Specific material handling and treatment for specific agriculture products is required. Enhancing the productivity, competitiveness and efficiency of agriculture value chain is a priority for Indonesia to achieve competitiveness. This chapter discusses the overview of agriculture value chain in Indonesia and provides case studies related to supply chain risk management and logistics cost. Then, the author may propose recommendations to optimize the agricultural value chain. Each agriculture commodity probably has different type of tier, type of supply chain risks, issues and activities which leads to the different proportion of logistics and distribution cost in each tier. The results showed differences in strategy either speculation or postponement for inventory management to improve the value of horticulture along supply chain, while in aquaculture research also shows the same differences. Moreover, the value chain analysis helps to identify the value created by each stakeholder. In the value chain of catchment fish, ship owner plays the dominant role in the whole income distribution, while in the aquaculture, spreader get the highest profit margin. Trader gives the highest value added during transportation but earns the lowest profit. The value chain analysis of fresh vegetables shows the highest portion of traders in the whole inventory cost.


The present study aimed to determine if photosynthesis interferes with the modulation of antioxidant compounds in young Euterpe oleracea plants exposed to water deficiencies. A factorial, completely randomised experimental design was employed, and two water conditions (water deficit and control) and four evaluation points (0, 6, 12 and 18 days) were used, resulting in a total of eight measurements. The measured parameters included the water content and temperature of the leaf, gas exchange, electrolyte leakage, and antioxidant content. Compared to the control treatment, the net loss of photosynthesis due to water restriction increased by approximately 100% on the 18th day of drought. The ascorbate levels decreased due to water restriction, presenting significant differences on the 12th and 18th day. In some cases, the water deficit increased the glutathione content; however, significant effects were only observed on the 18th day after irrigation suspension. Water deficits had a negative impact on stomatal conductance, net photosynthesis rate, transpiration rate, and instantaneous carboxylation efficiency. Additionally, increases in the glutathione content, electrolyte leakage, and malondialdehyde content were observed; however, the ascorbate content decreased. Our results confirmed that the rate of photosynthesis interfered with the modulation of ascorbate and glutathione in young Euterpe oleracea plants exposed to drought.


A newly isolated strain LS02 was estimated for its ability in dye decolorization. The LS02 strain was identified as Bacillus subtilis by the combination of physicochemical tests and 16S rDNA sequence analysis. The isolated strain could oxidize the laccase substrate syringaldazine, indicating the existence of laccase activity. B. subtilis LS02 grown well in the pH range of 5.0~9.0, and showed an optimum growth temperature at 37°C. Indigo carmine could be completely decolorized by B. subtilis LS02 after 4 days, whereas Remazol Brilliant Blue R, reactive black 5 and crystal violet were poorly decolorized. The result indicated that the laccase of B. subtilis LS02 may be suitable for the application in textile bleaching of indigo carmine.


Mobile robot path planning is critical in the present day of automation. Several situations may occur for humans, like the environment may be dirty, hazardous, might cause death, or injury as in case of mining, detecting leakage in pipe, cleaning of pipe etc. where robots can be successfully employed. The idea of this paper is to develop a mobile robot that finds the shortest route from source to destination by using Ant Colony Optimization Algorithm with a single robot. The hardware used is iRobot Create interfaced to NXP LPC1768 Cortex M3 controller. The same is simulated using MATLAB. The output of the hardware is also made visible in Teraterm. It is observed that the mobile robot is enhanced with considerable skills to trace a path of optimum distance from source to destination without any collision in most of the situations, barring a few.


The Materials Reliability Program (MRP) Reactor Internals Focus Group (RI-FG) developed Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) Internals Inspection and Evaluation (I&E) Guidelines under the sponsorship of the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI). The I&E guidelines summarized in MRP-227 [1], provide a generic basis for U.S. utilities to develop their Aging Management Program (AMP) for managing the long-term aging degradation of PWR reactor internals including the existing and extended license periods. A number of internals structural bolts in the Babcock & Wilcox (B&W) design PWRs are fabricated from high-strength alloys such as Alloy A-286 or Alloy X-750. The materials in general, and bolts in particular, are known to be susceptible to stress corrosion cracking (SCC) based on past operating experience. The Upper and Lower Core Barrel (UCB and LCB) bolts have a core support function and have been generically categorized as Primary components for inspection in the I&E Guidelines. The remaining Alloy A-286 and Alloy X-750 structural bolts are in the Expansion category. Per 10CFR54, all U.S. PWRs are required to establish a unit-specific AMP for the extended license period in accordance with the ten elements of an effective AMP outlined in the Generic Aging Lessons Learned (GALL, NUREG-1801 Rev. 01, [2]) report published by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). The goal of this paper is to provide an overview of the work performed by AREVA NP Inc. to support the development of the MRP I&E guidelines and unit-specific AMP for UCB and LCB bolts. A review of Alloy A-286 and Alloy X-750 bolts in the B&W design PWR is provided including the degradation mechanism, operating and inspection experience, replacement, and autoclave and in-reactor test results. The latest UT inspection technique used to characterize the extent of flaws is also discussed. Acceptance criteria for evaluating degraded conditions in UCB and LCB bolts were developed in accordance with the requirements of the ASME Section III, Subsection-NG core support structures requirements. In addition to Code compliance, special limits were established to limit the change in the core support structure stiffness. The acceptance criteria enable utilities to rapidly disposition UT inspection findings during an outage within 48 hours. In order to support the objectives of an efficient AMP for the UCB and LCB bolts, three-dimensional finite element models were prepared capable of evaluating all potential failure scenarios. These models enable accurate representation of flange flexibility and redistribution of loads due to deficient bolts. Prior to an outage, hypothetical patterns of bolt failures could be evaluated to support pre-outage planning and contingency preparation. During an outage, these models are used to disposition inspection results and help operability assessment of continued operation, and re-inspection requirement to ensure continued safety and integrity of the reactor vessel internals. Based on the existing work performed, future improvement and expansion of analytical capability is outlined in the last section of this paper. In conclusion, AREVA NP Inc. has demonstrated an effective use of a multi-disciplined approach using structural analyses, operating experience, material evaluations, and non-destructive examination (NDE) to fulfill both the development and implementation of unit-specific aging management commitments as required by MRP-227 for the current and extended license periods.Copyright © 2010 by ASME


Intestinal epithelial cells are the first targets of ingested mycotoxins, such as ochratoxin A, citrinin and deoxynivalenol. It has been reported that paracellular permeability regulated by tight junctions is modulated by several mycotoxins by reducing the expression of specific claudins and integral membrane proteins in cell-cell contacts, accompanied by increase in phosphorylation of mitogen-activated protein kinases, including extracellular signal-related kinase (ERK) 1/2, p38 and c-Jun NH2-terminal protein kinase. Claudin-2 is expressed in the deep crypt cells, but not in the villus/surface cells in vivo. While Caco-2, T84 and IPEC-J2 cells, which are widely used intestinal epithelial cell lines to assess the influence of mycotoxins, do not express claudin-2, CMT93-II cells express claudin-2. We previously reported that inhibition of the ERK pathway reduced claudin-2 levels in cell-cell contacts in CMT93-II cells. In this study, we examined whether ochratoxin A, citrinin and deoxynivalenol affect claudin-2 expression and ERK1/2 phosphorylation in CMT93-II cells. We found that all mycotoxins reduced claudin-2 expression in cell-cell contacts, with reduction (by citrinin and deoxynivalenol) or no change (by ochratoxin A) in phosphorylated ERK1/2. All mycotoxins increased transepithelial electrical resistance, but did not affect flux of fluorescein. While ochratoxin A and citrinin are known to be nephrotoxic, only deoxynivalenol reduced claudin-2 expression in MDCK II cells derived from the renal tubule. These results suggest that claudin-2 expression is regulated not only by the ERK pathway, but also by other pathways in an organ-specific manner.


The aim was to study the relationship between elderly home care users', and their caregivers', perceptions of the quality of care. The sample consisted of 151 matched elderly home care user-caregiver pairs in a Swedish municipality. The elderly home care users were interviewed and their caregivers filled in questionnaires using an established, theory-based instrument. Results showed that the elderly home care users evaluated most care components more favourably than their caregivers. On ratings of the various care components' subjective importance to the caretaker, the caregivers consistently scored higher than the elderly home care users. Within the subset of elderly home care users who received help at least twice a day, there were greater similarities between caregivers and caretakers. The results are related to comparable research and discussed in terms of caregivers' needs to legitimize their professional identity and actions.


There is global concern about healthcare cost, quality, and access as the prevalence of complex and chronic diseases, such as heart disease, continues to grow. Care for patients with complex chronic disease involves diverse practitioners and multiple transitions between medical centers, physician practices, clinics, community resources, and patient homes. There are few systems that provide the flexibility to manage these varied and complex interactions. Participatory and user-centered design methodology was applied to the first stage of building a mobile platform for care coordination for complex, chronic heart disease. Key informant interviews with patients, caregivers, clinicians, and care coordinators were conducted. Thematic analysis led to identification of priority user functions including shared care plan, medication management, symptom management, nutrition, physical activity, appointments, personal monitoring devices, and integration of data and workflow. Meaningful stakeholder engagement contributes to a person-centered system that enhances health and efficiency.


