Results are presented from the first investigation into a summer-season of mesoscale vortex activity in a large sector of the Antarctic coastal region. The study is based on an analysis of 3 months' meteorological satellite imagery collected at the British Research Station 'Rothera' on the Antarctic Peninsula. The study revealed the high frequency with which such systems occur, with 162 individual vortices being found during the period December 1983 to February 1984 inclusive. The preferred area for their development was in the latitude band 60–70°S over the marginal ice zone and ice-free region of the eastern Bellingshausen Sea. A classification scheme for the vortices was developed based on the relationship with the broad-scale synoptic flow, the sea ice, and the geographical location. The most common type of vortex found was the 'classic' polar low, which formed in the southerly flow to the west of synoptic-scale disturbances. These vortices were very similar to the baroclinic type of polar lows observed south of Iceland during the Northern Hemisphere winter. A third of the vortices in total were found to be mesoscale features associated with synoptic-scale troughs or the centres of major depressions. Vortices with comma-shaped cloud signatures occurred about twice as frequently as those with spiraliform cloud. The vast majority of vortices had a diameter of less than 500 km, with very few systems being observed in the range 500–1000 km. Mean anomalies of 500 hPa geopotential height and surface pressure for the occasions when vortices were identified were —5.3 dm and — 0.5 hPa, respectively, indicating the association of these systems with upper air troughs and cold pools. Only 23 of the vortices found were correctly represented on the Meteorological Office analyses and of these 15 were small synoptic disturbances. The 'polar low' class of vortex was very poorly represented in the analyses, indicating that the available satellite sounder data could not resolve the systems and that the processes resulting in their formation were not handled well by forecast/data assimilation schemes. Comparison of the mean surface and 500 hPa height fields for this 3-month period with the long-term average data show that there were negative anomalies at both levels over the Bellingshausen Sea. The number of vortices over the Bellingshausen Sea in this summer period may have been greater than would be expected in an average year, but activity over the Weddell Sea was probably close to average.


China is believed to have gained immensely from its admission into to the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001. One of the direct gains comes from the lessening of deadweight loss (DWL) due to tariff reduction. Conventional measures for DWL, however, are too aggregate to capture the trade policies, which are determined at a much higher disaggregated level, and ignore the interactions between tariff and corresponding import demand as suggested by theories. In this paper, we first systematically estimate the import demand elasticities at a highly disaggregated level and then match them with the most detailed lines of the applied tariff for the most favored nations as reported by the WTO. Using the detailed matching data, we construct Feenstrai¯s (1995) simplified trade restrictiveness index (TRI), which captures the covariance of tariff and the corresponding demand elasticity. Finally, we use the TRI to compute the DWL from1997 to 2008 and find that the DWL due to the tariff barrier was reduced to 0.73% of GNI in 2008, noticeably lower than the highest previous mark of 4.58% of GNI in 2001.


A new geometrical scaling method with a gluon saturation rapidity limit is proposed to study the gluon saturation feature of the central rapidity region of relativistic nuclear collisions. The net-baryon number is essentially transported by valence quarks that probe the saturation regime in the target by multiple scattering. We take advantage of the gluon saturation model with geometric scaling of the rapidity limit to investigate net baryon distributions, nuclear stopping power and gluon saturation features in the SPS and RHIC energy regions. Predictions for net-baryon rapidity distributions, mean rapidity loss and gluon saturation feature in central Pb+Pb collisions at the LHC are made in this paper.


In this paper, we evaluate a method to calculate hourly global solar radiation and improve the calculation of diffuse and vertical surface radiation on building facades by accounting for ground conditions based on publicly available data of cloud coverage, temperature and precipitation from a forecast service covering the Nordic countries. The detailed weather forecasts produced by MET Norway provide hourly forecasts for the next 60 hours, and 6-hour predictions for the next week. To calculate solar radiation on cloudy days the clear and cloudy sky MAC model developed by Davies and Mckay (1982) is used. Instead of basing the prediction on ground observations as in the original method, cloud coverage in three levels and total cloud cover is used as input in a cloud product parameterisation. The resulting global horizontal irradiance is validated against the output of the numerical weather prediction (NWP) model and compared to a year of hourly ground measurements in Trondheim, Norway. To evaluate applicability to the building sciences, vertical irradiance measurements are compared to tilted surface irradiance calculated with the ISO 52010:2017 method. For the location, six-hour forecasting performance is on par with the GHI output of the NWP model (using the cloud layer model and the available weather parameters of the location forecast API). To account for the unpredictability of clouds and improve the short-term forecasting performance beyond 38 % RMSD, 38 % SD and 0.80 R2 a different approach is needed, like combining model and sky observations.


— This paper deals with an adaptive multiuser detector for direct sequence code division multiple-access (DS-CDMA) systems. A modified receiver, precombinig LMMSE is considered under time varying channel environment. Detector updating is performed with two criterions, mean square estimation (MSE) and MOE optimization technique. The adaptive implementation issues of these two schemes are quite different. MSE criterion updates the filter weights by minimizing error between data vector and adaptive vector. MOE criterion together with canonical representation of the detector results in a constrained optimization problem. Even though the canonical representation is very complicated under time varying channels, it is analyzed with assumption of average power profile of multipath replicas of user of interest. The performance of both schemes is studied for practical SNR conditions. Results show that for poor SNR, MSE precombining LMMSE is better than the blind precombining LMMSE but for greater SNR, MOE scheme outperforms with better result.


The majority of Europeans associate food and eating with enjoyment. According to a new Eurobarometer survey published today, those who are concerned about possible food-related risks tend to worry more about chemical contamination of food rather than bacterial contamination or health and nutrition issues. The poll also showed most Europeans have confidence in national and European food safety agencies as information sources on possible risks associated with food.


The culture and working practices within midwifery settings are key modifiable factors that influence the emotional wellbeing of midwives. As a caring profession, a culture of self-sacrifice still appears to be expected in the provision of care, despite this having a negative effect on care provision. Shift patterns, long shifts and working practices where midwives continue to miss rest breaks, work unpaid beyond their contracted hours or present for work when unwell, all have a negative impact on emotional wellbeing. Future wellbeing strategies in midwifery settings should focus on supporting a positive workplace culture that cares equally for its midwives as it does for the women and babies in its care.


A methodology for the experimental investigation of the implementation of control in programming languages is presented. The methodology specifies a data-collection technique, the environment for driving simulations of control implementations, and a meaningful metric for performance evaluation. The key in the methodology is the separation of activity which is affected by the control implementation from that which is not.


In a growing number of domains, the provisioning of end-to-end services to the users depends on the proper interoperation of multiple systems, forming a new distributed system, often subject to timing constraints. To ensure interoperability and integrity, it is important to conduct integration tests that verify the interactions with the environment and between the system components in key scenarios. To tackle test automation challenges, we propose algorithms for decentralized conformance checking and test input generation, and for checking and enforcing the conditions (local observability and controllability) that allow decentralized test execution.


We obtained spectra in the wavelength range λ = 995–1769 nm of all four known planets orbiting the star HR 8799. Using the suite of instrumentation known as Project 1640 on the Palomar 5 m Hale Telescope, we acquired data at two epochs. This allowed for multiple imaging detections of the companions and multiple extractions of low-resolution (R ∼ 35) spectra. Data reduction employed two different methods of speckle suppression and spectrum extraction, both yielding results that agree. The spectra do not directly correspond to those of any known objects, although similarities with L and T dwarfs are present, as well as some characteristics similar to planets such as Saturn. We tentatively identify the presence of CH4 along with NH3 and/or C2H2, and possibly CO2 or HCN in varying amounts in each component of the system. Other studies suggested red colors for these faint companions, and our data confirm those observations. Cloudy models, based on previous photometric observations, may provide the best explanation for the new data presented here. Notable in our data is that these presumably co-eval objects of similar luminosity have significantly different spectra; the diversity of planets may be greater than previously thought. The techniques and methods employed in this paper represent a new capability to observe and rapidly characterize exoplanetary systems in a routine manner over a broad range of planet masses and separations. These are the first simultaneous spectroscopic observations of multiple planets in a planetary system other than our own.


The need for change and improvement in the construction sector has been well documented. The recent economic downturn, greater levels of competition, increasing product complexity, regulatory requirements and tougher environmental targets are all examples of current challenges that continue to add weight to this requirement and accelerate the pace in which the sector must respond. It is widely agreed that it is through innovation, which can be defined as the successful exploitation of an idea, that construction firms will be able to create and exploit solutions in response to many of these challenges.

In response, more and more construction firms are seeking ways to manage innovation in a more strategic and conscientious manner. However, there is little practical guidance for construction professionals on how this can be achieved and progress towards the optimisation of intra-organisational innovation in construction is widely considered to have been slow. Progress has been hindered by a lack of research and understanding of innovation in the construction context. There is an urgent need to address this and equip construction firms with practical and effective approaches for improved innovation management.

This thesis presents an action research project that has developed and tested two interventions aimed at improving the management of innovation at the intra-organisational level within a major construction, engineering and associated services firm. The first intervention comprised of a stage-gate idea management process, a support network of innovation champions and a web-based tool for capturing, storing and reporting on ideas, with the purpose of providing a new platform for innovation outside the normal scope and boundaries of a single project. The second intervention included an online resource that provided tools and guidance for innovation with the purpose of promoting and providing practical support for those seeking to facilitate innovation in their projects or teams.

