Despite a well-documented record of preserved aeolian successions from sedimentary basins characterized by widely variable subsidence rates, the relationship between aeolian architecture and subsidence-driven accommodation generation remains poorly constrained and largely unquantified. Basin subsidence as a control on aeolian sedimentary architecture is examined through analysis of 55 ancient case-studies categorized into settings of 'slow' (>1–≤10 m Myr−1), 'moderate' (>10–≤100 m Myr−1) and 'rapid' (>100 m Myr−1) time-averaged subsidence rates. In rapidly subsiding basins, aeolian successions are thicker and associated with (1) thicker and more laterally extensive dune-sets with increased foreset preservation, (2) greater proportions of wet-type interdunes and surface stabilization features and (3) more extensive interdune migration surfaces, bounding sets that climb more steeply. In slowly subsiding basins, aeolian successions are thinner, and associated with a greater proportion of (1) aeolian sandsheets and (2) supersurfaces indicative of deflation and bypass. Rapid subsidence promotes (1) steeper bedform climb, resulting in increased preservation of the original dune foreset deposits and (2) relatively elevated water tables, leading to sequestration of deposits beneath the erosional baseline and encouraging development of stabilizing agents; both factors promote long-term preservation. Slow subsidence results in (1) lower angles of climb, associated with increased truncation of the original dune forms, and (2) greater post-depositional reworking, where sediment is exposed above the erosional baseline for extended time-periods. Quantitative analysis of sedimentary stratal architecture in relation to rates of basin subsidence helps constrain the mechanisms by which sedimentary successions are accumulated and preserved into the long-term stratigraphic record. Supplementary material: Results of statistical analyses presented here are available at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.5515695.v1


The AFAST technique is used especially for the rapid detection of abdominal fluids. In this regard, it was supplemented by the "abdominal fluid score" (AFS) system at the time of examination and observation of the same patient four hours after the initial examination. If done properly, the AFAST technique allows an accurate identification of the presence of small amounts of abdominal fluids, unlike radiographic abdominal examination, where small amounts of fluid and serous details are rarely observed. In this way, an assessment of the patient's condition can be made quickly and blood transfusion can be administered more quickly (when the abdominal fluid score is increased 4 hours after the initial examination). It is also possible to evaluate the integrity of the bladder during the initial examination and at four hours (during which the patient has also received fluid therapy). In general, it is considered that a bladder with more or less content is integral, although there have been cases where there were small cracks in the bladder wall, and the extravasation of the contents in the abdomen is done only in the case of large accumulations in the bladder.


By utilizing a natural mercury lamp, the transverse Zeeman background correction method, which is used for trace mercury measurement in air, is studied. In this paper, a natural mercury lamp is used as a light source, and is placed in a1.78-T magnetic field. The lamp emits two linearly polarized light beams σ±and π of 253.65-nm resonance line, which are used as bias light and absorbing light, respectively. A polarization modulation system is used to allow σ±and π light beams to pass through alternately with a certain frequency. A multipath optical cell with 12-m optical path is used to increase optical distance. Based on the system described above, the influence caused by UV absorbing gases, such as NO2,SO2, acetone, benzene, and O3, is analyzed. The results show that it may reduce the detection limit when the concentrations of these gases exceed 83.4 ppm, 20.3 ppm, 142.3 ppm, 0.85 ppm, and 0.55 ppm, respectively. The detection limit of the system is calculated and can achieve up to 1.44 ng/m3 in 10 minutes. Measurements on mercury sample gas and air are carried out, and the measured data are compared with the data of RA-915 mercury analyzer(Russia). The result shows that the correlation coefficient reaches up to 0.967. The experimental results indicate that the transverse Zeeman background correction method can be used to quantify trace mercury in air with high-precision.


This paper uses spatial econometrics to analyze air pollution externalities. State-by-state source-receptor transfer coefficients that can be used as a basis for a location-differentiated permit system are estimated. Results affirm the importance of regional transport in determin-ing local ozone air quality, although owing to non-monotonicities in ozone production the ex-ternality is not always negative. Because the origin of emissions matters, results also reject a non-spatially differentiated NOx cap and trade program as an appropriate mechanism for re-ducing ozone smog.


The real estate has become an important pillar industry in our current, green ecological real brand is one of the most important intangible assets of the real estate enterprises. How to appraise the value of green ecological real value is the difficult problem of the real estate enterprises and theory horizon, and is also the problem of the real estate enterprises very concerned about and urgent need to solve. This article analyzed the traditional methods of assessing the brand value assets ,the new appraisal method of green ecological real estate brand value is proposed based on the economic added value and the weighted average cost of capital model and β coefficient , the economic added value more reflects the objective earning power of green ecological real estate brand , the weighted average cost of capital models and β coefficient reflects the actual performance of green ecological real estate, the evaluation results approach the objective and reasonable results, The method provides an important technical support and guarantee for appraising the value of green ecological real estate brand.


Voluntary coughs are used as a diagnostic tool to detect lung diseases. Understanding the mechanics of a cough is therefore crucial to accurately interpreting the test results. A cough is characterised by a dynamic compression of the airways, resulting in large flow velocities and producing transient peak expiratory flows. Existing models for pulmonary flow have one or more of the following limitations: 1) they assume quasi-steady flows, 2) they assume low speed flows, 3) they assume a symmetrical branching airway system. The main objective of this thesis is to develop a model for a cough in the branching pulmonary airway system. First, the time-dependent one-dimensional equations for flow in a compliant tube is used to simulate a cough in a single airway. Using anatomical and physiological data, the tube law coupling the fluid and airway mechanics is constructed to accurately mimic the airway behaviour in its inflated and collapsed states. Next, a novel model for air flow in an airway bifurcation is constructed. The model is the first to capture successfully subcritical and supercritical flows across the bifurcation and allows for free time evolution from one case to another. The model is investigated by simulating a cough in both symmetric and asymmetric airway bifurcations. Finally, a cough model for the complete branching airway system is developed. The model takes into account the key factors involved in a cough; namely, the compliance of the lungs and the airways, the coughing effort and the sudden opening of the glottis. The reliability of the model is assessed by comparing the model predictions with previous experimental results. The model captures the main characteristics of forced expiatory flows; namely, the flow limitation phenomenon (the flow out of the lungs becomes independent of the applied expiratory effort) and the negative effort dependence phenomenon (the flow out of the lungs decreases with increasing expiratory effort). The model also gives a good qualitative agreement with the measured values of airway resistance. The location of the collapsed airway segment during forced expiration is, however, inconsistent with previous experimental results. The effect of changing the model parameters on the model predictions is therefore discussed.


Psychological well-being (PWB) is considered an important variable since it correlates with many other important variables, particularly in mental health. Nevertheless, studies on PWB among university undergraduates are limited. This in turn, limits our ability to provide interventions to increase their PWB. As such, the purpose of this study is to assess levels of psychological well-being among undergraduates and to suggest how creativity can contribute to the enhancement of PWB. We also assessed PWB of the undergraduates with regards to gender and years of study. A total of 1965 undergraduates from seven local public universities participated in this cross-sectional survey study. Responses from the Flourishing Scale was used to assess the levels of PWB as well as comparing the mean score of the undergraduates' PWB in terms of gender and years of study. Results showed that 256 undergraduates fall under the low and moderate low levels, with the majority of them are from the first year cohort. The undergraduates demonstrated the highest mean score with regards to leading purposeful and meaningful life at university but scored low in terms of engagement in their daily activities. We also reported that gender and age have significant effects on the PWB of the undergraduates. We discussed three methods, namely, open-ended projects, brainstorming sessions, and visualisation that can be incorporated into teaching and learning that can enhance creativity. Based on a review of past studies, we argue that incorporating creativity can contribute to enhancing undergraduates' PWB. Keywords : Creativity, flourishing scale, psychological well-being, Schlossberg transition theory, university undergraduates.


A model of music listening has been automated. A program takes digital audio as input, for example from a compact disc, and outputs an explanation of the music in terms of repeated sections and the implied structure. For example, when the program constructs an analysis of John Coltrane's "Naima," it generates a description that relates to the AABA form and notices that the initial AA is omitted the second time. The algorithms are presented and results with two other input songs are also described. This work suggests that music listening is based on the detection of relationships and that relatively simple analyses can successfully recover interesting musical structure.


This article analyzes the role that categories of racial transgression—specifically, the reviled "white trash" of the rural South—play in the historical construction of racial innocence in America. Writing in 1963, James Baldwin diagnosed innocence as the alchemy by which white Americans turn otherwise visible racial inequality into stories of redemption, virtue, and progress. In this article, I use shifting historical constructions of white trash from the Progressive Era to the post–World War II era to unearth the relationship between transgression and innocence. Beginning in the 1940s, white trash underwent a significant transformation that smoothed the reentrenchment of racial innocence during the era of Cold War liberalism and civil rights. Once figures of suspect racial "purity," white trash in the postwar period operated as a repository of intractable antiblack violence, mobism, and retrogression. Their movement from racial contaminant to guilty white, I argue, brings into sharp relief the class-inflected transformation of racial innocence during the critical civil rights years: the New South's commitment to "color-blind" law-and-order and economic progress were together formative of the protection of emergent white middle-class interests in the postwar South and a new kind of racial innocence that has since settled into contemporary national discourses on race.