Brucellosis is zoonotic disease of worldwide distribution and still remains endemic in some developing countries. The main pathogenic species worldwide are B. abortus, responsible for bovine brucellosis, B. melitensis. The B. abortus is most common in Korea. Each Brncella spp. has a preferred natural host that serves as a reservoir of infection. The incubation period varies between 5 and 60 days, and Brucella infection may be asymptomatic or symptomatic. The majority of patients complained of fever (undulating fever), sweats, malaise, anorexia, and arthralgia. The diagnosis of brucellosis requires the isolation of Brucella from blood Of body tissues, or the combination of suggestive clinical presentation and positive serology. There were first patients in 2002, thereafter 16 patients in 2003, and 47 patients in 2004, the human brucellosis are increasing more gradually in Korea. Brucellosis is an occupational risk for farmers, veterinarians, and abattoir workers. The main sources of Brucella are infected animals or their products, such as milk, blood, carcasses, and abortion products. Routes of transmission of the infection to humans include direct contact with infected animals and their secretions through cuts and abrasions in the skin, by way of infected aerosols inhaled or via the ingestion of unpasteurized dairy products. A combination of doxycycline and streptomycin has been used widely in brucellosis. Prevention of brucellosis in human still depends on the eradication or control of the disease in animal hosts, the exercise of hygienic precautions to limit exposure to infection through occupational activities and the effective heating of dairy products, and other potentially contaminated foods. Also, physicians and veterinarians must be concerned about specific environments and clinical patterns of brucellosis.


Using efficient methods that reduce the search space, we design an algorithm strong enough to solve all 8×8 Hex openings.


The author explores the reasons why scientists such as Albert Einstein, Richard Feynman, Carl Sagan, Stephen Hawking, and Neil deGrasse Tyson became celebrities, as well as sharing his own experience. He describes how public acclaim is often uncorrelated to scientific accomplishment and depends more on communication skills and personality traits. Nevertheless, he argues that the entire scientific community benefits when credible scientists gain a wider audience, and that celebrity is an opportunity that should not be squandered. Scientists who become recognizable have a chance and perhaps even a responsibility, which they have often exploited, to promote science literacy, combat scientific nonsense, motivate young people, and steer public policy discussions toward sound decision making.


Nasal passages form one of the chief sources of contact of the human with his environ-ment. Hence, it is natural that the mucosa of the area is the victim of assault with multi-tudes of potential allergens. Allergic rhinitis is an inflammatory disease with worldwide prevalence of 10-40%. Clinically allergic rhini-tis manifests as itching, sneezing, rhinorrhea, congestion and itchy eyes. Allergic rhinitis is a disease with low mortality but significantly lowers the quality of life and functioning. Both oral and intranasal antihistamines are approved for the first-line treatment of aller-gic rhinitis and both formulations result in a reduction in symptoms and an improvement in quality of life. The following study was de-signed to assess the efficacy and safety of the azelastine nasal spray in comparison to levocetrizine in patients with allergic rhinitis. Out of the 68 patients, 34 cases were treated with topical azelastine (group A), while remain-ing 34 with systemic levocetrizine (group B). The effects of anti-allergic drugs have been studied on the basis of relief of symptoms and change in histopathology. Comparing the post therapy clinical and histopathological results in this study, azelastine nasal spray was found to be more effective and safe in the treatment of al-lergic rhinitis than levocetrizine.


The conduct of EU military and civilian crisis management operations in third states within the context of the European Security and Defence Policy has presented the EU with new administrative and operational challenges in recent years, including the need to define the international legal position of such operations and their personnel during their presence abroad. In some cases, the EU has entered into agreements with host states to determine the legal status of EU crisis management operations, while in other cases the application of already existing arrangements has been extended to them. The status agreements negotiated directly by the EU confer more extensive privileges and immunities on EU operations and their personnel than current international practice in this area would warrant. Despite opposition to this policy within the EU, it has remained in place under the two model status agreements adopted by the Council of the European Union in 2005 to serve as a basis for negotiations with prospective host states in all future EU operations. Even though no norm of international law compels the EU to request only such privileges and immunities as are absolutely necessary for the purposes of an operation, its practice of negotiating extensive privileges and immunities does not sit well with the growing emphasis on the accountability of peace support operations. This article offers an overview of the evolution of the EU's practice of concluding status agreements in the context of the European Security and Defence Policy and examines the key provisions of the two model status agreements.


Maps: Information and Structure Though people who have worked extensively with Korzybski's map-territory analogy may understand at a glance how to apply it to written arguments, students often have difficulty seeing it as anything other than one more concept to stash away in their notebooks, there to move in darkness from class to class and quadrangle to quadrangle as part of the long endurance test we refer to as "schooling." Even those students who sincerely attempt to grasp the analogy may have difficulty seeing how to apply it in the so-called "real world." Because of this difficulty and in order to give my freshman students some critical tools relevant to the arguments presented to them in public life, I use two refutation assignments that encourage them to put the map-territory analogy to practical use as they grapple with arguments about current affairs. (1) Before presenting the assignments, I suggest to them that maps prove faulty for one of two reasons and often both at once: a map may lack pieces of information that the map user requires in order to put the map to use and/or the map may have a structure different from that of the territory. (2) Most students can see quite readily how to apply these principles to a map of a physical territory. On a map of Colorado, they can see that if it doesn't have sufficient relevant information, the map user will not get much use from it: if someone wants to drive from Boulder to Fort Collins, a map containing only bike trails and hiking paths will not serve very well. When dealing with standard area maps, students can also see quite clearly that the map must have the same structure as the territory, that the different items on the map must have the same relationship there as they do in the territory: if the map has Fort Collins east of Denver instead of north--northwest, the user will end up as lost as a rhetoric instructor at a rodeo. I do not, at this point, suggest the following tentative conclusion, though it seems warranted by the available evidence: if one uses a map lacking necessary information, the map will often do no harm (though one could surely find exceptions) because though it will not tell the map user many things she would like to know, it will not usually present her with a false-to-facts picture; if, on the other hand, the map user uses a map that doesn't have the same structure as the territory, the map may actually prove harmful. The prospective user of the map with only bike trails and hiking trails might simply stay home and watch Rockies baseball (or, I suppose, find another map), whereas someone using the map with Fort Collins east of Denver may well find herself wandering the wintry and windswept high plains of eastern Colorado instead of sitting securely ensconced in a Fort Collins coffee shop talking pleasantly about the misdeeds of government. What happens when students turn to verbal maps? They encounter such maps every day, as do we all, but they don't often stop to ask questions about either information or structure. They seldom ask why they should see some information as relevant, important, or crucial to the question at issue, and questions about structure seem as alien to them as the language of birds. However, because many (probably most) of the arguments that affect students' lives most profoundly come in verbal form, teachers should probably give their students some training in thinking critically about them. Korzybski said that everything depends on structure (or something to that effect), and we can see quite easily how to look for the structure of a map of Colorado. But how do we find structure in a verbal map? What does that structure consist of? I suggest to my students that we can discern structure by looking at the relationships among various parts of the intensional or extensional item under consideration--and that though we have many types of relationships, we can describe any of them by referring to operations because once we move down from the airy heights of "relationship-in-general" to the more grounded territory of relationships in particular (i. …


As communication systems evolve to better cater to the needs of machine-type applications such as remote monitoring and networked control, advanced perspectives are required for the design of link layer protocols. The age of information (AoI) metric has firmly taken its place in the literature as a metric and tool to measure and control the data freshness demands of various applications. AoI measures the timeliness of transferred information from the point of view of the destination. In this study, we experimentally investigate AoI of multiple packet flows on a wireless multi-user link consisting of a transmitter (base station) and several receivers, implemented using software-defined radios (SDRs). We examine the performance of various scheduling policies under push-based and pull-based communication scenarios. For the push-based communication scenario, we implement age-aware scheduling policies from the literature and compare their performance with those of conventional scheduling methods. Then, we investigate the query age of information (QAoI) metric, an adaptation of the AoI concept for pull-based scenarios. We modify the former age-aware policies to propose variants that have a QAoI minimization objective. We share experimental results obtained in a simulation environment as well as on the SDR testbed.


Evidence for the anticipation of competition at feeding time has been previously documented in both Pan species. Chimpanzees seem to cope with competitive tendency through behavioural mechanisms of tension reduction, and grooming is certainly one of these. Social play and grooming are often matched because they bring animals into close physical contact for long periods, and they have an important role in social cohesion. Our goal was to investigate the occurrence of play behaviour during the pre-feeding period, before a basic maintenance activity is about to take place, in the chimpanzee colony housed in the ZooParc de Beauval (St Aignan sur Cher, France). The group was composed of 10 adults and nine immature individuals. By scan animal sampling (344 h of observation), we recorded play and grooming interactions in all age-class combinations during four different periods (pre-feeding, feeding, post-feeding, control). We found peak levels of grooming interactions among adults during the pre-feeding time. A peak frequency at the pre-feeding time was also found in social play between adults and unrelated immature subjects. This finding suggests that during high tension periods, grooming and play might share similar functions in conflict management. Like grooming, play might have an important role to limit aggression and increase tolerance around food (immediate benefits). Immature animals showed a higher frequency of play in the pre-feeding than in any other condition (feeding, post-feeding, and control). During high excitement periods social play probably represents a safe mechanism for immature subjects to test their personal abilities (self-assessment), the strength/weakness of playmates, and the degree of cooperation/competition with them (social-assessment). In the light of this new evidence, we can assert that play behaviour is far from being a purposeless activity, at least in the chimpanzee colony under study.


