Ammonium nitrate is the most commonly used nitrogen fertilizer in the agriculture and plays an important role in the development of leaves and stems in plants. The storage and production of ammonium nitrate at the industrial scale can result in degradation and caking. Various solutions have been proposed, however, to date, an effective solution to the degradation problem has not been identified. The addition of silicic acid during the production of ammonium nitrate prevents the double salt formation caused by sulphuric acid additive, which is a process requirement. Silicic acid was combined with calcium carbonate in the dilution stage in order to increase the fracture strength of ammonium nitrate. With the addition of calcium lignosulphonate, the phase conversion of ammonium nitrate granules was completed more rapidly, and thus the problem of degradation was prevented. Thus, chemical and physical degradation of the ammonium nitrate structure were prevented during the 2-year storage period, which was adopted as the standard for the ammonium nitrate production process.


One of the most characteristic features of biological molecular networks is that the network structure itself changes, depending on the cellular environment. Indeed, activated molecules show a variety of responses to distinctive cell conditions, and subsequently the network structures of active molecules also change. Here we present an approach to trace the network structure changes by using the graphical chain model developed from the gene expression data. The previous procedure for applying the graphical chain model to the expression profiles of a limited number of genes has been improved to analyze the entire set of genes. Furthermore, the chain model has been rearranged according to the association strength, and was scrutinized to identify the candidates of essential gene-gene relationships for the network changes, by using the path consistency algorithm. The improved procedure was applied to the expression profiles of 8,427 genes, which were measured in two distinctive stages of liver cancer progression. As a result, the chain model of the 18 gene cluster relationships with strong associations was inferred, in which the coordination of clusters was described in the cell stage progression, and the gene-gene relationships between known cancer-related genes causing the progression were further refined. Thus, the present procedure is a useful method to model the network structure changes in the cell stage progression, and to clarify the gene candidates for the progression.


The structure and the adaptive algorithm of a new nonlinear adaptive FIR digital filter. Called nonlinear delayed N-path adaptive FIR (NDNAFIR) digital filter, is presented for cancelling broadband noise from signals containing sharp edges. The filter structure is obtained by decomposing a FIR digital filter into N delayed parallel subfilters which facilitates high speed implementation. Adjustable bipolar sigmoid functions are placed at the output of each subfilter as well as after the summation of all subfilter outputs. Simulation results show that the ND-NAFIR digital filter outperforms those of the linear adaptive FIR digital filter and the nonlinear median filter in broadband noise cancellation in terms of convergence speed and average squared difference between original and recovered signals. >


This article, on the basis of the magnetically levitated pumps developed by Ibaraki University, talks about fluid dynamic analysis of pump and optimization of parameters of the impellers. The pump uses blood as medium, with a flow rate Q of 5L/min, a pressure head H of 100mmHg. By using software of ANSYS CFX, the article analyzes the effect of shape, angle, height, length and thickness of the impeller on performance chart and fluid field distribution inside the pump. To fulfill the human requirements in blood pump, an optimization analysis is conducted to improve the uniformity of fluid field, reduce power and efficiency of the pump. As result, meeting the flow and pressure head condition, single curvature impeller is found to have lower speed, better efficiency and more uniform flow field, this helps to prevent the generation of thrombus and hemolytic.


OBJECTIVE
Autoimmune thyroid disease (AITD) has been associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes in subfertile women with spontaneous and assisted reproductive technology-induced pregnancies. The underlying pathophysiology is still elusive and an association with thyroid dysfunction or other infertility causes is discussed. However, whether thyroid autoimmunity (TAI) per se has a negative impact on female fertility has not yet been clarified. In this study, we investigated whether TAI in healthy women undergoing intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) for male infertility may affect pregnancy outcome.

DESIGN
A retrospective, single-centre study.

METHODS
THE ICSI OUTCOME DATA OBTAINED FROM 835 EUTHYROID WOMEN (AGE: 31.4±4.3 years, BMI: 23.7±4.2 kg/m(2)) were correlated with pre-ICSI TAI status. The known causes of female subfertility were excluded. Outcome parameters included rates of pregnancy, birth, miscarriage and preterm delivery. Blood analysis was carried out retrospectively using blood samples drawn before ICSI. TAI was defined by elevation of anti-thyroperoxidase- or anti-thyroglobulin-antibodies >100 U/l.

RESULTS
TAI-POSITIVE AND -NEGATIVE GROUPS DID NOT DIFFER IN AGE, BMI OR TSH LEVELS. TAI STATUS DID NOT INFLUENCE ANY ICSI OUTCOME PARAMETERS. IN CONTRAST, INCREASING MATERNAL AGE WAS SIGNIFICANTLY CORRELATED WITH LOWER PREGNANCY RATE (ODDS RATIO (OR): 0.94 (95% CI: 0.91-0.97); P=0.0003) and birth rate (OR: 0.93 (95% CI: 0.09-0.97); P<0.0001).

CONCLUSIONS
Our study suggests that TAI per se does not influence ICSI outcome. A strict definition of AITD and TAI and consideration of TAI-associated and -independent confounders are important to further elucidate the interplay between TAI and reproduction.


While there has been a number of studies on Zero-Shot Learning (ZSL) for 2D images, its application to 3D data is still recent and scarce, with just a few methods limited to classification. We present the first generative approach for both ZSL and Generalized ZSL (GZSL) on 3D data, that can handle both classification and, for the first time, semantic segmentation. We show that it reaches or outperforms the state of the art on ModelNet40 classification for both inductive ZSL and inductive GZSL. For semantic segmentation, we created three benchmarks for evaluating this new ZSL task, using S3DIS, ScanNet and SemanticKITTI. Our experiments show that our method outperforms strong baselines, which we additionally propose for this task.


ABSTRACT Quadratic regression (QR) models naturally extend linear models by considering interaction effects between the covariates. To conduct model selection in QR, it is important to maintain the hierarchical model structure between main effects and interaction effects. Existing regularization methods generally achieve this goal by solving complex optimization problems, which usually demands high computational cost and hence are not feasible for high-dimensional data. This article focuses on scalable regularization methods for model selection in high-dimensional QR. We first consider two-stage regularization methods and establish theoretical properties of the two-stage LASSO. Then, a new regularization method, called regularization algorithm under marginality principle (RAMP), is proposed to compute a hierarchy-preserving regularization solution path efficiently. Both methods are further extended to solve generalized QR models. Numerical results are also shown to demonstrate performance of the methods. Supplementary materials for this article are available online.


The cartoons are portrayed in chronological order, from 1841 to the end of the twentieth century, with special features on themes that inspired Punch's artists, the magazine's famed political cartoons - the 'Big Cuts' - and some of the magazine's most prominent cartoonists: Artists: John Leech Charles Keene George du Maurier Phil May HM Bateman EH Shepard Fougasse Pont Arthur Watts Paul Crum Sillince Anton Andre Francois Gerard Hoffnung Rowland Emett Norman Thelwell Michael ffolkes Bud Handelsman Mike Williams Michael Heath Peter Birkett Tony Husband Ronald Searle. Special features: Railways Photography The Great Exhibition of 1851 Women's Rights Early Cars Big Cuts WW2 The Space Race New Technology Holidays Psychiatry Lemmings Caricatures.


The viability of any Citizen Science (CS) research program is absolutely conditioned to the engagement of the citizen. In a CS framework in which participants are expected to perform actions that can be later on validated, the incorporation of a reputation system can be a successful strategy to increase the overall data quality and the likelihood of engagement, and also to evaluate how close citizens fulfill the goals of the CS research program. Under the assumption that participant actions are validated using a simple discrete rating system, current reputation models, thoroughly applied in e-platform services, can be easily adapted to be used in CS frameworks. However, current reputation models implicitly assume that rated items and scored agents are the same entity, and this does not necessarily hold in a CS framework, where one may want to rate actions but score the participants generating it. We present a simple approach based on a Bayesian network representing the flow described above (user, action, validation), where participants are aggregated in a discrete set of user classes and we use the global evidence in the data base to estimate both the prior and the posterior distribution of the user classes. Afterwards, we evaluate the expertise of each participant by computing the user-class likelihood of the sequence of actions/validations observed for that user. As a proof of concept we implement our model in a real CS case, namely the Mosquito Alert project.


The adoption of applicable artificial intelligence technologies to library real-time virtual reference services is an innovative experimentation in one of the key areas of library services. Based on the open source software Artificial Linguistic Internet Computer Entity (A.L.I.C.E.) and a combined application of several other relevant supporting technologies for facilitating the use of the current existing library resources, Tsinghua University Library has recently developed a real-time smart talking robot, named Xiaotu, for the enhancement of its various service functions, such as reference services, book searching, Baidu Baike searching, self-directed learning, etc. The operation of Xiaotu is programmed into Renren website (a social networking website), which adds significantly an innovative feature to the modus operandi of the real-time virtual reference service at Tsinghua University Library.