The development and success of the 'business analytics' in the private sector, in combination with the growing availability of large quantities of useful data in government agencies, gives rise to the emergence of the 'policy analytics' in the public sector. However, though some knowledge has already been developed in this area, extensive research is required in order to increase our knowledge base concerning the exploitation of these exponentially increasing quantities of data available in government, in combination with data from private sector firms as well, using advanced analytical techniques (from various areas, such as machine learning, statistics, simulation, etc.), in order to provide substantial support for all stages of public policies in various important policy domains. This paper makes a contribution in this direction, by describing a methodology for policy analytics in the economic policy domain, concerning a highly important problem: the economic crises, which repeatedly occur in market-based economies being an inevitable trait of them. Our methodology aims at the identification of firm's characteristics that affect positively or negatively their sensitivity to the economic crisis, which enables a deeper understanding of the kinds of firms that exhibit higher sensitivity to economic crisis (i.e. have more negative consequences) and provides a basis for the design of public policies for supporting such firms. It exploits existing data from various public sources (e.g. Ministries of Finance, Statistical Authorities), in combination with data from private sources (e.g. business information firms, consulting firms), from which firm-level crisis sensitivity models are estimated. Furthermore, an application of the proposed methodology is presented, using data from Greek firms for the crisis period 2009 – 2014, which provides interesting insights.


QT prolongation may increase the risk of torsades de pointes (TdP). Early afterdepolarizations (EADs) and transmural dispersion of repolarization have been known to serve as physiological substrates and predictors for TdP. Abnormal Ca(2+) cycling is the proximate cause of EADs, and Ca(2+) cycling is abnormal in heart failure (HF). However, the mechanisms for drug-induced TdP in HF are poorly understood. The purpose of this study was to search for torsadogenic-modifying effects of verapamil, ryanodine, KB-R7943, W-7, KN-93, and H-8 on ventricular premature depolarizations (VPD) and TdP in rabbits with HF. Rabbits with HF were pretreated with propranolol followed by test articles before continuous infusion of dofetilide to induce TdP. In the control hearts, VPD and TdP were induced in all rabbits and the onsets of VPD and TdP were 3.6 +/- 1.3 minutes and 10.3 +/- 1.4 minutes, respectively. Dofetilide lengthened RR, QT and QTc. Verapamil, ryanodine and H-8 significantly delayed onset of VPD (P < 0.05) and suppressed TdP (P < 0.01). KB-R7943, W-7, and KN-93 accelerated onset of TdP. Blockades of L-type Ca(2+) channel, ryanodine channel, and protein kinase A prevent dofetilide-induced TdP, suggesting roles for intracellular Ca(2+) overload and Ca(2+) signaling pathways in drug-induced TdP.


Lecture though is effective method of teaching, it is considered as a passive means in imparting knowledge. It's time to change this means with innovative methods like small group teaching, etc. The study was carried out with first year 140 MBBS students. These students were randomly selected and were divided in to two groups of A and B of strength seventy in each group. Lipid chemistry and metabolism was the topic selected. Pre-test for A and B group by multiple choice questions was conducted. Group B was further divided into ten sub groups, and these students were provided with specific learning objectives for the topic and after a week they were taught the topic in the form of small group discussion sessions over a period of 4 weeks. The facilitators ensured that all the group B participants were involved in the discussion. The group A remained as a whole group and underwent the didactic lecture method. Later, post test was conducted with the same MCQs. To evaluate the students perception towards the SGD for group B, we administered a qualitative questionnaire. There was a significant improvement with post SGD group, when compared with post Lecture group. The perception of students was positive regarding small group teaching. Introduction of small group teaching as a learning tool was appreciated by the students and led to a significant improvement in the student's performance. Keywords: SGD-small group discussions, DL-didactic lectures, MCQs- multiple choice questions


When I think of my beloved friend, the five words I think of are these: elegant, fashionable, generous, supportive, decent. I thank you, Halston. -- Liza Minnelli No American designer since Claire McCardell has had such an impact on redefining fashion as Halston. His designs have experienced a tremendous revival and are as popular today as they were when he was alive. This is the first extensive look at Halston and his contributions to the fashion world, starting with his days as a milliner; through the explosion of his clothing lines and licensing deals, to the sale of his name and trademark and his theatrical designs for Liza Minnelli and the Martha Graham Dance Company. This comprehensive survey of Halston's work is based on exclusive interviews with the people who knew and worked with Halston throughout his turbulent career. They include such celebrity Halston fans as Liza Minnelli, Katherine Graham, and Angelica Huston as well as industry insiders such as Marc Bohan, Stan Herman, Valerie Steele, and contemporary designers who claim Halston as an inspiration for their designs. Joe Eula and Kenneth Paul Block contribute their original sketches, as do manyy well-known fashion photographers. With more than two hundred photographs "Halston: An American Original" is the quintessential volume for all fans of Halston and lovers of fashion.


We study the physics of two species of non-relativistic hard-core bosons with attractive or repulsive delta function interactions on a spacetime lattice using the worldline formulation. By tuning the chemical potential carefully we show that worm algorithms can efficiently sample the worldline configurations in any fixed particle-number sector. Since fermions can be treated as hard-core bosons up to a permutation sign, we also apply this approach to non-relativistic fermions. The fermion permutation sign is treated as an observable in this approach and can be used to extract energies for each particle-number sector. Since in one dimension non-relativistic fermions can only permute due to boundary effects, unlike the auxiliary field method, in many cases our approach does not suffer from sign problems. Using our method we discover limitations of the recently proposed complex Langevin calculations in one dimension.


Nonspecific protein adsorption and/or microbial adsorption on biomedical materials adversely affects the efficacy of a range of biomedical systems, from implants and biosensors to nanoparticles. To address this problem, antibiofouling polymers can be coated on biomedical devices or built into nanoparticles to confer protein and/or microbial repellent properties. The current review provides an overview of the range of synthetic polymers currently used to this end and explores their biomedical potential. The most widely-used antifouling polymer, poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) is reviewed alongside several promising alternatives, including zwitterionic polymers, poly(hydroxyfunctional acrylates), poly(2-oxazoline)s, poly(vinylpyrrolidone), poly(glycerol), peptides and peptoids. For each material, notable applications for both nanomedicine and macroscopic surface coatings are highlighted.


Acid and acidifying soils occur extensively in Australia. Currently, some 90 million hectares of agricultural land in Australia is considered to be acidic and around 35 million hectares are considered to be highly acidic which is both a serious agricultural and environmental problem. The nature, impact, and causes of soil acidification vary across Australia, as do farming systems and the institutional and socioeconomic issues relating to land management. In high-rainfall areas of south-eastern Australia, managing acid soils is particularly difficult in permanent pasture systems. In this paper, an economic analysis is made of the results of a long-term trial (MASTER – Managing Acid Soils Through Efficient Rotations) aimed at developing a sustainable agricultural system which can stop soil acidification and ameliorate subsurface acidity in the 500-800 mm rainfall zone . Data from four basic treatments (with and without lime) such as annual pastures, annual pastures / crop rotation, perennial pastures and perennial pastures / crop rotation were analysed. We used average crop yields and wool cuts during 1992 to 1997 and calculated gross margins for the options. Using discounted cash flows, the economic benefits of the different treatments were examined. The implications for farmers in those regions are identified and explored.


The aim of this work was to investigate the use of the heat shock protein, HSP 70, as a sublethal measurement of ecotoxicity and to identify if the amount of HSP 70 synthesized is proportional to the chemical stress applied. This was achieved by quantifying the HSP 70 levels in primary cultured rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss (R.), skin epidermal cells in response to 2,4‐dichloroaniline (2,4‐DCA) exposure. The cellular stress response protects organisms from damage resulting from exposure to a wide variety of stressors including xenobiotics. The use of a HSP 70 polyclonal antibody on rainbow trout primary epidermal skin cultures exposed to 2,4‐DCA was investigated as a possible biomarker for environmental stress using an immunocytochemical approach. The epidermis is highly susceptible, as it is the interface between the fish and its aquatic environment. In this study we have developed a simple in vitro system for aquatic‐toxicity risk assessment. A method for the quantification of heat shock (stress) protein levels by immunocytochemistry is described. The antibody dilution range enabled the detection and quantification of only the inducible HSP 70 fraction. A 1:2000 dilution was decided upon. This assay was effective in detecting and quantifying the induced HSP 70. There was a direct toxicant concentration‐dependent increase in the levels of the cellular stress protein in the primary epidermal cultures. Enhanced localization of HSP 70 in the nuclei of the epidermal cells was observed following exposure to 2,4‐DCA. This work indicated the possibility of using heat shock protein induction and subsequent quantification as a sensitive system for aquatic toxicity risk assessment. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Environ Toxicol 16: 253–259, 2001


Bacterial biofilms are multi-cellular microbial  communities  formed at  air-water or solid-water interfaces.  Notable, the community is always embedded in  self-produced extracellular polymeric substances (EPS). One of the most  interesting and yet little understood aspects of biofilm growth  is the form and function of their complex,  heterogeneous structure.  We are interested in obtaining  a better understanding of biofilm structure and use mathematical modelling combined with laboratory experiments to address this problem. In this talk,  we will discuss a simple model for  a single substrate-limited biofilm , which grows into an aqueous environment.  The model considers the biofilm as a complex fluid and the process of growth is reduced to a consideration of a moving interface driven by pressure resulting from  cell division.  We show  that planar front solutions are admitted by this model and moreover that under certain conditions,  these are linearly unstable to non-planar perturbations. We show  that  cell death rate is a key factor in determining stability of the growth front. Somewhat counter-intuitively, we establish that greater rates of cell death lead to a destabilization of planar growth.  Using numerical techniques centred on the level set method, we show that once the planar front has been destabilized, fingering subsequently  occurs. Finally, we discuss  experiments that we conducted  to investigate the observed differences in growth dynamics between wild type and EPS mutant strains. We  hypothesize that this is due to differences in the ability to absorb and /or retain water.


