, thermal conductivity, etc.). Accordingly, it is important to
 understand the driving force behind grain growth and the factors which influence it. Chapter Four presents a fundamental study on grain growth in conventionally
 sintered UN. The study identified the most likely mechanism and proposed an activation energy for grain growth with a discussion on the factors that influenced it,
 as well as the lack of expected texture present in the sintered samples. Chapter Five describes work on successful incorporation of uranium diboride (UB2, another
 ATF candidate) to a UO2 matrix via conventional fabrication and sintering methods, for the purposes of improving overall thermal conductivity
 of the bulk composite. Presented together, this work provides foundational inquiry and analysis which can be used to further research on ATF candidates
 and assist in acceleration of qualifying these fuels for use in the current and future nuclear reactor fleets.


The primary concern of this thesis is the representation, in the eighteenth century, of mothers' bodies. It is also concerned with the treatment of domestic duties which were supposed a consequence of a woman's very nature. Throughout the first seven decades of the century, medical men and virtuosi demonstrated particular interest in the nature of physicality, and especially in women's bodies, pregnancy, and childbirth. 1 will be testing out a widely-held view that dissection and new anatomical findings regarding women's bodies produced a new idealisation of motherhood, and that this was immediately translated into lay-medical and related discourse, and was thus firmly established in middle-class culture by the end of the century. The relationship between primary medical and lay-medical literature raises several questions: my work asks whether lay-medical literature mirrored medical writing, and whether there was a direct translation of material from one to the other. Lay-medical texts for women are especially interesting. They offer an insight into precisely what examples of female nature and correspondingly 'natural' behaviour were intended for women readers. Representations of maternity in specific forms of writing which rely heavily upon women for subject matter are further extended in the second half of this study. 1 have focussed upon two genres, conduct literature and narrative fiction. Neither is conventionally associated with medical or lay-medical discourse, yet both have significant links with these. Conduct literature and narrative fiction have much to offer in this attempt to recover what women were being taught about their bodies and roles; both were concerned with what the body displays externally, and with corresponding ideas of 'naturalness'. Conduct literature for women was enjoying a period of growth and change, and has obvious, direct links with medical texts. Narrative fiction also had important links with medical writing, and 1 will describe these. The dissemination of medical representations of the maternal body was a process which contributed to a contradictory cultural sense of female identity.


Microbial communities help plants access nutrients and tolerate stress. Some microbiomes are specific to plant genotypes and, therefore, may contribute to intraspecific differences in plant growth and be a promising target for plant breeding. Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) is a potential bioenergy crop with broad variation in yields and environmental responses; recent studies suggest that associations with distinct microbiomesmay contribute to variation in cultivar yields. We used a common garden experiment to investigate variation in 12 mature switchgrass cultivar soil microbiomes and, furthermore, to examine how root traits and soil conditions influence microbiome structure. We found that average root diameter varied up to 33% among cultivars and that the cultivars also associated with distinct soil microbiomes. Cultivar had a larger effect on the soil bacterial than fungal community but both were strongly influenced by soil properties. Root traits had a weaker effect on microbiome structure but root length contributed to variation in the fungal community. Unlike the soil communities, the root bacterial communities did not group by cultivar, based on a subset of samples. Microbial biomass carbon and nitrogen and the abundance of several dominant bacterial phyla varied between ecotypes but overall the differences in soil microbiomes were greater among cultivars than between ecotypes. Our findings show that there is not one soil microbiome that applies to all switchgrass cultivars, or even to each ecotype. These subtle but significant differences in root traits, microbial biomass, and the abundance of certain soil bacteria could explain differences in cultivar yields and environmental responses.


Oral pre cancer is a lesion found in the oral cavity and oropharynx. Sialic acid (N-acetyl neuraminic acid) and L-fucose (6 deoxy-L galactose) are the monosacharides present in the mammalian cells. Literature review has showed a clear link between these monosaccharides and various carcinomas. Objectives of the present study is to estimate and compare the status of Sialic acid and L-fucose in precancerous patients. Present study is conducted in compliance with the ethical committee guidelines of the institute. Sixty subjects with the age range 20-60 years were included in the current study. The study group included clinically diagnosed cases of oral sub mucous fibrosis, leukoplakia and erythroplakia. These were clinically confirmed cases of oral pre-cancer. L-fucose and sialic acid were measured by Winzlers method in serum sample. The levels of Sialic acid and L-fucose were found to be increased significantly increased in various stages of pre cancer in comparison with the normal subjects (p >0.001).When pre-cancer develops, cell to cell adhesiveness is diminished among these cells and they easily enter into the blood stream. The level of serum Sialic acid and L-Fucose increases along with the severity and inflammation of the tissues.