Evaluation of the first intervention has revealed a number of important results, including the improved performance of budgets for innovation, increased employee satisfaction with levels of support for innovation, improvement in self-reported innovation performance and an increased portfolio of innovation projects. Usability testing of the second intervention suggests that it is a valuable tool that encourages and supports innovation at the project level. The thesis concludes by outlining a number of recommendations for consideration by the industry, along with suggestions for future research.


Four standardbred horses with subcutaneously relocated carotid arteries were given a seven week training programme of treadmill exercise at a gradient of 19 per cent in order to assess if there were any effects of exercise and training on haematology, arterial blood gas and acid base measurements, plasma biochemistry and heart rate. The exercise consisted of one minute walking at 110 metres/minute followed by five minutes trotting at 200 metres/minute, twice daily in the first week. The period of trotting exercise was increased by one minute per week so that by the seventh week the horses were being given 12 minutes trotting twice daily. Before training commenced venous blood samples, for complete blood counts and plasma biochemistry, and arterial samples, for blood gas, acid base and lactate measurements, were taken at rest, after five minutes and 15 minutes of treadmill exercise (200 metres/minute) and 30 minutes and 60 minutes after completing the exercise. Heart rate was measured by telemetric electrocardiogram at similar intervals. This exercise test and blood collection were repeated after one, three, five and seven weeks of training. The only significant changes were a decrease in exercise lactate with training, increases in exercise and recovery total protein. The haematological response to treadmill exercise included an increase in certain red cell parametes and a leucocytosis which was caused by both a neutrophilia and a lymphocytosis. These effects had largely disappeared by 30 minutes after exercise and all values had returned to resting values by one hour after exercise.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


The Survival Motor Neuron (SMN) protein is a multi-functional protein that participates in a wide variety of critical pathways. Low levels of SMN cause spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), the most common genetic cause of infant mortality. While the role of SMN in the assembly of small nuclear ribonucleoproteins (snRNPs) has been well characterized, many of its other diverse functions have not been thoroughly explored. Here, we examine the critical role of SMN in the growth and development of male mammalian sex organs. We show that low levels of SMN in a mild mouse model of SMA cause impaired testis development, degenerated seminiferous tubules, reduced sperm count, and low fertility. Underscoring an increased requirement for SMN expression, wild type testis showed extremely high levels of SMN protein compared to other tissues. The testis phenotype is linked to increased apoptosis in seminiferous tubules and extreme perturbations in the testis transcriptome. We examine the RNA binding function of SMN by Systematic Evolution of Ligands by Exponential Enrichment (SELEX) to identify RNA sequence and structural motif(s) of SMN. Our results reveal a combination of sequence motifs and structural contexts that drive the specificity of RNA-SMN interactions. Our results of truncation and substitution experiments suggest a requirement for multiple contacts between SMN and RNA to maintain the high affinity. We demonstrate that both affinity and specificity of RNA-SMN interaction are influenced by salt concentrations. To identify in vivo RNA targets of SMN, we performed crosslinking and immunoprecipitation coupled with high-throughput sequencing (HITS-CLIP). HITSCLIP identified a variety of RNA targets of SMN with an enrichment of mRNAs


We present results from an extensive study of fluctuation phenomena in superconducting nanowires made
from sputtered NbN. Nanoscale wires were fabricated in form of a meander and operated at a constant
temperature T0.4Tc0. The superconducting state is driven close to the electronic phase transition by a high
bias current near the critical one. Fluctuations of sufficient strength temporarily drive a section of the meander
structure into the normal-conducting state, which can be registered as a voltage pulse of nanosecond duration.
We considered three different models vortex-antivortex pairs, vortex edge barriers, and phase-slip centers to
explain the experimental data. Only thermally excited vortices, either via unbinding of vortex-antivortex pairs
or vortices overcoming the edge barrier, lead to a satisfactory and consistent description for all measurements.


In this paper, a continuous time model for a monopoly firm of the Evans' type, encompassing operations, investments, and output prices, is formulated as an optimal control problem. In the model the objective of the firm is to maximize, subject to various constraints, the integral of production profits less interest and investment costs over a finite decision-making interval, plus the value of the capacity at the end of the period. The state variables are capacity, debt, and output price; the controls are the scale of operation, rate of purchase of new capacity, and rate of change of the output price. Final capacity, price, and debt are control parameters. There are several inequality constraints. Using results in control theory, the optimal controls are characterized for a model basically linear in structure. It shows that the one case suggested by Evans for further analysis is a trivial problem. These results are interpreted using the properties of the value equation. In addition, the control model is formulated alternatively as a mathematical programming problem. Solutions may then be computed by published algorithms.


Although popularly perceived as a positive force important for objectives such as economic development and democracy, social capital may also be linked to less desirable outcomes. This article highlights a dark side to social capital by pointing to its role in a particularly pernicious phenomenon: genocidal violence. Drawing on a survey of residents from one community that experienced violence during Rwanda's 1994 genocide, I show that individual participation in the violence was partly determined by the features of residents' social networks. Perpetrators possessed larger networks in general and more connections to other perpetrators in particular. The quality as well as quantity of connections also mattered. Strong ties generally, and kinship and neighborly ties specifically, were strong predictors of participation. In contrast, possession of countervailing ties to nonparticipants did not reduce a resident's likelihood of participation. Drawing on in-depth interviews to explore the possible mechanisms behind these findings, I suggest participants' networks fulfilled functions of information diffusion, social influence, and behavioral regulation. More broadly, the findings suggest the importance of social structure and social interaction for participation in collective violence. Relational data should complement individual attribute data in predicting participation. The findings also suggest, contrary to the neo-Malthusian interpretation, that the role played by Rwanda's extraordinarily high population density in the violence may have been Department of Government, London School of Economics, London, UK Corresponding Author: Omar Shahabudin McDoom, Department of Government, London School of Economics, 2 Houghton Street, London, WC2A 2AE, UK. Email: email@example.com Journal of Conflict Resolution 00(0) 1-29 a The Author(s) 2013 Reprints and permission: sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/0022002713484282 jcr.sagepub.com at London School of Economics & Political Sciences on April 24, 2014 jcr.sagepub.com Downloaded from more sociological than ecological in origin. The diffusion, influence, and regulatory effects of social connections are likely to be amplified in communities where individuals live in close spatial proximity to each other.


A major hindrance to the acceptance of polymer composites in civil engineering applications is the susceptibility of the polymeric matrix to weathering. The polymer matrix is prone to degradation initiated by ultraviolet (UV) radiation, moisture, temperature, and high pH environments. The objective of this study was to characterize chemical and physical changes in polymeric matrix resins following exposure to these environments. The ultimate goal is to identify factors that contribute to matrix resin degradation under environmental and mechanical stresses. Resin systems studied included vinylester and isophthalic polyester, both of which are commonly used in construction applications. Neat polymer films were exposed to UV radiation, moisture, alkaline, and saline environments. Diffusion of water, alkali, and saline solution into the polymers was calculated from gravimetric measurements. Changes in strength, viscoelastic response, and thermal properties were evaluated through tensile testing, dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA), and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Atomic force microscopy (AFM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were also used for detecting changes in the polymer surface following UV exposure.


We report the construction of the first genetic linkage map in the blue mussel, Mytilus edulis. AFLP markers were used in 86 full-sib progeny from a controlled pair mating, applying a double pseudo-test cross strategy. Thirty-six primer pairs generated 2354 peaks, of which 791 (33.6%) were polymorphic in the mapping family. Among those, 341 segregated through the female parent, 296 through the male parent (type 1:1) and 154 through both parents (type 3:1). Chi-square goodness-of-fit tests revealed that 71% and 73% of type 1:1 and 3:1 markers respectively segregated according to Mendelian inheritance. Sex-specific linkage maps were built with mapmaker 3.0 software. The female framework map consisted of 121 markers ordered into 14 linkage groups, spanning 862.8 cM, with an average marker spacing of 8.0 cM. The male framework map consisted of 116 markers ordered into 14 linkage groups, spanning 825.2 cM, with an average marker spacing of 8.09 cM. Genome coverage was estimated to be 76.7% and 75.9% for the female and male framework maps respectively, rising to 85.8% (female) and 86.2% (male) when associated markers were included. Twelve probable homologous linkage group pairs were identified and a consensus map was built for nine of these homologous pairs based on multiple and parallel linkages of 3:1 markers, spanning 816 cM, with joinmap 4.0 software.


Seventeen patients in whom "dry eye" had been diagnosed each tried four coded commercial artificial tear solutions for one week, in random sequence. The correlation of the function tests (Schirmer test, break-up tie, goblet cell count in conjunctival biopsy) did not permit a grouping of the patients. A tendency to a correlation between break-up time and goblet cell count was noted. It was not possible to show a preference on the part of certain patients for particular products; thus, with the current function tests available, a precise therapeutic classification of "dry eye" patients does not seem possible.