3D digital reconstruction techniques are extensively used for quality control purposes. Among them, photogrammetry and photometric stereo methods have been for a long time used with success in several application fields. However, generating highly-detailed and reliable micro-measurements of non-collaborative surfaces is still an open issue. In these cases, photogrammetry can provide accurate low-frequency 3D information, whereas it struggles to extract reliable high-frequency details. Conversely, photometric stereo can recover a very detailed surface topography, although global surface deformation is often present. In this paper, we present the preliminary results of an ongoing project aiming to combine photogrammetry and photometric stereo in a synergetic fusion of the two techniques. Particularly, hereafter, we introduce the main concept design behind an image acquisition system we developed to capture images from different positions and under different lighting conditions as required by photogrammetry and photometric stereo techniques. We show the benefit of such a combination through some experimental tests. The experiments showed that the proposed method recovers the surface topography at the same high-resolution achievable with photometric stereo while preserving the photogrammetric accuracy. Furthermore, we exploit light directionality and multiple light sources to improve the quality of dense image matching in poorly textured surfaces.


For the purpose of electronic packaging applications, a homogenous and void free 4032Al (Al-12wt.%Si) matrix composite with 70vol.% SiC particles was fabricated by squeeze casting technology. TEM observations indicated that SiC particles acted as heterogeneous nucleation sites for Si phases in the matrix and the SiC-Al interfaces were clean and free from any interfacial reaction products. The composite possessed lower coefficients of thermal expansion (CTEs) and excellent thermal conduction properties, and the CTEs could be further reduced by annealing treatment because of the alteration of original thermal residual stresses within the specimens. The incorporation of high volume fraction of SiC particles also induced enhanced mechanical properties for the composite, and its moduli even exceeded 200GPa. Some diodes were finally produced with nickel plated SiCp/Al baseplates and the results of thermal cycling tests between -55ı and 150ıfor these diodes were presented.


Discriminative pattern mining seeks patterns that are more prevalent in one class than another and provide good classification accuracy for the objects in which the patterns occur. A number of approaches have been proposed for finding such patterns, which are also known under a variety of names, e.g., contrast sets and emerging patterns. However, fundamental questions about the nature and limits of such patterns remain unanswered. For instance, a discriminative pattern is only interesting if it provides better discriminative power than any of its subpatterns, but it is not obvious, for example, how much additional discriminative power can be provided by a pattern over and above the discriminative power of its subpatterns. Also, what do the patterns that provide the most additional discrimination look like? And, what is the relationship of different measures for discrimination (e.g., mutual information and DiffSup, the difference of the supports in the two classes) In previous work, we made an initial attempt at analyzing the first two questions. In this paper we present several new developments. Specifically, we present a more elegant and efficient formulation of the problem of determining the best discriminative pattern that can be obtained for a particular number of variables. We also explore for the first time the limits of patterns that go beyond the 'and' logic of traditional pattern mining, e.g., patterns based on the logic of 'or', 'n of k' or 'majority wins'. We show that the discriminative advantage of 'and' based patterns over their subpatterns is more limited than that of some of the other patterns, and hence, these patterns may represent a potential area for future development of discriminative pattern mining. Finally, we explore the relationship of various measures of discriminative pattern mining. We show that our results, although based on one of the measures (DiffSup) have implications for mutual information. More generally, we identify a potential avenue of exploration, which although challenging, may offer the opportunity for making a more definitive and general statement about a certain class of discriminative measures.


The budding of tubular organs from flat epithelial sheets is a vital morphogenetic process. Cell behaviours that drive such processes are only starting to be unraveled. Using live imaging and novel morphometric methods we show that in addition to apical constriction, radially oriented directional intercalation of placodal cells plays a major contribution to the early stages of invagination of the salivary gland tube in the Drosophila embryo. Extending analyses in 3D, we find that near the pit of invagination, isotropic apical constriction leads to strong cell wedging, and further from the pit cells interleave circumferentially, suggesting apically driven behaviours. Supporting this, junctional myosin is enriched in, and neighbour exchanges biased towards the circumferential orientation. In a mutant failing pit specification, neither are biased due to an inactive pit. Thus, tube budding depends on a radially polarised pattern of apical myosin leading to radially oriented 3D cell behaviours, with a close mechanical interplay between invagination and intercalation.


The most likely source for international trade conflict in the next decade - and the greatest potential force for inducing structural change to the global trading system - is the continuing roll-out of climate change measures. Indeed, such conflict is likely even were a post-Kyoto global climate change regime to fail to develop. Trade conflict may be unavoidable in a world of uncoordinated and conflicting national responses to global climate change.The international trade politics of GHG limits are complex. Both cap-and-trade and carbon tax approaches will increase the cost of production of energy-intensive goods. Some important categories of internationally traded goods, such as steel and cement, are particularly affected. The shock of cost escalation will drive local producers to scrutinize the cost of carbon paid by rivals producing in other countries. New cries of unfair trade will likely sound in the event that there are (as there likely will be) large disparities in the prices of carbon between different WTO members. Differentials in national carbon prices are artifacts of the GHG emissions caps implemented by various states. It is carbon price differentials which are at the heart of the international trade/climate change collision.Assuming that some form of import restriction will be an inevitable accompaniment to domestic carbon emission limits, there is a range of tools available. Whatever the political appeal of border adjustments, their practical administration is daunting. Implementing border adjustments will likely involve high expense and considerable inaccuracy. Crude results will result in either ineffective discrimination or an unfair burden on trade. As such, a proposal for border adjustments may fall under its own weight. Occasional and exceptional measures - import restrictions as a trade remedy, modeled on anti-dumping duties, countervailing duties, and safeguard actions - may be a better solution than widely and routinely applicable border tax adjustments.


In this paper we develop initial offline and online capabilities for a self-aware aerospace vehicle. Such a vehicle can dynamically adapt the way it performs missions by gathering information about itself and its surroundings via sensors and responding intelligently. The key challenge to enabling such a self-aware aerospace vehicle is to achieve tasks of dynamically and autonomously sensing, planning, and acting in real time. Our first steps towards achieving this goal are presented here, where we consider the execution of online mapping strategies from sensed data to expected vehicle capability while accounting for uncertainty. Libraries of strain, capability, and maneuever loading are generated offline using vehicle and mission modeling capabilities we have developed in this work. These libraries are used dynamically online as part of a Bayesian classification process for estimating the capability state of the vehicle. Failure probabilities are then computed online for specific maneuvers. We demonstrate our models and methodology on decisions surrounding a standard rate turn maneuver.


In Mexico, the foraging-stock load in pastures is not regulated according to stocking rates, which are estimated in terms of coverage and productivity; this situation has led to the degradation of the vegetation coverage, the reduction of infiltration and water storage capacity in the soil, and the increase of surface runoffs and erosion, which affect the pasture productivity and biomass production, and promote the proliferation of plants with lower palatability and protein quality. Actions to endorse the conservation of soil and water have been implemented in order to mitigate grassland degradation. In this research, the impact of the ditch check dam (DCD) system over the vegetation coverage was evaluated in grasslands of the watershed from rancho Dolores, in the Mixteca region of the State of Oaxaca. Changes in the vegetation coverage were estimated according to percentages of green, dry and total coverage, biomass production, vegetation indexes, and floristic composition in three polygons with DCD at five sampling sites (among-ditch, starting point, ditch, check dam, and foot) and in three polygons without DCD at three sampling sites (upper, central and lower portions). Biomass production in the check dam and ditch was 2.38 Mg ha-1 and 2.29 Mg ha-1 respectively, with significant differences among the following sites: among-ditch, starting point, and foot; the percentages of vegetation coverage, IVPN, NDVI and SAVI did not show significant differences. The control presented significant differences in biomass production and coverage percentage; however, the vegetation indexes did not vary. In areas with DCD, the dominant species was Melinis repens with low forage potential; in control areas, the dominant species was Bouteloua griff ithsii, with regular forage potential. The Multiple Response Permutation Procedure indicated significant differences in the floristic composition among sites with DCD and the control.


High baseline autism spectrum disorder prevalence estimates in New Jersey led to a follow-up surveillance. The objectives were to determine autism spectrum disorder prevalence in the year 2006 in New Jersey and to identify changes in the prevalence of autism spectrum disorder or in the characteristics of the children with autism spectrum disorder, between 2002 and 2006. The cohorts included 30,570 children, born in 1998 and 28,936 children, born in 1994, residing in Hudson, Union, and Ocean counties, New Jersey. Point prevalence estimates by sex, ethnicity, autism spectrum disorder subtype, and previous autism spectrum disorder diagnosis were determined. For 2006, a total of 533 children with autism spectrum disorder were identified, consistent with prevalence of 17.4 per 1000 (95% confidence interval = 15.9–18.9), indicating a significant increase in the autism spectrum disorder prevalence (p < 0.001), between 2002 (10.6 per 1000) and 2006. The rise in autism spectrum disorder was broad, affecting major demographic groups and subtypes. Boys with autism spectrum disorder outnumbered girls by nearly 5:1. Autism spectrum disorder prevalence was higher among White children than children of other ethnicities. Additional studies are needed to specify the influence of better awareness of autism spectrum disorder prevalence estimates and to identify possible autism spectrum disorder risk factors. More resources are necessary to address the needs of individuals affected by autism spectrum disorder.