Soluble vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (sVCAM-1), intercellular cell adhesion molecule 1 (sICAM-1), and E-selectin are biomarkers reflecting endothelial activation (EA), a key event in atherosclerosis. High-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-c) is
protective against atherosclerosis by reverse cholesterol transport (RCT) but its association with EA is not well established. ATP-binding Cassette Transporter A1 (ABCA1) is the main transport protein in RCT and its gene variants have been linked to low HDL-c concentration. Thus, this study aimed to (a) compare the concentration of biomarkers of EA between low HDL-c subjects and normal controls (NC), (b) examine the correlation and association between HDL-c and biomarkers of EA, (c) investigate
whether HDL-c concentration is an independent predictor for these biomarkers, and (d) determine the genetic variants of ABCA1. A total of 207 subjects with low HDL-c and 215 age-, gender-, ethnic-, smoking-, diabetic- and blood pressure-matched NC were recruited. Fasting blood samples were collected for biomarkers of EA and DNA extraction. Targeted regions oiABCAl gene were amplified and sequenced. The detection of the SNPs were analysed using BioEdit. Subjects with low HDL-c had greater
concentrations EA biomarkers compared to controls. There were significant negative correlations and association between HDL-c concentration and EA biomarkers. HDL-c was an independent predictor for sVCAM-1. DNA sequencing of ABCA1 revealed six
genetic variants and two SNPs were found to be significantly different between the low HDL-c subjects and NC in both genotype and allele frequencies. In conclusion, low serum HDL-c concentration is strongly correlated and associated with enhanced status of EA which strongly supports its role in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. The findings of genetic variation in ABCA1 suggest that this gene may play an important role in HDL deficiency amongst Malaysians.


Photolithographic techniques permit the realization of complex circuits totally confined to the E-plane of millimetric rectangular guides with high precision and low cost. This work contains a detailed analysis of an E-plane diplexer configuration recently introduced. Its main feature is the matching section of the three port junction, a simple abrupt E-plane one tuned by means of an inductive post realized on the same mask as the branching filters. On the basis of this analysis, we also demonstrate the application of a recently developed diplexer synthesis technique. Many prototypes, in K/sub a/-band were designed and tested, showing good performances and good agreement between theory and experiment. >


In the Middle Ages, tens of thousands types of uni-faced bracteate coins were struck in the period 1140−1520. The existence of hundreds of small independent currency areas with their own mints in central, eastern, and northern Europe and the strong link between bracteates and periodic re-coinage explain the large number of bracteate types. The classification and dating of coins can provide insight into economic and monetary development when studying coin hoards and cumulative finds. A central problem when classifying bracteates is that most of them are anonymous, i.e., there are seldom any legends or letters. However, bracteates struck in closely located mints almost always have the same regional monetary standard. In this study, I show how monetary standards in combination with social attributes can be used to classify bracteates when both legends and find information are lacking. I also provide an economic explanation why closely related mints voluntary joined a specific monetary standard.


Model-based analysis of cellular metabolism can facilitate our understanding of intracellular kinetics and aid the improvement of cell growth and biological product manufacturing. In this thesis, a model-based kinetic study of cytosolic glucose metabolism is presented. Based on the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes and the Braunschweig Enzyme Database, a metabolic map of cytosolic glucose metabolism including 30 metabolites and 36 reactions, which consists of glycolysis, glucogenesis, pentose-phosphate pathway and adjacent metabolic reactions, has been constructed. Kinetic modelling was performed according to this metabolic map and reported enzyme kinetic studies, considering regulation and/or inhibition by products, substrates or other metabolites. Parameters were estimated based on previous parameter information and metabolic flux analysis studies, as well as results from our own experiments. Simulation results for cell population kinetics, metabolite concentrations and reaction rates have shown good agreement with experimental data. Furthermore, in silico case studies including global sensitivity analysis, feeding lactate as a co-substrate and the regulation effect by fructose 2,6-bisphosphate were performed in order to find strategies to increase metabolic efficiency in Chinese hamster ovary cells in an attempt to provide a guide for process optimisation. In conclusion, our model provides a deep look into cytosolic glucose metabolism and the simulation results have suggested a suitable direction to increase the metabolic efficiency.


The fault phenomenon of high pressure roller mill gearbox lubrication system is not easy to be find in many cases, the fault of system is easy to be ignored, and it is more difficult to judge with the traditional method. For this reason, the fault diagnosis model of the particle swarm neural network has been established by using actual sample data, determining the cause of fault through the actual monitoring data. The practice has proved that it has better prediction effect.


High-intensity sprints of short duration, interspersed with brief recoveries, are common during most team sports. Therefore, the ability to recover and to reproduce performance in subsequent sprints is an important fitness requirement of team-sport athletes and has been termed repeated-sprint ability (RSA). Using laboratory and field-based protocols, performance analyses have shown that fatigue during repeated sprints is manifested by decreased running speed or reduced power output. Proposed factors responsible for these performance decrements include limitations in energy supply, metabolic by-product accumulation (e.g., Pi, H+), impairment of Ca2+ kinetics or reduced excitation of the sarcolemma (increase in extra-cellular K+). However, increasing evidence also indicates that failure to fully activate the contracting muscle might potentially limit repeated-sprint performance. Moreover, the details of the task (e.g., changes in the nature of the work/recovery bouts) will determine the contribution of the underlying mechanisms (task dependency) and additional homeostatic perturbations (e.g., hypoglycaemia, muscle damages, hyperthermia) are likely to compromise fatigue resistance. It could be argued that the best way to improve repeated-sprint performance is to improve the underlying factors responsible for fatigue. High-intensity interval training (80-90% VO2max) interspersed with rest periods that are shorter than the work periods appear necessary to increase the ability to buffer H+ (βm). We have also shown that similar high-intensity interval training can significantly improve PCr resynthesis and RSA. In contrast, intermittent sprint training has not been reported to increase βm or the rate of PCr resynthesis. Thus, rather than game-specific training, training specific for the underlying physiological systems may be required to improve these important physiological qualities for team-sport athletes. While a single sprint relies predominately on anaerobic energy sources, recent research has shown that it is possible for athletes to reach their VO2max during repeated sprints. This suggests that training that increases VO2max may allow for a greater aerobic contribution during latter sprints, potentially improving repeated-sprint performance. In summary, this chapter attempts to summarise and draw conclusions from the studies that have described mechanisms underlying functional impairments during repeated-sprint tasks and to relate these decrements to the potential impact of various training regimens on repeated-sprint performance.


ObjectiveBy the end of this session, users will be able to describe the innovative and multilayered suppression rules that are applied to Missouri's homegrown health data web query system. They will also be able to use the lessons learned and user feedback described in the session to facilitate discussions surrounding the application of suppression to their specific data systems.IntroductionIn Spring 2017, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (MODHSS) launched the Missouri Public Health Information Management System (MOPHIMS) web-based health data platform. Missouri has supported a similar data system since the 1990s, allowing the public, local public health departments, and other stakeholders access to community level birth, death, and hospitalization data (among other datasets). The MOPHIMS system is composed of two separate pieces. Community Data Profiles are topic-, disease-, or demographic-specific reports that contain 15-10 indicators relevant to the report. Because these static reports are developed in-house a multilayered suppression rule is not required. The second piece of MOPHIMS, the Data MICAs, or Missouri Information for Community Assessent, can be used to create customized datasets that slice and dice up to a dozen demographic and system-specific variables to answer complex research questions.The MOPHIMS interface features, among other things, a new and innovative method for addressing confidentiality concerns through the suppression of health data. This pioneering approach integrates multi-level logic that uses inner and outer cell analytics, the use of exempt and conditionally exempt variables, and multiple levels of user access. Moving beyond a simple model of suppressing any values below a certain threshold, MOPHIMS takes a bold step in providing users exceptionally granular data while still protecting citizen privacy.MethodsIn order to implement this new suppression methodology, MODHSS worked with both internal information technology resources (OA-ITSD) and outside contractors to develop the suppression rules utilized in the Data MICAs. Before these meetings began, MODHSS analysts met weekly to determine the overall goals and frames for the rule, knowing that writing the code to implement the complicated and comprehensive vision would be a collaborative and iterative process. Because the MOPHIMS system is homegrown and this specific confidentiality process is not currently utilized (to our knowledge) elsewhere, all of those at the discussion table were required to be innovative, open to criticism, and willing to engage in extremely detailed explanations. A team of users from Missouri's local public health departments provided feedback throughout this process.A basic description of the process flow that occurs before suppression is applied in MOPHIMS follows. To begin, de-identified record-level data are loaded into online analytical processing (OLAP) cubes and relational databases. No suppression is applied to these back end databases. The information is then aggregated for display on the front end screens of the Data MICAs based on customized user selections. Depending upon which level of access a user has logged in, suppression is then applied to the data output generated using these customized selections. Not only are the rules applied to data tables but also to the MOPHIMS data visualization tools, which include multiple types of charts and maps.ResultsIn addition to the rules themselves, MOPHIMS contains a mechanism that allows users to log in at different levels of access. Public and Registered user levels are free and available to all operators with a valid e-mail address. Partner level access is reserved for epidemiologists at the state and local level who are using the Data MICAs for program planning, evaluation, and grant writing. Because these individuals are required to adhere to the same data dissemination policies as those who create the MOPHIMS system, Partner level access turns off suppression in the MOPHIMS system. Values that would be suppressed at the Public or Registered user levels are shown in italicized, red font. A multi-level approval process is required for individuals to obtain Partner level access to MOPHIMS.ConclusionsMODHSS created an innovative suppression system that allows public health planners to access granular data through customizable queries without risking a confidentiality breach. Users have indicated this is highly preferable to a blanket suppression rule that hides any value under a certain threshold. Additionally, approved MOPHIMS users can view specially formatted values that would otherwise have been suppressed. The flexibility associated with creating a homegrown web query system has allowed the formation and implementation of this multilayered rule, which likely would not have been possible if using an off-the-shelf product. Data disseminators are encouraged to review current confidentiality and suppression rules to determine whether they might be modified to provide more granular data users while still protecting the privacy of citizens.