: Renal excretion of 17-HOCS and aldosterone as well as the ratio of excreted glucocorticoids and their precursors was investigated in the Soyuz-31 Commander before and after his 7-day flight. Renal excretion of total 17-HOCS remained unchanged while hydroxylation in positions 11 and 17 in the course of corticosteroid synthesis was relatively deficient.


The IL-1 family members IL-36 a (IL-1F6), IL-36 b (IL-1F8), and IL-36 g (IL-1F9) and the receptor antagonist IL-36Ra (IL-1F5) constitute a novel signaling system that is poorly understood. We now show that these cytokines have profound effects on the skin immune system. Treatment of human keratinocytes with IL-36 cytokines significantly increased the expression of CXCL1, CXCL8, CCL3, CCL5, and CCL20, potent chemotactic agents for activated leukocytes, and IL-36 a injected intradermally resulted in chemokine expression, leukocyte infiltration, and acanthosis of mouse skin. Blood monocytes, myeloid dendritic cells (mDC), and monocyte-derived DC (MO-DC) expressed IL-36R and responded to IL-36. In contrast, no direct effects of IL-36 on resting or activated human CD4 + or CD8 + T cells, or blood neutrophils, could be demonstrated. Monocytes expressed IL-1A, IL1B, and IL-6 mRNA and IL-1 b and IL-6 protein, and mDC upregulated surface expression of CD83, CD86, and HLA-DR and secretion of IL-1 b and IL-6 after treatment with IL-36. Furthermore, IL-36 a –treated MO-DC enhanced allogeneic CD4 + T cell proliferation, demonstrating that IL-36 can stimulate the maturation and function of DC and drive T cell proliferation. These data indicate that IL-36 cytokines actively propagate skin inflammation via the activation of keratinocytes, APC, and, indirectly, T cells. The Journal of Immunology , 2014, 192:


Schmelzmetall Hovadur CCB is a heat-treatable, copper-cobalt-beryllium alloy. In the solution heat treated and artificially aged condition, this alloy combines good mechanical strength and excellent ductility as well as high softening temperature with good thermal and electrical conductivity. This datasheet provides information on composition, physical properties, elasticity, and tensile properties. It also includes information on corrosion resistance as well as forming, heat treating, machining, and joining. Filing Code: Cu-920. Producer or source: Schmelzmetall AG.


Industrial seed treatment of soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] has increased over the last years. New technologies have been developed to allow the inoculation procedure, which is traditionally done at the day of sowing, to be performed with the industrial treatment days or even weeks before sowing. Since little is known about the compatibility of agrochemicals and pre-inoculation, the objective of this study was to determine whether the storage period and the combination of fungicides and insecticides could negatively affect the physiological quality and yield of soybean seeds that were pre-inoculated. Soybean seeds received fourteen seed treatments that consisted of different fungicides and insecticides and were pre-inoculated with Bradyrhizobium elkanii. The seeds were treated and stored for 51 days until it was sown in the field. Every 17 days the physiological quality of the seed was assessed. The results shown that pre-inoculation did not affect the physiological quality of seeds. However, some combinations of agrochemicals, as well as storage period reduced seed vigor and seed germination, while increased abnormal seedlings. The findings of this study indicated that some combinations of fungicides and insecticides can have adverse effect on the physiological quality of seed that is stored for up to 51 days before sowing, but none of them jeopardized the nodulation and soybean yield under field conditions.

 Key words: Biological nitrogen fixation, Bradyrhizobium, compatibility, fungicide, Glycine max, HiCoat, industrial seed treatment, insecticide, polymer.


The dynamic bandwidth allocation providing QoS for VSAT satellite network was investigated. Two bandwidth reservation allocation schemes were presented. These schemes aim at satisfying different QoS requirement and application scenario. And they can afford more bandwidth requests of applications with less bandwidth available. They efficiently manage the bandwidth pool and improve the utilization of satellite channel. The simulation results showed that the network performance can be improved by using new allocation schemes.


Learning to predict agent motions with relationship reasoning is important for many applications. In motion prediction tasks, maintaining motion equivariance under Euclidean geometric transformations and invariance of agent interaction is a critical and fundamental principle. However, such equivariance and invariance properties are overlooked by most existing methods. To fill this gap, we propose Eq-Motion, an efficient equivariant motion prediction model with invariant interaction reasoning. To achieve motion equivariance, we propose an equivariant geometric feature learning module to learn a Euclidean transformable feature through dedicated designs of equivariant operations. To reason agent's interactions, we propose an invariant interaction reasoning module to achieve a more stable interaction modeling. To further promote more comprehensive motion features, we propose an invariant pattern feature learning module to learn an invariant pattern feature, which cooperates with the equivariant geometric feature to enhance network expressiveness. We conduct experiments for the proposed model on four distinct scenarios: particle dynamics, molecule dynamics, human skeleton motion prediction and pedestrian trajectory prediction. Experimental results show that our method is not only generally applicable, but also achieves state-of-the-art prediction performances on all the four tasks, improving by 24.0/30.1/8.6/9.2%. Code is available at https://github.com/MediaBrain-SJTU/EqMotion.


A study was carried out to demonstrate that intratesticular
injection of 6% zinc tannate to indigenous Kedah-Kelantan (KK) calves
will result in better growth rates and superior carcass
characteristics than calves castrated with burdizzo and that it would
selectively destroy the spermatogenic cells and not the interstitial
cells ( Leydig cells) . Thirty KK male calves aged 9 - 10 months old were
selected and assigned to three treatment groups with 10 animal sin
each group . Animal sin group 1 were castrated with a burdizzo(BC) ,
group 2 animals were injected intratesticularly with 6% zinc tannate
(ZT ) and intact animals in group 3 as a control group (CT ) . The dose
o f 6% zinc tannate injected was based on scrotal circumference . All
the animals were slaughtered after 368 days post-treatment .There was no significant difference ( P >0 . 05 ) in average daily
weight gain of animals injected with zinc tannate (0.38±0.007 kg ) ,
castrated ( 0.34±0.07 kg ) and intact (0.43 ± 0.007 kg ) animals; but
intact animals showed higher ( P<0.05 ) gain than the castrated
animals. Zinc tannate animals had lower daily feed intake and better
feed conversion ratio than castrated and intact animals . No
significant differences were observed in chilled dressing percent ,
muscle and bone percent and muscle : bone ratio of the three treatment
groups but a higher percentage of f at was found in castrated animals .
This study revealed that zinc tannate is an irreversible
chemical sterilant . Histological section of testes indicated complete
destruction of spermatogenic cells with intact Leydig cells in the
interstitium . No spermatozoa were observed in the ejaculates and the
animals produced high levels o f testosterone hormone .
It is concluded that zinc tannate could be used as a substitute
for burdizzo cast ration and as an alternate procedure for the
preparation o f teaser bulls.


We develop an approach to efficiently grow neural networks, within which parameterization and optimization strategies are designed by considering their effects on the training dynamics. Unlike existing growing methods, which follow simple replication heuristics or utilize auxiliary gradient-based local optimization, we craft a parameterization scheme which dynamically stabilizes weight, activation, and gradient scaling as the architecture evolves, and maintains the inference functionality of the network. To address the optimization difficulty resulting from imbalanced training effort distributed to subnetworks fading in at different growth phases, we propose a learning rate adaption mechanism that rebalances the gradient contribution of these separate subcomponents. Experimental results show that our method achieves comparable or better accuracy than training large fixed-size models, while saving a substantial portion of the original computation budget for training. We demonstrate that these gains translate into real wall-clock training speedups.


Abstruct- In this paper we address the problem of constructing frequency-hopping codes for use in a fast frequencyhopping code-division multiple-access cellular system with a Kcell frequency-reuse scheme. Different hopping codes are used in different cochannel cells to reduce the cochannel interference. The frequency-hopping patterns possess ideal auto- and crosscorrelation properties for use in the intracells and ideal autocorrelation and nearly ideal cross-correlation properties in the cochannel intercells. Additionally the cardinalities (the number of patterns) of the codes for use in the intracells meets the bound and hence are optimal. The maximum number of users which can be accommodated by using the proposed scheme is 20% more than the scheme using the same frequency-hopping code in all cells under the carrier-to-interference ratio - 15 dB. I. BACKGROUND AND MOTIVATION


The structural and catalytic properties of oxides in the Bi–V–Sb–O system, which are propene oxidation catalysts, have been studied. Two domains of solid solutions exist for the compounds BiV1–xSbxO4, with the scheelite structure for 0 ⩽x < 0.04 and a monoclinic structure for 0.876 ⩽x⩽ 1. Characterization by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (X.p.s.) shows that for a given MO (M = Bi, V or Sb) environment, the higher the average interatomic distance, the higher the cation binding energy, corresponding to an effective decrease in electronic density. From a semi-quantitative X.p.s. analysis of the surface composition of the BiV1–xSbxO4 system it is shown that for low values of x(x⩽ 0.10) the surface concentrations of vanadium and oxygen decrease sharply compared with those of the other elements. Activities and selectivities for acrolein, determined in a stirred gas–solid reactor, are measured as a function of x. Oxides having the scheelite structure exhibit a sharp increase in activity with increasing x. The larger performance found for x= 0.035 is connected with a high oxygen mobility.


BACKGROUND
There is a growing interest in designing instruments to assess obsessive-compulsive symptoms in children. The Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory-Child Version (OCI-CV) has showed to be a valid in the evaluation of OCD in clinical and nonclinical populations. The main goal in this study was to analyze factor structure and psychometric properties of the OCI-CV in a community Spanish sample.