Chloroviruses (family Phycodnaviridae) infect eukaryotic, freshwater, unicellular green algae. A unique feature of these viruses is an abundance of DNA methyltransferases, with isolates dedicating up to 4.5% of their protein coding potential to these genes. This diversity highlights just one of the long-standing values of the chlorovirus model system; where group-wide epigenomic characterization might begin to elucidate the function(s) of DNA methylation in large dsDNA viruses. We characterized DNA modifications in the prototype chlorovirus, PBCV-1, using single-molecule real time (SMRT) sequencing (aka PacBio). Results were compared to total available sites predicted in silico based on DNA sequence alone. SMRT-software detected N6-methyl-adenine (m6A) at GATC and CATG recognition sites, motifs previously shown to be targeted by PBCV-1 DNA methyltransferases M.CviAI and M. CviAII, respectively. At the same time, PacBio analyses indicated that 10.9% of the PBCV-1 genome had large interpulse duration ratio (ipdRatio) values, the primary metric for DNA modification identification. These events represent 20.6x more sites than can be accounted for by all available adenines in GATC and CATG motifs, suggesting base or backbone modifications other than methylation might be present. To define methylation stability, we cross-compared methylation status of each GATC and CATG sequence in three biological replicates and found ∼81% of sites were stably methylated, while ∼2% consistently lack methylation. The remaining 17% of sites were stochastically methylated. When methylation status was analyzed for both strands of each target, we show that palindromes existed in completely non-methylated states, fully-methylated states, or hemi-methylated states, though GATC sites more often lack methylation than CATG sequences. Given that both sequences are targeted by not just methyltransferases, but by restriction endonucleases that are together encoded by PBCV-1 as virus-originating restriction modification (RM) systems, there is strong selective pressure to modify all target sites. The finding that most instances of non-methylation are associated with hemi-methylation is congruent with observations that hemi-methylated palindromes are resistant to cleavage by restriction endonucleases. However, sites where hemi-methylation is conserved might represent a unique regulatory function for PBCV-1. This study serves as a baseline for future investigation into the epigenomics of chloroviruses and their giant virus relatives.


Ceiling mounted personalized ventilation (PV) aims to provide clean outdoor air into breathing zone of occupants directly without affecting indoor aesthetics. High momentum, at outlet of PV air terminal device (ATD), is utilized in order to avoid inducing more ambient air and let more personalized air come into breathing zone. In steady state, its performance depends much on the ceiling mounted ATD because supply air momentum, other than buoyancy effects and ambient air flow, is the major driving force in the micro-environment of occupied zone. In dynamic state, the movement of a person near PV ATD causes entrainment or detrainment effect, which can be regarded as another comparable factor influencing ceiling mounted PV performance. A typical office workplace consisting of either ceiling mounted PV ATD or conventional PV ATD and ambient air supply diffuser is simulated. One person is assumed to be seated and another moving person is simulated by dynamic meshes in computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Simulations at moving person velocities of 0.5, 1 and 1,5 m/s and distance between seated person and moving person of 0, 0.2, 0.4m are performed. A new index, computational personal exposure effectiveness, is utilized to assess the performance of the PV ATD in regard to inhaled air quality under the influence of moving person. According to numerical results, the stability of ceiling mounted PV, under dynamic environment with moving person, is better than that of conventional PV although the personal exposure effectiveness (PEE) is lower than that of conventional PV with the same personalized air flow rate in steady state.


The influence of the RE-rich phase distribution in the precursor alloys on the anisotropy of the hydrogenation disproportionation desorption recombination (HDDR) processed powders is investigated. The homogenized ingot alloy and the as-cast strip casting (SC) alloy with a uniform RE-rich grain boundary phase lead to high anisotropy of the refined powders, acquiring degrees of alignment (DOA) of 0.62 and 0.54, respectively. The RE-rich phase aggregation results in a deteriorated DOA of the powders due to the drastic disproportionation rate, while a thin and uniform RE-rich phase distribution is beneficial for DOA. A reaction model of the initial particle microstructure is proposed for optimizing the HDDR powder anisotropy.


This paper studied the correlation among a number of personal, pre-dental and dental academic variables and sutdent's own personal oral hygiene. Oral hygiene status of 127 second year dental student was meadured accouding to O'Leary, Drake and Naylor (1972). The overall mean plaque score was 46.7% . Only 18.8 % of the students had excellent and good oral hygiene, while 63% of them had poor and very poororal hygiene. There were negative relationships approaching significance between the plaque score of students and their first year dental grade point avderage and second year dental grade point average. A significant negative correlation was observed between plaque score and test scores in Periodontology I. Students who had a better oral hyginene status tended ot obtain higher grades in periodontology I An analysis of the variance for the mean of each of the eleven variables as classified by oral hygiene status was performed. In general, students with better oral hygiene tended to achieve significantly gigher test scores than those students with less favorable oral hygiene in at least seven of the stated academic variables.


The entrance of students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in the regular school is relatively recent and causes challenges, uncertainties and doubts in educators. The portion of students with ASD who choose the regular school, need and have the right to a quality schooling that promotes the maximum development of their potentialities. Thus, these students need teachers to change their teaching work. To do this, they need teachers to use differentiated methodologies. In view of this, the general objective of this study is developing and evaluating an intervention based on participant research, in order to broaden the shared educational work and to improve access to the curriculum for students with ASD. The specific objectives are: to know the teaching work proposed and performed for the student with ASD in the common classroom and in the Specialized Educational Assistance (SEA); to problematize the process of schooling of the student with ASD with education professionals and with the school support professional; to develop pedagogical dialogues with education professionals and school support professionals in order to promote changes in the schooling process for students with ASD. This study is based on the dialectical historical materialist perspective with a focus on historical cultural psychology and historical-critical pedagogy. Participant research involved the ESA teacher, the classroom teacher, the pedagogical coordinator, the school support professional, the director, and the school vice principal. The instruments used were: documentary research; observation with field diary and video recording; interview; and sessions of pedagogical dialogues with simple autoconfrontation. The data were analyzed in the thematic axes: schooling process for students with ASD; interaction between school professionals and students with ASD; and movement of the school in the development of the participant research. The results pointed that one of the barriers to the schooling of the student with ASD is the action of professionals, mainly regarding the fulfillment of the prescribed ones in their professional functions, when their actions are neglected or delegated to others, there are barriers that hinder the academic development of the student. In addition, it takes joint planning and teacher articulation. When there is individualized educational planning for the TEA student along with the common curriculum and the goals set out by teachers and families, there is possibility of academic development in regular school. It is necessary to carry out new studies on this topic, expanding the sample of teachers and students with ASD, making possible the construction of new knowledge necessary for the modification of the Brazilian educational realities.


Looks into the quality practices of a cross‐section of firms in the western Michigan area. Large and small firms were studied. Using a survey questionnaire, the study explores the relationship of a number of variables to the implementation process. Studies the relationship between firm size, competition and the implementation process by studying the degree of implementation. In the area of statistical process control (SPC) the respondents were asked to provide the percentage of production lines utilizing SPC. Similarly, in the area of vendor management the degree of implementation is related to the percentage of incoming material which no longer goes through inspection. In the area of quality costs the types of quality cost systems were documented. The major conclusions are that degree of implementation of quality programmes is not uneven. Larger firms and those firms facing strong import competition are more likely to have a higher degree of implementation. The usefulness of quality costs is questionable as most firms are proceeding with quality improvement programmes without a well defined quality costs system.


Abnormal lung development is the main cause of morbidity and mortality in neonates with congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH), a common birth defect (1:2500) of largely unknown pathobiology. Recent studies discovered that inflammatory processes, and specifically NF-κB associated pathways are enriched in human and experimental CDH. However, the molecular signaling of NF-κB in abnormal CDH lung development and its potential as a therapeutic target requires further investigation. Using sections and hypoplastic lung explant cultures from the nitrofen rat model of CDH and human fetal CDH lungs, we demonstrate that NF-κB and its downstream transcriptional targets are hyperactive during abnormal lung formation in CDH. NF-κB activity was especially elevated in the airway epithelium of nitrofen and human CDH lungs at different developmental stages. Fetal rat lung explants had impaired pseudoglandular airway branching after exposure to nitrofen, together with increased phosphorylation and transcriptional activity of NF-κB. Dexamethasone, the broad and clinically applicable anti-inflammatory NF-κB antagonist, rescued lung branching and normalized NF-κB signaling in hypoplastic lung explants. Moreover, specific NF-κB inhibition with curcumenol similarly rescued ex vivo lung hypoplasia and restored NF-κB signaling. Lastly, we showed that prenatal intraperitoneal dexamethasone administration to pregnant rat dams carrying fetuses with hypoplastic lungs, significantly improves lung branching and normalizes NF-κB in vivo. Our results indicate that NF-κB is aberrantly activated in human and nitrofen CDH lungs. Anti-inflammatory treatment with dexamethasone and/ or specific NF-κB inhibition should be investigated further as a therapeutic avenue to target lung hypoplasia in CDH.


This article provides a review of approaches used to assess the costs of social and economic damage caused by fatalities in road accidents in Russia and other countries. The urgency of the problem is shaped by the high mortality rates of people involved in road crashes in our country compared to other countries. At the moment, absolute and relative numbers of both car accidents and fatalities in Russia are much higher than in European Union countries or in Canada and the United States. At the same time, the estimated costs of economic damage from the loss of people's lives is much lower in Russia than in those other countries. The underestimation of human life value was discussed in details in our previous publication [Karabchuk, Nikitina, Remezkova, Soboleva 2014], where we concluded that the cost of human life in Russia is equal to the value of human life in developing countries, despite the positive trend of increases in human capital in recent years in Russia [Kapelyushnikov 2012]. The social and economic consequences of the underestimation of the value of human life can have negative effects on an individual and a country: the quality of life of Russian citizens could deteriorate and the state would lose economically active population, moreover people might feel less satisfied with their lives and less happy. Thus, it is important to develop a theoretical and methodological framework for assessing the cost of deaths caused by fatal road accidents in Russia. This article raises the question of low road safety in Russia and insufficient discussion of its consequences in the scientific literature. Comparative analysis of socio-economic damage estimates in Europe and the methods to assess them will allow us a secondary methodology of evaluating the damage caused by road accidents. That in turn will help to reduce mortality rates through the implementation of road safety programs. We review international experience and compare it with current Russian methodology; after that we summarize the results of comparative analysis and provide recommendations on how to improve methods of evaluation of socio-economic damage caused by car accidents.