Mammalian apolipoprotein B (apoB) mRNA editing is mediated by a multicomponent holoenzyme containing apobec-1 and ACF. We have now identified CUGBP2, a 54-kDa RNA-binding protein, as a component of this holoenzyme. CUGBP2 and ACF co-fractionate in bovine liver S-100 extracts, and addition of recombinant apobec-1 leads to assembly of a holoenzyme. Immunodepletion of CUGBP2 co-precipitates ACF, and these proteins co-localize the nucleus of transfected cells, suggesting that CUGBP2 and ACF are bound in vivo. CUGBP2 binds apoB RNA, specifically an AU-rich sequence located immediately upstream of the edited cytidine. ApoB RNA from McA cells, bound to CUGBP2, was more extensively edited than the unbound fraction. However, addition of recombinant CUGBP2 to a reconstituted system demonstrated a dose-dependent inhibition of C to U RNA editing, which was rescued with either apobec-1 or ACF. Antisense CUGBP2 knockout increased endogenous apoB RNA editing, whereas antisense knockout of either apobec-1 or ACF expression eliminated apoB RNA editing, establishing the absolute requirement of these components of the core enzyme. These data suggest that CUGBP2 plays a role in apoB mRNA editing by forming a regulatory complex with the three components of the minimal editing enzyme, apobec-1, ACF, and apoB RNA.


In the present work, two carbon quantum dots with onion ring morphology, C-NOR and C-NOR(Eu) with an average size of 40 nm differing in the absence or presence of Eu3+ as Lewis acids during their preparation were synthesized and fully characterized by several techniques. These nanoparticles can be internalized into human HeLa and Hep3B carcinoma cells where they exhibit interesting photoluminescent properties, in the same manner as in solution, confirming their utility as bioimaging agents. To address this possibility, a complete in vitro toxicological study has been performed here. Viability, proliferation, apoptosis and oxidative stress assessments upon limited or continuous exposure were done. It was observed that both nanoparticles did not show toxicity in both situations at low concentration, although some toxicity has been determined at higher concentrations under continuous exposure. These results support the possible use of C-NOR and C-NOR(Eu) nanoparticles as bioimaging agents.


Electro-optic (EO) image sensors exhibit the properties of high resolution and low noise level at daytime, but they do not work in dark environments. Infrared (IR) image sensors exhibit poor resolution and cannot separate objects with similar temperature. Therefore, we propose a novel framework of IR image enhancement based on the information (e.g., edge) from EO images, which improves the resolution of IR images and helps us distinguish objects at night. Our framework superimposing/blending the edges of the EO image onto the corresponding transformed IR image improves their resolution. In this framework, we adopt the theoretical point spread function (PSF) proposed by Hardie et al. for the IR image, which has the modulation transfer function (MTF) of a uniform detector array and the incoherent optical transfer function (OTF) of diffraction-limited optics. In addition, we design an inverse filter for the proposed PSF and use it for the IR image transformation. The framework requires four main steps: (1) inverse filter-based IR image transformation; (2) EO image edge detection; (3) registration; and (4) blending/superimposing of the obtained image pair. Simulation results show both blended and superimposed IR images, and demonstrate that blended IR images have better quality over the superimposed images. Additionally, based on the same steps, simulation result shows a blended IR image of better quality when only the original IR image is available.


An inherent capability of packet-switched networks is the speed at which they can be reconfigured; various dynamic or adaptive routing techniques have been conceived to exploit this capability. In this study, existing techniques are described and an "ultra-dynamic" technique, delta routing, is invented. Several promising techniques are then selected for comparison with one another and with a network's ultimate carrying capacity. The goal is to shed light on the questions if and when one should use which kind of adaptive routing. First, a taxonomy of routing strategies is presented. In addition to delta routing, random, proportional, shortest path, and shortest path fixed-for-session duration are selected for comparison and their mechanisms described. The delay and efficiency performance of the five techniques are then compared with one another and with ideal behavior via simulations. These have been carried out concentrating on four very small networks, each with very different characteristics with the intention of gaining insight into the strengths and weaknesses of the various techniques. A ten-node network has also been simulated. The results favor delta routing which is most effective in highly interconnected network enviroments.


This paper studies the possibility of strategy-proof rules yielding satisfactory solutions to matching problems. Alcalde and Barber_ (1994) show that efficient and individually rational matching rules are manipulable in the one-to-one matching model. We pursue the possibility of strategy-proof matching rules by relaxing effciency to the weaker condition of respect for unanimity. Our first result is positive. We prove that a strategy-proof rule exists that is individually rational and respects unanimity. However, this rule is unreasonable in the sense that a pair of agents who are the best for each other are matched on only rare occasions. In order to explore the possibility of better matching rules, we introduce the natural condition of "respect for pairwise unanimity." Respect for pairwise unanimity states that a pair of agents who are the best for each other should be matched, and an agent wishing to stay single should stay single. Our second result is negative. We prove that no strategy-proof rule exists that respects pairwise unanimity. This result implies Roth (1982) showing that stable rules are manipulable. We then extend this to the many-to-one matching model.


Heating tumors before radiation treatment has been shown to shrink the tumors completely in more patients with recurrent cancer than radiation treatment alone, according to a study by Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center radiation oncologists. In a sample of 109 cancer patients, the researchers found that the dual therapy shrank tumors completely in 66 percent of patients with cancers in the breast, chest wall, head and neck, and skin (melanoma). By contrast, radiation alone caused full tumor shrinkage in 42 percent of patients. The majority of patients were women with breast cancer that had recurred in the chest wall following mastectomy. The researchers said their findings clearly demonstrate that hyperthermia plus radiation should be the new standard of care for these women. "The dual therapy offers the best potential for long-term cancer control in women whose cancer has recurred in their chest wall but has not spread elsewhere in the body, said Ellen Jones, MD, Ph.D., principal investigator of the study and a radiation oncologist at Duke. Results of the study are published in the May 1, 2005, issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Collaborators included Duke faculty from the departments of surgery, medical oncology, engineering and other radiation oncologists. Patients with recurrent cancer have a poor prognosis because the cancer is typically aggressive and because a full dose of radiation is too toxic a second time, said Jones. Thus, finding new ways to improve the effectiveness of radiation is critical to enhancing the patient's quality of life and potentially extending survival, she said. "Adding hyperthermia to standard radiation gives us a strategy to get more mileage out of a modest dose of radiation for previously treated patients, who cannot tolerate a full dose," said Jones. "The results of our trial set a new standard for how we define and determine a thermal dose of hyperthermia." Hyperthermia was even more effective among patients who had received radiation to treat their initial tumor, the researchers found. Among these patients, 68 percent had complete tumor shrinkage following the dual therapy versus 23 percent of patients who were receiving radiation for the first time. Overall, the dual therapy did not extend survival for the patients in the study, primarily because so many patients had metastases (spreading cancer) elsewhere in the body, said Jones. However, she noted, hyperthermia improved local tumor control in the site of recurrence. While extending survival is the ultimate goal of any treatment, even partial tumor shrinkage can improve a patient's quality of life by reducing pain and discomfort caused by tumors, said Jones. Hyperthermia uses microwave energy to raise the tumor's temperature. The heat triggers a series of complex physiological events that are critical to the tumor's demise, said the researchers. A tumor's blood vessels are leakier than normal blood vessels, and heat opens blood vessel walls to an even greater extent, enabling chemotherapy and radiation to penetrate more effectively and sensitizing cells to radiation. Heat also increases oxygen levels within the tumor, and oxygen is critical to the proper functioning of radiation and chemotherapy inside a cell. Finally, heat amplifies the level of DNA damage that chemotherapy and radiation inflict upon the cell by inhibiting enzymes that normally repair such DNA damage, said Jones. While hyperthermia has been tested in conjunction with radiation and chemotherapy in numerous studies worldwide, those studies have produced conflicting results, said the researchers. The current study used precise dosing, rigorous quality controls and full tumor exposure to ensure that the effects of hyperthermia were accurate and quantifiable, said Jones. "Two large clinical trials conducted in the 1980s produced negative results regarding the benefits of hyperthermia, yet there were concerns that objective data in these trials was lacking," said Jones. "As a result, hyperthermia is not being utilized to its full potential in patients who could greatly benefit." The current study provides clinicians with a "verifiable prescription" for hyperthermia with clear cut dosing and temperature guidelines, said Jones. Tumors treated in the study were characterized as "superficial," meaning they were no greater than 3 centimeters in thickness. Small-size tumors ensured that the heat therapy would penetrate the entire depth of the tumor ñ a concern of previous trials, said Jones. The study was funded by the National Cancer Institute. CONTACT: Becky Levine, (919) 660-1308 or (919) 684-4148, firstname.lastname@example.com


Few studies have examined predictors of weight regain after significant weight losses. This prospective study examined behavioral and psychological predictors of weight regain in 261 successful weight losers who completed an 18-month trial of weight regain prevention that compared a control condition with self-regulation interventions delivered face-to-face or via the Internet. Linear mixed effect models were used to examine behavioral and psychological predictors of weight regain, both as main effects and as interactions with treatment group. Decreases in physical activity were related to weight regain across all 3 groups, and increased frequency of self-weighing was equally protective in the 2 intervention groups but not in the control group. Increases in depressive symptoms, disinhibition, and hunger were also related to weight regain in all groups. Although the impact of changes in restraint was greatest in the Internet group and weakest in the face-to-face group, the latter was the only group with increases in restraint over time and consequent decreases in magnitude of weight regain. Future programs should focus on maintaining physical activity, dietary restraints, and frequent self-weighing and should include stronger components to modify psychological parameters.


Al-Hammouri, A. A., J. Ibbini, E. Bsoul and S. Sanogo, 2017. Effect of salinity on recovery of Rhizoctonia solani from infected tomato (Solanum lycopersicon Mill). Bulg. J. Agric. Sci., 23 (5): 757–761 The effect of salinity levels in irrigation water on recovery of Rhizoctonia solani from tap roots of tomato plants was investigated in two experiments conducted under greenhouse conditions. Potted soil was infested with R. solani and subjected to four salinity levels of 0 (control), 3, 8, and 10-mS cm-1. Recovery of R. solani from segments of tomato tap roots was evaluated. Dry weight of above ground plant parts, fruit number, plant height, and several plant physiological parameters were measured. Response of R. solani to salinity was variable. However, little or no signifi cant differences were found among treatments with respect to all the variables measured.