Economic and social factors, including existing trends in urban population and employment growth combined with urbanization, have led to enhanced consumption and thus, increasing freight flows in the cities. Mitigation of transport impacts has led to plans towards a more sustainable urban environment. However, managerial and regulatory barriers restrict the incorporation of technological instruments and solutions to the sustainable dimension of decision-making and planning. This paper has sought to bridge this gap by organizing an educational and training program, which involves the participation of todays and tomorrow's researchers, decision-makers and practitioners. Towards this direction, a methodology is developed that identifies existing gaps between the transport industry and the existing research, education and training programs and converts identified requirements and gaps into training courses. The paper addresses the context of intermodal interconnections for the case of Latvia and the region for stimulating and strengthening its scientific and technological capacity by providing knowledge in the field of smart interconnecting sustainable transport networks. The 2-level gap analysis that was developed and implemented with respect to the thematic areas of (1) 'Governance and policy development', (2) 'Smart solutions', and (3) 'Decision-making', and the validation process that followed, has revealed several requirements that exist currently for passenger and freight interchanges and educational programs for Latvia and the region. Based on the identified educational requirements for Latvia and the region, 20 educational areas were created that resulted in 12 courses for passenger and freight transport interchanges that are going to be used for training and education in Latvia.


Si,: We would agree with the assertion in the letter of Sowter et al. concerning the MISTLETOE study (Vol 105, December 1998)' that the use of thinning agents prior to surgery can be of benefit to patients with dysfunctional uterine bleeding. Our experience in a large, multicentre, randomised controlled clinical trial' comparing the GnRH agonist, Zoladex 3.6 mg (goserelin acetate) (n = 180) with placebo (n = 178) prior to loop resection confirms the findings of both the MISTLETOE study (Vol 104, December 1997)? and the Cochrane review by Sowter e ta / . that the use of hormonal agents prior to surgery does not reduce post-operative complication rates. However, it also shows that there are other equally important benefits associated with preoperative endometrial thinning. At surgery, timed for six weeks after start of treatment, the endomettiurn was significantly thinner in women treated with goserelin (mean thickness 1.6 mm vs 3.4 mm, P = 0.0001) and fluid absorption was less (median absorption 150 mLvs 225 mL, P = 0.0325). This led to a significantly shorter duration of surgery (mean duration 17.5 min vs 21.9 min, P = 0.0001). since these procedures were canied out by experienced surgeons (> 50 resections), the improved intrauterine operating environment that endometrial thinning agents provide can also have benefits for the less experienced operator. Six months after surgery a significantly greater rate of amenorrhoea was seen in women treated with goserelin than in those treated with placebo (40% vs 26%, P = 0.0039). One year after surgery this clinically significant difference in amenorrhoea rates had been maintained and the rate of women undergoing subsequent hysterectomy had remained low (< 5%). Initial results from the three-year follow up indicate a continued high rate of amenorrhoea and low rate of hysterectomies. This and the planned five-year follow up will help to show whether pre-operative endometrial thinning does indeed reduce the need for subsequent hysterectomy.


Abstract The peeling process, which describes a step-by-step exploration of a planar map, has been instrumental in addressing percolation problems on random infinite planar maps. Bond and face percolations on maps with faces of arbitrary degree are conveniently studied via so-called lazy-peeling explorations. During such explorations, distinct vertices on the exploration contour may, at latter stage, be identified, making the process less suited to the study of site percolation. To tackle this situation and to explicitly identify site-percolation thresholds, we come back to the alternative "simple" peeling exploration of Angel and uncover deep relations with the lazy-peeling process. Along the way, we define and study the random Boltzmann map of the half-plane with a simple boundary for an arbitrary critical weight sequence. Its construction is nontrivial especially in the "dense regime," where the half-planar random Boltzmann map does not possess an infinite simple core.


Efficient execution of applications requires insight into how the system features impact the performance of the application. For distributed systems, the task of gaining this insight is complicated by the complexity of the system features. This insight generally results from significant experimental analysis and possibly the development of performance models. This paper presents the Prophesy project, an infrastructure that aids in gaining this needed insight based upon experience. The core component of Prophesy is a relational database that allows for the recording of performance data, system features and application details.


Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in Australian women, with advances in detection and treatment of breast cancer there is a current overall five-year survival rate of approximately 90%. For some individual breast cancer survivors, survival is associated with psychological and physiological stressors that can negatively affect well-being and quality of life as well as have a further adverse impact on long-term survival. These stressors can affect the body's physiological stress response system, causing allostatic load (AL) and dysregulations that may be associated with symptoms such as fatigue, depression, anxiety, hypertension, and inflammation. AL is a multisystem approach to measure the cumulative negative effects that stress has on the body's systems and overall health. Psychological and physiological stress is also associated with accelerated cellular aging and chromosome instability caused by telomere attrition. These cellular deficits can lead to an increased risk for the development of other diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer recurrence.
Recent research has provided evidence that mindfulness-based psychological interventions that have been developed to meet the needs of breast cancer survivors can improve their psychological well-being and quality of life. Furthermore, other research has demonstrated that these interventions can lead to a reduction in physiological stress biomarkers. Physiological stress biomarkers indicate the activity of the stress response system, therefore a reduction subsequent to participation in a psychological intervention may indicate clinical health benefits.
The aim of this pilot study was to examine the effects of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), a psychological treatment that incorporates acceptance and mindfulness strategies, on physiological and molecular biomarkers of stress and AL in breast cancer survivors. Breast cancer survivors, who had completed primary breast cancer treatment in the previous two years, were randomly allocated into three groups. Two groups attended ninety minutes of either a group-based ACT (Group 1) or Breast Cancer Education (BCE) program (Group 2) for six weeks; these two groups then crossed-over to the other intervention for a further six weeks. The third group (Group 3) was waitlisted for the first six weeks and then attended the ACT program for the subsequent six weeks. Physiological and molecular biomarkers of stress: heart rate, blood pressure, fasting blood glucose, telomere length, interleukin-6, cortisol and salivary alpha-amylase, were assessed before and after each intervention or wait-list, with a fourth measurement time point at six months after completion of the interventions. Six of these biomarkers were used to calculate the change in AL for each participant in response to the ACT intervention.
The study identified a significant reduction in cumulative allostatic load in Group 3 participants following the ACT intervention, but AL was increased in Groups 1 and 2. The study did not identify a statistically significant reduction in any individual biomarker from pre- to post-6 week ACT intervention for any group however, a reduction in blood pressure in Group 1 participants after 12 weeks (ACT and BCE) was evident. These results suggest that the current ACT intervention could drive improvements in AL, but the effects are highly variable. It may be that a longer intervention is required before a change in physiological and molecular biomarkers becomes measurable. Alternatively, it is plausible that the majority of participants in this study were not under substantial stress at the beginning of the trial and therefore their stress biomarkers were not elevated and had no potential to improve. A future trial could specifically recruit participants with elevated stress biomarkers.


SUMMARY. Leaves of Arrabidaea chica (Bonpl.) B. Verl., Bignoniaceae, are commonly used in the Amazon region as anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, astringent and as a wound healing agent. In the Southeast Region of Brazil, this species is used for urinary infection treatment. Ethanol extract from leaves of Arrabidaea chica and its fractions were prepared and tested for antioxidant, cytotoxic, antibacterial and diuretic activities. All samples, with the exception of the hexane fraction, showed a potential antioxidant activity. Hexane, ethyl acetate fraction and luteolin, a flavone isolated from dichlorometane fraction, demonstrated diuretic activity. None of the samples assayed showed cytotoxicity or antimicrobial activity. Therefore, our results suggest that folk use to treat urinary tract infections may be modulated by the diuretic activity found, since increase of water diuresis serves to 'flush out' the urinary tract of infecting organisms. This could reduce bacterial multiplication in the bladder.


The formation control or cooperative work of multiple unmanned vehicles has proved to be
more effective in terms of time consumption and overall performance in a wide variety of
applications. This project aims to review some of the research which has been done up to date and in the subsequent chapters a tensegrity-based formation controller is developed and implemented to assess its global behaviour. This development starts with the design of the heading angle control of a vessel based on the first order Nomoto model which is later transformed into a waypoint problem. Later on, a globally decentralised formation topology and the tensegrity concept is introduced in the context of formation control where a sliding mode controller, a linear-quadratic regulator servo controller and a conventional
proportional-integral-derivative controller are designed and simulated to regulate the elongation of a virtual spring-mass-damper system which connects two vehicles. This is done by applying a force to this system which, from the point of view of the reference vehicle, can be regarded as a repelling force if the formation distance is smaller than the reference and attracting otherwise. The results obtained are satisfactory proving stability and feasibility of the proposed strategy and the limitations and drawbacks of each control technique used are described. However, it is observed that the LQR servo controller yields a better balance between performance and robustness. Afterwards, the tensegrity concept is implemented on a leader-light-guided-follower formation topology using the LEGO® Mindstorms NXT platform. The distance keeping evolution between the follower and the leader is assessed positively for both cases, a PID and LQR servo controller, however, this latter with better tracking while the leader is moving.