Nitric oxide (NO) and hydrogen peroxide (H2 O2 ) are key signalling molecules produced in response to various stimuli and involved in a diverse range of plant signal transduction processes. Nitric oxide and H2 O2 have been identified as essential components of the complex signalling network inducing stomatal closure in response to the phytohormone abscisic acid (ABA). A close inter-relationship exists between ABA and the spatial and temporal production and action of both NO and H2 O2 in guard cells. This study shows that, in Arabidopsis thaliana guard cells, ABA-mediated NO generation is in fact dependent on ABA-induced H2 O2 production. Stomatal closure induced by H2 O2 is inhibited by the removal of NO with NO scavenger, and both ABA and H2 O2 stimulate guard cell NO synthesis. Conversely, NO-induced stomatal closure does not require H2 O2 synthesis nor does NO treatment induce H2 O2 production in guard cells. Tungstate inhibition of the NO-generating enzyme nitrate reductase (NR) attenuates NO production in response to nitrite in vitro and in response to H2 O2 and ABA in vivo. Genetic data demonstrate that NR is the major source of NO in guard cells in response to ABA-mediated H2 O2 synthesis. In the NR double mutant nia1, nia2 both ABA and H2 O2 fail to induce NO production or stomatal closure, but in the nitric oxide synthase deficient Atnos1 mutant, responses to H2 O2 are not impaired. Importantly, we show that in the NADPH oxidase deficient double mutant atrbohD/F, NO synthesis and stomatal closure to ABA are severely reduced, indicating that endogenous H2 O2 production induced by ABA is required for NO synthesis. In summary, our physiological and genetic data demonstrate a strong inter-relationship between ABA, endogenous H2 O2 and NO-induced stomatal closure.


Appropriate Wnt morphogen secretion is required to control animal development and homeostasis. Although correct Wnt globular structure is essential for secretion, proteins that directly mediate Wnt folding and maturation are incompletely characterized. Here, we report that protein disulfide isomerase-1 (PDI-1), a protein folding catalyst and chaperone, controls secretion of the Caenorhabditis elegans Wnt ortholog EGL-20. We find that PDI-1 function is required to correctly form an anteroposterior EGL-20/Wnt gradient during embryonic development. Further, PDI-1 performs this role in EGL-20/Wnt-producing epidermal cells to cell-non-autonomously control EGL-20/Wnt-dependent neuronal migration. Using pharmacological inhibition, we further show that PDI function is required in human cells for Wnt3a secretion, revealing a conserved role for disulfide isomerases. Together, these results demonstrate a critical role for PDIs within Wnt-producing cells to control long-range developmental events that are dependent on Wnt secretion.


Background The road safety of children and young adults is an important topic across the globe due to the significant loss of life in this population due to road crash fatalities. To inform preventative interventions directed at high risk population it is important to explore the characteristics of fatal accidents involving young passengers and drivers. Methods In Queensland, Australia, the Commission for Children and Young People and Child Guardian collects data pertaining to every registered child death (<18 years), including deaths due to road crashes. Data for the period 1 July 2004 to 30 June 2012 was analysed with regards to demographic factors and variables such as age, gender, driver licence status and socioeconomic status, in order to provide insights into risk factors associated with traffic related child deaths where a driver 21 years or younger was involved. Results Between 2004–2012, 100 children aged <18 years died in a road crash in Queensland where the driver was 21 years or younger, amounting to a total of 6283.5 disability adjusted life years. Risk factors included being male, living in a socioeconomically-disadvantaged location, driving inexperience and driving on the road before licensed. Ninety percent of fatalities were in the 15–17 years group and 68% of fatalities were male, suggesting gender-focused interventions that target male children, youth, and their parents deserve additional resourcing, especially in low resource areas. There is a clear need to engage youth and parents more broadly to reduce the risks associated with unlicensed driving, and to ensure that these youth have access to and are engaged with relevant programs in order to gain the maximum road safety benefits for themselves, their passengers, and other road users. Conclusion Knowledge regarding contributors to and characteristics of crashes are vital for intervention efforts that prevent crash involvement of young people. For children to be safe on the road, the wider system which supports, regulates, and encourages their safety needs to operate effectively. Additional attention should be focused on environmental factors such as socio economic status and other social determinants of health in addition to driver-specific factors.


OBJECTIVES
The Quality of Life-Alzheimer's Disease (QOL-AD) scale is a reliable and valid tool for assessing the quality of life (QOL) in the elderly with dementia. This study aimed to develop the Korean version of Quality of Life-Alzheimer's Disease (KQOL-AD) scale for the demented elderly living in the community.

METHODS
KQOL-AD was administered to two groups: 24 demented elderly and 72 cognitively impaired elderly with no dementia (CIND) who were living in the community. Each elderly person and their caregiver rated the elderly QOL. The Korean version of mini-mental state examination (MMSE-K), the clinical dementia rating (CDR), the activities of daily living (ADL), and the neuropsychiatric inventory (NPI) were also assessed. The reliability and validity of the KQOL-AD were examined.

RESULTS
In the dementia group, the internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha), the split half and the test-retest reliabilities of the KQOL-AD were excellent. Scores on the KQOL-AD were significantly correlated with the scores of the NPI, but they were not significantly correlated with scores of the MMSE-K, CDR and ADL. In addition, the CIND group showed similar results to the dementia group.

CONCLUSIONS
KQOL-AD might be a reliable and valid instrument for assessing QOL in the elderly with dementia. It could be used as an important outcome measure for research on the demented elderly.


SUMMARY: A wild-type strain of the yeast Kluyveromyces fragilis was grown in continuous culture on inulin-, fructose- and glucose-limited media. In the presence of organic nitrogen, all three carbon sources supported an extremely rapid changeover to a homogeneous mutant cell population that exhibited hyperproduction of β-fructofuranosidase (exo-inulase). The non-specific role of the carbon substrate in the takeover suggested co-regulation of inulase synthesis and early glycolytic pathway enzymes such as hexokinase, resulting in gratuitous hyperproduction of inulase. The rate of mutant appearance increased linearly with a decrease in dilution rate as well as carbon/nitrogen ratio, implying that the responsible forces were related to the residual concentration of the limiting carbon substrate. Under optimum conditions, mutant cells were detected within only 40 h (2.9 generations) from the start of continuous culture, at least 6.5 times faster than predicted. The maximum rate of displacement was as high as 54% per generation, or more than 12 times greater than predicted from the differential growth rate between the wild-type and mutant strain. These extraordinarily rapid takeovers point to a very fast and ongoing genetic change triggered by growth under severe stress.


Tectonic family member 1 (TCTN1) is one of the tectonic family members, and a regulator of the hedgehog signaling pathway, which has been studied in various cancer types, including prostate and pancreatic cancer. However, its function in thyroid cancer has not been well documented. Therefore, the present study investigated the function of TCTN1 in thyroid cancer using a loss-of-function assay. Lentivirus-mediated RNA interference was applied to downregulate TCTN1 in the thyroid cancer cell lines, CAL62 and 8305C. A series of functional properties, including cell viability, colony formation, cell cycle and apoptosis were determined using MTT, colony formation assay and flow cytometry analyses, respectively. The results demonstrated that lentivirus-medicated RNAi could specifically suppress the expression of TCTN1 at the mRNA and protein levels in CAL62, and 8305C cells. Knockdown of TCTN1 inhibited cell growth and proliferation via inducing S phase arrest, and apoptosis. Mechanistically, the S phase arrest was accompanied by the upregulation of cyclin dependent kinase 2, cyclin A2 and downregulation of cyclin B1. Knockdown of TCTN1 induced apoptosis through increasing the expression of Bcl2-associated agonist of cell death, cleaved caspase-3 and poly(ADP-ribose)polymerase, and decreasing apoptosis regulator Bcl-2 expression. The current study highlights the essential role of TCTN1 in promoting thyroid cancer cell proliferation, and its knockdown may serve as a potential therapeutic treatment for thyroid cancer.


What went wrong? Why did seemingly rational bond investors continue to purchase Puerto Rican debt with only a modest risk premium, even though the macroeconomic fundamentals were dismal? Why did financial markets fail to exercise market discipline and restrict capital flows to Puerto Rico? Given gloomy macroeconomic fundamentals and relatively low risk premia, investors were either stunningly myopic/misinformed, or Puerto Rican debt was implicitly insured by the U.S. government. This paper examines the latter hypothesis, which we label the "Treasury Put." The expectation of a federal bailout was perfectly reasonable given past behavior by the federal government, starting with the prior bailout of the city of New York. Evaluating the Treasury Put hypothesis with a minimal set of assumptions is possible given three unique features – the dire fiscal and economic conditions in Puerto Rico, a fortunate characteristic of Puerto Rican bond issuance, and a "seismic shock." Regarding the second feature, Puerto Rico issued both uninsured and insured general obligation bonds on the same day and, in many cases, with the exact same maturity. The associated bond price data allow for an accurate computation of the risk premia on Puerto Rican bonds. The third feature is the non-bailout of the city of Detroit in 2013 that effectively extinguished the Treasury Put. Puerto Rican risk premia were stable before the Detroit bankruptcy and bracketed by the risk premia on Corporate Aaa and Baa bonds. However, after the Detroit bankruptcy, risk premia rose dramatically, thus identifying a sizeable Treasury Put of at least 300 basis points and a significant misallocation of capital to Puerto Rico. In effect, the Treasury Put was a form of regulatory forbearance. Institutional reforms that would eliminate the Treasury Put are considered, but none are found satisfactory.