METHOD
Data were collected from 914 children/adolescents with a mean age of 13.01 (SD = 1.96; Males = 51.3%). Exploratory factor analysis was carried out in order to study the internal structure of the OCI-CV Spanish version. Further, internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and convergent and discriminant validity of the total score and the factors obtained were examined. Finally, age and gender differences were also explored.

RESULTS
Exploratory factor analysis yielded a similar structure to the original OCI-CV with the following six factors: Washing/Checking, Obsession, Ordering, Doubting, Neutralizing, and Hoarding. The internal consistency was strong for the total score, but moderate for the subscales. The Spanish version of the OCI-CV showed evidences of test-retest reliability and convergent and discriminant validity.

CONCLUSION
The Spanish version of the OCI-CV is an instrument with adequate psychometric properties to assess obsessions and compulsions in Spanish children/adolescents.


Radiocarbon dating was carried out in the sediment profiles of four marine sediment cores taken from Iskenderun Bay, Turkey. The bay is quite shallow in the present day, and a previous tectonic study had considered that the bay floor might have been subsiding. However, this cannot be so, for the 14C ages would thereby lead to the apparent paradox of normal marine sedimentation having taken place during times when glacio-eustatic sea level lowering would have exposed the bay floor. Rather, we conclude that the floor of Iskenderun Bay on the whole has been experiencing rapid uplift since the end of the Last Glacial, due to a combination of tectonic factors linked to the compression between the Anatolian and African plates.


Basically video surveillance system is used for security purpose as well as monitoring systems. But Detection of moving object is a challenging part of video surveillance. Video surveillance system is used for Home security, Military applications, Banking /ATM security, Traffic monitoring etc. Now a day's due to decreasing costs of high quality video surveillance systems, human activity detection and tracking has become increasingly in practical. Accordingly, automated systems have been designed for numerous detection tasks, but the task of detecting illegally parked vehicles has been left largely to the human operators of surveillance systems. The detection of Indian vehicles by their number plates is the most interesting and challenging research topic from past few years. It is observed that the number plates of vehicles are in different shape and size and also have different colour in various countries. This work proposes a method for the detection and identification of vehicle number plate that will help in the detection of number plates of authorized and unauthorized vehicles.This paper presents an approach based on simple but efficient morphological operation and Sobel edge detection method. This approach is simplified to segmented all the letters and numbers used in the number plate by using bounding box method. After segmentation of numbers and characters present on number plate, template matching approach is used to recognition of numbers and characters. The concentrate is given to locate the number plate region properly to segment all the number and letters to identify each number separately.


A sizable number of localities have in recent years limited the use of criminal background checks in hiring decisions, or "banned the box." Using LEHD Origin-Destination Employment and American Community Survey data, we show that these bans increased employment of residents in high-crime neighborhoods by as much as 4%. These increases are particularly large in the public sector. At the same time, we establish using job postings data that employers respond to ban-the-box measures by raising experience requirements. A perhaps unintended consequence of this is that women, who are less likely to be convicted of crimes, see their employment opportunities reduced.


The study identified the exposure of nursing students both male and female in a psychiatric hospital that is Madinah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. In this study the data has been analyzed by considering demographics of the respondents and inferential statistics. The discussion of this study has been done by considering the results concerning age, gender, and other demographic features of the study. The study identified that nurses of 31 or more age mainly males face more stress. Further, nurses with 5 children are facing more stress while effectively managing the work-life balance. The study concluded that the role of nurses is very crucial hence they must be continuously trained and monitored to manage the stress level for their wellbeing as well as the well-being of the hospital.


The Tec family tyrosine kinase, Itk, plays an important role in signal transduction following T cell receptor engagement. Several prior studies have established the importance of Itk in immune system processes, such as T cell development and T cell activation. Additional biochemical studies have found that Itk specifically functions within a multi-molecular signalosome complex, which ultimately functions to provide a platform by which Itk can phosphorylate and activate PLC-γ1, a crucial step in T cell activation. To further study how Itk regulates distinct immune outcomes via T cell effector processes within the peripheral immune system, and to further understand how Itk functions in T cells in response to a physiological ligand-receptor interaction, I crossed Itk-deficient mice to mice transgenic for a TCR specific for a moth cytochrome C peptide. My studies have established a unique role for Itk in several important aspects of T cell function. Following T cell activation, I identified an imperative role for Itk in activation-induced cell death via FasL, a mechanism of immune homeostasis. Furthermore, I found Itk plays a unique role in the process of T cell differentiation, where Itk positively regulates the induction of cytokine genes, such as IL-4, while negatively regulating the induction of T-bet, a transcription factor important for Th1 differentiation. Lastly, following T cell differentiation, I found that Itk mRNA and protein are up-regulated during Th2 differentiation, while Rlk, a related Tec kinase, disappears rapidly from Th2 cells, indicating a critical role for Itk in Th2 cell function. Collectively, my thesis work has more clearly defined an important function for Itk not only in TCR signaling, but also in immune processes such as T cell differentiation and activation-induced cell death that are required for proper immune function.


[1] The nature of lithospheric deformation during continental plate collision still remains unresolved. While it has often been proposed that the mantle lithosphere is accommodated by distributed thickening of a viscous root, an alternate hypothesis suggests that significant portions of convergent mantle lithosphere essentially undergo underthrusting or subduction. To further consider this issue, we model the thermochemical evolution of the lithosphere-mantle system using arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian finite element techniques. We incorporate a mix of viscous (thermally activated power law creep) and plastic (frictional Coulomb with strain softening) rheologies in the numerical experiments to treat disparate composition in the crust and mantle. A range of rheological and mechanical parameters is explored to determine controls on the style of lithospheric deformation. The models suggest that during the initial stages of plate collision the mantle lithosphere is characterized by plate-like behavior and underthrusting/subduction of the upper region in conjunction with distributed thickening and Rayleigh-Taylor type viscous instability of the lower portion. Depending on the material rheology, temperature regime, and imposed convergence velocity, the deforming mantle lithosphere demonstrates various combinations of these "end-member" behavioral modes. The modeling results are interpreted in the context of observed lithospheric deformation across South Island, New Zealand. A combined style of underthrusting and distributed thickening is consistent with the observed crustal structure in the young collisional orogen as well as seismic imaging of the geometry of the underlying lithosphere.


Along with the development of controlled delivery systems for targeted therapy, 'single-strategy' therapy often fails to achieve the desired performance in real body internal environments. In such a case, it is necessary to develop synergistic therapy strategies. Herein, for the first time, we designed and synthesized hyaluronic acid (HA) modified Ag@S-nitrosothiol core-shell nanoparticles for synergistic tumor cell targeted therapy based on photothermal therapy (PTT) and nitric oxide (NO) based chemotherapy. Triggered by near-infrared irradiation (NIR), the Ag core nanoparticle would convert the light to cytotoxic heat via a surface plasmon resonance mechanism for cancer cell apoptosis. Meanwhile, responding to NIR as well as the generated heat, the S-nitrosothiol polymeric shells would give off free NO at high concentration, inducing NO based chemotherapy. Tumor cell selective cytotoxicity assay in vitro as well as tumor bearing mouse experiments in vivo demonstrated the effective photothermal and NO based chemical synergistic tumor targeted therapy. This spatiotemporally controllable system could provide a new option and era for tumor targeted therapy in the future.


N6A methylation is the most abundant RNA modification occurring within messenger RNA. Impairment of methylase or demethylase functions are associated with severe phenotypes and diseases in several organisms. Beside writer and eraser enzymes of this dynamic RNA epigenetic modification, reader proteins that recognize this modification are involved in numerous cellular processes. Although the precise characterization of these reader proteins remains unknown, preliminary data showed that most potential reader proteins contained a conserved YT521-B homology (YTH) domain. Here we define the YTH domain of rat YT521-B as a N6-methylated adenosine reader domain and report its solution structure in complex with a N6-methylated RNA. The structure reveals a binding preference for NGANNN RNA hexamer and a deep hydrophobic cleft for m6A recognition. These findings establish a molecular function for YTH domains as m6A reader domains and should guide further studies into the biological functions of YTH-containing proteins in m6A recognition.


Abstract:This article examines the problematization of, and the proposed solutions to, cultural métissage in the first published Vietnamese Francophone novel, Le roman de mademoiselle Lys (1921). It investigates how the author, Nguyen Phan Long, founder of the Constitutionalist Party of Cochinchina, uses French syntax as a rhetorical means of disciplining Vietnamese women in French Indochina. I interpret his use of French literary traditions of novelistic and fictionalized diary-writing to impose Confucian ideals on Vietnamese women, and read his mirroring of French "diary-novels" as a reflection of his desire to respond to journaux-romans and their French male authors.