On September 19 2003, following weeks of concerted mobilisation, mobile phone subscribers in Nigeria took the unprecedented step of switching off their handsets en masse. The consumers took this symbolic step in protest against perceived exploitation by the existing GSM phone companies. Among other things, they were angered by allegedly exorbitant tariffs, poor reception, frequent and unfavourable changes in contract terms, and arbitrary reduction of credits. That action has continued to reverberate across the wider social pool in the country. At issue is a series of critical questions, which the protest helps bring into focus- how useful, or reliable is technology as an instrument of social activism? How is (mobile) technology shaping the democratic momentum in Nigeria, and indeed the rest of the African continent? And significantly, how useful is technology as a mechanism for the socio-economic empowerment of ordinary citizens? Using the boycott and the attendant fallouts as backdrop, this study provides a number of tentative answers. It argues that the boycott ought to be appraised, first, in the context of existing mistrust between customers and transnational big business in Nigeria; and second, against the background of difficult state-society intercourse which has mostly been characterised by the latter's suspicion of the state's connivance with the corporate establishment. Furthermore, the study argues that because it gives civil society a combined cause and instrument of protest, mobile phones in the Nigerian context presage the emergence of a new social space of politics and agitation.


An advanced time-domain dynamical model for the investigation of semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOA) is presented. The model accounts for the ultrafast gain dynamics, the gain saturation and the gain spectral profile. It is also suitable for analyzing the amplifier in a system environment. As an example the model is used to investigate the gain dynamics of an SOA as well as the characteristics of an interferometer switch semiconductor laser amplifier in a loop mirror (SLALOM). Good agreement between modeling and experiment is shown. The model can be applied to the investigation of other optically time-division multiplexed (OTDM) applications, too.


Background End of life care (EOLC) is a large part of junior doctors' workload. Negative attitudes may impact on care provided and may be shaped during undergraduate medical training. Aims We investigated: whether medical students expect EOLC to have a negative emotional impact on themselves demographic and psychological factors associated with such expectations. Methods Multicentre cross-sectional online study of 1520 first and 954 final year medical students from 18 universities, (16 UK, 1 New Zealand, 1 Ireland). We assessed attitudes towards EOLC (Sullivan's statements), age, gender, course year, course type (standard or graduate), spirituality and experience of bereavement as well as psychological variables: death anxiety (Collett Lester Fear of Death Scale, COLFD), empathy (Davis's Interpersonal Reactivity Index, IRI) and depression (Hospital Depression Scale HADS-D). Factor analysis suggested 3 Sullivan statements formed a 'negative personal emotional impact score' (Impact Score, −6 to +6). Students with low/neutral (−6 to +3) and high (+3 to+6) Impact Score were compared (χ2-tests and ANOVA) and regression analyses undertaken. Results Respondents were neutral overall (mean Impact Score=0.3), although with substantial variations. Participants with high Impact Score were likely to be younger, standard course, first-year students, and to have higher depression and distress scores (HADS-D and IRI-Personal-Distress-scale), lower cognitive empathy scores (IRI-Perspective-Taking) and to score more highly on all COLFD sub-scales. Regression analysis showed psychological factors were strongly associated with the Impact Score: COLFD others-dying (1.29;CI: 1.08 to 1.50;p=0.001), IRI-Personal-Distress-scale (0.97;CI: 0.77 to 1.17;p=0.001), HADS-D (0.45;CI: 0.17 to 0.74;p=0.002), and COLFD others-death (0.31;CI: 0.09 to 0.54;p=0.006) scales were the strongest predictors. Conclusions Medical students worry about the possible negative personal emotional impact of EOLC when doctors. While medical education may mitigate such concerns, negative expectations appear related to distress, death anxiety and depression. Measures to improve and support psychological well-being may have a positive impact on medical students' attitudes toward EOLC.


A clinical study was conducted in 110 cases of subjective aniseikonia, a syndrome that is often neglected. After in practice summarizing the different distortions composing the phenomenon of aniseikonia, a description of the prototype apparatus used for the experiments is given: it is eikonometric stereo-projector the originality of which lies in the measuring system, constituted by the projected stereograms. Three parameters were studied: depth-perception, peerception threshold of anseiikonic disparity, and value of the found aniseikonia. The results are presented in relation to 3 groups of subjects: 14 emmetropic, 32 isometropic, and 64 anisometropic, 32 isometropic, and 64 anisometropic patients, including 24 monocular aphakic. The author shows the advantage of contact lens correction in the last cases: with an average of 3.5 p. cent, the found aniseikonia was always inferior to 6 p. cent and to the theorectical levels currently accepted. Finally, the phenomenon of "cortical malleability" arises in the adaptation of the patient to his optical correction and could regularly and progressively be increased.


As Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) technologies continue to expand rapidly, the need to assemble and manipulate NGS data, available in the form of short genomic reads, remains the primary source of biological data in many Bioinformatics applications. As a result, many assemblers have been developed to assemble NSG short reads into long genomic sequences or contigs ready for advanced analysis such as Whole Genome Wide Studies (GWAS). However, the lack of high levels of robustness and reproducibility continue to limit the impact of Bioinformatics research and many biomedical researchers remain skeptical of results obtained from bioinformatics applications. In this study, we conduct a comparative study of various widely used assemblers and compare their performances using several NGS datasets associated with various organisms. We highlight the advantages and disadvantage of each assembler and explore the factors that impact the performance of each approach. In addition, we survey the assembly-free compression approach recently developed to process NGS short reads to analyze their performance in comparing genomic sequences represented by sets of short reads. We use phylogeny trees obtained from simulated and real datasets to evaluate the accuracy of each assembly-free approach. We test the hypothesis that non-assembly approaches could potentially overcome the limitations and inaccuracies of assembly approaches in comparing sequences, especially for large read sizes. Moreover, we proposed a hybrid approach by integrating both assembly and non-assembly approach for classifying genomic sequences. The proposed approach incorporates results obtained from partially assembling short reads as input for assembly-free methods to complete the NGS manipulation process. Preliminary superior results show that the hybrid approach is potential in comparing genomic sequences.


The first chapter presents diagnostic criteria for developmental disabilities and the possible problems of 'labelling' a child. The concept of developmental learning disabilities (followed in this book) includes those cognitive or physically handicapping conditions that originate in early life and interfere with developmental progress. This means children who have communication dis" orders, problems with interpersonal responsiveness and social development, information-processing difficulties, or developmental delays and associated cognitive disorders. ,


Ultra-fast lasers can realize selective welding of glasses through nonlinear effect and have the advantages of having high welding accuracy, having small heat-affected zone, having high joint strength and not requiring intermediate absorption layer, which provides a new idea for chip packaging. However, this method is limited to the condition of optical contact, which is difficult to use in engineering applications. To solve this problem, an innovative seal welding method by picosecond laser is presented in this paper. In this method, a picosecond laser performs firstly rapid oscillating scan local welding of the two natural overlap glasses with a large contact gap to form a closed area consisting of spot welds. The glass contact gap in the closed area can be reduced to about 1.5 μm through the solidification shrinkage effect of spot welds. Then a good seal weld without plasma ablation, micro-hole, and micro-crack defects can be achieved by picosecond laser in this closed area to realize seal welding of glasses with a large contact gap. The sealing test results show that the seal welding samples can keep good sealing performance for more than one week.


1. The effect of long-term treatment with prindolol on blood pressure, total body potassium (Kt), exchangeable sodium (Nae) and plasma renin activity was investigated in twelve patients with essential hypertension. 2. Systolic and diastolic pressures were significantly reduced from 164/112 to 127/90 mmHg under basal conditions. 3. Before treatment Nae in patients with essential hypertension was significantly higher than in normotensive individuals. After an average of 16 weeks on prindolol Nae in patients with essential hypertension was significantly decreased, despite an average increased in body weight of 2 kg in the patients. 4. In contrast to the decrease in Nae, Kt was found to be significantly increased after long-term treatment with prindolol. Kt values of patients before and after prindolol, however, did not differ significantly from the corresponding sex- and age-dependent normal values. 5. Plasma renin activity was slightly diminished under basal and orthostatic conditions; the stimulatory effect orthostatis was not abolished but reduced by prindolol. 6. It is suggested that the changes in sodium balance contribute to the anti-hypertensive effect of prindolol in patients with essential hypertension.


The Kromme is an example of an estuary where freshwater inflow is significantly attenuated. Completion of a second major dam in 1983 increased total dam storage capacity above the Mean Annual Runoff (MAR) from the catchment. Currently, less than 2% of MAR reaches the estuary. Marine dominance is now persistent with little upstream variation in water salinity. Amplitude and frequency of flood events have also declined and most of the smaller floods and freshettes no longer arrive at the estuary. Sediment dynamics have also changed, particularly in the lower reaches where less frequent scouring enables disproportionately large sandbanks to develop. These sandbanks are only removed by very large floods. Sediment accumulation in the lower estuary has reduced the efficiency of tidal exchange and this exacerbates high salinity in the upper reaches. Because of changes to natural patterns in the physico-chemical environment, floral and faunal characteristics of the estuary have shifted. Eelgrass (Zostera capensis) particularly, has become more extensive (a four-fold increase in biomass compared to the natural state) due to less frequent floods. These eelgrass beds constitute the most important habitat with respect to invertebrate production. Invertebrate species that favour vegetated areas (e.g. the shrimp Palaemon perengueyi) currently dominate the benthic community while species that favour non-vegetated sediments have probably declined (e.g. the mudprawn Upogebia africana).