The load-balanced (LB) switch proposed by C.S. Chang et al. consists of two stages. First, a load-balancing stage converts arriving packets into uniform traffic. Then, a forwarding stage transfers packets from the line-cards to their final output destination. Load-balanced switches do not need a centralized scheduler and can achieve 100% throughput for a broad class of traffic distributions. However, load-balanced switches may cause packets at the output port to be out of sequence. Several schemes have been proposed to tackle the out of- sequence problem of the load-balanced switch. They are either too complex to implement, or introduce a large additional delay. In this paper, we present a practical load-balanced switch, called the Byte-Focal switch, which uses packet-by-packet scheduling to significantly improve the delay performance over switches of comparable complexity. We prove that the queues at the input need only finite buffering, and that the overall switch is stable under any traffic matrix. Our analysis shows that the average queuing delay is roughly linear with the switch size N, and although the worst case resequencing delay is N2, the average resequencing delay is much smaller. This means that we can reduce the required resequencing buffer size significantly.


Calcium phosphates (CaP) are widely used in various fields of biomedical applications as implant materials, mainly due to their chemical similarity to the inorganic component of bone. In many of the applications the dimensional accuracy is critical and implants need to be shaped, sized and machined as per requirement. But, being a ceramic material with strong atomic bonding, they have high hardness, brittleness and thus a limited ability to be machined and shaped to an accurate dimension required for many critical surgical applications. Hence, these ceramic based materials cannot compete with the other metal or polymers based systems and are less popular in such applications with dimensional accuracy and strictness.

In the present work, such a study has been undertaken to make CaP based ceramics machinable. Rare earth phosphates (REP) are known to impart machinable property to conventional oxide ceramics, which act as weak interface material, preventing crack growth by inducing interfacial debonding and crack deflection during machining. Again REPs are also known in the biomedical field and have been shown to be non-toxic and biocompatible in different biomedical applications, primarily as a biosynthetic phosphor / luminescent marker for bio-imaging. Introduction of REPs in CaPs has been planned in the work to make a sintered composite composition for the introduction of machinability in the CaPs.

In the proposed experimental investigation, CaP based ceramics, namely, hydroxyapatite (HAp) and beta tri-calcium phosphate (β-TCP) and REP, namely, lanthanum phosphate (LP) and yttrium phosphate (YP) are prepared by wet chemical synthesis. Effects of calcination temperature on the phase formation of the individual phosphates are studied. Each of the synthesized phosphates is also characterized for various property evaluations. Synthesis route for preparing the CaPs is also optimized by characterizing the calcined powders and evaluating their sintered properties. Then CaP-REP composites are prepared with varying amount of REP, from 10-50 wt. % and the shapes are prepared by uniaxial pressing and sintering. Sintered composites are characterized for phase analysis, densification studies, strength evaluation and microstructural evaluation. Machinability study was done by evaluating the drillablity of the sintered composites using conventional cemented carbide and solid carbide tools. Conventional radial drilling machine aided with piezoelectric drill dynamometer was used to evaluate the drillability with varying speed and feed rate and measuring the thrust force and torque for drilling. Composites are also studied for biocompatibility and bio-activity characterization by MTT assay method and apatite deposition in simulated body fluid (SBF) solution respectively. Microstructural characterization before and after SBF treatment is done for understanding the bioactivity study of the composites. Introduction of REPs is found to impart machinability in the composites and increasing amount of the REP is found to ease the drilling process with reduced force and torque requirement. However, increasing the amount of REPs has shown a gradual decrease in densification, strength and biological properties for both the HAp and β-TCP. β-TCP-30 wt. % LP composite sintered at 1250°C is found to have relatively good physical and mechanical properties along with improved machinability character, requiring a minimum thrust force to drill, and also has good bioactivity and biocompatibility property; hence the composite may be selected as the optimized composition.


The notion that multinational companies (MNCs) are comprised of multiple subsidiaries in different countries is one that underpins voluminous research in international management. This body of research was recently the subject of an authoritative and comprehensive review in this journal (Meyer, Li and Schotter, 2020). However, we share the concerns about the prevalence of the term 'subsidiary' within academic writing expressed by some others (MeesBuss, Welch and Westney, 2019) and take this further by questioning the assumptions of authority and control on which it is based. We argue that the role of national subsidiaries in how MNCs are organized has been eroded by developments 'from above' and 'from below' the national level such that it cannot be assumed that national subsidiaries are important influences on how MNCs govern and coordinate their production and service provision and how work is organized. We set out the implications for theory and methods in international management (IM).


Synthetic polycations readily bind to the negatively charged phosphate groups in nucleic acids and can serve as carriers to deliver genetic materials into cells. Simplicity of use, ease of large-scale production, and lack of an immune response in vivo are the main merits of polymeric delivery. However, the lack of knowledge of the structure-biological property relationships of polymeric vectors has hampered further efforts to invent highly efficient non-viral gene delivery agents through a systematic, rational approach. In an effort to understand such structurebioactivity relationships, a library of 20 poly(glycoamidoamine)s have been constructed by polycondensation of esterified D-glucaric acid (D), dimethyl-meso-galactarate (G), D-mannaro1,4:6,3-dilactone (M), and dimethyl-L-tartarate (T) with diethylenetriamine (1), triethylenetetramine (2), tetraethylenepentamine (3), pentaethylenehexamine (4), and spermine (S). These polymers are of similar degrees of polymerization (11 14), but with varied amine stoichiometry (1 to 4), amine spacer (ethylene or butylene), hydroxyl stereochemistry (D, G, and M), and hydroxyl number (2 or 4) within the repeat units, serving as a platform for investigation of how structural variations affect their gene delivery efficiencies. Furthermore, two noncarbohydrate-containing analogous polymers have also been synthesized to elucidate the biological functions of the carbohydrate moieties. The biological properties of these polymers as delivery vectors have been evaluated and correlated to their detailed chemical structures. Examination of amine stoichiometry showed that the polymers with four amines in the repeat unit exhibited the best transfection efficiency without eliciting cytotoxicity. Examination of amine spacer showed that polymers with an ethylene spacer conveyed higher cell viability than those with a butylene spacer. Examination of carbohydrate hydroxyl stereochemistry showed that polymers with meso-galactrate (G) as the carbohydrate moiety possessed higher transfection efficiency than polymers containing Dglucarate (D) and D-mannarate (M). Examination of the effect of hydroxyl number showed that L-tartarate (T, 2 hydroxyls per carbohydrate) polymers formed smaller complexes and had higher DNase protection capability than D, G, and M polymers (4 hydroxyls per carbohydrate). Elucidation of these structure-biological property relationships clarified what structures were most promising to generate the desired properties in further exploration and rational design of glycopolyamines for gene therapy.


This study compares four methods of hepatic denervation and defines the rate and physiological significance of reinnervation. Five groups of rats were prepared: 10 underwent orthotopic liver transplantation. In nine rats a 90% aqueous phenol solution was applied circumferentially to the portal vein. Thirteen rats underwent microsurgical denervation; 28 received different doses of 6-hydroxydopamine (6-HODA) administered as a single intraportal injection [50 (n = 10), 75 (n = 6), and 100 mg/kg (n = 6)]. Twelve rats were studied as controls. Rats were killed 1, 4, and 8 wk after surgery to determine liver tissue content of norepinephrine (NE). Changes in mean arterial pressure (MAP) in response to hepatic nerve stimulation, which was supramaximum in intensity and frequency, were measured before rats were killed. NE content in controls ranged from 121 to 204 ng/g and MAP increased by 30-38 mmHg after electrical stimulation. At 1, 4, and 8 wk after treatment the liver NE content was less than 1, 2.3, and 20.2 ng/g in the transplant group; less than 1, 2.7, 4.1 ng/g in the phenol group; and 17.2, less than 1, and 3 ng/g in the surgically denervated group. In the 6-HODA group, values were 18.9, 47, and 61.5 ng/g (50 mg/kg); 5.7, 20.2, and 15 ng/g (75 mg/kg); and 7.7, 2.5, and 17.5 ng/g (100 mg/kg). When the level of NE was undetectable, MAP increase after stimulation was 0-18% that of controls. When NE content was 15-23% of normal, MAP increased 49-62% regardless of the denervation technique.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


National education functions to develop capabilities and form, dignified national character and civilization in order to educate the nation's life, aiming at developing potential students to become human beings who believe and fear God Almighty, have noble character, are healthy, knowledgeable, capable, creative, independent, and become a democratic and responsible citizen. Such is the importance of noble character, so that guidance must continue to be carried out at a minimum along with the modernization of information technology. Noble character according to the term especially in Islam as a believer is defined as the nature or temperament of someone who has been attached and will usually be reflected in the behavior of that person. Someone who has good character will usually have good temperament or character too and vice versa someone who has a bad temper tended to have despicable character. There is no noble character for people who are not believers, so there is no faith for people who are despicable, because only people of noble character are able to avoid despicable deeds. But the reality of life still occurs behavior that is contrary to noble morals, such as those who relieve performing prayer, perform other acts of corruption: corruption, extortion, embezzlement, murder and turn am ong students still occur From the description above we observe that there are still many incompatibilities between moral values, with the attitudes and behavior of some people, including students. Therefore, noble moral formation is still needed, and for this purpose management intervention is still very important. The method used is descriptive method, which means understanding what is the object of writing, looking at various situations or social realities that exist in society from various sources that can be trusted, writing on online media is the subject of discussion. The results expected in this paper are to create a generation that is trustworthy, consistent, patient and trustworthy, in entering the era of information technology modernization, and able to avoid the negative influence of information technology. Therefore community development, including students to have noble character, is a necessity, because only in this way can the national education mandate be created, namely creating the potential of students to become human beings who believe and fear the Almighty God, have noble character, are healthy, knowledgeable , capable, creative, independent, and a democratic and responsible citizen.