The written radiology report is the dominant method by which radiologists communicate the results of diagnostic and interventional imaging procedures. It has an important impact on decisions about further investigation and management. Its form and content can be influential in reducing harm to patients and mitigating risk for practitioners but varies markedly with little standardisation in practice. Until now, the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists has not had a guideline for the written report. International guidelines on this subject are not evidence based and lack description of development methods. The current guideline seeks to improve the quality of the written report by providing evidence‐based recommendations for good practice. The following attributes of the report are addressed by recommendations: Content Clinical information available to the radiologist at the time the report was created Technical details of the procedure Examination quality and limitations Findings (both normal and abnormal) Comparison with previous studies Pathophysiological diagnosis Differential diagnoses Clinical correlation and/or answer to the clinical question Recommendations, particularly for further imaging and other investigations Conclusion/opinion/impression Format Length Format Language Confidence and certainty Clarity Readability Accuracy Communication of discrepancies between an original verbal or written report and the final report Proofreading/editing of own and trainee reports


Kinetoplastid RNA (kRNA) editing takes place in the mitochondria of kinetoplastid protists and creates translatable mRNAs by uridine insertion/deletion. Extensively edited (pan-edited) transcripts contain quadruplex forming guanine stretches, which must be remodeled to promote uridine insertion/deletion. Here we show that the RRM domain of the essential kRNA-editing factor TbRGG2 binds poly(G) and poly(U) RNA and can unfold both. A region C-terminal to the RRM mediates TbRGG2 dimerization, enhancing RNA binding. A RRM-U4 RNA structure reveals a unique RNA-binding mechanism in which the two RRMs of the dimer employ aromatic residues outside the canonical RRM RNA-binding motifs to encase and wrench open the RNA, while backbone atoms specify the uridine bases. Notably, poly(G) RNA is bound via a different binding surface. Thus, these data indicate that TbRGG2 RRM can bind and remodel several RNA substrates suggesting how it might play multiple roles in the kRNA editing process.


This paper aims to examine the critical success and failure factors for the new generation of ethnic (or migrant) entrepreneurs in high-tech and creative industries in Dutch cities. The present study investigates their entrepreneurial behaviour with a particular focus on their personal and business characteristics as well as their motivations and driving forces, which all determine their entrepreneurship and their business performance. An empirical application is presented, in which the results from an in-depth interview study on second-generation Moroccan entrepreneurs are discussed. The findings of our study show that, in general, these entrepreneurs are more open and are looking for new opportunities beyond the traditional markets by using modern break-out strategies. This research helps to map out key factors that influence their entrepreneurial behaviour and activity, business entry decisions, and creative business strategies. It also identifies conditions for success and other factors that impact on the performance of ethnic entrepreneurs in the Netherlands, within the broader context of entrepreneurship. These findings are informative for various stakeholders such as other ethnic entrepreneurs, policy makers and business investors in this dynamic and promising urban business environment.(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)


Polyethylene (PE) is one of the most abundant commercially produced synthetic polymers which have leaded the seriously solid pollution. A Gram positive rod form bacterium T6 has been isolated from the guts of Indian meal moth Plodia interpunctella (Hübner). According to the phenotypic, Physiological and biochemical characteristics, and 16S rRNA gene sequence, T6 is identified as Baccillus megaterium. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) reveals the polyethylene can be degraded significantly by T6 from the LDPE surface. The tensile strength of the LDPE films which is degraded by T6 strain, displays decreasing tendency as the incubation time increase. After 28 days' incubation, the tensile strength decreases 5.8% and the maximum decrement reaches 18.4%. The difference between the tensile strength value of day 21 and day 28 are not significant (P <0.05). The results indicate T6 strain can degraded the LDPE film.


We estimate a New Keynesian DSGE model for the Euro area under alternative descriptions of monetary policy (discretion, commitment or a simple rule) after allowing for Markov switching in policy maker preferences and shock volatilities. This reveals that there have been several changes in Euro area policy making, with a strengthening of the anti-inflation stance in the early years of the ERM, which was then lost around the time of German reunification and only recovered following the turnoil in the ERM in 1992. The ECB does not appear to have been as conservative as aggregate Euro-area policy was under Bundesbank leadership, and its response to the financial crisis has been muted. The estimates also suggest that the most appropriate description of policy is that of discretion, with no evidence of commitment in the Euro-area. As a result although both 'good luck' and 'good policy' played a role in the moderation of inflation and output volatility in the Euro-area, the welfare gains would have been substantially higher had policy makers been able to commit. We consider a range of delegation schemes as devices to improve upon the discretionary outcome, and conclude that price level targeting would have achieved welfare levels close to those attained under commitment, even after accounting for the existence of the Zero Lower Bound on nominal interest rates.


This paper investigates the economic and social determinants affecting the well-being of temporary migrants before, during and after the financial crisis. Exploiting unique panel data which cover migration spells from Tajikistan between 2001 and 2011, we find that migrants earn less but stay longer in the destination during the crisis; at the same time, they become more exposed to illegal work relations, harassment and deportation through the Russian authorities. Especially illegal employment has negative second order effects on wages. Despite the similarities in the demographics and jobs of migrant workers, we find substantial heterogeneity in how the financial crisis affects their well-being. Migrants who experience wage losses during the crisis rationally stop migrating.


Low positive and high negative affect (NA) predict low rates of smoking abstinence among smokers making a quit attempt. Positive psychotherapy can both increase positive affect (PA) and decrease NA and, therefore, may be a useful adjunct to behavioral smoking counseling. The purpose of the present study was to assess the feasibility and acceptability of a positive psychotherapy for smoking cessation (PPT-S) intervention that integrates standard smoking cessation counseling with nicotine patch and a package of positive psychology interventions. We delivered PPT-S to 19 smokers who were low in PA at baseline. Rates of session attendance and satisfaction with treatment were high, and most participants reported using and benefiting from the positive psychology interventions. Almost one-third of the participants (31.6%) sustained smoking abstinence for six months after their quit date. Future studies to assess the relative efficacy of PPT-S compared to standard smoking cessation treatment are warranted.


Data science is AN inter-disciplinary field that uses scientific ways, processes, algorithms and systems to extract data and insights from several structural and unstructured knowledge. Knowledge science is said to data processing, machine learning and largeknowledge. Data science may be a "concept to unify statistics, knowledge analysis and their connected methods" so as to "understand and analyze actual phenomena" with knowledge. It uses techniques and theories drawn from several fields inside the context of arithmetic, statistics, engineering science, domain data and knowledge science. Alan Turing award winner Jim grey notional knowledge science as a "fourth paradigm" of science (empirical, theoretical, machine and currently knowledge-driven) and declared that "everything concerning science is ever-changing attributable to the impact of data technology" and also the data deluge.


Interatomic potentials are developed to model hydrogen impurities in Pd and Ni. The Н-Н potentials are constructed taking into account the results of ab initio simulations reported in the literature. The Pd-H and Ni-H potentials are fitted to the experimental data such as the absorption energy, the activation energy of over-barrier diffusion of H in metals, and the H-vacancy binding energy.


There are presented the modern possibilities of application of the computeric modeling methods, including CAD/CAM/CAE technologies, in the planning of osteosynthesis and determination of the functional loading regimes in the patients, suffering traumatic mandibular fracture. Virtual models of the systems "bone-fixator", created on the ground of analysis of the spiral CT and functional investigations data, have had demonstrated highly precisely the anatomic peculiarities of the patients chewing system, ununiform physicomechanical properties of the fractures bone tissues and conditions of functional loading while the teeth closure. Mathematical calculations, conducted on the models, have permitted to estimate the value and character of the local pressure and deformity, occurring in the system elements, and to estimate its rigidity and safety in conditions of the chewing load. The model calculations were taken in account while choosing the patients rehabilitation regimes in posttraumatic period. Clinical investigations, conducted in immediate and late follow-up periods after the operation, have confirmed the trustworthiness of the model calculations and possibility of the method application while decision making in complex, atypical clinical settings.


Background Alcohol is traditionally known to have a relaxing effect. However, persons who consume alcohol in excessive amounts suffer from poor sleep quality and patients with alcohol use disorders commonly report insomnia. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the effects of alcohol use on sleep quality. Methods A questionnaire-based cross-sectional survey was conducted with 234 men and 159 women who had visited a general hospital. We used structured questionnaires, including Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test-Korean revised version (AUDIT-KR) and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index-Korean version (PSQI-K). We analyzed the association between scores for all subcategories of the PSQI-K and the AUDIT-KR and then analyzed the correlation between AUDIT-KR and global PSQI-K scores. Results The global PSQI-K score for men was positively correlated with the AUDIT-KR score (P=0.008) after adjusting for age, chronic disease, tobacco use, exercise, depression, and anxiety. The AUDIT-KR score was significantly associated with subjective sleep quality (P=0.005), sleep duration (P=0.047), and sleep disturbance (P=0.048); it was not associated with sleep latency, sleep efficiency, or daytime dysfunction. Sleep disturbances due to snoring were significantly associated with total AUDIT-KR score (P=0.008). There was no correlation between the global PSQI-K and AUDIT-KR scores for women (P=0.333). However, daytime dysfunction showed a significant association with total AUDIT-KR score (P=0.048). Conclusion Men with higher AUDIT-KR scores tended to suffer from poor sleep quality. AUDIT-KR scores showed significant correlations with subjective sleep quality, sleep duration, and sleep disturbances in men.


The problem of minimum-cost correction of a corrupted set of data that has been generated by a known finite state machine (FSM) is examined. The Viterbi algorithm is modified to correct insertions and deletions as well as errors, still using a trellis diagram that has the same number of states as the FSM that generates the uncorrupted data. Two problems are examined. In the first problem the data is given in the traditional form of a string so the novel aspect is that insertions and deletions are now corrected. In the second problem, a unique string need not be given, but a regular language is given, and any string belonging to the regular language is a possible data string. Again, deletion addition, and changes of symbols are corrected. A direct generalization of the Viterbi decoding algorithm is thus proved to be an efficient technique for solving a much wider class of problems. >


Effective treatment for COVID-19 remains elusive, though urgently needed in the current pandemic. Repurposing marketed therapies may be an effective strategy for finding treatments quickly and, recently, in vitro and clinical testing of such therapies against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has skyrocketed. However, not all marketed drugs showing in vitro efficacy could achieve therapeutic concentrations in humans and discernment of drugs that have favorable pharmacokinetic properties can save time and resources for future studies. Here, we compile marketed therapies, including supplements, having anti-viral activity with in vitro, in vivo, and/or clinical data against α and β coronaviruses into tables, alongside their pharmacokinetic properties. We point to several drugs or supplements available for immediate repurposing because they have achievable blood concentrations in humans well above their inhibitory concentrations against coronaviruses. This compilation may contribute to the implementation of rapid future studies by narrowing the vast number of marketed drugs reported for potential efficacy against SARS-CoV-2 on the basis of their pharmacokinetic properties and published coronavirus data.