The focus of this book is on the most important class of enterprise system, namely Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems. Organisations typically take the decision to employ ERP systems in an attempt to streamline existing processes. Once these systems are in place, however, their success depends on the effectiveness of the implementation, and on the additional benefits that can be obtained by further leveraging the technology. In this book, the editors have assembled some of the world's best research on ERP systems, with a view to providing a foundation for second wave improvements to enterprise systems. Written primarily for managers and consultants, this book is also an ideal reference for business schools and researchers.

• A unique guide to extracting the best out of ERP systems • Covers the latest developments in the field • Collects together the best research on ERP systems


As global oil demand approaches unsustainable levels, people have turned to living organisms as a possible alternative source for many petroleum-derived products. Great advances in the fields of synthetic biology and metabolic engineering have enabled microbial production of fuels and other chemical feedstock. Nevertheless, the production cost of many of these processes makes it hard to compete with their petroleum derived counterparts.Due to their complexity, living organisms present a particular challenge to their use as chemical catalysts. Although metabolic engineering has greatly enhanced the catalytic capabilities of microbes, the minor alterations that have yielded such improvements seem to be unable to take the catalytic activity to the levels necessary to compete with petroleum. Novel efforts are trying to use major changes in bacterial metabolism in order to bypass the current limitations of biological systems. Although very promising, engineered pathways do not have the chance to be tuned through years of evolution; as such their incorporation into metabolism can lead to metabolic imbalances, which will ultimately hamper production. Due to the complexity of these metabolic systems, mathematical tools would be instrumental to assessing such problems.Currently, there are no metabolic modeling methods that can both consider metabolite concentrations explicitly and account for all annotated reactions for the particular organism. There are two main difficulties impeding the development of such method: (1) Kinetic parameter values are unavailable for most reactions (the parameter space grows exponentially with the number of reactions); and (2) computation time increases exponentially as the system becomes larger, making difficult the use of random sampling. Through the use Ensemble Modeling and parameter continuation we were able to overcome these hurdles and develop some specific tools for the mathematical analysis of metabolic systems.If a system is not robust, small changes in expression levels may lead to system failure due to the disappearance of a stable steady state. Given a lack of regulatory mechanisms, this problem becomes especially important when designing synthetic pathways. Nevertheless, it is often difficult to identify flaws in the design which might lower robustness using intuition alone. To address this issue, we developed a method termed Ensemble Modeling for Robustness Analysis (EMRA), which combines parameter continuation with the EM approach for investigating the robustness issue of metabolic pathways. Using a large ensemble of reference models with different parameters, we can determine the effects of parameter drifting until a bifurcation point. This method gives us an unbiased analysis of the robustness issues of a particular pathway structure.Similarly, in order to be able to maintain a viable phenotype under small changes in internal or external conditions (e.g. variations in enzyme levels or nutrient concentrations) cells must possess a robust metabolic network. Through evolution, native metabolic pathways have seemingly solved the robustness problem by selecting a robust network structure and regulatory mechanisms such that the feasible range of each parameter is sufficiently large. Although this fact is well accepted, it has never been used during the creation of kinetic models of native metabolism. By developing a quantitative and scalar index based on EMRA, we can add robustness as an objective during parameter-fitting. As kinetic models have a large number of parameters and the number of available data points is relatively low, we hypothesize that the additional robustness criterion will greatly improve the quality of fitted models.By utilizing robustness, a cell-wide model of Escherichia coli was constructed. Cell-wide metabolic models incorporate many of the intrinsic complexities of living organisms. Although the utility of encompassing such a large portion of cellular metabolism is undeniable, the computational difficulties regarding such models have hampered their use. The use of entropy allowed for more intelligent model curation, eased the computational difficulties un-robust models present. Additionally, a novel application of parameter continuation was developed and used to successfully predict in vivo isobutanol production.


If the diagram representing the frontal view of the heart outlines, as shown on the fluoroscopic screen or by roentgenograms, is studied, several curves and depressions are noticed. The right side of the heart presents a single convex curve caused almost wholly by the auricle; the left side presents usually two curves, the superior curve caused by the aorta and the greater and inferior curve caused by the left ventricle. Between these two curves, situated usually between the second and third ribs, is a depressed line or concavity. In this area, in abnormal conditions of the heart, the pulmonic artery and a portion of the auricle below it can sometimes cause two smaller curves instead of the normal depression. Or, frequently, a single marked curve is noticeable, so that the left side of the heart may show three noticeable curves instead of two. This third curve, if it covers the


The aims of the evaluation were to assess the implementation of EM bail in replacing custodial remands, and to conduct a cost analysis of EM bail in contrast to those given custody. The study included the collection of qualitative and quantitative data, matched comparison data and cost analysis. Interviews were conducted with 10 Steering Group members and 45 professionals (comprising the police, social work, procurators fiscal, clerks of court, judges, sheriffs, defence agents, advocates, the electronic monitoring companies and victims' agencies). Interviews with 16 bailees and 15 household members were also undertaken. Quantitative data were collected from various sources, namely: court pro formas, Reliance/Serco databases, court files, social work files, police records, Scottish Criminal Record Office and data provided by the Scottish Executive Justice Statistics Branch, the Scottish Court Service and the Scottish Prison Service. Data from 3 comparison sheriff courts also provided a range of information on accused remanded in custody or bailed with or without conditions in areas outwith the pilot sites to ascertain whether EM bail is being used as a direct alternative to custodial remand and to explore differences in final sentences for the 2 groups.


When a mammalian cell is exposed to a carcinogen, the carcinogen gives rise to new compounds. In this paper a numerical approach is taken to find the amount of these compounds overtime. The concentration of the compounds are assumed to satisfy the reaction and/or the diffusion equation, techniques used for solving these equations include the one-dimensional finite element method (FEM) and the lumped parameter approach. The mathematically derived results are compared to in-vitro measurements. The mathematical model set up in this paper will prove insufficient.


Lung cancer is the most common cause of cancer death worldwide. Lung nodule detection based on CT image is the most prevailing method for detecting lung cancer. In this paper, we propose a patch-based 3D U-Net and contextual convolutional neural network (CNN) to automatically segment and classify lung nodule and help the radiologists read CT images. Typically, lung nodule detection task could be divided into three stages, including lung segmentation, nodule detection or segmentation and false positive reduction. In lung segmentation stage, we use morphological methods to segment pulmonary parenchyma from raw CT images. To segment lung nodule, 3D U-Net is employed to extract suspicious nodule from preprocessed CT images. In order improve model accuracy, we use Generative Adversarial Network (GAN) to boost model training. To further enhance model performance, we use online sampling strategy to augment data and use 3D contextual CNN with Inception blocks to determine whether the volume is malignant nodule or not. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method could effectively detect the cancerous nodule from the CT scans.


The incidence of malaria in Indonesia is about two million cases annually. Dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine (DHP) is the first line therapy recommended for uncomplicated malaria treatment, whereas  DHP is still fully imported. The generic DHP tablet formulation has the potential to become the first of DHP drug which is locally produced. This study is aimed to formulate generic DHP film coated tablets for antimalaria drug. Tablets were compressed with the combination of wet granulation for piperaquine phosphate (PQP) and direct compression method for DHA and coated with a moisture barier coating material. The parameters to evaluate the quality of DHP tablets are physical properties, assay, and dissolution test. DHA and PQP assay were performed by HPLC method. The dissolution testing was conducted by in house method using HCl 0.1 N medium. The result shows physical properties of film-coated tablets meet the requirement, i.e. uniform weight, 7.0-8.5 kp hardness, 0.02% friability and 3 minute 22 seconds disintegration. The assay to determine  DHA in tablet was 95.17% and PQP was 97.05%. The result of dissolution testing shows the content of DHA and PQP in the tablet were 113.51% and 96.55%, respesctively. The formulation which is developed meets the general requirement of API in tablet 90–110% and dissolution requirement >75%.


This manuscript originates from the different contributions presented in the Scientific Meeting of the Materials Institute throughout its first 10 years of existence. The Materials Institute "Instituto Universitario de Materiales de Alicante" (IUMA) organizes a scientific meeting each year (Scientific Meeting of the IUMA) with the objective of gathering outstanding researchers in the field of Materials Science in Spain, and get to know and discuss on the main research guidelines in this field. In the year 2014 these meetings reached their tenth edition with an international perspective.

The book content is organized in five sections which represent current strategic research sectors in the field of Materials Science: Materials for Energy Applications, Nanomaterials, Materials Modeling, Catalysis, Functional Materials and Biomaterials. The thirty-six contributions presented here, distributed in these five relevant areas of materials field make this book a suitable consultation manual, which will allow knowing in depth both physical and chemical aspects of different materials, as well as processes for their application.


Each Village Device has different tasks and responsibilities and sometimes also has a sudden task, so it takes a task scheduling so that all work can be organized and completed on time. Because of this, the researcher makes an app scheduling the task of mobile village based web apparatus. This application uses the development method of System Development Life Cycle, PHP and MySql programming languages as database. The results of this study indicate that the application of mobile web-based village apparatus scheduling can be applied to help simplify the work of the village apparatus especially in the time discipline so as to create effective and efficient to improve the service to the community.