A heterogenous network with base stations (BSs), small base stations (SBSs), and users distributed according to independent Poisson point processes is considered. SBS nodes are assumed to possess high storage capacity and to form a distributed caching network. Popular files are stored in local caches of SBSs, so that a user can download the desired files from one of the SBSs in its vicinity. The offloading-loss is captured via a cost function that depends on the random caching strategy proposed here. The popularity profile of cached content is unknown and estimated using instantaneous demands from users within a specified time interval. An estimate of the cost function is obtained from which an optimal random caching strategy is devised. The training time to achieve an ∈ > 0 difference between the achieved and optimal costs is finite provided the user density is greater than a predefined threshold, and scales as N2, where N is the support of the popularity profile. A transfer learning-based approach to improve this estimate is proposed. The training time is reduced when the popularity profile is modeled using a parametric family of distributions; the delay is independent of N and scales linearly with the dimension of the distribution parameter.


Reflectivity measurements were performed on lithium fluoride single crystals at 135°K, 210°K, 300°K, and 355°K at wavelengths from 2 μ to 60 μ. A Perkin-Elmer 112 prism monochromator was used between 2 μ and 30 μ and was modified to a grating monochromator for use between 30 μ and 60 μ. The reflection band near the reststrahl peak shows pronounced secondary structure. A Kramers-Kronig dispersion relation was applied to the Fresnel reflection formula, and the secondary structure was exhibited in the optical constants. The analysis was performed on an IBM-704 computer, and the phase of the reflectivity was determined at some 400 points in the 2 μ to 60 μ range. For each of these points, the real and imaginary dielectric constants, the index of refraction, the extinction coefficient, and the absorption constant were determined. In addition to the main peak of the imaginary dielectric constant at 312.5 cm−1, two secondary peaks appear on the short wavelength side of the maximum. One is at 485 cm−1 and becomes sharper at higher temperature; the other is at 650 cm−1 and is relatively insensitive to temperature over the range measured. An interpretation based on the coupling of the fundamental longitudinal mode to the radiation field is discussed. The damping constants of the main peak were evaluated and were found to vary linearly with temperature over the range measured.


old, at which injuries to persons would be observed. According to these derived distances, it is assumed that a first area extending for 220 m is characterized by lethal effects of an irradiance (>7 Kw/mq). A second area extending from 220 m to 285 m, shows non-reversible damages for an irradiance (>5 Kw/mq), while a third area from 285 m to 385 m presents reversible damages for irradiance (>3 Kw/mq). As a result, we can draft a "map of the consequences" which can greatly help experts and responsible authorities to deal with the occurrence of such an emergency.


Equivalent pore radius links permeability and porosity of a porous medium. This property can be calculated from specific surface and porosity data measured in the laboratory. We can obtain porosity information from logging data but specific surface information can only be obtained from laboratory experiments on cuttings or core samples. In this study we demonstrate that elastic moduli as calculated from bulk density and velocity of elastic waves relate to equivalent pore radius of the studied shale intervals. This relationship establishes the possibility of calculating equivalent pore radius from logging data. We used cuttings samples and available well logs to characterize Cenozoic, Cretaceous and Jurassic shale sections in the Skjold Flank-1 well of Danish North Sea. Logging data and well reports were used to select 31 shale cuttings samples and experimental data for porosity, grain density and BET specific surface were obtained from these samples using kaolinite and smectite as reference. The cuttings samples were also characterized with respect to mineralogical composition, content of organic carbon and cation exchange capacity. Equivalent pore radius was calculated from porosity and BET data. It varies from 5 nm for some Cretacous and Jurassic shale samples to about 25 nm in some Cenozoic samples. Pore radius is controlled by shale mineralogy and the degree of compaction. We found exponential relationships between equivalent pore radius and elastic moduli, and these empirical relationships were used to calculate equivalent pore radius for the Cenozoic, Cretaceous and Jurassic shale sections in Skjold Flank-1 well from elastic moduli. Elastic moduli were calculated from sonic velocity and density logs. The calculated equivalent pore radius logs vary from 27 nm at 500 m to 13 nm at 2000 m within Cenozoic shale and from 12 nm to about 6 nm in the deeper Cretaceous and Jurassic shale intervals. Cross plots of the equivalent pore radius with neutron porosity and gamma ray data separate the Cenozoic shale section with high equivalent pore radius from Cretaceous and Jurassic sections. & 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.


The numerical simulation of the fluid flow is presented by CFD technique to characterize the flow pattern of cyclone spray scrubber. In this process, the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations with the Reynolds stress turbulence model (RSM) for fluid flow are solved by use of the finite volume method based on the SIMPLE pressure correction algorithm in the fluid computational domain. According to the computational results, the tangential velocity, axial velocity and turbulence intensity of the gas flow are addressed in the different flowrate. The results indicate that the CFD method can effectively reveal the mechanism of gas flow in the cyclone spray scrubber.


type="main"> We analyze the sustainability of a conversation when one agent might be endowed with a piece of private information that affects the payoff distribution to its benefit. Such a secret can compromise the sustainability of conversation. Even without an obligation, the secret holder will disclose its secret if it prevents preemptive termination of the conversation. The nonsecret holder lacks this possibility and stops the conversation. Competition and limited effectiveness of the conversation amplify this result of early disclosure and render the conversation process less sustainable. We discuss policy and managerial implications for industry standard development and joint ventures.


In this study we investigate the valuation implications of managerial actions undertaken by 57 Internet firms engaged in Business-to-Business (B2B) e-commerce. We classify 3,007 managerial actions undertaken by our sample firms between the firm's IPO date and September 30, 2000 into nine action categories: (1) acquisition of major customers, (2) introduction of new products and services, (3) promotional and marketing actions, (4) actions taken to address the concerns of stakeholders such as employees and the community at large, (5) announcements of technology, marketing, and distribution alliances, (6) completion of acquisitions, (7) expansion into international markets, (8) management team building actions, and (9) organizational changes. In the short window tests, we find a significant increase in stock price volatility over a three-day event window surrounding the announcement of almost all actions suggesting that announcement of managerial actions provides valuerelevant information to the stock market. In the long window tests, we use factor analysis to group the counts of managerial actions taken by each firm over its post-IPO life into two broad managerial initiatives—market penetration and organization building. These two initiatives explain a substantial portion of the cross-sectional variation in the firms' post-IPO life stock market returns beyond that explained by both reported earnings and analysts' forecasts of future earnings and revenues. Thus, investors appear to supplement relatively meager accounting information with data about the cross-sectional intensity of managerial actions in setting stock prices of B2B Internet firms.


This Letter addresses the problem of designing totally selfchecking checkers for checking m two-rail signal pairs, when the checker receives a subset of all possible input codewords, under normal operation. There are cases when a two-rail checked tree, which will be tested by the inputs received under normal operation, cannot be found. However, it is shown that two-rail checker network structures other than trees will also be totally self-checking (TSC) and code-disjoint. A method for designing TSC two-rail checkers for a given set of input codewords is presented


Author(s): Wrzesniewski, Jakub | Advisor(s): Zysman, John | Abstract: In 2003, an erstwhile successful state apparatus - the security party-state of Ba`athist Iraq - collapsed as a result of the US-led Operation Iraqi Freedom. The breakdown of the state apparatus was then exacerbated by early occupational policy, which swept away the foundations of both the armed forces and the civil services. As a result, Iraq was faced with a condition of near-total anarchy, as US occupational institutions proved themselves unequal to replacing the state structures they had eliminated.That governance vacuum enabled non-state coercive actors to compete for authority in the shadow of the US occupation. In much of the country, the result was protracted, multi-sided struggle, but in al Anbar tribal leaders were able to establish themselves as the supreme authorities, carving out a tribal quasi-state in the governorate.This dissertation examines the process of state failure and the nature of politics in the absence of stable state structures, and in doing so concludes that the institutional configuration of the non-state coercive power competitors is the crucial deciding factor separating winners from losers. In al Anbar, it was two characteristics of the tribes - their hierarchical authority, forged out of long-term historical forces, and the more recent legacy of collusion with the Ba'athist state in the two decades prior to the US-led invasion. The central government in Iraq, like the proverbial stranger in the Alps, has been buffeted by blows from all directions, with unsure governance even in its core territories, while the tribes of western Iraq have only each other as significant rivals.The paper concludes with thoughts on generalizing this framework beyond al Anbar to the other regions of Iraq, and to other failed states.


: 100 women with atypical vaginal bleedings and additional riskfactors of endometrium-carcinoma were examined by cellaspiration and curettage in a comparative study. In 92.5% there was a positive correlation between cytology and histology. In 4 cases no cellmaterial could be aspirated, in further 4 cases cytological findings were not possible, because there was few cellmaterial.


Face recognition via thermal infrared (IR) images is a modern recognition method that has found so interesting for many researchers during last decade. This method which operates via thermal features and the situation of human face vessels has much more benefits than visual-based methods. In these images, the changes of environmental light, which is one of the most important problems of face recognition via visual images, are completely eliminated. The most important face recognition problem via thermal IR images is the existence of diffusion obstacles like glasses, which blocks an accurate extraction of the face vessels situation. Using the proposed algorithm, this problem has been completely removed. In this article face recognition is performed through face vessels. In fact, the proposed method solves the issues of face recognition (like glasses wearing) in the thermal infrared domain suggested by Pavlidis et al in [5]. For extraction of the face features, the situation of vessel branches is used. Also, by choosing appropriate classification, fake vessels and false branches are removed. On the other hand, the best feature is extracted by using Dynamic Time Wrapping (DTW) algorithm which is resistant to nonlinear changes. The simulation on UTK-IRIS gallery set shows the accurate recognition rate 95% on the images with glasses. Thus, the proposed method has improved the recognition rate about 10% on same gallery set compared to the best other methods.