Research for this paper was part of the project 'Travels, Transmissions and Transformations in the 3 and 2 Millennium BC in Northern Europe: the Rise of Bronze Age Societies' at the University of Gothenburg, led by Kristian Kristiansen and funded by the European Research Council (ERC Advanced Grant ERC-2010-AdG—proposal 269442 THE RISE). It also produced the genetic and isotopic research behind the following articles: Allentoft et al. 2015; Pospieszny et al. 2015; Rasmussen et al. 2015; Sjögren et al. 2016. The project EUROLITHIC led by Guus Kroonen has received funding from the European Research Council under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement 716732).


Interviews were conducted with 97 Detroit residents living in primarily Black low- and moderate-income areas, in order to assess the preferences of inner city residents for different types of natural areas. The participants rated 26 photographs for preference, and also answered questions about the particular elements that made certain outdoor areas especially liked or disliked, and about the importance they placed on their own opportunities to enjoy the natural environment. The results indicated that well-maintained areas incorporating built features were preferred over more untouched and densely wooded areas, which were often associated with fears of physical danger. The participants' responses also indicated that these residents placed a very high value on their opportunities to enjoy the outdoors. Few differences in preferences or in value perceptions were found when stratifying the sample according to demographic characteristics. The results emphasize the importance of appropriate management of urban forestry resources, and suggest that outdoor spaces should be planned for ease of visibility as well as for pleasing arrangements of natural features.


"Once upon a time in my younger years and in the dawn of this century I wrote: `The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color line.' ... In 1925, as in 1899, I seem to see the problem of the twentieth century as the problem of the color line" (DuBois, 1925, p. 423). The "color line" that has separated Blacks from Whites in higher education has not been erased. Despite increasing numbers of African Americans attending college, legal and ethical debates still persist about the methods for integration of some predominantly White institutions (PWIs). Moreover, the impact of this litigation on historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) is a new and growing factor of concern in the equation, and potentially threatens their future. To understand these tensions, it is important to have a true appreciation for the historical origins of segregated higher education and the legal battle to abolish it. Unlike their White counterparts, HBCUs have never practiced race based admissions policies (Ware, 1994). They were devised and implemented by White segregationists as a means to secure the separation by race in higher education. Now, however, continuing court battles in such states as Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi have focused attention of policy makers on desegregation issues affecting these colleges. In addition, the current debate over affirmative action has called into question the ability or resolve of White colleges to achieve their goals of racial balance. Courts have recently folded publicly funded HBCUs into statewide remedies to cure illegal segregation in White colleges, although such separation never existed in HBCUs. These legal mandates require states to enhance opportunities for non-African American students, thereby reducing their racial identifiability. As a result, questions abound about the current and future role of publicly funded Black institutions. Understandably, advocates of HBCUs fear that such changes may lead to the loss of the important role that these institutions have played in educating generations of African Americans. At the same time, predominantly White institutions (PWIs) are required to admit and graduate a greater proportion of African Americans, thereby reducing the need for HBCUs. The more opportunities there are for Black students at PWIs, the greater the threat to HBCUs. To the extent that equal educational opportunity is achieved, both HBCUs and PWIs stand to lose their essential historic character. Race always has been, and remains, a highly polarized issue in this country. Rational discussion will benefit from firm grounding in understanding the complexity of some of the attendant policy and legal issues. Historically Black Colleges and Universities For more than 150 years, HBCUs have provided the best chance, and at times the only chance, for access to education for African American students in higher education. African American participation in America's majority institutions in substantial numbers is a fairly new phenomena. As recently as twenty years ago, the majority of African Americans in college were in HBCUs. By the 1980s, however, the lifeblood of HBCUs seemed to be draining; nonetheless, effective recruitment efforts, separatist trends, and stronger academic programs have led to a resurgence in enrollments. There are 103 HBCUs, including 2- and 4-year colleges, representing 2.8% of the total 3688 institutions of higher education in the U.S. In 1993, 282,856 students attended HBCUs, a 32% increase from 1982 (National Center for Education Statistics [NCES], 1995). Of the 1.4 million African Americans in college, 16.4% attend HBCUs. HBCUs have a long and rich tradition of non-racial admissions policies and have educated significant numbers of women, Whites, nonresident aliens, and other ethnic minorities. For example, the first treaty provision for the education of Native Americans was an agreement in 1830, providing scholarships for Choctaw Nation students to attend Hampton Institute, a Negro normal school (Olivas, 1982). …