The classroom can be a community of dialogic practices where personal and cultural identities are constructed and negotiated and a key context for integration of children with migrant background. However, for the first time in many decades, children across Europe, and globally, have been removed from their primary contexts of socialisation in the public health scramble to contain the pandemic, primarily through extended lockdowns. The consequences of the management of the COVID-19 pandemic on the cohesion of schools as intercultural communities of learning impacted on teachers, children and families. Public health measures to contain the COVID-19 pandemic affect the quality of children's learning experience and deny access to the classroom as a space of socialisation and intercultural dialogue. Developing from the analysis of 50 focus groups with children in Italian and English primary and secondary schools, this contribution discusses the perspective of children on how the management of the pandemic: 1) impacted on the learning experience, in particular the progression of children with limited access to suitable spaces and resources for home learning; 2) affected the networks of social relationships and intercultural dialogue that have the classroom as their substratum.


Introduction. Carbonic anhydrase IX (CAIX) is a hypoxia regulated metalloenzyme integral to maintaining cellular pH. Increased CAIX expression is associated with poor prognosis in breast cancer. To explore CAIX as a biomarker for breast cancer therapies, we measured plasma CAIX levels in healthy control subjects and in breast cancer patients. Methods. In control subjects we evaluated plasma CAIX stability via commercially available ELISA. We then similarly quantified plasma CAIX levels in (1) locally advanced breast cancer (LABC) patients treated with neoadjuvant paclitaxel + sunitinib (T + S) followed by doxorubicin and cyclophosphamide (AC); (2) metastatic breast cancer (MBC) patients treated with systemic chemotherapy. Results. Plasma CAIX levels were stable at room temperature for at least 48 hours in control subjects. Mean baseline plasma CAIX levels were lower in controls compared to patients with LABC or MBC. In LABC, CAIX levels rose significantly in response to administration of antiangiogenic therapy (T + S) (p = 0.02) but not AC (p = 0.37). In patients with MBC treated without an antiangiogenic agent CAIX levels did not change with therapy. Conclusions. Our results suggest that CAIX may be an easily obtained, stable measure of tumor associated hypoxia as well as a useful pharmacodynamic biomarker for antiangiogenic therapy.


In Reply.— The role of the immune system in the pathogenesis of and recovery from RSV infection is not clear. Passive maternal antibody does not protect infants from fatal disease. Killed vaccine that stimulates high titers of neutralizing antibody does not prevent vaccinees from natural infection, and subsequent infection may be serious. 1 In contrast, the appearance of RSV-specific nasal IgA correlates with decreased nasal virus shedding and clinical recovery. 2 Cellular immune mechanisms appear both to enhance disease and mediate recovery. 1,3 Our patient's immune deficient state was complex. He had received total lymphoid irradiation and chemotherapy three years earlier. Before induction chemotherapy there was impaired lymphocyte response to alloantigens of unrelated lymphocytes in cultures. Despite a fatal, overwhelming RSV pneumonia, he had a poor antibody response. Total lymphoid irradiation is highly immunosuppressive, to the point of allograft tolerance. 4,5 Mixed lymphocyte reactions are severely impaired for as long


The present article deals with the second participant in verbal action as it appears on the syntactic level and the level of functional sentence perspective (FSP).l The interaction between the two levels will be considered where the second participant in verbal action has the FSP function of theme. This involves contextual boundness ofthe second participant insofar as context-independent second participants are as a rule rhematic. The constructions under consideration include the passive, in which a thematic second participant appears as the subject, active clauses with the second participant as thematic object occupying the regular postverbal position, and active clauses with the second participant constructed as fronted object. Fronted objects moreover raise the question of their relation to the passive, and the cleft sentence in which the second participant appearing as thematic object in the underlying noncleft form is focused. The aim of the present paper is to find out to what extent these structures are interchangeable, and if differentiated, to ascertain the features to which the differentiation is due.


Solar energy is one of the emerging forms of renewable energy, and has been proved to be a potential source for generation of electricity. However, the rise in number of photovoltaic (PV) generators presents issues for electric power utilities. The objective of this thesis is to achieve stability for a grid-connected PV system with the proposed new power system stabilizer (PSS). Stability is attained by conducting small signal analysis and time domain analysis on the investigated PV system. First, time domain analysis on detailed and average PV system models without PSS is performed. Second,
small signal stability analysis on average PV system model with and without PSS is performed. It is observed that the damping effect and the dynamic stability of the investigated PV system are achieved, with the help of the proposed new PSS.


The SnO2 nanostructures have been synthesized by carbon-assisted growth at 800 oC for 3 hours. Using high pure tin powder as the source materials. The synthesized products were investigated by stereo microscope, X-rays diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). XRD patterns show that the prepared products are tetragonal-structures with the lattice constant a = 0.4718 nm and c = 0.3187 nm. SEM images indicate that SnO2 nanowires are about tens of micrometers in length, 80-100 nm in width. The diameter of SnO2 nanoparticles vary from 10 nm to 100 nm. The synthesized products are high sensitivity and fast response time to ethanol gas at room temperature.


This study examined relationships among winter ticks, weather, and the nutritional and reproductive status of moose, and the impact of moose on regeneration of commercial forests in northern New Hampshire. Three methods were evaluated to assess their usefulness as indices of relative winter tick abundance, and predictors of tick epizootics: tick counts on harvested moose and roadside, spring hair-loss surveys were considered time and cost effective to index winter tick abundance. Physical characteristics of harvested moose (1988--2009) indicated ovulation rates (∼20%), and mean body weight (<200 >kg) of yearlings declined since 1988; because adult body weight and ovulation rates remained stable, habitat quality was unlikely related. Winter tick epizootics are likely influenced by abnormal large scale weather events, as evident in the widespread dieoff in 2002 associated with warm snowless conditions into mid-December 2001 that extended tick transmission to moose. Spring and fall weather should be monitored for unusual conditions causing high tick abundance and tick loads, particularly warm and snowless conditions in April and December. Mean stocking rate of all age classes of commercial tree species was above the threshold in all regions (49--87%); forest regeneration was not considered a regional problem at any moose density.


The importance of a Web page is an inherently subjective matter, which depends on the readers interests, knowledge and attitudes. But there is still much that can be said objectively about the relative importance of Web pages. This paper describes PageRank, a mathod for rating Web pages objectively and mechanically, effectively measuring the human interest and attention devoted to them. We compare PageRank to an idealized random Web surfer. We show how to efficiently compute PageRank for large numbers of pages. And, we show how to apply PageRank to search and to user navigation.


In this paper, we propose an analytical approach to derive the exact value of saturation throughput of Slotted Aloha in an interference-dominating wireless ad-hoc network. In an interference-dominating wireless network, a receiver could simultaneously receive a number of packets from a variety of transmitters, as long as the signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio exceeds a predetermined threshold. Our analysis is based on the theory of discrete-time Markov chain. Unlike previous methods in the literature, when our approach is used, the cardinality of the corresponding state space is reduced to be at most n, where n is the total number of nodes in the network. The reduction makes evaluating the saturation throughput of slotted Aloha feasible in practice. We show that our numerical results are consistent with simulation results.


We introduce a new method for detecting intrusions based on the temporal behavior of applications. It builds on an existing method of application intrusion detection developed at the University of New Mexico that uses a system call sequence as a signature. Intrusions are detected by comparing the signature of the intrusion and that of the normal application. But when the system call sequences generated by the intrusion and the normal application are sufficiently similar, this method cannot work. By extending system call signature to incorporate temporal information related to the application, we form a richer signature. Analysis shows that the temporal behavior for many applications is relatively stable. We exclude high variance data when creating a normal database to characterize an application with a temporal signature. It can then be the basis for future comparisons in an intrusion detection system. This paper discusses experiments that test the effectiveness of the temporal signature on different applications, alternative intrusions, and in various environments. The results show that by choosing appropriate analysis methods and experimentally adjusting the parameters, intrusions are readily detected. Finally, we give some comparisons between the temporal signature method and the system call method.


We investigate the ability of current and third-generation gravitational wave (GW) detectors to determine the delay time distribution (DTD) of binary neutron stars (BNSs) through a direct measurement of the BNS merger rate as a function of redshift. We assume that the DTD follows a power-law distribution with a slope Γ and a minimum merger time tmin, and also allow the overall BNS formation efficiency per unit stellar mass to vary. By convolving the DTD and mass efficiency with the cosmic star formation history, and then with the GW detector capabilities, we explore two relevant regimes. First, for the current generation of GW detectors, which are only sensitive to the local universe but can lead to precise redshift determinations via the identification of electromagnetic counterparts and host galaxies, we show that the DTD parameters are strongly degenerate with the unknown mass efficiency and therefore cannot be determined uniquely. Second, for third-generation detectors such as Einstein Telescope and Cosmic Explorer, which will detect BNS mergers at cosmological distances but with a redshift uncertainty inherent to GW-only detections (δ(z)/z ≈ 0.1z), we show that the DTD and mass efficiency can be well constrained to better than 10% with a year of observations. This long-term approach to determining the DTD through a direct mapping of the BNS merger redshift distribution will be supplemented by more near-term studies of the DTD through the properties of BNS merger host galaxies at z ≈ 0.