Introduction Complex NPRP (non pedunculated rectal polyp) is defined as the polyp which has an increased risk of malignancy, increased risk of incomplete resection/recurrence, increased risk of adverse event or SMSA level 4 polyp.1 Complex rectal polyps are managed by endoscopic (EMR, ESD, hybrid ESD) techniques or by various surgical techniques (TEMS, TAMIS, TART, TASER), depending on the endoscopic lesion assessment and the local expertise. Methods The aim of this study was to describe the outcomes of the endoscopic management of complex rectal polyps in a large tertiary hospital (single operator). Results Over a period of 33 months (May 2013 to Jan 2016), 77 complex rectal polyps including 10 rectosigmoid polyps were encountered. The size of the polyp varied from 1 cm to 14 cms (median - 3.5 cm). The age of the patient varied from 50 to 92 (median age - 60). 29 polyps (37.6%) was confirmed to have cancer. The pre resection endoscopic accuracy of malignancy was 94%. Frank malignancy was suspected and confirmed in 7 cases and deemed not suitable for endoscopic resection. A small subpedunculated pT1 polyp cancer was resected enbloc, but was not suspected to be a cancer prior to resection.21 polyps were noted to have features suggestive of high risk of malignancy. All had attempted endoscopic resection, including EMR and/or hybrid ESD. Of these, 7 polyps was confirmed to have cancer. The surgery rate for complex rectal polyps (including lesions with endoscopic resections for cancer) is 4.2%. None of the benign polyps (including polyps with EMR/Hybrid ESD for recurrence at previous TEMS/EMR site, post surgery anastomosis site) had surgery. Of the data available for 54 polyps with post endoscopic resection, 46 polyps (85%) did not have any residual lesion at 3 months. Of the available data for 26 polyps at 12 months, no recurrence/residual lesion was noted. None of the resection had perforation. 2 polyp cancers had significant bleeding during attempted hybrid ESD and had surgical resection of the polyp cancer. Another benign polyp with hybrid ESD had significant bleeding controlled with haemospray. The average time of combined EMR/hybrid ESD procedures is 11.4 mins for every cm of polyp resected. Considering the age, co-morbidity, size, location and final histology, ESD or alternative micro surgical techniques would have made a difference to the final outcome in only one patient.Abstract PTU-039 Figure 1 Conclusion The pre resection endoscopic accuracy rate for malignancy is significantly high in a high volume centre. EMR and Hybrid ESD in experienced hands is an effective technique in managing complex rectal polyps. Reference 1 British Society of Gastroenterology/Association of Coloproctologists of Great Britain and Ireland guidelines for the management of large non-pedunculated colorectal polyps. Disclosure of Interest None Declared


Scholarly publications are among the most tangible forms of knowledge production. Therefore, it is important to analyse them, amongst other features, for gender or country differences and the incumbent inequalities. While there are many quantitative studies of publication activities and success in terms of publication numbers and citation counts, a more content-related understanding of differences in the choice of research topics is rare. The present paper suggests an innovative method of using term communities in co-occurrence networks for detecting and evaluating the gender- and country-specific distribution of topics in research publications. The method is demonstrated with a pilot study based on approximately a quarter million of publication abstracts in seven diverse research areas. In this example, the method validly reconstructs all obvious topic preferences, for instance, country-dependent language-related preferences. It also produces new insight into country-specific research focuses. It emerges that in all seven subject areas studied, topic preferences are significantly different depending on whether all authors are women, all authors are men, or there are female and male co-authors, with a tendency of male authors towards theoretical core topics, of female authors towards peripheral applied topics, and of mixed-author teams towards modern interdisciplinary topics.


A new technique that reduces stacking fault (SF) density in 3C-SiC, termed switch-back epitaxy (SBE), is demonstrated regarding its effects on morphological and electrical properties. SBE is a homoepitaxial growth process on backside of 3C-SiC grown on undulant-Si. The key feature of SBE, the surface polarity of residual SFs in 3C-SiC, which cannot be erased by heteroepitaxial growth on undulant-Si, is converted from the Si-face to the C-face. The SF density on the surface of 3C-SiC grown by SBE shows a remarkable decrease to one-seventh lower than that on undulant- Si. The leakage current of pn-diode epitaxially fabricated on the 3C-SiC substrate grown by SBE decreases to as low as one-thirtieth that on 3C-SiC substrate grown without SBE. These results suggest that SBE eliminates the SFs on the surface of 3C-SiC and subsequently reduces the leakage current at pn-junction thus fabricated.


This paper introduces a new type of summarization task, known as microblog summarization, which aims to synthesize content from multiple microblog posts on the same topic into a human-readable prose description of fixed length. Our approach leverages (1) a generative model which induces event structures from text and (2) a user behavior model which captures how users convey relevant content.


Nagasaki Commercial High School In order to improve and develop confidence in their speaking and listening proficiency, students need regular opportunities to speak with other learners and listen to a wide variety of listening content. With large university classes it is difficult for the teacher to monitor students' practice and promote student oral interaction outside of the classroom. Self-access listening and talking journals can give the students a range of listening and speaking options and allow the teacher to check students' practice and comprehension. Video forums can help motivate students and build their confidence by increasing their oral L2 production and extend peer support and feedback beyond the classroom. This paper reports the results of a three year study at Nagasaki University concerning the impact of expanded self-access listening, talking journals and video forums on improving student oral L2 production, motivation and confidence.


This paper proposes a concept of layered fiber reinforced concrete (LFRC) beam. In the concept of a LFRC beam, low-modulus fiber and high-modulus fiber are randomly dispersed and uniformly distributed into the concrete matries of the compression and tension zones, respectively. The static behaviors of LFRC beam are investigated from both experimental and numerical aspects. Four-point bending tests are performed on two simply supported T-shaped LFRC beam specimens and an ordinary T-shaped RC beam specimen with large scales. Comparison between the testing results of LFRC and RC beam specimens shows that the initial cracking load, flexural toughness and post-yielding stiffness of a LFRC beam can be significantly improved, but the ultimate loads are nearly without change. Numerical simulations are also carried out to investigate the static behaviors of the LFRC beam specimens. It is found that the simulation results are agreed well with that of tests. Further numerical parameter analysis for the LFRC beam specimens is conducted. The effects of high-modulus fiber volume fraction on the static behaviors of LFRC beams are studied. The research results show that the additions of high-modulus fibers have little effect on the initial stiffness, yielding loads and ultimate loads of LFRC beams; both the load and displacement at the initial cracking point increase linearly with the increasing volume fraction of the high-modulus fiber, but both the yielding displacement and ultimate displacement decrease linearly with the increasing volume fraction of the high-modulus fiber.


The effect of long-term aging at 1070°C on microstructure and mechanical properties of Ni3Al-base equiaxed superalloy IC6E was investigated. The microstructure change during aging for periods of 100 to 1500h was examined by SEM . Results showed that alloy IC6E underwent following microstructure changes during aging: γ' phases coalesced and grew, γ phases became disconnected and coarsened, the content of Mo (the solution-hardening element of γ and γ' phases) in γ' phases decreased, Y-NiMo phases precipitated from γ phases both at grain boundaries and within grains, and γ' bands and large γ phases emerged along grain boundaries. The tensile and stress rupture properties after aging were determined. The results showed that the yield strength of alloy IC6E at room temperature decreased obviously after aging for 100 h, and reduced slowly during further aging. The stress rupture life under 1070°C, 80MPa also had no essential change during aging.


Iron triad nanomaterials (including Fe, Co, Ni and their compounds) have attracted much attention in environmental protection and remediation due to their low cost, unique magnetism, suitable electric and electrocatalytic properties, and high specific surface area. They can be used to detect and degrade various environmental pollutants such as heavy metal ions, inorganic anions, and some organic molecules based on different mechanisms, and be magnetically recycled. Even pollutants can be transformed into useful components through specific handling. Considering their convenient and specialized applications in the environmental field, herein, we review the most recent progress in the detection, and treatment of contaminants from the environment using iron triad nanomaterials and their recycling with typical examples and deep analyses. The current limitations and issues in these applications will also be presented in order to address the remaining challenges to turn them into developed technologies.


Caffeine contents of 45 green coffee bean samples collected from coffee plants grown at different altitudes in Southwest Ethiopia was determined by UV-Vis spectrophotometry. The caffeine contents were found in the range of 0.62 - 1.2% (w/w). A moderate negative correlation (R = 0.5463) was found between the caffeine contents of green coffee beans and the altitudes at which the coffee plants were grown. The caffeine contents of 9 of the green coffee bean samples analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) provided comparable results in the range of 0.60−1.1% (w/w). Statistical analysis of data (t-test) indicated absence of significant differences between the caffeine contents obtained by the two methods. Nonetheless, HPLC method is precise, accurate and reliable in determining caffeine content in green coffee bean samples while the UV-Vis spectrophotometry is simple, rapid, precise and more economical. KEY WORDS : Green coffee beans, Caffeine, Correlation between caffeine content and altitude of coffee plant, UV-Vis spectrophotometry, High performance liquid chromatography, Ethiopia Bull. Chem. Soc. Ethiop. 2018 , 32(1), 13-25 DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/bcse.v32i1.2


Germanium oxide nanofilaments (GNFs) have been synthesized under ambient conditions from the gas phase using germanium tetrachloride as a precursor. Non-crystalline GNFs synthesized by this procedure are 1-10 μm in length and 80-110 nm in diameter applying Droplet Assisted Growth and Shaping (DAGS) Chemistry. The relative humidity has been adjusted at various values in order to demonstrate the crucial role of humidity in the gas phase for the nanofilament synthesis. The novel GNFs show a strong luminescence emission in the ultra-violet and light blue region. In addition, a self-cleaning and superhydrophobic properties could be introduced in the luminescent GNF nanofilaments by simple treatment with silane molecules.