The main material of the research is Completion Of The Double Certificate Case By The National Land Agency with the following problem formulation: 1. How did the emergence of a double certificate which constitutes legal evidence of land ownership?2. How is the resolution carried out by the authorities in resolving the issue of dual certificates? From the results of the study concluded the following conclusions: 1. The cause of the double certificate could be due to the element of intent, accidental and due to administrative errors. The emergence of a double certificate is also caused by the lack of discipline and order of government officials related to the land sector in carrying out their duties. 2. The National Land Agency is not a state institution in the field of judiciary, but nevertheless the National Land Agency has the authority to resolve any land issues including the issue of dual certificates. This authority is only limited to administrative authority, namely the cancellation or revocation of a certificate issued by the National Land Agency itself. The National Land Agency always strives for solutions to resolve land disputes based on the prevailing laws and regulations with due regard for a sense of justice and respect for the rights and obligations of each party. is deliberation. The steps for resolving disputes that they or the National Land Agency take in a dual certificate dispute are negotiation, mediation and facilitation.


Capture marine fisheries play a significant role in social, cultural, and economic dimensions of Indian capture fisheries that contributes to the blue growth strategies. Here the small-scale fisheries (SSF) constitute about 60 % and remaining 40 % large-scale fishing fleets (LSF). In this study, we have highlighted the techno-economic key indicators and technical efficiency of SSF and LSF of Gulf of Mannar Biosphere Reserve, India using Cobb-Douglas function, and Data Envelopment Analysis. The technical efficiency was slightly higher in SSF (TE = 0.961) with better quantity of fish produced per litre of fuel (5.05 kg) compared to the LSF (TE = 0.951). The labour efficiency such as value ($87.56) and quantity of fish produced per day (83.39 kg) was greater in LSF than the SSF ($7.07 and 14.26 kg, respectively). Though production cost was higher for LSF, the better gross revenue of $658.27 was generated than SSF ($42.41) and it mainly related to higher engine power (150 – 200 hp) and longer fishing ground distance from the shore (117.50 km) for LSF than SSF (9.9 to 25 hp and 48.80 km, respectively). Results of the present study suggest that there is limited scope to improve the technical efficiency of the fishing fleet since both were operated at better efficiency conditions. However, the lower gross revenue per trip in SSF can be improved and higher production cost in LSF can be minimized by improving the performance of the fishing fleets in Biosphere Reserve.


The article sought to discuss the impact of value chain development and local economic development among rice farmers in Asutuare in the Shai-Osudoku District Assembly of Ghana. The study specifically examined the actors in the rice value chain development process, their roles and how their roles shaped the final output for the consumer and the extent to which the value chain development and local economic development resulted in job opportunity creation, income generation, and poverty reduction in the area. Using the mixed method, the study found that the actors in the value chain process could be grouped into four. They are pre- production actors, which is made of actors involved in activities such as land preparation, tilling, bonding and spraying; production actors who are mainly made up of the actual rice farmers; post production actors who include those involved in harvesting, threshing milling among others; and financing system actors, which involves financial institutions and individual financiers (sponsors). The study opines that rice value chain and local economic development resulted in both direct and indirect employment and income generation for the rice farmers and the "agrigators". However, there was a mixed outcome in poverty reduction in that 5.3% of the actors sampled for the study were below the poverty line, while the remaining 94.7% were above the poverty line. Challenges such as lack of access to finance, absence of sufficient rice processing factories, poor road networks, and lack of modern agriculture equipment were hindrances to effective rice value chain and local economic development promotion. Based on the findings and challenges, the following were recommended: the establishment of a rice processing factory in the Asutuare area as part of the One District One Factory policy, consistent fiscal policy aimed at supporting rice farmers in the locality, and the provision of modern equipment to modernize rice production.

 Key words: Local economic development, value chain, value chain development, poverty reduction.


We initiate the study of the relationship between two complexity classes, BQP (Bounded-Error Quantum Polynomial-Time) and PPAD (Polynomial Parity Argument, Directed). We first give a conjecture that PPAD is contained in BQP, and show a necessary and sufficient condition for the conjecture to hold. Then we prove that the conjecture is not true under the oracle model. In the end, we raise some interesting open problems/future directions.