Microbes have successfully colonized the deep subsurface, thanks to their small size and their diverse metabolic activities. This part of the biosphere remains a terra incognita for microbiologists, containing innumerable unknown microbial species and processes. We depend on it for many things, i. e. water supply, oil extraction and nuclear waste disposal. In Switzerland, Opalinus Clay will be used for deep geological repositories, because of its very low permeability. This rock has been studied for 20 years, however, the potential role of microbes has long been overlooked, even though they could play a major role in controlling geochemical conditions. It was showed that they were present in pristine rock, but were not active due to the lack of space. The potential for microbial activity in disturbed rock, under repository relevant conditions, remains unexplored. This is the focus of this thesis. The first condition tested was the presence of space alone. This will occur when the rock is excavated to build the repository. The digging creates a network of large fractures in the rock zones near the galleries. This change is enough to promote microbial activity in a system, mainly composed of two species. The first one, a Peptococcaceae, oxidizes organic carbon to dioxide carbon, by reducing sulfate. The second organism is a Pseudomonas that seems to grow by fermenting organic carbon. From this model, it appears that the Peptococcaceae feeds on low molecular organic acids present in the Opalinus Clay, but also on fermentation products from Pseudomonas. What is less clear is the source of organic carbon for the latter. Is it only feeding on dead microbial cells, or is it also able to feed on reactive fossilized carbon contained in Opalinus Clay? The second case study included an additional energy source, hydrogen. This gas will be produced by anoxic steel corrosion and could damage the repository if the pressure increases significantly. However, it can be oxidized in situ by autotrophic microbial species. The dominating microbe in this system is a sulfate-reducing Desulfobulbaceae. It produces organic carbon from carbon dioxide, which can later feed heterotrophic bacteria, which are also sulfate-reducing and that release carbon dioxide. A carbon loop was thus reconstructed for the first time in the deep subsurface. It includes a fermentation step that releases the organic substrate for heterotrophic sulfate-reducing bacteria that completely oxidize simple organic carbon molecules, i.e., acetate, to carbon dioxide. In this system, hydrogen and sulfate consumption rates are 1.5 and 0.2 µmol·cm-3·day-1, respectively. This means that electrons derived from hydrogen reduce electron acceptors other than sulfate, confirming carbon fixation. These projects highlight the role that microbes can play for the safety of nuclear waste disposal. Hydrogen consumption is a beneficial process, but the overall impact of microbial activity can be negative, because it can promote corrosion and weathering of the different barriers surrounding the waste. Further work is needed in order to obtain a more complete picture of the role played by bacteria in a deep geological repository. Nonetheless, the results presented here represent a large improvement in our understanding of deep subsurface microbiology. Microbial processes were never described in this much detail in these environments, as is done here: from the metabolic pathway level, up to the ecosystem level.


Background The FIFA 11+ program is efficacious in preventing lower extremity injuries in youth soccer players; however, its implementation remains a challenge. Coaches' beliefs and actions regarding injury prevention may influence program implementation. Objective To describe baseline psychosocial factors and evaluate their relationship with intended FIFA 11+ implementation amongst youth soccer coaches, using the Health Action Process Approach (HAPA) behaviour change model. Design Cross-sectional study. Setting Community youth soccer. Participants Seventy-nine youth soccer coaches from across Canada who attended a FIFA 11+ workshop (Spring 2016) during a nationwide program implementation initiative. Assessment of Risk Factors A HAPA-based questionnaire was used to measure risk perceptions (RP), outcome expectancies (OE) and task self-efficacy (TSE) on a 7-point Likert scale. Scale levels were combined (positive, negative and neutral) to describe baseline values. Spearman correlation was used to assess relationship between factors and intention (INT) (with Bonferroni correction). Main Outcome Measurements INT to implement the FIFA 11+ in the successive soccer season as measured by the questionnaire. Results In total, 92.4% of coaches completed the survey. Most coaches (84.6%) believed the overall risk of injury in youth soccer was high (RP). 80.6% of coaches believed soccer injuries were preventable (OE1) and 94.4% believed that the FIFA 11+ would decrease injury risk (OE2). 69.1% were confident in their understanding of the FIFA 11+ (TSE1) and 76.8% were confident in their ability to use it (TSE2). Most coaches (82.5%) intended to use the program (INT). Only TSE2 was found to be significantly associated with INT (rs=0.42, p=0.001). Conclusions This preliminary analysis demonstrates that task self-efficacy relating to youth soccer coaches' confidence in being able to use the FIFA 11+ correlates positively with their intention to implement the program. No other significant relations were found between the other psychosocial factors and coaches' intention.


Although extensive research exists on the publishing success of academics, few studies have examined factors influencing the publishing success of graduate students and young academics. Data from a survey of 12,000 graduate students in the Humanities and related social sciences was used to examine citizenship, gender and racial/ethnic differences in publishing success during graduate school and the first three years after graduation. The results of this analysis indicate that international students have the highest publication rates during graduate school as well as in the first three years following receipt of degree. Results also indicate that female graduate students are less likely than male graduate students to publish, a gap that remains in the years following graduate school. Finally, results indicate that U.S. citizen minority students exhibit lower levels of publishing success compared with non-minority students during graduate school, but that this gap that disappears within the first few years after graduate school.


A 22-year-old man had perceived a moving black spot in the visual field of his right eye and no other symptoms for 1 year. An ophthalmologic examination revealed visual acuity without correction of 20/20 in both eyes, and slitlamp examination findings of the right eye identified a unique lesion that was oval in shape, measured 2 mm in thickness by 2 mm in diameter, was translucent and brown, and changed its location with head posture. During gonioscopy, we observed a nonpigmented wide angle without other findings that suggested adhesions between the lesion and the structures of the camerular angle. The patient had a clear cornea without pathologic findings, and the intraocular pressure with Goldman tonometer was 10 mm Hg in both eyes. Findings from a dilated fundus examination were unremarkable (Figure 1). Video at jamaophthalmology .com


Aluminum foams are very popular material for structural applications because of its attractive combination of properties. Structural performance of those foams can be enhanced by bonding them between strong and stiff face sheets such as carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP). The response of hybrid sandwich panels comprising aluminum foam core and CFRP face sheets were investigated under three-point bending and measured response is verified with finite element numerical simulations. Core indentation and core shear, failure modes are identified. Experimentally measured elastic stiffness and failure load of thee tested beams were found to be in good agreement with the numerical simulation and analytical predictions.


Modern oil and gas field are in general discovered far from existing platforms or shore. Development of subsea processing systems are often a suitable alternative rather than platforms or floating vessels in an economical aspect. This is due to the fact that new fields are generally smaller than the old ones, they are located in deeper waters and some of the mature fields are in tail-production. As the step-out distances increases, the need for developing new technology and architectures for subsea equipment has become desirable to ensure reliable power supply to subsea processing equipment. This master thesis is more or less a feasibility study of a proposed innovative topology for a subsea power system for a long-step out application. The system is introducing a rotary frequency converter as a subsea application for supplying large power demanding loads, such as compressors and pumps. The motivation behind this topic is increasing the power transmission capability and performance of the subsea cable, accordingly also the step-out length. Two main power systems are presented for this analysis. A singly operated rotary converter feeding a high speed induction motor is modeled and analyzed. Secondly, a subsea distribution grid including parallel operated converters for supplying two induction motors. The systems has been partly divided and modeled and analyzed in different simulation tools. The simulation results indicate several promising results after introducing the rotary converter into the power system. Some of the challenges regarding long step-out is reduced or eliminated. Some of the key results from the power flow analysis are; the voltage drop and voltage amplification in the transmission cable during full-load and no-load is completely compensated from a synchronous generator equipped with a automatic voltage regulator (AVR). Furthermore, the reactive power production in the cable is considerable reduced. The voltage level can therefore relatively be increased for the same power level, due to the fact that the reactive power production is increasing squared with the voltage level. In addition, the AC resistance of the cable is some reduced, due to less influence of skin effect and proximity effect. Consequently, reducing $I^2R$ losses in the cable. A dynamic analysis has been performed regarding the stability during a disturbance in the system and the properties of the rotary converter. The objective is to examine how these disturbances affect the system. Additionally, a motor start-up analysis of the rotary converter has been executed. The results do not indicate any severe transient levels in the simulation cases.


Background: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a chronic and developmental disorder that affects about one out of every 65 children in California, and one in 59 children in the United States. Children with ASD have difficulty communicating and interacting with others, and experience oversensitivity to new stimuli and environments. Problem: In healthcare settings, children with ASD experience numerous challenges related to lack of adequate knowledge and education of staff regarding ASD, and lack of appropriate environmental and sensory resources which reduce quality of care provided to this population. Objective: To analyze and evaluate the evidence regarding effective staff education and toolkit implementation, along with sensory room and items, and the potential impacts that these interventions can create to help mitigate this issue. Methods: To help guide the project and literature search, a PICOT question was designed and used to search across relevant databases and journals using applicable key terms to identify studies from 2012 to 2020. Selected studies were analyzed using John Hopkins Nursing Evidence-Based Practice Tools by Dang & Dearholt (2017). Results: Initial search resulted in 4157 studies across the databases and 2097 results across the journals. After applying further criteria and removing duplicates, final yield was five articles. Analysis of the five studies identified guidelines/interventions addressing behavioral and social concerns, healthcare staff knowledge and education, and sensory and environment. Conclusions: All five selected studies highlight the need and importance of implementing an educational toolkit for staff, and sensory room for children with ASD to streamline their care within healthcare settings.


Background: It is unclear whether pigmented Spitz and Reed nevi are distinct morphologic entities or part of the spectrum of Spitz nevi. Methods: In a retrospective observational study we analyzed dermatopathologic slides of 22 cases with clinical and dermatoscopic features indicative of pigmented Spitz or Reed nevus in a blinded fashion according to predefined criteria and subsequently correlated dermatopathologic with clinical and dermatoscopic findings. Results: We differentiated pigmented Spitz and Reed nevus dermatopathologically by their capacity of melanin production and a vertical versus horizontal growth pattern. Based on histopathology 20 nevi (91%) could be reliably diagnosed as Reed nevus (68%, n=15) or as pigmented Spitz nevus (23%, n=5). In two cases (9%, n=2) it was not possible to make a clear distinction from a dermatopathologic point of view. Dermatopathologic-dermatoscopic correlation showed that Reed nevi were characterized by a dermatoscopic pattern of peripheral radial lines or pseudopods (fascicular growth pattern), whereas pigmented Spitz nevi were typified by a pattern consisting of clods (nested growth pattern). "Spitz cells" (large epithelioid melanocytes) were more commonly found in Spitz nevi (100%, n = 5) but were also present in Reed nevi (n=6, 40%). Spindle cells were found in both types of nevi. Conclusions: Pigmented Spitz and Reed nevi can be reliably distinguished based on their dermatopathologic and dermatoscopic patterns. The specific dermatopathologic patterns of pigmented Spitz and Reed nevi correspond well to their dermatoscopic patterns. The presence of "Spitz cells" or spindle cells should not be regarded as the decisive criterion to differentiate between these two entities.