Using the first epoch of four-band NIRCam observations obtained by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Prime Extragalactic Areas for Reionization and Lensing Science Program in the Spitzer IRAC Dark Field, we search for F150W and F200W dropouts. In 14.2 arcmin2, we have found eight F150W dropouts and eight F200W dropouts, all brighter than 27.5 mag (the brightest being ∼24 mag) in the band to the red side of the break. As they are detected in multiple bands, these must be real objects. Their nature, however, is unclear, and characterizing their properties is important for realizing the full potential of JWST. If the observed color decrements are due to the Lyman break, these objects should be at z ≳ 11.7 and z ≳ 15.4, respectively. The color diagnostics show that at least four F150W dropouts are far away from the usual contaminators encountered in dropout searches (red galaxies at much lower redshifts or brown dwarf stars). While the diagnostics of the F200W dropouts are less certain due to the limited number of passbands, at least one of them is likely not a known type of contaminant, and the rest are consistent with either high-redshift galaxies with evolved stellar populations or old galaxies at z ≈ 3–8. If a significant fraction of our dropouts are indeed at z ≳ 12, we have to face the severe problem of explaining their high luminosities and number densities. Spectroscopic identifications of such objects are urgently needed.


Even in the presence of multivessel coronary artery disease, a majority of the patients in almost all developed countries receive only a single arterial conduit during coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) (1). This continues to occur despite a large body of evidence demonstrating improvements in clinical outcomes for patients who receive more than one arterial graft during CABG. Several randomized controlled trials (RCTs) suggest better patency rates for the radial artery (RA) versus the saphenous vein (SV) (2-4). Growing evidence has demonstrated the superiority of the RA and right internal thoracic artery (RITA) in regards to patency when compared to the SV (5).


The purpose of this article is to present questions and reflections to justify a proposal for technological contents to be included in a teacher education curriculum. Technological development is the central topic of subject matters, because technological development at any given time is really the memory of all the roads taken by technology through recent centuries up to the present. Specifically, three thematic points must be included: the economic-labour, political and cultural dimensions of the development of new computer products. These three groups of subject matters are historically justified because they have antecedents and because their inclusion in mandatory university courses responds, in part, to the need to compensate for the social and labour imbalance created with the expropriation of the artisan's knowledge in past centuries.


In this short note, we reduce the N = 6, U(N) × U(N) Chern-Simons gauge theories to N = 8, U(N) Yang-Mills gauge theories. This process corresponds to recovering the world-volume theory of N D2-branes from that of N M2-branes in an intermediate energy range. The supersymmetries are enhanced because in this limit the branes localize far away from the orbifold singularity. Our main scheme is exactly in accordance with Mukhi and Papageorgakis's earlier work, although the Higgs mechanism becomes trickier in the present case. We also speculate on applying the scheme to a large class of new BL models more generally.


For cared-for children, normality is a particularly important topic. The way in which cared-for children grow up differs from both the social norm and from average children in Western European countries. Foster children live in a family which is not their birth family, and have a special status within that family. Psychological and medicinal research examines the normality experienced by foster children – meaning their psychological and physical health and normative development – very closely and (at least sometimes) critically (Oswald et al., 2011; Groh, 2010; Schmidt & Perez, 2011; Kindler et al., 2011; Helming, 2011). As they grow up, foster children are accordingly confronted with a normality that is (or is assumed to be) lacking or precarious. This places them before the particular challenge of constructing their own normality in difficult conditions, of presenting it to the outside world and constantly finding a balance.


This article discloses and describes a new research dataset representing the Canadian Intellectual Property Office's historical archive of trademark applications. This individual-application-level dataset includes all applications since approximately 1980, and many preserved applications and registrations dating back to the beginning of Canada's trademark registry in 1865, totaling over 1.6 million application records. It includes comprehensive bibliographic and lifecycle data; trademark characteristics; goods and services claims; identification of applicants, attorneys, and other interested parties (including address data); detailed prosecution history event data; and data on application, registration, and use claims in countries other than Canada. Both the dataset and the code used to build and analyze it are presented for public use on open-access terms. This article uses the dataset to generate novel descriptive analyses of the performance of Canada's trademark registration system and the behavior of applicants for registration, both independently and in comparison to the United States and Australia. These analyses suggest that Canada's trademark registration system is substantially underperforming other nations with respect to efficiency of examination, and that recent statutory and regulatory changes in Canadian trademark law may have the effect of masking or even exacerbating this underperformance while decreasing the reliability of the Canadian trademark registry as an authoritative guide to trademarks used in Canadian commerce.

The dataset repository is available at: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4999655


Background: The error-related negativity (ERN) and the error positivity (Pe) are electrophysiological signals linked to error processing, a crucial aspect of self-monitoring and regulation. Previous research suggests different developmental trajectories for the ERN and Pe, with the ERN increasing in strength during the course of childhood and adolescence, while the Pe appears to reach a plateau by late childhood. There are, however, reports that are discrepant with this pattern, and effects of participant, task and methodological characteristics are poorly understood. The main objectives of this systematic review and meta-analysis are to evaluate the effect of age on ERN and Pe magnitude in children and adolescents, and to examine potential moderators of these effects, including age, sex, experimental task, task difficulty, and topography and quantification of the ERN and Pe. Methods/design: Studies that report group differences between age-groups or associations with age for the ERN and/or Pe magnitude in typically developing children and/or adolescents will be identified. The literature search will be conducted through PubMed and Scopus, all abstracts will be screened, and reference lists of relevant articles cross-checked for inclusion. The present protocol will also be disseminated on social media platforms to call for unpublished data. The data will be extracted from the eligible studies and will be included in random-effect meta-analyses in R. The results will include the estimation of age and age-group effect sizes, heterogeneity, risk of publication bias, and effects of moderating variables. Discussion: The study will include a systematic literature search and meta-analyses to better understand age-related differences in the ERN and Pe magnitudes. The results will provide estimates of effect sizes that are relevant for calculating statistical power and sample sizes for future studies. In addition, it will provide benchmark effect sizes for typical development of the ERN and the Pe that could be used for comparison purposes in developmental studies of clinical or at-risk groups.


Diffraction of light of a visible spectral range by subwavelength metal gratings is investigated theoretically and experimentally. The influence of different grating parameters (filling factor, shape and depth, material, angle of incidence, wavelength and polarization of radiation) on diffraction efficiency is investigated. The conditions are found under which there are only zero diffraction order and the minus first order. It is established that the zero order can be suppressed by selecting the depth and shape of the grating relief. High diffraction efficiency in the -1st order is observed with increasing depth of the grating relief (more than 70% at a depth h = 80 nm). It is shown that under certain conditions an effect of plasmon resonance occurs, at which there is a complete absorption of the incident radiation. The considered optical elements can be used in systems for image processing, projection displays, in the development of a variety of sensors, etc.
Keywords: subwavelength grating, diffraction efficiency, plasmon resonance


The WHO recently conducted, within its Global Burden of Disease 2000 Study, a Comparative Risk Assessment (CRA) to estimate the global health effect of low fruit and vegetable intake. This paper summarizes the methods used to obtain exposure data for the CRA and provides estimates of worldwide fruit and vegetable intakes. Intakes were derived from 26 national population-based surveys, complemented with food supply statistics. Estimates were stratified by 14 subregions, 8 age groups, and gender. Subregions were categorized on the bases of child mortality under age 5 y and 15- to 59-y-old male mortality (A: very low child and adult mortality; B: low child and adult mortality; C: low child, high adult mortality; D: high child and adult mortality; E: high child, very high adult mortality). Mean intakes were highest in Europe A [median = 449 g/(person.d)] and the Western Pacific Region A. They were lowest in America B [median = 192 g/(person.d)], and low in Europe C, the South East Asian Regions B and D, and Africa E. Children and elderly individuals generally had lower intakes than middle-aged adults. SDs varied considerably by region, gender, and age [overall median = 223 g/(person.d)]. Assessing exposure levels for the CRA had major methodological limitations, particularly due to the lack of nationally representative intake data. The results showed mean intakes generally lower than current recommendations, with large variations among subregions. If the burden of disease attributable to dietary factors is to be assessed more accurately, more countries will have to assess the dietary intake of their populations using comparable methods.