The impact of the new technologies on the field of education has noticeably been growing over the last few decades. Many research studies have been conducted in the world examining their effect on education at all educational levels, especially at the children's' early age.
The aim of this research is to examine the attitudes of teachers to the role of computers in strengthening the competences of preschool children for entering the next level of education in Serbia. The starting hypothesis is that teachers in their work value the use of educational computer games in order for children to acquire new knowledge strengthen problem solving skills, develop their creativity. Our starting position is the standpoint that there is a positive correlation between attitudes and independent variables: the length of work experience and previous computer education.
The results show that teachers have a positive attitude to the application of computers in preschools; they are motivated to work with educational computer games and find that computer may be of significant benefit for work with children, but not to the great extent. The survey also shows that the length of work experience and previous computer education, as well as attending technical training courses are positively correlated with the application of computers in schools. The study concludes that modern technology is still not widely applied in preschools, primarily due to insufficient funds and unsatisfactory IT skills of teachers, which indicates the need for a systemic solution to this problem. Modernization and introduction of computers in preschools will not bring satisfactory results without appropriate education and training of teachers in order for them to acquire new skills and competences.


Low Pressure Reverse Osmosis Membrane (LPROM) has been introduced to water and wastewater industries in the past few years due to the high cost of operational and maintenance of conventional high-pressure RO membrane system. LPROM may remove more than 90% of heavy metals depending on the operating conditions of the system. LPROM with operating pressure less than 100 psi is commercially available to make treatment system more affordable and cost effective. Therefore, the aim of this study was to produce high-quality drinking water using LPROM system by removing heavy metals and other contaminants. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of LPROM for rejection of heavy metals, under different operating parameters (i.e. pressure, feed concentrations and pH). A commercially available LPROM (ES20) system manufactured by Nitto Denko Company was used in this study. The experimental design was carried out using Response Surface Methodology (RSM). Two types of wastewater containing heavy metals (i.e. synthetic polluted water containing copper and magnesium from copper chloride and magnesium sulphate solutions, and raw water from exmining pool from Tasik Biru, Sarawak) were studied. The experimental study for copper showed that higher operating pressure increased permeate flux and higher feed concentration and pH values increased the percentage of removal. However, the two-way interaction parameter (i.e. pressure vs. pH, pressure vs. feed concentration and pH vs. feed concentration) showed insignificant effects in determining permeate flux and copper removal. For magnesium, all parameters and all two-way interaction were significant in determining the percentage of magnesium removal. The higher the operating pressure resulted in a higher permeate flux and percentage of magnesium removal. A higher the value of pH has caused a lower permeate flux. However, it will increase the percentage of magnesium removal. Besides, the higher the feed concentration of magnesium was also resulted the higher percentage of magnesium removal. The optimum range of operating pressure for both copper and magnesium removal was between 90 to 120 psi and at pH between 5.5 and 7.5. The optimum statistical model for these processes based on the experimental conditions of this study indicates that operating pressure was the most significant parameter in determining the permeate flux. However, the statistical analysis of heavy metals removal was statistically insignificant and showed that the range of parameters in the study appears to be less significant to develop a sensitive and comprehensive model. This was due to the transport or separation mechanism between micropollutants and membrane surface, effect of chemical characteristics as well as effect of metal complexation. As a conclusion, operating conditions such as operating pressure and pH must be taken into account when designing the LPROM system for an optimum process in order to achieve a better heavy metals removal with higher permeate flux.


INTRODUCTION
We aimed to compare alternative synthetic scaffolds suitable for future implantation and to examine the use of an inhibitor of lysyl oxidase (beta-amino-propionitrile [β-APN]) to reduce contraction in these implants.

METHODS
Three synthetic scaffolds were compared to natural dermis as substrates for the production of tissue-engineered skin. For natural dermis, Euroskin was used to provide a cell-free cadaveric dermis. Synthetic scaffolds consisted of microfibrous poly-L-lactic acid (PLA), nanofibrous poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV), and a micro-/nanofibrous trilayer of PLA-PHBV-PLA. The latter were all electrospun and then all four scaffolds (three synthetic, one natural) were placed in six well plates. A culture well was formed on the scaffold using a 1 cm diameter stainless steel ring and 1.5×105 oral fibroblasts were seeded one side; after two days of culture, the ring was placed on the other side of the scaffolds and 3×105 oral keratinocytes were seeded on to the scaffolds and cultured with keratinocytes uppermost. After a further two days of culture, scaffolds were cut to 1 cm2 and raised to an air-liquid interface on stainless steel grids; some were treated with 200 μg/mL β-APN throughout the culture period (28 days). Contraction in vitro was assessed by serial digital photography of cell-seeded scaffolds and cell-free scaffolds three times a week for 28 days. All cell-seeded scaffolds were assessed for cell metabolic activity, mechanical properties, histology, and morphology by scanning electron microscopy (SEM).