Digital electronic network and optical storage technologies are revolutionizing publishing. The new technology enables a disaggregation of value and an associated dis‐integration of production. The dimensions of new information technologies can be explored more carefully by thinking about ten discrete characteristics or attributes of information products, or "types of value." A modern print publisher is a broker or assembler of all the types of value. Mechanical print formats will continue to offer better utility to consumers than digital electronic formats as long as they have more of these types of value than digital electronic formats. Lightweight "notebook" portable microcomputers, having most of the power of desktop computers, and pen‐operating systems at least partially satisfy the first need, the need for book‐size flat panel displays. Three inter‐related software requirements remain to be satisfied: improved browsability, zooming capability, and improved annotation capability. Network and CD‐ROM technologies make it possible for a larger number of competing suppliers of specific types of added value to offer diverse products, with some of the features likely to cause consumers to shift their preferences from paper to electronic formats.


The focus of this study is to investigate the compression-compression fatigue damage of S2-glass/vinyl ester woven composites manufactured through Vacuum Assisted Resin Transfer Molding (VARTM). The compressive behavior and the relevant failure modes of composites are investigated prior to applying the cyclic load. The panels of thicknesses (0.15 in./3.81mm – 0.45 in./11.43 mm) are considered to quantify the process related defect such as void contents and fiber waviness in the thick composite laminates. Void content of each panel is determined through a bum-off test method using a Thermal Gravitational Analyzer (TGA). An optical microscope attached with a grid pattern transparent film is used to measure the waviness parameters of the laminate. The ultrasonic C-scan, A-scan and microscopic examinations are used to identify the manufacturing flaws related to VARTM. The effects of such defects on static compression and compression-compression cyclic behavior of thick composites are investigated. The failure strength, failure strain, modulus and number of cycles to failure at different stress levels for various laminate thicknesses are determined. Weibull plots are generated using both static compression strength and fatigue life cycles. Although the range of the thickness of the laminate was in the ratio of one to three, the variation in compressive strength data was rather nominal. The fatigue performance is observed to improve with the increase in thickness. In-situ monitoring of progressive damage under compressive and cyclic loading is conducted using acoustic emission (AE) method. AE parameters in the form of amplitude, energy and time plots are generated. The compressive and fatigue failure modes are identified by optical and scanning electron microscopic examinations. These failure modes are correlated with acoustic emission Non Destructive Evaluation (NDE) parameters.


ABSTRACT Early Paleozoic calcareous algae are potentially useful for stratigraphic correlation but remain underutilized, likely due to presence of graptolites, conodonts, brachiopods, and other fossils that are commonly used in high-resolution biostratigraphy. This study focuses on the siphonous green algae within a 2-to-24-m-thick B interval of the Red River Formation, North Dakota, where the abundance of green algae suggests an important paleoenvironmental control; the algae also had a major role in carbonate production during that narrow stratigraphic interval. The bryopsidalean genus Dimorphosiphon Høeg is abundant in algal wacke-packstone facies interpreted as shallow subtidal deposits. One hundred and twenty-two individual Dimorphosiphon thalli were identified and studied in detail in randomly oriented thin sections; measurements indicate that Williston Basin specimens belong to the species D. talbotorum Boyd, previously reported exclusively from the Bighorn Mountains, Wyoming. Dimorphosiphon is found in Upper Ordovician low-latitude, warm-water shelf carbonates of Kazakhstania, Baltica, and Laurentia; commonly, it is a major component of sediment. Several species of Dimorphosiphon appeared simultaneously in different and remote parts of the Paleotethys and Iapetus Oceans, suggesting a geologically instantaneous dispersal of the genus. Dimorphosiphon talbotorum, the focus of this study, has only been reported from western North America where it occurs within strata corresponding to the upper Katian Aphelognathus divergens Subzone of the Aphelognathus ordovicicus conodont Zone. Given its abundance, ease of identification, and short stratigraphic range, D. talbotorum potentially is very useful for regional correlation, facies, and paleobiogeographic studies of Upper Ordovician Richmondian shallow-marine strata of western North America.


Guided by a literal reading of the prophetic sections of the Bible, Christian Zionists are convinced that the world is hurtling toward a final Battle of Armageddon. They believe that war in the Middle East is God's will for the region. In this timely book, Victoria Clark first explores the 400-year history of this powerful political ideology, laying to rest the idea that Christian Zionism is a passing craze or the province of a lunatic fringe. Then Clark surveys the contemporary Christian Zionist scene in Israel and in the United States, where the influence of the religious fundamentalists has never been greater. Clark engages with Christian Zionism directly, interviewing leaders, attending events, and traveling with Christian Zionists in the Holy Land. She also investigates the Christian Zionist presence in Israel. She finds that the view through the Christian Zionist lens is dangerously simple: President Bush's War on Terror is a mythic battle between good and evil, and Syria and Iran represent the powers of darkness. Such views are far from rare--an estimated fifteen to twenty million Americans share them. Almost one in three Americans believes Israel was given to the Jews by God as a prelude to the Battle of Armageddon and Jesus' Second Coming. Clark concludes with an assessment of Christian Zionists' impact on American foreign policy in the Middle East and on America's relationships with European allies since the attacks of 9/11.


In the present work, an effective and facile one-pot dealloying strategy has been developed to synthesize monolithic asymmetry-patterned nanoporous copper ribbons (AP-NPCRs) from melt-spun bi-phase Al 32 at% Cu alloy with trace α-Al. The microstructure and nanoporosity of these AP-NPCRs were characterized using X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray analysis, transmission electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller measurements. The results show that the cooling rate and dealloying solution have a significant influence on formation, microstructure and nanoporosity of AP-NPCRs. The quenching surface of porous products has regular bimodal channel size distributions regardless of corrosive solution species, while the free surface shows a homogeneous porous network nanostructure in acidic solution and anomalous bimodal nanoporous architecture in alkaline medium. Additionally, the microstructure (surface morphology, ligament/channel sizes and distribution) and nanoporosity of AP-NPCRs can be modulated effectively by simply changing the dealloying solution.


Self-training is a competitive approach in domain adaptive segmentation, which trains the network with the pseudo labels on the target domain. However inevitably, the pseudo labels are noisy and the target features are dispersed due to the discrepancy between source and target domains. In this paper, we rely on representative prototypes, the feature centroids of classes, to address the two issues for unsupervised domain adaptation. In particular, we take one step further and exploit the feature distances from prototypes that provide richer information than mere prototypes. Specifically, we use it to estimate the likelihood of pseudo labels to facilitate online correction in the course of training. Meanwhile, we align the prototypical assignments based on relative feature distances for two different views of the same target, producing a more compact target feature space. Moreover, we find that distilling the already learned knowledge to a self-supervised pretrained model further boosts the performance. Our method shows tremendous performance advantage over state-of-the-art methods. The code is available at https://github.com/microsoft/ProDA.


Tertiary stabilizing motifs (TSMs) between terminal loops or internal bulges facilitate folding of natural hammerhead ribozymes (hRz) under physiological conditions. However, both substrate and enzyme strands contribute nucleotides to the TSMs of trans-cleaving hRz, complicating the design of hRz that exploit TSMs to target specific mRNA. To overcome this limitation, we used SELEX to identify new, artificial TSMs that are less sensitive to sequence context. Nucleotides in loop II or in a bulge within the ribozyme strand of stem I were randomized, while the interaction partner was held constant. All nucleotides of the substrate pair with the ribozyme, minimizing their possible recruitment into the TSM, as such recruitment could constrain choice of candidate target sequences. Six cycles of selection identified cis-acting ribozymes that were active in 100 microM MgCl2. The selected motifs partially recapitulate TSMs found in natural hRz, suggesting that the natural motifs are close to optimal for their respective contexts. Ribozyme "RzB" showed enhanced thermal stability by retaining trans-cleavage activity at 80 degrees C in 10 mM MgCl2 and at 70 degrees C in 2 mM MgCl2. A variant of ribozyme "RzB" with a continuously paired stem 1 rapidly lost activity as temperature was increased. The selected motifs are modular, in that they permit trans-cleavage of several substrates in submillimolar MgCl2, including two substrates derived from the U5 genomic region of HIV-1. The new, artificial tertiary stabilized hRz are thus nearly independent of sequence context and enable for the first time the use of highly active hRz targeting almost any mRNA at physiologically relevant magnesium concentrations.


The Study on COgnition and Prognosis in the Elderly (SCOPE) is a multicentre, prospective, randomized, double-blind, parallel-group study designed to compare the effects of candesartan cilexetil and placebo in elderly patients with mild hypertension. The primary objective of the study is to assess the effect of candesartan cilexetil on major cardiovascular events. The secondary objectives of the study are to assess the effect of candesartan cilexetil on cognitive function and on total mortality, cardiovascular mortality, myocardial infarction, stroke, renal function, hospitalization, quality of life and health economics. Male and female patients aged between 70 and 89 years, with a sitting systolic blood pressure (SBP) of 160-179 mmHg and/or diastolic blood pressure (DBP) of 90-99 mmHg, and a Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) score of 24 or above, are eligible for the study. The overall target study population is 4000 patients, at least 1000 of whom are also to be assessed for quality of life and health economics data. After an open run-in period lasting 1-3 months, during which patients are assessed for eligibility and those who are already on antihypertensive therapy at enrolment are switched to hydrochlorothiazide 12.5 mg o.d., patients are randomized to receive either candesartan cilexetil 8 mg once daily (o.d.) or matching placebo o.d. At subsequent study visits, if SBP remains >160 mmHg, or has decreased by <10 mmHg since the randomization visit, or DBP is >85 mmHg, study treatment is doubled to candesartan cilexetil 16 mg o.d. or two placebo tablets o.d. Recruitment was completed in January 1999. At that time 4964 patients had been randomized. All randomized patients will be followed for an additional 2 years. If the event rate is lower than anticipated, the follow-up will be prolonged.