This PhD by Publication traces through 13 of my publications on economic incentives for forest management and conservation in tropical countries (with a regional bias towards Latin America), including several papers focused on participatory forest management or community-based conservation. The papers show how my thinking has evolved from a focus on market and nonmarket incentives, to an increasing emphasis on governance and regulatory incentives in explaining stakeholder behaviour to the forest resource, as well as the equity impacts. They reveal that positive incentives and win-win (environmental and poverty reduction) outcomes will only emerge when the underlying market, policy and institutional failures are tackled. Because of their public good values, the survival of tropical forests is contingent on the actions of the international community and governments. Sustainable forestry, therefore, depends on a combination of domestic governance progress to control illegal logging and the rent-seeking powers of vested interest groups, global governance regulations which create markets for environmental services, secure property rights for resident stakeholders and extra-sectoral policies that moderate land use opportunity costs. The current main hope for tropical forests is 'avoided deforestation 1 , since this will need to tackle the forest governance problems and underlying multi-sectoral drivers of deforestation if it is to be successful. It represents a balanced market (payments for ecosystem services) and supply-side (improved governance) response to what is essentially a 'public goods' management problem, but will need to overcome some major political economy challenges. Economic Incentives for the Sustainable Management and Conservation of Tropical Forests Michael Richards


The constructive interference (CI) phenomenon has been exploited by a number of protocols for providing energy-efficient, low-latency, and reliable data collection and dissemination services in wireless sensor networks. These protocols consider CI to provide highly reliable packet delivery. This has attracted attention to understand the working of CI; however, the existing works present inconsistent views. Furthermore, these works do not study in the real-world settings where the physical conditions of deployment and unreliable wireless channels also impact the performance of CI. Therefore, we study the phenomenon of CI, considering a receiver's viewpoint and analyze the parameters that affect CI. We validate our arguments with results from extensive and rigorous experimentation in real-world settings. This paper presents comprehensive insights into the CI phenomenon. With the understanding, we develop the destructive interference-based power adaptation (DIPA), an energy-efficient and distributed algorithm, that adapts transmission power to improve the performance of CI. Since CI-based protocols cannot have an explicit acknowledgment packet, we make use of destructive interference on a designated byte to provide a feedback. We leverage this feedback to adapt transmission powers. We compared CI with and without DIPA in two real-life testbeds. On one testbed, we achieve around 25% lower packet losses while using only half of its transmission power for 64-B packets. On the other testbed, we achieve 25% lower packet losses while consuming only 47% of its transmission power for 128-B packets. Existing CI-based protocols can easily incorporate DIPA into them to achieve lower packet losses and higher energy efficiencies.


Cold preservation prior to small-bowel transplantation can moderate tissue injury, although it is unable to protect the bowel graft from acute reperfusion injury. One method to reduce oxidative stress is ischemic preconditioning (IPC). The limited data regarding IPC of the bowel encouraged us to investigate the key factor in this process, i.e., the activation of nuclear factor-kappa binding (NF-kB) in bowel tissue. The intestine was preconditioned by various cycles of IPC on rats. Activation of NF-kB was detected by a chemiluminescence-based ELISA method. Our findings showed that NF-kB level was elevated significantly 30 min after IPC. One hour following IPC, NF-kB decreased to control level; 2 h after IPC, the level significantly increased again. These changes were independent of the number of IPC cycles. Our experiments with various IPC cycles revealed that even a very short IPC cycle was able to activate the IPC cascade in small-bowel tissue.


Salivary calculi in the pediatric population comprise only 3% of all cases of sialolithiasis. In addition, the presentation of bilateral calculi in children is rare. Traditionally, the treatment for submandibular calculi in the proximal duct has been a sialadenectomy in spite of its risk. Recently, minimally invasive techniques have been reported, the Intraoral removal of calculi is useful for preservation of the submandibular gland and preserved gland can restore gland function to normal after stone removal. We would report the 15-year-old boy case with bilateral submandibular gland hilum sialolithiasis and the intraoral removal only stones. doi:10.4021/jmc466w


We present the grackle chemistry and cooling library for astrophysical simulations and models. grackle provides a treatment of non-equilibrium primordial chemistry and cooling for H, D and He species, including H2 formation on dust grains; tabulated primordial and metal cooling; multiple ultraviolet background models; and support for radiation transfer and arbitrary heat sources. The library has an easily implementable interface for simulation codes written in c, c++ and fortran as well as a python interface with added convenience functions for semi-analytical models. As an open-source project, grackle provides a community resource for accessing and disseminating astrochemical data and numerical methods. We present the full details of the core functionality, the simulation and python interfaces, testing infrastructure, performance and range of applicability. grackle is a fully open-source project and new contributions are welcome.


Conventional kinesin-1 is the primary anterograde motor in cells for transporting cellular cargo. While there is a consensus that the C-terminal tail of kinesin-1 inhibits motility, the molecular architecture of a full-length autoinhibited kinesin-1 remains unknown. Here, we combine cross-linking mass spectrometry (XL-MS), electron microscopy (EM), and AlphaFold structure prediction to determine the architecture of the full-length autoinhibited kinesin-1 homodimer [kinesin-1 heavy chain (KHC)] and kinesin-1 heterotetramer [KHC bound to kinesin light chain 1 (KLC1)]. Our integrative analysis shows that kinesin-1 forms a compact, bent conformation through a break in coiled coil 3. Moreover, our XL-MS analysis demonstrates that kinesin light chains stabilize the folded inhibited state rather than inducing a new structural state. Using our structural model, we show that disruption of multiple interactions between the motor, stalk, and tail domains is required to activate the full-length kinesin-1. Our work offers a conceptual framework for understanding how cargo adaptors and microtubule-associated proteins relieve autoinhibition to promote activation.


• A new rapid strength loss catgut suture material can be used for skin closures in wounds of the face and body. Seventy-six comparisons were made under controlled conditions between the new material and one formerly recommended. The new material was used in 588 other wounds as well. It is concluded that the new material is superior to the other in several important ways. ( Arch Otolaryngol 1985;111:517-519)


HIV infection is the new "great mimic." Although its more common signs and symptoms are well known, HIV infection sometimes presents wi th rheumatologic manifestations, as does human T-cell lymphotrophic virus type I (HTLV-I), the causative agent of adult T-cell leukemia. This review briefly describes these manifestations and presents a logical clinical approach to their diagnosis and treatment.


OBJECTIVES
Mounting evidence indicates that racial discrimination is a risk factor for depression among African American men. However, the mechanisms underlying the association between racial discrimination and depressive symptomatology remain unclear. The present study investigated the mediating capacity of personal growth initiative (PGI) in the relation between racial discrimination experiences and depressive symptomatology, as well as whether the proposed mediating relation was moderated by age, education, and income.

METHOD
Participants included 649 African American men recruited from barbershops in the North, South, West, and Midwest regions of the United States and from academic institutions-events.

RESULTS
Results revealed significant associations between racial discrimination and a combined latent factor representing depressed affect, interpersonal problems, and somatic complaints but not the latent factor representing positive affect. PGI mediated the association between racial discrimination and depressive symptomatology; however, the mediational pathway was not moderated by age, education, and income.

CONCLUSIONS
Interventions designed to mitigate the mental health consequences of racial discrimination among African American men might focus on enhancing PGI. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).


We present an ab initio investigation of the interaction betweenmethane, its dehydrogenated forms and the cerium oxide surface. In particular, the stoichiometric CeO2(111) surface and the one with oxygen vacancies are considered. We study the geometries, energetics and electronic structures of various configurations of these molecules adsorbed on the surface in vacuum, and we extend the analysis to realistic environmental conditions. A phase diagram of the adsorbate–surface system is constructed and relevant transition phases are analyzed in detail, showing the conditions where partial oxidation of methane can occur.


OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the controlled attenuation parameter (CAP) assessment of fatty liver and choose a cut-off value of hepatic steatosis more than 5%.

METHODS
Consecutive patients, 18 years or older, who had undergone percutaneous liver biopsy and CAP measurement were recruited from five liver healthcare centers in China. All enrollees were categorized as hepatic steatosis grade S0 (<5%) or S1 (5%). An M-probe equipped FibroScan 502 was used to capture CAP values. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were plotted, and the areas under (AU) the curves were calculated to determine the diagnostic efficacy. The CAP cut-off values at the optimal thresholds were defined by maximum Youden indices; sensitivity and specificity were also calculated.

RESULTS
A total of 332 patients were enrolled in the study, including 67 patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and 265 with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) viru: infection. The median age (inter quartile range, IQR) of the study cohort was 39.0 (32.0-50.5) years-old. There were 46 males (68.7%) in the NAFLD group, with a median age of 37.0 (28.0-45.0) years-old, and 182 males (68.7%) in the CHB group; the differences between the two groups in median age and male: female ratio did not reach statistical significance. Multivariate linear regression analysis identified steatosis grade and body mass index (BMI) as independently associated with CAP. The median (IQR) CAP values among patients with S0 and S1 grade steatosis were 215.0 (190.0-241.0) dB/m and 294.0 (255.0-325.5) dB/m (P<0.001), respectively. For all patients, when BMI was <25 kg/m2, the ability of the AUROC of the CAP to discriminate hepatic steatosis more than or equal to 5% was 0.853, and the optimal cut-off value was 244.5 dB/m; however, when BMI≥25 kg/m2, the AUROC was 0.835 and the optimal cut-off value 269.5 dB/m.