RESULTS
The mean fibre diameters and pore sizes of PLA and PHBV scaffolds were 2.4±0.77, 0.85±0.21 μm (p<0.001), and 10.8±2.3, 4.3±1.1 μm (p<0.001), respectively. Oral fibroblasts and keratinocytes were tightly adhered and grew well on both surfaces of trilayer. The ultimate tensile strength (UTS) and Young's modulus (YM) of PLA samples were significantly lower than Euroskin (p<0.001 and p<0.05, respectively); only the UTS of the trilayer samples was slightly significantly lower (p<0.05). Metabolic activity was significantly increased for cells on all scaffolds, without significant differences between them from Day 0 to Day 28. There were no adverse effects of β-APN on cell viability. With respect to contraction, cells on trilayer and PHBV monolayers did not undergo any significant contraction; however, cells on PLA monolayer and Euroskin contracted 25.3% and 56.4%, respectively, over 28 days. The addition of 200 μg/ml β-APN significantly reduced contraction of Euroskin compared with the control (p<0.01); however, β-APN did not affect PLA contraction during this culture period (p>0.05).

CONCLUSIONS
This study shows that a trilayer micro-nano-3D porous synthetic scaffold is suitable for oral keratinocyte and fibroblast growth with good cell viability and minimal contraction. This material also has good mechanical properties and histological analyses showed its ability to mimic normal human oral mucosal morphology. Furthermore, synthetic trilayer scaffolds have advantages over biological scaffolds - there is no risk of disease transmission or immunological rejection and they appear resistant to contraction. We suggest they present a good alternative to allodermis for future use in urethral reconstruction.


Indoor particulate matter (PM) poses the same respiratory health threats as outdoor PM. Indoor PM were collected from two service laboratories in Metro Manila for 7 hours per sampling day over a period of six weeks. Hourly recordings for temperature and relative humidity were also performed. The mass concentrations of PM were quantified by gravimetric analysis. The study found that the maximum PM10 and PM2.5 concentrations calculated for the naturally ventilated Lab X were 202.68 μg/m3 and 98.81 μg/m3, respectively. The maximum values obtained from the air-conditioned Lab Y for PM10 and PM2.5  were 219.79 μg/m3 and 98.66 μg/m3, respectively. The study also recognized that factors temperature and relative humidity affects PM concentration levels.


The aim of the present work was to characterize Na+currents through nonselective cation channels (NSCCs) in protoplasts derived from root cells of Arabidopsis. The procedure of the protoplast isolation was modified to increase the stability of Arabidopsis root protoplasts in low external Ca2+ by digesting tissue in elevated Ca2+. Experiments in whole-cell and outside-out modes were carried out. We found that Na+ currents in Arabidopsis root protoplasts were mediated by cation channels that were insensitive to externally applied tetraethylammonium+ and verapamil, had no time-dependent activation (permanently opened or completely activated within 1–2 ms), were voltage independent, and were weakly selective for monovalent cations. The selectivity sequence was as follows: K+ (1.49) > NH4 + (1.24) > Rb+ (1.15) ≈ Cs+ (1.10) ≈ Na+ (1.00) > Li+ (0.73) > tetraethylammonium+ (0.47). Arabidopsis root NSCCs were blocked by H+ (pK ≈ 6.0), Ca2+(K1/2 ≈ 0.1 mm), Ba2+, Zn2+, La3+, Gd3+, quinine, and the His modifier diethylpyrocarbonate. They were insensitive to most organic blockers (nifedipine, verapamil, flufenamate, and amiloride) and to the SH-group modifier p-chloromercuriphenyl sulfonic acid. Voltage-insensitive, Ca2+-sensitive single channels were also resolved. Properties of Arabidopsis root NSCCs are discussed and compared with characteristics of similar conductances studied previously in plants and animals. It is suggested that NSCCs present a distinct group of plant ion channels, mediating toxic Na+ influx to the cell and probably having other important roles in physiological processes of plants.


The aim of the study was to find the occurrence of musculoskeletal injuries in Estonia professional ballet dancers in the 2019/2020 season. A total of 62 dancers participated in the study, 25 were male and 37 female dancers. This study was a questionnaire-based, which was compiled on similar studies to collect the data among ballet dancers working in Estonia. The study showed that 58% of dancers were injured in the last 12 months. The most common type of dance injury during this period was muscle or tendon strain (33%), followed chronic inflammation (21%) and ankle sprain (20%). The most common injured body site was foot (20%), ankle (18%) and knee joint (10%). The highest number of injuries occurred during rehearsals (44%), classical class (27%), and during performances (16%). More than half of Estonian ballet dancers sustained at least one injury during the last twelve months. The most common types of injury were muscle or tendon strain, chronic inflammation and ankle sprain. The highest number of injuries occurred in the foot, whereas the highest number of injuries occurred during rehearsals.