Rice seedlings germinating in oxygen-deficient environments do not manifest visual evidence of seminal or adventitious root growth or normal leaf growth, the coleoptile being the only seedling structure to emerge under these environmental conditions. Microscopic evidence, however, shows that mitotic activity occurs in the different tissues comprising the shoots of the seedlings germinating under oxygen deficiency. Thus evidence is presented here which shows that mitotic activity in rice seedlings germinating in oxygen-deficient environments is not confined solely to the emerging coleoptiles of the germinating seedlings.


Background and Aim: Kindling can increase anxiety-like behavior in rodents. Oxidative stress has an important role in arousing anxiety. It is known that Matricaria Recutita has an antioxidant effect. Thus, the present study aimed at assessing the effects of this plant's extract. on anxiety-like behavior induced by kindling in rats. Materials and Methods: In this experimental study, 40 male Wistar Albino rats (wt:200-250 g) were randomly divided into 4 equal groups; namely control (intact), kindling, diazepam (2 mg/kg), and aqueous extract of Matricaria Recutita (30 mg/kg) intrapertoneally. Kindling was done by a sub-convulsive dose of pentylenetetrazole (PTZ; 40 mg/kg, i.p.) in the remainder . groups. Kindling parameters in all these animals were evaluated by a plus elevated maze. The percent of time spent in the open arms of maze (OAT %) and percent of entries in the open arms (OAE %) were accounted for anxiety evaluation. Increase in OAT % and OAE % indicated an anxiolytic effect. Finally,the obtained data was analyzed by means of Any-Maze software and P<0.05 was taken as the significant level. Results: Kindling significantly (P<0.05) increased anxiety response in rats for at least 24h following the last seizure (decrease in OAT % and OAE %). Administeration of diazepam and Matricaria Recutita induced a significant increase in OAT % and OAE %, thereby . displaying a decrease in the anxiety in the kindled rats (P<0.05). Activity rate of the animals increased in the extract-treated group. Conclusion: The results of the present study showed that Matricaria Recutita was able to improve elevated levels of anxiety in kindled rats. Therefore, further works are needed to elucidate the extent and mechanism of these effects.


BACKGROUND
Previous studies of hospital-based patients with metastatic melanoma suggest sociodemographic factors, including insurance type, may be associated with the receipt of systemic treatments.

OBJECTIVES
To examine whether insurance type is associated with the receipt of systemic treatment among patients with melanoma in a broad cohort of patients in North Carolina.

METHODS
We conducted a retrospective cohort study between 2011 and 2017 of patients with stages III-IV melanoma using data from the North Carolina Central Cancer Registry linked to Medicare, Medicaid, and private health insurance claims across the state. The primary outcome was the receipt of any systemic treatment, and the secondary outcome was the receipt of immunotherapy.

RESULTS
A total of 372 patients met the inclusion criteria. The average age was 68 years old (interquartile range: 56-76) and 61% were male. Within the cohort 48% had Medicare only, 29% had private insurance, 12% had both Medicare and Medicaid, and 11% had Medicaid only. A total of 186 (50%) patients received systemic treatment for melanoma, 125 (67%) of whom received immunotherapy. The use of systemic therapy, including immunotherapy, increased significantly over time. Having Medicaid-only insurance was independently associated with a 45% lower likelihood of receiving any systemic treatment [0.55 (95% CI: 0.35, 0.85)] and a 43% lower likelihood of receipt of immunotherapy [0.57 (95% CI: 0.34, 0.95)] compared with private insurance.

CONCLUSIONS
Stage III-IV melanoma patients with Medicaid-only insurance were less likely to receive systemic therapy or immunotherapy than patients with private insurance or Medicare insurance. This finding raises concerns about insurance-based disparities in treatment access.


Chemical pre-treatment of synthetic Procaine Penicillin G (PPG) effluent with ozone (applied dose = 1440 mg/h; treatment duration = 60 min) at pH = 7 was investigated. Successive biological treatability studies were performed with raw, ozonated penicillin formulation effluent and synthetic readily biodegradable substrate as simulated domestic wastewater. The PPG effluent additions were adjusted to constitute approximately 30% of the total COD in the reactor. Ozonation of PPG effluent resulted in practically complete removal of the parent pollutant accompanied by 40% COD abatement. Speaking for the raw PPG effluent, prolonged acclimation periods were necessary to obtain significant COD removal efficiencies. Batch activated sludge treatment experiments and respirometric studies have demonstrated that the selection of true retention time is extremely crucial for having high amount of slowly hydrolysable substrate or complex wastewater, like pharmaceutical effluent. The effect of ozonation time on biological treatability performance of PPG has been evaluated in the study. Pre-ozonation of PPG effluent did not improve its ultimate biodegradability.


Q fever, a zoonosis caused by Coxiella burnetii , an obligate intracellular gram-negative bacterium (Arricau-Bouvery and Rodolakis 2005), is currently attracting international attention due to a recent major epidemic (2007–2009) in The Netherlands involving over 3500 reported human cases (Roest and others 2011). Domestic ruminants (goats, sheep and cattle) are the major reservoirs and sources of human infection (Maurin and Raoult 1999); goats are the most susceptible, clinically manifesting with abortion and reproductive problems, followed by sheep and cattle. Humans are affected by acute or chronic influenza-like illness, pneumonia, endocarditis and hepatitis. Shedding of C burnetii differs among ruminant species, milk being the primary route in cattle (Rodolakis and others 2007).

Although human cases appear sporadically in Northern Ireland and south-west England (Reilly and others 1990, Orr and others 2006), and two small epidemics involving 147 and 30 human cases (Hawker and others 1998, Wallensten and others 2010) have been reported, there are few studies of C burnetii prevalence in livestock in the UK. Paiba and others (1999) investigating cows' bulk tank milk (BTM) from England and Wales reported a herd prevalence of 21 per cent. McCaughey and others (2009) reported a Northern Ireland cattle herd seroprevalence of 48.4 per cent, while seroprevalences in sheep and goat flocks were 62.1 per cent and 42.9 per cent, respectively. These surveys …


Todzha valley is situated in the South-Eastern part of Sayan Mts. Annotated list of liverworts of the Todzha valley is given for the first time and represents the first records on the hepatics flora of Tuva Republic. It included 84 species of 38 genera. 25 taxa are recorded for the first time for Sayan Mts. (marked by single asterisk), 7 for South Siberia (marked by two asterisk) and 3 for Siberia (marked by 3 asterisk).


: During the past decade, many advances have been made in the diagnosis, treatment, and management of pain. However, undertreatment of pain among all population groups is still a nationwide problem. Changes, though, are occurring this year, with many hospitals, health systems, and health plans placing pain management on the top of their patient agendas--due in part to the introduction of new pain management standards by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations. This issue looks at how health care providers are working together across the country to make those changes--and meet JCAHO standards--while fulfilling the needs of their patient populations through innovative pain assessment and management strategies.


Abstract Recent empirical research and developments in the cattle industry suggest several reasons to suspect structural change in economic relationships determining cattle prices. Standard forecasting models may ignore structural change and may produce biased and misleading forecasts. Vector autoregressive (VAR) models that allow parameters to vary with time are used to forecast quarterly cattle prices. The VAR procedures are flexible in that they allow the identification of structural change that begins at an a priori unknown point and occurs gradually. The results indicate that the lowest RMSE for out-of-sample forecasts of cattle prices is obtained using a gradually switching VAR model. However, differences between the gradually switching VAR model and a univariate ARIMA model are not strongly significant. Impulse response functions indicate that adjustments of cattle prices to new information have become faster in recent years.


A single-phase superconducting Fault Current Limiter using a bifilar coil of BSCCO-2212 tube was tested in 220 V-60 Hz line during fault current between 1 kA to 4 kA, operating in 77 K. In this work are presented the critical current dependence as a function of an external magnetic field applied and the results can be used to predict the current limiter performance. The experimental setup is described and the test results are presented for the unit conducting a steady nominal AC current of 200 A, and also during the fault time (1 to 6 cycles). The performance of the bifilar coil to provide the limiting impedance associated with the dynamic resistance developed during the beginning of the fault was analyzed and compared with other types of superconducting current limiters


Arthur Mannering Tyndall was a man who played a leading part in the establishment of research and teaching in physics in one of the newer universities of this country. His whole career was spent in the University of Bristol, where he was Lecturer, Professor and for a while Acting ViceChancellor, and his part in guiding the development of Bristol from a small university college to a great university was clear to all who knew him. He presided over the building and development of the H. H. Wills Physical Laboratory, and his leadership brought it from its small beginnings to its subsequent achievements. His own work, for which he was elected to the Fellowship of the Royal Society, was on the mobility of gaseous ions. Arthur Tyndall was born in Bristol on 18 September 1881. He was educated at a private school in Bristol where no science was taught, except a smattering of chemistry in the last two terms. Nonetheless he entered University College, obtaining the only scholarship offered annually by the City of Bristol for study in that college and intending to make his career in chemistry. However, when brought into contact with Professor Arthur Chattock, an outstanding teacher on the subject, he decided to switch to physics; he always expressed the warmest gratitude for the inspiration that he had received from him. He graduated with second class honours in the external London examination in 1903. In that year he was appointed Assistant Lecturer, was promoted to Lecturer in 1907, and became Lecturer in the University when the University College became a university in 1909. During this time he served under Professor A. P. Chattock, but Chattock retired in 1910 at the age of 50 and Tyndall became acting head of the department. Then, with the outbreak of war, he left the University to run an army radiological department in Hampshire.