CONCLUSION
CAP can identify hepatic steatosis more than or equal to 5% and is applicable for the diagnosis of fatty liver if it is adjusted for BMI.


Sonic velocities from the Upper and Middle Chalk, the Kimmeridge Clay, the Lias and the Bunter Sandstone were used to quantify apparent erosion (i.e. amount of missing section) in the Welton-1 and Cleethorpes-1 wells of the East Midlands Shelf, onshore UK. Apparent erosion was determined with reference to sonic velocities in 150 wells the UK Southern North Sea area. Apparent erosion at Cleethorpes-1 is estimated as 1.4 km (from the Kimmeridge Clay, Lias and Bunter Sandstone) and 1.6 km (from the Upper and Middle Chalk), and at Welton-1 as 1.6 km (from the Bunter Sandstone) and 1.7 km (from the Lias). The consistency of results from the different units analysed increases confidence in the results with respect to compaction studies based on a single stratigraphic unit. Estimates of missing section in this study are generally greater than those previously published for the East Midlands Shelf, but they are consistent with recent estimates from apatite fission track analysis.


Combined balance sheets and operating statements were used to develop benchmark financial ratios for dairy marketing cooperatives. Data from 291 cooperatives were summarized for five types of dairy cooperatives, then by three types and three size combinations. Both type and size of cooperative made differences in most of the 16 financial ratios calculated as well as in the common size balance sheets and operating statements.


This paper presents a high quality audio codec design based on a transform-domain weighted interleave vector quantization (Twin-VQ) scheme adopted in the MPEG-4 audio standard. Three novel techniques are employed in this scheme to compress the data, ie, (1) flattening of MDCT coefficients by the spectrum of linear predictive coding (LPC) coefficients; (2) further flattening of MDCT coefficients by the Bark envelope; and (3) weighted interleave vector quantization. This paper examines the related design issues in implementing an efficient Twin-VQ codec. Fast computation algorithms are derived for the computationally intensive modules. Design parameters of each module are determined and the codebooks for weighted interleave vector quantization are constructed. Experimental results show that the designed codec can compress natural audio efficiently and reproduce high quality outputs.


The team Carmen develops mathematical models and numerical methods in order to simulate the propagation of the cardiac action potential, from the cellular scale to the scale of the body. It is part of the IHU LIRYC, the electrophysiology and heart modeling institute in Bordeaux. It collaborates actively with the clinical, imaging, cellular electrophysiology, and signal processing groups within the LIRYC. Carmen aims at improving:


Cloud manufacturing is a service-oriented networked manufacturing model that embraces the concept of 'Everything-as-a-Service'. In cloud manufacturing, distributed manufacturing resources encompassed in the product lifecycle are transformed into manufacturing services. Industrial robots are an important category of manufacturing resources in cloud manufacturing. During the past years, robots have been demonstrated to be able to learn various dexterous manipulation skills through training with deep reinforcement learning (DRL). In cloud manufacturing, there are many complex industrial application scenarios that require dexterous robots. Hence, robot training, which enables robots to learn various manipulation skills, becomes an important requirement for cloud manufacturing in the future, leading to the concept of 'Robot Training-as-a-Service'. This paper focuses on industrial robot training in the context of cloud manufacturing. First, related work on cloud manufacturing, DRL, DRL-based robot training, and cloud-edge collaboration is briefly reviewed and analyzed. Then, a framework for industrial robot training in cloud manufacturing with DRL is proposed, and a simplified case study is presented to demonstrate the basic principle of the framework. Finally, possible future research issues are discussed.


Many sociologists have drawn attention to the puzzling absence of a detailed discussion of religion in Elias's investigation of the European civilizing process. Elias did not develop a sociology of religion, but he did not overlook the importance of beliefs in the 'spirit world' in the history of human societies. In his writings such convictions were described as fantasy images that could be contrasted with 'reality-congruent' knowledge claims. Elias placed fantasy–reality balances, whether religious or secular, at the centre of the analysis of how societies have dealt with collective fears that arise in response to largely uncontrolled conditions. He located religious orientations within a broader framework of analysis regarding fantasy–reality balances in the first human groups and in current state-organized societies. Elias stressed how balances changed in 'civilized' societies with the rise of the natural sciences. But his writings emphasized the continuing influence of fantasy images in technologically sophisticated societies, particularly in the context of national and international power struggles. His analysis of how fantasy images acquired considerable influence under conditions of fear is important for studies of social responses to global challenges including climate change. Connections with Weber's sociology of religion point the way to theoretically informed empirical research on balances between fantasy and reality-congruence in a tumultuous and unpredictable era.


This paper principally advises a simple and reliable control for Static Synchronous Compensator (STATCOM) in a stand-alone wind driven self-excited induction generator power system. The control was proposed based on instantaneous P-Q theory. The advised control enjoys the merits of robustness, reliability and simplicity. The paper also proposes a dimensioning procedure for the STATCOM that involves advising an annotative analytical expression for sizing the DC-link capacitor. This procedure has the advantages of applicability for different reactive power compensators that depend on a separate DC-link in its operation. Comprehensive simulation results in Matlab environment were illustrated for corroborating the performance of the advised control under rigorous operating scenarios. The results show the feasibility, reliability and practicability of the proposed controller.


We introduce coplactic raising and lowering operators $E'_i$, $F'_i$, $E_i$, and $F_i$ on shifted skew semistandard tableaux. We show that the primed operators and unprimed operators each independently form type A Kashiwara crystals (but not Stembridge crystals) on the same underlying set and with the same weight functions. When taken together, the result is a new kind of `doubled crystal' structure that recovers the combinatorics of type B Schubert calculus: the highest-weight elements of our crystals are precisely the shifted Littlewood-Richardson tableaux, and their generating functions are the (skew) Schur $Q$-functions. We give local axioms for these crystals, which closely resemble the Stembridge axioms for type A. Finally, we give a new criterion for such tableaux to be ballot.


Fragmentation of the specialty of general surgery has become a source of serious concern and alarm for the community of general surgeons. Part of the fragmentation stems from the burgeoning of technological interventionists, usually based in the nonsurgical specialties. Radiologists, gastroenterologists, and cardiologists, among others, have been aggressively pushing their specialties into surgical realms. Another part of the problem, however, is based on schisms between and among surgical disciplines. A particular case in point is the controversy that has been swirling around the attempts of the specialty of otolaryngology to become designated as otolaryngology–head and neck surgery. These attempts have caused serious conflicts at the board and residency review committee levels of the two specialties. The outcome of the conflicts is not clear. What is clear is that there are enormous implications for clinical practice, board certification, and residency training in both fields, no matter what the outcome may


We present an algorithm for solving the shortest (collision-free) path planning problem for an agent (e.g., wheeled vehicle, UAV) operating in a partially known environment. The agent has detailed knowledge of the environment and the obstacles only in the vicinity of its current position. Far away obstacles or the final destination are only partially known and may even change dynamically at each instant of time. We obtain an approximation of the environment at different levels of fidelity using a wavelet approximation scheme. This allows the construction of a directed weighted graph of the obstacle-free space in a computationally efficient manner. In addition, the dimension of the graph can be adapted to the on-board computational resources. By searching this graph we find the desired shortest path to the final destination using Dijkstra's algorithm, provided that such a path exists. Simulations are presented to test the efficiency of the algorithm using non trivial scenarios.


The purpose of this study was to describe the economic impact of entrepreneurial and placement Supervised Agricultural Experiences on the Arizona economy. The study's research design was quantitative and descriptive. High school agricultural education students who kept records in the Agricultural Experience Tracker (AET) during 2012-2013 became the study's population. The unit of measurement was defined as the state of Arizona. Analysis of the 1,721 qualifying project records took the form of descriptive statistical calculations and economic modeling in IMPLAN, an economic input-output examination tool. Modeling in IMPLAN for entrepreneurial and placement SAEs involved manipulating the data set, aligning assigned AET codes to North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes, and aggregating the resulting sectors into IMPLAN sectors. Three scenarios of placement income, entrepreneurial spending, and entrepreneurial profit were used to shock the defined regional economy of Arizona. In the end, the total study output effect from these three scenarios was summed and Type II multipliers were extracted to describe the ripple effect of student investments on the Arizona economy.

The study provided documentation to support the experiential learning mission of agricultural education. The real-world learning opportunities that occur through SAE participation are applications of Dewey's experiential learning theory. Input-output modeling in IMPLAN analyzed the monetary changes and tracked the flow of spending on products and services fueled by student spending and income. As a result of the $1,442,870 of entrepreneurial gross income, $721,566 of entrepreneurial project spending, and $353,108 in placement wages, an estimated total economic output effect for the study equaled $22,249,135. It is important to
note that the majority of the study's impact came from the employment effect of a placement income impact run and the assumptions made about student-worker productivity.

The placement project Type II employment multiplier was 1.53 and revealed that for every eight placement projects, an additional job was created annually in Arizona. Entrepreneurial project spending revealed a 1.79 Type II output multiplier that meant for every
new dollar spent by students, $0.79 of additional monetary impact was created. The findings are consistent with related economic impact research and demonstrate that SAEs do have an
economic impact on a region's economy.