We conducted a survey of the patterns of gene expression in the central nervous system (CNS) of larvae of the fruitfly Drosophila melanogaster to identify genes that may be important in the development of the CNS, aid in the recognition of basic organizing features that might underlie CNS development, and estimate the extent of the use of information encoded in the genome in the construction of the nervous system. A so-called enhancer detector strategy was used to generate many thousands of lines containing a beta-galactosidase reporter gene. These lines were screened as third-instar larvae for patterns of expression in the developing optic lobes and other portions of the CNS. Most of the lines recovered which evidence staining within the CNS could be included in one of a relatively small number of patterns. A random sample of 594 lines from the larger population screened was selected to quantify the relative frequencies of these patterns, and a more careful analysis of the changes in the patterns of expression with developmental time was done for representative lines of nine of the patterns. These studies demonstrated great variability in the pattern of gene expression as a function of developmental stage. Few, if any, lines showed beta-galactosidase activity limited to the optic lobes; similarly, few lines were identified in which staining was limited to only a small number of cells. Together with the limited number of patterns of gene expression seen, this suggests that in the larval CNS developmental pathways may be controlled by a combinatorial process of gene activity that involves the majority of the genome rather than by having a specific gene specify the fate of only a few neuronal precursors.


The mission of the office of Disability Services (DS) is to assist East Central University (ECU) students with disabilities by offering services to promote and ensure that no student with a disability is denied the benefits of, excluded from participation in, or otherwise subjected to discrimination under educational programs and activities in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended (Section 504), and applicable state law. Student input is vital to this mission.


ABSTRACT Santos, F.L.; Reis, M.T.; Fortes, C.J.E.M.; Lotufo, A.D.; Neves, D.R.C.B.; Poseiro, P., and Maciel, G.F., 2016. Performance of a fuzzy ARTMAP artificial neural network in characterizing the wave regime at the Port of Sines (Portugal). Techniques based on artificial neural networks (ANNs) have been increasingly applied to predict emergency situations, such as extreme wave conditions, wave overtopping or flooding, and damage to maritime structures, in coastal and port areas. In this work, a fuzzy adaptive resonance theory with mapping (FAM) ANN was trained to predict the wave regime both inside and at the entrance to the Port of Sines, one of the major trade and economic gateways of the Iberian Peninsula, located on the Portuguese west coast. In situ measurements using pressure sensors, wave buoy data, and results from two numerical wave propagation models—simulating waves nearshore (SWAN) and diffraction refraction elliptic approximation mild slope (DREAMS)—were used to train and validate the ANN. The wave regime was calculated for different points outside and inside the port. In general, the FAM predictions outside the port showed a satisfactory fit to the wave parameters (significant wave height, peak wave period, and mean wave direction) from the numerical model SWAN. Inside the port, differences from the DREAMS model were greater, because the optimized FAM parameters were obtained only for outside the port and the FAM network showed some difficulties in accounting for the complex phenomena of wave refraction, diffraction, and reflection within the port. Consequently, it is of paramount importance to obtain the FAM results based on fully optimized parameters to use the FAM output in place of the numerical models of wave propagation. Nevertheless, this methodology proved capable of providing a fast and satisfactory response that is especially useful in the scope of risk management, particularly in wave forecasting and warning systems.


This study investigates the ownership and leasing of plots of land by women in four regions of England throughout the nineteenth century including Oxfordshire and surrounding counties (agricultural); West Yorkshire (industrial); London (the metropolis); and Durham ( mining). Innovative research was linked to standard econometric analysis utilising a new source of information about land, namely the books of reference produced by the railway companies. These books had unique advantages, particularly as legal documents scrutinised by Parliament and the public. Information was compiled about 23,966 plots including their uses and details of ownership, leasing and occupation; with a minimum sample of 400 plots per region, per decade. The women were recorded when identified in the documents as owners, lessors or lessees. The study compares the uses of plots with a woman owner or lessee with plots owned by men or institutions. The influence of parish characteristics and the roles of common law and equity on women's plot ownership are considered, especially the effects of the Married Women's Property Acts of 1870 and 1882. On average women owned 12.4 per cent of the sampled plots and leased 3.8 per cent, with regional variations. Plot usage and location were important at regional and parish level with women adapting their ownership to local economic conditions. Differences were found between the uses of women-owned plots and those owned by men and institutions. The greatest percentage of women-owned plots everywhere were owned or leased by women with no male or institutional co-owners. There was a multi-regional, long-term time trend towards a greater involvement of women in plot ownership during the century, with a spike in women's ownership in Yorkshire and London during the Railway Mania. The Married Women's Property Act of 1870 reduced women's ownership of plots in every region except London, whereas the 1882 Married Women's Property Act had mixed effects across the regions. Overall, the research challenges the view that legal and social constraints confined women's ownership of land to wealthy widows and spinsters and shows that ownership was far more widespread than has been supposed.


In recent decades social scientists have started to use qualitative creative methods1 more and more, because of epistemological and methodological developments on the one hand and demands of
innovation by governmental funding agencies on the other. In my thesis I look at the research
practices of social scientists who use these qualitative creative methods and answer the following main research question:
How are practices and approaches from the arts (specifically visual lens-based arts, poetry,
performance and narrative) negotiated in social scientific research practice?
This question has been divided into the following three sub-questions:
1) How do social scientists negotiate the use of creative methods with other members of their research community?
2) How do social scientists negotiate the use of creative methods into their own research
practices?
3) And how do creative methods emerge in the process?
Using Lave and Wenger's approach to communities of practice (1991; Wenger, 1998) and Ingold
and Hallam's (2007) conceptualisation of improvisation for my theoretical framework, I look at these practices as constantly emerging and changing, but at the same time determined by those same
practices. Based on ongoing conversations with postgraduate research students, interviews with
experienced researchers, participant observation at conferences and videos of my participants' presentations, I conclude that the use of creative methods is always embedded within existing research practices. When this is not the case, either participants themselves or other academics experience the creative methods as problematic or even as non-academic. In those cases boundarywork (the in- and exclusion of what is deemed academic) is performed more fiercely, making it difficult, if not impossible for creative methods to be truly innovative in the sense that it means a
break with previous practices. Instead, we see small shifts in participants' academic practices and how creative methods are taken up in these practices. This means improvisation is a more apt term to describe how creative methods are making their way into social scientific research practices/into the social sciences. As such this conclusion has consequences for the way we think about learning methods, the production of knowledge, innovative methods and (inter)disciplinarity.


A novel parallel machine tool(PMT) with 3-HSS structure is presented in this paper. The three ball screws and guiding-parallels of this PMT are horizontally and parallel set. The three helix joints are driving components connected to and driven by servos, and the corresponding parameters of the cutter position can be obtained. The kinematics modeling is simple and the direct and inverse kinematics can be easily obtained for this PMT. It also has other advantages, such as spacious workspace in horizon direction, simple structure, easy controlling, etc. This PMT can be used in three-dimensional carving, milling and other machining processing. This kind of PMT has been designed and manufactured in our institution, and has also been tested successfully. Besides, it's easy to get the 5-DOF series-parallel machine tool through fixing two more revolving structure on the mobile platform. It's also easy to furnish complex surface processing using a rotary table. This paper studies mainly on DOF analysis, derivation of the kinematical equation, direct and inverse kinematics, workspace and other kinematical problems of the parallel machine.


The influence of corporate activities on violent conflict has received widespread attention,though almost exclusively because of negative effects, particularly those caused by the extractive industries. At the same time, politicians and researchers recently raised expectations of corporate actions in a globalized world. Corporations are assumed to function as partners not only in economic development and poverty alleviation, but also in establishing peace and security. However, company contributions to conflict prevention, conflict
resolution, and post-conflict peacebuilding, have hardly been scientifically investigated.
Consequently, there is a notable discrepancy between expectations of corporate
contributions to governance in conflict zones, and conceptual and empirical knowledge.
Against this background, this report asks how corporations contribute to peace and security in zones of violent conflict and proposes an analytical approach to describe the contributions. The report seeks to draw more general conclusions on the potential of corporate contributions towards peace and security by analyzing four company case studies.
These case studies cover several industry sectors and conflict zones. Company Alpha (apseudonym) belongs to the food & beverage industry in Rwanda, Studiosus is a tourist company operating in Israel and the Palestinian Territories, Kuehne+Nagel is a logistics company in Northern Ireland, and Shell is the largest oil company operating in Nigeria.
Governance involves sustained corporate policies and activities that work towards the creation and implementation of collectively binding rules and norms and provision of collective goods. Codes of conduct, policy documents or sustainability reports usually include a company's policies on important governance topics, such as human rights, anticorruption,labor rights or environmental protection. A review of a company's activities
and behavior shows whether the corporation actually does what it declares.
Corporate engagement can have varying relevance to peace and security: actual contributions to security governance; governance contributions to other policy fields related to establishing peace and security; and governance contributions that are not related to the provision of peace and security. Security governance directly addresses the level of violence in conflict zones. In this case, security is defined in a classical and narrow way.
Additionally, the authors draw on literature on conflict prevention and peacebuilding to identify policy fields that are commonly considered important when addressing the issues related to violent conflict. Three such dimensions were identified: (a) political order, (b) socio-economic governance, and (c) the socio-cultural sphere.
This framework was applied to the four company case studies. A comparison of the
cases shows that one of the companies currently has a policy in place directly relating to security governance. Companies mainly contribute to the other policy fields relevant to peace and security through their policies and behavior, particularly in the 'political order' and 'socio-economic' dimensions. Concerning 'political order', companies mainly have policies and activities about (1) human and labor rights, and (2) anti-corruption and transparency. Companies also contribute to governance in the following socio-economic
policy fields: (1) environmental standards, (2) community development, and (3) equal distribution of economic goods.
Why do we find such an accumulation of corporate engagement in the socioeconomic
and political order dimensions? Research indicates that corporations contribute
most to governance in those areas that relate to their core expertise and resources. This expertise would also give some legitimacy to their governance contributions as they are more clearly in a position to contribute to problem solving. This is particularly the case with 'socio-economic' activities, where companies might perceive their expertise to be strongest, though even political order (e.g. fighting corruption and enhancing transparency) relates to good corporate governance to some extent. Interestingly, companies themselves often do not consider their contribution to issues in the socio-economic field, such as community development or income generation, to be a 'political' activity. In contrast, contributing to political order seems to be more sensitive (e.g. addressing human rights issues).
Several reasons might explain why companies are reluctant to engage in security governance:
Firstly, the provision of security is considered to be at the core of state responsibilities; engaging in security provision would then result in a deep entrapment in processes that are regarded as highly political and sensitive governmental responsibilities. All companies perceive profit making as their priority; through their policies and activities they seek to support host societies and governments but not to substitute them. Secondly, companies may lack the expertise and capacity to engage in issues directly linked to security
governance. A company's main concern is usually managing the security of their own operations. Providing more encompassing security for a conflict region would overextend
the capacities and resources that companies have at their disposal. Thirdly, engagement in security governance might depend on the intensity and proximity of the conflict to a company's operation. The higher the level of violence and the more a company is affected by conflict, the more likely companies will engage if they want to continue their operations.
In summary, the findings suggest that companies do contribute to peace and security.
However, they are limited in scope and in the issues they address, and yet diverse in applied standards. Thus, if policy frameworks and strategies continue to assume that the private sector is a governance partner in conflict zones it may lead to a rude awakening when the private partner turns out to be incapable or unwilling to fulfill this role. Instead of merely relying on corporate governance contributions to peace and security, policy makers are recommended to review where and under which conditions such interventions have successfully taken place. The question of what is keeping corporations from becoming more involved also needs to be asked, ideally through honest dialogue with corporations. This will help clarify expectations and assumptions about corporate contributions to peace and security.