OBJECTIVE
This study aimed to focus on non-COVID-19 patients during the process when all physicians focused on COVID-19 patients. Patients with pulmonary diseases in the COVID-19 pandemic period were analyzed.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
Non-COVID-19 cases who were hospitalized in the pulmonology clinic, outpatients, and patients who applied to the non-COVID-19 emergency service and requested a pulmonology consultation in the period from March 16, 2020 to May 15, 2020 and in the same period of the previous year (i.e., from March 16, 2019 to May 15, 2019) were included in this study.

RESULTS
In the pandemic period, it was found that there was an 84% decrease in outpatient admissions, a 43% decrease in inpatients, and a 75% decrease in emergency services. During the pandemic period, in outpatient setting, male and younger case admissions increased, admissions with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and interstitial lung diseases decreased, whereas the frequency of admission to asthma, pneumonia, and pulmonary thromboembolism increased. In the period of the pandemic, patients with asthma, COPD, and lung cancer were less hospitalized, whereas patients with pulmonary thromboembolism, pneumonia, and pleural effusion were hospitalized more. In non-COVID-19 patient treatments during the pandemic period, usage of a metered dose inhaler increased.

CONCLUSION
During the COVID-19 pandemic, non-COVID pulmonary pathologies decreased significantly, and there was a change in the profile of the patients. From now on, to be prepared for pandemic and similar extraordinary situations, to organize hospitals for the epidemic, to determine health institutions to which nonepidemic patients can apply, to make necessary plans in order not to neglect the nonepidemic patients, and to develop digital health service methods, especially telemedicine, would be appropriate.


This thesis tries to describe the use of mathematics in some workplace tasks. In particular the math corresponding to subjects of high school math courses B, C and D, is identified. Furthermore, the study attempts to analyze the nature of the way in which this math comes to use. This is represented by six different competences. Interviews with five (5) professionals, within different areas, are the main sources of information for this study. The aim has also been to find tasks that are common in the sense of not being isolated and solely performed by a small group of professionals, on a nationwide basis. Analyzing the result gives a narrow and fragmented view of what out-of-school mathematics do look like. Nevertheless there are some good examples, from different workplaces, of use of statistics and annuities. Most widely employed, according to the analysis, are the competences for handling communication, algorithms, and modeling. Some 'hidden' mathematics were observed and that will also be discussed. Perhaps in the future math will be performed by computer programs only?


As an organizational asset, employees have an important role in the success of the organization. How to bring up employees who feel supported by the organization and follow the norms of reciprocity with a feeling of obligation to make positive efforts for the organization is the aim of the discussion in this article. The contribution of the article arises from the urgency to provide an explanation of the mechanism that underlies the theory of Perceived Organization Support (POS) for novice researchers in linking the antecedents and consequences of POS. The managerial implication leads to the role of the manager to start by first showing support to his employees in order to move the norm of individual reciprocity to be able to enjoy the utility of POS which includes direct benefits for the welfare of individuals and organizations. Variations of POS measurement items are also discussed to provide recommendations for instrument choice among alternatives. Future POS researchers can take a look at trends in POS-related businesses such as worker collaboration, changes in individual-organizational relationships, and across cultures.


In the fall of 2005, BP commissioned Fairfield Industries to conduct a large, wide-azimuth survey over Atlantis Field in deepwater Gulf of Mexico. The purpose of the survey was wide-azimuth, subsalt imaging using P-waves. The seafloor topography is complex with scoured furrows at the base of the escarpment. A shallow salt body covers a large part of the survey area and rafts the seafloor at the escarpment, leading to very strong velocity contrasts. The water depth in the area varies from approximately 1300 m above the Sigsbee escarpment to 2200 m below it.


With the development of new undergraduate degree programs within Murdoch University's School of Engineering, the decision was made to offer courses, as much as practical, online. In addition to being driven by other key objectives, the web was seen to empower students with regard to their learning experience by providing an environment well suited to support student control of the learning process.

However, the self directed learning environment requires an infrastructure to support the students and foster their construction of knowledge:
*to present information within an organised framework
*to know whether the material is being covered appropriately
*to know what component in relation to the whole course has and still needs to be undertaken within the timeframe
*to ensure meaningful interpretations are made and learning objectives being achieved.

In addition to providing mechanisms for the student to self regulate their learning, the infrastructure must be able to provide the teacher with mechanisms to evaluate that the learning is meaningful within the requirements of the course. In order to address these issues, two environments have been built. The purpose of this presentation is to demonstrate and to discuss the components of this infrastructure:
* the elements common to the two environments:
* support provided to early year students to plan and monitor their own study program
* the navigational scheme provided for senior students with more developed study habits.

This allowing the students to complete elements of a course at their own pace, and with some degree of choice as to the order in which topics are studied and how these elements are integrated into the instructional framework that supports learner control and self regulation.


BACKGROUND: Acute kidney injury (AKI) after major noncardiac surgery is commonly attributed to cardiovascular dysfunction. Identifying novel associations between preoperative cardiovascular markers and kidney injury may guide risk stratification and perioperative intervention. Increased left ventricular relative wall thickness (RWT), routinely measured on echocardiography, is associated with myocardial dysfunction and long-term risk of heart failure in patients with preserved left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF); however, its relationship to postoperative complications has not been studied. We evaluated the association between preoperative RWT and AKI in high-risk noncardiac surgical patients with preserved LVEF. METHODS: Patients ≥18 years of age having major noncardiac surgery (high-risk elective intra-abdominal or noncardiac intrathoracic surgery) between July 1, 2016, and June 30, 2018, who had transthoracic echocardiography in the previous 12 months were eligible. Patients with preoperative creatinine ≥2 mg/dL or reduced LVEF (<50%) were excluded. The association between RWT and AKI, defined as an increase in serum creatinine by 0.3 mg/dL from baseline within 48 hours or by 50% within 7 days after surgery, was assessed using multivariable logistic regression adjusted for preoperative covariates. An additional model adjusted for intraoperative covariates, which are strongly associated with AKI, especially hypotension. RWT was modeled continuously, associating the change in odds of AKI for each 0.1 increase in RWT. RESULTS: The study included 1041 patients (mean ± standard deviation [SD] age 62 ± 15 years; 59% female). A total of 145 subjects (13.9%) developed AKI within 7 days. For RWT quartiles 1 through 4, respectively, 20 of 262 (7.6%), 40 of 259 (15.4%), 39 of 263 (14.8%), and 46 of 257 (17.9%) developed AKI. Log-odds and proportion with AKI increased across the observed RWT values. After adjusting for confounders (demographics, American Society of Anesthesiologists [ASA] physical status, comorbidities, baseline creatinine, antihypertensive medications, and left ventricular mass index), each RWT increase of 0.1 was associated with an estimated 26% increased odds of developing AKI (odds ratio [OR]; 95% confidence interval [CI]) of 1.26 (1.09–1.46; P = .002). After adjusting for intraoperative covariates (length of surgery, presence of an arterial line, intraoperative hypotension, crystalloid administration, transfusion, and urine output), RWT remained independently associated with the odds of AKI (OR; 95% CI) of 1.28 (1.13–1.47; P = .001). Increased RWT was also independently associated with hospital length of stay and adjusted hazard ratio (HR [95% CI]) of 0.94 (0.89–0.99; P = .018). CONCLUSIONS: Left ventricular RWT is a novel cardiovascular factor associated with AKI within 7 days after high-risk noncardiac surgery among patients with preserved LVEF. Application of this commonly available measurement of risk stratification or perioperative intervention warrants further investigation.


This article shows that the transparency of personal information online through ubiquitous data collection and surveillance challenges the rule of law both domestically and internationally. The article makes three arguments. First, the transparency created by individuals' interactions online erodes the boundary between public and private information and creates a "transparent citizen." Second, the transparent citizen phenomenon undermines the state's faithfulness to the ideals of the rule of law and to citizens' respect for the rule of law. Transparency enables government to collect and use personal information from the private sector in ways that circumvent traditional political and legal checks and balances. Transparency encourages the development of anonymity tools that empower wrong-doers to evade legal responsibility and the rule of law. And, transparency puts national security, public safety and legal institutions at risk in ways that will jeopardize and corrode the public's faith in the rule of law. Third and lastly, transparency challenges international norms and data flows. National data privacy law is anchored in local constitutional culture and the transparency of personal information across borders creates deep-seated political instability that will only be resolved through political treaties.


This dissertation addresses the reasons why private companies that have decided to go public use the alternative reverse merger path instead of the traditional initial public offering. We test the importance of information asymmetry for the decision of domestic and foreign private company owners to go public in the US utilizing the reverse merger path. To measure information asymmetry we use size, profitability, development stage, expenses and financing variables. We conclude that private companies choosing the reverse merger path are highly information asymmetric since reverse merger deals require no offering to be conducted at the consummation of the deal making these companies less reliant on a wide public investor base. This dissertation consists of five Chapters: Chapter One reviews going public and cross-listing literature. Chapter Two presents our empirical findings of domestic reverse mergers-penny stock initial public offerings comparison. Chapter Three analyzes similarities and differences of domestic and foreign reverse mergers. Chapter Four expands our analysis to the international level. Chapter Five states our conclusions.