Implications suggest a need for increased support of SAEs and other work-based learning programs within Career and Technical Education (CTE). A number of practices, including stronger emphasis on building economic acumen of teachers and greater accuracy of recordkeeping through matching AET codes with NAICS industry sectors, could be instituted.

Recommendations for further research included examination of student-worker productivity and discovery of additional CTE areas that could benefit from economic input-output modeling
through IMPLAN analysis. Following study recommendations could result in increased student participation in work-based learning and additional economic impact for a regional economy. Students with these opportunities are more likely to possess 21st century workforce skills, ready to meet the food and fiber demands of a growing global economy.


CLIMAS, the Climate Assessment Project for the Southwest, was established in 1998 with seed funding from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to assess climate variability and longer-term climate change in terms of impacts on human and natural systems in the Southwest. The project's mission is to improve the ability of the region to respond sufficiently and appropriately to climatic events and climate changes. CLIMAS aims to foster participatory, iterative research involving researchers, decision makers, resource users, educators, and others who need more and better information about climate and its impacts. In support of these efforts, the project fosters research on the nature, causes, and consequences of climate change and variability in the Southwestern U.S., and supports efforts to improve climate and hydrologic forecasting in the region. CLIMAS is part of a larger initiative to develop better-quality and moredetailed climate assessments at the regional level. To this end, the project, which is housed within the Institute for the Study of Planet Earth at the University of Arizona, supports interdisciplinary research on past, current, and future climates in the region and provides a focal point for identifying and serving the information needs of stakeholders at the local, state, national, and international levels. CLIMAS brings together researchers who study the processes and effects of climate on the Southwest region with individuals and organizations who need climate information to make informed decisions. The initial focus of CLIMAS is on: i) working with stakeholders to identify and evaluate climate information and forecast needs and products, ii) supporting research on physical characteristics and processes, iii) supporting research on human and ecological impacts, iv) providing Southwest climate information and forecasts to people in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors, and v) participating in climate assessment activities carried out in other regions and by various governmental entities.


Adult guinea pigs infected with an intradermal inoculum of vaccinia virus developed a long-lasting state of hypersensitivity associated with blast transformation in the draining lymph nodes, and characterized by delayed-onset, erythematous, non-indurated skin reactions rich in basophilic leukocytes. These reactions are similar to those of cutaneous basophil hypersensitivity to protein antigens, a contact allergen, and skin allografts in the guinea pig. By contrast, animals sensitized with the same dose of virus in complete Freund's adjuvant developed true delayed hypersensitivity with indurated skin reactions containing numerous mononuclear cells and only rare basophils. Thus, two morphologically distinct forms of cellular immunity may result following immunization with vaccinia virus. This heterogeneity will have to be considered in studies attempting to evaluate the role of cellular immunity in recovery from virus infection.


New optical techniques have the potential to fill the gap between radiological and microscopic approaches to assess the lung's internal structure. Since its quantitative assessment requires unbiased sampling and measurement principles, imaging of the whole lung with sufficient resolution for visualizing details is important. To address this request, we applied scanning laser optical tomography (SLOT) for the three dimensional imaging of mouse lung ex vivo. SLOT is a highly efficient flourescence and transmission microscopy technique allowing for 3D imaging of specimen of sizes up to several millimeters. Previously fixed lung lobes and whole lungs were optically cleared and subsequently imaged with SLOT while making use of intrinsic contrast mechanisms like absorption and autofluorescence. Imaging of airways, blood vessels and parenchyma is demonstrated. Volumetric SLOT datasets of the lung's internal structure can be analyzed in any preferred planar orientation. Moreover, the sample preparation preserves microscopic structure of the lung and allows for subsequent correlative histologic studies. In summary, SLOT is a useful technique to visualize and survey the internal structure of mouse lung at different scales and with various contrast mechanisms. Potential applications of SLOT in lung research are e.g. quantitative phenotype analysis of mouse models of human lung disease in combination with stereological methods.


As Bob Dylan says, times they are a-changing. This theme was central to the weekend in the fair city of Edinburgh, hosts of the 35th Annual BIALL Conference. To be honest I was not sure what to expect from a law librarianship conference. The first manifestation of this was in packing for the event where I could not decide between a formal or a somewhat dressed down approach to my sartorial collection. I have been to conferences in other fields when at university for my first degree – namely the Classical Association Conferences and the British Association for the Advancement of Science conference. Both were pretty informal affairs (classicists having little requirement for suits generally).


Future Contingency has been an old debate between philosophers throughout history. On one hand, Aristotle thinks events of the future happen contingently. On the other hand, Diodorus believes what happens in the future is now determined. Diodorus has presented an argument for determinism based on a few premises. Logicians and philosophers try to avoid determinism by denying the first premise of Diodorus, which is the necessity of the past. However, they only regard a qualified version of this premise based on the medieval argument for determinism while some other philosophers consider this premise in a general way. A new argument shall be presented in this paper for determinism similar to the medieval one based on the general version of the premise which is not rejected by systems which reject the medieval argument. This flaw originates in a few properties of the branching model for time. We shall show what this property is and how it would be possible to resolve the problem this property creates.


Time domain reflectometry (TDR) instrumentation is widely used in hydrology and soil science for accurate and flexible soil water content measurements. The most attractive advantages concerning the considered TDR measurement system are: good precision and accuracy, high reliability of the measuring head, an unique approach of pulsing a long coaxial probe and analysing the reflected voltage signature caused by changes in impedance, capability of multiplexing several probes, possibility of remotely acceding, controlling and electronically retrieving and transmitting data through existing telecommunications. A time domain reflectometer transmits the incident signal, an ultra short rise time (200 ps), step voltage pulse, along the transmission line and records the travel time and magnitude of all reflected signals (echo) returning from the controlled system. Changes in capacitance, impedance, inductance and resistance causing electromagnetic discontinuities that reflect voltage can be located, particularly, for liquid level and soil dielectric properties monitoring purposes, discontinuities result from impedance changes produced by changes in the dielectric constant. Moreover, different systems are currently used to measure liquid levels in stocking tanks or vessels. The time domain reflectometry method used in this research has the purpose to monitor the behavior of the different liquid interfaces, detecting their levels. One of the the goals of present paper is to enhance field measurement capabilities; miniature pulsing and sampling cards have been used to create a smaller and more rugged time domain reflectometer, associated to the special steel probes working like a closed circuit radar, detecting any mismatch along the measuring lines. Measurements can be performed in a wide range of environmental conditions, independently from the nature or properties of the involved substances, giving information about their characteristics, such as volumetric content, dielectric constant, emulsions, dispersions, etc. Agreements with current TDR research data have been found. Furthermore, by characterizing several complex systems, the main objective of the present work is to develop an interpretation method based on the changes in the reflected TDR signal caused by the presence of hydrocarbons and their concentration in a soil.


Within the last decade, laser-plasma based accelerators have been able to deliver electron beams with Maxwellian energy distributions characterized by effective temperatures in the range of 1–20MeV. Changing the interaction parameters, the electron beam quality was improved. Especially, matching the interaction length to the dephasing length was crucial to produce an extremely high quality electron beam with a quasimonoenergetic distribution at 170MeV. The optimization of these distributions is presented, as well as comparisons with three-dimensional particle-in-cell code simulations.


A City Divided traces the development of white Kansas Citians' perceptions of race and examines the ways in which those perceptions shaped the physical landscape of the city and the manner in which Kansas City was policed and governed. Because of rapid changes in land use and difficulties in suppressing crime and vice in Kansas City, the control of urban spaces became an acute concern, particularly for the white middle class, before race became a problematic issue in Kansas City. As the African American population grew in size and assertiveness, whites increasingly identified blacks with those factors that most deprived a given space of its middle-class character. With declining property values, and increasing crime and immorality, African Americans came to represent the antithesis of middle-class values, and the white middle class established its identity by excluding blacks from the urban spaces it occupied. By 1930, racial discrimination rested firmly on gender and family values as well as class. Inequitable law enforcement in the ghetto increased criminal activity, both real and perceived, within the African American community. White Kansas Citians maintained this system of racial exclusion and denigration in part by "misdirection," either by denying that exclusion existed or by claiming that segregation was necessary to prevent racial violence. Consequently, African American organizations sought to counter misdirection tactics. The most effective of these efforts followed World War II, when local black activists devised demonstration strategies that targeted misdirection specifically. At the same time, a new perception emerged among white liberals about the role of race in shaping society. Whites in the local civil rights movement acted upon the belief that integration would produce a better society by transforming human character. Successful in laying the foundation for desegregating public accommodations in Kansas City, black and white activists nonetheless failed to dismantle the systems of spatial exclusion and inequitable law enforcement or to eradicate the racial ideologies that underlay those systems. These racial perceptions continue to shape race relations in Kansas City and elsewhere. This study demystifies these perceptions by exploring their historical context. While there have been many studies of the emergence of ghettos in northern and border cities, and others of race, gender, segregation, and the origins of white ideologies, A City Divided is the first to address these topics in the context of a dynamic, urban society in the Midwest.


In this paper, we have bubble-electrospun PLA nanofibers to analyze and investigate the effect of different electrical conductivities by adding different amounts of LiCl into the PLA/DMF solutions on the morphology and diameter of the nanofibers. As a result, it is found that when the mass fraction of LiCl is 0.5%, we can obtain the smallest mean diameter of bubble-electrospun nanofibers with more smooth surface and uniform fineness. Moreover, both improving and reducing LiCl concentration brings on coarse nanofibers surface and poor diameter distribution.