Scientific workflows have become an important instrument for domain scientists to synergistically integrate distributed computations and data to accelerate scientific discoveries. Existing scientific workflow tools, however, only support single scientists to compose scientific workflows in a desktop application. Nowadays, many scientific research projects are becoming increasingly larger scale, requiring that multiple research partners with different expertise collaborate from distributed organizations. Therefore, there is a critical need of a collaborative scientific workflow tool that supports domain scientists to cooperatively design, compose, annotate, execute, monitor, and manage scientific workflows over the Internet in both synchronous and asynchronous modes. This research reports the design and development of our preliminary version of a collaborative scientific workflow tool based on an open-source, single-user tool Taverna. We present our study of the role-organization-based access control technique over collaborative scientific workflow composition.


P2P worm based on loopholes spreading in peer-to-peer network is a serious security threat. According to the characteristics of P2P worms, a signature-behavior-based P2P worm detection approach detecting the known P2P worm based on characteristic string matching is proposed. In addition, this method can also detect unknown P2P worms based on behavior. This method is mainly composed of the technology of application identification, the technology of worm characteristic string matching and unknown worm detection technology. A simple and efficient, with lower time complexity of alternative suffix tree algorithm - suffix array algorithm implements matching the characteristic string of worms. Because P2P data have fragment transfer mechanism, the worm characteristic string has the chance to be assigned to different data blocks. Besides, reorganization of characteristic string can detect the worm. Experimental results show that the P2P worm detection method is an effective way to detect P2P worms and restrain its spread.


The NADH dehydrogenase complex (complex I) represents the largest functional module of the respiratory chain and at the same time is the least known. Based on a novel biochemical strategy, a model on its internal structure is presented. In plants, complex I comprises several extra protein subunits that partially integrate side activities into the complex and contribute to its special shape. The NADH dehydrogenase complex (complex I) of the respiratory chain has unique features in plants. It is the main entrance site for electrons into the respiratory electron transfer chain, has a role in maintaining the redox balance of the entire plant cell and additionally comprises enzymatic side activities essential for other metabolic pathways. Here, we present a proteomic investigation to elucidate its internal structure. Arabidopsis thaliana complex I was purified by a gentle biochemical procedure that includes a cytochrome c–mediated depletion of other respiratory protein complexes. To examine its internal subunit arrangement, isolated complex I was dissected into subcomplexes. Controlled disassembly of the holo complex (1000 kD) by low-concentration SDS treatment produced 10 subcomplexes of 550, 450, 370, 270, 240, 210, 160, 140, 140, and 85 kD. Systematic analyses of subunit composition by mass spectrometry gave insights into subunit arrangement within complex I. Overall, Arabidopsis complex I includes at least 49 subunits, 17 of which are unique to plants. Subunits form subcomplexes analogous to the known functional modules of complex I from heterotrophic eukaryotes (the so-called N-, Q-, and P-modules), but also additional modules, most notably an 85-kD domain including γ-type carbonic anhydrases. Based on topological information for many of its subunits, we present a model of the internal architecture of plant complex I.


Background: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is present in the majority of the patients undergoing bariatric surgery. Weight loss induced by bariatric surgery has been shown to improve clinical measurements and liver histology of NAFLD. The present study aims to evaluate the impact of bariatric surgery on NAFLD in Indian patients with severe obesity using noninvasive parameters. Materials and Methods: This prospective study was conducted on 67 patients who underwent bariatric surgery (laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy and laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass). The Asia-Pacific Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Society guidelines were followed to ensure the indications for bariatric surgery. Data collected included anthropometrics, biochemical parameters, and other noninvasive parameters. Results: Fifty-four patients were included in the final analysis, with the majority being males (54.2%). The mean age was 44.77 ± 12.64 years old. One-year follow-up postsurgery demonstrated a statistically significant improvement in total weight loss and body mass index (BMI) reduction (P < 0.00001). Mean NAFLD fibrosis scores improved from −1.70 to −1.95; however, the improvement was not statistically significant (P = 0.4295). Biochemical improvement was found in the serum levels of alanine aminotransferase (P = 0.0169) and aspartate aminotransferase (P = 0.0004). Concomitantly, significant improvements in AST to Platelet Ratio Index score, BMI, AST/alanine aminotransferase ratio, diabetes score, and liver stiffness measurement on Fibroscan (8.9 ± 1.01 pka [initial] to 7.2 ± 0.40 pka [follow-up]) were observed. Conclusions: Our findings suggest a beneficial association of bariatric surgery in NAFLD patients. Bariatric surgery is found to induce weight loss significantly and improve liver functions as measured by noninvasive parameters. Further, long-term studies are needed to consolidate these results.


Background: The iPath telemedicine platform Basel is mainly used for histological and cytological consultations, but also serves as a valuable learning tool. Aim: To study the level of accuracy in making diagnoses based on still images achieved by experienced cytopathologists, to identify limiting factors, and to provide a cytological image series as a learning set. Method: Images from 167 consecutive cytological specimens of different origin were uploaded on the iPath platform and evaluated by four cytopathologists. Only wet-fixed and well-stained specimens were used. The consultants made specific diagnoses and categorized each as benign, suspicious or malignant. Results: For all consultants, specificity and sensitivity regarding categorized diagnoses were 83-92 and 85-93%, respectively; the overall accuracy was 88-90%. The interobserver agreement was substantial (κ = 0.791). The lowest rate of concordance was achieved in urine and bladder washings and in the identification of benign lesions. Conclusion: Using a digital image set for diagnostic purposes implies that even under optimal conditions the accuracy rate will not exceed to 80-90%, mainly because of lacking supportive immunocytochemical or molecular tests. This limitation does not disqualify digital images for teleconsulting or as a learning aid. The series of images used for the study are open to the public at http://pathorama.wordpress.com/extragenital-cytology-2013/.


The widespread use of pesticides in agriculture provides a particularly complex pattern of multidimensional negative side-effects, ranging from food safety related effects to the deterioration of farmland ecosystems. The assessment of the economic implications of such negative processes is fraught with many uncertainties. This paper presents results of an empirical study recently conducted in the North of Italy aimed at estimating the value of reducing the multiple impacts of pesticide use. A statistical technique known as conjoint choice experiment is used here in combination with contingent valuation techniques. The experimental design of choice modelling provides a natural tool to attach a monetary value to negative environmental effects associated with agrochemicals use. In particular, the paper addresses the reduction of farmland biodiversity, groundwater contamination and human intoxication. The resulting estimates show that, on average, respondents are prone to accept substantial willingness to pay premia for agricultural goods (in particular, foodstuff) produced in environmentally benign ways.


The purpose of this study is to analyze the growth of Security Market from FY2005/06 to FY 2016/17 and to determine the most influencing factor that drive investment decision. The security market growth indicators taken are Market Size and Market Liquidity. To examine the relationship between Investment Decision and influencing factors, factors such as Advocate Recommendation, Personal Financial Needs, Accounting Information, Firm's Image and Neutral Information are taken into consideration. For this study, data are collected both from primary as well as secondary sources. To analyze the growth of stock market, secondary data have been obtained from annual publication of NEPSE, SEBON, MOF etchant statistical analysis like Ratio Analysis (such as MCR and ML), Growth Analysis and Correlation have been applied. For the study of investment decision, primary data have been collected with the sample size of 200. T-test has been applied to examine the relationship between investment decision and influencing factors. The result shows that Nepalese capital market has erratic trend during study period. It implies that capital market is immature and investors are not motivated to invest in the companies. It is also not deniable that the capital market has developed compared to FY 2005/06. Furthermore, Nepalese investors mostly consider firm's reputation in the industry and opinion of firms' majority of stockholder before investing in any stock.