Efficient exploration in bandits is a fundamental online learning problem. We propose a variant of Thompson sampling that learns to explore better as it interacts with bandit instances drawn from an unknown prior. The algorithm meta-learns the prior and thus we call it MetaTS. We propose several efficient implementations of MetaTS and analyze it in Gaussian bandits. Our analysis shows the benefit of meta-learning and is of a broader interest, because we derive a novel prior-dependent Bayes regret bound for Thompson sampling. Our theory is complemented by empirical evaluation, which shows that MetaTS quickly adapts to the unknown prior.


A high performance six degree-of-freedom magnetic levitation haptic interface device has been integrated with a physically-based dynamic rigid-body simulation to enable realistic user interaction in real time with a 3-D dynamic virtual environment. The user grasps the levitated handle of the device to manipulate a virtual tool in the simulated environment and feels its force and motion response as it contacts and interacts with other objects in the simulation. The physical simulation and the magnetic levitation controller execute independently on separate processors. The position and orientation of the virtual tool in the simulation and the levitated handle of the maglev device are exchanged at each update of the simulation. The position and orientation data from each system act as impedance control setpoints for the other, with position error and velocity feedback on each system acting as virtual coupling between the two systems. The setpoints from the simulation are interpolated by the controller at the faster device control rate so that the user feels smooth sliding contacts without chattering due to the slower updates of the simulation. The simple feedback coupling between the two systems enables the overall stiffness and stability of the combined system to be tuned easily and provides realistic haptic user interaction. Sample task simulation environments have been programmed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the haptic interaction system.


Abstract. On scales of ≈ 10 days (the lifetime of planetary-scale structures), there is a drastic transition from high-frequency weather to low-frequency macroweather. This scale is close to the predictability limits of deterministic atmospheric models; thus, in GCM (general circulation model) macroweather forecasts, the weather is a high-frequency noise. However, neither the GCM noise nor the GCM climate is fully realistic. In this paper we show how simple stochastic models can be developed that use empirical data to force the statistics and climate to be realistic so that even a two-parameter model can perform as well as GCMs for annual global temperature forecasts. The key is to exploit the scaling of the dynamics and the large stochastic memories that we quantify. Since macroweather temporal (but not spatial) intermittency is low, we propose using the simplest model based on fractional Gaussian noise (fGn): the ScaLIng Macroweather Model (SLIMM). SLIMM is based on a stochastic ordinary differential equation, differing from usual linear stochastic models (such as the linear inverse modelling – LIM) in that it is of fractional rather than integer order. Whereas LIM implicitly assumes that there is no low-frequency memory, SLIMM has a huge memory that can be exploited. Although the basic mathematical forecast problem for fGn has been solved, we approach the problem in an original manner, notably using the method of innovations to obtain simpler results on forecast skill and on the size of the effective system memory. A key to successful stochastic forecasts of natural macroweather variability is to first remove the low-frequency anthropogenic component. A previous attempt to use fGn for forecasts had disappointing results because this was not done. We validate our theory using hindcasts of global and Northern Hemisphere temperatures at monthly and annual resolutions. Several nondimensional measures of forecast skill – with no adjustable parameters – show excellent agreement with hindcasts, and these show some skill even on decadal scales. We also compare our forecast errors with those of several GCM experiments (with and without initialization) and with other stochastic forecasts, showing that even this simplest two parameter SLIMM is somewhat superior. In future, using a space–time (regionalized) generalization of SLIMM, we expect to be able to exploit the system memory more extensively and obtain even more realistic forecasts.


Recent electron microscopic studies of normal and pathological synovia have given a fresh insight into the structure and function of this tissue. The structure of human (Barland, Novikoff, and Hamerman, 1962; Roy, Ghadially, and Crane, 1966) and guinea-pig synovium (Wyllie, More, and Haust, 1964) has been studied in some detail, but only brief accounts of normal rabbit synovium can be found in papers dealing with the removal of injected substances from joints (Ball, Chapman, and Muirden, 1964; Cochrane, Davies, and Palfrey, 1965). The rabbit is the largest common laboratory rodent and as such its knee joint has been the subject of much study and many experimental procedures. It is therefore necessary to study and record the ultrastructure of the synovium of this valuable experimental animal in some detail.


Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is a hereditary primary myocardial disease that is most commonly due to mutations within genes encoding sarcomeric contractile proteins and is characterised by left ventricular hypertrophy in the absence of a cardiac or systemic cause. Although the overall prognosis is relatively good with an annual mortality rate <1 %, the propensity to potentially fatal ventricular arrhythmias is the most feared complication. The identification of patients at risk of arrhythmogenic sudden cardiac death (SCD) is an essential component in disease management. Aborted SCD and malignant ventricular arrhythmias are the most powerful risk factors for SCD and ICD implantation is recommended in such circumstances. The selection of patients who may benefit from ICD therapy for primary prevention purposes is more challenging. The heterogeneous nature of the disease and the variation in trigger factors provides an adequate explanation for the low predictive accuracy of most conventional risk factors in isolation. A new risk model for risk stratification proposed by the European Society of Cardiology HCM outcome group shows promise but requires validation in different cohorts. The ICD is the only effective therapy in preventing SCD for the disease with a relatively low adverse event rate, but most deaths occur in relatively young patients. However, it is also difficult to ignore the complications with the ICD, therefore, the strive to perfect risk stratification in HCM should continue to ensure that only the most high-risk patients receive an ICD.


Preterm birth is associated with heightened risk for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)-like symptoms and neurocognitive impairments, including impairments in performance monitoring. Here, we investigate the cognitive and neurophysiological processes from a performance-monitoring task in preterm-born adolescents and examine whether these processes in preterm-born adolescents reflect identical neurophysiological impairments to those observed in term-born adolescents with ADHD. We compared 186 preterm-born individuals to 69 term-born individuals with ADHD and 135 term-born controls on cognitive-performance measures and event-related potentials (ERPs) of conflict monitoring (N2) and error processing (ERN, Pe) from a flanker task. Preterm-born adolescents demonstrated reduced N2, ERN and Pe amplitudes, compared to controls, and similar ERN and Pe impairments to term-born adolescents with ADHD. While ADHD symptoms correlated with ERN amplitude at FCz among the preterm-born, ERN amplitude at Fz, N2 and Pe amplitude were not associated with ADHD symptoms. Preterm-born individuals show impairments on neurophysiological indices of conflict monitoring (N2) and error processing (ERN and Pe). Early neurophysiological error processing may be a marker underlying the processes linked to the increased risk for ADHD among preterm-born individuals. Error detection processes are malleable and potential targets for non-pharmacological interventions. Preterm-born individuals are likely to benefit from early interventions.


We study countries' compliance with the targets pledged in international climate-change agreements and the impact of those agreements and specific climate laws and policies on greenhouse-gas emissions and economic outcomes. To do so, we compile and codify data on international agreements and measures enacted at the national and sub-national levels. We find that compliance with targets has been mixed. Still, countries that signed the Kyoto Protocol or the Copenhagen Accord experienced significant reductions in emissions when compared to non-signatories. Having quantifiable targets led to further reductions. Effects from the Paris Agreement are not yet evident in the data. Carbon taxes and the introduction of emission-trading schemes led to material reductions in emissions. Other climate laws or policies do not appear to have had, individually, a material effect on emissions. The impact on GDP growth or inflation from most measures was largely insignificant. Overall, much more ambitious targets would be needed to offset the impact of economic and population growth on emissions and contain the expansion of the stock of gases.


Materials making of Destro Phosphate are from Sago Extract. Sago extract is materials which containing many carbohydrate is kind of macromolecules which consist of amylase and amilopektin which have a lot hydroxyls. This hydroxyl bunch eams subsititution with phosphate so that its use to be mounts. This bunch hydroxyl substitution can be conducted with HCL for the hydrolysis and OH substitution with Natrium Hydro – Phospate. Singeing conducted at temperature  80° - 130 °C during 15 - 30 minute. Continued with addition hidrogen natrium of phosphate and dried. Then reacted to heat at temperature 12O° - 170 °C during 2 hour. Characteristic of sarnple cover physical test, chemical test and morphology test with SEM. From analysis result obtained that Destro phosphate can be made isn't it sago extract with hydrogen natrium of phosphate. With draracteristic as follows: pH = 6,2 ; viscosities = 3, 68 cp and densities = 1,0004 gr/cc.


In order to provide a theoretical basis for the study of thermal fatigue properties on surface composites, thermal shock cracks initiation and propagation of WCP reinforced high chromium steel substrate surface composites were studied by thermal shock test method at 500 °C. The results show that cracks initiation and propagation begin within a few thermal shock cycles, and after 15 thermal shock cycles, the composites remain intact, indicating a good thermal shock resistance. The thermal shock cracks consist mainly of longitudinal and transverse cracks. Within a few thermal shock cycles, the initiation and propagation of longitudinal cracks play a dominant role; however, with the increase in the number of thermal shock, the transverse cracks may play a key role as the length and number of both types of cracks increases. However, the increase is slow. The longitudinal cracks are mainly caused by the first class thermal stress and the transverse cracks result from the culminant effects of the first and second thermal stress, interacting with each other.


We investigate the properties of the hidden charm pentaquark-like resonances first observed by LHCb in 2015, by measuring the polarization transfer KLL between the incident photon and the outgoing proton in the exclusive photoproduction of J/psi near threshold. We present a first estimate of the sensitivity of this observable to the pentaquark photocouplings and hadronic branching ratios, and extend our predictions to the case of initial state helicity correlation ALL, using a polarized target. These results serve as a benchmark for the SBS experiment at Jefferson Lab, which proposes to measure for the first time the helicity correlations ALL and KLL in J/psi exclusive photoproduction, in order to determine the pentaquark photocouplings and branching ratios.