SIR,-On behalf of my coauthors, I wish to thank Sir Eric Riches and Dr S L 0 Jackson for their comments (24 November, p 1367). In our enthusiasm to persuade others to adopt the domiciliary approach to long-term urethral catheter management we did not stray into an account of alternative measures, some of which are better suited to hospitalised patients. Sir Eric and Dr Jackson have correctly stated that suprapubic drainage can be useful, and agree that Malecot and De Pezzer catheters have been supplanted by modem catheters which were designed for urethral use. In the case of retention due to trauma or postoperative immobilisation, we would advocate the use of a suprapubic cannula of 8 or 12 gauge of the type made by Porges or Dow Corning. This avoids the risk of urethral trauma, and facilitates multiple attempts at voiding per urethram as the patient improves. It is surprising that this technique is not more commonly employed in neurological or orthopaedic units, at least in the West of Scotland. When permanent suprapubic drainage is chosen we follow the technique described by Sir Eric, inserting a self-retaining catheter at an angle to reduce the risk of leakage. Permanent suprapubic catheters can readily be changed provided that there is no undue delay between the removal of the old and the insertion of the new. Unfortunately some catheters fall out owing to defective balloons, cutting out of the stitch if this technique is used, or other reasons. If this occurs in a patient in his own home, the delay can lead to partial closure of the track, making insertion of a new catheter painful or even impossible. Dr Jackson describes the use of suprapubic catheters in the younger-chronic-sick ward. The Foley-type self-retaining catheter is certainly better than catheters of the De Pezzer and Malecot types, being less likely to harbour crystals and much easier to remove. Sexually active males who suffer from urinary incontinence may well prefer the condom-type urinal, and in common with others we are involved in attempts to improve existing designs. This correspondence emphasises the need for tailoring management to suit the individual patient, and indicates some of the differences between hospital and community care. Perhaps it is useful to state that the urodynamic service here provides a vigorous programme for diagnosing and treating urinary incontinence and voiding problems, reducing the need for catheterisation. ERIC GLEN


Partial discharge (PD) is an important phenomenon and has a close relation to the insulation condition of electrical apparatus. Usually PD accelerates insulation deterioration and before final breakdown, their activities will be much more serious than that in ordinary operation. Therefore PD is an adequate characteristic quantity for the inspection of insulation condition in order to avoid sudden failures, especially for online monitoring. An artificial neural network (ANN) group with the backpropagation algorithm was developed to identify the types and extent of PDs. Six different physical models, which could reflect PDs in the stator windings of large electrical machines, were made. Simulated PD types included surface discharges at end windings, slot discharges, delamination in three different positions of ground wall insulation as well as a standard PD level of new machines. Different levels of voltage were applied to models to obtain various extents of PD activities. The fingerprints of experimental PD data were extracted with the /spl phi/-q-n 3-dimensional pattern. The recognition ability of the ANN group was investigated. Different types and extents of discharge within the winding insulation of large electrical machines were identified with a satisfactory recognition rate.


Herein, the characteristics of heavy FeS-doped diamond crystals were studied using a China-type large volume cubic high-pressure apparatus (CHPA) with FeNi alloy as the catalyst at 6.0–6.5 GPa and 1350–1400 °C. The crystals were characterized via optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and Raman spectroscopy (Raman). OM of the crystal showed that the crystals cracked when the doping ratio was increased, and an increase in pressure was beneficial to alleviate the phenomenon of cracking. The XPS spectrum of the crystal showed that S successfully enters the diamond lattice in three bonding modes, C–SO2–C6H5, C–S–SO2–C and C–S, under high concentration doping conditions. The infrared spectrum showed that the content of N in the crystal decreased with an increase in the doping ratio. The Raman spectroscopy analysis showed that the heavy FeS-doped Ib-type diamond single crystal has a high quality sp3 structure, and the full width at half maximum (FWHM) of the crystal gradually broadened as the doping ratio increased. Additionally, it showed that increasing the pressure under the same doping concentration is beneficial to increase the crystallinity of the crystal.


Mergers and acquisitions (M&As) are events that attract considerable interest from academics and practitioners, and much research has been conducted into their impact on individuals, organizations and societies. Yet, despite all the existing research and the varied theoretical and methodological approaches employed, there remains more to learn about M&As. The Routledge Companion to Mergers and Acquisitions takes a detailed look at this multifacted subject using a novel framework of four domains – substantive issues, contextual issues, methodological issues and conceptual issues. Drawing on the expertise of its international team of contributors, the volume surveys the state of the field, including emerging and cutting-edge areas such as social network analysis and corporate branding. This Companion will be a rich resource for students, researchers and practitioners involved in the study of M&As, and organizational and strategic studies more widely.